Xianxia version of Water Margin

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Jiang Xiu is Jiang Hongfei's eldest son, but not his legitimate son, but his concubine's son.

Jiang Xiu's mother is Song Zhen'er, the daughter of the Songjiazhuang Baozheng family that Jiang Hongfei first broke.

Song Zhen'er is a weak, traditional and timid woman. At the beginning, Jiang Hongfei killed all the men in her family, and gave all the women in her family except her and her sister-in-law Gao Youniang to his subordinates, and also occupied her and Gao Youniang. When she first followed Jiang Hongfei, she was submissive and wanted to resist, but she didn't dare to resist. Afterwards, she always turned her back to Jiang Hongfei.

Later, Song Zhen'er slowly accepted the fact that he was the woman of a bandit leader, "acknowledging the thief as her father". She never fought or robbed, was not jealous, was gentle and kind, and was well-known in Jiang Hongfei's harem.

Jiang Hongfei always liked Song Zhen'er's temperament.

This made it so that even after Jiang Hongfei became the emperor and had a large number of women, he would often go to Song Zhener.

This also made Song Zhener give Jiang Hongfei five sons and four daughters, making her one of the women who gave birth to the most children for Jiang Hongfei.

As people often say, Song Zhener is a woman with a fertile constitution. She gets pregnant as soon as Jiang Hongfei touches her.

It is precisely because of this that Song Zhener was the first person to get pregnant with Jiang Hongfei's children, and successfully gave birth to Jiang Hongfei's eldest son Jiang Xiu.

After Jiang Hongfei ascended the throne, he named Song Zhener a virtuous concubine.

In terms of educating children, Song Zhener really didn't want her son to become a dragon and her daughter to become a phoenix like many of Jiang Hongfei's concubines, but just educated Jiang Xiu and her other children step by step according to the method of educating children formulated by Jiang Hongfei.

In fact, Song Zhener has always known that Jiang Hongfei's legal wife can only be Gao Liang.

Therefore, only the son born by Gao Liang can be Jiang Hongfei's eldest son.

The patriarchal system of the Western Zhou Dynasty was based on the "primogeniture system", that is, the throne was passed down to the legitimate son rather than the illegitimate son, and to the eldest son rather than the virtuous son.

Song Zhener never thought of competing with Gao Liang, and she felt that she could not compete with Gao Liang, especially after Gao Liang gave birth to three legitimate sons for Jiang Hongfei.

According to Song Zhener, the son she gave birth to Jiang Hongfei was almost enough, and it would be good if he could become the King of Freedom in the future.

But what Song Zhener never expected was that Jiang Xiu was better than his brothers since he was a child. When he was born, he had nine spiritual roots of strengthening attributes, nine spiritual roots of illusion attributes, eight spiritual roots of transformation attributes, four spiritual roots of materialization attributes, and two spiritual roots of externalization attributes, and he was gifted.

What is even more commendable is that Jiang Xiu has been hardworking and self-disciplined since he was a child. Whether it is cultivation or reading, he is very hardworking, and he is truly a man of both civil and military skills.

This is actually nothing.

Jiang Xiu's greatest strength is tolerance. He is very tolerant of people and things. Moreover, he knows when to advance and when to retreat, and he knows how to be powerful. He doesn't mess around.

Jiang Hongfei is famous all over the world. Even street kids can talk about some of Jiang Hongfei's heroic deeds.

But as Jiang Hongfei's eldest son, Jiang Xiu seems to be unknown to the people.

Is it because Jiang Xiu is not famous?

No.

Of course not.

The fact that the people don't know Jiang Xiu does not mean that the ministers of the Yuan Empire don't know Jiang Xiu.

On the contrary, all the ministers of the Yuan Empire don't know Jiang Xiu.

As for the reason, it is very simple.

First, Jiang Xiu is one of the most likely to become the crown prince of the Yuan Empire, that is, the crown prince of the Yuan Empire.

Second, Jiang Xiu is the son of Jiang Hongfei who was left behind as the regent during this imperial expedition.

Based on these two points, which minister of the Yuan Empire dares to look down on Jiang Xiu? ! ! !

Some people may want to ask, why is Jiang Xiu unknown and has no sense of existence among the people?

The answer is very simple, because Jiang Xiu is very low-key.

After Jiang Hongfei led the army in person, he appointed Jiang Xiu as regent.

The most brilliant thing Jiang Xiu did was not to manage the Yuan Empire in an orderly manner with the assistance of a group of ministers of the Yuan Empire, but to boldly ask Jiang Hongfei to pardon a group of literati who scolded Jiang Hongfei.

This is what happened.

Jiang Hongfei did a lot of great and beautiful things in his life, but it does not mean that Jiang Hongfei is perfect.

The fact is just the opposite. Jiang Hongfei also did a lot of things that people criticized.

For example, he robbed other people's wives and daughters, and even mothers, and enjoyed himself.

The key point is that Jiang Hongfei did not do this occasionally. The Liao Dynasty, the Zhao Song Dynasty, the Goryeo Dynasty, and Tian Hu were all destroyed by Jiang Hongfei. The Jin Dynasty and the Western Xia were also robbed and extorted by Jiang Hongfei.

