Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 1035 Distance
The four princes stood in front of Zhu Youjian, who examined their academic performance one by one.

This kind of situation happened every few days. Zhu Youjian was very concerned about their studies and was extremely strict in the assessment. If they did not satisfy him, he would beat them.

After a few times, these princes also became serious about studying. Besides, there was no other entertainment in Changchun Palace, and they could not do much except studying on weekdays. So academically speaking, they all did well in their studies. Not only the two older princes studied well, but even the youngest one was not bad either. With the current level, if they were from an ordinary family, they could try to take the examination for a scholar.

After testing his eldest son Zhu Cilang and third son Zhu Cihong, Zhu Youjian nodded with satisfaction, and then turned his attention to his fourth son Zhu Cizhuo. Compared with his two elder brothers, Zhu Cizhuo is ten years old this year, which is the transition period for children to teenagers. Moreover, Zhu Cizhuo has a more lively personality and is a bit casual in studying. He is the worst academically among his sons, so Zhu Youjian will spend more time on him.

His eyes swept over Zhu Cizhuo, and Zhu Youjian asked, "Last time I asked you to go back and study The Great Learning carefully, how did you do?"

"In reply to Dad, I will read it carefully when I get back." Zhu Ci Zhao replied respectfully.

"Oh, then let me ask you, what does the so-called investigation of things and extension of knowledge in "The Great Learning" refer to, and how is it different from the philosophy of mind founded by Wang Yangming of our dynasty? What exactly is the so-called "investigation of things"? In your opinion, what similarities do the two have?" Zhu Youjian asked directly.

As soon as this question came out, Zhu Ci's forehead broke out in cold sweat. He had originally thought that his father would ask him questions about the "manifesting virtue", "loving the people" and "stopping at the highest good" in "The Great Learning", and Zhu Ci's preparations were made in advance. But he did not expect Zhu Youjian to ask these big questions, but instead started with the "investigating things and seeking knowledge" in the eight items of "The Great Learning", and the questions were so tricky.

Although Zhu Ci Zhao had been reading The Great Learning these days, he only had a partial understanding of its contents. Moreover, he was not as attentive as his two elder brothers, and even his younger brother was slightly inferior to him. If Zhu You Jian's question was simpler, he could still answer one or two, but this question was not only difficult, but also involved Wang Yangming's philosophy of mind. Although he had read a few of Wang Yangming's philosophy of mind, he had never read it through, so how could he know the differences and similarities between them!
For a moment, Zhu Ci Zhao didn't know how to answer. After hesitating for a moment, he gritted his teeth and started to talk about irrelevant things, reciting words from a book. However, as he recited, looking at Zhu Youjian's face which was visibly gloomy, Zhu Ci Zhao hesitated and couldn't say any more. His little face turned bitter.

"Put your hand out!" Zhu Youjian suppressed his anger and grabbed the ruler placed aside.

The eldest son Zhu Cilang and the third son Zhu Cijiong both showed sympathetic expressions. How could they not know that their younger brother would suffer today? They wanted to persuade him, but because they knew Zhu Youjian's temper, they could not persuade him at all. They could only secretly cast a helpless look at Zhu Cizhuo.

Zhu Cizhuo moved forward with a sad face and stretched out his hand tremblingly. Zhu Youjian was not polite and used a ruler to hit Zhu Cizhuo's palm several times in front of his sons. After the slaps, Zhu Cizhuo's left hand became obviously red and swollen. Tears welled up in the boy's eyes, but he dared not let them fall.

"I punish you by making you copy the Great Learning carefully. If you don't copy it carefully, I won't let you off easily next time!"

“Yes…” Facing his father, Zhu Cizhao didn’t dare to refute at all and responded with his head lowered.

Seeing him like this, Zhu Youjian was too lazy to pay attention to him. He waved his hand and told him to roll aside, preparing to continue testing his youngest son.

