"That's enough, you may go. Oh, when you have nothing to do, you can come over and study games with me. My Imperial Father wants me to come up with a set of regulations as soon as possible." Zhu Ci rubbed his brow, looking troubled.
Ge Xudong gave an affirmative response and waited cautiously for a moment before slowly pushing it out.
After leaving the study, he looked back at the study with some confusion, thinking to himself: Is that all?
Before coming here, his master had repeatedly and earnestly instructed him, saying that Nong Liangping had been by the Crown Prince's side since he was a child, their bond over the years was beyond words. Because he had essentially occupied Nong Liangping's position in the past, his master told the Crown Prince that Nong Liangping would never return, so he must be prepared to endure any difficulties the Crown Prince might throw at him.
This Crown Prince is the first since the current Emperor's ascension to have survived accusations of treason without suffering any repercussions; one must serve him with the utmost care.
As it turned out.. it didn't seem like much; although the Crown Prince wasn't particularly close to him, he didn't seem to reject him that much either.
Zhu Ci's attitude was far too normal, which always left Ge Xudong feeling uneasy; he was also extremely cautious in his actions, reporting every single detail to him.
Because of this, Zhu Ci had learned quite a bit about the situation in the Eastern Palace, though he truly had no leisure to spare. He had to seize the opportunity to coax that useless waste on the dragon throne, then find a way to escape.
It would be great if he could pick up some people to take with him; if he could get some firearms as well, it would be a double blessing.
He remembered that during the Ming Dynasty, firearms already existed—at least guns and cannons—but he wasn't clear on exactly what they were like.
The only thing that was clear was that the Qing army, having occupied Beijing, must have obtained a significant number of firearms; if he didn't have firearms in his hands in this chaotic world, he might not survive for long.
What? Overthrow the Qing and restore the Ming?
What a joke. If he had that kind of ability, he wouldn't be thinking about running away, but about rebellion.
Zhu Ci focused intently on researching the game rules. This game could not be too simple nor too difficult; it had to accommodate the Emperor's intelligence while providing him with sufficient enjoyment—though the latter was actually the more difficult task.
After all, he was the Emperor; what kind of exciting games had he not played? His threshold for pleasure was very high. To ensure he received feedback, certain obstacles had to be set, but those obstacles could not be too difficult, there also had to be a mechanism for timely feedback.
Zhu Ci combined many mobile and tabletop games from the future to write these game rules. Once finished, he called out to Ge Xudong, "Come, accompany me to see the Emperor."
Ge Xudong felt a surge of joy and immediately ordered someone to prepare the cyan sedan chair.
Halfway through the journey, Zhu Ci maintained a posture on the green carriage that was both languid and upright, asked, "Is there any news from the Jinyi Guard? What is going on with Nong Liangping?"
Ge Xudong's heart tightened as he answered cautiously, "The evidence of Nong Liangping's treason is irrefutable; he indeed harbors ill intentions and intends to incite Your Highness."
Zhu Ci fell silent for a long while, timing it in his mind, before letting out a sigh at just the right moment, his voice tinged with confusion: "Why?"
They say he has the shadow of the Prince of Lu behind him.
Hmm? Prince of Lu?
Zhu Ci was somewhat bewildered, not quite understanding what kind of existence this person was; the original work had never mentioned this so-called Prince of Lu.
However, he still put on an act: "The Prince of Lu still hasn't given up?"
Since he mentioned the shadow of the Prince of Lu, it meant he was eyeing the throne or something else; regardless of what plans the Prince of Lu had, there was nothing wrong with him saying such a thing.
Ge Xudong lowered his voice and said, "Although the Prince of Lu refused to ascend the throne back then, he has held Hangzhou for these many years with a significant amount of influence under his command; I fear he may not be willing to let it go."
Refused to ascend the throne?
Zhu Ci thought quickly, unsure of what the actual history was like.
But in the original work, after Chongzhen's death, the selection of an emperor in the south was carried out by the ministers' recommendation. In other words, this person was once one of the candidates, but he had refused.
Zhu Ci was somewhat curious: "What kind of person is he?"
Ge Xudong looked left and right, appearing somewhat conflicted. "Your Highness.. this.."
Zhu Ci waved his hand. "There is no need to worry. Only by knowing the enemy and knowing oneself can one emerge victorious in a hundred battles. If the Prince of Lu can bribe Nong Liangping this time, he will be able to bribe others in the future. I must remain on guard."
