My father is Jiajing

Chapter 418: What kind of delicate flowers can grow?
"What did you say?!"

Zhu Zaigui, who was reading leisurely in his own courtyard, was stunned when he heard the information reported by Huang Jin and stood up directly.

Huang Jin looked at Zhu Zaigui's huge reaction and advised, "Your Highness, this is the Emperor's idea. Altan is worried, so he wants to use marriage to maintain peace with our Ming Dynasty forever."

"Originally, the Emperor wanted to marry the princess sent by Altan to Prince Jing, but considering Prince Jing's health, the Emperor gave up and thought that you were more suitable. So, I asked this servant to ask your opinion."

Zhu Zaiqi laughed, "Is my opinion so important? Besides, this is also a major matter related to the further trust and integration between the Ming Dynasty and the grasslands. Do you have any objection?"

Huang Jin smiled awkwardly, but it was really useless.

However, Huang Jin still comforted him, "Your Majesty, I have heard that the princess sent by Altan Khan this time is Princess Qimuge, who is known as the most beautiful flower on the grassland. She is sixteen years old this year, just like a flower, and she is a perfect match for you."

Zhu Zaigui had a headache. He had never heard of Princess Qimuge.

Moreover, given the harsh grassland environment of that era, what kind of beautiful flowers could grow?

You should be thankful that this guy is not ugly, but you still expect him to be a delicate flower. It’s really wishful thinking!

Zhu Zaiqi asked: "When did this happen? Why didn't I have any information about it before?"

Zhu Zaigui was also very depressed. After all, he was the prince regent and he could still know some information first.

But he didn't even hear a word about Altan Khan wanting to marry into the Ming Dynasty. It's really weird!

Huang Jin said: "This was a request made by the envoy of Altan when he came to Beijing to meet the emperor two days ago. The envoy said that there has been peace between the grassland and the Ming Dynasty in recent years, and the grassland also cherishes such a peaceful time."

"But in order to ensure peace, they proposed a marriage to the Emperor. At that time, the Emperor refused without even a second thought."

"After all, when Emperor Chengzu was alive, he once said, 'The Ming Dynasty will not marry or pay tribute,' so the emperor rejected their request."

"But right after the Emperor rejected them, they replied that they would send a princess to Ming, just like Korea did, to pay tribute regularly."

When Zhu Zaigui heard this, he couldn't help but stroke his forehead.

Korea had the custom of sending beautiful girls to the Ming Dynasty, but the emperors of recent generations never mentioned this matter to Korea, so the matter gradually died down.

I didn't expect that it was dug up by Altan Khan now. He actually wanted to follow Korea's example and send women to the Ming Dynasty on a regular basis in exchange for peace. It's a pity that he could come up with this idea.

Does this live up to his title of Lord of the Grassland?
However, if we think about it again, Altan had accepted the title of King of Shunyi conferred by the Ming Dynasty in the original history, so it is not impossible for him to make such political maneuvers now.

Zhu Zaigui said: "Since they are willing to send a princess, then they are definitely not just asking for a long-term guarantee, right?"

Huang Jin immediately smiled and said, "Your Highness is wise! Altan Khan is determined to move westward, so he is worried that the Ming Dynasty will think that he has a rebellious heart at this time, so he wants to send a princess to show his sincerity."

"Westward?"

Zhu Zaigui was a little unfamiliar with this word.

But in a moment, Zhu Zaigui also became confused. Isn't the westward expansion of the grassland heading towards the Western Regions?
Although the Western Regions have been out of the control of the Central Plains for hundreds of years, in the hearts of every Chinese, it is still Chinese land.

So now that Altan Khan was heading west, Zhu Zaigui could not help but look at this issue from a higher position.

Zhu Zaigui said, "I remember that during the reign of Emperor Taizu and Emperor Chengzu, we also established Hami Guard in the west, right?"

