Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 6: Born to be a Great Leader
In the third month of the sixteenth year of the Zhengde reign, Bingyin (fourteen).

Zhu Houcong didn't know whether it was because he remembered that Zhengde died on this day in history, or because Zhengde's soul appeared in his dream, causing him to dream of Zhengde during his nap on this day.

In his dream, Zhengde also gave him many instructions, asking him not to forget his ambition to make the Ming Dynasty strong.

But Zhu Houcong did not see his face clearly, and only knew that he was Emperor Zhengde Zhu Houzhao through his self-introduction.

When Zhu Houcong woke up, he saw outside the window the setting sun, carried by a lone wild goose, sinking to the west.

In any case, Zhu Houcong knew that Zhengde might have really passed away.

All he had to do next was wait for the edict to arrive in Anlu.

But during this period of time, he still couldn't show any edge.

After all, he had not received the will yet.

Everything is still uncertain.

Therefore, in the following period of time, Zhu Houcong continued to read Neo-Confucian books and study Neo-Confucian literature as seriously as before.

More than half a month later, Wang Yu received the news that Emperor Zhengde had passed away and Zhu Houcong had been enthroned as emperor.

Wang Yu, who had long regarded himself as one of Zhu Houcong's own men, immediately rushed to Prince Xing's mansion upon receiving the news. As soon as he saw Zhu Houcong, he knelt down in grief and shouted:

"Your Highness, I have just learned from the cabinet that the emperor has passed away and ordered you to succeed him. The ministers who will welcome him are on the way, and I have come here to report this. I hope your Highness will be more compassionate and make plans to come to the capital as soon as possible. Woohoo!"

"what?!"

"Your Majesty!"

After Zhu Houcong heard this, he immediately retched and vomited a large amount of rice ball bean dregs and sour water that he had prepared in his mouth in advance.

Many of them even deliberately spit on Wang Xi's official hat.

Simultaneously.

Zhu Houcong himself also cried out in heartbreak, and then rubbed the pepper hidden under his fingernails into his eyes.

for a while.

Zhu Houcong also burst into tears.

Then, Zhu Houcong continued to cry and said, "Why did His Majesty die?"

Yuan Zonggao and Wang Yu were both stunned.

Even Zhu Houcong's study partner Huang Jin and attendant Lu Bing were stunned.

They didn't expect that Zhu Houcong would be so sad after learning of Zhengde's death.

Yuan Zonggao was the first to react. After glancing at Zhu Houcong, he immediately knelt down and advised Zhu Houcong:
"Please accept my condolences, Prince. Take care of your holy body!"

Wang Xi was also very moved, and immediately kowtowed like pounding garlic, saying loudly: "I am guilty! I shouldn't have rushed to tell the prince about this, causing him to be unable to bear the pain and vomit all the food he ate!"

After a while.

Zhu Houcong weakly stretched out his hand and said, "Everyone, get up."

then.

Zhu Houcong looked at Wang Xi and said, "I was so sad to learn that Your Majesty has passed away that I soiled your black gauze hat. Please forgive me and go back to change it first."

"How dare I harbor resentment? I can only be glad that the Great Ming will meet a good ruler because of the Crown Prince's sincere loyalty and filial piety."

"I will obey your order and return to the yamen. I only ask that you do not be too sad and damage your holy body. You should consider the people of the world. Woohoo!"

Wang Yu sobbed as he spoke, then left the palace in great joy.

Because he was so satisfied with Zhu Houcong's performance.

After all, Confucianism emphasizes ethics and morality.

In the ethical ethics emphasized by Confucianism, especially in Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism, "loyalty" is the highest morality in human relations.

Now Wang Yu saw that Zhu Houcong attached so much importance to the Confucian emphasis on "loyalty" that he vomited all the food he ate.

Naturally, Wang Yu was more willing to believe that Zhu Houcong must be very devout in his belief in Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism, or at least was willing to be devout and willing to behave like a saint.

Therefore, soon after Wang Yu came back, he wrote to Yang Tinghe, saying: "Your Highness is a truly loyal and righteous monarch. Upon hearing that Your Majesty has passed away, I vomited all the food I had eaten!" After Wang Yu left, Zhu Houcong looked at Yuan Zonggao:
"This Wang Xi is sensible. Don't reward him openly, but give him something secretly."

Yuan Zonggao bowed and said yes, then looked up at Zhu Houcong with a look of surprise in his eyes.

Yuan Zonggao was a Jinshi in the third year of Hongzhi, and after passing the Jinshi exam, he was selected as a Hanlin Shujishi.

However, in the seventh year of Hongzhi, Yuan Zonggao was demoted in name only and appointed as the Chief Clerk of Xingwang Palace because he was not favored by Yang Tinghe, which made him lose the opportunity to enter the cabinet and realize his political ambitions.

Subsequently.

Yuan Zonggao naturally gave up his ambition, like many other literati and scholars, to "serve the king like Yao and Shun" in his lifetime, and followed King Xingxian to Anlu, Huguang, to assist King Xingxian in managing the affairs of the royal palace, and later was responsible for teaching Zhu Houcong.

Because Yuan Zonggao did not expect Zhu Houcong to become the emperor at first, his education of Zhu Houcong always aimed to train him to be a wise vassal king. He did not teach Zhu Houcong to analyze the politics of the world, but only taught him the "loyalty, righteousness, integrity and shame" emphasized by Neo-Confucianism.

