Chapter 111: Clever little Zhu Jianshen, you make things very difficult for your uncle!

The four of them were chatting away with great enthusiasm.

The portly Yongle Emperor held his hands tucked into his sleeves, beaming like a Maitreya Buddha, so delighted he could hardly contain himself. He was going to be rich!

The portly Hongxi Emperor looked on with envy, his eyes turning red. He muttered incessantly, "Japan hasn't been very well-behaved lately. When I get back, I'll consult with Zhanji. Talking about millions and tens of millions of taels of silver all the time—it makes me itch with anticipation!"

"Father, we are thinking exactly the same thing!" The Xuande Emperor, Zhu Zhanji, exclaimed, embracing his father, Hongxi, as if they were long-lost companions, and began whispering conspiratorially with him.

"Uncle, should we be making money too?" little Zhu Jianshen asked earnestly.

"We are going to make money. We'll rely on our elders. Later, you and I will borrow some firearms from Youjian and take out the Tatar Grand Preceptor, Bolai. That way, the promise your Great-Great-Grandfather made to help us fight Bolai can be swapped for fighting Japan instead." The Jingtai Emperor, Zhu Qiyu, patted his little head and replied with a smile.

*I hadn't even thought of that, Uncle,* he mused, *but you thought of it before me—it makes me look so dull-witted!*

"Yes! Great-Great-Grandfather is very formidable," little Zhu Jianshen said, intentionally raising his voice.

Old Zhu Di paused, turned back, and gave the child a proud look. *Little one, you have a good eye!*

Sitting on the Zhengtong throne nearby, Zhu Qizhen, who had been muttering incessantly, glared at him and complained with great dissatisfaction, "You little brat! I am your Imperial Father. Can't you consult with your father about these things?"

"Your word doesn't count," little Zhu Jianshen replied, shaking his head and turning his face away. He had no interest in chatting with this hopeless excuse for a father.

"Hey, you're getting a bit full of yourself, aren't you?" Zhu Qizhen was instantly furious.

"Hmm? You want to rebel?" Old Zhu Di shot him a cold, indifferent look.

"No... no, of course not." Zhu Qizhen shrank back, feeling a phantom pain from the sword scar on his backside, and hung his head in silence.

His own father, the Xuande Emperor, Zhu Zhanji, turned his head, grabbed his "Fortress Emperor" son by the back of the neck, and groaned in frustration, "Can you stop causing trouble for your father?"

"You used to have a brain when you were a child. How did you get so dim-witted as you grew up? You're not even as clever as our little Jianshen. It makes me want to shove you back into the womb!"

Zhu Qizhen grumbled defiantly, "How am I dim-witted? And he's not even my son with Empress Qian; he was born to a mere palace concubine. How could he possibly be smarter than me? You're just trying to fool me."

"Are you never going to stop?"

"Look around—everyone here is your senior. You see anyone else calling themselves 'Zhen'? You're the only dimwit who keeps saying 'Zhen, Zhen, Zhen' every day. Are you truly not afraid that our ancestors will get itchy hands and take it out on you? You little rascal, use your head for once!" The Xuande Emperor slapped him and cursed under his breath, then ignored him.

He realized that if he kept talking to his dim-witted eldest son, his own intelligence would soon drop to that level. It was better to stick with little Zhu Jianshen, who was clever enough to ignore that hopeless father of his.

"I... I like it," Zhu Qizhen muttered, bored, sprawling across the table and making faces at Zhu Xiongying across from him to scare the child.

In truth, Zhu Xiongying hadn't even noticed him.

"Grandfather, I want to go play with little Jianshen!"

Zhu Xiongying had been listening to them talk about silver coins until his head felt twice its size. He looked up at Old Zhu with a sweet, obedient expression.

"Go on then," Zhu Yuanzhang said with a chuckle, patting his backside.

"Okay!"

Zhu Xiongying scampered off excitedly, pattering over to the Jingtai throne and pulling little Zhu Jianshen into a corner. Zhu Xiongying chattered away endlessly, and little Zhu Jianshen nodded earnestly, adding a word or two now and then. They looked more composed and dignified than the four emperors sitting on their thrones discussing the fate of the nation.

