The First Trap Dig by the Ming Taizu and Ming Chengzu for the Demise of the Ming Dynasty

Inside the Fengtian Hall, there was a deathly silence.

Zhu Yuanzhang stood frozen in place, like a petrified statue.

The images on the sky kept replaying in his mind.

On one side are their own fat and prosperous descendants, who live on mountains of gold and silver and need help to walk.

On the other side, the border troops who were protecting their homeland were forced to take up arms and turn their swords against the people and the court they were supposed to protect because they had no food.

How absurd!

How ironic!

Zhu Yuanzhang was an emperor who fought his way out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood. He hated corrupt officials and powerful figures who preyed on the people the most!

He spent his entire life fighting against these people!

In the end, however, the descendants of the Zhu family became the biggest bloodsuckers and the most powerful figures in the country!

"We...we made a mistake..."

Zhu Yuanzhang's voice was as dry as tree bark dried by the wind.

He slowly slumped back onto the dragon throne, which, at this moment, resembled a cold tomb.

He wanted to give his sons the best, to let them enjoy wealth forever and never suffer the slightest grievance.

Was this initial intention wrong?

No.

But his mistake was that he turned this paternal love into an unshakable, disastrous "ancestral rule" that harmed the country and its people!

His mistake was that he overestimated the wisdom of his descendants and underestimated the greed of human nature!

"We... are the greatest sinners of the Ming Dynasty..."

At this moment, the pillar of the spirit of this strong-willed Emperor Hongwu has completely collapsed.

Tears of regret streamed silently down his deeply lined face.

……

The Forbidden City in the fifteenth year of the Yongle reign.

Zhu Di's situation was not much better than his father's.

His face was deathly pale.

If we say that Zhu Yuanzhang was the founder of this system, then...

Zhu Di was the most crucial "reformer" and "reinforcer" of this system!

It was he who personally shattered the royal family's claws and then used gold and silver to build them magnificent prisons.

He thought this was part of "maintaining stability".

Now it seems that this was not about maintaining stability at all!

This is injecting the Ming Dynasty with a slow poison!

"To praise someone to death..."

Zhu Di kept repeating these two words in his mouth.

He finally understood.

The civil service and the Khazars didn't need to lift a finger.

All they need to do is go along with you, flatter you, and praise you, leading you further and further down the wrong path.

Once you've dragged the country into the abyss, they'll step forward and play the role of "savior," or simply deliver the final blow to this corrupt dynasty!

What a vicious plan!

What a cruel heart!

"His Majesty……"

Looking at the distraught Zhu Di, Yao Guangxiao couldn't help but speak.

"There might still be room for maneuver in this matter."

"A turnaround?"

Zhu Di raised his head, his bloodshot eyes filled with self-mockery.

"How do we turn things around?"

"Ancestral rules cannot be violated! These are the rules set by our father!"

"If I dared to touch the salaries of the vassal kings, what would the people say about me? They would say I am cruel and ungrateful, unable even to tolerate my own relatives!"

"What will those princes and their nephews think? Will they think I'm going to exterminate them? Even if they lose their military power, won't they resort to desperate measures, secretly colluding with local authorities to cause trouble again?"

This is a dead end!

He himself created an unsolvable dead end!

Moving forward, there is the possibility of a rebellion by the vassal kings.

Behind that lies the collapse of the national treasury.

No matter which option you choose, it's a dead end!

At this moment, Zhu Di felt the same profound sense of powerlessness that Emperor Chongzhen had faced years before.

He won the world, only to discover that he was piloting a giant ship destined to sink.

……

Above the sky, Zhu Dijun's voice continued, like a heavy hammer, striking the hearts of all the Ming emperors one after another.

"Family members, do you think the harm of the feudal system was merely that it drained the treasury?"

"No! Its deeper poison lies in its complete destruction of a class's courage and sense of responsibility!"

"Emperor Taizu enfeoffed nine princes to guard the frontier; how magnificent!"

"At that time, Prince Qin (Zhu Shuang), Prince Jin (Zhu Gang), and Prince Yan (Zhu Di) were all capable commanders who could ride into battle and lead independently!"

"They are the Great Wall of the empire, the extension of imperial power, and the true 'imperial bulwark'!"

