Dozens of miles northwest of Laoshan Palace, next to the imperial mausoleum of Wolong Mountain, there is a magnificent temple called Wolong Mountain Huangjue Temple. This temple guards the imperial mausoleum, so of course it will not be very popular. After all, the area around the imperial mausoleum is unlikely to be a bustling place. There are only some mausoleum guardians (who are not hereditary, but are linked to the farm, and if they contract the farm, they have the obligation to protect the imperial mausoleum) and the businessmen who were contracted to build the imperial mausoleum, hired construction workers here, and lived there. Near Huangjue Temple.
Moreover, the Wolong Mountain Imperial Tomb was used by Chongzhen, Hongxing, and later the Ming Emperor Long Yubin. But Emperor Chongzhen has no intention of coming to Wolong Mountain to live permanently, and Emperor Hongxing is even less anxious... He still wants to devote several more decades to the people of the Ming Dynasty!
Don't look at the current reversal of the Ming Empire's national destiny. It is no longer a resurgence, but a glorious and prosperous one. But Emperor Zhu was still very worried...because he knew that this feudal dynasty was not far away from the end! Even if he succeeds in disrupting the French Revolution, he may not be able to postpone the revolutionary storm for many years.
Because there were so many unified dynasties in Chinese history, didn’t they all collapse in the end? Is the Bourbon dynasty of New Rome really an exception? If there really is a New Rome, this country will be a unified empire that emerged after Europe was divided for more than a thousand years. It is just like the Qin Empire in history. It does not know how to maintain a unified country governed by bureaucrats. .
Although New Rome could copy the work of the Ming Dynasty, the national conditions of New Rome were different from those of the Ming Dynasty, and it was unlikely that Louis XIV would use force to conquer the countries of Western and Southern Europe and achieve unification like conquering all countries.
It is very likely that New Rome will become a "unified country" like the Holy Roman Empire, so New Rome may not be able to resist the Great Revolution!
Therefore, Zhu Cixi also wants to use the rest of his life to patch up the Ming Dynasty so that the national destiny of the Ming Dynasty can be maintained as much as possible.
So he doesn’t want to come to the Imperial Tomb at Wolong Mountain at all...
But today he still came to Wolong Mountain, and he came with Emperor Chongzhen. Although father and son Chongzhen and Hongxing came to Wolong Mountain, they did not visit the mausoleum area. Instead, they went to Huangjue Temple outside the mausoleum area. However, they did not come to Huangjue Temple to offer incense, but to see someone off.
On the official road not far outside Huangjue Temple, there was a long line of carriages and horses, as well as guards and honor guards in bright armor. The officers and soldiers of the guards, the driver and the accompanying servants were all provided with vegetarian food by Huangjue Temple. They were sitting in groups on both sides of the official road, eating and drinking on the ground.
Of course, it is not ordinary people who can send the emperor and the emperor together for dozens of miles.
In a clean and bright Zen room in Huangjue Temple, there were only a few days left, and they were sitting around the Eight Immortals table. While eating the vegetarian food prepared by the monks of Huangjue Temple, they were discussing something.
Among them, there are three older ones, namely Emperor Chongzhen, Emperor Hongxing and Minister of Foreign Affairs Wei Zhongcheng. There are two other young people, the charter kings Zhu Cibing and Zhu Henry.
It turns out that today is the day when the envoy led by Zhu Cibing and Zhu Henry will leave Beijing for a long trip - once they leave, I really don't know when they can return?
Since the Strait of Malacca has been blocked by the French, Dutch and Portuguese fleets (ships from neutral countries can still pass through), Zhu Cibing and Zhu Henry have no way to travel by sea, so they can only take the land route and travel thousands of miles to India - specific route It was to go to the West Chu Republic first, and then go south through the Jungar Kingdom and enter the Tajik Province of India.
If possible, they would meet at Lahore and Aurangzeb in Timur's empire in India. After receiving Aurangzeb's support, the mission would take the Indus River to sea, then take an Ottoman ship to Basra, and then from Basra to Istanbul.
If everything goes well, Zhu Cibing and Zhu Henry will be able to arrive in the capital of the Ottoman Empire next spring.
