Chapter 1222: Share the Blessings, Share the Pit (Please Subscribe)

The two good brothers left the Palace of Benevolent Longevity hand in hand. It seemed the Great Ming not only had a loving father and filial sons, but also elder brothers who were kind and younger brothers who were respectful — how could it fail to prosper!

After seeing off the two filial sons, the Chongzhen Retired Emperor immediately sent the chief eunuch Pang Tianshou to find his sons — to find the Prince of Fu, Zhu Cixuan; the Commandery Prince of Guangshan, Zhu Cideng; the Commandery Prince of Gushi, Zhu Cifeng; the Commandery Prince of Luoshan, Zhu Cien; the Retired Emperor's tenth son, Zhu Cihun; and the Retired Emperor's eleventh son, Zhu Ciyi — six of the older princes and imperial sons, all to come to the Palace of Benevolent Longevity for dinner, and by the way to discuss forming a group to go to Luzon Island to fill in the pit.

But after waiting an entire afternoon, only three of his less favored sons arrived: the seventh, Commandery Prince of Guangshan Zhu Cideng; the "Eighth Prince," Commandery Prince of Gushi Zhu Cifeng; and the Retired Emperor's tenth son, Zhu Cihun.

The mothers of these three sons were all palace women selected for the Chongzhen Retired Emperor while he was in Dengzhou. Their looks were only above average, and not long after arriving in Nanjing they fell completely out of favor, so these three sons had no one to dote on them. Moreover, their brains were not particularly good. Zhu Cideng and Zhu Cihun only had elementary school diplomas. Zhu Cifeng was a bit better educated — after finishing elementary school, Chongzhen sent him to study at Jinling Academy.

This Jinling Academy was a "middle academy" under the Donglin Grand Academy in Wuxi, a school that was half new and half old, and it taught only letters, not martial arts. It was a school that supplied government students to "liberal arts and sciences universities" such as the Imperial Academy University and Donglin University.

Zhu Cifeng had studied at Jinling Academy for quite a few years and had now reached the highest level, the "repeaters' class." He had already repeated for two years and still had not passed the examination for Donglin University — even with an extra 20 points he had not passed. If he failed again, he would have no choice but to use the ultimate examination weapon — a letter of recommendation from the Retired Emperor!

The Chongzhen Retired Emperor looked at the three honest boys and was rather dissatisfied, so he asked Eunuch Pang, "Why have only three come?"

"Old Imperial Father," Pang Tianshou said with a bitter smile, "the man sent to the Imperial Academy to find the Sixth Prince reported that the Sixth Prince left the city as soon as classes ended, saying he had gone to Shanghai to collect rent and would not be back for a while."

"Gone to Shanghai to collect rent? Is he not studying anymore?" Chongzhen asked hurriedly. "He hasn't graduated from university, has he?"

"The Sixth Prince has already reached the 'leaving the dormitory' year at the Imperial Academy and will graduate at the end of the year. He has finished nearly all the courses he needed to take and is now preparing his graduation thesis."

The normal course of study at the Imperial Academy was four years: the first year was called "lower dormitory," the second "middle dormitory," the third "upper dormitory," and the fourth "leaving the dormitory." Zhu Cixuan had already reached the leaving-dormitory year. He was in the mathematics division and would graduate in a few more months. So now he had to prepare his thesis while also participating in work internship — and the main content of his work internship was collecting rent!

It was very arduous! He had to collect rent from more than a dozen streets — when busy it was 997!

And Zhu Cixuan's graduation thesis was also related to rent collection — rent collection was a mathematical problem too! And it also involved statistics and probability theory. Very complex!

"What about the Ninth and the Eleventh?" the Chongzhen Retired Emperor asked again. "They have no rent to collect, and they don't attend school either. Why didn't they come?"

Pang Tianshou smiled. "Old Imperial Father, don't be anxious. People have already been sent to the Qinhuai River to look for them."

"To the Qinhuai River?" Chongzhen flared up at once. "What are they doing at the Qinhuai River?"

Going to the Qinhuai River did not necessarily mean going to hold hands with women of the demimonde, because the Qinhuai River was a very long river, and the pleasure quarter was only along one stretch of the Qinhuai inside the inner city of Nanjing. Outside the inner city there were also eastern and western stretches of the Qinhuai, all of them proper handicraft districts, commercial districts, dock districts, and financial districts.

But the two young brothers Zhu Cien and Zhu Ciyi would not go to the Qinhuai in the eastern or western city.

Realizing he had let something slip, Pang Tianshou hastily added, "To the Qinhuai — of course, of course they went boating! The Ninth Prince and the Eleventh Prince both feel their bodies are too weak and that in the future it will be hard for them to shoulder heavy responsibilities, so..."

"Boating? Why don't you say they went swimming?" The Chongzhen Retired Emperor glared at Pang Tianshou.

He was just about to continue his scolding when a middle-aged eunuch came running in from outside, shouting as he ran, "They're here, they're here! The Ninth Prince and the Eleventh Prince are here..."

