My father is Chongzhen? Then I have no choice but to rebel.

Chapter 85 Chongzhen: Why don’t you bear a little hardship and marry a few more women?
All in all, Zhu Cilang slept very soundly that night.

When Zhu Cilang went to court the next morning, his mind was still on what happened last night.

This resulted in him being somewhat absent-minded when attending court, and he had no interest in listening to what the ministers were saying.

But there is nothing important today, just some trivial matters!
After the court session, Zhu Cilang went straight to Kunning Palace. He wanted to discuss with Queen Zhou about marrying Zheng Zhilong's daughter.

When Zhu Cilang arrived at Kunning Palace, Empress Zhou had already finished dressing up, but Chongzhen was still lying in bed. It was not known whether he was pretending to be asleep or was really not awake.

It has to be said that since Zhu Cilang "usurped the throne", Chongzhen's sleep has rarely improved.

In the past, he only slept two hours a day and his sleep quality was extremely poor. The result was that his hair turned white one by one. Although he was in his thirties, he looked like a little old man in his fifties.

But now, Chongzhen no longer had to worry about state affairs, and he could sleep for four or five hours every night, or eight or nine hours, and he became visibly more energetic.

Seeing Zhu Cilang coming, Empress Zhou thought he was looking for Chongzhen, and immediately said:

"Ying'er, you're here. Your mother will wake up your father right away."

It was obvious that Queen Zhou still thought that Zhu Cilang was coming to see Chongzhen again.

Zhu Cilang quickly stopped him and said:

"No need, mother. I'm not here to see the emperor, but to see you. I have something very important to discuss with you."

When Queen Zhou heard this, she was also a little curious, but then she reacted.

Could it be that my dad is in trouble again?
Thinking of this, Queen Zhou asked with a cold face:
"What's going on? Did your grandpa cause you trouble again?"

"This guy! Queen Mother clearly warned him before, telling him not to cause trouble, take bribes, or pervert the law. Why is he still like this?"

"Just wait, Queen Mother will call him into the palace and scold him."

As Queen Zhou said this, she was about to go out, preparing to send someone to call Zhou Kui into the palace.

There was no way. She was really afraid that her father would do something that would anger God and people, and eventually force her son to kill his own father for the sake of justice.

This is not something she, as a daughter and a mother, wants to see.

Zhu Cilang found this funny, but still said:

"Don't worry, mother. I'm not here for Grandpa's affairs. Grandpa has been relatively peaceful recently and hasn't gotten into any trouble."

Hearing this, Queen Zhou finally breathed a sigh of relief.

After pulling Empress Zhou to sit on the chair, Zhu Cilang said solemnly:
"Mother, I wish to take a concubine for the Crown Prince."

Upon hearing this, Queen Zhou looked at Zhu Cilang in surprise.

Because strictly speaking, matters like choosing a concubine for the Crown Prince should actually be handled by her, the Queen.

It's just that the prince is young, so she hasn't considered this kind of thing for the time being. Unexpectedly, Zhu Cilang actually brought it up himself now.

After reacting, Queen Zhou suddenly laughed:
"My dear Yan'er has really grown up. Tell me, which girl have you taken a fancy to? Mother will go and help you find out."

Seeing Queen Zhou looking relieved, Zhu Cilang felt a little embarrassed.

After all, he had never seen Zheng Zhilong's daughter, and he didn't know whether she was tall, short, fat, thin, ugly or beautiful.

It feels exactly like opening a blind box!

But no matter what, he can only accept it now.

There's nothing we can do about it. Who made him the crown prince of the Ming Dynasty?
It's only right to sell your body for the Ming Dynasty!
Zhu Cilang continued:
"The woman I wish to marry is the youngest daughter of Zheng Zhilong, the general of Fujian."

"what?"

"Tell me again who you want to marry?"

Before Empress Zhou could speak, Chongzhen's voice suddenly rang out, filled with incredible anger.

Zhu Cilang turned his head and saw that Chongzhen had sat up from the bed at some point and was staring at him with eyes wide open.

This made Zhu Cilang somewhat helpless.

He thought that if he had known that Chongzhen was pretending to be asleep again, he should have pulled Queen Zhou outside to talk to her.

But now that Chongzhen already knew about it, Zhu Cilang simply stopped hiding it.

He explained:

"Just last night, I summoned Zheng Zhilong and discussed some matters with him. We finally decided to take his daughter as the Crown Prince's concubine."

When Chongzhen heard this, he didn't even bother to put on his shoes. He jumped off the bed and pointed at Zhu Cilang's nose and scolded him.

"No! I don't agree with this!"

"You rebellious son! Do you still have any respect for the ancestral rules?"

Zhu Cilang knew Chongzhen's stubbornness, so he didn't want to argue with him. Instead, he said calmly:

"Father, it's already this hour, why are you still talking about so many rules?"

"As long as it can bring benefits to the Ming Dynasty, what does it matter if I take a general's daughter as the Crown Prince's concubine?"

"Even if Taizu knew about this in the afterlife, he would never blame me!"

When Chongzhen heard this, he sneered and said:

"Then tell me, what good can you get from marrying a pirate's daughter?"

Obviously, Chongzhen looked down upon Zheng Zhilong, the Fujian general who came from a pirate family.

