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

Chapter 1044: Dynasty Reincarnation
Zhu Shenzhu thought for a moment and said, "Since the emperor does not intend to let the prince and princess leave the palace, I will not force them. It is fine for them to stay with him. However, I feel a little reluctant to do so."

"What do you mean?" Zhu Youjian couldn't help but ask. As a father, he certainly hoped for the best for his children. He also understood that if his children stayed in Changchun Palace to accompany him, their safety would be no problem as long as Zhu Shenzhui didn't attack him.

But in this way, they have no future at all. Even if the conditions in Changchun Palace are not bad and they have no shortage of food and clothing, people are not birds in cages. If this goes on for a long time, their lives will be completely ruined. As for marriage, it is more of a human relationship. Zhu Youjian can't just watch the children grow up and grow old, right?
Originally, he thought that Zhu Shencui was planning something by saying these words, but when Zhu Shencui gave in and stopped forcing the matter because of his insistence, Zhu Youjian's usual suspicion suddenly came back and he began to doubt Zhu Shencui's real plan.

Zhu Shenzhui smiled and said, "After all, I am their great uncle. It is normal for me to care about them because we are both members of the royal family. Moreover, with my current status, if I really want to do something to them, can you stop me?"

"You!" Zhu Youjian was suddenly filled with anger and could not help but want to refute, but he swallowed the words back when they came to his lips.

Zhu Shenzhui was right. Zhu Shenzhui was now the emperor. How could he, a retired emperor who couldn't even protect himself, stop Zhu Shenzhui? Apart from other things, if Zhu Shenzhui wanted to kill their whole family in this case of treason, Zhu Youjian would have no power to fight back, let alone resist.

"What do you mean by saying this? Although I am no longer the emperor, I can still resist to the death if I really want to." Zhu Youjian said firmly, lowering his voice.

"Of course. I didn't force you, right? Why is the Emperor so nervous?" Zhu Shenzhui asked with a smile.

This made Zhu Youjian even more confused about Zhu Shencui's thoughts. Could it be that Zhu Shencui really had kind intentions?
For a moment, Zhu Youjian didn't know how to answer and could only remain silent, looking at the other person with cold eyes.

With a sigh, Zhu Shenzhui said, "I really have no ill intentions. You don't have to be so nervous. By the way, I heard that you have been reading in Changchun Palace these years? What books have you read? Do you know the history of the pre-Qin period?"

Zhu Youjian frowned slightly. He had nothing to do in Changchun Palace. What else could he do besides reading? As a former emperor, he was naturally more interested in history books. In the past few years, Zhu Youjian read a lot of history books, including the Twenty-Three Histories. In addition, he also read some other history books, including the history of the pre-Qin period mentioned by Zhu Shenzhui.

"Back then, King Zhou of Shang was tyrannical, so King Wu attacked Shang and replaced Shang with Zhou in the Battle of Muye, thus creating the Zhou Dynasty which lasted for 800 years. Since the Emperor has read the history of the pre-Qin period, he must know about this, right?"

"Do you know how? So what if you don't know?" Zhu Youjian asked back.

Zhu Shenzhui continued, "Except for the Han Dynasty, which lasted 400 years, and the Song Dynasty, which lasted 320 years, none of the other dynasties lasted more than 300 years. However, the Zhou Dynasty was different. It lasted for about 800 years, which was a special case. In your opinion, why did the Zhou Dynasty last so long? How could it last for such a long time?"

"This..." Zhu Youjian was stunned. He didn't expect the other party to ask this question. What does this question have to do with the prince mentioned just now? However, Zhu Youjian thought about it carefully, and after a while, he said: "The Zhou Dynasty is different from other dynasties. Since Qin annexed the world, the world has been unified and power has been centralized. But the Zhou Dynasty divided the princes to honor the royal family. After Zhou Wu established the country, it was divided into 800 princes, occupying the four directions and guarding the Zhou Dynasty. How can it be compared with the great unified dynasty? Its duration is naturally longer."

"It seems that you have read the history books clearly, and what you said is not wrong." Zhu Shenzhui nodded slightly to show his approval, but he still corrected Zhu Youjian's answer. The Zhou Dynasty enfeoffed the princes for one reason, and another reason was that the world at that time was far less developed than it is today. When the Zhou Dynasty was established, it was just a regime in the Central Plains, and the four barbarians were not in the hands of the Zhou Dynasty. In addition to guarding the outside of the Zhou Dynasty, the princes also had the responsibility of expanding the territory for the Zhou Dynasty.

It is precisely because of this that in the hundreds of years after the establishment of the Zhou Dynasty, the enfeoffment of the princes made the territory of the Zhou Dynasty continue to expand, and eventually formed the prototype of today's China. This is a long process, which could not be completed in a short time with the manpower and material resources at that time. During this period of time, the strength of the Zhou Dynasty has been growing day by day, and the enfeoffed princes have also been expanding and conquering the four directions for the Zhou Dynasty.

