Chapter 1323: She's the One to Be Crown Princess! (Begging for Monthly Tickets)

The three difficult questions Zhu Cilang posed to the beautiful young ladies were these!

First, how to regard the matter of an empress dowager holding court — this matter was in fact how to ensure the stability of imperial power when a young sovereign ascended the throne.

Second, how to regard the matter of the royal trading company making money — at bottom, this question was still about safeguarding imperial power! Taking it a step further, it was really about how the Crown Princess and the Empress could also take part in managing the royal trading company, so as to help the sovereign consolidate power.

Third, how to regard the matter of noble daughters studying military strategy — extended outward, this question was really about how to maintain the fighting strength of the central military aristocracy, and taking it a step further, it was still about safeguarding the imperial authority of the Great Ming.

The essence of the three questions was one and the same — safeguarding the authority of the Great Ming dynasty! It looked reactionary, but in truth it was simply the proper duty of a sovereign.

Zhu Cilang was the Emperor of the Great Ming, so of course he had to think of every possible way to preserve the feudal dynasty. And the reasons for the decline of the Great Ming, this feudal dynasty, apart from the contradiction between people and land, were mainly three. First, there were too many child emperors. Not counting Zhu Cilang himself, of the sixteen emperors of the Great Ming, ten were either children or edgy adolescents when they took the throne.

Moreover, these children and edgy adolescents had all grown up deep within the palace, with narrow horizons, knowing nothing of the hardships of the common people, and knowing nothing of the treachery of the human heart. They simply lacked the ability to govern.

Zhu Cilang's solution was, while strengthening the physical training of imperial princes, to cultivate "female sovereigns" as reserves, so that in the event of a monarch's early death, a female sovereign could act as regent and hold imperial power!

Although this path did not conform to traditional Chinese political correctness, looking across Chinese history, there were quite a few instances of female sovereigns holding court (meaning empress dowagers), and most of them did a passable job. For example, the Ming's Empress Dowager Li (Wanli's mother), Empress Dowager Zhang (the wife of Emperor Renzong of Ming), the Song's Empress Dowager Gao and Empress Dowager Cao, the Western Xia's Empress Dowager Liang, the Liao's Empress Dowager Xiao, and so on.

Even during the periods of Empress Lü and Wu Zetian, who are held up as negative examples, the standard of governance was not poor; it was only that the female sovereigns were too autocratic and became enemies of the Han and Tang dynasties.

However, in the Song dynasty, the Ming dynasty, and the Qing dynasty of history, empress dowagers who became enemies of the dynasty never appeared again. Apart from the Western Xia's Junior Empress Dowager Liang, all other empress dowagers who held power were able to restrain their own clans so that they posed no threat to imperial power.

The second reason for the weakening of the Great Ming dynasty was that the Ming court lacked the ability to manage wealth. In Emperor Zhu's view, managing wealth was like managing the army — both were abilities that the emperor (or empress dowager) had to master. And the ability to manage wealth included not only the ability to collect taxes and manage court enterprises, but of course also the ability to spend money wisely and manage the imperial household's enterprises. Managed well, the imperial household would not only have a large sum of freely disposable wealth on hand, but would also be able to keep constant track of developments in industry and commerce, which was extremely advantageous for safeguarding imperial power.

And the Crown Prince, Zhu Hexing, clearly lacked any natural talent for managing wealth. Zhu Cilang did not know whether this "big simpleton" could be turned into a shrewd merchant through nurture. So he planned to cultivate a Crown Princess who could manage the royal trading company!

The third reason for the decline of the Zhu Ming dynasty was, of course, that the entire merit-noble stratum did not know how to educate their descendants, so that the Beijing merit-noble bloc that had followed Zhu Di in his southern and northern campaigns had no successors by the reign of Yingzong, and the fighting strength of the Capital Camps declined drastically!

In order to prevent the merit-noble bloc that had followed him through hardship from rapidly weakening in the future, Zhu Cilang not only established a new-style elite education system, but also brought noble daughters and women into this system. Because the noble lords were all tied up with military and government affairs, their children's education still had to be pushed forward by their wives!

To be fair, the three questions Zhu Cilang posed were not difficult. The beautiful young ladies who had fought their way through all obstacles to earn an interview all knew the answers, but their performance in the interviews was mostly less than ideal.

And what tripped them up were mainly the first and second questions. The reason was simple: most of them came from backgrounds of imperial relatives and financial magnates.

The families behind them shared common interests with the imperial house, but there were also conflicts of interest!

For these beautiful young ladies of fifteen, sixteen, or seventeen — eighteen at the oldest — with little experience of the world, how to properly position themselves and the families behind them was truly a great difficulty, so most of their answers could not score high marks.

"This humble one, Ding Yuying, respectfully wishes His Majesty the Emperor holy peace, and respectfully wishes His Highness the Crown Prince ten thousand fortunes and golden peace."

Now it was Ding Yuying's turn — this girl from a humble commoner household (in fact, the Ding family was also a prominent household in Tiger Fang Mountain) — to answer the difficult questions.

This was not her first time kowtowing to Emperor Zhu, but it was her first time meeting the Crown Prince. This young girl was truly not lacking in courage; even as she kowtowed, she was stealing glances at the Crown Prince seated beside Emperor Zhu.

Tall and big, with dark skin (sun-darkened), looking extremely robust — truly a fine young man!