The Hongwu, Jianwen, Yongle, and Chongzhen emperors sat on their adjacent thrones. After talking for so long, they were parched and took a break.

Zhu Yuanzhang took a sip of tea, squinted his eyes, and said with a chuckle, "Grandson, I think this child has quite an air about him. Even our Xiongying loves playing with him."

*Indeed,* thought Zhu Youjian. *He almost scared me to death a few days ago.*

"Emperor Xianzong is known as the 'Lesser Taizong'," Zhu Youjian said with a smile.

*Lesser Taizong?*

*This child truly has my style,* Old Zhu Di thought, a hidden smile behind his indifferent expression. Zhu Laosi also looked on with satisfaction. Neither of them considered whether this "Taizong" referred to the Ming Taizong or the Tang Taizong—to them, Taizong was them, and they were Taizong.

Zhu Yuanzhang glanced at them and turned his gaze back to little Zhu Jianshen, sighing, "This child looks like a diligent emperor."

"Xianzong was indeed diligent, but he didn't like to attend court," Zhu Youjian said after a moment's thought.

"Oh?" Zhu Yuanzhang wasn't angry; instead, he asked with curiosity, "He seems quite diligent. Why wouldn't he attend court?"

Zhu Youjian paused. "Because of the cabinet system that began after the Renzong Emperor, and because Xianzong was too clever."

*Huh? Why is this pointing back at me?* The portly Yongle and Hongxi emperors froze, feeling uneasy. They tucked their hands into their sleeves, looking troubled and shrinking back.

Zhu Yuanzhang’s eyes narrowed, a cold glint flashing within them as he stopped pressing. *Anyone who dares to harm the children of our Zhu family must die!*

Zhu Youjian calculated silently.

Ever since the cabinet system appeared in the Ming Dynasty, starting from the Renzong Emperor, every single Ming emperor who dared to attend court failed to live past forty!

The Renzong Emperor, Zhu Gaochi, was forty-seven when he ascended the throne and was finished off within ten months. And that wasn't even the shortest reign. The shortest was his own late father, the Ming Guangzong, Zhu Changluo, who was poisoned to death within a month of taking the throne.

The Muzong Emperor reigned for six years, the "Carpenter Emperor" for eight, the Jing Emperor for nine, the Xuanzong for ten... There were ten emperors who attended court after Renzong; combined, they reigned for only 103 years, meaning one was killed off every ten years on average.

Meanwhile, the three who did not attend court—Chenghua, Jiajing, and Wanli—reigned for a total of 118 years. Given those circumstances, who would dare attend court?

According to the History of Ming, these emperors were drowned, poisoned, and two were even sent to their graves by the same "miracle doctor." This miracle doctor, Liu Wentai, after killing both Xianzong and his son Xiaozong in a "double kill," actually retired home to live out his golden years in peace...

Then look at the ministers in the Ming cabinet: Huang Huai lived to eighty-two, Yang Shiqi to seventy-eight, Yan Song to eighty-seven, Xu Jie to eighty—each one living longer than the last!

Why was it that the emperors of the Zhu family often died in their twenties or thirties? It wasn't a matter of bad genes—if it were, the princes wouldn't have lived so much longer than the emperors.

...

After the four of them confirmed the number of silver coins to be minted, the release dates, and the timing of the policy announcements, Zhu Youjian cupped his hands and said, "Great Ancestor, two ancestors, it is still early. How about we all go and take a look at the eleventh year of the Chenghua era?"

"The eleventh year of the Chenghua era?"

The Chenghua Emperor. The first emperor who refused to attend court!

Zhu Yuanzhang raised an eyebrow, squinted, and said, "That is exactly my intention. Let's go, grandson."

"We follow whatever you say, Father," Old Zhu Di and Zhu Laosi agreed.

Zhu Yuanzhang tapped the table. "Stop chatting, all of you. Come with me to the eleventh year of the Chenghua era and see the grace of little Jianshen as emperor!"

*Whoosh!*

Little Zhu Jianshen suddenly looked up.