Great Ming Ominous Song

The emperors of the Qing Dynasty and the Eight Banners nobles couldn't bear to read comments like these.

They wanted nothing more than to overturn the comment section and chop down everyone who had posted them.

They would reason with them by the sword.

"Though I am a Manchu, I have always honored Confucianism and respected Buddhism, held examinations to select officials, and kept corvée and taxes light. Which of these was not for the common people?"

"Now Manchus, Mongols and Han are one family throughout the realm, the people live and work in peace, and our dynasty enjoys calm seas and clear rivers. How many dynasties can compare?"

[What's the story behind Great Ming Ominous Song? #Great Ming #Zhu Di's Father Dies Song]

"Great Ming... Ominous Song? Was it a song composed by people of later generations?"

"Why does it also say Zhu Di's Father Dies Song after Great Ming Ominous Song? Is that another name for it? Zhu Di's father is..."

At the sight of the title, Zhu Yuanzhang's mood, which had improved slightly after the previous video's tribute to Emperor Taizu of Ming, took an immediate turn.

"Great Ming Ominous Song. I must hear this song!"

All the Ming Dynasty emperors: "There's nothing I can do about the heavenly screen or the people of later generations. If a song with a title like this existed in my Great Ming Dynasty, its creator's entire family would be executed at the very least."

["What's the story behind Great Ming Ominous Song?"]

["The meme comes from an ancient-style song called Half a Lifetime Away. The Chinese opera version in particular stands out, because its lyrics are full of regret, like a gloom that cannot be shaken off, painting an air of sorrow without one even noticing."]

["Later, Shrimp Animation used the song as its signature BGM for stories about Ming Dynasty emperors, striking an emotional chord with viewers."]

["Whenever the melody plays, it usually means another tragedy is about to befall the Zhu dynasty. So netizens jokingly call it Great Ming Funeral Song, Great Ming Ominous Song, Zhu Di's Happy Song, and Zhu Di's Father Dies Song."]

As Zhu Di watched the heavenly screen's explanation, the corners of his eyes twitched wildly.

["Flowers bloom and fade, their petals filling the sky"]

["Just as you appear and disappear from sight"]

["Morning after morning, evening after evening, between dawn and dusk"]

["Yet still I struggle to trace your face"]

["I sigh softly for this fleeting life, sigh for a beautiful face"]

["Coming and going, how many years have passed?"]

["Who will write the regrets of half a lifetime?"]

["Only passing travelers remain in this world"]

["Half a lifetime away, so desolate; falling flowers break the heart"]

["You and I dwell at opposite ends of the earth"]

["I chase after your moonlight, yet tears fill my eyes"]

["How can I forget the past as it drifts away on the wind?"]

["Half a lifetime away, both lost in the vast unknown, not worth a single deep love"]

["All that I long for is all that I think of"]

["I only hate that my heart has plunged a thousand fathoms, unable to cross the past"]

["A lovesick fool grieves only for love"]

["I sigh softly for this fleeting life, sigh for a beautiful face"]

["Coming and going, how many years have passed?"]

["Who will write the regrets of half a lifetime?"]

["Only passing travelers remain in this world"]

The song did indeed have an air of sorrow, and the corners of Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes suddenly grew a little wet.

[Zhu Di: This is a blast! Zhu Di's Happy Song, start!]

Zhu Di: "This song didn't make me happy at all!"

[Zhu Di: You stinking beggar, hurry up and pass the throne to Great Emperor Yongle!]

[Zhu Yuanzhang: Fourth son, I'm going to exterminate ten generations of your family!]

[Zhu Yuanzhang: Half a Lifetime Away. Oh no, it's coming for me. My wife, my Biao'er, my eldest grandson~]

[Zhu Di: Sad? How happy I am!]

Zhu Di: "I beg you, stop talking."

[Zhu Yuanzhang: Your filial piety is killing me, it's really killing me!]

Reading comment after comment, some emperors burst out laughing, while others looked grave. Although it was the Zhu family being mocked, the appearance of Great Ming Ominous Song had also affected imperial authority.

Zhu Di: "Must the people of later generations saddle me with the charge of being unfilial?"

[I just came across Great Ming Ominous Song, and it was even a mass chorus version.]

There was a short video beneath that comment.

[Sixty thousand people sing Great Ming Ominous Song together at the Bird's Nest]

"Sixty thousand people singing one song?"

"I don't even have an army of sixty thousand, yet people in later generations can gather sixty thousand to sing?!"

