Chapter 1503: Do Not Be Heartless

Soon, apart from the two sons too young to attend lessons, the Emperor had already examined the coursework of the Crown Prince and his four princely sons. Overall, it was fairly satisfactory. Although his sons displayed different academic interests and attitudes, they had all basically begun to apply themselves to their studies. Even the least bookish prince, Zhao Hu, at least showed a strong ambition for military service, with none of that indolent, profligate air. This alone greatly comforted the Emperor — he did not expect every one of his princes to become a dragon among men, but he could not tolerate mediocre, worthless sons who thought only of enjoying wealth and glory. He could give his sons a lifetime of riches, but he at least hoped they would pursue meaningful endeavors according to their own interests.

After the examination was over and the princes had been dismissed from the study, the Crown Prince was kept behind alone.

"What do you think of these younger brothers of yours, Crown Prince?" the Emperor asked with a smile the moment they had left.

"My younger brothers each have their own aspirations and are bursting with vigor. Your son... your son is most pleased," the Crown Prince hurriedly replied. "So long as my brothers all grow into capable men and, when grown, join me in upholding our house's realm, the Great Han's rivers and mountains shall be as if cast from iron and bronze — unshakable!"

"That is good, that is good..." The Emperor smiled, then suddenly sighed. "Do not be jealous or suspicious of your brothers, my son. They are all your strong right arms!"

"Father..." The Crown Prince was somewhat baffled by his father's sudden words, then seemed to grasp something. "Father need not worry. Your son... your son will never harbor the slightest jealousy or suspicion toward my brothers. I will treat them with absolute sincerity!"

He understood the intent behind his father's words — his father feared he might grow jealous of his brothers because each of them possessed talent.

Mindful of a series of lessons from the former Ming dynasty, after establishing the new dynasty, the Emperor had devised a new system of imperial clan feudatories to encourage the clansmen to strive upward.

In the former Ming, the founding emperor Zhu Yuanzhang had initially implemented enfeoffment, installing his sons one by one in strategically vital territories to serve as protective screens guarding the center. In Zhu Yuanzhang's era, the feudal princes possessed their own private armed forces, and many were also commanding generals. It was precisely because of this that Zhu Di had the opportunity to accumulate military experience and prestige through leading troops in battle, and subsequently launched the Jingnan Campaign, seizing the throne from the Crown Prince's heir, the Jianwen Emperor.

After the Yongle Emperor, having absorbed the lesson of how the Jingnan Campaign caused the ruling line to shift to a different branch, successive Ming emperors provided extremely cursory education to princes who were not the heir, and were highly guarded against the imperial clan princes. Far from being allowed to lead troops, even their interactions with court officials were viewed with deep suspicion. Once they came of age, they were essentially enfeoffed to territories in the outer provinces, never to return to the capital.

Moreover, under the court's heavy-handed suppression, the enfeoffed clansmen in various regions could not easily leave their fiefs, and any hint of seditious activity was severely punished — yet matters like bullying men and women, disturbing local order, and extorting excessive taxes were things the court largely ignored, even allowing them to pass down their titles and properties through the generations. Furthermore, the princely titles were perpetually heritable, and even the non-inheriting sons born to each generation of princes could become commandery princes, drawing an additional stipend.

Through generations of propagation, every princely estate of the Great Ming bred an enormous population. A large portion of these people held high-ranking titles, and the drain of their stipends was a colossal sum, becoming a crushing burden on the already deficit-ridden Ming court. Objectively, this also intensified the court's exploitation of the common people and inflamed social tensions.

It was precisely under the influence of this clan policy that most of the former Ming's feudal princes and clansmen neither engaged in productive labor nor any proper occupation, idling their days away on hereditary titles and stipends. Some even ran rampant in their localities, committing countless unlawful acts and stirring up seething public resentment everywhere.

In the process of rising to power, the Xuzhou forces had no shortage of clashes with these princely powers, and through these conflicts came to see clearly the greed, cruelty, and outward bluster masking inward cowardice of the Great Ming's imperial clans. The Emperor thus held these clansmen in the utmost contempt, and by extension utterly scorned this entire system of princely feudatories.

When formulating the policy for his own princely clansmen, the Emperor first abolished the former Ming rule of "all princely titles perpetually heritable." He said that the sons of every generation of emperor could become princes, but if every one of those princes held perpetually heritable titles, then after several centuries, just how many princes would there be under heaven? And how much wealth would they take from the people of the realm?

Therefore, based on the principle that "the bounty of a gentleman is cut off after five generations," the Emperor, referencing the systems of the Former Han and other dynasties, established a rule that each generation's princely title would be downgraded, until the title was abolished after several generations. Of course, to encourage the princes to render service to the state, he also specially stipulated that if any prince performed extraordinary meritorious deeds for the nation, he could be established as a perpetually heritable prince — becoming an exception among the clansmen, with the eldest son of the principal wife in each generation inheriting the princely title.

Prince of Qi Zhao Hu's intense desire to join the military and campaign for the nation — aside from that kind of hero-worship unique to youths — admittedly also harbored the ideal of rendering great service to the state and thereby earning the exceptional honor of a perpetually heritable princely title.

