Rule over Ming Dynasty

The Spring Festival of the 28th year of Hongzhi arrived as scheduled, and the snow this year was heavier than in previous years.

In the dim sky of the capital city, snowflakes fluttered down like goose feathers, lightly landing on a solemn palace, decorating every brick and tile with flawless white.

Slowly, the snow accumulated on the glazed tiles of the palace into a thick layer of white. The ancient pines and cypresses in the back garden of the palace stood tall in the snow, their branches covered with heavy snow, as if covered with a layer of white gauze.

The magnificent Forbidden City is covered with snow, which makes it look even more solemn and majestic. Especially under the falling snow, the outline of the Forbidden City is looming in the snow and mist, like a hazy ink painting.

The Forbidden City is picturesque and the pride of all China.

As the Ming Dynasty had already dominated the four oceans and had its armies on all five continents, the Forbidden City, which now represents the world's highest architectural art, is famous both at home and abroad and has become the undisputed number one palace in the world.

The Qianqing Palace was also covered in snow, but the atmosphere at this time seemed particularly solemn.

The faces of the dozens of palace maids and eunuchs living here were filled with sorrow, especially when entering the main hall of the Qianqing Palace, everyone walked on tiptoe for fear of disturbing the people inside.

cough cough...

Coughing sounds were heard from the bedroom inside, causing worries to appear on the faces of everyone who approached.

During the 28 years of Emperor Hongzhi's reign, the entire country had undergone earth-shaking changes. The Ming Empire not only dominated the four oceans, but also benefited the people, making him the most beloved emperor in history.

But such a good emperor is now coughing and making them very anxious.

The candlelight in the room flickered gently, emitting a pale yellow glow, adding brightness and warmth to the dim space. The air was mixed with the bitterness of herbs and the incense of the incense burner, these smells intertwined.

Zhu Youtang was lying quietly on the dragon couch, his face pale, his lips showing an unhealthy color, revealing a hint of weakness that was difficult to conceal.

Although his eyes were still deep, they had lost their former sharpness and brightness. Only a hint of fatigue and helplessness remained. He even closed his eyes quietly several times.

"Your Majesty, how are you now?" Queen Chang sat beside the dragon couch and carefully fed medicine to Zhu Youtang, looking at him with his eyes closed, full of concern.

Zhu Youtang opened his mouth slightly and let the medicine flow down his mouth into his throat, but the medicine fell on the tongue buds, causing the facial features to be squeezed together.

Although he always felt that he was in good health, he was old now after all, and he caught a cold without being careful.

Zhu Youtang swallowed all the medicine, opened his eyes and noticed that Empress Chang, who was holding the medicine bowl, had a worried look on her face: "It's just a cold, it won't kill you!"

"Why do you always say such unlucky words? Don't say that word in the future!" Queen Chang's beautiful eyes were filled with tears, and she said coquettishly with a bit of resentment.

Zhu Youtang looked at the calligraphy and paintings on the wall, and seemed to have seen through the mundane world. He said, "People are born, grow old, get sick, and die. I am no exception. We are already at this age, so we should be more open-minded. This imperial mausoleum has been completed for several years!"

"Your Majesty, you are only forty-five this year, and you are the Emperor!" Queen Chang handed over the medicine spoon, looking quite resentful.

Zhu Youtang opened his mouth to drink the medicine, and once again his facial features were squeezed together with bitterness: "The late emperor lived forty years, Yingzong lived for thirty-seven years, Jingtai Emperor lived for twenty-nine years, Xuanzong lived for thirty-seven years, and I am forty-five this year!"

Forty-five years old is still considered very young in later generations, but this was ancient times when medical care was backward, and his age was already above the average.

Especially since Zhu Youtang would not have lived to his current age according to the original historical trajectory, but now he has at least gained ten more years of life. What else is there to be dissatisfied with?

Although he paid attention to his diet and exercised by fishing on a daily basis, he could not live a long life even in later generations with advanced medical care, let alone in the current environment.

Except for the first three emperors of the Ming Dynasty, the following emperors did not live long, as if they were cursed by this mysterious harem.

Zhu Youtang has become indifferent to birth, aging, sickness and death. He was an ordinary person in his previous life, but he has been the emperor of the Ming Dynasty for 28 years. What else is there to be dissatisfied with?

"If anything happens to you this time, then... I will not live anymore!" Queen Chang put down the soup bowl and said stubbornly.

Although her ancestor, King Kaiping Chang Yuchun, was once prominent, the Chang family had already declined by her generation, and she and her father and grandfather had to stay in Yunnan.

