Chongzhen's domineering

Chapter 284 The Birth of a Prince Stabilizes the Foundation of the Nation (Part 2)

Around noon, it was lunchtime.

At this time of year, Kunning Palace should have been filled with laughter and joy, a truly lively place.

At this moment, the entire Kunning Palace was unusually quiet, with only Empress Zhou's suppressed cries of pain faintly emanating from her bedchamber.

Zhu Jue strode into the hall outside the palace and saw Empress Zhang, Zheng Chenggong, the emperor's brother-in-law Zhou Jian, and Zhou Xuan all sitting in the guest seats on either side.

These people all looked a little nervous.

As soon as he walked in, everyone quickly stood up and bowed.

Zhu Jue asked impatiently, "How is it? Is Xiao Hui alright? Are the midwives ready?"

Zhou Jian quickly replied, "Your Majesty is alright, and the midwives are all ready inside."

At this point, all they could do was wait; even if he were the current emperor, he couldn't go in and cause trouble.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Jue nodded slightly and gestured for everyone to sit down, but he himself couldn't help pacing back and forth in the hall.

To be honest, he really had no experience being a father.

He had absolutely no experience, especially when it came to waiting for his child to be born.

Right now, his mind is blank; besides ecstasy, there's also a hint of worry.

This was because although Empress Zhou's cries of pain were suppressed, it was clear that she was in real pain.

Empress Zhou was usually very gentle and considerate, speaking softly and gently, but her cries of pain could be clearly heard even through the door, which showed just how much she was in pain.

That said, childbirth is painful to begin with, so what could he possibly do?

He seemed to have nothing to do but worry helplessly.

Seeing this, Empress Zhang cautiously said, "Your Majesty, why don't you go and have your meal first? Childbirth doesn't happen that quickly. Besides, we're here watching over you."

At this moment, I have no appetite at all.

Zhu Jue shook his head slightly and said, "I am not hungry."

After saying that, he couldn't help but pace back and forth again.

He paced back and forth like that, and after an unknown amount of time, Empress Zhou's suppressed cries of pain suddenly turned into the loud cries of a baby.

It's born!

His steps faltered, and his eyes turned expectantly toward the palace gate.

Soon, an old palace maid hurried out from the crack in the door, her face beaming with joy, and bowed, saying, "Congratulations, Your Majesty, it is a prince, and both mother and child are safe and sound."

Excellent! The Crown Prince has been born! I have a worthy successor!

Upon hearing this, Zhu Jue was overjoyed.

It wasn't that he disliked the little princess; the key issue was that at this time, what he urgently needed was a legitimate son who could inherit the throne.

If Empress Zhou had given birth to a princess, the harem would probably have been incredibly oppressive.

He was so overjoyed that he didn't know what to say.

Seeing this, Empress Zhang quickly reminded him, "Your Majesty, such joy is well-deserved; you must receive a reward."

Oh, I forgot to tip.

Zhu Jue glanced at the expectant old palace maid and immediately announced loudly, "Blessed, here is the reward: ten taels of gold. Everyone inside shall receive their reward."

It wasn't that he was stingy; ten taels of gold was more than enough, and the key was that it wouldn't get in the way if he carried it in his pocket.

Soon, Wang Chengen personally brought in a plate of gold ingots.

The old palace maid took the reward money, then replaced the female official in charge inside. She carried the plate in and showed the reward to everyone, and the entire palace was immediately filled with joy.

After a flurry of activity inside, a palace maid finally came out cautiously and said, "Your Majesty, you may go in now."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Jue rushed to his bedchamber without hesitation.

He entered the familiar palace and saw Empress Zhou lying there, pale-faced, looking at the swaddled baby beside her pillow.

Inside the swaddling clothes was a little baby with a rosy face.

He couldn't help but ask with concern, "Xiao Hui, are you alright?"

Empress Zhou said weakly, "I'm fine, just a little tired."

That's good.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Jue carefully picked up the little prince and examined him closely.

The little prince's eyes were still closed, and his face was still flushed, so you couldn't tell what he looked like.

He felt a surge of kinship and intimacy.

I finally have a worthy successor! I will create an unprecedented golden age for you, and make you a wise and benevolent ruler. How should this wise and benevolent ruler be taught?
It would definitely not work if those officials from the outer court were to teach them.

Most of the officials in the outer court had ulterior motives, and they taught the crown prince in the direction of making him a puppet.

Besides, he would definitely need to purge those officials with ulterior motives from the outer court before he could confidently hand over the Ming Dynasty to his son.