The Chongzhen Retired Emperor turned his head toward the doorway and saw two exceptionally handsome sons, and most of the anger in his belly dissipated.

Never mind that these two sons had poor brains and did not much apply themselves to good conduct — their looks were truly beyond reproach, fine figures of men, handsome as polished jade.

"Your sons respectfully wish Imperial Father sacred peace."

These two sons of the Retired Emperor were also more versed in propriety than Zhu Cilang and Zhu Cijiong. When they saw Chongzhen, they did not perform the bow with clasped hands, but instead kowtowed with the utmost respect.

Chongzhen smiled and nodded. "Rise, all of you rise. Sit, all of you."

Serving "widow palace women" had already brought embroidered stools for the two handsome youths to sit on. Thus there were now five sons of the Retired Emperor in the Hall of Benevolent Longevity, and together with Chongzhen, six men, father and sons.

The rent-collecting landlord Zhu Cixuan was certainly not going to make it, and the Chongzhen Retired Emperor did not wait for him. He began to speak with his sons: "Your third brother, the Prince of Dai, has already given up the throne of the King of Luzon. We intend to choose one of you to go to the Kingdom of Luzon as king. What do you think? Does anyone wish to volunteer?"

"Imperial Father," the Commandery Prince of Luoshan, Zhu Cien, spoke first. "Your son has already obtained a marquisate in the Kingdom of Jiaging and must go help Fifth Brother manage his realm, so please do not consider your son."

What a good son!

Chongzhen nodded. Although this Zhu Cien was lacking in both civil and military talent, his moral character was still very noble.

"Imperial Father, your son also will not go to Luzon. Your son wishes to remain in Nanjing to be filial to you and to my mother the consort." Another one who did not want to be king was Zhu Ciyi.

Zhu Ciyi did not yet know that he had already been trapped by Zhu Cilang. Seeing his full brother Zhu Cien push away this Luzon kingship, he naturally did not want to take on a bitter assignment either — he had not swindled away the Retired Emperor's retirement money, and he also had a mother who could save money for him to sponge off. Why bother running off to Luzon Island? How could Luzon Island compare with Nanjing!

What a filial son!

Chongzhen nodded with satisfaction, then looked at the other three sons who were not particularly likable.

These three sons all wanted to go to Luzon Island. Their only prospect was that of a commandery prince, and two of them had not even attended middle school, so there was no hope of them becoming officials or joining the military. They could only hold on to their 5,000 mu of poor land until death!

But all three of them were empty-handed. On what basis could they go to Luzon to be kings? So for a moment none of them knew how to speak up.

The Chongzhen Retired Emperor's brow furrowed slightly. How could these three sons have so little self-awareness? Just as he was thinking this, the "Eighth Prince," Commandery Prince of Gushi Zhu Cifeng, spoke: "Imperial Father, your son is not willing to be King of Luzon, but your son is willing to go manage Luzon for Imperial Father."

He was, after all, an outstanding student of the repeaters' class at Jinling Academy, and his mind was still fairly nimble. He knew he could not become King of Luzon, but he could get himself a Luzon premiership — the perks were still very substantial!

Once he took the lead, the two elementary school graduates — Commandery Prince of Guangshan Zhu Cideng and the Retired Emperor's tenth son Zhu Cihun — also caught on.

"Imperial Father, your son is also willing to manage Luzon for you."

"Your son is willing to open up new territory in Luzon for Imperial Father!"

The Chongzhen Retired Emperor nodded repeatedly: "Good, good. Truly good sons! Cifeng, Cideng, Cihun — since the three of you have such aspirations, We will certainly satisfy you! Each of you shall receive a Luzon countship, each with a territory of 250 li square! We will also give you three months to gather men. Three months from now, when the north wind rises, set sail for Luzon!"

A territory of 250 li square was 100,000 mu...

The three filial sons hastily rose and bowed to the Chongzhen Retired Emperor in gratitude.

Chongzhen smiled and nodded, then waved for the three sons to be seated. After they had all sat down, he turned his gaze to Zhu Ciyi. "Ciyi, your ninth brother already holds a countship in the Kingdom of Jiaging, so he is indeed not suited to be King of Luzon. And Cifeng, Cideng, and Cihun are all unwilling to be king. As We see it, this Luzon kingship must still go to you!"

"There is still Sixth Brother!" Zhu Ciyi hastily pushed the calamity onto his sixth brother, Zhu Cixuan.

Chongzhen shook his head. "Cixuan inherits the title of Prince of Fu. In the jade register he is counted as the son of Prince Fuzhong, so he is not suited to be King of Luzon. We have thought it over, and you are still the best choice! You too must prepare well. In three months, set out together with Cifeng, Cideng, and Cihun, and go to Luzon to carve out a realm!"

It was over. Completely over. Beads of sweat broke out on Zhu Ciyi's forehead. This time he had truly fallen into a great pit, one he would never climb out of for the rest of his life!

(End of Chapter)