The key point is that Jiang Hongfei not only robbed himself, but also robbed his subordinates.

In the eyes of many people, Jiang Hongfei was too much and not a gentleman at all.

Also, since he was born, Jiang Hongfei has been waging wars against foreign countries, not letting the people rest and recuperate, not cherishing the people's strength, and making enemies with all the neighbors around him.

In addition, Jiang Hongfei raised the status of warriors to the same level as that of literati, preaching that soldiers are the most lovely people and praising them for defending their country.

When the Zhao Song Dynasty was in power, the status of literati was raised to an extremely high level, with freedom of speech and freedom to criticize anyone they wanted.

Seeing Jiang Hongfei's misconduct, it is inevitable that some literati criticized Jiang Hongfei.

If it were normal times, Jiang Hongfei would just listen and would not argue with those literati.

But Jiang Hongfei was about to lead his troops to war, and these literati were still criticizing Jiang Hongfei and singing the bad news about the Yuan Empire.

How could Jiang Hongfei, a powerful emperor, let these literati ruin his plans?

So, Jiang Hongfei asked the Jinyiwei to go out and arrest all these literati and put them in jail.

Later, Jiang Hongfei succeeded in defeating Wang Qing, and Jiang Xiu used this as an excuse to ask Jiang Hongfei to pardon these literati.

Some people said that Jiang Hongfei asked Jiang Xiu to do this.

Those who would say so are not aimless.

If you think about it carefully, this is indeed possible.

First, Jiang Xiu gave Jiang Hongfei this step, so Jiang Hongfei could get off the hook and not be punished for his words.

After all, Zhao Kuangyin left a message to his descendants, vowing not to kill ministers and people who speak out, and those who violated it would be in trouble.

How could Jiang Hongfei, such a smart person, make such a mistake?

Second, I am afraid that Jiang Hongfei was paving the way for Jiang Xiu, creating a good reputation for Jiang Xiu, and building momentum for him to become the prince in the future, or to succeed Jiang Hongfei in charge of the Yuan Empire after Jiang Hongfei had an accident.

Again, Jiang Hongfei is such a smart man, how could he not know that expanding territory, civil and military achievements are not as important as the survival of the empire.

If Jiang Hongfei does not choose a good successor, the Yuan Empire may be like the Qin Empire, which died in the second generation.

By then, Jiang Hongfei's bones may have to be dug out.

But even so, it does not affect Jiang Xiu's praise from the world, especially those literati.

Of course, if this is just a political show, Jiang Xiu will definitely not have such a good reputation.

The reason why Jiang Xiu has such a good reputation is that he said euphemistically in the memorial to Jiang Hongfei: Being convicted for speaking is a casual failure to write well, which leads to the same category as treason, which not only opens the door to accusing traitors, but also violates the law.

Jiang Xiu has made it very clear in the memorial to Jiang Hongfei that it is your father's fault and you can't do it again.

Using a son to persuade his father and a minister to persuade his monarch, he is upright and just, with good reasoning, and he really deserves the praise of those literati.

Of course, more important is Jiang Hongfei's attitude.

If Jiang Hongfei didn't like Jiang Xiu's behavior and didn't want Jiang Xiu to be the crown prince, Jiang Xiu's actions would actually make people admire him, and he wouldn't give him such a high evaluation.

The problem is that after receiving Jiang Xiu's memorial, Jiang Hongfei replied with three words: "I am very relieved."

In other words, Jiang Hongfei did not blame Jiang Xiu for this matter. On the contrary, Jiang Hongfei admired Jiang Xiu's approach.

This undoubtedly increased the possibility of Jiang Xiu becoming the crown prince.

More importantly, Jiang Xiu did more than that.

Jiang Xiu also abolished many extravagant behaviors of the Yuan Empire.

For example, many of Jiang Hongfei's sons liked to go hunting and playing in Chengde.

This is very expensive.

Just think about it, Jiang Hongfei has so many sons, how much money would it cost for them to go there?

Jiang Xiu felt that the money could not be spent any more, so he directly abolished the matter and said, "Brothers, you can go hunting and play, but you have to pay for it yourself. Even if you pay for it yourself, you are not allowed to go to Chengde and waste money. You can just go hunting and have fun around the capital.

In addition, Jiang Xiu also advocated that the porcelain used in the palace, except for the porcelain used for sacrifices, should be fired by the imperial kiln factory. All the porcelain used for daily life should be from Liao, Song and other countries.

This saved a lot of expenses every year.

In the past few years, the Yuan Empire was newly built and "a lot of things needed to be rebuilt". Everything had to be purchased. Jiang Hongfei had many concubines and children, and Jiang Hongfei was generous. Therefore, there were more than 800,000 pieces of imperial porcelain recorded.

This is still the qualified products that can be sent to the palace.

There is no standardization in this world. The quality of the work depends on the feeling of the hand.

800,000 qualified products, how many unqualified ones would there be?

