Chapter 17: Chaghan Temür

Wang Baobao, who had been unconscious for nearly three months, slowly stirred to consciousness. Seeing his father, Chahan Temür, and Minmin sitting before him, he said bitterly, "Father, I have brought shame upon you."

He tried to rise to pay his respects but was held down by Chahan.

"Although you are not my flesh and blood, I have placed high hopes in you. Qingtie, you must remember that failure is not terrible; what is terrible is becoming afraid of failure and hesitating to move forward."

"I have been taught, Father."

Wang Baobao’s gaze then shifted to his sister, Guanyinnu, who sat nearby with a look of concern. Seeing her increasingly prominent belly, he said dejectedly, "Minmin, you and I have relied on each other since childhood, and our bond is profound. That dog of a barbarian dared to take advantage of the situation to defile you—I hate that I cannot tear him limb from limb. It is all my fault as an older brother for being so incompetent."

"Qingtie Agha, the matter has reached this point; do not blame him anymore. No matter how shameless and base he may be, he is, after all, the biological father of your nephew."

Minmin Temür’s face flushed with shyness. She could hardly tell him that it was she, the aunt, who had forced herself upon the drunken Zhu Shuang.

"Qingtie, I have already consented to the marriage between Minmin and Zhu Shuang. We are all family now; let us not dwell on these grievances."

"But Father..."

"I have gathered you all here today to tell you of a great matter. The Emperor and the Empress have sent me a secret edict commanding me to enter the capital to defend the throne and eradicate the remnants of Böbö Temür's faction."

"Father, is Böbö dead? If you go, I fear you will face the same fate as Han Xin."

"Do I not know that this journey is fraught with danger? I have studied the Four Books and Five Classics since I was a child. Our family holds two princely titles and has received immense grace from the Emperor. If I do not go, the world will curse your grandfather for raising a Cao Cao of our time, and they will curse you, Minmin, and Tuoyin for having a traitor as a father."

"But the Great Yuan is already beyond saving..."

"Do I not know that the Great Yuan is terminally ill and beyond recovery? Yet, if even a man like me shrinks away, history will record that in the century of the Great Yuan’s reign, there was not a single loyal subject, and we shall be the laughingstock of the world."

"I am nearing fifty and have few regrets, but you, Minmin, and Tuoyin have other paths."

After leaving a letter for Wang Baobao, Chahan Temür left his army of one hundred thousand under Wang Baobao's command and set off north for Dadu with only three thousand men to defend the throne.

Witnessing this, Jin Zhong could not help but sigh: "It is a pity that he cannot be used by my lord. This Chahan is truly a loyal minister and a capable general."

Standing before the tent, Zhu Shuang knew this all too well. Before his rebirth, he had read novels and assumed that with a glare and a burst of dominant aura, all the heroes of the world would fall into his palm. But having seen the truth, he understood that Chahan, who could raise a man of such caliber as Wang Baobao, could never be a selfish, petty villain. Only those who live in the midst of it understand that heroes are not easily swayed by the words of others; it is their iron-willed conviction that earns them a place in the vast annals of history.

***

Zhu Shuang could only regret that he could not force his two fathers-in-law, Xu Da and Chahan, into a martial arts competition to win his hand.

Returning to the main camp, Wang Baobao, newly promoted to "Little General," was slumped over the commander’s chair, secretly wiping away tears. Seeing the two enter, he flew into a rage: "Guards! Drag this intruder out and give him eighty strokes of the military staff!"

Zhang Yu and Qiu Fu looked at Zhu Shuang with embarrassment and whispered, "The Young Commander has been in a foul mood lately. Prince Consort, perhaps you should come back in a couple of days."

Zhu Shuang chuckled, and Wang Baobao, enraged, reached for his blade.

Zhu Shuang stood akimbo and laughed, "A grown man, all you do is cry, cry, cry! Are you dead? If you line up these one hundred thousand men before the gates of Dadu, do you think the Yuan Emperor would still dare to touch your father?"

Wang Baobao froze, and Zhu Shuang slapped him.

He kicked the wide-eyed, furious Wang Baobao and scolded, "What are you looking at? That’s the interest. You good-for-nothing, why aren't you off chasing your father yet?"

Hearing this, Wang Baobao shot Zhu Shuang a sideways glance, vaulted onto his horse, cupped his hands in a salute, and ordered the army to break camp.

Seeing this astonishing scene, Jin Zhong stood with his mouth agape, stammering for a long time before squeezing out: "The actions of a True Dragon are indeed unfettered and beyond the reach of ordinary men."

Zhu Shuang rubbed the bump on his forehead. If a filial son like him had been reborn a few years later, he might have ended up lecturing his father, Old Zhu, in front of his own funeral casket. For the sake of Old Zhu's health, he decided he’d better figure out how to make him retire early.

Zhu Shuang picked up his riding crop, pointed to the map hanging on the wall, and asked in a loud voice, "Mr. Jin, where do you see the foundation for a grand hegemony?"

Jin Zhong wiped the cold sweat from his brow. Could this Prince of the Ming Dynasty be any louder while plotting rebellion in the middle of a Yuan military camp?

