Chapter 1636: Wei Zhongxian, a Fine Legacy

The Retired Emperor Chongzhen was quite certain he was dead. He was ninety years old, had already suffered one stroke, and instead of taking care of himself, all he wanted was to wallow in debauchery — and so he had another stroke! If that didn't kill him, there'd be no justice in heaven, only human desire left!

But the Retired Emperor Chongzhen died unwillingly!

Although he had lived to ninety, and although he had spent most of his life wallowing in debauchery with the palace beauties, even fathering more than a hundred sons, he was not happy! Truly, not happy at all. He had been forcing smiles, playing along, numbing that rebellious son, the sage sovereign Zhu Cilang.

That's right — the present Chongzhen naturally considered Zhu Cilang a sage sovereign, the greatest emperor of all time! Otherwise he would not have so humbly followed that rebellious son's instruction for over fifty years in how to be an emperor!

After more than fifty years of study, he had learned how to be a sage sovereign.

Being a sage sovereign was actually not that hard — otherwise how could that rebellious son have done the job well at sixteen or seventeen? And according to the Retired Emperor Chongzhen's fifty-plus years of observation, the key to being a sage sovereign came down to just two points.

First, one must know how to bring out the strengths of one's ministers, while also being able to recognize their shortcomings — because a perfect loyal minister basically does not exist. Even if there are one or two, they are an extreme minority.

How can a sage sovereign rely on only a tiny handful of ministers? With so few people, the work that can be done is limited, so a sage sovereign must be able to rely on the majority of his ministers!

And to rely on the majority of ministers, a sage sovereign must know how to use their strengths and help them avoid their weaknesses. Only then can mediocre, incompetent scoundrels be turned into loyal ministers who dare to take on tasks and are good at them.

Moreover, a sage sovereign should also understand that the loyal and righteous ministers who go down in history are made through use, not produced by eight-legged examination essays. Only a sovereign who knows how to use men can bring forth many loyal and worthy ministers.

Because a sage sovereign is one who gets loyal-minister results out of treacherous ministers! He can make the mediocre and the greedy work hard at their duties, and can even make them rein in their greed.

Of course, they still had to be corrupt — but corrupt a little less, and while embezzling, not forget to get things done. A corrupt official who only knows how to take money and not how to handle affairs is not a good corrupt official!

So under the sage sovereign's driving, these scoundrels, mediocre ministers, and corrupt officials all went down in history one by one, and what later generations saw were all their strengths and merits, not their treachery, mediocrity, greed, and other flaws.

That rebellious son did very well in this regard!

Even a "fourfold minister" like Zu Kefa — didn't he get used to the fullest, turned into a capable minister famed through the ages!

And then there were Sun Zhixie and Jin Zhijun, who were plainly destined to stink for ten thousand years — in the hands of that rebellious son, the sage sovereign, they all became loyal and steadfast men who endured humiliation and infiltrated deep inside the eastern barbarians!

And Luo Yangxing and Guang Shiheng took their "loyal minister certificates" and went to surrender! They surrendered here, surrendered there, and actually surrendered their way into becoming loyal ministers revered by later generations!

Chongzhen sometimes thought: back when he himself was emperor, among the civil and military officials filling the court, there were far too many who were better than Zu Kefa, Sun Zhixie, and Jin Zhijun.

If he could have used them all well, where would that rebellious son have gotten the chance to be a sage sovereign? That rebellious son could have honestly stayed an old crown prince for seventy-some years!

What a pity! He had been young and foolish back then!

Second, being emperor means being able to take responsibility and make decisions! Don't push everything down to those treacherous ministers below — they can't bear it. Bureaucrats are generally good at shirking responsibility, seeking no merit, only hoping to avoid mistakes. So they love to pass responsibility upward. Best is plenty of profit with little responsibility. Officials willing to bear responsibility, especially willing to be the bad guy and do dirty work for the state — those are exceedingly rare, and must be cherished, and must not be used as scapegoats to take the fall.

And for especially important responsibilities — like training the new army, like leading the new army on campaign, like raising money and managing finances — it's best to handle them personally.

As long as these two points are done well, even if one cannot become a sage sovereign, there will be no Jiashen. As long as one survives Jiashen — heh heh — that rebellious son, the third, the fourth, and the fifth will all have grown up. With those four brothers charging into battle, what Dorgon, what Li Zicheng — all utterly beneath mention!

How unwilling he was!

The already-dead Retired Emperor Chongzhen, thinking to this point, could bear it no longer. He opened his throat and cried out: "Ancestors, give me one more chance, and I will surely be a good emperor! Ancestors, just give me one more chance... sob sob..."