The Crown Prince did not particularly understand the Prince of Qi's thoughts, but he was very fond of this younger brother, born of the same mother. Although this brother disliked studying, his mind was straightforward, and he held considerable respect for his elder brother. Thus, the Crown Prince had never harbored any misgivings about him. Being spoken to like this by the Emperor now, the Crown Prince honestly felt somewhat aggrieved.

"I am not telling you to wrong yourself, yielding to your brothers in everything," the Emperor shook his head. "You are the Crown Prince, and also their eldest brother. It is only right and proper that they obey you. It is enough that you treat them with impartial fairness and utter sincerity."

"Your son... your son understands." Though still somewhat puzzled, the Crown Prince lowered his head and assented. "Your son will certainly treat his brothers well."

"I have finished examining them, and your own studies have been more or less examined as well. Now let me test you on something else." The Emperor suddenly changed the subject. "Although you have already begun learning about the Japan matter, let us take the opportunity today for me to ask you a few questions and see how well you understand it."

This abrupt shift in topic left the Crown Prince momentarily unable to react. "Hm? Ah... please instruct me, Father."

Although his father had not previously mentioned testing him on this subject, leaving the Crown Prince unprepared, his father was the Emperor, so naturally his word was law. Even if he felt sudden and aggrieved, he could only resign himself to it.

"By now you naturally know that Japan is ruled by the shogunate, with the imperial court serving as a puppet, correct? Then I ask you: who was the founder of the shogunate, and who is its current ruler?" The Emperor's first question was standard and proper, not beyond the Crown Prince's expectations.

"Your son has previously read quite a bit of material introducing the shogunate. I now know that the founder of the Edo Shogunate was Tokugawa Ieyasu. He was a former warlord of Japan who rose to power amid over a century of civil war and unified the country." The Crown Prince regained his composure and began speaking eloquently. "The current shogun is Tokugawa Iemitsu. He is the eldest grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu by the principal line, that is, the eldest son of the principal wife of the second shogun, Tokugawa Hidetada. Over a decade ago, Tokugawa Hidetada passed the shogunal position to him and became the Retired Shogun himself, sharing supreme authority with Tokugawa Iemitsu. Now, Tokugawa Hidetada has passed away, so Tokugawa Iemitsu holds sole power in Japan... This man is arrogant and insolent, his actions decisive, ruthless, and cruel, so much so that he has suppressed the Japanese imperial court and its officials to the point of unbearable misery..."

"Enough, it seems you do know a thing or two and can speak in general terms." The Emperor nodded, as if acknowledging his reply. "Very well, then I ask you further: besides these few Tokugawa shoguns, what other persons of the Tokugawa house do you know of?"

This question was beyond the Crown Prince's expectations, so he was once again stunned. In the end, he could only lower his head in chagrin. "Father, forgive me. Your son... your son has not yet studied to that extent."

"In warfare, knowing oneself and knowing the enemy is paramount. Knowing only the broad outlines will not do." The Emperor offered a word of reproach, though it was not harsh. "However, at your age, and having only just begun to engage with this matter, it is forgivable that you are not thoroughly versed. Very well, let me tell you now. Both Tokugawa Ieyasu and Tokugawa Hidetada had abundant progeny. Tokugawa Ieyasu had eleven sons, but some died young and some were adopted into other families, so he passed his position to his third son, Tokugawa Hidetada. And Tokugawa Hidetada had four sons, but because his eldest son died young, his second son, Tokugawa Iemitsu, inherited his shogunal position."

"Your son understands."

"I have not finished. Do not be impatient." Father merely smiled. "Tokugawa Hidetada originally did not much wish to establish Tokugawa Iemitsu as his heir. Both he and his wife favored the third son, Tokugawa Tadanaga. It was Tokugawa Ieyasu who, while still alive, compelled Hidetada to establish Iemitsu as heir based on the principle of primogeniture. Thus, there was a knot of resentment between Iemitsu and his younger brother... During the time Hidetada served as Retired Shogun, Iemitsu, as shogun, had already fallen out with his brother Tadanaga, finding pretexts on several occasions to severely punish him. Now that Hidetada is dead, Iemitsu is impatient to deal with this brother, likely eager to hound him to death for his own satisfaction."

Contending for succession, fratricidal strife... The Crown Prince's heart instantly grew tense. Father, while speaking of him and his brothers on one hand, had suddenly leaped to the Tokugawa brothers on the other — could this be some veiled allusion?

In that instant, he felt somewhat wronged — when in his heart had he ever harbored the slightest intent to harm his brothers?

"Instability within the shogunate — your son believes this is a good thing. The more Tokugawa Iemitsu persecutes Tokugawa Tadanaga, the more we can exploit the shogunate's internal contradictions. Tokugawa Tadanaga is surely unwilling to be hounded to death by his elder brother just like that; he will certainly think of ways to strike back, and it is possible... possible that he will seek aid from our side." The Crown Prince deliberately avoided the aspect he feared most and answered from a different angle. "If our side can gain control of Tadanaga, we can undoubtedly throw the shogunate into even greater turmoil. Perhaps... perhaps after the war, Tadanaga could serve as a puppet shogun...?"