At this time, there was a sudden noise outside, as if an outsider had come to Changchun Palace. Zhu Youjian was slightly startled when he heard the noise, but he was not nervous at all. He still sat steadily and asked his sixth son Zhu Cican to recite a passage from the Analects that he had specified. At this time, the older Zhu Cilang and Zhu Cihong showed surprised expressions. Although he did not turn his head to look outside, his expression was a little nervous. Because Changchun Palace was special, generally, except for the people who sent supplies in and out on a regular basis every day, there would be basically no outsiders coming, let alone at this time. And today, someone suddenly came. Who is this person? What is he doing here? Zhu Cilang and Zhu Cihong couldn't help but worry. After all, they knew their identities and understood their embarrassing status in the palace.

Footsteps were heard from outside, and it seemed that there was more than one person coming. Just as Zhu Cican was reciting aloud with a childish voice, Zhu Shenzui arrived with the prince and several Mongolian guards.

Zhu Shenzhui had not expected to see such a scene when he arrived. The former Emperor Chongzhen, now Zhu Youjian, was sitting over there, his four princes were standing beside him, the youngest of them was reciting "The Analects of Confucius", and Zhu Youjian was sitting as steadily as an old teacher in the school, with a ruler at hand. Seeing this scene, Zhu Shenzhui thought he had arrived at a private school.

Zhu Youjian had clearly seen him, but he did not stand up to greet him, nor did he let Zhu Cican interrupt him. Seeing this, Zhu Shenzhui could not help but laugh and stopped at the door. The prince beside him also stood at the door when he saw Zhu Shenzhui doing this, looking into the room. The two did not speak, nor did they interrupt him, but watched the scene with interest until Zhu Cican finished reciting the article.

After Zhu Cican finished reciting, Zhu Youjian asked him a few questions about the content of the article. Zhu Cican answered fluently, which made Zhu Youjian quite satisfied. After nodding, he encouraged him a few words and then let him stand aside.

Then, Zhu Youjian seemed to notice Zhu Shenzhu and his son, and slowly stood up. "Your Majesty, you are in a good mood. Why did you come to me today?" Zhu Youjian said indifferently. There was not much respect in his words, but he also lost his initial resentment towards Zhu Shenzhu. Perhaps he had been here for a long time, and his mentality had changed a long time ago, and he became calm. However, Zhu Youjian still deliberately used "I" to refer to himself in his words, which might be his last insistence.

"I haven't been here for a long time. I came to visit you today when I have some free time." Zhu Shenzhui said with a smile, then waved his hand. The prince beside him took two steps forward and greeted Zhu Youjian with a military salute.

"Is this your prince? I met him once before, and it has been several years. Now the prince is not in the East Palace? Has he joined the army?" Zhu Youjian's gaze stayed on the prince, especially noticed the military uniform the prince was wearing. He couldn't help asking with a slightly puzzled look on his face.

"The prince is currently studying in a military academy." Zhu Shenzhui said with a smile.

"Military academy?" Zhu Youjian was puzzled, and even his several princes showed puzzled expressions.

Immediately, Zhu Shencui explained to Zhu Youjian what the so-called military school was, and told him the original intention and purpose of establishing the military school. Zhu Shencui also specifically stated that in the future, all the royal children of the Ming Dynasty would go to school first when they reached school age, and then go to military school when they turned sixteen. The military school system was three years, with two years of studying courses and one year of internship in the army. After graduation, they would be awarded military ranks and join the army.

This is the rule set by Zhu Shenzhui. All future royal children will follow this rule. No one will be an exception. Now not only the crown prince is in the military academy, but also the Prince of Song is in the military academy. As for the other princes in the future, this will also be the case.

Hearing this, Zhu Youjian was surprised but also somewhat enlightened, and his expression showed some praise and emotion. After all, Zhu Youjian had been an emperor, and his biggest confusion when he was an emperor was not only financial problems but also military problems. He had no generals who could be used, and no troops that he could truly trust and use. This was Zhu Youjian's regret all along.

Moreover, Zhu Youjian's years of studying in Changchun Palace were not in vain. Through reading, he gradually understood some of his problems in the past and reflected on his actions and policies. Especially in the military, Zhu Youjian knew his weaknesses. Although he knew them a little late, after all, with these insights, he could better understand the importance of military power as an emperor.

