My father is Jiajing

Chapter 540: Under One Person, Above Ten Thousand People
After Zhu Zaigui finished reading "Zheng He's Secret Records", he ordered someone to copy it.

Then he wrote a long memorial based on the original "Zheng He Secret Record" and his own understanding of Zheng He's voyages to the West, and asked Meng Chong to deliver it to the Emperor Jiajing's retreat in Xiyuan.

Although Emperor Jiajing was in seclusion, he also ordered Zhu Zaigui to supervise and govern the country in the Wenhua Hall.

But you can just listen to these words and never take them seriously.

There are some things that Zhu Zaigui can decide on his own, but there are some things that he must let Emperor Jiajing know the reasons.

Otherwise, he really thought that he could rely on the title of regent and that the power in his hands was unshakable and comparable to the supreme power of the emperor.

Then Zhu Zaigui is not far from failure.

Therefore, we must never be arrogant or underestimate the selfishness and exclusivity of power.

You have to know that even a great ruler like Emperor Wu of Han dared to kill the crown prince in his later years, risking the loss of a successor to his throne.

What’s more, what about old Jiajing who thought he could become an immortal and achieve immortality?

What if he took too many pills and went crazy, thinking he would become an immortal and live forever?

Then his son's bloodline would naturally be dispensable to him.

So, to be on the safe side, it is also necessary to have a legitimate reason.

When encountering some critical matters and problems, Zhu Zaigui would still take the trouble to report the important issues and important matters he encountered to Emperor Jiajing.

Even if Emperor Jiajing had not issued an edict, Zhu Zaigui could have taken advantage of Emperor Jiajing's tacit approval and gotten things done first.

Otherwise, if Emperor Jiajing turned around and refused to acknowledge his decision, and overturned some of the decisions made by Zhu Zaigui, wouldn't that be a slap in the face?

You have to know that Zhu Zaigui will not allow such a slap in the face to happen now. How high his authority will be in the future depends on how much power he can exercise during this period.

If he was questioned and his decision was overturned while he was exercising power, then even if Zhu Zaigui inherited the throne of Emperor Jiajing in the future, it would take him a long time, and he might even have to kill people and pull down others, to re-establish his absolute authority.

And if this is true, it would be unacceptable for Zhu Zaigui, who would regard time as life in the future!

What if his future reign is just like that of Zhu Zaigui in history, which is only a short six years?

If he uses part of these six years to re-establish his authority, then how the hell will he have time to complete his ultimate transformation of the Ming Dynasty?
It would be better for me to just lie down at home and live a shameless and happy life with the concubines in the harem.

History cannot be changed anyway.

But now that Zhu Zaigui has already made all the positive progress, he is just waiting for an opportunity to rise to prominence so that he can carry out drastic reforms.

He certainly wouldn't want the authority he had worked so hard to build up to be shattered by any accident along the way.

Emperor Jiajing, who was still in seclusion, also saw the memorials and "Zheng He Secret Records" sent by Zhu Zaigui in his spare time.

Emperor Jiajing knew something about the story of Zheng He.

It’s just because of the long time that happened and the fact that the Ming Dynasty did not attach importance to maritime interests.

Therefore, the understanding of Zheng He's voyages to the West has almost remained at the level that Zheng He was promoting the prestige of the Ming Dynasty, and has not considered too much of its practical significance.

After all, with the current social productivity and the limitations of cognition of the world, it has also caused the emperor, ordinary scholars and common people to be...

Their understanding of the sea is Japanese pirates, Japanese pirates, Japanese pirates.

It seems that apart from those Japanese pirates who are like leeks that can never be harvested enough, there is nothing good coming from the sea.

Moreover, if we take the trouble to build an invincible navy that can roam the seas, it will definitely be a thankless task.

After all, this thing is like a money-eating beast. God knows how big a hole there is to be filled?

So in the eighth year of Xuande, Zheng He died on his way to the West, and because of the sudden death of Emperor Xuande, the successor emperor was unable to clearly realize the importance of maritime interests.

Therefore, faced with opposition from a number of officials, the young and ignorant Emperor Yingzong gave up his plan to travel to the West again.

Therefore, after the eighth year of Xuande, the Ming Dynasty never carried out any ocean voyage again.