Later, this expansion gradually slowed down due to geographical reasons. In addition, King You was unjust, and King Ping succeeded to the throne and moved eastward. The Eastern Zhou Dynasty began, and the Zhou Dynasty entered the Spring and Autumn Period. Because the pace of expansion reached its peak at that time, the princes had no land to continue expanding, so they began to conquer each other, resulting in constant annexation and continuous wars among the princes. This situation became more and more serious in the late Spring and Autumn Period. By the Warring States Period, the influence of the Zhou Dynasty had weakened to the point where it was not even as good as that of ordinary small princes. Except for the nominal royal room, it no longer had the power to suppress the princes. In the end, in the late Warring States Period, the seven powers were in parallel, and the Qin State stood out, annexed the six directions and unified the world, and established a unified empire. After that, the state system of successive dynasties continued the Qin State until today.

From these circumstances, it can be seen that the 800-year rule of the Zhou Dynasty was based not only on the feudal system but also on the regional characteristics of the time and the fact of continuous expansion. Without the latter, the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period would have come much earlier, and the Zhou Dynasty would not have lasted so long.

Among the dynasties that followed, except for the Han and Song dynasties due to special reasons, none of them lasted more than three hundred years. This was because at the beginning of their establishment, wars spread all over China, and the outbreak of wars caused great damage to the previous social structure, including the population structure. The new dynasty was established on the ruins of the previous dynasty.

When a new dynasty is established, the country is in a mess, the population has dropped sharply, and the dynasty has to recuperate. Due to the insufficient population and sufficient land, plus the moderate policies in the early days of the dynasty, the dynasty will continue to develop and recover in the first few decades. After a hundred years, the dynasty will gradually become stronger and finally enter its heyday. However, once this period is over, many social contradictions will continue to erupt, especially the land annexation situation will begin to intensify. Eventually, the dynasty will decline from prosperity and gradually move towards its final demise.

In Zhu Shenzhu's view, this is the result of the rise and fall of dynasties, especially the population explosion in the late dynasties, the serious land annexation, and the irreconcilable contradictions caused by the solidification of class opposition. Zhu Youjian encountered such a situation when he was in power, but the state system of the Ming Dynasty was specially determined during the reign of Zhu Yuanzhang. Zhu Yuanzhang also took this into consideration at the beginning of the founding of the country and took many preventive measures. Therefore, compared with the late dynasties of other dynasties, the situation of the Ming Dynasty was much better.

At least, the lives of ordinary people could still be barely tolerable, the central power of the Ming Dynasty was still able to suppress the local governments, the army was still in the hands of the state, the situation of military separatism like before did not occur, and the court still had its majesty.

Unfortunately, the Ming Dynasty encountered two unprecedented problems. The first problem was the climate. With the arrival of the Little Ice Age, the world's climate changed dramatically. First, the temperature dropped sharply, the summer was short and the winter was long, which destroyed the foundation of the country based on agriculture and caused a large reduction in crop yields. Then there were several consecutive years of drought, which made the grain harvest in the Central Plains and even the north almost impossible, so the people could not survive.

As for the second reason, it was due to foreign wars. Jian Nu rose in Liaodong and became a major concern for the Ming Dynasty after the Battle of Sarhu. The Liaodong issue had never been resolved, and the Ming Dynasty even suffered heavy casualties and multiple defeats in Liaodong.

In order to maintain the war situation in Liaodong, the Ming court had to continuously invest huge manpower and material resources in Liaodong, and this move also aggravated the deterioration of the Ming Dynasty's finances. Later, Emperor Chongzhen succeeded to the throne and made many mistakes in governance, which further aggravated the situation and eventually became out of control.

It can be said that if there was no Zhu Shenzhui, the Ming Dynasty would have perished. How could there be the current revival? After experiencing these twists and turns, although the Ming Dynasty suffered heavy losses, a sharp decline in population, and great damage to productivity, it was not without any benefits. As Zhu Shenzhui just said, a new dynasty is built on the ruins of the old dynasty. During the period of restoring national strength, the country is thriving because many contradictions have been eliminated. Although the Ming Dynasty is now in Zhu Shenzhui's hands, it is actually not much different from rebuilding a dynasty. Except for the south, the Central Plains and the north are in a mess, and this situation happens to greatly ease the previous contradictions.

As Zhu Shenzhui explained, Zhu Youjian frowned as if thinking about something. After a moment, he suddenly asked, "Could it be that you want to follow the example of the Zhou royal family in enfeoffment?"

"Why not?" Zhu Shenzhui asked with a smile. Didn't Taizu also enfeoff the vassals to protect the royal family when he founded the country? Could it be that Taizu didn't understand this truth? Since Taizu did this, he naturally thought of the pre-Qin period and intended to use this method to prolong the Ming Dynasty.

"What a joke!" Zhu Youjian sneered and retorted: "Others are not aware of the harm done by the princes, but are you not aware of it? How did you start an army and sit on the throne? Wasn't it because you used your royal family status to carry out the so-called Jingnan event? Since Emperor Chengzu, our Ming Dynasty has abolished the original system of princes, retaining only nominal fiefdoms, and even the guards of the princes' palaces have been reduced again and again, simply because we are worried that someone will imitate Emperor Chengzu and pose a threat to the throne."

"But you are a special case. You can do this with just your status as a member of the royal family. Although I am so angry when I think about it, I can't help but admire you. Since you did it yourself, why did you divide the fiefdoms? Moreover, as far as I know, you adjusted the royal family policy after you ascended to the throne. You no longer grant royal family members fiefdoms outside the capital, and even the fiefdoms are no longer actually granted. They are only remotely ruled in the capital. Could it be that you have changed your mind? It has only been a few years, and you are ready to change your mind again?"

(End of this chapter)