The True Dragon Emperor Emerges from Huangjue Temple

Zhu Chongba.

When this name appeared in the sky, all of time and space fell into a moment of silence.

This name is so corny.

It's as rustic as a lump of mud in the ground.

It is not like Ying Zheng, Liu Che, or Li Shimin, whose names inherently carry an extraordinary air.

It's just a number, a humble code name.

However, this humble code name shocked all emperors like never before.

Because they knew that this very person, Zhu Chongba, would eventually wear a crown and dragon robe, rule the world, and change the era name to "Hongwu"!

This leap from earth to stars contains a power that would make any legend pale in comparison.

Above the sky, Zhu Dijun's voice slowly rang out, pulling everyone's thoughts back to that tragic era.

"Zhu is his surname. Chongba is the sum of his and his father's ages. In those days, children from poor families were not entitled to a formal name and could only use numbers or their birth dates instead."

Zhu Chongba was born into an extremely poor tenant farmer family in Haozhou, Huaixi.

"During his childhood, he never had a day when he was full. He herded cattle for landlords in exchange for a meager amount of food that was barely enough to fill his stomach."

"He watched the landlord's children, dressed in fine silks and satins, eating delicacies, while he could only gnaw on dry, hard cornbread in the cold wind."

"He didn't understand any grand principles, but from that time on, a seed was planted in his heart."

Why?

"Why can they live in luxury while we have to starve to death?"

The images on the sky began to flash rapidly.

It depicts the scene of young Zhu Chongba being severely beaten by the landlord because his cow ate the landlord's wheat seedlings.

It was the despair he felt watching his parents fall one after another within days due to hunger and plague, unable to even afford a thin coffin.

It was he and his second brother who, with a few tattered clothes, wrapped their parents' bodies and hastily buried them in a small plot of land donated by their neighbor, Liu Jizu.

Those scenes, so real and so cruel, were like sharp knives piercing the hearts of every viewer.

The Ming Dynasty, Hongwu Hall.

Zhu Yuanzhang closed his eyes, and two streams of hot tears silently slid down his weathered face.

Even after he ascended the throne, this memory remained his deepest nightmare when he awoke in the middle of the night.

He never told anyone, including his wife and children, about this past event in detail.

Because it hurts so much.

The pain was so intense that every breath felt like being cut by a knife.

Now, this descendant has laid bare his deepest wounds, revealing them to the vast expanse of time.

Zhu Biao looked at his father's trembling shoulders and felt as if his heart was being torn apart. He finally understood where his father's deep-seated hatred for corrupt officials came from!

That wasn't political maneuvering, that wasn't a system of checks and balances; that was a blood feud!

In the sky above, Zhu Dijun's voice also became hoarse.

"My family is destroyed, and I have nowhere else to turn."

"In order to survive, Zhu Chongba, who was only seventeen years old, along with his brother, sister-in-law, and nephew, had no choice but to flee the famine separately."

Where did he go?

"He went to the nearby Huangjue Temple, shaved his head and became a monk, serving as a novice."

The scene shows a dilapidated temple.

Zhu Chongba shaved his head, put on a monk's robe, and spent his days in the temple sweeping, carrying water, and chanting scriptures that he himself could not understand.

He thought he could finally have a place where he could eat a peaceful meal.

However, he was wrong.

"In an era when even gods and Buddhas could not protect themselves, temples were not places of refuge."

"Just two months later, due to the severe famine, the temple also ran out of food. The abbot had no choice but to dismiss the monks and send them out to beg for alms."

"The so-called alms-begging sounds nice, but it is."

Zhu Dijun chuckled self-deprecatingly.

"To put it bluntly, it's like becoming a beggar!"

The scene changes.

Young Zhu Chongba, holding a broken bowl and wearing a patched monk's robe, walked alone on the desolate land of Huaixi.

He traveled from Haozhou to Hefei, then to Henan, and finally to Anhui...

He had seen fields littered with the corpses of the starving and lands barren for miles around.

He had witnessed people exchanging children to eat, and people acting like jackals and wolves.

He was chased and bitten by vicious dogs, beaten by the servants of wealthy families, and fought with other beggars until his head bled over a moldy steamed bun.

He slept in dilapidated temples, under bridges, and among piles of dead bodies.

Hunger, cold, disease, and the threat of death followed him like a shadow.

This three-year-long life of homelessness and begging completely transformed this once somewhat naive boy into a hard stone.

His eyes no longer held confusion or weakness.

Only one kind remains: a crazy resilience, like wild grass, for surviving in dire circumstances!

Audiences from all times and spaces fell silent.

They couldn't imagine what kind of strong heart a person must have to survive in such a hell.

Datang.

Li Shimin looked at the ragged but determined young man in the sky and sighed deeply.

"I... am not as good as him."

This emperor, one of the greatest in history, spoke from the bottom of his heart.

He asked himself honestly, if he were in Zhu Chongba's position, he wouldn't be able to survive a single day.

That wasn't a matter of willpower; it was the utter crushing effect of the living environment.

"During these three years, he didn't read the classics; he read about the deepest suffering of this land," Fang Xuanling remarked.

"In these three years, he didn't meet high-ranking officials and nobles; he met the most naked human nature in this world," Du Ruhui added.

They finally understood why this Hongwu Emperor would later formulate those seemingly harsh, yet incisive, policies that directly addressed the core of the problem.

Because everything about him originated from this land, from the hell he had personally experienced.

Above the sky, Zhu Dijun's voice rang out again, breaking the silence.

"Three years of wandering made Zhu Chongba see through the ways of the world."

He understood that neither gods nor Buddhas could save him. Nor would the government.

Only you can save yourself!

He also understood that no one can survive in this cannibalistic world alone. To live, to live with dignity, one must... stick together!

"Just then, a letter was delivered to him."

In the scene, Zhu Chongba, now a robust 25-year-old, returns to Huangjue Temple.

He received a letter from his childhood friend Tang He.

The letter said that Tang He had joined Guo Zixing's Red Turban Army and become a minor commander.

The letter ended with an invitation.

Invite him to join us in doing something big!

"Family members, the opportunity has arrived!"

Zhu Dijun's voice suddenly became impassioned!

"However, this opportunity also comes with enormous risks! The Yuan Dynasty government already knows of the letter's existence and is preparing to arrest him!"

"There are only two paths before Zhu Chongba."

"One option is to continue as a monk or a beggar, living a precarious existence, barely surviving, and always at risk of being arrested and beheaded by the authorities."

"The other path is to join the Red Turban Army, take up arms, and fight against this unjust world! To carve a bloody path for himself and for the millions of oppressed people like him!"

"This is a high-stakes gamble! His life is at stake!"

Zhu Dijun's gaze seemed to pierce through time and space, meeting the eyes of the young man standing at the crossroads of fate.

What will he choose?

The image freezes on Zhu Chongba's angular face, which is filled with determination and resolve.

He clutched the letter tightly in his hand!

Then, he turned around and resolutely strode towards Haozhou City!

That was the Red Turban Army's camp!

That place was the starting point of his legend!

"From this day forward, there will be no more beggars like Zhu Chongba!"

"Only if this world could be changed to a different color..."

"Emperor Taizu of Ming, Zhu Yuanzhang!"