It was also because the Ming Dynasty no longer engaged in ocean voyages that the Jiugang Xuanwei Office established since the Yongle period was abolished, causing the Ming Dynasty to forever lose control over the Nanyang countries and its control over the channels to the Middle East and Western countries using Nanyang.

However, this regret may not be a real regret in the era at that time.

After all, the Ming Dynasty and the social productivity at that time were almost entirely supported by traditional agriculture.

If ocean trade could not bring food security to the Ming Dynasty, it would only bring back shiploads of spices, shiploads of flashy overseas treasures, and shiploads of loss-making tribute envoys.

Such significance is simply useless to an ancient empire that relies on agriculture for its survival. No one would continue to promote such a flashy and impractical movement to the West.

Therefore, it is not without reason that Zheng He's voyages to the West were cancelled after his death.

After all, as a normal person, when talking about the gains and losses of history, we must not only look at the problem from the perspective of hundreds of years ahead of the times, but also look at the problems and realities at that time?

Otherwise, it would be very easy to turn a cause that obviously has great benefits for generations into a cause that "brings sins to the present" but may not bring benefits to future generations.

Therefore, when later generations look at the Ming Dynasty’s decision to stop sailing to the West after Xuande, they cannot simply rely on current knowledge and cognition to accuse the ancients of being wrong.

Little do we know that hundreds or thousands of years later, when future generations look back on this period of our history, they may have similar discoveries and feelings.

Therefore, when looking at the historical process and historical regrets, we must seriously think about and study what problems and realities the historical era faced at that time.
Only after taking these issues and realities into consideration can we get a more sobering historical answer.

Otherwise, we will only think about the mistakes made at that time and ignore the social and practical problems at that time, and blindly think that the ancients at that time were either mentally ill or use conspiracy theories to consider them.

In this case, we will easily fall behind when looking at history.

Even if we were asked to make the choice for them, we might still make the same mistake as Emperor Yang of Sui, destroying a great and powerful empire in just over a decade.

Therefore, as latecomers, we must never make rash comments on all historical regrets and events with unrealistic thinking.

Because such comments are not only ignorant, but also extremely stupid! They have no good meaning at all for the reality at that time.

Emperor Jiajing looked at Zhu Zaigui's memorial in his hand, and then at the yellowed "Zheng He Secret Records". After reading these two things, he also fell into deep thought.

Although Zhu Zaigui listed many benefits and advantages of the sea in his memorial, these benefits and advantages have never been truly verified.

Moreover, the cost of sailing to the West is so high that it is not a decision that can be made on impulse.

Therefore, at this time Emperor Jiajing could not help but hesitate. He also hoped that he could have a moment of foresight to help him see the fog ahead and make an accurate and wise decision.

However, Emperor Jiajing was caught in a historical mystery, even though he was the supreme ruler and even though his intelligence was the highest among all emperors.

However, he still cannot make a clear prediction about what the future will be like.

After all, what he saw and heard were given to him by this era. He was not like Zhu Zaigui, who possessed insights and knowledge that were hundreds of years ahead of his time.

Therefore, it is understandable that Emperor Jiajing fell into hesitation and entanglement after reading Zhu Zaigui's memorial and "Zheng He's Secret Records".

You can't blame him for not having courage!

After all, his courage will affect billions of people in the world.

If you get it wrong, the consequences can be disastrous.

After thinking for a long time, Emperor Jiajing still had no idea.

So Emperor Jiajing also called Huang Jin, who was serving beside him.

"Huang Jin, you should also take a look at the memorial sent by San'er, and the 'Secret Records of Zheng He' that Si'er found in the Jinyiwei Yamen."

Huang Jin, who was helping Emperor Jiajing clean the house, stopped and replied "yes" after hearing what Emperor Jiajing said.

Then he wiped his hands with a towel before respectfully going before Emperor Jiajing and taking the memorial and "Zheng He's Secret Records" handed to him by Emperor Jiajing.

Huang Jin carefully looked at the memorial sent by Zhu Zaigui, and then carefully looked at the "Zheng He Secret Records".

By the time he finished reading the memorial and the "Zheng He Secret Records", nearly half an hour had passed.

Huang Jin also looked up at Emperor Jiajing with a bewildered expression, "I am stupid and can't understand this."

