I open a history tutorial class in Daming

Chapter 178 She is indeed capable of becoming an empress!
Everyone in Ganlu Palace was shocked by Wu Ruyi's words.

This guess is extremely unexpected, but upon closer thought, it seems to explain Zhu Yuanzhang's abnormal behavior.

Li Shimin took a deep breath, and his expression was obviously much more serious than before.

He stared at Wu Ruyi who was looking down calmly below him, and asked word by word:
"Please tell us your thoughts in detail. Don't be afraid of wasting time. Tell us why you made this judgment and what basis you have for it."

Wu Ruyi did not respond immediately, but first looked up at Empress Changsun.

Compared to His Majesty, the Empress is the one who can control the fate of all the palace people in the harem. Moreover, she promised to serve the Empress, and if the Emperor and Empress have different ideas, she must and can only choose to side with the Empress.

Empress Changsun smiled and nodded slightly, indicating that she could speak boldly. Only then did Wu Ruyi feel relieved.

She spoke slowly while organizing her thoughts, obviously hoping that she could perform better and make her thoughts clear.

"Your Majesty, please allow me to say that I have a basis for my assertion, and it is not groundless or nonsense."

"First, Duke Wei just said that there were four people who entered this school for the first time, namely the First Emperor, Zhang Zifang, Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao."

"This alone is enough to arouse suspicion."

"There were only four people, Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao, father and son, accounted for two of them, and one of them was the emperor and the other was the prince. Logically speaking, the prince does not belong to any of the emperors, generals and ministers, but all those who entered the school later were emperors, generals and ministers. Even the last one to enter, Li Shanchang, was once a prime minister, but he retired later."

"Li Shanchang was a prime minister, but Zhu Biao was never an emperor, nor was he crowned a king. He seemed to have a high status, being the crown prince, but why didn't other emperors bring their own crown princes? Just because Zhu Yuanzhang had a good relationship with the crown prince, can Zhu Biao serve as regent and help handle government affairs?"

"If that's the case, let's not talk about other dynasties for now - they were all emperors of the Zhu family, and they all let the crown prince handle government affairs. Why didn't Zhu Di bring his crown prince? This doesn't make sense."

"Unless Zhu Biao has something special that makes the immortal treat him favorably and allow him to enter the school with Zhu Yuanzhang, I think that based on the achievements of the first few students entering the school, Your Majesty should not be a latecomer, but one of the first students to enter."

After saying this, she also patted Emperor Li II on the back.

Everyone looked at each other.

In the story that Fang Xuanling told just now, Li Shimin and a few others were naturally mentioned, but he told Wu Ruyi that this was a strange story circulated among the people, which was written recently by someone in Chang'an City. It included not only the Qin and Han Dynasties, but also the more recent Tang Dynasty, as well as the Ming Dynasty that replaced the Sui Dynasty and ended the chaotic Wei and Jin Dynasties.

Both of them were invaded by barbarians and the country was divided between the north and the south. Except that Zhu Yuanzhang's background was far inferior to that of Emperor Wen of Sui, the rest of the backgrounds are actually quite suitable.

Wu Ruyi certainly noticed that some parts of this story seemed unreasonable, but she didn't want to think about it too deeply. Many things, if you figured them out, would only put yourself in unnecessary trouble.

Since these big shots don't want to tell her the truth, she might as well pretend she doesn't know.

The smarter a person is, the more he or she understands the principle of keeping a low profile. Wu Ruyi is just a maid in the palace now. Being smart is a good thing, but being too smart can easily put your life in danger.

Li Shimin looked silently at Empress Zhangsun beside him, then looked at the three ministers who were already a little dazed below, and it took him a long time to come back to his senses.

He didn't say much, but just said to Wu Ruyi:

"You just said the first one, what about the second one?"

Seeing that these big shots did not raise any questions or rebuttals, Wu Ruyi felt more relieved.

It seems that no matter how true or false this story is, the reason why they came to her is very simple. They really just want to ask her opinion.

She pondered and continued:
"The second is Zhu Yuanzhang's attitude."

"He clearly knew that Zhu Biao would die young, and that he would pass the throne to his grandson and that Zhu Di would rebel and become emperor, but apart from his initial disbelief and anger, he never expressed his opinion on the matter again."

"If he is a person who does not care about future generations, then it is unreasonable for him to ask the immortals how to reform."

