Rebirth of the Ming Dynasty: Sixth Generation of Glory, I don't want it

The Geng family, the Li family, and the Xu family all felt that this was a huge encirclement and suppression.

From a broad perspective, this is the same as the civil officials in all dynasties joining forces to encircle and suppress the military officials with all their might.

To put it simply, it is the encirclement and suppression of the group of people who followed the emperor's grandfather to conquer the country by the aristocratic families behind the current civil officials in the court.

Similar encirclement and suppression campaigns occurred during the Tang and Song dynasties.

The founding emperor proclaimed himself emperor through military force, but later the military officers declined in power and civil officials took control of government affairs, until finally the huge dynasty collapsed.

The same was true of the Yuan Dynasty before the Ming Dynasty.

The late emperor rose up in rebellion because he could not stand the corruption and extortion of officials at the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the extortion of the imperial court.

After the founding of the dynasty, the late emperor had always been on guard against and suppressed the gentry.

Therefore, this group of aristocratic families in the Ming Dynasty were much more sinister than those in the Tang, Song and Yuan Dynasties, and they took action much earlier.

They turned from open to covert, and not only gradually expanded their power in the court, they also extended their hands to the backyard.

So, these guys who were good at fighting only realized something was wrong at this point.

After checking, I found that the whole matter was confusing and one thing led to another.

This is an unprecedented backyard encirclement and suppression.

They probably started planning since the early days of the dynasty, when the late emperor confirmed my former uncle's status as the crown prince.

Now that the new emperor Zhu Yunwen's mother, Lu, has been successfully sent to the Prince's Mansion, the revolution has officially begun.

Lu was the daughter of Lu Ben, the Minister of Taichang Temple.

In simple terms, Lu was the daughter of a civil servant and a natural member of the civil servant faction.

No one knew when Lu entered the Eastern Palace; no one knew how she entered the palace.

There was no record in the palace, and no rumors outside the palace.

The crown prince is gone, and the people in the Eastern Palace have been replaced countless times. At this point, there is not even a single person who knows the inside story.

According to Zhu Yunwen's age, Lu must have entered the Eastern Palace before the ninth year of Hongwu.

It is said that after Lu entered the palace, Crown Princess Chang had a very good relationship with her, and the wives and concubines in the East Palace and the backyard lived in harmony.

The prince is not a lustful man, so there are not many women in the backyard of the Eastern Palace. Except for the crown princess, all the women have no rank.

Before Chang died of childbirth complications, Lu was merely recorded in the royal jade disc as the mother of the second son of the Eastern Palace.

It can be inferred here that the prince was relatively upright and did not ask for a title for Lu even though she gave birth to a child.

In the tenth year of Hongwu, Zhu Yunwen was born.

In the 11th year of Hongwu, Chang died of dystocia, leaving the newly born Zhu Yunhuan behind. In order to have someone to take good care of the newly born Zhu Yunhuan, the prince, based on the principle that a newborn is worse than a familiar one, appointed Lu as the legitimate crown princess, and Zhu Yunhuan was raised by Lu's knees.

In the 15th year of Hongwu, the crown prince Zhu Xiongying passed away. With his elder brother gone, Zhu Yunwen became the eldest grandson of the emperor.

In the 25th year of Hongwu, the crown prince Zhu Biao passed away. After his father died, Zhu Yunwen was canonized as the crown prince.

In the 31st year of Hongwu, the previous emperor passed away. After his grandfather died, Zhu Yunwen succeeded to the throne and became the new emperor.

The three families of Geng, Li and Xu originally thought that the development of this whole incident was due to Zhu Yunwen's extraordinary luck and great fortune.

But, on the other hand, if his brother, father, and grandfather were still alive, the throne would have nothing to do with him.

As a vested interest, does the death of these people have anything to do with him?

It was here that the Geng, Li and Xu families began to have doubts.

But it was just a suspicion. Making them start to put effort into investigating was a common move after Zhu Yunwen ascended the throne.

