Three Services Do Not Constitute Kinship

At that moment, a large bus could be seen driving over from the distant city of Yingtian.

The Ming Dynasty had also built many roads by now, especially the stretch from Yingtian City to the base outside the city—a smooth cement road had already been laid there.

The bus drove all the way to where Zhu Yuanzhang and the others were, and then a group led by Empress Ma and Empress Zhangsun got off.

“Greetings, Father.”

“Greetings, Imperial Father.”

“Greetings, Father.”

Li Lizhi, Ying Shiman, and Zhu Wanning bowed to Zhu Yuanzhang, Qin Shi Huang, and Li Shimin respectively.

As for Little Sizi, Ying Yinman, Zhu Xiongying, and a bunch of children, after getting off the bus, they ran straight to an open field not far away and started playing there.

“Guanyinbi, why did Sizi and the others come too? Aren’t they supposed to have school today?” Li Shimin asked.

Empress Zhangsun smiled and said, “Today’s the weekend. Kindergarten has two days off, so we brought the kids out to have some fun. Yesterday, Lizhi asked them where they wanted to go, and they said they wanted to go on an outing. After discussing it, we thought either the Ming or the Tang Dynasty would be a good place for an outing, so we came here.”

“You could have gone to the Qin Dynasty too,” Qin Shi Huang said.

Ying Shiman chuckled. “Father, the main thing is that there are quite a lot of us. We needed a big bus to fit everyone, and the roads over in the Qin Dynasty haven’t been paved yet.”

“That’s fine. It should be ready in a while. Next holiday, you can take Sizi, Xiongying, and the others over to play,” Qin Shi Huang said.

Soon, Li Lizhi and the others set up a barbecue grill, brought out the ingredients, and after handling them at a nearby faucet, started grilling.

Qin Ning, meanwhile, kept drinking and chatting with Zhu Yuanzhang and the others.

Just then, another car came driving over from the distance.

After getting out, it turned out to be Qin Ning, Cheng Weiyang, and Su Xingwan.

“Brother, we brought a few cases of beer with us, in the trunk. We chilled them with ice water. The weather’s hot right now, so why don’t you all drink some beer instead of liquor?” Qin Ning said with a laugh.

“Alright.”

Qin Ning nodded, then looked at Zhu Yuanzhang and the others. “Brother Zheng, Old Zhu, Old Li, today let’s drink some ice-cold beer. Pair it with the barbecue later, and I guarantee you’ll be satisfied.”

“Oh? Beer? Then I must give it a try,” Qin Shi Huang said.

When he heard this, Qin Ning opened a bottle of beer and handed it to him.

Without even using a cup, Qin Shi Huang tipped the bottle back and took a big gulp.

After downing half the bottle, he set it down and let out a long, satisfied breath. “Refreshing!”

Then Zhu Yuanzhang, Li Shimin, and the Yongle Emperor followed suit and drank as well.

“Refreshing!” the three of them said cheerfully.

At that moment, Li Lizhi, Zhu Wanning, and Ying Shiman carried over several plates of grilled meat skewers.

“Not bad, not bad. Barbecue with beer—truly one of life’s greatest pleasures,” Yongle Emperor Zhu Di exclaimed with praise.

With that, he raised his bottle to toast Zhu Biao. “Elder Brother, it’s been ages since I last drank with you. This bottle is my toast to you. Your younger brother will finish it, and you can drink as you please.”

He then tilted his head back and downed an entire bottle of beer in one go.

“Lao Si, I should be the one toasting you. If it weren’t for you, I don’t know what state Yunwen might have ruined the Ming Dynasty into.”

Hearing this, Zhu Di sighed. “Elder Brother, I’m relieved that you don’t blame me. But although Commander Yunwen made some mistakes as emperor—like trying to restore the rites of Zhou and implement the well-field system—he actually did accomplish some things in other areas.

“Even the policy of reducing the power of the feudal princes can’t really be counted as his fault. In fact, I have to praise him for his far-sightedness. Teacher once said that the imperial clan of our Ming Dynasty eventually swelled to several hundred thousand members. How much grain would it take to support them all?

“But where he went wrong was using such brutal means to cut back the principalities, leaving us uncles no way out. Deposing some, killing others—this was simply forcing us to our deaths.”

After hearing Zhu Di’s words, Zhu Biao nodded. “The issue of reducing the power of the feudal princes has already been explained to me in detail by Teacher and Father. Yunwen certainly acted wrongly.”

