I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 473: It’s not like being a teenager after all
When Feng Bao and Song Gongliang came in together, Zhu Yijun was still concentrating on writing.

The two stood at the door, silent and waiting.

Zhu Yijun simply wrote a line of words, put it in the document, and handed it to Qi Yan.

"Send it to the Cabinet, to Prime Minister Mr. Li."

"Yes."

Zhu Yijun stood up, turned away from the desk, waited for Feng Bao and Song Gongliang to finish their greetings, and then waved his hand.

"Come on, take me out for a walk."

"Yes."

Zhu Yijun left the Qinzheng Hall first, followed closely by Feng Bao and Song Gongliang, and the three of them soon turned to the tree-lined path by the lake.

The sky was high and the clouds were light, with wild geese occasionally flying overhead. The leaves of the trees in the garden were dry and sparse, and when the wind blew, many leaves fluttered down and landed on the lake.

Zhu Yijun put his hands in his sleeves, looked up at the sky, and recited to himself.

"The autumn clouds are rising, and the night is getting a little colder. Where does the autumn wind come from? It sends the geese away with a rustling sound."

He turned his head and looked at the vast and empty lake. “When Grandfather Huang was still alive, there were often cranes and wild geese on the lake, dancing with the wind and soaring with clear voices.

The lake is so deserted now. Is it because my heart is so cold and lonely that the West Garden is so deserted too? "

Is this the answer?
Feng Bao and Song Gongliang lowered their heads slightly and continued to pretend to be deaf and dumb.

"My mother often told me that I was a teenager of fifteen or sixteen, but I was more mature than an old man of fifty or sixty.

The young tiger roars in the valley, and all the beasts are terrified. The hawk tries its wings, and the wind blows. The exotic flower blooms, and it is magnificent. The future is as vast as the sea, and the days ahead are long.

After Zhu Yijun finished reading, he stared at the sparkling lake and said, "Tell people to make some changes to the three lakes in the West Garden, build nests to attract birds, and attract more cranes, crested ibises, wild geese, and swans to settle in the West Garden.

Then build more covered corridors. Birds are birds after all, they don't understand the Three Bonds and Five Constant Virtues, nor do they understand the majesty of my prince.

If something is to be thrown into the air, it will be thrown anyway, so it’s better to be on the safe side.”

Feng Bao whispered behind him, "Your Highness, do you want to get some more cats and dogs?"

Zhu Yijun suddenly remembered that the emperor loved cats and was a number one cat lover.

He built a special house for his beloved cat, called the "Cat's House".

These cats not only have a place to live, but also have three or four palace maids and eunuchs who do nothing but serve the cats all day long.

In his mouth, male cats are called "servants", female cats are called "girls", the cat that was cut by the selfless knife of heaven and earth is called "dad", and the boss among cats is called "steward".

His two favorite cats are named Snow Eyebrow and Lion Cat.

However, these two cats have never seen their real appearance, only portraits.

Xuemei's hair is curly and slightly blue, her eyes are crystal clear, and her eyebrows are as white as jade.

The lion cat has long hair on its neck, a big head, short ears, wide-open eyes, and an angry look, just like a lion.

Although I also like cats and dogs, I am tired of petting cats. After the emperor passed away, I distributed the cats in the cat room to the concubines in the harem to adopt.

Zhu Yijun originally wanted to accept Feng Bao's suggestion, but then he changed his mind and thought that he was about to get married, and then his concubines would become pregnant and have children.

Although cats and dogs are cute, there is a problem: they carry parasites.

When I was a senior civil servant, a colleague of mine and his wife were both dog and cat lovers. A doctor relative advised them to give the cat and dog away temporarily while they were trying to conceive.

He refused and continued to pet cats and dogs. He never expected that when his wife was five or six months pregnant, the pregnancy test showed Toxoplasma. He was dumbfounded and had to have an abortion. As a result, her body was damaged and she became prone to miscarriage. In the end, she had to work hard for more than ten years before giving birth to her first child.

I am the same age as him and were planning to get married at about the same time, but while my eldest daughter is preparing for the high school entrance exam, he is still worrying about his child's kindergarten enrollment.

In the era of advanced medicine, these problems were not a big deal, but nowadays, they are life-threatening.

Zhu Yijun now suspects that the emperor has no offspring and so many sons and daughters have died. Is infection from parasites by cats one of the reasons?

When Zhu Yijun thought of parasites in cats and dogs, he also thought of avian influenza in birds.

These birds fly from north to south and from south back to north, migrating thousands of miles from temperate zones to subtropical zones, carrying countless different kinds of viruses and bacteria.

This thing was a weapon of mass destruction in ancient times.

Damn, the Earth is too dangerous, I want to go back to Mars!
Zhu Yijun waved his hand and said, "Forget it. Let's put aside the birds, cats and dogs for now. There are fish in the lake and horses in the stable. We can just make do with it. It doesn't matter if it's lonely. Safety comes first."

