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THE PRINCE OF HERBS

1389 AD, Ming Dynasty, China "Guardsmen! Take him to his exile in Yunnan, right now!" "Fu Huang!..." "Shut up! Oh... how can my own son stab me from behind... Not only other people I can't trust, and now I can't even trust my own son either!... It's far more painful..." *** "Tomorrow morning," Xie Wang said slowly. "Tomorrow morning... you will see dozens of dead bodies lying all over the streets in Yunnan." Xie Wang looked straight to Zhu Su, his eyes as sharp as a knife, "This is a war. The battle between me, Yuan Prince, and you Ming Prince. A battle to determine who is the most suitable to be the next ruler of Yunnan!" *** "Your Highness... Bad news, Your Highness!" Wu Qi was breathless as he answered, "All streets in Yunnan... are full of dead bodies..." Zhu Su stunned. It can't be, Witchcrafts of Xie Wang is the hell real?!? He just walked not any longer, yet he had found a dead body was lying face down on the street. The farther he walked, the more corpses he found. And finally, he arrived at the town square, where people had been crowded together. *** "I am Zhu Su, the fifth son of Hongwu Emperor, I promise to smash the Witchcrafts of Xie Wang, and get you all free from the outbreak!" Zhu Su sharpened his voice. "The promise from a leader is not a children's game. Bear it in mind!" A man in early forties, who seemed to be the leader of rebels, held his spear up, shouted, "Fine! We appreciate your determination, Ming Prince, so keep your promise! If you fail to keep it up, then I'll make sure that Ming honor, as well as yours, will be ruined!" *** A biographical novel of Prince Zhu Su, the fifth prince of the Hongwu Emperor who was the founder of Ming Dynasty, who devoted himself for medical science and humanity. But before he could fulfil his devotion, he was forced to go through royal disputes, conflicts, power struggles, punishments, rebellions, and even death threats. Could he overcome those problems and reached his noble dream? Find out in this novel. This is a work of biographical novel about a real historical figure. Some characters, plot premise, and certain sections of the story are based on historical events and figures, but there are some parts which are pure fiction. Some of names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner; any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. This novel is an original work of myself, not a translated work. Last but not least; I hope you enjoy this story. And thank you very much for your appreciation and support! Have a nice day!

amelia_siauw · History
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THE TEST

Bao Mei glanced at Xu Gechang. "We are knights. Although we manage to kill Zhou Wang it won't give us contentment because we can do it easily. So let us give him such the opportunity, then our dignities won't be tainted, right?"

Xu Gechang thought for a while. "If we win, we can kill him?"

"Of course!" Bao Mei stared back at Zhu Su. "Are you ready, Zhou Wang?"

Bao Mei threw a sharp gaze at Zhu Su. The wind howled loudly, blowing a chill over all of them.

"Ah..." Zhu Su was inevitably annoyed. He felt that all of them were mocking him. Especially the young girl with two pigtails who was even much younger than Hu Nayin. But even though be was annoyed, he knew that he had no other choice but to follow their taunt.

"Huh! I assume that you have agreed, you have no other choice after all." Bao Mei smirked. "Please step aside for a moment, Ma'am Nayin. We're on business. And you can be sure that your husband will be safe... for a while!"

But Hu Nayin still remained unmoved. She even shouted angrily. "Miss Bao, stop all of this! If you let us go then the business with you is settled and I will make sure to close this matter!"

"Ma'am Hu, this is our business. So move aside!" Wei Han sighed.

Hu Nayin insisted. "I won't!"

"Wow, wow! This is indeed great news. Apparently, Zhou Wang is very dependent on the woman, he must be protected by the woman! You are such an embarrassing loser!" Xu Gechang sneered again.

Zhu Su could not hold back his anger any longer. He soon pushed Hu Nayin away, tensed up by Xu Gechang's taunts. "Fine, fine! I'll follow your wishes!" He said irritably. "What do you want me to do now?!"

"We'll test you by asking some questions. If you can't answer even only one question then we'll make sure your life is ended right away!"

"Okay... okay! Quickly ask the question!" Irritated, Zhu Su folded his arms.

"Humpf!" Bao Mei smiled in disdain. "Let me ask him first. Tell me, what's the main concept of Dao?"

"Dao? Dao is the Way. Something which is mysteriously formed, which is born before heaven and earth... as Laozi said," Zhu Su took a deep breath, then hummed, "Perhaps it is the mother of ten thousand things. I don't know its name, let's call it Dao. Everything emerges from Dao. Everything is nourished by Virtue. Everything is formed from a substance. Everything is formed by the environment. Henceforth those ten thousand things all respect Dao, and respect Virtue."

Zhu Su's answer was so detailed, he was as if humming a poem since his answer was composed of words that were poetic and rhythmic. The contents of the Daoism were indeed outside his head. The members of Bai Lian Jiao are deeply religious and philosophical. They also respected so many great philosophers such as Daoism and Confucius. Actually they looked down on Zhu Su, assumed him as a person who could do nothing and only relied on status to get a luxurious life. Hearing Zhu Su gave such a profound answer, also spoke it in a beautiful way, they got startled.

"What is Li?"

"Li is the most glorious matter. Without li, we don't know the correct way to worship the spirits of the universe; or the correct way to establish the status of kings and ministers, rulers and subjects, elders or youngsters; or how to establish moral relations between people of the opposite sex, between parents and children, or between brothers and sisters; or a way of distinguishing the various levels of family ties. That is why a virtuous person will uphold li strictly."

Once again, Zhu Su gave a very detailed answer; it was as if they heard Confucius told them by himself - and one more time, they were all startled.

"And what is ren?"

"When true knowledge is obtained, the will becomes sincere; if the will is sincere, the heart will be straightened; if the heart is straight, one's life is built up; if one's life is built up, family life is in order; if family life is in order, state life is organized; and if the state life is organized, there will be peace in this world. From the emperor to the commoner, all should view the formation of individual life as root or foundation. That is the concept of ren, as described in the opening of Mencius' Great Doctrine. Ren is the original human mind. And, the human mind is originally good, it just depends on education and cultivation of themselves."

Their aim was to embarrass Zhu Su, but it was they who were embarrassed since it was as though Zhu Su was giving them advice. Zhu Su was not only very poetic in delivering answers, but he also behaved like a great philosopher - as though he was the great philosophers themselves!

They asked, Zhu Su answered in detail. They asked again, and Zhu Su was able to answer them very well again. No matter how many questions they asked, Zhu Su could always answer them easily. Basically, the four young members of Bai Lian Jiao were a group of smart people, they certainly would not be like ignorant people, would quickly receive the amazing vibrations of the way Zhu Su gave the answers. Ma Ya swallowed hard. "Very well, Zhou Wang, I admit that you..."

"One more question!" Bao Mei shouted.

"What do you want to ask right now, Mei?"

Bao Mei's eyes met deeply with Zhu Su's. Then, the question was thrown out of her mouth. "What can make a human become the most foolish creature in the world?"

Everyone looked at Bao Mei in an instant. Ma Ya got bewildered. "Mei, that's not a question which comes from books?!"

"It indeed doesn't exist in any book," Bao Mei smiled triumphantly.

"But then, how can we judge whether the answer is right or wrong?!"

"Because my goal is to make Zhou Wang unable to answer it!" Bao Mei laughed. "Well then, Zhou Wang?! You can't answer this question, can you?!"