Chapter 1373: Even Sleeping Is a Matter of Politics

"Mother, Imperial Father is only in his early forties this year and in excellent health — he might well live to eighty. The third one will have plenty of time as Crown Prince! Better to be practical like me, the second, and the fourth. The three of us will soon all be kings, and by the time the third one becomes emperor, we'll already be tired of being rulers of our own countries!"

Inside a luxurious carriage heading for Laoshan Palace, Zhu Hehao was trying to talk sense into his mother, Zheng Chagu.

Zheng Chagu was thirty-eight this year and had borne Zhu Cilang seven children. One had died in infancy; the other six were all alive. Three of them were sons — Zhu Cilang's eldest son Zhu Hehao, his second son Zhu Hekun, and his fourth son Zhu Hezhen. Despite bearing so many children, Zheng Chagu had kept her figure remarkably well, and her oval face had hardly lost its shape. She did not look at all like a middle-aged woman nearing forty who was already a grandmother — plenty of people would believe she was a young married woman of twenty-seven or twenty-eight!

"Hmph!"

Zheng Chagu's answer to her son's persuasion was a cold snort. This Imperial Noble Consort had been very young when she first followed Emperor Zhu, and back then she had seemed quite obedient. But as she grew older, her temper had grown too, and her open and covert struggles with Empress Wu Sanmei had never stopped for a moment.

Before the last re-examination at Jinling Women's University, Zheng Chagu had once thought of reconciling with Wu Sanmei — in her view, making Zheng Min the Crown Princess would have been an opportunity to ease the Wu-Zheng rivalry.

But to her surprise, Wu Sanmei did not appreciate it at all and instead did everything she could to stop the Crown Prince from choosing Zheng Min as his consort. That thoroughly infuriated Noble Consort Zheng — even Zhu Hehao winning Wu Ahuan had not quenched Zheng Chagu's anger.

"Aren't they just two petty duchies in the miasmic backwaters of the Southern Seas?" Zheng Chagu said coldly. "What's so precious about them? A patch of land the size of a palm — they call him a ruler of a state, but really he's just the lord of a town!"

"Mother," Zhu Hehao said with a smile, "your son isn't talking about the Malacca duchies. I mean the great kingdoms of New Continent!"

Zheng Chagu was taken aback. "What? Great kingdoms on New Continent? You want to break up the United States? That won't do!"

"It's not breaking up the United States," Zhu Hehao said. "Imperial Father has said that my United States can only extend south as far as the border of the Jiaging Kingdom. And all the land south of the Jiaging Kingdom, along the Pacific coast, is to be conquered later and enfeoffed to my sons, my brothers, and the Crown Prince's sons — of which my sons will get half. So I'm thinking of having the second and fourth brothers go to New Continent to seize land and found kingdoms. In the future, the three of us brothers will all be on New Continent, and we can look after one another."

Zheng Chagu was displeased the moment she heard this. "Why should the Crown Prince's sons get a share? The whole of Great Ming is already his — and he's still not satisfied?"

"Mother, don't worry about the Crown Prince's sons grabbing territory," Zhu Hehao said with a laugh. "The Crown Prince is devoted solely to Ding Yuying. How many sons can one womb produce?"

Zheng Chagu glared at her son. "Didn't your mother bear seven children for you and your siblings? No — your mother still has to fight for more!"

"Fight for what?" Zhu Hehao looked at his mother, who refused to admit defeat, and his heart began to tighten.

Seeing her son's alarmed expression, Zheng Chagu burst out laughing. "Silly boy, what do you think your old mother is fighting for? The position of Crown Prince is not for you, and the position of Empress is not for me — even if Wu Sanmei died, there would still be Wu Ake!

Your mother just wants to bear one or two more sons, so that you'll have a bit more support on New Continent, and so Wu Sanmei's descendants won't take advantage of us."

"Mother, you're already—" Zhu Hehao did not know what to say. His mother was pushing forty and still wanted to keep bearing children — could she even manage it? Even if she was in good health and could still bear children, would Imperial Father be willing to have children with her?

Zheng Chagu giggled. "Tuhao, don't think your mother has grown old and faded and lost your father's favor. In fact, your father has always been very fond of your mother — he only deliberately neglected her before because she and Wu Sanmei were fighting too fiercely. Now that your mother has stopped contending with the Wu family, your Imperial Father is sure to favor your mother again."

