Chapter 239

Hearing that the young Zhu Qizhen still harbored such great hostility toward Wan Zhen'er.

Zhu Jianshen immediately felt a bit displeased.

"Father Emperor! Your son/subject has devoted his entire life to exhausting his efforts, breaking the Khan's court in the north and slaughtering the Jianzhou Jurchens in the east; why do you always keep staring at Sister Wan?!"

Zhu Qizhen stared with wide eyes and open mouth at Zhu Jianshen and said.

"Is this about merit? I died, and your mother didn't even know to stop you?"

"Since Your son/subject has already assumed personal rule, how could I not make my own decision on such a trivial matter?"

"You!"

Zhu Qizhen's chest heaved continuously as he stared at Zhu Jianshen for a long time without uttering a word.

Meanwhile, the moods of Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di in the chat group became complex.

They were glad that this rascal descendant Zhu Qizhen could finally understand their feelings a little.

But the bad news was that Zhu Jianshen was also one of their own family!

Zhu Yuanzhang saw the Chenghua Emperor, whose hair stood on end in anger, and stepped forward to advise him.

"Um, Jianshen, right? I am your Great-Grandfather, and there are some words I must say."

"Your father, although he did indeed act like a rascal in most matters, I still think you should listen to your father on this matter."

Zhu Jianshen said with absolute firmness.

"Great-Grandfather, Your son/subject has already been trying to understand Father Emperor's intentions."

"Back then in the Southern Palace, it was Sister Wan who accompanied Your son/subject all the way; when Father Emperor obstructed, I did not establish Sister Wan as Empress, and to this day, Sister Wan is merely a Noble Consort."

Zhu Yuanzhang's mouth opened and closed.

But Old Zhu's simple moral sense told Old Zhu.

One indeed cannot be so ungrateful.

When Zhu Qizhen went north to study abroad, Zhu Jianshen, as Zhu Qizhen's eldest son, was a doomed man; if not for the Duo Sect incident, Zhu Jianshen would almost certainly have been secretly executed after Zhu Qiyu's son ascended the throne.

Wan Zhen'er, under these circumstances, remained loyal to Zhu Jianshen without abandoning him.

This alone proves that Wan Zhen'er had righteousness toward Zhu Jianshen.

Since others have righteousness, the Zhu family naturally cannot be without righteousness.

But directly establishing her as a Noble Consort was something Zhu Yuanzhang could not accept.

Looking at Zhu Jianshen before him.

Zhu Yuanzhang could not help but let out a long sigh.

"Sigh... 々..."

"Our Zhu family might as well let go of this authority."

Hearing this.

Zhu Youjian, Zhu Di, and the other emperors immediately became agitated.

Emperor Sizong Lie:

"Great-Grandfather, Your son/subject worked so hard to pull the Great Ming back, and I have not yet fully displayed my abilities."

Emperor Chengzu Wen:

"Father, think thrice; this is no small matter."

Zhu Yuanzhang's brows furrowed tightly as he sized up Zhu Youjian in the chat group and asked.

"Then, Youjian, this kid, do you have the confidence to continue holding onto the Great Ming's authority?"

Hearing Zhu Yuanzhang's words.

Zhu Youjian was momentarily stunned.

Zhu Yuanzhang let out a long sigh and said.

"The root cause of the Great Ming's illness is not outside the passes, but within the Forbidden City, right among the entire court of civil and military officials."

"If the emperors of our Great Ming were all like Zhu Houcong, then it would be one thing..."

Not only the Ming dynasty.

Even looking across the Twenty-Four Histories, it is hard to find a second emperor like Jiajing.

Emperor Sizong Lie:

"Your son/subject worked so hard to deal with those scholars; if the Son of Heaven of our Great Ming hands over authority, would that not be equivalent to surrendering to them?"

Zhu Yuanzhang snorted coldly, then his brows gradually tightened as he stared fiercely at the group of emperors before him and suddenly said.

"There is always a way to subdue these hundred officials."

"Let me think, think again."

The Son of Heaven does not personally rule.

This authority must absolutely not be handed over to the entire court of scholars.

This is Zhu Yuanzhang's bottom line.

And Old Zhu's idea was naturally to hand it directly to the common people of the world.

Emperor Shizong Su:

"Emperor Taizu, Your son/subject has also thought about this issue."

"But the reason scholars are scholars is because they can read and write; they can govern the common people of the world."

"The common people of the world are indeed pitiable, but most of them have short-sighted views..."

At this point, Jiajing's message abruptly stopped.

Because Jiajing suddenly remembered.

That his own Great-Grandfather was just an ordinary commoner.

Zhu Yuanzhang understood Jiajing's meaning; fortunately, Old Zhu was too lazy to bother with Jiajing.

Old Zhu simply plopped onto the dragon throne and snorted,

"No one wishes to be short-sighted, but where do ordinary commoners get the funds to study?"

"People must study to understand the big picture and consider the overall situation!"

"When commoners can't even get a meal, how can they have the mind to understand the big picture and consider the overall situation with you!"

Clearly, whether it was Zhu Yuanzhang or the other emperors,

they still placed the issue of commoners having enough to eat above the issue of commoners' education.

After all,

if the stomach isn't full, the spiritual food of the sages, no matter how good, cannot stave off hunger!

Just as Zhu Yuanzhang was still struggling in the chat group over how to truly "return power to the people,"

Su Qiao, who was under house arrest, was at that moment listlessly examining the things in his own home.

Ever since learning that Old Zhu already knew the situation of the Great Ming's future rulers,

especially after learning that the Zhu family's hundreds of thousands of clan members had truly died in battle in Liaodong,

Su Qiao was no longer so eager to return to the modern era.

Ultimately, Su Qiao still felt a bit of guilt in his heart.

Guilt that made Su Qiao want to help Old Zhu do something.

Gazing at these things in his own home,

Su Qiao's gaze gradually fell upon the salary he had just received last month.

Under the Ming system, officials' salaries were grain, but under normal circumstances, they were converted into silver or Baochao based on market grain prices for the convenience of ministers and officials.

Su Qiao's salary composition last month was four parts grain in kind, four parts silver in conversion, and two parts Baochao.

What Su Qiao held in his hand was a Great Ming Baochao with a denomination of "one guan."

Before this, Su Qiao knew that the Baochao issued by Old Zhu would, within a few years, become nothing but worthless paper.

It was just that Su Qiao hadn't expected

that the craftsmanship of the "Baochao" in Old Zhu's reign had already reached such a level of refinement.

Originally, Su Qiao had thought it was just a sheet of Xuan paper stamped with the Ministry of Revenue's official seal.

But when he truly looked at the Baochao in his hand, Su Qiao realized that as early as Old Zhu's time, the Great Ming had already begun using mulberry bark paper to make banknotes.

Baochao made from this kind of paper actually had little difference in feel from the paper money of later generations.

It just lacked some anti-counterfeiting particles.

The only other differences were in size and color.

Looking at the Great Ming Baochao before him.