Ge Xudong felt that there was a hidden meaning in these words, but he couldn't think about it in detail for the moment, so he said softly, "This servant does not know much, only that this Prince of Lu is skilled in calligraphy and painting, enjoys antiques, is well-versed in the classics."
Oh, he is an artist.
Then the case is closed. Artists have their own pursuits, so it is perfectly normal for him not to want to be an emperor, especially during these turbulent times, when being an emperor might mean dying even sooner.
It was a pity that he still harbored such wishful thinking, believing that he would be more secure if he didn't become emperor; in reality, given his identity, Zhu Yousong would remain wary of him, the Qing army would not let him go either.
It was also possible that he knew very well that his ascension to the throne would only make him a puppet emperor, one who would attract the attention of the Manchu barbarians, so he might as well continue being a wealthy and noble prince.
Zhu Ci did not ask any more questions regarding Nong Liangping's affairs; in any case, this case of rebellion would certainly reach a conclusion.
The Emperor was furious during the grand court assembly; for the sake of his dignity, this matter could not be nothing more than a loud noise with little substance.
One could say that even if there were no treason case, they would make one.
It was just that none of the court officials wanted the Crown Prince, who had been in office for less than half a month, to be ousted. Therefore, they could only find a scapegoat; even if there was no evidence, they would manufacture evidence to point toward Nong Liangping.
Moreover, Nong Liangping had indeed tampered with things and had indeed acted against the Crown Prince, that was enough; no one cared why he had done it.
Zhu Ci felt much more relieved; Nong Liangping's execution was indeed a slight loss for him.
Losing someone who could be questioned at any time was equivalent to losing a channel of information about this place, but his death was necessary to put Zhu Ci at ease.
Lost in thought, they arrived at Wenhua Hall.
Wenhua Hall, which should have originally been a place for the Crown Prince to study, had now become a place for Zhu Yousong's pleasure.
Even though there were many places in the inner palace, Zhu Yousong insisted on choosing this spot; one couldn't help but wonder if the Emperor was intentionally trying to prevent the Crown Prince from studying.
Zhu Ci stood outside Wenhua Hall listening to the sounds from within, his expression remaining unchanged.
This was nothing; he had seen plenty of this while working undercover. He felt that throughout history, the things enjoyed by those with power and influence were all more or less the same.
When Zhu Ci entered, he found Ma Shiying, Ruan Dacheng, their many followers still in Wenhua Hall. There were many of them, all were disheveled. Not to mention the men and women beside them, most of whom were clearly minors at a glance, but as for the adults.. they were actually wearing official robes that were barely clinging to their bodies.
Even though they were low-ranking official robes, they still represented their status as legitimate officials of the Great Ming, yet they were being wantonly played with here.
Even Zhu Ci, who was well-traveled and well-informed, could not help but pause at this moment, with only one thought in his mind: the imperial court is truly finished.
It's an insult to the dignity of the nation!
He inhaled the cloying, sweet scent of the incense in the hall, his face betraying no emotion as he walked over and stood to the side, waiting for Zhu Yousong to finish.
At this moment, Zhu Yousong's imperial casual robes were wrinkled, his white, flabby flesh protruded from beneath them, trembling. It was truly.. an eyesore.
After finishing with a sense of exhaustion, Zhu Yousong looked at the young Zhu Ci beside him and felt a sudden flash of irritation. He gave a cold snort and said, "Hand it over."
Zhu Ci immediately presented an exquisite wooden box. Inlaid with mother-of-pearl, the box featured a miniature game board that looked incredibly delicate.
However, Zhu Yousong was accustomed to fine things and was not particularly impressed. Once the wooden box was opened, a folding wooden game board was revealed inside. It indeed featured several important place names marked upon it, every single square was labeled with the name of an item to be gained or lost. It did, in fact, look quite interesting.
Zhu Yousong beckoned, two naked youths immediately knelt on all fours side by side before him. Two other palace maids dressed in thin garments placed the unfolded game board onto the backs of the two youths. The contact of the cold wooden board against their bare backs caused the two youths to shudder uncontrollably.
Zhu Ci was thinking about whether to stab this bastard before he made a run for it.
Regardless of what his identity was, no matter how many times he had seen it, he still could not accept such behavior that treated people as if they were not human.
Even when working undercover, one should at least hold onto a sense of purpose, waiting for justice to be served and for those people to receive the punishment they deserve.
But now, the one before him was the Emperor; who could possibly judge him?
