People around..
Zhu Ci sat in the carriage, listening to the various noisy sounds gradually fade away, the smile on his face never once disappearing.
Fu turned his head to look at him from the side: "Is His Majesty very happy?"
“That's right, happy occasions always make people joyful. It's a pity, though, that he won't be able to participate in the wedding night festivities,” Zhu Ci said, sounding somewhat unsatisfied.
However, given his status, he probably won't be able to participate in any wedding chamber celebrations for the rest of his life.
Thinking about it, there was a bit of a regret.
Fu fell silent for a moment, realizing that sometimes he still couldn't keep up with His Majesty's train of thought.
While he was thinking about these things, Zhu Ci suddenly turned his head to look at Fu and asked, "Will you feel regret?"
Fu froze for a moment before understanding Zhu Ci's meaning, he couldn't help but take the Emperor's hand, kissed it, said, "I won't."
What you have given me is already more than enough.
Zhu Ci was an excellent lover, taking very careful care of all his emotions.
Whether they were female officials or eunuchs by his side, he maintained a proper distance from all of them, never allowing anyone to misunderstand.
Outside, people say that the female officials around the Emperor entering the imperial harem is nothing more than baseless speculation by those who do not know the truth, but no one among the Emperor's close attendants would ever make such a mistake.
Zhu Ci thought for a moment and said, "When the opportunity arises, I will abdicate early, I will be able to give you whatever you want."
Fu listened and immediately looked up at him: "Abdicate? Your Majesty still has so many things to do, how could you think of abdicating?"
Zhu Ci lay across his legs, unceremoniously crossing his legs and swinging them as he said, "I've thought it over carefully. The things I want to do don't necessarily require me to be on the throne; abdication is also an option."
For example, something like improving basic education.
To be honest, no matter how good his memory was, he had forgotten most of certain points of knowledge, especially those physics and chemistry topics that weren't used very often.
While he was still in Nanjing, he had already written down everything he could still remember in his mind.
However, after writing them down, he realized that what he remembered could not form a complete technology tree; never mind a technology tree, it would be lucky if even a single branch could take shape.
Zhu Ci thought about it and felt that if he went along to research it himself, he might be able to activate his memories and recall something that could prevent scientific research from taking so many detours.
When working on hybrid rice before, many detours were taken.
After all, he could not keep a constant watch, those below him would not report every minor or major matter, so by the time he discovered something was wrong, it would already be too late, he would have no choice but to start all over again.
Fu listened as Zhu Ci slowly explained his reasoning, paused for a moment, then said softly, "But I believe that, for the subjects of the realm, they might perhaps prefer Your Majesty to remain on the throne."
Zhu Ci was somewhat surprised: "Is that so? I thought everyone would hope for a benevolent ruler to take the throne."
Back when the Great Ming was on the verge of collapse, everyone hoped for an iron-fisted emperor who could turn the tide, but even so, Zhu Ci endured a great deal of criticism.
Although Zhu Ci was determined to only do what he believed was right, everyone has moments of low spirits, he also felt disheartened, thinking about no longer being the Emperor.
After all, he wasn't busy like this for his own sake.
Indeed, his current standard of living is better than that of the vast majority of people.
But the problem was, even if he didn't become this emperor, his standard of living would still be good.
Fu said in a gentle voice, "No, many people are well aware that if a weak and benevolent monarch were to take the throne, the Great Ming would likely repeat the same mistakes. No one could do better than you."
Zhu Ci reached out and grabbed Fu's collar, forcing him to lower his head, before leaning in to kiss him and saying, "Why is your mouth so sweet today? Have you had too many wedding candies, or are you also looking forward to the wedding night?"
Fu's Adam's apple bobbed, the eagerness in his eyes was undisguised.
Zhu Ci loosened his collar and said, "I'll go to your place."
The Prince of Qi's Mansion was very close to the Prince of Yue's Mansion, seeing the Grand Secretary in this state, it seemed he could not wait any longer.
Neither of them mentioned the matter of a successor; Fu was evading the topic, while Zhu Ci.. already had ideas.
When the news arrived that Li Zicheng had captured Awang Lousang Jiacuo, Zhu Ci was listening to Zhu Ci happily telling him about his wife giving birth to twin boys.
Zhu Ci smiled as he handed the battle report to the Emperor and said, "It truly is a double blessing."
After reading it, Zhu Ci stood up and bowed. "Congratulations, Your Majesty, on eliminating a major threat."
Zhu Ci said with some emotion, "When the troops were first sent out on the expedition, I never expected it would last this long."
It took him less than five years to fight from the South to the North, yet it took nearly two years just to fight Tibet.
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Author's Note: Zhu Ci: Galdan isn't exactly a major threat to me, I just feel a bit annoyed that territory doesn't belong to me. Happy cat drawing maps. jpg
Next update at 12:00 PM~
Chapter 295
When Li Zicheng went on his expedition, Zhu Ci was not yet married; at this rate, by the time he returns in victory, these two children will likely be able to crawl.
Zhu Ci also said, "Indeed, I didn't expect Tibet to be so difficult to conquer."
In this process, there had actually been constant dissent in the imperial court; many people felt that a place as wretched as Tibet was not worth fighting to the death over with him.
In the meantime, both Tsangba Khan and Awang Lousang Jiacuo had once considered surrendering, but His Majesty had ignored them both.
Later, His Majesty did say that doing this was first and foremost to rescue the poor Tibetan people, secondarily for the sake of border defense.
When Zhu Ci said it originally, he thought everyone would place more importance on the second point, but unexpectedly, it was the first point that touched many people.