He pulled out his divination tools—the moon blocks—muttered a prayer, and cast them to the ground. After examining the omen, he recited: "The purple aura rises in the north at Dadu; this is a place where a dragon ascends. If my lord goes there, it will be like a dragon hidden in the abyss."

Zhu Shuang then pointed to Chang'an, his fief from his previous life. Jin Zhong divined again, frowned, and said, "That path is filled with misfortune and a rocky fate; it is a sign of great catastrophe. My lord, proceed with caution."

Zhu Shuang nodded with satisfaction: "Good, we shall go to Chang'an."

Jin Zhong was dumbfounded: "My lord, what is your intention?"

"The empire's greatest diviner, Liu Ji, is still alive. If I can calculate the dragon's aura in Dadu, can't Liu Bowen? If I were enfeoffed in Dadu, would Zhu Yuanzhang be able to sleep at night?"

Zhu Shuang had no interest in following the Fourth Brother's path from his previous life—sleeping in pigsties, eating filth, and playing the fool in Beiping for years.

***

Besides, if Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to build a capital in Xi'an as he did in history, it wasn't impossible; he could just trade his Fengtian Hall for it.

"Mr. Jin, Dadu has the Great Wall at its back and a deep foundation, but it is sandwiched between Jin and Lu. With the Grand Canal providing convenience, the imperial army could reach the gates of Dadu in days. It serves well as a capital for a nation, but not as a base for rebellion."

It must be said that on the Fourth Brother’s path to divinity, his good nephew Zhu Yunwen performed a divine service, with Li Jinglong coming in a close second. So many correct options existed, yet Zhu Yunwen perfectly avoided every single one of them. Had the good nephew made even one right move, the Fourth Brother might have ended up a prisoner.

Jin Zhong was left dazed by these words. With his current experience, he truly could not understand Zhu Shuang's actions. Was he not trying to rebel against the Crown Prince, but instead aiming to be Li Shimin? But the Hongwu Emperor was no Li Yuan; he was a man who had forged an empire with his own hands.

Indeed, Zhu Shuang was thinking of rebelling against Zhu Yuanzhang. It was only the fourth year of the Hongwu reign. According to history, Old Zhu would live for another twenty-seven years. If he waited until he was forty-two to act, and then spent four years in a civil war like the Fourth Brother, his great-grandson would almost be born. There would be no point in being an emperor at forty-six.

He might look glorious now, but ten years later, when Empress Ma passed away, he would be a fallen phoenix, worth less than a chicken. Once his eldest brother, the Crown Prince, was gone, who knew if the broken, aging Old Zhu—having lost his wife and his beloved son—would turn on him to pave the way for Zhu Yunwen? The best-case scenario of being stripped of his title and imprisoned in Fengyang for life was something he absolutely could not accept.

"I have heard that the current Emperor of the Ming treats my lord with the utmost favor. Why does my lord harbor such defensive thoughts?"

"Mr. Jin, I know you have many questions. Do you know that there has always been a thorn in my heart? It was the Grand Commander of the Wu Army, Zhu Wenzheng, who told me personally: back at the walls of Hongdu, our King of Wu patted him on the shoulder and said, 'The Crown Prince is sickly; you must encourage him.'"

"Our Hongwu Emperor only has the world and the Crown Prince in his heart. The Crown Prince is his political legacy. While the Crown Prince lives, we vassal kings can be carefree. But if something happens to the Crown Prince, in the eyes of his successor, we are nothing but thorns in the side. That is why I must plan ahead."

Zhu Shuang had always wondered: why was the newly ascended Jianwen so eager to prune the vassals—or rather, kill them? Was it merely the influence of the "Three Idiots of Jianwen"? It was impossible to know if there had been instructions from Old Zhu on his deathbed. He suspected that Old Zhu’s massive renovation of the Central Capital in Fengyang served not only for ancestor worship but also as a place prepared for the vassal kings. Otherwise, the Fourth Brother wouldn't have repeatedly locked up discarded royals in Fengyang until they died.

It was just that Old Zhu never imagined that the grandson he had protected with so much effort would turn out to be such an arrogant fool. In history, the Fourth Brother's policy of pruning the vassals looked much more like the seasoned handiwork of Old Zhu.

Old Zhu spent the first half of his life paving the way for the Crown Prince, even using his own legitimate sons as whetstones. The more cruel and incompetent the vassal sons appeared, the wiser the Crown Prince seemed. Plainly speaking, the only ones with a real claim to the throne were the Qin and Jin fiefs. Thinking of the historical Zhu Shuang and Zhu Gang, both were brilliant youths who turned into cruel tyrants later in life. Had Old Zhu not killed off all the capable generals in his later years, the Third Brother's reputation would not have been much better than his own.

Whenever a prince committed a crime that stirred public indignation, Zhu Yuanzhang would fly into a rage and threaten to strip them of their titles, only for his elder brother, the Crown Prince, to appear as a benevolent ruler.

Zhu Shuang wanted to laugh at this performance of the good cop and the bad cop. Only he knew that his dear father’s only remaining warmth was reserved for the Empress and the Crown Prince.

My dear father, when I was poisoned in my previous life, were you truly unaware, or did you just choose not to know?