Would he? Zhu Hehao was rather doubtful. Emperor Zhu now had two such exquisite beauties as Marie Mancini and Princess Nisha — would he still come to favor his own mother?

Zheng Chagu smiled. "Your mother is not mistaken. Your father likes nothing better than to smooth things over between the southerners and the northerners. Before, the south was strong and the north weak in the palace, and you were too clever and too capable, while the Crown Prince was too naive — so he had to cold-shoulder me.

Now the Crown Prince has Ding Yuying, and his position is secure. Before Wu Sangui died, he sent Wu Ake into the palace, and she is young and beautiful — she is sure to bear more children in the future. And among the southern women in the inner palace, there are only your mother and Noble Consort Xu. Noble Consort Xu is no longer young, and her temperament is weak. So your father has no choice — he must properly favor your mother now!"

Zhu Hehao was rather speechless. Could it be that even who his father slept with at night had to be a matter of politics?

Zheng Chagu smiled at her son. "Learn from your father. Your father has never treated the little matters of the inner palace as mere household affairs! If you want to stand firm on the New Continent, you must be good at uniting all parties, and marriage alliances are an indispensable means. And if many of the women in your palace come through marriage alliances, then you must learn to smooth things over. Do you understand?"

"I understand — your son understands it all!" Zhu Hehao nodded repeatedly.

"Long live His Majesty! Long live, long live, long, long live—"

Earth-shaking shouts rang out, interrupting the conversation between mother and son — it must have been Zhu Cilang's carriage leaving the dock and starting toward Laoshan Palace.

Zhu Cilang's procession was still made up of nine identical carriages, all with their curtains drawn, flanked by mounted Imperial Guards and Palace Guards — security was extremely tight.

As for which carriage this great restorer of the Ming was actually in, only the personal guards escorting him and the coachmen knew; no one else could tell.

Today, Emperor Zhu was sitting in the first carriage, and beside him was the "fallen from favor" Marie Mancini. This Italian beauty was still under thirty, and her looks and charm were well preserved — her figure, especially, was far more alluring than when she had first come to Zhu Cilang's side. Setting aside Wu Ake, who had not yet entered the palace, Marie Mancini was still the most beautiful woman by Emperor Zhu's side!

"Marie," Zhu Cilang said, looking at Mancini, who had been neglected for quite a while and whose little mouth was pouting, his face full of doting smiles, "tonight We shall spend the night at the Pang family garden — we must enjoy ourselves properly."

"Really?" Marie Mancini put on an air of indifference, though the corners of her mouth deliberately revealed a hint of delighted surprise — she was very good at pleasing men, and of course she would not push Emperor Zhu away.

"Of course it's true!" Zhu Cilang laughed. "You are my favorite royal slut!"

Marie Mancini pouted coquettishly. "Your Majesty, you're teasing me again!"

Zhu Cilang laughed even more merrily. "Marie, there's more good news! You're about to receive a large sum of money from the Dutch East India Company."

"The Dutch East India Company?" Marie Mancini blinked her big eyes. "Your Majesty, under the present circumstances, can I still take their money?"

Marie Mancini was of course quite capable of corruption — the title of royal mistress sounded corrupt the moment one heard it; who would become a mistress if not for corruption? But she did not accept just any money, because she was a royal mistress who placed great importance on credibility.

Only when she could get a matter settled for someone would she accept the money. And she would not use Zhu Cilang's name to make others do things for her — she would ask Zhu Cilang directly, and she would also tell him about the bribes she received.

It was precisely because of this style of hers that people in Ming officialdom did not go through her channels. Those who gave her money were all "chartered foreign merchants" such as the Dutch East India Company, the British East India Company, the French East India Company, the Australia-New Zealand Company, and the Spanish Pacific Company. Nor did they hand over money directly — instead, they paid high prices to buy "premium tea" from the Mancini Tea Company.

"Of course," Zhu Cilang laughed. "Governor-General Maetsuycker of the Dutch East India Company will soon be coming to Yingtian Prefecture — We summoned him!"

"But aren't Holland and France trying to contain our Great Ming?" Marie Mancini used the phrase "our Great Ming," as if to make clear where she stood — she was no Frenchwoman; her ancestral home was Italy, and she was now a subject of Ming!

Emperor Zhu laughed. "You've got it wrong. The actual situation is that We intend to contain France!"

(End of Chapter)