It was because the emperor selected the beauty from all over the country and did not take into account her status as the daughter of a criminal, that she became the queen.

After so many years of living together day and night, she has become inseparable from this man. If anything really happens to Emperor Hongzhi, she will definitely be buried with him.

A gleam of light flashed across Zhu Youtang's originally tired eyes, and he reached out and held Queen Chang in his arms, carefully feeling the woman's body temperature and heartbeat.

In the blink of an eye, it’s the eighth day of the new year.

Originally, this was the day when the emperor held a morning court session, but it was directly cancelled.

"The Emperor is ill?"

"Don't guess randomly, the emperor is in his prime!"

"In the past, the emperor would summon important ministers and princes. Don't you think it's unusually quiet this year?"

……

Civil and military officials smelled something unusual at the first moment. Some well-informed officials immediately disclosed the truth and pointed out the suspicious aspects of the palace.

Emperor Hongzhi was a broad-minded emperor. He would summon some important ministers or princes to the palace every Spring Festival. However, the situation this year was indeed a bit unusual.

There was no movement in the palace during the Spring Festival, and even the morning court was cancelled, proving that the emperor was not just suffering from a cold, but was seriously ill.

As the news of Emperor Hongzhi's serious illness spread, the people of the entire capital were in an uproar, and the first to react was the capital market.

After eighteen years of development, the system of the Beijing Stock Exchange has become increasingly mature. It not only pays great attention to protecting the interests of investors, but also imposes penalties on those who commit fraud to the point of bankruptcy.

"Royal Textiles, limit down!"

"Royal Clock, limit down!"

"Royal Clothing, limit down!"

……

The stocks on the Beijing Stock Exchange fell sharply. Soon after the trading hall opened, the stocks were pressed firmly above the lower limit by the crazy outflow of funds.

It is worth mentioning that although the once famous stock god Li Si lost in Royal Shipping, the current market value of Royal Shipping has reached 200 million silver dollars.

It was this increasingly perfect securities market that, while the Ming Dynasty was plundering overseas resources, also shared the dividends of the times with ordinary people through stock dividends.

Royal Shipping has brought dividends and investment returns to 100,000 shareholders, but the demand for ships has entered a period of weakness, and now Royal Shipping's position as the leader has been replaced by the new overlord Australian Steel.

The predecessor of Australian Steel was Royal Steel. After integrating Australia's iron ore and steel mills, it was officially renamed Australian Steel and became the world's largest steel supplier. This steel, which is much harder than pig iron, has become the most popular basic material nowadays. It has been used not only in agricultural tools, but also in buildings, bridges and ships.

The annual output reaches one million tons, and the profit has exceeded 10 million silver dollars. If the Ming Dynasty can maintain rapid development, it must be inseparable from the support of steel, and Australian steel will definitely become the most dazzling existence.

Although the stock market has experienced ups and downs over the years, Australian Steel has become the new giant after Royal Shipping, and has also given huge dividends and investment returns to a large number of shareholders.

After Australian Steel's market value surpassed that of Royal Marine, it became the new benchmark for the Beijing Stock Exchange. Its success or failure largely determines the mood of investors.

"Australian Steel, limit down!"

After learning that Zhu Youtang was seriously ill, although Australian Steel was the most profitable company in the world, it was directly pressed to the limit down, and its market value immediately evaporated by more than 20 million taels of silver dollars.

"Fall...limit down?"

“Australian steel is a giant!”

"How can a company with a market value of over 2 trillion yuan just hit the limit down?"

……

As Australian steel has repeatedly hit new highs and is the most profitable company, and many people have made more than ten times the profit from it, there are more than 100,000 retail investors here, but they are collectively dumbfounded at this moment.

From a business perspective, the demand for Australian steel is still strong, and now that Australian Steel is expanding its new plant, it will only make more money in the future. However, today, this stock was firmly pressed to the limit down.

"If the emperor dies, the Ming Dynasty will fall!"

"Only the Hongzhi Dynasty can make me feel so safe and trustworthy!"

"If the emperor and father are really gone, where will our Ming Dynasty go? Will it be better in the future?"

……

The people have unconditional trust in Zhu Youtang, and the current court's credibility is largely due to Zhu Youtang's presence, but it would be different if someone else took over.

That's right. After learning the news that the emperor was seriously ill, many people were no longer optimistic about the future of the Ming Dynasty. Perhaps they greatly lowered their expectations and even began to secretly hoard gold.

Although many important officials contributed to the current situation of the Ming Empire, the real creator of all this was the wise and capable Emperor Hongzhi.

