Chapter 223: Zhu Di Wants to Stay in the Capital

Zhu Gaoxu listened to the words of the officials at the same table, smiled, nodded, and said, "You all have good intentions; I believe that if Grandfather Emperor knew your thoughts, he would certainly feel gratified."

At this moment, Zhu Gaoxu felt a bit like a treacherous official of the imperial court.

Forming cliques for private gain, developing influence.

Like a wood-boring insect, corroding the foundation of Great Ming.

But there was no other way; he had to do this.

In his previous life, the reason his father was able to become Emperor.

The various reasons were too complex.

But the reason his father rebelled was purely a last-minute uprising.

It was because he was forced into a corner with no other choice.

Of Lao Zhu's several legitimate sons, all were dead except for Zhu Di.

Then Zhu Yunwen relentlessly reduced the power of the Feudatory Princes, which was essentially forcing Zhu Di to his death.

Helpless, Zhu Di decided to rebel against Zhu Yunwen in order to save his own life.

But this life is different.

In this life, Zhu Di now has the intention to make a gamble.

Thinking of skipping the process and reaching the goal in one step.

And wanting to achieve this, it is actually difficult if you say it is difficult, and not difficult if you say it is not.

It is not difficult because as long as Zhu Di achieves one thing, Zhu Gaoxu is ninety-five percent certain that Zhu Di will inherit the throne.

This probability is not low.

And what he needs to achieve is to stay in Jingcheng!

To say it is difficult, it is also because of this point.

For a Feudatory Prince with a fiefdom, it is too difficult to stay in the capital all the time.

I don't know how many people are submitting memorials to Zhu Yuanzhang every day, demanding that Zhu Di be sent back to his fief.

And if there is no one in the imperial court to share this pressure for Zhu Di, then Zhu Di is not far from returning to his hometown.

Those military generals cannot protect Zhu Di for long.

And those who can speak in the imperial court now, besides those military generals, are basically controlled by the Civil Official Group.

There are many ins and outs to it.

So he must start preparing now, slowly finding people to consolidate his influence in the imperial court.

And the reason he is so certain that Zhu Di can inherit the throne as long as he is in Jingcheng is entirely because Zhu Biao and Zhu Xiongying were short-lived.

Zhu Xiongying was killed by the Lu Family.

Zhu Biao was an accident, but he wouldn't live long either.

Counting downwards, it is either Zhu Yunwen or these sons of Lao Zhu.

Actually, these sons of Lao Zhu really didn't have any intention to rebel.

Or rather, they had no intention of wanting to be the Emperor.

Of course, this is just the majority, but there were still a few who harbored fantasies.

The previous birthday celebration of Lao Zhu was an example.

And after Zhu Biao dies, who inherits the throne will depend on Lao Zhu's wishes.

Actually, in the previous life, according to Lao Zhu's wishes, he intended to let Zhu Di inherit the throne.

It was just blocked by those civil officials and people in the inner palace, and the reason Lao Zhu died was most likely caused by these people.

Thinking about it, it makes sense; in the months before Lao Zhu died, he first issued an imperial decree giving Zhu Di control over the military power of several provinces in the North, and even the regional commanders had to be under Zhu Di's command.

Subsequently, he had Zhu Di come to the capital to meet the Emperor.

Anyone with a discerning eye could see what was going on.

And Zhu Yunwen and the others naturally saw it too.

So on the road to Zhu Di's return to the capital, Lao Zhu kicked the bucket.

I have to say, everything was too coincidental.

Even more coincidental was that just as Lao Zhu kicked the bucket and Zhu Di was still halfway there, the palace immediately issued a decree for Zhu Di to return to his fief.

And ordered that none of Lao Zhu's sons, the Feudatory Princes from various places, were allowed to return home to pay their respects.

This simply didn't make sense.

Even in an ordinary family, if a relative dies, one must be present in person, let alone the royal family.

And the one who died was the father of a group of princes.

Even those civil officials couldn't cover up this lie.

History books just glossed over it.

So there is a problem here.

It is obvious that Zhu Yunwen and the people of the Civil Official Group realized that Lao Zhu was very likely going to pass the throne to Zhu Di.

So they simply decided to go all the way, killed Lao Zhu, and then changed the imperial edict to establish Zhu Yunwen as the Emperor.

This also explains why Zhu Di killed so many civil officials when he fought his way back to Kyoto.

Many civil officials, no matter how far they ran, were hunted down and killed.

This was a vendetta for the murder of his father.

And if Zhu Di had been in the capital the whole time, it wouldn't have mattered.

With Zhu Di staying in the capital, those civil officials and petty people would never have dared to make any extra moves.

It can be said that Zhu Di didn't know how many people's eyes he was an eyesore to, or how many people's plans he had delayed.

Therefore, with Zhu Di in Jingcheng, it is impossible for Lao Zhu to have any trouble.

Once Zhu Biao and the others are dead, Zhu Di will have the advantage of proximity.

At the slightest sign of trouble, he would be arranged to ascend the throne immediately.

So Zhu Di must firmly establish his footing in Jingcheng.

These officials must also be won over.

Moreover, this can at most be considered forming a clique; it likely does not reach the level of self-serving corruption.

Furthermore, these officials come from the provinces; to put it plainly, they have grassroots work experience.

They are much better than many people in Jingcheng who only know how to flap their lips.

Putting such people in power basically won't lead to any mishaps.

Seeing that everyone had stated their positions, Jin Buyi picked up a piece of chicken, put it in his mouth, and then said indifferently: "This Prince has many matters to attend to and will be leaving in a few days. After all, the entire North is not just Shandong, but this Prince feels that some officials in Shandong have become somewhat slack. Once they sit in high positions, they think they are secure. This Prince cannot stand such people, and the Imperial Grandfather cannot stand such people either."