When a new emperor ascends the throne, it is customary to bestow various rewards on his father, his mother, his harem, and his ministers.

But, Zhu Yunwen did not confer a title on Lu’s family!!! Because Lu had no family!!!

An emperor without family outside his family?

These days, even a refugee has records of three generations of ancestors.

But Lu didn't have that.

There is only one person with traceable evidence, Lu Ben, Lu's biological father.

He died in the year Zhu Yunwen was born.

The three families of Geng, Li and Xu dug three feet deep into the ground to investigate.

No one living near the Lu family's old house had ever seen Lu's mother. No one even knew her mother's surname or which family her maternal ancestors came from.

According to all available records, Lu Ben had no parents, no brothers, no sisters, no sons, no wife or family, and he only had one daughter, Lu.

Here is the first big doubt -

Lü Ben, an official of high rank, was not evaluated as a man of character. Why didn't Wu Zi adopt a son from his family, and instead sent his only daughter to the prince's mansion as a concubine without a title?

Who is Lu's mother? Why does Lu Ben have no family?

Following the first doubt, a second, bigger doubt also emerged -

As early as the 12th year of Hongwu, the crown prince had made Lu his legitimate wife, and Zhu Yunwen, who was born in the 10th year of Hongwu, became the eldest grandson of the emperor.

Lu's maiden family suddenly became the maiden family of the Crown Princess and the maternal family of the Emperor's eldest grandson.

The Lu family doesn't want this supreme honor at all?

For nearly twenty years, Lu's family seemed to have never existed.

Dad is dead, so what about Lu’s grandparents, uncles, and aunts?

Where is my mother? Where are my grandparents? Where is my uncle's family?

Lu Ben has only been dead for two years, and all the people in this family and his wife's family are gone?

From the time when Lu was made the legitimate wife to the time when Zhu Yunwen ascended the throne, there was no record of Lu's family members.

Based on this doubt, the Geng, Li and Xu families first investigated Lu Ben thoroughly.

Finally, the answer was found in the local chronicles of Shouzhou, Lü Ben’s birthplace.

Only then did I realize that the Lu family was the true aristocratic family.

The Shouzhou Lu family has been officials for generations since the Song Dynasty, and the Lu family is very large.

The descendants of Lu Wende and Lu Wenhuan, the anti-Yuan generals in the late Song Dynasty, surrendered to Mongolia and became a prominent family in the Yuan Dynasty, enjoying the support of their ancestors for generations until the early Ming Dynasty.

Lu Ben was a descendant of Lu Wenhuan. Before the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, he was the chief official of the Yuan Dynasty's Marshal's Office.

In other words, Lu Ben was a surrendered minister of the Yuan Dynasty.

In other words, there is actually a very large family behind Lu Ben.

After reviewing Lü Ben's promotion history, Geng, Li, and Xu found a third suspicious point:

In the first year of Hongwu, Lü Ben was the Zhaomo of Huguang Provincial Administration Commissioner's Office (eighth rank). In the third year of Hongwu, he was promoted to the Right Secretary of the Secretariat (fifth rank). By the sixth year of Hongwu, Lü Ben had been promoted to the Minister of Rites (third rank).

During the Hongwu period, getting promoted was not an easy thing at any time.

The term of office for general officials is three years. After the term ends, the Censorate will give an evaluation and generally retain them in office. Excellent ones will be promoted, while poor ones will be demoted.

Promotion shall not exceed two grades, and demotion shall not exceed three grades.

In seven years, Lu Ben was promoted from a minor official of the eighth rank to the third rank without being demoted once. This is obviously not the path of an ordinary official.

But he was promoted as an exception.

So what is the reason for the exceptional promotion?

There is no record of any major achievements during Lu Ben's tenure in office, and no one has ever mentioned anything special about him.

Such extraordinary speed would be impossible without someone in the court or some behind-the-scenes operation.