“Teacher, in your opinion, how should our Ming Dynasty handle the reduction of the principalities?” Zhu Yuanzhang asked.

Qin Ning thought it over carefully, then spoke. “You’ve all probably heard of the Han Dynasty’s ‘Order of Grace’ policy. However, that policy cannot be directly applied to the current Ming Dynasty.

“Because the Ming princes ‘are enfeoffed but not granted land, and hold titles but do not govern the people.’ They have no independent fiefdoms or administrative power. The foundation of land division that the Order of Grace relies on simply doesn’t exist here.

“So the Ming Dynasty cannot implement a Han-style Order of Grace. But we can borrow its core logic of ‘dividing the power of many princes to weaken each one’ and combine it with some methods, such as the ‘Three Degrees of Kinship Not Counting as Family.’ ”

Upon hearing this, not only Zhu Yuanzhang but everyone else’s eyes lit up. “Oh? Teacher, can you elaborate on this ‘Three Degrees of Kinship Not Counting as Family’?”

“The so-called Three Degrees of Kinship: First-degree kinship refers to siblings born of the same parents, i.e., sharing the same father. Second-degree kinship refers to cousins born of the same grandfather, i.e., sharing the same grandfather. Third-degree kinship refers to second cousins born of the same great-grandfather, meaning the children of one’s father’s cousins. This includes three generations: great-grandfather, grandfather, and father.

“So from the perspective of the patrilineal line, it encompasses collateral relatives within four generations (great-grandfather, grandfather, father, self), counting the self as the first generation, then two generations up and two generations down. This is collectively called the ‘Three Degrees.’

“ ‘Not counting as family’ means that starting from the person who inherits the title, only those within the Three Degrees of Kinship are considered clan members. Those outside the Three Degrees no longer enjoy the support of the imperial family.”

“Excellent, truly excellent!” Everyone’s eyes lit up.

After a brief silence, Zhu Yuanzhang said, “Let’s go with what Teacher suggests. But when it comes to implementation, we’ll need to discuss it further. I think three degrees is still too many—we should cut it down even more.

“Biao’er, you and Lao Si look into this carefully. Just give me the final result.”

“Yes, Father,” Zhu Biao and the Yongle Emperor acknowledged.

The group continued eating and chatting.

Aside from their table, Empress Ma, Empress Zhangsun, and the others had set up their own table nearby.

About three hours later, after Sizi, Zhu Xiongying, and the rest had eaten their fill, played to exhaustion, and grown tired, Empress Ma and the others led them onto the bus and left.

Su Xingwan, Qin Ning, Li Lizhi, and the other girls also finished grilling the last batch of meat skewers, handed them over to Zhu Yuanzhang and the group, then drove off.

The lively base now only had Qin Ning and their table remaining.

The Yongle Emperor, Zhu Di, kept clinking glasses with Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao. Even though it was only beer, he alone had downed more than a case, and combined with some liquor he’d had earlier, he was thoroughly drunk. Clutching his father and elder brother, he cried as he recounted the process of the Jingnan Campaign.

“Father, Elder Brother, do you know what the biggest regret of my life is?”

"It's just that with the Jingnan Campaign, although I ultimately seized Yunwen's realm, rebellion is still rebellion. No matter how I rewrite the history books, facts remain facts. This emperor’s title was not passed to me by my father in the thirty-fifth year of the Hongwu reign. And this title of Taizong, to be honest, I don’t deserve it either."

Li Shimin suddenly spoke up, "Old Zhu, your fourth son has already said his piece. Don't you want to express your own thoughts?"

"Express what?" Zhu Yuanzhang was taken aback.

Li Shimin smiled and said, "Why don't you help him remove this knot in his heart? Let's go to the Jianwen era right now. When Lao Si stormed the capital, he hadn’t yet ascended the throne. That was still the Jianwen timeline. As his father, you could go over and pass the throne to him right then. That way, wouldn’t his reign be completely legitimate?"

Qin Shi Huang spoke up, "I find this reasonable. This son of yours, after all, is the only emperor in history to have performed the Fengshan Sacrifice at Mount Langjuxu. He's certainly worth a trip from you. I could even lend you the Imperial Seal at that time."

"Lend the Imperial Seal?" Upon hearing this, everyone couldn’t help but brighten up.

Qin Shi Huang laughed heartily, "To you later generations, my Imperial Seal is a symbol of Heaven’s mandate and represents legitimacy. But to me, sending that thing out and then just making a new one is no big deal. As long as I make it, it becomes the orthodoxy."