Chapter 39: The Emperor's Growth Plan!

“Great Ancestor, please take this pill,” Zhu Youjian said, as he suddenly recalled something. He quickly produced another Angong Niuhuang Pill and handed it to Empress Ma.

In fact, Empress Ma’s illness was not particularly grave. However, Zhu Yuanzhang was in the midst of a ruthless purge, and even when his grandson fell ill, he would consider razing the entire Imperial Medical Academy if they failed to cure him. Had her illness not been cured, there would surely have been even more bloodshed. Hence, she insisted on refusing imperial physicians, and, coupled with her fasting over the Hu Weiyong affair, she had dragged her illness to the point of death.

“All right, I’ll take it now.” Empress Ma received the pill with a gentle smile, washed it down with water from the bowl beside her, and a slight color returned to her pale cheeks.

The effect was immediate!

Witnessing this, Zhu Yuanzhang was both overjoyed and secretly envious, but he refrained from asking for one himself. Such an elixir had to be extremely precious. He muttered to himself: Why would I take this when I’m not ill? It’d be a waste.

“Rest well,” Zhu Yuanzhang said affectionately, stroking her forehead.

“At your command, Grandfather!” Zhu Xiongying, though weakened, managed a mischievous grin.

“Lie down and rest.”

Zhu Yuanzhang, his face radiant, laughed heartily and, with Zhu Biao and Zhu Youjian, left the Palace of Earthly Tranquility in high spirits.

The three of them strolled to a secluded corner.

With a flourish of his sleeve, Zhu Youjian beckoned, “Please, both of you, come with me.”

In the blink of an eye, Zhu Yuanzhang, clad in a fiery red dragon robe, was seated upon the Hongwu throne, Zhu Biao standing quietly at his side, ethereal mist swirling about—clearly, they had returned to the small world.

Old Zhu Di rose and saluted. “Greetings, Father!”

“Greetings, Grandfather Emperor! Greetings, Great Ancestor!”

Hongxi and his son refrained from glaring, instead hurriedly bowing in respect.

“Sit down,” Zhu Yuanzhang said with a frown. “What are you two so jumpy about? Gaochi, are you addled? You’re a big man—Xiao Zhanji can’t block you. What are you dodging for?”

“We…just can’t sit still.” Zhu Gaochi replied nervously, inwardly lamenting how the Hongxi throne beneath him felt hot as burning coals.

The more Zhu Yuanzhang looked at them, the more suspicious he became. “Grandson, what’s wrong with these two?”

“The Ren Emperor of the Hongxi era and his son have never met the Great Ancestor before, so it’s natural for them to be ill at ease. After all, Prince Yan once rebelled, and the Ren Emperor tried many times to dissuade him. Sitting on this throne was never his wish,” Zhu Youjian explained with a shake of his head.

Ahem!

Old Zhu Di coughed awkwardly, turning aside as if he’d been singled out.

Suddenly enlightened, Zhu Yuanzhang laughed and waved his hand dismissively. “Enough, you two needn’t be so tense. Sit down and relax.”

“Understood, Grandfather Emperor.” Zhu Gaochi hurriedly sat down, but in his fluster, the pills in his sleeve pocket spilled all over the ground, sending father and son scrambling to pick them up.

“Wait!”

Old Zhu’s voice shot up several pitches as he fixed his gaze on the scattered pills, itching to snatch them up himself. But feeling it beneath his dignity, he nudged Zhu Biao and whispered quickly, “Biao’er, Gaochi isn’t in good shape—go pick those up for us—er, help him gather his medicine.”

“Yes, Father!” Zhu Biao, already quick of eye and hand, had pocketed several of the pills even before being instructed. Having witnessed their miraculous effects himself, he moved with alacrity, appropriating a good half of Hongxi and his son’s pills, leaving them heartbroken but too afraid to protest.

Old Zhu Di nervously checked his sleeves and tried to shrink out of sight, terrified his father would rob him too.

Zhu Youjian, amused, waited for order to be restored before speaking: “The campaign against the Japanese is imminent. The emperors and crown princes of the Hongwu, Jianwen, Yongle, Hongxi, and Xuande reigns must come to this celestial realm and gain a deep understanding of the uses of silver.”