Huang Jin nodded, "Yes, Your Majesty. Hami Guard was established during the reign of Emperor Taizu and Emperor Chengzu, but due to the situation in the north, the imperial court never truly restored the prosperity of the Han and Tang dynasties and returned that place to the Central Plains." "So for the past few hundred years, Hami Guard has existed in name only. It is said that Buddhism has been destroyed there, and they all worship a god called Allah."

Zhu Zaigui nodded and said, "I know about this. Back in the Tang Dynasty, the Central Plains had a conflict with these desert tribes that worshiped the god Allah, but because the supply lines were too long, the Tang army did not effectively stop their momentum to move eastward."

"After the An-Shi Rebellion, although there were still some brave troops like the Guiyi Army that persisted in the Western Regions for more than 80 years, they were ultimately succumbed to the passage of time, and in the end the Central Plains Dynasty completely lost control of the Western Regions."

"Now, several hundred years have passed. The north is temporarily stable. The court should indeed consider the affairs of the Western Regions. But now that Altan is willing to take the lead, we cannot sit idle."

"I heard that Altan is a devout Buddhist, but the people in the Western Regions do not believe in Buddhism. How about this, I will write another suggestion to Your Majesty, select some enlightened monks from all over the country and send them to Altan, and let him accompany the army to save all living beings."

When Huang Jin heard what Zhu Zaigui said, he felt that it made some sense.

After all, if you want to rule a place, in addition to people, education is also very important.

Otherwise, no matter how many people were sent there, they would eventually either be assimilated by others or disappear from the world, just like the Guiyi Army of the Tang Dynasty, which was short-lived and then gone.

Therefore, taking advantage of the fact that Altan Khan is planning to take over the Western Regions, it can be considered a means of advance planning to give him some smuggled goods.

Huang Jin said: "Your Majesty, this suggestion is good. I will tell the Emperor about it when I return."

Zhu Zaigui said, "Then I'll have to trouble you, eunuch."

Then Zhu Zaigui brought the topic back to the main topic and asked, "Do you have a portrait of Princess Qimuge now?"

Since you can't resist, just learn about it in advance.

So that you won’t be unprepared when the time comes.

Huang Jin replied: "There is no portrait of Princess Qimuge yet, but it should be available in a while."

Zhu Zaigui sighed and waved his hand, saying, "Forget it if there is none. For things like this, we can only do our best and leave the rest to fate. I hope that I can shoulder the responsibility of marrying the princess and make contributions to the peaceful coexistence between the Ming Dynasty and the grassland."

Huang Jin bowed to Zhu Zaigui and said, "Your Majesty is so righteous!"

Zhu Zaiqi laughed and said nothing more. Now he just felt tired.

How could Emperor Jiajing not take the words of Emperor Taizong, oh no, Emperor Chengzu seriously?

Didn't we agree that the Ming Dynasty would neither marry nor pay tribute?
Why is he going back on his word and wanting to send his own son to marry?

Isn’t this going against our ancestors?

However, when you think about the fact that Emperor Jiajing dared to elevate Zhu Di's Taizong to Chengzu, it can be seen that Emperor Jiajing was simply an emperor who liked to take ancestral rules seriously.

You have to know that he was cultivating immortality while building his mausoleum, and the layout of the mausoleum was only slightly smaller than Zhu Di's Changling Mausoleum.

From this, it can be seen that Emperor Jiajing was also thinking that his descendants in the future would remember his great kindness in being adopted as a prince and give him a higher rank. So that he could also be called the ancestor of the clan a hundred years later and become the eternal ruler of the Zhu family!
However, according to the normal course of history, his wish was destined to be unattainable, because in the original history, after the death of Emperor Jiajing, he trusted comrade Xu Jie and used the "late emperor's last will" to discredit Emperor Jiajing.

With such a black spot, the emperors of later generations, for the sake of political correctness, would only redress the unjust, false and wrong cases of the previous dynasty in order to win the hearts of the scholars. How could they ever think of Emperor Jiajing, their ancestor?
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Asking for a monthly ticket.

(End of this chapter)