It can be said that this is a huge waste of resources.

Jiang Xiu also asked the Ministry of Revenue to sell those unqualified ones to the public to subsidize the treasury.

It is worth mentioning that Jiang Xiu does not look like Jiang Hongfei's biological son at all.

Jiang Hongfei has been making trouble since he came to this world, and he has never stopped. He has made trouble for several dynasties.

At the same time, the Yuan Empire has been exhausted for a long time, and its subjects are also tired.

Let's put it this way, that is, the Yuan Empire is just a little bit away from unification, otherwise, the subjects of the Yuan Empire would definitely not want Jiang Hongfei to fight anymore.

And Jiang Xiu, who does not make trouble, does not cause trouble, and does not show his presence, his main purpose is to increase income and reduce expenditure, and live a down-to-earth life.

The character of an emperor often determines the fate of an empire.

Jiang Hongfei has great ambitions and is committed to unification. He wants to make China a great empire and a great dynasty with unlimited territory. Then the Yuan Empire led by Jiang Hongfei must fight.

After so many years of chaos, we need to recuperate and live. The people need to live. We can't keep playing the wartime game. The whole country is always on edge, and it's getting tighter and tighter. Can it be broken in the end?

To put it bluntly, many people now expect that after Jiang Hongfei unifies the country, he can force the same track, the same writing, and the same weights and measures. However, changing customs takes time, and he needs to be subtle.

But then again, this set of things does work, and it is also easy to use. It can concentrate on doing big things. Isn't a big dynasty just one big project after another?

As the top leader, Jiang Hongfei can indeed do a lot of big things.

However, as ministers and as the people, they actually hope that Jiang Hongfei will stop and recuperate after unifying the country. Don't be so anxious and don't think that one generation can complete the work of several generations. Let them take a breath and have a meal. Don't push them so hard, just like Qin Shihuang.

And if Jiang Hongfei chooses Jiang Xiu as the crown prince, Jiang Xiu's benevolent and non-pretentious character should be able to do this.

Therefore, many people have expectations for Jiang Xiu.

What makes these people happy is that Jiang Hongfei, not sure whether he understands the voices of his ministers and the people, is also vigorously cultivating Jiang Xiu.

It is no exaggeration to say that Jiang Hongfei's choice has been praised by many people.

Many people have also seen that Jiang Hongfei is ready to rest and recuperate after completing the unification. To put it another way, even if he launches a war against foreign countries, it should only be a local war, not a national war.

Let's talk about Jiang Xiu again.

Although Jiang Xiu cuts the expenses of his brothers, he is not soft-hearted when managing them.

But in fact, Jiang Xiu is very friendly to his brothers, and he has the spirit of an elder brother as a father.

Jiang Hongfei has many sons, and he has no time to manage them. Therefore, since Jiang Xiu grew up, Jiang Xiu has been managing Jiang Hongfei's children.

Among Jiang Hongfei's sons, there are also many who are not easy to deal with. For example, Jiang Hongfei's second son Jiang Chu turned out to be a devil.

Once, Jiang Chu and Jiang Hongfei's other two sons secretly went to a brothel out of curiosity. At that time, their oldest was only twelve.

As a result, they drank too much and fought with several candidates who went to Beijing to take the imperial examination because of jealousy.

Jiang Chu's spiritual root talent is second only to Jiang Xiu among Jiang Hongfei's sons. In terms of personal combat power, he has loved fighting since he was a child and his strength may be better than Jiang Xiu. How can those scholars who are weak and powerless be his opponents?

With three punches and five kicks, Jiang Chu knocked down all the dozen scholars on the other side.

This incident had a very bad impact.

Jiang Hongfei was furious and threw Jiang Chu and the others into the clan house for "reform through labor".

After Jiang Xiu learned about this, he was willing to be punished on behalf of his brothers on the grounds that he had not supervised them properly.

This moved many ministers.

So, those ministers jointly pleaded for mercy, saying that Jiang Chu and the other princes had not committed any serious crimes. Those candidates went to Beijing to take the exam, but they lingered in brothels and got drunk and caused trouble. They were not worthy of the name of "scholars". Jiang Chu and the others gave them a minor punishment and a major warning, which was not a big deal.

Jiang Hongfei then showed some leniency and only threw Jiang Chu and the others into the army for discipline.

Similar things happened all the time.

Therefore, Jiang Xiu was also very prestigious among Jiang Hongfei's children, and everyone respected Jiang Xiu as the eldest brother.

Therefore, no matter from which aspect, Jiang Xiu seemed to be Jiang Hongfei's heir.

Does that mean that Jiang Xiu's position is stable?

This is not necessarily true.

Don't forget that Jiang Hongfei still has three legitimate sons.

Moreover, Jiang Zhao, the eldest son of Jiang Hongfei, is also very good. He has been smart since he was a child, and he is very mature.

The key is that Jiang Zhao's mother is Jiang Hongfei's queen Gao Liang, so he has the legal right.

Who will become Jiang Hongfei's heir is still undecided.

Of course, this mainly depends on Jiang Hongfei's attitude...

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