In the blink of an eye, it is already December 24th, the thirteenth year of Hongxing’s reign. Today is the 50th birthday of Emperor Zhu Youjian of the Ming Dynasty!
This is really a good day for the whole country to celebrate and for all the nations to come to court! Zhu Youjian was even more happy. All day yesterday, he did nothing else but read the gift list and gifts with Queen Zhou Shang in the Renshou Palace in Laoshan.
There are so many gifts! The whole world sent things to Emperor Chongzhen... and people!
Emperor Chongzhen and Empress Zhou got up early in the morning and started reading the gift list after breakfast. They just finished reading it in the afternoon. You can imagine how many gifts there were. As for the value of these gifts, they were at least three million taels, which made Emperor Chongzhen cry.
"Your Majesty, why are you doing this?" Queen Zhou, who had become an aunt at the side, looked at her husband's crying appearance and was very puzzled.
Emperor Chongzhen wiped away his tears and said: "I think back when I was in power, I didn't even have three million taels of tax money for a year... If I could receive so many gifts on my thirtieth birthday, the world would be happy." It’s already peaceful!”
Empress Zhou smiled and said: "So Your Majesty, it is better to be a prince. Our prince is a filial son and a wise king. With him being filial to us, what else is wrong?"
Chongzhen shook his head and sighed: "My emperor was born early. He is young and ignorant, and does not know how to recognize people. That's why he was coaxed around by the treacherous ministers below!"
"You know now?" Queen Zhou Shang asked with a half-smile.
"Of course I know!" Chongzhen said, "I am already fifty years old, and I have watched Cixi become a wise king for more than ten years, and I finally know how he became a wise king!"
"Oh? Do you know?" Queen Zhou asked, "Can you tell me?"
Chongzhen nodded: "If you want to be a wise king, you must use evil people, and you must be able to use evil people!"
"Use evil people?"
"Yes!" Chongzhen said, ""Zengguang Xianwen" says: Compassion does not lead to military affairs, emotion does not establish affairs, justice does not manage finances, kindness does not serve as an official. I read this book when I was young and thought it was nonsense. Later, when I watched Cixi govern the country, I realized that these four sentences are the true truth! Most of the people Cixi employed were unkind, unkind, unrighteous, and unkind. In the entire dynasty, no one was a gentleman. After I wiped out the eunuchs of Wei, all the people I used seemed to be upright, and they were said to be upright and prosperous, but what was the result?"
"So, it was wrong to eradicate Wei Zhongxian?" Queen Zhou asked again.
Chongzhen shook his head: "Did Cixi ever rehabilitate Wei Zhongxian?"
"No."
Chongzhen asked again: "Do you know how Cixi evaluated Wei Zhongxian and the eunuchs?"
Queen Zhou still shook her head.
Chongzhen said: "A loyal and virtuous person cannot be retained, and his party cannot be abolished!"
Chongzhen paused and then said: "Nowadays, the so-called eunuchs, except for those who were falsely accused of opposing Ci Xiang in Nanjing, have all been rehabilitated, but they are not pardoned for the crime of loyalty to the virtuous!"
Zhou Hou asked: "Why is this?"
Chongzhen said: "Because Zhongxian will not leave, the eunuchs will not become imperialists! But Zhongxian and his party are all unkind, unkind, unjust, and unkind... They can be driven away by taking them Got it!
But I was young and ignorant at the time, so I really couldn’t compare to the young genius Ci Xing..."
Zhu Cixiang is no longer a young genius, he has clearly been replaced by the soul of a future traitor who has passed four cards!
When Zhu Youjian was sighing, the filial sons of the Ming Dynasty had already arrived in groups - they were all the sons of Emperor Chongzhen. Emperor Hongxing Zhu Cixiang took the lead, followed by the acting king Zhu Cijiong, the king of Luokun County Zhu Cizhao, and the prince of Chongqing County. Zhu Cihuan, King Fu Zhu Cibing and many other filial sons, oh, there are also many filial sons who did not wander here by themselves, but were carried by the wet nurse to kowtow to the longevity of Emperor Chongzhen.
Chongzhen and Zhou Hou stopped chatting and hurriedly sat down separately. Looking at the large number of sons, they couldn't help but frown.
Emperor Chongzhen has really gone too far in these years! The number of sons is almost in the hundreds...and Chongzhen is only 50 years old this year. He is in good health and is very powerful. He can continue to create younger brothers for Mingjun Zhu Cixiang. Zhu Cixiang was also generous, and the treatment he gave his brothers was 5,000 acres of land plus a yard.
Even if there are 100 younger brothers, it is only 500,000 acres of land, and at the beginning it was returned to the paddy fields in the southeast. In recent years, the north and outside the pass have been recovered, and the land given to the princes has also been moved to Tianjin Prefecture and Tianhe Prefecture.
