Ming Dynasty: I risked my life to teach the prince, the emperor begged me not to die

Chapter 11 The meaning of life

At night, there are stars.

Chen Ce looked up at the starry sky, and all kinds of strange thoughts came to his mind. How big is the universe? What is the edge of the universe? If two galaxies are compressed, can a black hole with infinite mass really be formed in the middle? What would a person see in such a black hole?
After Lord Ning rejected the marriage proposal, Chen Ce seemed lost and couldn't find the meaning of life.

Just stay here quietly and wait for death to come, doing nothing?

The doctor sent by Lord Ning has probably determined that I won’t live long. What meaningful things can I do with the remaining time I have left?

Chen Ce suddenly thought of something. Why don’t I try to train the Crown Prince of the Ming Dynasty and make history move to another turning point?

Jiannu invaded the pass, the Ming court declined, the Donglin Party and government, land annexation, financial shrinkage, sudden cold weather, imperial population, Japanese pirates in the southeast...

Thinking of this, Chen Ce suddenly felt sleepy. He returned to his room and fell asleep soon after.

……

The next morning, Chen Ce had just gotten up to brush his teeth and wash up when Zhu Houzhao rushed over.

In the past, Chen Ce was annoyed by Zhu Houzhao's interruptions, but after thinking it through last night, he found him less annoying.

“Brother Chen, Brother Chen!”

"Good news! Wang Yue went to Helan Mountain!"

Zhu Houzhao jumped and shouted excitedly, with a look of longing on his face.

Chen Ce was slightly stunned and said, "Did our emperor let General Wang go to fight?"

Zhu Houzhao waved his hand and said, "No!"

"Wang Yue's deputy general Zhu Jin led the troops there. Wang Yue was very powerful. He divided his troops into three groups, and the troops worked in an orderly manner. They attacked the Helan Mountains directly, beheaded 42 people, captured horses and camels, and thousands of cattle, sheep, and weapons!"

"After the army won the victory, Wang Yue went to Helan Mountain in person to celebrate with the soldiers."

Young people are full of vigor and always yearn to fight on the battlefield. Zhu Houzhao is no exception. At this time, his heart may have flown to the Helan Mountains.

As long as Wang Yue doesn't go to the war, he just needs to stay in the northwest and manage Hami well, and the northwest gateway of the Ming Dynasty will not be in chaos. This will give the Ming court more time to deal with other matters.

Zhu Houzhao rolled his eyes slightly and said to Chen Ce with a smile on his face: "I might as well ask you another question to see how well you study. Do you dare?"

Chen Ning had used this lame method of provoking Zhu Houzhao before, but he didn't expect this guy to actually learn and apply it right away. He was probably stumped by his teacher's questions in the East Palace and didn't know how to answer.

Chen Ce smiled and said, "There's nothing I'm afraid of. Just ask."

Haha.

Little brother, do you think I am so easy to bully? You used me before, but this time I will use your own methods to deal with you. I am afraid you don’t know yet?
"Some Japanese invaders occasionally come to the southeast, and they always rob some villages along the southeast coast, and they never fail."

"Now let me test you. How do you deal with these damn dwarfs?"

Chen Ce smiled, glanced at Liu Jin who was standing behind Zhu Houzhao, and said, "Go pour the tea."

"Master Xiao Zhu, please take a seat first. We will talk slowly."

Liu Jin:?
You sick bastard, are you crazy? You order me around? I'll kill you!
Liu Jin looked up at the ceiling, shuddered, and pretended not to hear.

Zhu Houzhao said sinisterly: "Your ears are useless, I will cut them off for you when I get back."

what?
Liu Jin hurriedly said, "Oh, Master, I was distracted just now. Haha, pour the tea. Okay, I'll go boil some water."

Zhu Houzhao hurriedly asked Chen Ce: "From what you said, it seems like you have a way to deal with it?"

Chen Ce nodded calmly, "Yeah."