"From this story, we can see that Zhu Yuanzhang was a rare hero in the world. He rose from a beggar to become an emperor. Such a person cannot be short-sighted. It is normal for him to choose reform, but the purpose of choosing reform is to hope that the Ming Dynasty can become better. Since he already knew that the crown prince Zhu Yunwen was incompetent, it was naturally impossible for him to pass the throne to him as the immortal said, so what is he doing now?"

"If he doesn't change the feudal system he established, when Zhu Biao dies in the future, Zhu Di's strength will allow him to safely pass on the throne. At that time, he can just ask Zhu Di to make the changes. It's not like Zhu Di hasn't made changes before. Now that he's taking back the power of the feudal lords, it means that his chosen successor is still Zhu Biao. He's paving the way for Zhu Biao and guarding against Zhu Di's rebellion."

"Please forgive me, Your Majesty. I may have said something a little confusing. This matter is too complicated..."

Wu Ruyi felt that she had made the matter too complicated and would not be able to satisfy these bigwigs, and perhaps the situation would only get more confusing as they listened.

But Li Shimin didn't mind.

He raised his hand to signal Wu Ruyi that he didn't need to apologize:

"It's okay. You've made it clear."

Among all the people present, except Wu Ruyi and Empress Zhangsun, everyone else had had contact with Zhu Yuanzhang and his son, and had had a lot of contact with them. They had even formed an alliance with each other in order to gain points.

They had a deeper understanding of Zhu Yuanzhang himself than Wu Ruyi, who had only heard the story.

Zhu Yuanzhang cared extremely much about the crown prince. It was impossible for him to pass the throne to anyone else except this son.

Even though Zhu Di's later achievements were recognized by Mr. Song, and Zhu Gaochi was a very good executive vice emperor, Zhu Yuanzhang was still stingy with his praise. If Zhu Di hadn't helped him to fight against Li Shimin, Zhu Yuanzhang's attitude towards him would never be the same.

What's more, there is also the element of Zhu Biao pleading for his brother.

How could a person who was so devoted to his eldest son, a person who came from the lowest social class and changed his destiny, really give up the prince whom he had spent so much effort to cultivate and in whom he had absolute trust?
Saying that Zhu Yuanzhang believed in and accepted fate is worse than thinking that his participation in the tutoring class was just a pipe dream!

"What you said can only mean that Zhu Yuanzhang had other ways to solve the problem of Zhu Biao's early death, but it cannot explain the conclusion just now, that is, Zhu Yuanzhang could communicate with the immortal in other ways, and even the immortal agreed to help him solve the problem."

Empress Changsun usually did not interfere in government affairs, but now she spoke up.

She looked at Wu Ruyi and asked:
"Since this school is blessed by the immortals, if Zhu Biao can win the favor of the immortals, the immortals will naturally be willing to help. Zhu Yuanzhang does not have to communicate with them in private, he just needs to trust the immortals, right?"

Wu Ruyi smiled bitterly and said:
"Empress, Duke Wei just told us the story. He was born a beggar, and later he ascended the throne after careful planning and risking his life. Can such a ruthless man who defied fate and changed his destiny believe in fate or in immortals?"

"Take the case of Li Shanchang for example. Li Shanchang was the former prime minister who followed him to conquer the country. He called him the first of the founding heroes. Logically, Li Shanchang's position in his heart should be the same as that of the other officials to Your Majesty. However, when he found out that no one knew in advance that Li Shanchang had entered the tutoring class, his first reaction was to be suspicious of him. This is enough to show how suspicious Zhu Yuanzhang was."

"He doesn't even believe in his own meritorious officials and old brothers. If he is not absolutely sure, he will never believe in immortals. He doesn't seem like the kind of person who believes in retribution from ghosts and gods."

This almost tells the whole story. All of Zhu Yuanzhang's actions can be summed up in one word: I would rather let the world down than let the world let me down.

An emperor who is as suspicious as Cao Cao, who will not fully trust anyone except his son and daughter-in-law, would be unbelievable if he could easily believe in immortals and be willing to entrust his son's life to the illusory "immortal's favor".

"In that case, what Wu Ruyi said is indeed reasonable."

After a long silence, Li Shimin made the final decision.

He first affirmed Wu Ruyi's analysis. After all, every logic of what she said could be verified by Zhu Yuanzhang's usual remarks and performances. They were both thousand-year-old foxes, and they were equally matched in playing tricks. Although Li Shimin and Zhu Yuanzhang bickered with each other every day, he also understood the temperament of this person very well.

Wu Ruyi is indeed very sharp.

They were indeed blinded by a single leaf and failed to see the big picture. They were trapped in the situation, with all their attention focused on the magical thing of the tutoring class itself. As for Zhu Yuanzhang, they did not see it as clearly as Wu Ruyi, an outsider.