Most people were unaware of the situation in Tibet, when they did find out, they felt such human tragedies should not exist. As for the second point.. things like the roof of the world, natural barriers, resisting invasions by external forces—hardly anyone took those seriously.
After all, that place was simply too far away, many in the imperial court had a very vague understanding of the outside world.
Therefore, Zhu Ci simply told them that if Tibet was not under his control, it would easily threaten the security of the hinterlands of Sichuan and Yunnan.
Even if one does not worry about the countries in South Asia, shouldn't one worry about the Tibetan regime?
When the Great Tang was at its peak, Tibet maintained an extremely humble posture; however, once the Great Tang began to decline, Tibet immediately invaded the Great Tang.
Who can guarantee that the Great Ming will remain strong forever? Moreover, the current Great Ming has nothing to do with strength, while Tibet has actually continued to develop very well due to its geographical location.
If we don't take the opportunity to deal with them now, are we supposed to wait for them to launch an unprovoked invasion?
Setting aside everything else, doesn't Tsangba Khan's willingness to send troops to help Galdan prove the point?
However, no matter how the scholar-officials in court discussed it, it wouldn't affect anything in the slightest; after all, from top to bottom, everyone in the General Staff Department was a warmonger who agreed on going to war.
Now that the overall situation was settled, Zhu Ci could finally rest easy.
He looked at Zhu Ci with a smile and asked, "Have the children been named?"
They are still young; I want to wait until they turn one before deciding. This will also give me time to carefully choose the characters," Zhu Ci said with a blissful smile. "I have selected quite a few, but none of them feel quite right.
Zhu Ci thought for a moment and said, "By their generation, it should be.. the 'He' generation, right?"
Zhu He.. ah.. this name, no matter how you say it, it just doesn't feel smooth.
The surname Zhu is prone to various homophones.
However, in actual history, Zhu Ci did not have such worries, because his generation would be the last generation of the Great Ming.
Looking at it now, even such worries could be considered happy ones.
While Li Zicheng was pressing down on Awang Lousang Jiacuo, Tsangba Khan Danrongwangbo, Galdan as they entered the capital, Zhu Ci was discussing with Fu how the schools should be built.
Zhu Ci had originally intended to popularize education by starting with primary schools, then moving on to middle schools, high schools, finally progressing to kindergartens.
However, Fu disagreed and said, "Your Majesty, this is inappropriate. It would be better to build universities first, then expand downwards bit by bit. If the higher-level academies are not completed, where will the students who finish their studies at those schools go?"
Zhu Ci thought about it and felt it made sense; the main issue was that even if the schools were built, it seemed they would not have enough teachers.
However, as soon as he looked up and saw that Fu still looked as if he wanted to say something but hesitated, he asked, "What do you want to say?"
Fu Qingsheng said after some consideration, "I believe that, in fact, there is no need to make such fine distinctions right now."
Zhu Ci nodded. "Continue."
Fu continued, "There are not many people who can afford to send their children to school nowadays, so if we specialize too much, we might not have many students. It would be better to establish comprehensive schools first, once the population grows, we can gradually specialize them."
Zhu Ci thought about it and decided it wasn't a bad idea. The most important thing right now was literacy; once the illiteracy rate dropped to a certain level, they could begin selecting the best students.
The experience of future generations does not entirely apply to the present, besides, Zhu Ci has never seen how compulsory education was implemented when a country was first founded. He could only set things according to his own experience, which was naturally somewhat inappropriate.
He couldn't help but lean in to give Fu a kiss and smiled, saying, "The Grand Secretary has truly been a huge help."
He had just finished kissing him and was about to pull away when his nape was pressed down by the other man.
Fu's hand caressed the soft flesh on the back of his neck, then slowly moved, passing his Adam's apple and gradually probing inside his collar.
The Grand Secretary asked leisurely, "Then.. how will His Majesty reward this official?"
Hmm?
Zhu Ci blinked; under his influence, Fu Huaizhang had even learned how to be seductive.
He leaned forward, maintaining a distance that was just short of a kiss, asked slowly, "Grand Secretary.."
The news arrived at this very moment.
Zhu Ci..
The only downside to daytime on non-holiday days is that it is easy for one's interest to be interrupted.
The Emperor had official business to attend to, so Fu immediately withdrew his hands, taking the opportunity to straighten the Emperor's clothing.
Jiang Xueyan, who had come to deliver the news, was no stranger to this and lowered her head, acting as if she had seen nothing.
After receiving the news, Zhu Ci was stunned for a moment, then felt somewhat surprised: "Why bring them back? Wouldn't it have been better to just behead them?"
Beheading these man-eating rulers to announce the end of the serfdom system—wouldn't that be much better? Why bother bringing them back?
Jiang Xueyan lowered her head and said, "The Prince of Shu said they were brought back for His Majesty to offer sacrifices at the Imperial Ancestral Temple."
Zhu Ci couldn't help but laugh. He suddenly found that his generals seemed to love bringing people back for him to offer sacrifices at the Imperial Ancestral Temple every single day.
From Dorgon, to Aobai, to Awang Lousang Jiacuo and the others.
Of course, the fact that the opposing leader could be captured indicates that it was a crushing victory.
Zhu Ci said, "Fine, first imprison them in the Heavenly Prison, let the Prince of Shu rest at home for a couple of days before he comes to see me."
After Jiang Xueyan withdrew, Zhu Ci turned to Fu and said, "I once thought that if things didn't work out, I would allow Galdan to come to court to see him, to see if a temporary peace could be maintained."