Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 450 Determination
Zhu Shenzhui knew the saying "great things are achieved without being too particular about trivial matters" very early on, but he did not truly understand the meaning of this saying until today.

Zhu Shenzhui was not a gifted person, and there were no strange signs when he was born. As for the legends described by emperors boasted in history books, Zhu Shenzhui did not have any of them at all, not to mention the strange fact that his mother was pregnant for more than a year before giving birth to him.

If that's the case, Zhu Shenzhui is not a human being, but Nezha.

Zhu Shenzhui was just an ordinary person, and all he had was a better understanding of the direction of history than ordinary people. As for the rest, to be honest, he was just slightly stronger in personal martial arts. In terms of wisdom and other things, there were many people in the entire Ming Dynasty who were stronger than him. Even in terms of his proud martial arts, Zhu Shenzhui was barely first-rate.

Since he was an ordinary person, he had ordinary thoughts. So for a moment, Zhu Shenzhu couldn't bear to see the suffering of the people, and it was normal for him to have the idea of ​​taking action. But this impulse was quickly suppressed by his reason, because Zhu Shenzhu immediately thought that even if he took action, he would not be able to change the final result, on the contrary, it would bring him unpredictable troubles.

Although Wang Jiayin's uprising was a big deal, it was nothing in Zhu Shenzhu's eyes. Apart from other things, the fact that Wang Jiayin's army withdrew after hundreds of casualties in the attack on Hequ showed that Wang Jiayin's army was a mob. Zhu Shenzhu didn't need to send out his main force to deal with such an army. He only needed to pull a few hundred Mongolian cavalry from the grassland to completely destroy them.

But what can be changed by doing this? One Wang Jiayin fell, but his fall does not mean that there will not be more or even thousands of Wang Jiayins who will stand up.

Wildfires cannot be extinguished; they will only spring up again. If the rebels in the late Ming Dynasty were so easy to deal with, then the Ming Dynasty would not have ended up like that.

Even if we deal with the current troubles, there will be more troubles in the future. The problem will not be solved if the root cause is not solved. The root cause is not because of Wang Jiayin alone, but because of Daming itself.

The Ming Dynasty had long been a broken ship. The previous emperors had barely propped it up and prevented it from sinking. They had worked hard to repair it in an attempt to save it from eventual sinking.

This was the case with Zhang Juzheng's New Deal. Zhang Juzheng implemented the New Deal with great talent and strategy, which gave the Ming Dynasty a new lease of life. Unfortunately, Zhang Juzheng died too early and too suddenly. During Zhang Juzheng's time, the Wanli Emperor made the wrong choice because he was too young and had character flaws, and was instigated by the civil service group, which led to the failure of Zhang Juzheng's New Deal.

By the time Emperor Wanli came to his senses, it was too late. He no longer had the ability to change anything and could only watch the imperial power fall into the wrong hands while the new policies that his teacher had worked so hard to implement became a thing of the past.

The remorseful and disappointed Wanli Emperor also tried to change, but found that he was powerless to resist. Even if he was the emperor, he could not do anything about the powerful civil service group. So in the end, Wanli Emperor simply gave up and created an unprecedented time in history when he did not attend court.

After the death of Emperor Wanli, Emperor Taichang ascended the throne, but he died inexplicably after being emperor for less than a month.

When Emperor Tianqi came to power, the government was initially controlled by the Donglin Party. The young Emperor Tianqi had no strong support outside and no help inside, just like a puppet placed on the throne by the Donglin Party. But the Donglin Party never expected that Emperor Tianqi was much smarter than they thought. Under such circumstances, Emperor Tianqi was able to use Wei Zhongxian, the only person available to him, to achieve a great turnaround, and he almost succeeded.

Unfortunately, just when Emperor Tianqi was about to gain real power and change the political situation, he fell into the water strangely and died, just like Emperor Wuzong Zhu Houzhao did in the past.

If Emperor Tianqi had not died so early, the situation of the Ming Dynasty would have been very different. With Emperor Tianqi's wisdom and means, and Wei Zhongxian's relentless pursuit of the gentry class and the traditional civil service group, the Ming Dynasty might have been able to revive after resolving the Liaodong issue.

It's a pity that Emperor Tianqi died too early. After Emperor Tianqi died, Emperor Chongzhen came to power. The current Emperor Chongzhen was called the wise ruler of the Ming Dynasty for a hundred years by the civil officials because of his means of overthrowing Wei Zhongxian, and was even praised as the ruler of the Ming Dynasty's revival.

But in just over a year, what Emperor Chongzhen did did not show the slightest sign of a wise ruler. His political vision and methods were no match for his brother, Emperor Tianqi. Coupled with his character flaws, the Ming Dynasty was sliding towards the abyss at an irreversible pace.

In this situation, it was meaningless to try to turn the tide. As long as Emperor Chongzhen was in power, the longer the Ming Dynasty survived, the more serious the consequences would be. This ship was doomed to sink. Zhu Shenzhui would not be able to save the Ming Dynasty if he took action now, but would expose himself and make all his previous plans come to naught in an instant.

Now Zhu Shenzhui's best response is to wait patiently for the moment of final change. Before the opportunity comes, Zhu Shenzhui must not show up, let alone act rashly. As the saying goes, there is no construction without destruction. The only way is to destroy the old Ming Dynasty, completely push down the crumbling building, and rebuild on the ruins after the building collapses.

