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

Chapter 1094 Asking for Help Frankly
The morning court in the Ming Dynasty usually started very early. During the Taizu period, the earliest time for the morning court was around three in the morning. Later, because this time was too early, Zhu Yuanzhang had plenty of energy and it was no problem, but the problem was that the ministers could not. If the morning court started at three in the morning, if you add the time of getting up, washing, changing clothes, and then going from home to the palace to wait, wouldn't they have to get up at midnight?

It was fine for one or two days, but who could bear it for a long time? Moreover, the Ming emperors after Zhu Yuanzhang were not as cruel as Zhu Yuanzhang. The emperor also needed to sleep and rest. He was called to court before dawn. Even if the emperor didn't say it, he must have cursed in his heart.

Therefore, during the Zhengde period, the Emperor Zhengde specially adjusted the time of the morning court session, delaying it from 3 a.m. to around 9 a.m., and ending at 11 a.m. This time is similar to the normal working hours of later generations, so that neither the emperor nor the ministers have to get up in the middle of the night and can sleep soundly.

Unfortunately, Emperor Zhengde's approach was severely criticized by the civil servants. In their words, postponing the morning court was tantamount to slacking off in government affairs. In addition, Emperor Zhengde made a series of bizarre moves in order to seize military power from the civil service group, which made the civil service group launch a "persuasion" on this basis.

Finally, under pressure, Emperor Zhengde restored the original morning court time. On the surface, the civil service group won this move, but in fact, the civil service group did not gain any benefits. Although the previous morning court time was restored, the officials who also got up in the middle of the night to attend court suffered more than the emperor, especially in the winter. The boomerang hit them directly, and only they knew the pain. But even so, they gritted their teeth and refused to let go. It is ridiculous.

Among the emperors of the Ming Dynasty after Zhengde, except for Emperor Longqing, the grandfather and grandson pair of Jiajing and Wanli often did not attend court. As for Tianqi, it goes without saying that although he attended court, he basically left all the specific matters to Wei Zhongxian. Moreover, the time of the morning court during the Tianqi period was also changed. Although it did not return to that of the Zhengde period, it was not as early as that of the Taizu period. It was just postponed from three in the morning to five in the morning.

During the reign of Chongzhen, the time of the morning court continued the time of Tianqi, usually starting at 5 a.m. But when it came to Zhu Shenzhui, Zhu Shenzhui felt that 5 a.m. was too early, but considering that if he changed the time of the morning court according to the time of the Zhengde period, someone might accuse him of being lazy, so Zhu Shenzhui only pushed the original morning court time back half an hour, that is, starting at 6 a.m.

This time is just right. The court will start at 6 o'clock, and the ministers only need to wait in their seats at 5:30. Those who live nearby can leave home before 5 o'clock in time, and those who live far away can leave at 4:30. This way, everyone can sleep half an hour longer every night.

Zhu Shenzhu's living habit was to get up during this time period, so he killed two birds with one stone. In addition, the normal morning court lasted about half an hour, so the six o'clock morning court would end at around seven o'clock. After the end, everyone would go to their respective yamen during working hours and would not delay work. Even for a grand court meeting like today, it would be delayed by half an hour at most, so the morning court would basically end at around eight o'clock.

Because Charles II was having an audience with the emperor today, the morning court ended a little late. By the time Charles II arrived at the Hall of Mental Cultivation to meet the emperor, it was around nine o'clock in the morning.

Without outsiders and in the Palace of Tranquil Longevity, Zhu Shenzui and Charles II had a more relaxed and casual conversation. As the two sides talked, combined with a series of reports from Wang Fuzhi after his return from his diplomatic mission and the records in the book "Red Star Over China", Zhu Shenzui had a deeper understanding of the current situation in Europe.

Europe has just experienced thirty years of war. Both the victorious and defeated countries are licking their wounds and recuperating, accumulating strength and preparing for the future. This war has brought great trauma to Europe and caused losses in national strength of European countries. Moreover, due to the war, the expansion of overseas colonies by European countries has also stagnated, which is a good thing for Ming Dynasty.

Today, there is no truly powerful country in Europe that can be called a hegemon. The once powerful Kingdom of Spain was severely damaged by the defeat of the Invincible Armada in the Anglo-Spanish War. Coupled with the failure of the Thirty Years' War in Europe, Spain's national strength is no longer as strong as before.

Although France and Sweden won the war, both sides suffered considerable losses, especially the latter where even the king died in the war. This is why Queen Christina was able to become the King of Sweden.

Although they gained political and military advantages due to their victory and became powerful countries in Europe, neither France nor Sweden has yet become the hegemon of Europe. Their current status is basically the same as Spain, and it can be said that they are the three major powers in Europe. In addition, Spain has the support of the Roman Catholic Church, so the gap in strength between the two sides is not obvious.

