Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 285 Want to Restore the Glory of Yongle Prosperity

Zhu Youjian is not a pure idealist.

Strictly speaking, Zhu Youjian is a realist at heart, and his speech and behavior have always followed his purpose.

After all, today's Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty has a soul from later generations, and this soul is an ordinary person in later generations, a person who will work hard to adapt to the real environment for his own survival and life every day.

Therefore, the current Zhu Youjian does not come from the sense of imperial arrogance, and he has never really cared about the dignity of an emperor in his heart.

Therefore, the difference between him and Zhu Youjian in history is that when he learned that Li Zicheng's army was coming to Beijing, he did not have any choice pressure to move south, and he did not have any entanglement in whether moving south would damage the image of the emperor.

In the eyes of Zhu Youjian now, there is only the best choice and the most important thing to do, so he can choose to go south to the south of the Yangtze River and start again without any worries, and he can even try his best to get rid of those who stop his idea .

And his cruelty and indifference as well as his kindness and tolerance are always changing according to his own needs and goals. When external people and things hinder his goals, he will desperately take the most ruthless means .

For example, during the tax reform, he directly ordered the beheading of dozens of officials. He still did not hesitate at all. He didn't care what the latecomers thought of him. everything.

Moreover, he can give a reasonable justification for his means, because he always believes that everything he does is right and just.

When meeting Zheng Zhilong alone, in order to let Zheng Zhilong understand that he and his Ming court are not afraid of the power of his Zheng family, and in order to force Zheng Zhilong to cooperate with him, he deliberately behaved majestic and unpredictable and unhuman.

But now Zhu Youjian is looking to Zheng Zhilong's family and needs Zheng Zhilong's people to help him build a strong navy, so Zhu Youjian can show a friendly look again, which makes people feel like a spring breeze.

This may be the skill that the Chongzhen Emperor Zhu Youjian failed to learn back then, how to make himself more smooth and hypocritical, that is, more realistic. People will always become what they don't like, and Zhu Youjian will not. I like people with the same personality as myself. Such people are always unpredictable, but Zhu Youjian must be like this. He can get to the present because he is good at disguising.

Zheng Zhilong knew more about Chongzhen Emperor Zhu Youjian than Zheng Hongkui and Zheng Zhibao, so the more easy-going Zhu Youjian was, the more respectful he was:
"Your Majesty, in accordance with your will, I have brought my third brother Zheng Zhibao and fourth brother Zheng Hongkui and fifty trilogy into Beijing. Among them are twenty of the best helmsmen and two of the best gunners The top ten, the best top ten, are all those who have fought fierce battles with Xiyangfan, His Majesty can summon them at any time, today I will bring my third and fourth younger brothers to pay my respects to Your Majesty, please give your Majesty orders!"

Zheng Zhilong did not dare to deceive and tease Zhu Youjian in this regard. He also knew that he could not play any tricks in front of His Majesty Zhu Youjian, so he honestly introduced his two younger brothers to Zhu Youjian , and seriously introduced their naval combat experience and areas of expertise.

Zhu Youjian smiled and nodded while listening. After Zheng Zhilong finished speaking, Zhu Youjian didn't make any comments or affirmations. He can be easy-going, but the emperor's praise cannot be given easily.

Zhu Youjian stood up and took the three brothers of the Zheng family to the bottom of the map: "Do you know this picture?"

"Return to Your Majesty, I know this. This is the "Kun Yu Wan Guo Quan Tu" drawn by the Shaoqing Zhenzhi Gong (Li Zhizao) of the Taipu Temple in the 30th year of Wanli according to the "Wan Guo Tu Zhi" by Xiyang Fan. In the 36th year of Wanli, my Daming Emperor Zong issued an edict to draw twelve copies and passed them on to later generations, and the ministers successively went to Nanyang, Dongyang and even went to the west of Manga (Malacca), and the directions they passed were basically the same as the pictures."

Zheng Zhibao is still a literati after all, and as a student of the Imperial College, he still can't forget to perform in front of Zhu Youjian at this time.

Zhu Youjian also nodded with satisfaction: "As Aiqing said, my Daming has this picture, which shows that my emperor and ministers are not people who don't listen to things outside the window, but in this big world right now, my Daming's After all, the territory is less, and the northern half of the country has been occupied by Jiannu. Not to mention, in the South China Sea, there are so many islands occupied by Hongfangui and Fuluoji. For example, Dongfan (Taiwan) from During the Three Kingdoms period, it was the land of our Han people, but now it is occupied by Fanyi, and most of the tens of thousands of islands near the coast of Nuoda are occupied by Western Fans. My Ming Dynasty is also a great country, how can I tolerate such small things? Dominate me in the territory of the South China Sea!"

At this moment, Zhu Youjian is playing the role of an idealist. What he talks about in front of Zheng Hongkui and Zheng Zhibao is just how he wants Ming to dominate the sea, how to resist the penetration of Western forces into the Eastern world, and how to make the Han Chinese one day. Its military power and commerce extended to both sides of the Atlantic.

Zheng Hongkui and Zheng Zhibao are younger than Zheng Zhilong, not as sophisticated as Zheng Zhilong, especially after seeing Zhu Youjian for the first time, they habitually think that His Majesty Zhu Youjian, the Emperor of Ming Dynasty, is an idealist. A talented and bold monarch who simply wants to make Daming a super empire on the sea.

Because of this, Zheng Hongkui's enthusiasm was also aroused by Zhu Youjian at this moment. Unlike Zheng Zhilong who had been silently thinking about what His Majesty suddenly said, he was also anxious to show his knowledge and strength. Just like his knowledge, he also uttered bold words: "Your Majesty, you don't need to have the ambition of the Westerners to destroy the prestige of our Han people. As long as there are Weichen and Weichen's brothers, the red fan ghosts will never even think about occupying the slightest bit in my Ming Dynasty." It's cheap, Dongfandao will get it back sooner or later!"

"Zheng Aiqing has great ambitions, and I am very relieved, but what I want to ask is whether the Western Fan's ships are faster than ours, and whether the Western Fan's cannons are more powerful than ours. We can suppress Xiyangfan by relying on geographical advantages and numerical advantages, but if after a few years, Xiyangfan sends more warships, can we still resist? , Italy (Italy), Xibailia (Ireland) and other places to show off the prestige of our Ming Dynasty and restore the glory of the Yongle Dynasty?"

When Zhu Youjian said this, Zheng Hongkui was at a loss for words. As a pirate, he never thought so far, while Zheng Zhibao on the side blushed a little, and muttered to himself: "Reproduce the glory of Yongle, reproduce the feat of Father-in-law Sanbao's voyage to the West , but it is also a great cause that shines through the annals of history."

(End of this chapter)