With a pill rolling between his fingers, Zhu Yuanzhang was all smiles and replied, “So it should be!”

Gurgle!

“I’m all right, Grandfather Emperor—please continue,” said a mortified Hongxi, rubbing his belly. After swallowing seven or eight Angong Niuhuang Pills, his strength had returned—and so had his appetite. Having spent half the day in the small world without food or drink, he was now ravenous.

“That’s perfect. After all this, I’m hungry too. Let’s dine together,” Zhu Youjian said with a smile, conjuring up a table laden with all manner of delicacies, each dish enticing in color, aroma, and taste.

“Excellent, excellent!” Zhu Gaochi gulped and nodded eagerly.

“If everyone’s hungry, let’s eat—no need for formality among family.” With Zhu Yuanzhang taking the first bite, the rest followed suit.

As he ate, Zhu Youjian pondered. In his plan, the reigns of Hongwu, Jianwen, Yongle, Hongxi, and Xuande formed a closed loop of prosperity—a golden age for the Ming, where enhancing the nation’s fortune would be relatively straightforward.

Thus, he intended to use these five reigns as a starting point, organizing an emperor’s development program within the small world. In times of peace, the goal would be territorial expansion and the growth of the empire.

This would henceforth be the direction for boosting the nation’s fortune during these reigns.

As for later eras… Ever since the Ming’s God of War single-handedly shattered seventy years of prosperity, the dynasty had begun its decline. When Emperor Xianzong Zhu Jianshen ascended the throne, the Chenghua era heralded the age of “paper tigers”—useless grand secretaries and ineffective ministers, with discipline deteriorating, secret police rampant, and eunuchs seizing power.

By the time Emperor Xiaozong Zhu Youtang reigned during the Hongzhi era, despite his diligent governance—rising early, driving out traitors, appointing the virtuous, and earning the historical moniker “Hongzhi Restoration”—the era’s prosperity was built entirely on the reserves left by his father, Zhu Jianshen. By the end, almost nothing remained in the treasury.

This only worsened the Ming’s already strained finances, to the point where our infamous playboy, Emperor Wuzong Zhu Houzhao, was left destitute, with the treasury empty and the frontiers neglected, leading to mass unrest…

“We’ll deal with those matters in time. The Zhengtong era is already underway—let’s deal ‘Fortress Emperor’ a blow to vent our anger, but first, we must boost the fortune of these first five reigns and advance the tree of technology.”

Zhu Youjian’s thoughts raced. “What reward will come from enhancing the Hongwu era’s fortune? It’s always hardest to raise the fortune of a founding dynasty. With Old Zhu’s protection, Crown Prince Yiwen, Zhu Biao, won’t die young, and Zhu Xiongying has been saved, but that alone hasn’t improved Hongwu’s fortunes.”

“When my own Chongzhen era’s fortune was elevated, I gained the power to carve out new realms and upgrade both time-travel and the small world’s boundaries. With the opening of Xuande and Zhengtong, the small world can now manifest food, and the number of people that can be brought through time travel at once has surpassed a million.”

“For the Jianwen era, raising fortune provided technology related to industrial development—like the steam engine, the origin of the First Industrial Revolution. The martial Yongle era gave direct rewards like firearms.”

“I wonder if we’ll ever get something like the ‘Tsar Bomba’… But even thinking about it, the fortune required would be astronomical—probably not even a hundred Fortress Emperors’ worth would suffice.”

“The early reigns follow clear patterns, but why did the Hongxi era bestow something as odd as the ‘Minor Medical Immortal’? Was it merely to advance medicine?” Zhu Youjian pondered. Since this would determine the main outputs from Hongxi’s fortune, he had to be sure.

Surely it can’t just be that the Ren Emperor had a healer’s heart?

No matter how he tried, he couldn’t figure it out. With a sigh, he concluded: Best to gather everyone first, then consider the rest.

“Great Ancestor, I’ll go fetch Jianwen.”

Wiping his mouth, Zhu Youjian stood and said, “Please, continue without me. I’ll be back soon.”

With that, his figure vanished.