Father, son, grandfather and grandson were about to part ways, but they didn't say anything about cherishing the journey - they had already said this countless times when they left Laoshan Palace.
What they are discussing at the moment is a very big topic. Should they put all their eggs in one basket? Or is it better to diversify your investments?
This topic was brought up by Emperor Chongzhen while he was waiting for the meal to begin. Although the old man had retired, his heart was still there, and he was still very concerned about the future of the Ming Dynasty. Moreover, he still has the spirit to live and learn, and has been learning skills from his son over the years.
After studying with his son for so many years, his level of governance has also improved significantly... If he could be transported back to the first year of Chongzhen, the Ming Dynasty would not need Zhu Cixiang to save him.
The Supreme Emperor Chongzhen, who had learned how to be an emperor, could certainly see that Zhu Cixiang was abandoning the unification line pursued by most dynasties after Qin unified the world.
Even Zhu Cixi did not implement the Zhou system and established a large feudal empire with princes guarding the emperor, clear hierarchy, and strict etiquette and laws.
Instead, a bunch of so-called vassal states with different systems and various relations with the Great Ming Dynasty were established... In fact, a loose Greater China Alliance was established.
The "Covenant of Suzerains and Vassals", which was quite serious in the early years, has also become more complicated due to the emergence of several "fatherless and kingless" countries such as the United States of Xinzhou, the United Kingdom of Nanzhou, the Republic of Western Chu, and the Junggar Kingdom. It's dispensable... In other words, the "Zong-vass Treaty" is only valid for some Ming vassal states.
For example, North Korea, Japan, Annam, Chahar, Tumut, Siam, Laos, Luzon, Jeju, Sulu (Zheng's Sulu), Jiaqing, Makassar (located in Sulawesi Island, consisting of a part of the country The kingdom invested and established by King Mingzong), Zamboanga (located in Mindanao, also a vassal state of the king), Aceh, Bonny, New Ryukyu and the Twelve Principalities of Malacca all signed the "Treaty of Suspensions and Vassals", which is still in effect Those who abide by the rules are called "ritual-abiding states" by some scholars of the Ming Dynasty - in a sense, these countries are the real vassal states of the Ming Dynasty.
As for the four "fatherless and kingless" countries: the United States of Xinzhou, the United Kingdom of Nanzhou, the Republic of Xichu, and the Kingdom of Jungar, as well as the Heshuote Kingdom controlled by Jungar, and Nibala controlled by Liu Wenxiu Kingdom, and the Kingdom of Ladakh, which thought it was a vassal of the Ming Dynasty, but Zhu Cixiang never paid attention to it, was not a real vassal state of the Ming Dynasty... A group of well-fed Ming Dynasty scholars even gave these countries names A name that makes people laugh or cry - a land of indecent liberties!
Zhu Cixiang, the hero, is still here, and those powerful "irregular countries" must of course be obedient, but what if Zhu Cixiang is no longer there?
Will these "unruly countries" still listen to Zhu Hexing? Don’t even think about it!
However, this situation seems to have been caused by Zhu Cixi's deliberate laissez-faire... Especially the three "unruly states" such as the United States of Xinzhou, the United Kingdom of Nanzhou, and the Republic of Western Chu are simply "pro-states" ".
Not only Chongzhen didn't understand Zhu Cixiang's approach of letting his vassal get out of control, but even the "Charter King" and Zhu Henry didn't quite understand.
Now, Western Europe, which has been divided for who knows how many years, has the possibility of reunification. How come China, which has been unified for so many years, has such an "indecent fraternity"? What is it going to do?
Facing the questions from Chongzhen, Charter King, Zhu Henry and others, Zhu Cixiang had no choice but to patiently explain - this is indeed a problem!
"These countries with bad etiquette are unable to observe the etiquette of our Ming Dynasty... What are our etiquettes? Lords, ministers, ministers, fathers, fathers and sons.
As for the United States of Xinzhou, the United Kingdom of Nanzhou, the Republic of Xichu, and the Kingdom of Jungar, they all have investment from our royal family. But fundamentally speaking, these four countries were not established with the investment of the Ming Dynasty, and it was not possible for the soldiers and horses of the imperial court to protect them...
These four countries are not countries of kings and fathers at all, but countries of gun-toting mobs! "
