I Tore Down the Ancestral Rules Monument on My Investiture Day

The day I became Zhu Yuntong was the same day Zhu Yunwen was named Crown Prince’s Heir.

Clutching Zhu Biao’s memorial tablet, I stormed into the Hall of Supreme Harmony, with former retainers behind me carrying Chang Yuchun’s coffin.

Zhu Yuanzhang roared from the throne: “You insolent grandson! Are you trying to rebel?”

In front of the assembled court, I opened the Great Ming Ancestral Instructions and pointed at the first rule with a cold laugh:

“Grandfather, you wrote it yourself: ‘The legitimate eldest son shall inherit.’”

“My father was the legitimate eldest son, and I’m his legitimate eldest son.”

“Yet now you favor a concubine over your wife and name her son heir...”

“Do you want the laws of the Ming to become a laughingstock in the eyes of future generations?”

Zhu Yuanzhang stared fixedly at the coffin on the throne, and for a moment remembered the year Chang Yuchun took an arrow meant for him.