He did this to protect Zhu Houcong and prevent him from developing unnecessary ambitions.

But Yuan Zonggao had to admit that Zhu Houcong had studied the boring Neo-Confucianism very seriously in recent years and showed the potential of a wise king.

But Yuan Zonggao did not expect that Zhu Houcong would become the emperor now.

However, Yuan Zonggao was very willing to believe that the crown prince Zhu Houcong, whom he had taught since childhood, would become a wise monarch who loved his people like his own children in the future.

In Yuan Zonggao's opinion, not to mention that Zhu Houcong had been kind and never abused or treated the low-level maids and eunuchs around him, who were treated like cats and dogs and could be scolded at will in the eyes of the prince, just the fact that he took the initiative to reduce the tenant rent when he was recently paid the Qi Lu rice made Yuan Zonggao have to admit that his prince was truly kind-hearted.

Therefore, Yuan Zonggao was very much looking forward to what kind of era the Ming Dynasty would be like after Zhu Houcong ascended the throne.

At this moment, Yuan Zonggao was even more looking forward to the revival of the Ming Dynasty after his prince ascended the throne, because he found that his prince was not only kind-hearted, but also had a clear awareness of winning the hearts of the people and building power for himself!

He couldn't help but start to feel that his former initiative to reduce the rent for the tenants of the palace was perhaps not only due to his benevolent heart of loving the people like his own children, but also because he wanted to consolidate people's hearts and make far-reaching plans. Even his previous innocence and the grief he showed now over the death of Zhengde were undoubtedly all pretended, and he was trying to bide his time.

Yuan Zonggao could not help but firmly believe that his prince should be a wise ruler with great ambitions and mature beyond his years!
And he is a natural born hero!

Because he really didn't teach Zhu Houcong these methods.

This surprised Yuan Zonggao very much.

His desire to improve the world and become a ruler like Yao and Shun, which had been suppressed for decades and even dormant for many years, began to activate again.

but.

If Zhu Houcong really only acted like a benevolent monarch, only knew how to be diligent and frugal, and only knew how to treat the people like his own children, but had no intention of building momentum for himself, winning over the people's hearts, and planning for the future.

Yuan Zonggao would only wait patiently for Zhu Houcong to become emperor, and he would not easily reveal his ambitions again, which would cause him to repeat the mistake of being expelled from the capital by the conservatives in power because he exposed his edge too early in the Hanlin Academy.

But now that his son has such a plan and is determined to rule the world.

then.

At this time, Yuan Zonggao suddenly knelt down in front of Zhu Houcong and kowtowed to the ground: "Sir, I would like to speak alone!"

Seeing this, Zhu Houcong hurriedly helped Yuan Zonggao up: "Sir, please stand up!"

Afterwards, Zhu Houcong agreed to Yuan Zonggao and summoned Yuan Zonggao alone in Zhongzhengzhai, while asking Huang Jin to guard outside and not let anyone in.

Yuan Zonggao said to Zhu Houcong at this time: "Your Highness is extremely talented, and you are a blessing to the country. However, I would like to tell you that if you really want to save the people of the world from disaster and make the country strong, you cannot really think that sticking to the old system, following the old rituals, and practicing diligence and thrift can make the country prosperous, but you should change the system."

"Reform?"

Zhu Houcong was secretly delighted. He didn't expect Yuan Zonggao to see through his thoughts and wanted to support him, so he pretended to be surprised and asked.

Yuan Zonggao replied: "Yes, Prince!"

"During the reign of Emperor Xiao, the imperial court tried its best to maintain the old system, follow the old rituals, and practice thrift, but it was still difficult to avoid the situation where the treasury was empty, the powerful annexed land, the number of refugees increased dramatically, and thieves were rampant."

"So Li Wenzhenggong (Li Dongyang) once wrote a memorial to the Emperor Xiao, saying that although the Emperor Xiao accepted advice and worked hard to govern, there were still many refugees in the world who were poorly clothed and hungry, and that he and his ministers were incompetent."

"What's more, even during the Xiaomiao period, the government had already begun to gradually make some changes due to lack of financial resources and serious arrears of taxes. For example, the law of reforming the system was enacted during the Xiaomiao period. Although I do not agree with this law, it is enough to show that the world had reached the point where the old system could no longer be followed and should be reformed as early as the Xiaomiao period, let alone now."

Zhu Houcong nodded after hearing this and said, "Then according to your opinion, how should we change it?"

Yuan Zonggao was even more excited by Zhu Houcong's question and said, "It is too early to talk about how to reform the system now. I suggest that if the prince really wants to benefit the country and the people, he should first read Wang Yangming's books! And Luo Zheng'an (Luo Qinshun)'s books, instead of just reading the books of Xue and Wu in the past."

Yuan Zonggao bowed deeply again as he spoke: "I am ashamed, because I did not expect that the prince would receive the mandate of heaven and even have the talent of a wise emperor, so I only let Your Highness read some books of corrupt scholars, and failed to let the prince learn the true way of emperor. But now that the prince is going to be the emperor, he should learn from the strengths of others and use the Six Classics to enlighten me!"

(End of this chapter)