Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 90 Arrangements
After finishing his work with Korea, Zhu Changluo picked up the last memorial and compared it with the Jinyiwei surveillance records. He quickly reconstructed the scene of the Suzaku Pavilion banquet in his mind: the delegation was beginning to worry, especially the arms dealer named Harald Brandt. This arms dealer had connections in Spain and wanted to build a gun factory in China.

This is a good thing.

Zhu Changluo took out a few pieces of paper from the table and started writing on the first one:

Firearms Factory Construction Project
It’s okay to make money, but the factory must be “state-owned”.

Seeing that the emperor was lost in thought, Wei Chao no longer submitted memorials of lower priority, but instead took out the unread memorials and continued his summary work as the eunuch in charge.

Time passed by minute by minute, and before I knew it, it was time for lunch.

The eunuch who served the meal came to the door of the South Study, pushing a small cart carrying a stove and a steamer.

The emperor could not eat cold meals, and the Shangshenjian was so far away, so in winter, the eunuchs who served the meals would put the food boxes in a special cart to ensure that the food was always hot.

At this time, the eunuch who tasted the food was already waiting there with silver chopsticks. He tried each dish one by one, and only let the eunuch in with the food box after he passed all of them.

"Master, it's time to eat." Although the emperor was still writing furiously, Wang An went over to remind him.

"So fast?" Zhu Changluo put the brush on the pen holder.

A regular work and rest schedule is also the key to losing weight. So Zhu Changluo ordered that unless he informed in advance, he must be called when it was time for dinner.

"Bring it here." Zhu Changluo stood up and stretched his body with a yawn.

The two eunuchs' lunch was in another cart. According to the rules, they had to wait until the emperor finished his lunch before they could eat.

"Let me do it." Wang An took the food box from the eunuch's hand, and then brought it to Zhu Changluo's special dining table.

Wang An placed a plate of vegetables on the table. Chinese cabbage, chives, bean sprouts. These were all expensive, out-of-season vegetables.

To ensure the emperor had access to fresh vegetables even in winter, the palace set aside a plot of land for a "fire room." This so-called "fire room" was essentially a cellar. As winter approached, the eunuchs in charge of growing vegetables would light a fire in the cellar to raise the temperature and plant "yellow vegetables" like leeks. This ensured a smooth supply of fresh vegetables for the emperor when winter arrived.

Because the "fire chamber" needed to be kept at a constant temperature, a large amount of fuel was consumed every year. Therefore, even in a palace as noble as the imperial palace, only those who had received the emperor's favor could occasionally enjoy these hard-earned off-season vegetables.

As for the emperor himself, he would naturally have it at every meal. If the emperor didn't want to eat, that was fine, but if the emperor wanted to eat and there was nothing, then the eunuchs in charge would have to eat the board as if it were their meal.

"How is Cui Wensheng?" Zhu Changluo picked up a piece of leeks with chopsticks.

"Thanks to our master Hong En, the scabs on his back have formed very thickly. I think he will be able to get out of bed in a while." Wang An replied.

"Where are the staff of the East Factory?" Zhu Changluo decided to completely reshape the East Factory. To achieve this, he had to make a complete separation between the East Factory and the Jinyiwei system.

Now the East Factory was on the verge of collapse, with nothing but the lowest eunuchs who guarded the gates and executed the eunuchs. So Zhu Changluo asked the Imperial Household Department to go out and recruit new soldiers.

"My Lord, the Imperial Household Department has established eight recruitment offices in Tongzhou, Tianjin, Jinan, Xuzhou, and other places. So far, a total of 2,430 men have been recruited and are currently undergoing training," Wang An replied. "Yes. You're doing well," Zhu Changluo nodded.

Numerous exorbitant taxes and levies, and the recent increase in Liao taxes, have driven ordinary people to the brink of poverty. Even the slightest change in income can lead to bankruptcy. This has led to widespread malnutrition. The ultimate result is that it's impossible to recruit enough new soldiers in a short period of time.

In order to reorganize the East Factory as quickly as possible, Zhu Changluo had to lower the recruitment standards, changing the rigid requirement of "strong body and flexible hands and feet" to "no obvious defects and diseases." Only in this way did he barely speed up the recruitment process.

"Notify Xu Guangqi and ask him to arrange a secret meeting at his home. No missionaries, only merchants." Zhu Changluo put down his bowl and chopsticks.

"Master, who are you going to send to negotiate?" Wang An asked.

"I will go there myself."

"As ordered."

West Warm Pavilion

"Oh!" Li Zhulan sat in front of the dressing table in a daze, sighing from time to time.

She no longer knew who she was dressing up for. The Emperor hadn't visited her since the eldest son was taken away. Nearly three months of solitary life had given her time to calm down and reflect.

Li Zhulan wasn't stupid. On the contrary, she was incredibly intelligent. She had won the Crown Prince's favor not simply because of her beauty and talent. The Forbidden City was teeming with beauties, so beauty alone wasn't enough. If one relied solely on looks, their favor wouldn't have lasted this long.

She was favored by the Crown Prince for over ten years. The fundamental reason for this was that she saw through the Crown Prince's true nature and accordingly molded herself to suit his taste.

Although he is the crown prince, he is still a human being in the final analysis, a man who is oppressed by the shadows of his father and Concubine Zheng and is both cowardly and feminine.

According to ancestral tradition, the crown prince was to begin school at the age of eight. However, Emperor Shenzong, who wished to appoint Consort Zheng's son, Zhu Changxun, as crown prince, repeatedly refused to appoint his eldest son, born out of wedlock, on the grounds that he was "afraid of the Empress's death." Therefore, in the 22nd year of the Wanli reign, the eldest son, at the age of thirteen, began his education.

But marriage did not mean enthronement. The struggle over the issue of the foundation of the country lasted for fifteen years until the 29th year of Wanli, when the eldest son of the emperor was 20 years old, there was finally a result.

The repeated delays in the enthronement not only delayed the education of the eldest prince, but also delayed the coming-of-age ceremony and the wedding.

When Li Zhulan entered the palace, the aftermath of the demonic book case was still lingering, and the assassination case was imminent. Silent flashes of swords and sabers roamed every corner of the imperial palace. The crown prince lived in constant fear, treading on thin ice, paranoid and trembling.

Sooner or later, the crown prince would become emperor, and the emperor possessed a dual nature. The emperor was first and foremost an institution, the supreme authority, which required it to function stably and mechanically like a true institution, carrying out the task of ruling. But the emperor was also a living person, requiring care and concern.

Rule requires rationality and perseverance. But a resolute character requires the guidance of a father. The Wanli Emperor didn't know how to be a father, as his biological father had died young and his mentors only saw him as an emperor. Thus, Crown Prince Zhu Changluo's life was filled with a monarch, not a father.

The lack of fatherly love and the crisis-ridden environment gave birth to an heir to the empire who seemed resolute but was actually weak.

(End of this chapter)