Zhu Yuanzhang had recalled the alternate name of the animated song he had received as a reward: "Zhu Di's Happy Song"!
If things were as he suspected, and Zhu Xiongying and Zhu Biao had died one after the other, leading him to pass the throne to Zhu Di, didn't that mean all six of those abnormal Great Ming emperors were descendants of his fourth son?
At that thought, Zhu Yuanzhang immediately wanted to summon Zhu Di and give him a sound thrashing.
But then new text appeared in the group.
[Administrator: Zhu Yuanzhang buzzed in on three questions. His correct answer to the first question can cancel the penalty for his earlier incorrect answer. His correct answer to the second question earns him one reward. His incorrect answer to the third question incurs one penalty.] [Administrator: Zhu Yuanzhang will now be given a choice.] [A: Use the reward opportunity to cancel the penalty. B: Accept both the reward and the penalty. Please choose.]
Seeing this, Zhu Yuanzhang made his choice without hesitation.
[Zhu Yuanzhang: B!] [Administrator: Very well. All participants' rewards and penalties will now be settled.]
All three men grew nervous, including Liu Bang, who had claimed earlier that he didn't care about the penalty.
He truly wasn't afraid of a "Sleeve-Cutting Fetish," but he did fear receiving some other unbearable punishment.
[Administrator: Liu Bang answered incorrectly during "Rebel Army Q&A" and did not buzz in on any questions during the buzzer round. He will receive one penalty.] [Administrator: After this group chat ends, Liu Bang will receive the negative status "Manic Singing and Awkward Dancing," lasting one month! (Over the next month, you may suddenly feel the urge to sing and dance at any moment, regardless of the time or occasion!)]
Zhang Jiao and Zhu Yuanzhang stared blankly.
There was actually a negative status like that?
Zhu Yuanzhang, in particular, imagined suddenly running down from the imperial dais during a grand court assembly on the first or fifteenth of the month, singing and dancing before his ministers as they gathered around to watch him like a monkey.
Wouldn't his dignity be swept into the dust, leaving him nowhere to hide his shame?
The ministers might even think something was wrong with his head.
Zhang Jiao, meanwhile, thought: If I suddenly start singing and dancing while commanding the Yellow Turban Army in battle, will it affect the fighting?
Fortunately, he always performed rituals and prayed before each battle to raise morale. Presumably, even if this negative status had an adverse effect on him, it wouldn't be too severe.
Only Liu Bang paused briefly after reading it, then burst into laughter inwardly.
Suddenly feeling the urge to sing and dance?
That's what your old man enjoys anyway! How does that count as punishment? Looks like this damned Rebel Army Group has finally done your old man a favor! Hahaha...
[Administrator: Zhang Jiao answered incorrectly during "Rebel Army Q&A" and answered no questions during the buzzer round. He will receive one penalty.] [Administrator: After this group chat ends, Zhang Jiao will receive the negative status "Burnout," lasting half a month! (While in burnout, you will draw on the next three months' energy over the coming half month. After that half month, you will want to do nothing but lie down, and will only return to normal after resting for a full three months.)]
Burnout?
Drawing on the next three months' energy?
Why did that sound so much like a shaman's sinister sorcery?
For the moment, Zhang Jiao had no idea how greatly this negative status would affect him.
Yet Zhu Yuanzhang was taken aback when he saw Zhang Jiao's "punishment."
Historically, Zhang Jiao died of illness after being trapped in Guangzong for about a month. If history in the group member Zhang Jiao's world still follows that course, and his death from illness cannot be avoided, then this negative status, burnout, hardly seems like a punishment. Instead, it seems to be subtly helping him.
From the looks of it, the Rebel Army Group doesn't hand out punishments at random. There may be a deeper meaning behind them.
Just as Zhu Yuanzhang was thinking this, the group settled his reward and penalty.
[Administrator: Zhu Yuanzhang answered incorrectly during "Rebel Army Q&A." During the buzzer round, he buzzed in on three questions, answering two correctly and one incorrectly. In accordance with his choice, he will receive one reward and one penalty.] [Administrator: After this group chat ends, Zhu Yuanzhang will receive the negative status "Giving Up," lasting one month! (For this month, you will want to do nothing but stay in the rear palace, eating, drinking, and enjoying yourself. Affairs of state? Let the ministers worry about those!)]
Giving up?
So this was giving up?!
Zhu Yuanzhang immediately recalled that, in the third buzzer question, one of the Great Ming emperors had been jokingly called the "Founding Father of Giving Up" by later generations.
He understood what "founding father" meant, but at the time, he hadn't known what "giving up" meant. He had merely assumed it wasn't anything good.
Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined that this was what it meant!
"An emperor who only wants to stay in the rear palace eating, drinking, and enjoying himself, leaving all affairs of state to his ministers? Isn't he afraid of power slipping into other hands? How could an emperor like that appear among my descendants-no, among my fourth son's descendants?!"
"This is infuriating!"
Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to beat Zhu Di even more.
When he remembered that he, too, would be forced to give up for a month, he felt even more sickened.
In the royal palace of Zhao.
Inside a warm chamber.
Liu Bang had already dismissed Lou Jing and Chen Ping. Thus, when he saw Zhu Yuanzhang's penalty and learned what "giving up" meant, he couldn't help stroking his beard and laughing aloud.
