Zhu Di was dumbfounded after hearing Zhu Yuanzhang's words.
Farm in Fengyang for three years? Wasn't that as good as exile?
All he had done was fail to learn much about farming and the common people's hardships while in Fengyang. Surely that didn't warrant such a harsh punishment?
Once he recovered, Zhu Di tried to plead his case.
"Father!" he blurted out in his urgency. "I at least visited the fields and spoke to the people of Fengyang a few times. Second Brother and Third Brother never went even once. Second Brother hardly even came to the barracks."
"Neither of them is being punished, so why are you singling me out?!"
Zhu Yuanzhang had issued his decree sending Zhu Shuang, Zhu Gang, and Zhu Di to Fengyang to temper themselves after the Spring Festival. Afterward, however, he had been affected by the negative status "giving up" and really had not sent anyone to investigate what the three had been doing there.
As for his subordinates, they all assumed Zhu Yuanzhang had merely been speaking offhandedly about sending the three to Fengyang to temper themselves. Naturally, they did not report their conduct-anyone who did might well be accused by Zhu Yuanzhang of deliberately sowing discord between him and his sons.
Thus, Zhu Yuanzhang truly had not known how Zhu Shuang, Zhu Gang, and Zhu Di had spent their first month in Fengyang.
Only now did he learn that Zhu Shuang and Zhu Gang had done even less than Zhu Di, and anger naturally rose within him.
His face hardened. "Who said they're getting off unpunished? All three of you will farm in Fengyang for three years! If you can't farm properly, don't even think of leaving!"
Zhu Di was dumbfounded again.
He had failed to use Zhu Shuang and Zhu Gang as shields and dragged them into the mire instead?
If Second Brother and Third Brother find out, won't they come after me with murder in their eyes?
At that thought, Zhu Di racked his brains and finally found another way to plead with his father.
"Father, Miaoyun was recently found to be pregnant. With her carrying a child, she truly cannot endure the hardship of farming alongside me in Fengyang. Please show me leniency for the sake of your unborn grandchild!"
Zhu Yuanzhang had heard the report of Xu Miaoyun's pregnancy while he was in the "giving up" state, but he had indeed forgotten about it just now.
It would have been better if Zhu Di had not mentioned the child. The moment he did, Zhu Yuanzhang recalled all those wretched emperors in the history of the Great Ming, and his anger burned hotter.
He bent slightly at the waist. "Fourth Son, raise your head."
Zhu Di looked up, pleading written across his face, only to meet Zhu Yuanzhang's knife-sharp gaze.
"Tell me, is working the land as a farmer really so terrifying to you?" Zhu Yuanzhang asked.
"I'm not afraid of farming. It's just..."
"Just what?"
"Father, three years is too long." Zhu Di kept his head raised. "I know you intend to launch another northern expedition against the Remnant Yuan in a few years. I hope to lead troops in that campaign, so I wish to take up my fief in Beiping as soon as possible and learn more about military affairs on the northern frontier."
Zhu Yuanzhang paced around Zhu Di.
"I'm pleased that you want to shoulder some of my burdens. But more than that, I want you, as a prince with a fief, to understand not only how to lead troops into battle, but also the toil of farming and the suffering of the common people. Only then will you refrain from using your princely status to oppress the locals once you take up your fiefs."
"So you will farm, whether you like it or not, for at least three years. If you can't even farm properly, forget about taking up your fiefs. Stay in Fengyang and be farmers for the rest of your lives."
"As for Lady Xu, she may rest through her pregnancy and await the birth at the Prince of Yan's residence in the capital. You may return to visit her once every two months."
Hearing that Zhu Yuanzhang had even made arrangements for Xu Miaoyun, Zhu Di knew there was no reversing the decision. He was destined to farm in Fengyang.
If he kept arguing, he would probably only anger Zhu Yuanzhang further and bring more punishment upon himself.
At that thought, Zhu Di drew a deep breath and cupped his fists. "I obey your decree!"
Zhu Yuanzhang pulled Zhu Di to his feet and brushed the dust from his shoulders. "All right. Go visit your mother."
"Yes."
Zhu Di answered and withdrew from the western side hall.
Three days later, Zhu Yuanzhang issued an imperial decree formally ordering Zhu Shuang, Zhu Gang, and Zhu Di to farm in Fengyang for three years. It also stipulated that henceforth, every imperial prince of the Great Ming must farm in Fengyang for three years before taking up his fief.
The idea had actually come to Zhu Yuanzhang through the incident with Zhu Di.
Previously, even Zhu Shuang, the most unruly of them, had seemed reasonably obedient and sensible in his presence. But after sending men to Fengyang to investigate Zhu Shuang's conduct over the past month, he realized that most of that obedience and good sense had been an act.
By nature, Zhu Shuang not only loved ease and loathed labor, but also beat and cursed his servants at the slightest provocation. He had no interest whatsoever in understanding the common people's hardships.
Although Zhu Gang did not shun hard work, he likewise enjoyed beating and berating his servants.
Zhu Di, on the other hand, treated his guards, servants, and other attendants well and knew how to win people's hearts. He certainly lived up to being the man who would later succeed in usurping the throne.
This made Zhu Yuanzhang realize that the education they had received at the Hall of Great Foundations, along with token participation in farmwork once or twice a year, could never make sons born as imperial princes understand the hardships of commoners' lives.