The image shows Zhu Di in his youth, galloping across the grasslands and shooting eagles with a bow.

Zhu Di, during the Yongle reign, looked at his younger self, a hint of disbelief flashing in his eyes.

At that time, although he was just a vassal king, he had a million soldiers in his heart and a vast country in his eyes.

What a delightful experience!

"However, starting from Emperor Renzong and Emperor Xuanzong, the national policy of 'pig farming' was thoroughly implemented."

Zhu Dijun's voice became regretful.

"The princes were deprived of all opportunities to achieve merit and establish a career. Their lives were reduced to nothing more than living a life of debauchery within the high walls of their palaces."

"At first, perhaps some people were unwilling to accept it."

"But what happens after one or two generations?"

"When comfort and pleasure become a habit, when getting something for nothing becomes a matter of course."

"A person's fighting spirit will be worn down."

"If you lose your backbone, it will be completely drained."

"An elite class that should have been the pillars of the nation has been turned into a bunch of bloated, good-for-nothings who know nothing but how to compete, enjoy themselves, and oppress the people they govern!"

The scene changes again.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, Li Zicheng's army besieged Luoyang.

In the city, Prince Fu, Zhu Changxun, refused his subordinates' suggestion to donate his family property to reward the army.

He told the officials who came pleading, "The money in my household is for the benefit of my descendants for generations to come; how can I give it away so easily?"

As a result, the city fell.

Li Zicheng captured the Prince of Fu, who weighed over 360 jin (approximately 188 kg).

The rebel soldiers cut off pieces of his fat and cooked them in a huge pot along with several deer they had captured.

It was euphemistically called the "Feast of Fortune and Prosperity"!

Countless hungry soldiers devoured his flesh and blood.

……

With the Qing army entering the pass, the Southern Ming dynasty lingered on for a time of crisis.

Prince Gui, Zhu Youlang, fled south, surrounded by civil officials.

He had no opinions of his own and no ability; he was like a puppet, manipulated by the court officials.

Finally, he was betrayed by the Burmese king and handed over to Wu Sangui.

In Kunming, the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty was strangled to death by Wu Sangui with a bowstring.

On his deathbed, he asked Wu Sangui, "You are also a Han Chinese, how could you bear to do this?"

Wu Sangui remained expressionless.

……

A series of humiliating scenes flashed across the sky.

Those once high-ranking sons and grandsons of the dragon showed such cowardice and vulnerability when their country was destroyed and their families perished!

None of them could rise from the brink of defeat, raise an army, and fight to reclaim the lost territory like their ancestor Zhu Yuanzhang!

All they can do is cry, run away, and in the face of the butcher's knife, they can only let out desperate howls like real pigs!

"Did you see that?"

Zhu Dijun's voice was filled with sorrow.

"This is the price of 'pig farming'!"

"What it raises is not a mighty lion capable of protecting its kingdom, but a flock of fat sheep that can't even protect themselves!"

"When the nation is in peril and they are needed to step forward, they are of no use other than contributing their wealth and lives to provide the enemy with 'military funds' and 'rations'!"

"This is the most vicious and insidious aspect of the feudal system!"

"It fundamentally castrated the future of the Zhu Ming imperial family!"

This moment.

All time and space fell into a deathly silence.

Qin Shi Huang, Emperor Wu of Han, Emperor Taizong of Tang... these emperors with great talent and ambition all felt a chill from the bottom of their hearts.

They also struggled with how to deal with the royal family.

They were either enfeoffed or imprisoned.

But they never imagined that a system could use the sweetest poison, "wealth and status," to completely destroy the spirit and vitality of a family!

terrible!

Inside the Hongwu Hall.

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at the sky and saw his descendants who had been slaughtered, boiled, or strangled.

He couldn't take it any longer.

"puff--"

A mouthful of blood suddenly gushed out, spilling all over the imperial desk.

His vision went black, and he fell straight backward from the dragon throne!

"Father!"

Crown Prince Zhu Biao let out a heart-wrenching cry and rushed forward.

This was the Hongwu Emperor, who founded the Ming Dynasty, killed countless people, and had a heart as hard as iron.

After witnessing firsthand how his "perfect plan" for his descendants ultimately turned them into pigs and sheep to be slaughtered, and dragged down the entire country.

He was completely overwhelmed by his own heavy love!