It is no wonder that Zheng Zhilong in history was unwilling to die for the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Cilang said calmly, "As long as I marry Zheng Zhilong's daughter, the 17 naval troops and 2300 ships under Zheng Zhilong's name will belong to me."

"In addition, Zheng Zhilong is willing to provide the Ming Dynasty with 300 million taels of silver or 500 million dan of grain every year."

"More importantly, I also plan to have Zheng Zhilong's navy and Huang Fei's navy work together to destroy the Jiannu navy and open up the sea route."

"Zheng Zhilong has agreed!"

"This way, the Ming Dynasty could either transport food and supplies directly from Tianjin to Jinzhou by water, or launch a direct attack on the Jiannu by water from Shandong."

"This operation would require approximately 400 million taels of silver, but the Ming Dynasty didn't have to pay a penny because Zheng Zhilong covered it all."

"And all the Ming Dynasty needs to do is to let me marry Zheng Zhilong's daughter to be the Crown Prince's concubine!"

After Zhu Cilang finished speaking, Chongzhen suddenly fell silent.

Because he found that what Zhu Cilang said was right, there were so many benefits to marrying Zheng Zhilong's daughter!

Zheng Zhilong's dowry was so rich that it was unimaginable!

At the same time, he finally understood why Zhu Cilang insisted on taking Zheng Zhilong's daughter as the prince's concubine!

This rebellious son wanted to use Zheng Zhilong to completely wipe out the Jiannu navy and then open up the sea route!

In fact, Chongzhen had thought about this before, but every time he looked for Zheng Zhilong, Zheng Zhilong would always make excuses.

He also said that he only had 3 troops and less than 1000 ships, and he had to guard against Japanese pirates and foreign invaders, so he could not mobilize the navy to destroy the Jiannu navy.

The Ming Dynasty's own navy was not strong enough, so it had never been able to annihilate the Jiannu navy and could only barely take precautions.

Unexpectedly, after this rebellious son took action, the pirate leader Zheng Zhilong actually surrendered obediently!

Moreover, Chongzhen did not expect that Zheng Zhilong had 17 naval troops and 2300 ships under his command!

This guy!
He was really deceived!
When Chongzhen thought of this, he was so angry that his teeth itched!

But then, Chongzhen suddenly calmed down and finally sat down opposite Zhu Cilang slowly.

After all, he is still an emperor and he still has a sense of the overall situation!
Know how important this matter is to the current Ming Dynasty!
When Queen Zhou saw this scene, she found it funny and began to look at her son with admiration.

Just taking a concubine to the crown prince can actually bring such huge benefits to the Ming Dynasty. He is indeed worthy of being her son!
After a moment, Chongzhen finally spoke.

"How many daughters did Zheng Zhilong have in total?"

Chongzhen asked.

"Three."

Zhu Cilang answered, and at the same time was a little curious, not understanding why Chongzhen asked this.

But he understood the next second, because Chongzhen actually looked at him straight and said:

"How about you bear the grievance a little and marry all three of Zheng Zhilong's daughters? Wouldn't that double your dowry?"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Cilang was completely speechless.

He looked at Chongzhen helplessly and said:

"Father, you just refused to let me marry someone else's daughters. Now that I hear they're offering such a huge dowry, you actually want me to marry all of them at once."

"Do you think this is appropriate?"

Could you please have some shame?
Of course, in order for this matter to continue, Zhu Cilang still did not say the last sentence.

Chongzhen was also feeling a little embarrassed at this moment.

After all, the contrast between my attitude before and after is really too great.

But then again, he didn't know that Zheng Zhilong could actually give such a large dowry!
In order to quickly resolve the issue of Zheng Zhilong, Zhu Cilang added:

"Zheng Zhilong's other two daughters are already married, and this one is the only one who is still unmarried, so don't think too much about it!"

After hearing this, Chongzhen had no choice but to give up the idea of letting Zhu Cilang marry more women.

Then, Chongzhen continued:
"If that's the case, then this thing is not impossible!"

"Besides, she's just a concubine of the Crown Prince, not his principal wife."

"Even if you have children in the future, at most they will be given the title of prince, which will not affect the position of crown prince of the Ming Dynasty."

Zhu Cilang was speechless. He hadn't even met the person yet, so why was he thinking about having children in the future?

He quickly interrupted Chongzhen's fantasy:
"Let's talk about this later. Last night, I told Zheng Zhilong that the Queen Mother wants to meet with him today to discuss this matter."

"So, I'll leave this matter to the Queen Mother."

"As for the imperial edict granting the marriage, please trouble your father to write one. This will allow Zheng Zhilong to feel the royal family's attention and he will work harder for the Ming Dynasty in the future."

Queen Zhou nodded.

"Don't worry, Mother knows what to do."

Chongzhen also nodded, and then ordered:
"Go get the pen, ink, and imperial edict!"

Soon, Zhu Cilang left with the written imperial edict.

Originally, the Crown Prince taking a concubine did not require an imperial edict, only an imperial decree from Queen Zhou would be enough.

But as Zhu Cilang said before, using the imperial edict would make Zheng Zhilong feel more valued by the royal family.

At noon that day, Queen Zhou met with Zheng Zhilong.

(End of this chapter)