Ok?
You're doing this again? You're pretending to be me again.

Okay, okay, let me hear what you have to say first.

This was a question Yang Tinghe had left for him to think about. He had to answer Yang Tinghe tomorrow, but Zhu Houzhao hadn't thought of the answer yet. In fact, he didn't care about the answer, because he had already had a solution.

He had estimated the national strength and land area of ​​the small Japanese slaves. With 50,000 naval forces, if he could train 50,000 naval forces, he could personally land on the Japanese island and completely wipe out these scourges, eradicating them completely.

Chen Ce thought for a while before he slowly spoke to Zhu Houzhao: "First of all, we must guard against the Japanese invasion in the three months after Qingming and in September and October."

"Hold on."

Zhu Houzhao interrupted Chen Ce and asked, "Why these few months?"

Chen Ce said: "Before Qingming Festival, the southeast sea wind is changeable, which is not conducive to the sailing of Japanese ships. After Qingming Festival and in September and October, the sea wind direction is stable, with mostly northeast and northwest winds."

"Japanese ships are convenient for sailing, so we must focus on defense at these two times every year. We remind the Southeast Coastal Defense Office to prepare for defense and all water forts to strengthen surveillance to prevent Japanese slaves from landing."

"If the country is rich, we can set up garrisons on the four mountains outside Zhoushan Island to prevent the Japanese from landing at the four mountains of Chenqian to replenish fresh water. Of course, it is more troublesome to achieve this at this stage, so I won't discuss it for now."

The current harassment by the Japanese on the southeastern sea of ​​the Ming Dynasty is not too serious, and it will take several decades before it becomes a flood.

It is at most in its infancy now, and it is not a big deal to the Ming Dynasty, so the court does not take it seriously, and the focus of national defense is still on the northwest.

The person who could raise this question to Zhu Houzhao at this juncture had a vision and insight that made Chen Ce admire him.

"The first point is prevention, and the second point is treatment."

Chen Ce took a sip of the tea. Although it didn't taste very good, he still enjoyed it.

Zhu Houzhao had never been so serious when listening to lectures in the Eastern Palace, but he was particularly serious today, probably because of his damn competitive spirit. He wanted to see what this consumptive patient had.

"How to treat it?" Zhu Houzhao asked.

Chen Ce said: "You just asked why the Japanese were able to attack the southeastern villages so easily."

"This question is actually easy to answer. What is the purpose of harassing the village?"

Zhu Houzhao said: "Of course it's to grab wealth, why else?"

Chen Ce nodded and said, "Yes, they can gain benefits by robbing wealth, which shows that people outside the territory of our Ming Dynasty are in urgent need of many things in the Ming Dynasty."

"Tea, silk, porcelain, etc."

"If the trade and tribute are normal, the Ming Dynasty can make a lot of money, but unfortunately, the maritime ban is destined to prevent the Ming Dynasty from gaining sufficient benefits in the southeast."

"The imperial court cannot obtain sufficient benefits, but what about the merchants in the southeast?"

Zhu Houzhao: “?”

What do you mean?
Why does it feel like what he said is inconsistent?

Are you trying to fool me?

I didn't understand a word.

Chen Ce smiled and said, "It doesn't matter. I just put forward some basic concepts before."

"What I want to tell you is that the imperial court should investigate whether the merchants in the southeast or some powerful bureaucrats have colluded with the Japanese and actively pointed the way for the Japanese to rob."

Zhu Houzhao laughed and said calmly: "Nonsense! It's pure nonsense!"

"You just said that people will only do things that are profitable. Why would they do these crimes that have no benefits?"

Chen Ce also smiled and said, "In order to keep the maritime ban forever, they can smuggle without lifting the maritime ban, and they can make a lot of money by smuggling. How can you say there is no profit in this?"

Zhu Houzhao was smiling, but suddenly his smile froze.

(End of this chapter)