If these three grown princes-Zhu Shuang, Zhu Gang, and Zhu Di-were like this, most of the younger princes probably would be too.
He simply used the opportunity of punishing the three to establish a rule: princes of the Great Ming must farm in Fengyang for three years before taking up their fiefs.
To Zhu Yuanzhang's mind, even if this could not change the nature of princes like Zhu Shuang, it could at least make them exercise some restraint after taking up their fiefs, rather than running too wild in their domains...
In the blink of an eye, nearly another month passed, bringing them to mid-March of the tenth year of Hongwu.
Taiping Township, Zhongli County, Fengyang Prefecture.
Three thatched adobe houses had appeared near the ancestral tombs of Zhu Yuanzhang, emperor of the Great Ming.
Zhu Di and Zhu Gang returned from the fields together, each carrying a hoe over his shoulder. Seeing Zhu Shuang lounging in a chair by the door, basking in the sun and drinking millet porridge with a lazy yet contented air, Zhu Di could not resist reminding him again.
"Second Brother, if you don't start planting, you'll miss the season entirely and have nothing to harvest in summer!"
"So what?" Zhu Shuang said indifferently. "I don't believe Father will actually bear to let me starve to death in Fengyang once my rations run out."
After Zhu Yuanzhang's decree ordering the Prince of Qin, the Prince of Jin, and the Prince of Yan to farm in Fengyang for three years arrived in mid-February, the three had been settled near the ancestral tombs. At Zhu Yuanzhang's specific instructions, craftsmen had also built them three simple but sturdy thatched houses beside the fields.
Since the princes' consorts and children had no need to undergo this "tempering" for the time being, Zhu Shuang and Zhu Gang lived here alone, just like Zhu Di.
Besides various seeds and farming tools, Zhu Yuanzhang had given the three an ox and six months' worth of rations apiece.
After arriving, Zhu Di and Zhu Gang had obediently begun farming under the instruction of local farmers. They had already spent more than half a month working the land.
But Zhu Shuang had refused to continue after working for less than an hour. Instead, he had barely managed to learn a little about making porridge and cooking meals.
These days, he did little besides eat and sleep. Occasionally, he wandered around nearby and tried trading his rations with the villagers for chickens, ducks, vegetables, and other goods.
Zhu Yuanzhang had sent imperial guards to supervise their farming.
Yet whether Zhu Yuanzhang had not anticipated this maneuver or had secretly issued instructions about it, the guards overseeing them did not stop Zhu Shuang from trading with the villagers.
After exchanging his rations for other supplies, Zhu Shuang lived even more "comfortably" and became still less willing to toil in the fields.
Now, hearing Zhu Shuang's words, Zhu Di could not help saying, "Father won't let us starve to death in Fengyang, but if you keep lazing about like this, Second Brother, you'll never get to take up your fief in Xi'an!"
Since Zhu Shuang had been invested as the Prince of Qin in the third year of Hongwu, with Xi'an designated as his fief, the court had been building a palace for him there. By this year, it was nearing completion.
Zhu Shuang remembered that the order for them to farm in Fengyang for three years had only come after Zhu Di was summoned back to the capital. He had long suspected that Zhu Di was responsible.
Since it was only a suspicion and he had no proof, he had held his tongue until now.
But hearing Zhu Di "curse" him to never take up his fief, and remembering that he had never even seen the Prince of Qin's Palace in Xi'an and might never have the chance to live there, he finally lost his restraint.
He stood up and pointed straight at Zhu Di's nose. "Fourth Brother, don't think I don't know! Father must have punished all three of us because of something you said after returning to the capital!"
"If not, why were we doing perfectly fine in Fengyang before, only for Father to issue this decree after you went back? As far as I'm concerned, you're the culprit, and you ought to farm both my land and Third Brother's!"
In truth, Zhu Di also vaguely felt that he was to blame, but there was no way he would admit it.
So he retorted, "Blame me? Back in Fengyang city, Third Brother and I at least visited the barracks regularly. What about you? You stayed in town and barely went to the barracks at all. If anyone angered Father, wouldn't it have been you?"
Zhu Di's argument was so reasonable that Zhu Shuang could not think of a rebuttal.
He wanted to assert his authority as the second brother and teach Zhu Di a lesson. But they were no longer children. Zhu Di was taller and bigger than he was, and far better at fighting, archery, and horsemanship. He could not beat him.
With a cold snort, he simply turned and went inside to sleep...
Yingtian Prefecture's capital city.
The western side hall of the Hall of Heavenly Favor, Forbidden City.
Zhu Yuanzhang did not yet know that his second and fourth sons had nearly quarreled to the point of coming to blows. With troops scheduled to march against the rebellious Western Fan Tribes in April, he had been considerably busier than usual these past days.
After he finished reviewing a memorial from Shaanxi, a familiar voice he had been eagerly awaiting rang out.
Rebel Army Group chat activated!
At once, the translucent group chat interface appeared before Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes.
At the sight, Zhu Yuanzhang breathed a sigh of relief. The Rebel Army Group had not appeared for nearly two months, and he had thought something might have gone wrong.
Two months have passed on my side this time, but I wonder how much time has passed for Liu Bang and Zhang Jiao.
Liu Bang's situation should be manageable, but if too much time has passed for Zhang Jiao, things may not have developed as I hoped.
Zhu Yuanzhang was about to ask when he saw that Liu Bang had once again been the first to send a message.