Emperor Jiajing, who had been waiting for a long time, laughed and said, "It's right that you don't understand it. This is the wild imagination of San'er. I have thought about it for a long time, but I can't figure it out. That's why I asked you to take a look."

Huang Jin smiled and said, "Your Majesty, you really embarrassed me. You didn't even see it. How could a fool like me understand the trick?"

Emperor Jiajing laughed again and said, "You have had more contact with San'er, so what I want you to think about is how likely the things San'er said are to come true?"

Huang Jin paused, thought seriously for a while, and replied: "Based on my understanding of Prince Yu, he is definitely not a person who shoots without purpose. Since he believes that there are huge benefits at sea, and it is related to the great significance of whether the Ming Dynasty will be the leader of the world in the future. I think this is nine out of ten true."

Emperor Jiajing nodded in agreement, "I think so too, but the cost of sailing to the West is too high. Now Hu Zongxian has finally stopped the Japanese pirates in the southeast."

"If the imperial court were to make such a clear statement and make such a grand gesture to recreate the glory of Emperor Chengzu's expedition to the West, it would certainly arouse unanimous opposition from all officials and subjects of the world."

"So, I also think that this matter is not easy to accomplish. Unless San'er can come up with convincing facts and results."

"Otherwise, if we just talk about the huge profits at sea and spend an unknown amount of money to build huge ships to sail to the Western Ocean, we will definitely not be able to explain it."

Huang Jin also hummed, "Your Majesty has made a lot of good thoughts. This is the difficulty of this matter. If Prince Yu can find evidence of the huge profits at sea and let the officials and the people of the world see it, then it may not be impossible to sail to the West again."

"So, I'm thinking, why don't I ask Prince Yu again to see if he has any other realistic ideas and methods for this matter?"

When Emperor Jiajing heard Huang Jin's suggestion, he nodded and said, "Okay, go find San'er and see what other plans he has."

Huang Jin immediately bowed and said, "Yes, I will go there right away."

Emperor Jiajing waved his hand, then retracted his gaze and sat down to meditate again, trying to restore himself to the mysterious state of meditation and contemplation.

Huang Jin looked at Emperor Jiajing like this, and quietly left the abode where Emperor Jiajing was in seclusion, being careful not to make any noise.

Only after he had really left the abode where Emperor Jiajing was in seclusion did he suddenly speed up and walk out of the palace at a faster pace.

After Huang Jin came out, he saw Chen Hong who was guarding the palace.

Huang Jin instructed Chen Hong, "Go change your clothes and wait carefully in front of the Emperor's residence. If the Emperor summons you, you will be the first to serve him. Do you understand?"

When Chen Hong heard this, the excitement on his face and in his heart was immediately evident.

You have to know that during the period when Emperor Jiajing was in seclusion, he didn't see Emperor Jiajing once.

Now Huang Jin ordered him to wait outside the temple and be ready to serve Emperor Jiajing at any time. How could he not be excited?
Chen Hong immediately bowed to Huang Jin and said, "Don't worry, ancestor. I will definitely serve the emperor well."

Huang Jin looked at Chen Hong who was so excited and nodded lightly.

Although he didn't think much of Chen Hong's personality, Huang Jin could see that Chen Hong was a man who would really do anything to be loyal to Emperor Jiajing.

Therefore, no matter whether Chen Hong's nature is greedy or he will do anything to achieve his goals, Huang Jin can pretend not to see it.

After all, Huang Jin also knew that Emperor Jiajing really needed a loyal lackey like Chen Hong to use as a last resort weapon.

Therefore, when it is time for Huang Jin to give Chen Hong a chance, he will give it to him without hesitation.

The reason why he did this was actually very simple, because he was absolutely loyal to Emperor Jiajing.

Therefore, Huang Jin would unconditionally affirm and support any person or thing that was beneficial to Emperor Jiajing.

She would never harm the fundamental interests of Emperor Jiajing for the so-called desire to win favor.

This is why Huang Jin could always stand by Emperor Jiajing's side and was always the most intimate and trusted eunuch around him.

It was because he was able to clearly understand his position and always consider the interests of Emperor Jiajing that Emperor Jiajing gave him the status of an ancestor "second only to the emperor and above everyone else" in the inner palace.

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(End of this chapter)