Great Ming: I Dragged My Mom Along on an Inspection, Leaving Old Zhu Dumbfounded

Zhu Di was reborn during the Hongwu era. The first thing he did after opening his eyes was count the days: there were still more than twenty years before his father would have people skinned alive and stuffed with grass.

He knew his father all too well: Zhu Yuanzhang was a workaholic and a violent man, while his eldest brother, Zhu Biao, was a crown prince who worked himself sick while overseeing the state. In history, Zhu Di would rebel and lead five campaigns against the Mongols, working himself to death.

This life? He decided he wouldn't lift a finger, and would focus on annoying his father.

His eldest brother, Zhu Biao, said earnestly, "Fourth Brother, you should put the realm first and help Father with his burdens."

Zhu Di went straight to Empress Ma. "Mother, Eldest Brother says Father has grown senile and should hurry up and abdicate in favor of someone more worthy."

One day, hoping to prove that his father was "living extravagantly," Zhu Di took Empress Ma, who strictly enforced frugality in the harem, on a discreet visit. He kicked open a private room at the most secretive restaurant in the capital, only to find the emperor himself secretly feasting on roast goose and fine wine with Xu Da and his other old comrades.

Zhu Di asked innocently, "Mother, didn't Father say the treasury was empty and our family could only drink wild vegetable porridge? How come these wild vegetables have goose legs?"

Zhu Yuanzhang: ???

From then on, Zhu Di settled into the happy routine of "annoying Father once every day."

But as he kept at it, he discovered that one offhand lie had somehow helped him avoid a major case, and one terrible idea had somehow saved a hundred thousand disaster victims. He wanted to lie flat, but his father kept stuffing military tallies, supply routes, and the authority to oversee the state into his arms.

Zhu Di was on the verge of tears. I really just want to be a lazy salted fish!

And farther afield, the Jin Prince's rebellious ambitions, secret old cases at court, and the coming flames of war in the north were all quietly drawing nearer. It looked like this salted fish wouldn't get to lie around after all...