"So that's what giving up means! The language of later generations is truly marvelous!"
"I imagine old Zhu must have quite a look on his face right now, thinking about that 'Founding Father of Giving Up' among his descendant Great Ming emperors! Hahaha..."
Inside Guangzong City.
Having learned what "giving up" meant and connected it to Zhu Yuanzhang's descendant emperor, the "Founding Father of Giving Up," Zhang Jiao couldn't suppress a chuckle either.
Just then, the group announced Zhu Yuanzhang's reward.
[Administrator: Congratulations to Zhu Yuanzhang on receiving the reward "Zhu Di Mini Video Pack"-this pack contains two short videos about Zhu Di created by people of later generations! Please enjoy!]
Two short videos about Zhu Di?
Zhu Yuanzhang's expression grew intent.
From the Rebel Army Group's first reward, he had already learned that a "video" was a painting whose figures could move, or an "animation" for short. Adding the word "short" surely meant its content would be brief.
Unless something unexpected happened, after Xiongying and Biao'er died one after the other in history, I must have chosen my fourth son as emperor.
"Very well. Let's see how my fourth son did as emperor. If he did well, fine. If he didn't... hmph!"
Zhu Yuanzhang ended with two cold snorts, already considering how to beat Zhu Di or punish him.
At that moment, the Rebel Army Group's display changed as the first short video began.
The entire screen first went black, and two lines of white text appeared that all three men could read.
[Song video: "A Man in Line Like Me"] [Performed by: Li Shimin, Zhu Di.]
Then a magnificent stage appeared on the screen, unlike anything in the mortal world, yet also unlike the immortal realm of legend.
Two middle-aged military officers in armor appeared onstage, each holding a strange short rod with a ball on the end.
Writing also appeared above their heads, identifying them by name.
One was Li Shimin. The other was none other than Zhu Di.
Liu Bang and Zhang Jiao didn't know who Li Shimin was, so they gave it little thought and simply watched expectantly.
Zhu Yuanzhang, however, furrowed his brow deeply.
"This short... video actually puts my fourth son alongside Li Shimin? Is it implying that, like Li Shimin, he slaughtered his brothers and forced me to pass the throne to him?!"
"No, no... Great Ming isn't Great Tang, and my fourth son isn't Li Shimin. Even in another ten-odd years, he couldn't possibly have that kind of power."
As Zhu Yuanzhang rapidly analyzed the situation, "Li Shimin" and "Zhu Di" in the video actually raised those short rods to their mouths and began singing alternating lines!
[Li Shimin: A filial man like me should have lived a quiet life. How did it end before Xuanwu Gate, with my elder brother falling silent?]
That single line was enough to make Zhu Yuanzhang lose his composure.
Astonishment and amusement wrestled across his face, tangled too tightly to pull apart.
But when "Zhu Di" began to sing, astonishment swiftly routed the amusement on his face, until not a trace of it remained.
[Zhu Di: A family-loving man like me should have guarded Beiping's gates. How did it end with Yingtian burning, and my nephew hiding himself away?] [Li Shimin: A wronged man like me~] [Zhu Di: An innocent man like me~] [Li Shimin, Zhu Di: Men like us, who took the throne in tears-why won't the historians acknowledge it~~]
The short video ended there, but the astonishment that had occupied Zhu Yuanzhang's entire face had already been usurped by fury.
"Yingtian burning?"
"My nephew hiding himself away?"
"So that's it! So that's it!"
In an instant, Zhu Yuanzhang resolved several doubts that had accumulated from the animated song and the buzzer questions.
Last year, the ninth year of Hongwu, Zhu Di had married Xu Da's daughter, and Zhu Yuanzhang had prepared to send him, his second son, and his third son to their respective fiefs. His fourth son Zhu Di's fief was precisely the Beiping mentioned in the song!
Of course, none of the three had gone to their fiefs yet. Instead, he had sent them to Fengyang to see where the Zhu family's foundations had been laid, learn about the hardships of ordinary people, and gain some experience in the local garrison along the way.
Barring any surprises, over the next three years, Zhu Shuang, Zhu Gang, and Zhu Di would head to their fiefs in Xi'an, Taiyuan, and Beiping in turn, putting into practice his policy of using his older sons as "frontier princes" to guard the borders.
Yet according to what this song video revealed, he would not pass the throne to his fourth son, but to another of Zhu Biao's children.
Then a great fire would break out in Yingtian, and the child who had inherited Great Ming's throne would "hide himself away."
Although the true meaning of "hide himself away" was vague, Zhu Yuanzhang immediately recalled the buzzer question saying that one Great Ming emperor was a "missing person." In that instant, the pieces fit.
Without a doubt, after a great fire in Yingtian, Great Ming's second emperor had "gone missing"!
There was no need to wonder what happened next. Zhu Di must have become Great Ming's third emperor!
Then how exactly had the great fire in Yingtian, capable of burning a Great Ming emperor to death, started?
And how had Zhu Di become Great Ming's third emperor?
Zhu Yuanzhang was deeply unwilling to think about it.
Yet the most likely answer had already appeared in his mind, naked and dripping with blood.
His fourth son... had murdered his nephew and usurped the throne!!