THE APOSTATE SON 1

Zhu Su never thought, it was such a big mistake that he did not catch up with Zhu Youxun when his second son left the palace. He was very upset, and disappointed at the same time. Disappointed with the fact that he had a son whose heart was full of wild ambitions and animosity. The momentary anger made him avoid to see his second son at that moment. If only Zhu Su chose to catch up with Zhu Youxun, then he would never keep a poisonous snake in his own residence, and that poisonous snake would never peck at him in the future.

After that incident, the days passed in a mediocre way. That was indeed Rumilie's initial strategy; Zhu Youxun kept on behaving as usual, as if nothing had happened. Zhu Youxun should show that he accepted Zhu Su's decision, so that his father did not suspect him and by then ruined their plans. Zhu Youxun himself did not figure out what exactly Rumilie was planning about. He often asked about it, but Rumilie was reluctant to answer.

"You will figure it out, automatically and eventually, when The Moment has arrived," That was how Rumilie always answered.

"Don't make me curious, Rumilie, just tell me! How can I become Zhou Wang faster than I think?"

"Be patient, my Lord. Patience is the most important thing in our plan. And also, Moment. Yes, Moment will give us big help. When the Moment arrives, you don't need to exert even your slightest energy. Moment will be a palanquin for you, you just have to sit on it and it will take you to reach your destination."

Because Zhu Youxun was so eager to become Zhou Wang, and because his mind had already been clogged, knowing nothing for what else he had to do, he finally chose to follow Rumilie's advice, and waited for the Moment.

The Moment really came, nine years later. When Zhu Yunwen launched his movement; The Politics of Xuefan *, whose purpose was to regain the authority of his uncles who wielded considerable influence in their respective principalities throughout Ming Empire.

When the Hongwu Emperor founded Ming Dynasty, he initially distributed powers to the meritorious generals, giving them land and the authority to control it by themselves. But after figuring out that the generals gained too much power and it adversely affected his own power, he then changed his mind. The emperor annihilated almost all generals who had helped him to the throne, thus gave their powers to his sons. The Hongwu Emperor planned to make his family - the House of Zhu - took the full authority of all over China. Each prince was enfeoffed with a big city with great authority. Not only such, they also owned their own army - San Hu Wei, which meant "Three Protective Soldiers". But this army did not actually consist of merely three soldiers. On an average, a "Protective Soldier" consisted of around 3,000 - 19,000 soldiers. Then every Fan Wang had around 9,000 - 57,000 soldiers, some powerful Fan Wangs even possessed around 100,000 military soldiers. And these military soldiers, were not subjected to the Central Government, instead, they were subjected to their own Fan Wangs. This led Fan Wangs to have enormous power, enormous enough to even launch a war against the emperor.

Zhu Yunwen himself, often felt defeated by his powerful uncles, especially against Yan Wang Zhu Di, who was the eldest son of the Hongwu Emperor at this moment. Zhu Di was also a Fan Wang with the best military abilities, had a good record by repeatedly helping his father to win the war against enemies. Surely, Zhu Yunwen was no match for Zhu Di, since Zhu Yunwen was a nerdy, pious youth who studied more at home than sought the real experiences from outside. He was very afraid of Zhu Di... and, on the other hand, he was also afraid of Zhu Su. He had heard about the "Seven Colored Clouds" clustering over the Kaifeng sky, even his grandfather was very worried about the truth of the myth - the possibility that Zhu Su would become the next Ming Emperor. Besides, he was also worried that Zhu Di would join with Zhu Su as both of them were now "one-father-one-mother" brothers.

In fact, speaking honestly, he was very afraid of all his uncles. If all of them united to overthrow him from the throne, he would be finished.

He was so eager to launch the Politics of Xuefan, he just did not find the best way to realize it.

...

* Xuefan = literally means "Weakening The Marcher Lords".