Emperor Zhu, seated on high, naturally took in every bit of this young girl's furtive appraisal of Zhu Hexing — to be honest, the gesture was a little frivolous.

But Zhu Cilang thought the little lass was not bad. It was good for a girl to be a bit forward — when a girl pursues a boy, it is only a layer of gauze between them!

"Rise, and be granted a seat!" Zhu Cilang waved a hand, and the serving matron palace maids at his side brought a stool for Ding Yuying.

Ding Yuying stood up, then sat down properly and primly on the stool, glanced once more at Zhu Hexing, and then broke into a delighted smile.

The heartfelt smile of a beautiful young lady was of course captivating. Zhu Hexing, who had been somewhat listless (after watching more than a dozen interviews, he was a bit weary), immediately perked up at the sight of Ding Yuying's smile.

This girl looks rather good.

Zhu Cilang was also observing Zhu Hexing from the corner of his eye. Seeing his son perk up, he smiled and asked his question.

"Ding Yuying, do you think that the matter of empress dowagers holding court in successive dynasties, for the family, the state, and the realm, has brought more benefit than harm, or more harm than benefit?"

The same question again!

Ding Yuying had not expected Zhu Cilang to ask such a question, so she was also taken aback, but not for long before she answered thoughtfully: "This humble one is young and of little knowledge, and has not read the histories thoroughly, so she knows little of the matter of female sovereigns holding court. This humble one reflects that among sovereigns there are the wise and the benighted, and among empress dowagers there are of course also the worthy and the foolish. If a young sovereign rules the state and lacks the strength to decide the affairs of the realm, then to obtain a worthy and wise empress dowager to assist in governance is of course more beneficial than harmful to the state."

Zhu Cilang nodded. Such a simple question — some people simply had too many misgivings, and that was why they answered poorly!

"Then what do you think an empress dowager must do to become worthy and wise?" Zhu Cilang asked again.

"This humble one feels," Ding Yuying said, her delicate brows slightly furrowed, "that the worthy are first of all the wise, and the wise are those who know! And to desire to know much, one can only be diligent in learning, skilled in reflection, and quick in action."

"Hahaha!" Zhu Cilang burst out laughing.

Zhu Hexing, who was listening in, hastily stared wide-eyed at his father, then looked at Ding Yuying — Father actually laughed. Could it be that she was to be the Crown Princess? But Zheng Min and Luo Xiaohe were both cuter than her!

Zhu Cilang then continued: "We manage the privy purse and have accumulated wealth amounting to a hundred million, yet the wise sovereigns of antiquity for the most part did not contend with the people for profit."

The same old question again!

Ding Yuying answered: "The ancients who wished to manifest bright virtue in the realm first ordered their states; those who wished to order their states first regulated their families. Our Great Ming is a realm of family and state — if the sovereign cannot first regulate his family, how can he order the state and bring peace to the realm? Your Majesty's management of the privy purse is for the sake of regulating the family. If a hundred million in wealth is obtained by righteous means, it is of benefit to both the state and the people."

Zhu Cilang smiled and nodded, glancing at his son — truly a fine daughter-in-law! You silly boy are a lucky one!

Then he asked: "Why is it that obtaining it by righteous means benefits the state and the people?"

Ding Yuying said: "Because those who wish to regulate their families must first cultivate themselves; those who wish to cultivate themselves must first rectify their hearts; those who wish to rectify their hearts must first make their intentions sincere; those who wish to make their intentions sincere must first extend their knowledge, and the extension of knowledge lies in the investigation of things. When things are investigated, knowledge is extended; when knowledge is extended, intentions become sincere; when intentions are sincere, the heart is rectified; when the heart is rectified, the self is cultivated; when the self is cultivated, the family is regulated. Your Majesty's family wealth of a hundred million is all obtained by righteous means, so Your Majesty is naturally a sovereign of extended knowledge, sincere intention, rectified heart, and cultivated self. To have such a sovereign is of course the blessing of all the people under heaven!"

"Hahaha!" Zhu Cilang laughed again.

This was a kindred spirit! His earning so much money was not contending with the people for profit at all — it was the blessing of all the people under heaven!

Next came the third question!

This third question was different from the ones Zhu Cilang had asked the others, because Ding Yuying was not a student of the noble girls' academy and had not studied military strategy.

Zhu Cilang asked: "Yuying" — even his form of address had changed — "do you think the Crown Princess needs to study military strategy?"

"Of course she does!" Ding Yuying was a clever lass; she had naturally noticed how satisfied Emperor Zhu was with her, and her heart was pounding at that moment, but she still worked hard to calm herself and answer the Emperor's final question.

"Why?" Emperor Zhu asked again.

Ding Yuying answered: "War is a great affair of state, the ground of life and death and survival or ruin — those who govern cannot fail to study it! The Crown Prince is the heir apparent of the state, and the Crown Princess is the future empress of the state. In the future she must serve as a model mother to the realm, must act as Regent and administer the state when the sovereign goes on campaign, and must also raise and educate the sovereign's heirs. How can she fail to study military affairs?"

Zhu Cilang smiled, thinking to himself: She really dares to speak! Before even becoming Crown Princess she dares to speak of being a model mother to the realm. Her answer was very good, but somewhat taboo — the rent-collecting king would never have dared to say it. It seems no one coached her in today's words; she came up with them all herself!

(End of Chapter)