As for the German region, it is now a multitude of princely states, and has not yet been unified. Other countries are not strong. Although Tsarist Russia, known as the barbarian tribe in eastern Europe, has shown strong aggressiveness, it is actually nothing in front of the powerful Kingdom of Sweden.

Britain had the opportunity to rise by taking advantage of the chaos on the European continent during the Thirty Years' War, but unfortunately Charles II's father, Charles I, repeatedly troubled himself and ended up on the guillotine.

After the English Civil War, the king was executed and Cromwell came to power. After Cromwell took control of the British government, he did not promote the prosperity of the British national strength. In order to ensure power, he used a series of military means to rule the country with high pressure. After all, he is not a king. Even if he calls himself "Lord Protector", he is just a rising noble as a civilian. His foundation in the UK is not stable, and he has many political opponents. He can only rely on the army in his hands to ensure power. Without these, Cromwell would not be able to control the British political situation at all, let alone the regent. Even as the Lord Protector who controls Britain now, Cromwell is unable to lead Britain to expand abroad. He can only be limited to stabilizing the country and ensuring his rule. As for overseas colonies and territories, he can't take care of them at all and can only let them go.

Judging from these situations, the entire Europe, including Britain, did not form the pattern of later generations, let alone produce a powerful country with decisive influence on Europe as in later generations. At least in the next 20 to 30 years, the chaos will continue until Britain changes again, or France will gradually become stronger and stronger after the young King Louis XIV takes power, and finally becomes the hegemon of Europe, then the situation will change completely.

Zhu Shenzui gradually gained a clear understanding of the political situation in Europe during his conversations with Charles II. Combining Wang Fuzhi's report with the history he knew, he roughly understood the current situation of the world.

During the conversation, Zhu Shenzui also asked Charles II personal questions, including the purpose of his visit to the Ming Dynasty.

The young Charles II was still politically immature and far from being as shrewd and shrewd as he later became. He was just a young man who was not successful in his career.

In front of Zhu Shenzhu, Charles II told him his situation frankly. After all, it was not a secret. Wang Fuzhi and Zheng Hongkui knew that even if they did not tell him, the emperor would know it from his envoy.

Charles II said that as the King of England in exile, his current situation in Europe was not very good. Due to the actual situation in Britain and the fact that Cromwell did not want him to return home, he had no choice but to seek help from European countries.

However, the European countries were not very friendly to him as the nominal King of England. He had encountered many setbacks in Europe in recent years and was in a difficult situation. If the King of Portugal had not married his daughter to him, he would have had a hard time making a living.

"Your Majesty, I'm not afraid of you laughing at me. I am a king in name only, and Europe had a Thirty Years' War because of Protestantism and Catholicism. Although some European countries believe in Protestantism like Britain, the problem is that these countries do not have the ability to help me return home and ascend the throne. For example, my wife's father, His Majesty John IV, although he wants to help me, Portugal is only a small country, and he has not been on the throne for long. The domestic situation is unstable and he has to face the military threat from Spain. How can he let me restore the British throne?"

"As for France, which has the ability to help me, although it stood on the side of Protestantism in the Thirty Years' War, France, from the monarch to the people, still believes in Catholicism. France stood on the side for the purpose of competing with Spain for the right to speak in Europe, which does not mean that France really recognizes Protestant countries. Moreover, France's appetite is too big. Two hundred years ago, the Hundred Years' War broke out between Britain and France, which was caused by disputes over territories such as Normandy, Anjou, and Aquitaine. In fact, these territories originally belonged to William the Conqueror. As the founder of the Norman dynasty in Britain, this was originally British territory!"

At this point, Charles II subconsciously clenched his fists and said helplessly: "These territories have been in the hands of the British royal family for hundreds of years, but later France claimed sovereignty over these territories and launched a war to seize these territories from Britain, which led to the outbreak of the Hundred Years' War."

"Unfortunately, although Britain once took the initiative in this war and the situation was extremely favorable to Britain for a long time, it was eventually defeated and lost these areas, and ultimately lost the last territory on the European continent."

Listening to Charles II talking about this past event, Zhu Shenzui became very interested and couldn't help but ask about some details and the truth of that year.

After all, the Hundred Years' War between England and France is well-known in world history, especially in the later period of this war, a well-known female hero appeared - Joan of Arc. There are countless literary works and film and television works around this event, and Zhu Shenzhu has also seen movies and novels about this event. Now, the person sitting in front of him is the nominal King Charles II of England, so how can he miss this opportunity to ask questions?

After listening to Charles II's detailed explanation and careful description of the historical reasons and process of the outbreak of the war, Zhu Shenzhu finally understood what was going on. It seems that many things in later history have been beautified and distorted. According to Charles II, the cause of the Hundred Years' War was not in Britain but in France. If France had not been greedy and intended to seize Britain's territory in Europe, then this war would never have broken out.

(End of this chapter)