And the houses given are getting smaller and smaller... Where is the prince here? He is clearly a big landowner.
Fortunately for those who are underage, they don’t have any big expenses for the time being. The ones who are suffering are the adult children, especially Zhu Cihuan... He is 25 years old this year, and he has three concubines and six children, a family of ten Just living on 5,000 acres of dry farmland in Jiangbei. It would be enough if he didn't carry the identity of a county prince, but Ci Huan is the county prince of the Ming Dynasty after all! There has to be some pomp and circumstance, right? You have to have some guards, servants, and maids, right? All these expenses have to come from the 5,000 acres of land!
Life is hard, and the prince's family has no food left... But Zhu Cihuan seems to be in a good mood today, he is so happy and seems to be getting rich! Chongzhen thought to himself: Could it be that Cixun's conscience found out and rewarded him with a fat job? It's a good thing to reward fat people, but I'm afraid that this guy is too dark-hearted and wants to take advantage of him too harshly, so he will be investigated by the Metropolitan Procuratorate!
"I respectfully wish the Emperor a long life and may you be as blessed as the East Sea..."
The filial sons knelt down together and kowtowed to Emperor Chongzhen. After kowtow is completed, it is a gift. You don’t hold gifts in your hands. What you hold in your hands are big red envelopes with gift notes or banknotes stuffed inside. Zhu Cixiang was the first to send a big red envelope to his father, and said to Chongzhen with a smile: "Father, this is a little thought from my son--it is ten special shares of the United States, for you to reward."
As he spoke, he looked back at the group of younger brothers.
Ten special shares can be exchanged for a marquis. Of course, you can also split them and exchange them for ten barons... A good man has his ambitions in all directions! The princes of the Ming Dynasty shouldn't all stay in Yingtian Mansion and feed on their old age. No, they should feed on this good eldest brother Zhu Cixi, right?
Chongzhen took the red envelope and asked with a smile: "Your Majesty, I see that there is a white slave girl of Rakshasa race on the gift list sent by the Ottoman Empire mission... Why don't you see anyone?"
Zhu Cixiang coughed and said sternly: "Father, the Rakshasa Kingdom is our enemy! This Rakshasa girl is most likely an assassin, so she cannot be allowed to get close to the father. I have already ordered someone to kidnap her to the Jinyi Guards. !”
"That's right..." Chongzhen nodded, "Your Majesty is truly filial and filial!"
The filial Zhu Cixiang had already stepped aside, while the acting king Zhu Cijiong came up with a gift list to wish Emperor Chongzhen on his birthday.
Zhu Cijiong is the richest man among the kings. He has been dealing with a group of Shanxi profiteers for more than ten years, and he has long been a wealthy prince who knows how to deal with ill-gotten gains. A large area of pasture has been opened up in Anbei Town, focusing on raising farm horses and horses and mules. The Datong horses and Datong mules produced are essential livestock for large farms in the north. The deal this time was one hundred thousand taels of salt bank notes, all stuffed into a big red envelope, which made Chongzhen extremely happy.
Then it was said that Zhu Cizhao, the king of Nakhon Siam, came to congratulate him on his birthday. Although he was a worthless prince, he had his own territory, which was Nakhon Siam, Songkhla, Krabi, Trang, Satun, Bodalen and Sutao were originally called the Jing Navy, but now they are called the Western Army. This is a truly prosperous land. It not only has direct access to the Indian Ocean and can trade with Tianzhu, but the land it occupies is also rich in rice.
Therefore, Zhu Cizhao's birthday gift to Emperor Chongzhen was also very generous, including ivory, gems, jade, spices, etc., worth at least tens of thousands of taels.
After Zhu Cizhao, the bitter Zhu Cihuan came up. He also handed over a gift list with a smile. Chongzhen took it and looked at it, and was stunned. After a while, he asked: "Ci Huan, you gave such a heavy gift, is it difficult for the family to survive?"
Zhu Cihuan said to Chongzhen happily: "Father, my son has made some money recently. I thought that I have never paid tribute to you in the past, so I have prepared a generous gift this time. You will definitely receive it."
"Get rich? You?" Chongzhen was stunned and thought: You are a stupid kid, but you can also get rich? But you took a bribe, right? Don't let the people from the Metropolitan Procuratorate find out...
Seeing Chongzhen in a daze, Zhu Cihuan smiled and said: "Father, my son heard that people would make money if he bought the stocks of the United States, so he mortgaged the palace for 20,000 taels of silver and bought twenty shares. Three days ago, the stocks of the United States were traded in Shanghai. The listed price has doubled since the opening!"
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