Zhu Youjian knew very well how Zhu Shenzhui came to power. Without military power, Zhu Shenzhui would never have been able to take over the capital, let alone become the regent and then ascend the throne. So when Zhu Shenzhui mentioned the nature of the military academy, Zhu Youjian understood it and knew the role of the military academy.
"I had this idea back then, but it was not a military academy but a military examination. I also planned to reorganize the Beijing camp, but unfortunately later..." Zhu Youjian sighed lightly. He made many mistakes when he was emperor, and three of the most serious ones were.

The first thing he did was to kill Wei Zhongxian. With Wei Zhongxian's downfall, the eunuch party was wiped out. In fact, the eunuch party was the imperial party supported by his brother, Emperor Tianqi, and Wei Zhongxian was a knife in Tianqi's hand. He used Wei Zhongxian to seize the imperial power and control the government. This was the greatest achievement of Tianqi during his reign. It was also for this reason that the Ming Dynasty at that time was able to stabilize the situation in Liaodong and even used Sun Chengzong to suppress the Jiannu, reversing the initially bad situation.

However, Zhu Youjian did not know all this, because when he was Prince Xin, he heard all about how cruel and arrogant Wei Zhongxian was. He was even more worried that he would be controlled by Wei Zhongxian and not only would he lose his position as emperor, but he would also die at Wei Zhongxian's hands.

Zhu Youjian did not understand that the source of Wei Zhongxian's power was the imperial power in his hands, and he listened to the slander of the Donglin Party at the time and killed Wei Zhongxian himself not long after the death of Emperor Tianqi. This incident brought Zhu Youjian great political prestige, and he was complacently called the "Lord of the Restoration" by the ministers. But Zhu Youjian gradually realized that he was wrong to kill Wei Zhongxian. If he could listen to the last words of Emperor Tianqi, treat Wei Zhongxian well, and continue to hold the knife in his own hands, how could the Ming Dynasty become like this?

As for the second thing, Zhu Youjian trusted Yuan Chonghuan wrongly. The more he trusted Yuan Chonghuan, the more angry he was afterwards. Zhu Youjian trusted Yuan Chonghuan to the greatest extent, giving him soldiers, money, and power. He even admitted that Yuan Chonghuan had forged an imperial decree to kill Mao Wenlong, and covered up for Yuan Chonghuan.

But what was the final result? Yuan Chonghuan not only betrayed his trust, but also caused the Jiannu to directly enter the Great Wall and directly attack the capital. Afterwards, during the investigation, Zhu Youjian also discovered that Yuan Chonghuan had done many horrific things without telling him. How could he bear this? In the end, Yuan Chonghuan was executed by slow slicing. This can be said to be Zhu Youjian's decision after he was furious about being deceived. However, the consequences of trusting Yuan Chonghuan were irreversible. When Zhu Youjian thought of this incident, he was filled with hatred.

As for the third thing, it was to abolish the post stations and to collect Liao taxes. The former aroused a greater rebellion, and Li Zicheng and others became bandits because of this, while the latter caused the internal situation of the Ming Dynasty to deteriorate continuously, and eventually there were rebellions everywhere, and the situation was out of control.

Although Zhu Youjian did not admit these problems verbally, he knew them in his heart. In addition, Zhu Youjian also did many things to save the situation, but for various reasons, they did not have much effect. Among them, Zhu Youjian intended to restore the military examination and reorganize the Beijing camp, which he had thought about and tried to do, but unfortunately he failed to do it until he abdicated.

But now, Zhu Shenzhui has done it. Not only has he reformed the military system, he has also set up military academies and even made rules that royal children must study in military academies or even join the army in the future. In this way, the future emperor of the Ming Dynasty will have a fundamental change in controlling the military power. He will no longer need to control it indirectly through court ministers. With the military academy as a hub, the prince's tentacles can reach deep into the army. As time goes by, when these military academy students gradually grow up and become the backbone of the army, the army of the Ming Dynasty will be in the hands of the future emperor.

(End of this chapter)