Great Ming: A Comparison of Grandsons Leaves Zhu Yuanzhang Green with Envy

In the thirtieth year of Hongwu, the realm had just been pacified, and envoys from every nation came to pay tribute. A sky screen showing parallel timelines suddenly appeared, revealing the starkly different lives of two Zhu Yunwens.

Zhu Yuanzhang gazes at the Zhu Yunwen on the screen, a man of outstanding achievements praised by later generations as the Ming Taizong. His accomplishments surpass Zhu Yuanzhang's own, leaving behind an enduring legacy.

Then he looks at the Imperial Grandson Zhu Yunwen beside him and recalls how the latter insisted on stripping the vassal princes of their power and acted too hastily. As the sky screen shows, this ultimately led to the Ming's regional lords carving up the realm, while the people suffered terribly!

Huang Zicheng watches the Zhu Yunwen on the left-hand sky screen, whose tragic fate was indirectly caused by the vassal-reduction strategy he helped devise. He also sees the miserable scene of his own later years, when he was falsely accused, executed, and his entire clan wiped out.

Then he looks at the Ming Taizong Zhu Yunwen on the right-hand screen, who respectfully calls him