Song Gongliang and Feng Bao looked at each other. How come raising birds, cats and dogs is related to safety?
Are there any dangers to birds, cats and dogs?

But the two didn't dare to ask.

Zhu Yijun straightened his mind and pulled his thoughts back.

"How is the situation with the royal family?"

When it came to business, Song Gongliang immediately replied: "Your Highness, a total of 49,670 people from various vassal clans in the capital and other places applied for the official recruitment examination. 3,063 people passed the examination, and 52 people had excellent results."

Zhu Yijun had promised that if the royal family passed the recruitment examination, their titles would be reduced by three ranks and they would be appointed to positions of corresponding ranks. For example, a general of the state would be demoted to the sixth rank and could be appointed as a magistrate of a prefecture or a governor of a direct-controlled prefecture.

The Lieutenant of Fengguo was given a floor price reduction and was of the ninth rank, so he could only serve as a minor local official.

But how could Zhu Yijun let them take advantage of this loophole? He put a patch in the official edict.

Only those with excellent academic performance are eligible to discuss reduction of title or rank.

Your grades are just passing, so you should honestly start from the grassroots civil servants who are not yet promoted.

When the news was announced, it caused controversy among the royal family, but it had little impact and soon died down. Most of the royal family were full of confidence and thought that the recruitment exam was just a formality and that they would easily get an official position, so they did not care.

"At the same time, 13,100 members of the royal family applied for the examinations of the Imperial College in the north and south, 402 of them passed, and 11 of them received excellent results."

Upon hearing this result, Zhu Yijun sneered a few times.

"The imperial court has spent eight million shi of grain every year for two hundred years, and it has only raised such a bunch of useless people. I know that among the 3,063 qualified candidates, there must be someone who will show some mercy and show mercy. Otherwise, at least half of them will be eliminated.

Tell me, how can I count on these rubbish? In the critical moment of the country, how can I count on these rubbish to turn the tide and change the world? How many people can eat meat by raising sheep and pigs with 8 million dan of grain?

As a result, they raised a bunch of useless people who can do nothing but make shit! The royal family will also bear the heavy accusations for them and be criticized by the people of the world behind their backs. "

Zhu Yijun couldn't help but scold these clan relatives.

Pig mate!
A real bunch of pig teammates!

Not only can he not help at all, but he's also wasting money and food.

How many soldiers can be supported with so much money and food?
Eight million dan of grain every year can support at least 80,000 elite soldiers, who can kill anyone they are told to kill.

The key point is that not only did they waste money and grain, they also occupied farmland and bullied the people under various pretexts.

Then I will bear the infamy and the consequences of undermining the foundation of the country.

You are members of the royal family, and you share the same clan and ancestor with me. It's true that even if your bones are broken, your tendons are still connected, but you also need to have real talent and hard work.

If you have the ability, I will focus on training you and promote you above your level. If you don’t have the ability, go and stay where you are!
A lonely man does not support idle people.

Zhu Yijun continued to ask: "Are these bird people very angry? Do they want to ask me for an explanation?"

"Your Highness is wise. Only one in ten people passed the examination to recruit members of the royal family. They believe that the examination was rigged and that someone was playing tricks on them to deliberately embarrass them.

The royal families of various vassal states were connecting with each other and splitting into several groups. One group went to Beijing to file a complaint with the emperor, one group went to Zhongdu to mourn at the ancestral mausoleum, and another group went to Nanjing Yingtianfu to mourn at the Xiaoling Mausoleum.

Zhu Yijun smiled, a little grimly, "Crying, making a scene, and hanging yourself are all they have left. Mingzheng, are the Pacification Division and the Guards ready?"

"Your Highness, the Pacification Division has already secretly deployed surveillance, and the guards are on standby at all times, waiting for the order to arrest anyone."

Zhu Yijun stood up straight, clasped his hands, tilted his head slightly, looked at the lake, and snorted.

"You see, to deal with these rubbish, we don't need the 26th Army or the Battalion Guards, we only need the local pacification office and the guards to go there.

It seems that eliminating the six vassal states and imprisoning the twenty-one princes has not yet caused these bastards to suffer!"

Feng Bao said at the side: "Your Highness, these people usually live in luxury and think highly of themselves, but in fact they have no experience in dealing with the world. Your Highness's good intentions have all been shown to a blind man."

"If you can't see, then beat him up. If you feel pain in your body, the deaf, blind, idiot, dull, and stupid should all react. Feng Bao, be fair and just."

"Your servant/minister is here!"

"Cheer up, put in some effort, and put on a good show. Xishikou hasn't been open for a long time."

"As ordered!"

Qi Yan was ordered to deliver a document from His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. Li Chunfang was very confused when he received it.

what is this?
Look at this paper, it is slightly yellowed and seems to be more than ten years old.

