Ming Dynasty: I risked my life to teach the prince, the emperor begged me not to die

Chapter 611 Chen Ce's Reflection

On the third day of the New Year, it began to snow again in the capital.

Chen Ce sat beside the window in the study, staring blankly at the snow slowly falling outside the window, and his expression began to become confused again.

From the first time he changed the Ming Dynasty, he felt that everything was unreal. Everything developed too quickly and too smoothly, which exceeded his expectations.

From the time he met Zhu Houzhao in the winter of the eleventh year of Hongzhi to the present, it has been only more than six years. In these six years, he has accomplished things that he might not have been able to accomplish in the first hundred years of the entire Ming Dynasty.

It’s a little unbelievable to think about it, but no matter what, the current Ming Dynasty is much better than it was six years ago.

From October last winter to the first month of this year, it has been snowing in the capital for several months. If it had happened in the past, this continuous heavy snow would have definitely caused a huge disaster for the Ming Dynasty.

However, it was also because of the development of the Ming Dynasty that this weather situation, which seemed to be causing a disaster for the Ming Dynasty, was finally overcome by the court in an orderly manner.

"Husband, drink some hot tea and these Chinese medicines."

"What's wrong? Did you think of something again?"

Chen Ce shook his head and said to Madam Wu with a smile: "No, it just feels like everything happened too fast."

Madam Wu didn't understand what Chen Ce meant and thought he was saying that time passed too quickly.

"Yeah, everything went by so fast."

“I really wish time could go slower.”

Chen Ce smiled, knowing that Madam Wu had misinterpreted his meaning, and did not think much about it. After drinking the medicine, he drank some tea to rinse his mouth, and said to Madam Wu: "I want to sleep for a while."

"Ah."

In a daze, Chen Ce saw that the snow outside was getting heavier and heavier. For some reason, he always felt particularly cold. Even after wrapping himself up, he still felt cold.

It was a vast expanse of white snow outside. It was already spring, but it was still snowing so heavily. He lay in the quilt, shivering constantly, feeling that his life was almost at its limit.

……

Forbidden City.

Emperor Hongzhi was still lying in bed. Liu Wentai and a group of imperial doctors kept walking back and forth in the Kunning Palace, giving Emperor Hongzhi medicine and acupuncture.

Empress Zhang stood aside with a nervous and worried look on her face. After an unknown amount of time, Liu Wentai finally breathed a sigh of relief and said to Empress Zhang, "Don't worry, Empress. The Emperor has survived."

Empress Zhang said: "He has fainted several times around the end of the year. Is it the Emperor..."

Liu Wentai didn't dare to say anything, he just said: "Your Majesty is the supreme ruler, good things will come to you naturally, your Majesty, don't worry too much."

Zhu Houzhao called Liu Wentai outside and asked, "Tell me the truth, how long can your father hold on?"

Liu Wentai shook his head and said, "Your Highness, I really can't say. Looking at the emperor's condition, he may die at any time, but the emperor has persisted several times. I believe there is some unfulfilled wish supporting him. With this belief, I am afraid he will not die until he has fulfilled his wish."

Zhu Houzhao knew that his father's only wish now was to see his child being born. According to the imperial physician's estimation, the Crown Princess would not give birth until around June.

I hope my father can hold on until then.

"You should also visit Tai'an Hou often. If there is any situation over there, please inform me in time."

Liu Wentai clasped his fists and said, "I obey your order!"

Zhu Houzhao waved his hand, pinched his forehead, and said, "Go ahead."

The two marquises of the Zhang family also entered the palace at this time. They came to Zhu Houzhao, patted him on the shoulder, and said, "Nephew, you have worked hard."

"stay strong."

Zhu Houzhao had never seen his two uncles so serious, and he couldn't help but feel warm in his heart and said, "Thank you, uncle." Zhang Heling said, "We are a family, why should we thank you?"

"Your Highness, the Ministry of Works has accused us of stealing other people's land. This guy is going too far. You have to make the decision for us."

Zhu Houzhao: "???"

"you!"

He thought that his two uncles had really matured, but he was overthinking.

"Did you steal other people's land?"

Zhang Heling said: "We want to expand the scale of the post station. Didn't we buy the land of the family of the Minister of Works? It's just that the price is a little cheaper than the market price. Then the Minister of Works went to find the Secretary to impeach us. It's too much!"

"How much cheaper is it?"

"It's only a few thousand taels."

Zhu Houzhao covered his forehead and said angrily: "Give it back to the doctor of the Ministry of Works! Don't cause trouble for me again! Otherwise, raise the price and give the difference to others!"

"I'm not in the mood to deal with these trivial matters now, go quickly!"

The Zhang brothers cried, "Nephew, we are a family."

"Get out! Are you going to get out or not? If not, I will let the Ministry of Justice take you away!"

Zhang brothers: "..."

Good, good, good! Are you refusing to recognize us now? The emperor is still the best. If the emperor was still on the throne, he would never say anything about this matter!
What's so good about being a doctor in the Ministry of Works? How much is the annual salary of a doctor in the Ministry of Works? Where did all that land come from? Didn't he get it through corruption and bribery?

We just took advantage of him for a few thousand taels, and he got so angry. Why doesn't he say anything about his own dirty tricks?

Zhu Houzhao naturally knew that the doctor of the Ministry of Works was also not clean, but he could not focus on this now.

After the beginning of the year, the Newspaper and Periodical Department needs to select new personnel, and he will focus on this. He does not want to spend time dealing with the miscellaneous matters of the Zhang brothers.

The Zhang brothers left dejectedly, shaking their heads and sighing, "Your Majesty, please get well soon. We brothers need you!"

"This prince is such a jerk. He doesn't even protect us half as much as you do. How can we expect this to happen in the future?"

If Zhu Houzhao heard that the Zhang brothers wanted Emperor Hongzhi to get better because of this, he would probably be so angry that he would die.

He rubbed his forehead and returned to the warm room of the Qianqing Palace. "Have you chosen the candidate for the Newspaper and Periodical Department?"

Liu Jin hurriedly said, "Replying to your Majesty, Lord Fei has drawn up a list."

Zhu Houzhao took a look and found that half of the six key positions in the Newspaper and Periodical Department were filled by people from the Civil Service Group and the other half were filled by Fei Hong.

He nodded and said, "Okay, let's follow this list. Ask the Ministry of Personnel to issue the transfer order."

"According to the order!"

Liu Jin added: "Master, most of the north has been affected by the snowstorm recently. Food may be in short supply next year. We need to transfer food from Japan."

"Well, ask the cabinet to send a letter to Japan, asking them to transfer grain to Peking as soon as possible."

"Let the six ministries do a good job of comforting the people affected by the disaster, and then let the Ministry of Revenue allocate 500,000 taels of silver to the various provincial governments in the north for disaster relief."

"According to the order!"

After Liu Jin left, Zhu Houzhao opened the memorials on the case and looked carefully. There were many memorials from civil officials, all of which were impeachment of Liu Jin.

(End of this chapter)