Emperor Hongzhi could execute princes and relatives to uphold justice for the people, make enemies with all the officials and gentry in the world to reduce taxes for the people, slaughter hundreds of officials in one day to let the people eat cheap salt, regulate the circle of powerful people in the capital to crack down on usury, and recover the lost land in the Northeast to resettle millions of disaster victims... Emperor Hongzhi was not only a monarch with great talent and strategy, but also a good emperor who cared about the people.

Once Emperor Hongzhi passed away, the Ming Empire would decline for at least ten years, and they would likely become prey to those in power and would no longer be able to protect their own purse strings.

At noon, Shuntian Daily, a newspaper under the Propaganda Department, made a clarification.

The emperor is not feeling well, has caught a cold, and is slightly unwell, but it is not serious. The dragon body is destined by heaven, and with the protection of heaven, it will recover as before. You, the subjects, must not panic, and do not spread rumors to shake people's hearts.

The foundation of the Ming Empire is solid, the country is prosperous, and there are established laws for civil and military governance. All officials should perform their duties conscientiously and work together to protect the government. Soldiers should be brave and diligent to defend the territory. The people should live and work in peace and contentment, and be diligent in farming to prosper their families.

The Ming Empire will surely prosper and last forever, and we will all enjoy peace.

……

In the afternoon, Australian Steel opened the limit down and the entire market began to rise.

Not to mention that the emperor was merely seriously ill, not necessarily dying. As long as these companies continued to move forward and the successors adhered to the ideas of Emperor Hongzhi, the future of the Ming Dynasty could still be expected.

Just wanting to completely recover the stock price is no longer possible.

After all, it has been confirmed that the emperor has contracted a cold. Although the Propaganda Department emphasized that "it's not serious" and "God bless him", it is possible that Emperor Hongzhi is really going to die.

At the afternoon closing, Australian Steel, as a bellwether of the entire Ming stock market, still fell by 6%.

Although the Beijing Stock Exchange experienced another big drop, investors have gradually become rational after suffering several big losses and no longer use leverage to gamble on a single stock.

Today's stock market turmoil is enough to go down in history, but it also proves that Zhu Youtang had extraordinary influence, and his death will inevitably be accompanied by a sharp drop in the stock market.

Fortunately, in the next few days, there was no news of the emperor's death in the palace. There were even rumors that the emperor could now get out of bed and walk around.

Forbidden City, Qianqing Palace.

Zhu Youtang's health had recovered a lot, and he summoned his sons one after another.

Originally, because he had few heirs, Zhu Youtang had never announced the specific details of his princes to the public. But as he had more and more sons, he simply made all of them public.

Among so many princes, the most dazzling ones are Zhu Houfeng who is at the helm of Australian Steel, Zhu Houxuan who also serves as the Great Khan of Mongolia, and the benevolent and generous Crown Prince Zhu Houye.

However, the first person to be summoned was the fifth prince Zhu Houdeng, a very different prince.

While other princes were receiving business or Confucian education step by step, he was not interested in these things and instead devoted all his attention to arithmetic and scientific research.

Zhu Youtang looked at his son Zhu Houdeng lying in front of the bed, and immediately said with a sigh: "I originally called you all back to the capital because I wanted to have a good reunion dinner before the New Year, but I didn't expect to be sick for half a month!"

"As long as father is in good health, I am happy to work hard!" Zhu Houdeng looked dazed, but his eyes responded with incomparable clarity.

His biological mother is Ouchi Saeko, who has loved science since childhood and founded her own scientific research team when she grew up. Thanks to Zhu Youtang's open-mindedness, he also founded the Electric Light Technology Company and became the chief technical officer of this company.

Zhu Youtang felt quite strange when he saw this son of Edison who was on the path of science, but he still asked with concern: "Is your electric light project going well?"

"Reporting to the emperor, we are now at the last hurdle. I believe we will succeed this year!" Zhu Houdeng answered with shining eyes when talking about the field he is good at.

Zhu Youtang showed his fatherly side and immediately encouraged him: "Haste makes waste in science and technology. Take your time. I believe you will benefit the people in the future!"

"I have benefited greatly from your guidance and teachings over the years, and I will definitely not let you down this time!" Zhu Houdeng stated solemnly.

Zhu Youtang summoned Zhu Houfeng and others successively. In fact, not everyone is a business genius or a technical geek, but these people can run their businesses well and benefit the people.

I will criticize them when they need to be criticized, and encourage them when they need to be encouraged. Now I have given them the opportunity to become chaebols. If they don't cherish it, they will only be treated like pigs.

After sending several of his sons away, Zhu Youtang summoned his second son, Zhu Houxuan, who could potentially become the second Genghis Khan. (End of this chapter)