Li Chunfang carefully opened the folded paper and found a grid inside. It turned out to be a piece of copy paper.

There were words densely written on it, and the handwriting was crooked and very childish.

"The snow weighs down the branches, but they are not touching the mud. When the sun rises, they are still as high as the sky."

"In the past, my father, the emperor, lived here. Farming was hard, and he was on the move day and night. Suddenly, a natural disaster struck, and his family suffered."

Li Chunfang was stunned, and his thoughts were suddenly pulled back to the spring of the 39th year of Jiajing, February 2, when the dragon raised its head.

That morning, I came to the Western Garden by imperial decree. The late Emperor Jiajing pointed at the Crown Prince beside him and said, "The Crown Prince has been in the Western Garden for a year and now it is time for him to start learning to read. I, the top scholar, would like to ask him to teach him."

Then he and the prince went to the classroom near Xi'an Gate of Xiyuan.

How old was the prince at that time, five years old?

He was wearing a red dragon robe and a winged hat on his head, with a calm and resolute expression, standing there like a little adult. But I saw panic and helplessness in his dark eyes.

Having lost his mother and father, and coming to the unfamiliar Xiyuan at such a young age, how could he not be panicked?
I felt pity for him and asked him gently and kindly if he had ever read a book.

The prince replied that he had read Tao Te Ching and Tai Shang Ganying Pian, as well as Zhuangzi and dozens of Tang poems and Song lyrics.

At the beginning, I wanted to teach him "The Great Learning", but the prince was very disgusted.

Haha, I also found The Great Learning and The Doctrine of the Mean boring when I read them for the first time. So I changed the method and used the poems of Emperor Taizu and The Imperial Stele for the Imperial Tomb as models to teach the prince.

This piece of paper was the first copy paper that I taught the prince to write. There were many words on it, all of which were written by me holding his hand, stroke by stroke.

I didn’t expect that His Highness still treasured it.

Li Chunfang gently stroked the piece of copied paper, feeling mixed emotions.

I used Taizu's imperial calligraphy to enlighten His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, but I never imagined that in less than ten years, his words, deeds, and aspirations would be unanimously recognized by the court and the public as the one who was most like Taizu among all the ancestors of the Chengzu family.

Every sip and every peck!

Sometimes Li Chunfang felt very regretful. He wondered why he did not insist on enlightening His Highness with Confucian classics such as "The Great Learning" and "The Analects of Confucius", but had to use the imperial pen of Emperor Taizu to enlighten Him.

Taizu revived Confucianism and established Neo-Confucianism as the foundation of the Ming Dynasty.

Your Highness lightly discarded Confucianism and wantonly transformed it into the new foundation of the Ming Dynasty.

Thinking of this, Li Chunfang became extremely anxious.

But Li Chunfang knew the temperament of his student Zhu Yijun. The world belongs to all, and the first thing in his heart is the people of the Ming Dynasty.

It is hard to say that what he did was for his own selfish desires or for the so-called fame and reputation during his lifetime.

That's why Li Chunfang is so conflicted and distressed.

Well, there's another piece of paper.

Li Chunfang saw the paper sandwiched inside, on which was a half-written poem by Zhu Yijun.

"At the Yellow Crane's Broken Rock, is my old friend still here? The old mountains and rivers are all filled with new sorrows. I want to buy some osmanthus flowers and carry them with me to drink, but it's not like the days when I was young."

After reading it, Li Chunfang was stunned.

The prince was smart and he had already seen through what he had done in secret.

If it were someone else, it would not be Qi Yan who came with the document, but the Jinyiwei who came to arrest the person.

The prince thought of the care he had given to the child when he was alone and helpless, and did not say anything, but just reminded himself silently.

"I wanted to buy sweet-scented osmanthus and drink it with me, but it turned out to be different. I was a young man traveling."

Li Chunfang couldn't hold back any longer and burst into tears.

He picked up the pen, dipped it in ink, wiped his tears with his left hand, took out a piece of paper, and wrote half of the poem.

"I did not play the poem to Mingguang, nor did I write to the Northern Palace, nor did I say anything surprising. I was in a hurry, but the heaven did not allow me to win, and my clothes were covered with dust. I chased after pleasure with white jade, and bought smiles with gold, and I give them to you as my master. On the water chestnut and perch river, I will return tomorrow."

After opening the attic door and about to call someone, he saw Qi Yan waiting outside.

"Are you still here?"

"Old sir, His Highness has ordered that the copy paper is extremely valuable and he wants to keep it for life. So he asked me to wait here. After the old sir has finished reading it, I will take it back."

Li Chunfang's eyes were filled with tears, and he said in a hoarse voice: "Okay, copy the paper and take it back to His Highness. As for the half poem, I would be disrespectful to refuse it. You can also take the half poem back to His Highness."

"Yes."

(End of this chapter)