What? He would die at the hands of the Qing army led by the male lead sooner or later?
What kind of good person could the male lead be? He personally led the Qing army in orchestrating atrocities like the Yangzhou Massacre and the Three Massacres of Jiading.
An animal being killed by another animal, then that animal receiving promotions and titles because of it—no matter how you look at it, it has nothing to do with upholding justice.
Zhu Yousong took the bowl from the palace maid and took a sip of the thick, crimson liquid inside.
Zhu Ci's sense of smell told him that the bowl likely contained deer blood.
He began to wonder if this profligate ruler could even survive until next year.
Zhu Yousong's face flushed with color after finishing the deer blood, he pointed at the game board, saying, "You explain it."
Zhu Ci pulled himself together, walked over, began to explain exactly how this game was played, while also opening up all the cards.
To be honest, these cards had nothing to do with being exquisite; it was mainly because time was too short, besides, Zhu Ci's drawing skills were stuck at the level of stick figures. If he actually drew a bunch of stick figures on them, his career as Crown Prince would likely truly come to an end.
Therefore, each of these wooden cards had a name written on it; of course, the names were not written by him, but by a little eunuch from the Eastern Palace who had beautiful handwriting, whom he had sought out.
Meeting Zhu Yousong's dissatisfied gaze, Zhu Ci lowered his head and said, "If Imperial Father does not like them, he can have people draw more beautiful cards; the gameplay remains the same."
Zhu Yousong waved his hand dismissively. "Forget the cards! Li Fuguo, select some people to come up here based on the number of cards needed."
Select people? Have them act as cards? It wasn't impossible, but there were so many generals during the Three Kingdoms period that even Wenhua Hall couldn't hold that many people.
Just as Zhu Ci was thinking this, Li Fuguo said with some difficulty, "Your Majesty, this.. there are too many people."
Zhu Yousong glanced at the two thick stacks of wooden cards and also felt they were a bit much, so he said, "Just let them wait outside."
Zhu Ci glanced at Li Fuguo, hesitated for a moment, then said cautiously, "Father Emperor, these cards are also divided into different grades. For those who are not very important, we can just use the cards, for the important figures, we can select people from the important figure cards."
Zhu Yousong was slightly surprised. "Important figures? Which ones?"
Zhu Ci..
Aside from everything else, you don't even know which important figures were in the Three Kingdoms period?
Fortunately, when he designed the cards back then, he had already set up levels, using Jia, Yi, Bing, Ding to establish them.
This would be much simpler than making Zhu Yousong remember who everyone was and what they had done.
Zhu Yousong actually preferred this simple and crude method, nodding in satisfaction as he said, "In that case, go find a few people first to act as Grade A cards."
Li Fuguo waited for a moment to confirm that Zhu Yousong had no other objections, then immediately turned and gave a few orders, leaving the errand to the young eunuchs.
After a short while, twenty-five youths dressed in light clothing entered one after another. This number was exactly the amount of Grade A cards that Zhu Ci had initially set.
The young eunuch distributed the cards into their hands one by one, while Zhu Ci stood to the side, feeling puzzled.
Was this going to be a role-playing game? But these youths were far too young; let alone being minors, some of them looked like they might not have even finished elementary school!
Zhu Yousong beckoned. "Come, even the Grand Secretary should join. Let's play."
As the creator of the game, Zhu Ci naturally had to explain the rules.
Although Ma Shiying was not exactly a good person, his intelligence was beyond question; after all, he was a jinshi.
Next, it was basically Zhu Ci and Ma Shiying coaxing Zhu Yousong into playing along.
Of course, there was a certain way to handle this coaxing; one could not let the Emperor win too easily, nor could one let him not win at all. Striking that balance was a difficult task.
Of course, this was no difficulty for the experienced Ma Shiying; because Zhu Ci had not joined the game, he instead hid his depth and was not seen through by Ma Shiying.
After experiencing countless hardships, Zhu Yousong finally won a small victory, using his Zhuge Liang to kill Ma Shiying's Zhou Yu.
He laughed loudly and said immediately, "Yaocao, you have lost."
Ma Shiying shook his head and sighed, "His Majesty is truly favored by Heaven; his luck is beyond what ordinary people can achieve."
Zhu Yousong was even more joyful; he loved it when others flattered him as the true Son of Heaven, without mentioning the various details of his ascension to the throne.
Zhu Yousong waved his hand casually and said, "Let Zhuge Liang go kill Zhou Yu."