Although Zhu Shenzhui's reason told him that this was the most correct approach, his emotions still made it difficult for him to accept it. After all, he was a person with flesh and blood and emotions, and he could not remain indifferent to the catastrophe of China.

But if he didn't do this, he couldn't ensure that he could complete the reconstruction of the building. If he failed, it would be fine, but what about his family and friends? More importantly, the Liaodong Jiannu were eyeing him covetously. Once they entered the Central Plains, the Han people's clothing and customs would be destroyed. Would they have to experience the humiliation of the next few hundred years again?

At this moment, Zhu Shenzhu finally understood why those emperors and generals in history were successful, because they had long been hard-hearted and put their own interests first, and would not let their personal feelings affect their judgment. Before, Zhu Shenzhu thought that he was the same. On the Mongolian grasslands, for the Tenger tribe, Zhu Shenzhu had never been soft-hearted, and countless people died directly or indirectly at his hands.

Earlier, when Zhu Shenzui led the people of Wangjia Village to sell illegal salt, he also killed people without blinking an eye in order to survive. He originally thought that his heart had long been hardened and he was indifferent to life. But when he thought of the catastrophe brought about by the chaos in the world at the end of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Shenzui found that he was not as hard-hearted as he imagined.

Zhu Shenzhui smiled bitterly and shook his head, not knowing what to say. His reason finally suppressed his emotions and his previous impulse subsided.

At this moment, there were light footsteps outside the study, followed by the voice of his wife Xu Jingqiu asking questions.

After answering, Xu Jingqiu pushed the door open and walked in. In her hand was a wooden tray with a bowl of soup in it. The soup was steaming and a fragrant aroma wafted into the air.

"Lily chicken soup, drink it while it's hot. It's the best time to nourish your body in the winter. I've been cooking this soup since early in the morning. Try it."

"Thank you for your hard work." Zhu Shenzhui nodded with a smile, stood up, took the food on the table, picked up the bowl of soup and took a sip with a spoon.

The soup was well cooked and tasted very delicious. The fragrance of the lily not only covered up the greasiness of the chicken soup, but also did not destroy the deliciousness of the chicken soup, making Zhu Shenzhui drink it very happily.

After drinking a few sips, he put the bowl aside. Seeing Xu Jingqiu was about to clean up, he directly grabbed Xu Jingqiu's hand and asked her to sit next to him and talk.

"You are an old married couple, don't touch each other in broad daylight. If the children see it..." Xu Jingqiu blushed with shyness. Although she was already a mother of two children, she was still beautiful. Especially after giving birth to children, her body became more graceful than before, which made Zhu Shenzhui's heart beat.

"So what if the children saw it? We are their parents, and the joy of human relations is natural. Otherwise, where would they come from? Besides, I don't have the thoughts you think. I just want to talk to you quietly." Zhu Shenzhui said with a smile, and then asked if she had drunk the soup just now. Xu Jingqiu smiled and shook her head, saying that the first bowl of soup should naturally be for him to drink, and she was not in a hurry and could have it later.

Zhu Shenzhui said sternly that this was not okay, they were all family, there was no need to do this. Besides, his family was not like other families, Xu Jingqiu had been married for several years, she should know that she didn't care about these things. In the past few years, he often practiced outside, and the family was taken care of by her, she was really hardworking, so she needed more nourishment than himself.

Listening to Zhu Shenzhui's words, Xu Jingqiu felt sweet in her heart and she gently put her head on Zhu Shenzhui's shoulder with a smile. It was rare for the couple to sit and talk like this, and they had a very happy chat.

After chatting for a while, Zhu Shenzhu suddenly asked Xu Jingqiu if she wanted to go back to Pingshun to stay at her parents' home for a while. Xu Jingqiu didn't think so at first, shaking her head and saying that the round trip was not short and inconvenient, and the two children were still young, so forget it.

Although she missed her parents, she often exchanged letters with her family and knew that her parents were doing well in Pingshun. A daughter who is married is like water spilled out. Although her parents' home is hers, as Zhu Shenzhu's wife, she is now a daughter-in-law of the Zhu family. If there is no need for a daughter to be married, it is better for her not to go back to her parents' home.

"Really don't want to go?"

"What's the matter? My husband plans to let me go back to my parents' home to live for a few days? Has something happened?" Xu Jingqiu looked up at Zhu Shenzhui, seeming a little puzzled by what he said.

"Not really. I just feel that Pingyang Prefecture might become a little uneasy in the future, so I'm thinking about whether I should let you leave Pingyang for a while. Not only you, but also the children and sister-in-law."

"Why do we suddenly want to move out of Pingyang Prefecture? Husband, don't forget that our family is a royal family. According to the rules, royal family members are not allowed to leave their residence without reason!" Xu Jingqiu asked back in confusion.

Zhu Shenzhui nodded and said, "That being said, there is always a way, and as long as I am still here in name, it won't be considered a violation of the court's rules. You may not know this, but I just received news today that something big happened in Shaanxi. A few days ago, a group of rioters crossed the Yellow River from Shaanxi to Shanxi and almost took down Hequ County..."

"What!" Xu Jingqiu was shocked. It was the first time she heard of this and she quickly asked what was going on.

(End of this chapter)