The Retired Emperor Chongzhen could not cry out anymore, because someone was covering his mouth — and covering it with particular force!

Who was this? Chongzhen was furious! We are dead and you still bully Us, covering Us until We can hardly breathe — wait, that's not right! If We're dead, how are We still breathing?

Could it be that We are not dead yet?

At that thought, Chongzhen suddenly opened his eyes!

The moment his eyelids lifted, he saw a beautiful woman dressed very coolly!

In this life, Chongzhen had seen plenty of beautiful women. His Palace of Longevity held not only beauties of the Central Plains, but beauties from the Eastern Ocean, the Western Ocean, the Southern Ocean, and the Northern Ocean! All of them had been gathered by that rebellious son, the sage sovereign, to wear down his fighting spirit — yet none of those beauties had ever stirred his heart like the one before him now!

The beauty before him was dignified and lovely, skin like jade, bright eyes like water, delicate brows curved, a fine nose pert and upturned, a small cherry mouth. Truly a peerless beauty — there was not a place on her that was not beautiful, not a place that the Retired Emperor Chongzhen did not adore.

And Chongzhen found this beauty very familiar — he had seen her somewhere, but for the moment could not recall where.

When the beauty saw that Chongzhen had awakened, she let out a long breath, then said to him in a reproachful tone: "My prince, were you dreaming you became emperor? Dreaming is one thing, but why did you have to shout about it? Beware — walls have ears!"

What prince? What dreaming of becoming emperor? By now Chongzhen had realized something was wrong, and hearing the beauty speak, he also remembered who she was! This was Empress Zhou! The young Empress Zhou!

"Empress, how have you become young again?" Chongzhen asked, looking at Empress Zhou.

"What empress?" The beauty was nearly frightened to death by the raving Chongzhen — no, it should be Zhu Youjian, Prince of Xin.

Zhu Youjian was merely a Prince of Xin who idled his days away waiting to die. Although he was the reigning emperor's only full brother, and although the reigning emperor had no sons and was in very poor health, seemingly not long for this world — the closer it came to that moment, the more Prince Xin Zhu Youjian ought to be cautious in word and deed! He absolutely must not let Wei Zhongxian get hold of anything against him, or that treacherous villain would frame Prince Xin!

By now Chongzhen had also realized something was wrong, because he suddenly felt himself brimming with energy, and there was also an impulse that had vanished long ago — the impulse to push down the beautiful Empress Zhou before him!

He hastily held out his hand and looked at it — so white and tender!

This was not a hand that a ninety-year-old old man could have!

Chongzhen — no, it should be Zhu Youjian — was so agitated he could hardly contain himself! Could it be that he had dreamed a hundred years in one night? One night in the world, and over seventy years in a dream?

Or — or had he truly lived over seventy years, and then the ancestors, seeing his filial piety, displayed their divine might and sent him back to be recast?

Zhu Youjian had already climbed down from the bed to the floor. Barefoot, he paced back and forth, clapping his hands as he walked. "Yi! I, Zhu Youjian, am back again! Back again!"

Princess Zhou, still sitting on the bed beside him, stared blankly at her beloved prince, utterly dumbfounded.

What was wrong with the prince? Had he gone mad or lost his wits?

If he had gone mad, could he still ascend the throne and become emperor?

After gesticulating wildly for a good while, Zhu Youjian suddenly stopped and stood stock-still. Princess Zhou did not know what had happened either, and could only stare blankly at Zhu Youjian.

After a moment, Zhu Youjian suddenly turned his head, looked at Princess Zhou, and asked in a slightly trembling voice: "My beloved consort, what is today's date?"

"Today... today is the eleventh of the eighth month," Princess Zhou said, then glanced at the window and saw that the window paper was already growing pale, and corrected herself: "No, it should be the twelfth of the eighth month now!"

"What year of Tianqi is it?" Zhu Youjian asked again.

Princess Zhou furrowed her delicate brows: "My prince, this year is the seventh year of Tianqi!"

"Ah, the twelfth day of the eighth month of the seventh year of Tianqi..." Zhu Youjian nodded. On his youthful face there suddenly appeared a look of world-weariness that did not match his age. "It is a great day! My beloved, help Us dress!"

"Dress?"

"Yes!" Zhu Youjian nodded.

"The prince is rising so early — to study diligently?"

"No," Zhu Youjian shook his head. "We are not studying. His Majesty will send someone to summon Us today. We must enter the palace to appear before the sovereign!"