Fang Xuanling let out a long sigh, with a trace of shame on his face:
"I have lived for most of my life, but I am not as clear about these things as a little girl. I have lived in vain."

"I am convinced, I am convinced!"

Wu Ruyi, who had been very calm just now, was unusually frightened.

She saluted Fang Xuanling repeatedly:
"Duke Wei, your words really humiliate me. How can a mere woman like me be compared to you?"

Everyone was silent, and Fang Xuanling just waved his hands and sighed, without humbly accepting her praise.

The little girl in front of me, who is only in her teens, has not even grown up yet. She has not attended any tutoring classes, does not know what her future will be like, and of course does not know what kind of existence she will have in history.

She was the first female emperor in the world.

It is true that the throne was seized from the Tang Dynasty and later returned, but so what? No matter what, everything is difficult for the first time, otherwise why is it said that everything is difficult at the beginning? Moreover, the master also said that after Wu Zetian, after the Tang Dynasty, even if there were still women in the harem ruling the country from behind the curtain, no one could ascend the throne as a woman.

Not only was she the first, she was the only one.

Let’s put aside her political achievements, merits, and methods for now, but her abilities are beyond words, and what happened today has proved this point.

She is indeed someone who can be an empress...

The brain is really useful.

In addition, she never deliberately showed off her intelligence from beginning to end. She just talked about the facts, and when faced with rebuttals, she only smiled bitterly and argued humbly, without any intention of being proud of her intelligence.

Not only is he a smart man, but he is also quite good at dealing with people.

How old is she!

"Wu Ruyi, I admire you very much."

Li Shimin suddenly spoke. Wu Ruyi, who was praised specifically, felt her knees weaken and she immediately fell to the ground, not daring to say a word.

Because it was obvious that His Majesty the Emperor had no intention of letting her continue.

Li Shimin turned to look at Empress Zhangsun beside him and asked in a questioning tone:

"Guanyin maid, today Wu Ruyi helped me, you, and the three of you to solve the puzzles. This is a meritorious service. She is quite smart."

"Although he is still young, some things should be done by those who are capable. In the Qin Dynasty, Gan Luo was the prime minister at the age of twelve. I will not be short-sighted and will not reward people based on their age."

"I want to reward her with a higher position, what do you think?"

Empress Changsun has always been in tune with her husband, and of course she understood that her husband was now inviting her to join him in showing kindness.

Even though she, as the queen, holds the phoenix seal and is in charge of the six palaces, as long as the emperor wants to give someone in the harem a higher position or official rank, his power is definitely greater than hers.

There was no need for him to drag himself into this. If a talent like Wu Zetian were not a woman, she would have been a great prime minister. If used well, she might have been more useful than a man.

Empress Changsun smiled and accepted her husband's kindness:

"I think it's very appropriate."

"However, Ruyi is a smart child. I liked her the moment I saw her. Your Majesty, please allow her to stay in Lizheng Palace for the time being, no matter how much you reward her. I would like to chat with her for a while longer."

"How about waiting until next June?"

When he heard this time, Li Shimin's eyes became sore and he almost cried.

This is when she died historically.

She knew that she had not much time left, so she just wanted to do something for him in her last days. She valued talent as much as Li Shimin did, knowing that Wu Ruyi, the future Wu Zetian, was a rare talent, and she also knew that Li Shimin wanted to use Wu Ruyi, so even though she knew that this woman might become an empress in the future, she was unwilling to kill her.

The best way now is for her to teach Wu Ruyi personally. She doesn't ask for anything else, just to get this child's mind back on track and let her learn how to be a subject, instead of gradually becoming a power-hungry and ambitious person as happened in history.

Only teach until next June.

If Empress Changsun could change her fate and survive, she would have plenty of time in the future and there was no need to rush; if not, it would be great if she used her last time to eliminate hidden dangers for the Tang Dynasty and exchange them for a woman with great talent.

Li Shimin quietly wiped his eyes, nodded in agreement, and then said:

"Okay, today, Jin's female envoy Wu Ruyi will be the director of the Shanggong Bureau. She is a sixth-rank official in charge of propaganda and is responsible for receiving reports from external officials. She does not need to report to the Shanggong Bureau and can be on duty in Lizheng Hall as usual."

"Is this satisfactory to Guanyin maid?"

Empress Changsun smiled gently and stroked the back of his hand:

"Okay, I am satisfied with what your majesty said."

(End of this chapter)