Amid these cries of surprise and amazement, the video began to play. It was the familiar song again, but this time it wasn't sung by one person, but by a mass chorus of tens of thousands.

Not one of the Great Ming emperors wanted to listen.

[My wife, they've rebelled, all of them!]

[Arrest them all and exterminate nine generations of their families!]

[Nine generations of sixty thousand people would be at least a million. If Zhu Yuanzhang dared kill a million people at once in the Ming Dynasty, everyone under heaven would rebel!]

[The fifth great case of the early Ming: the Bird's Nest Case.]

[Take good care of Yunwen #animation #Ming Dynasty #Zhu Yuanzhang #Zhu Di]

Two little animated figures appeared on the heavenly screen. One was an old man holding a whip, labeled Zhu Yuanzhang; the other was a young man tied to a pillar, labeled Zhu Di.

["I'm not going to hit you. I have a few things to tell you, so listen carefully: take good care of Yunwen from now on."]

["Burn Yunwen to death."]

["Build more temples."]

["Find Yao Guangxiao."]

["Worn-out iron shoes have searched everywhere in vain."]

["Deep-frying Tie Xuan takes some effort."]

["Put Huang Zicheng in charge of the kitchen."]

["Exterminate ten generations of Fang Xiaoru's family."]

["Treacherous officials flatter and fawn."]

["The Yan usurper seizes the throne."]

["Zhu Di, Zhu Di."]

["Proclaim yourself emperor, proclaim yourself emperor."]

Zhu Yunwen: "So the Yan usurper seized the throne! You didn't take in a single word Imperial Grandfather said to you."

Zhu Di: "I swear on my life that Taizu never said anything like that to me. The people of later generations made all of it up! Why am I the only one they're targeting?"

In fact, the system hadn't done it on purpose. Shrimp Animation had simply become very popular on short-video platforms recently, and people had been sharing videos in the comments, so several short videos about the Ming Dynasty and Zhu Di had played in succession.

[Rebellious Zhu Di. This version of Zhu Di looks so good.]

[Rebellious Zhu Di wouldn't listen to Zhu Yuanzhang and insisted on doing the opposite.]

"So he insisted on doing the opposite!"

[The Yan usurper plots rebellion #Ming Dynasty #Zhu Di]

["The threat posed by the Yan fief had already been guarded against when Taizu was alive."]

["Yet no bond was greater than the love between father and son."]

["Zhu Di's ambition for the throne had already been awakened when Crown Prince Yiwen died."]

["By the time Zhu Yunwen took the throne, a full complement of civil and military officials had already been assembled in Beiping. They could fall back and guard against trouble before it arose, or advance and urge the prince to claim the throne."]

["The ministers of Jianwen all knew full well that the Yan fief would rebel."]

["Two months after Emperor Jianwen ascended the throne, he decided to begin curbing the feudal princes on the advice of Qi Tai, Huang Zicheng, and others."]

["This decision was correct. Throughout history, no emperor had centralized power without curbing the feudal princes, but the difficulty lay in putting it into practice."]

["Zhu Yunwen was too young and naive. He sent Li Jinglong, Duke of Cao, to Kaifeng under the pretense of preparing its defenses, and had Zhu Di's own younger brother, Zhu Su, Prince of Zhou, detained and brought back to the capital. The following month, he stripped him of his rank and reduced him to a commoner, believing he had thereby severed one of the Prince of Yan's limbs."]

["He then detained the Princes of Qi, Dai, and Min and reduced them to commoners."]

["In the fourth month of Jianwen's first year, Zhu Bai, Prince of Xiang, burned himself to death."]

["This series of actions made every feudal prince fear for his own safety. Emperor Jianwen even went so far as to violate the Ancestral Injunctions of the August Ming, decreeing that princes' sons could only draw their stipends and could not reside in their fiefs. This dashed the commandery princes' hopes of establishing their own households and taking up their fiefs, creating a strong sense that they were all in danger of being swept away in one stroke."]

["Jianwen had only just ascended the throne. He had no meritorious veteran ministers at court to help govern, and outside it he had cut himself off from the feudal princes. This was highly inauspicious."]

[If you were going to curb the feudal princes, why start with the weak ones? Couldn't you have joined forces with the other weak princes to curb the powerful ones first?]

[If that were the case, the weak princes wouldn't be fools either.]

[Start with the strong ones, and if you fail to finish them off in one blow, they'll rally the weak ones to rebel with them.]

[Others advised him to be more ruthless, but he thought they were his uncles and his heart softened.]