If officials from the outer court are not suitable, then we can only consider officials from the inner court.

The problem is, the officials in the inner court are all very busy. Let alone teaching the crown prince year after year, it's difficult for them to even spare a few days to teach him.

How to do it?

Perhaps he could consider personally instructing the Crown Prince.

As he was lost in thought, Empress Zhou suddenly asked softly, "Your Majesty, have we decided on a name for our child?"

There's really no need to think about this.

This is all because Zhu Yuanzhang, the ancestor of the Zhu family, had already thought of most of the things for them, including the generational names and surnames of all the descendants of the princes.

The generational names of the Prince of Yan's lineage are "Gao Zhan Qi Jian You, Hou Zai Yi Chang You, Ci He Yi Bo Zhong, Jian Jing Di Xian You".

He belongs to the "You" generation, and the next generation is "Ci".

Furthermore, Zhu Yuanzhang established a rule that the names of imperial descendants must be based on the five elements.

The flow of the five elements does not follow the order of mutual restraint (metal, wood, water, fire, earth), but rather the order of mutual generation (mutual generation).

His element is wood, and wood generates fire, so his name should use characters with the fire radical.

Furthermore, members of the royal family either become emperors or princes, and there are taboos regarding their names. Especially for emperors, characters in their names cannot be used anywhere else. Therefore, princes had to use rare characters as much as possible when choosing their names to avoid causing trouble for the common people.

For example, his adoptive father, Emperor Zhu Changluo, caused a lot of trouble for the common people.

It's possible that Emperor Wanli never intended for his eldest son, born out of wedlock, to inherit the throne. Therefore, he didn't consider any taboos, and his father's name contained the common character "Luo".

Now, people will have to avoid anything containing the character "洛" (Luo).

Luoyang already contains the character "Luo," so it should be changed to Luoyang!
He had already ordered people to find out, and the eldest son of the emperor would be named Zhu Cilang.

The pronunciation of "烺" is not the "浪" in "浪花" (waves), but the "朗" in "俊朗" (handsome).

Zhu Juena nodded repeatedly and said, "The name has already been chosen. Our child will be named Zhu Cilang."

At this moment, Empress Zhang, Xiao Zheng Chenggong, Zhou Jian, and Zhou Xuan all rushed in.

They couldn't resist their curiosity and crowded around, wanting to see what the future emperor of the Ming Dynasty looked like.

Because he couldn't see, Xiao Zheng kept tugging at Empress Zhang's sleeve, wanting to be lifted up so he could see.

Empress Zhang immediately picked up the little one.

After watching for a while, Zhou Jian and Zhou Xuan's curiosity was finally satisfied, and they began to care about their older sister.

They gathered around the bedside and inquired about her well-being, which reminded Empress Zhou of her own parents.

Empress Zhou couldn't help but ask, "Your Majesty, could you please allow my parents to return to the capital for a visit? They haven't been back for several years; surely they should come back to see their grandson now?"

Well, the Emperor's father-in-law, Zhou Kui, and his wife have been exiled to Jinling and have never returned!
At the time, he was thinking of sending a trustworthy person to open a shop in Jinling City to make money. After all, the profits of Tianbaotang were very important to him at that time, and he couldn't do without a reliable person to keep an eye on things.

At this point, the meager profits from Tianbaotang were nothing to him, and the Emperor's father-in-law, Zhou Kui, no longer needed to oversee things there.

Zhu Jue thought about it carefully, and then decisively said, "Then let the Grand Tutor return to the capital. He can designate a few trusted confidants to oversee the Tianbaotang business. He doesn't need to stay there all the time."

"Perfect timing! I'm planning to develop Southeast Asia; the business there is much bigger. I'll let him manage the Southeast Asian business then."

what?
Empress Zhou said with some reluctance, "Your Majesty, do you still want them to go to Southeast Asia? Wouldn't that be even further away?"

"I've heard it's still very hot in Southeast Asia. My parents are getting on in years; will they be able to withstand it?"

This business in Southeast Asia doesn't necessarily require going to Southeast Asia.

Zhu Jue shook his head slightly and said, "The Emperor's father-in-law can be in charge of collecting and counting the goods in Southeast Asia in the capital. As for going to Southeast Asia to oversee things, there is no need for him. If he feels that there are problems with the business, he can send Xiao Jian and Xiao Xuan to take a look."

Oh, all right.

As they were discussing, Xiao Zheng Chenggong suddenly couldn't help but ask, "Your Majesty, may I hug His Highness the Prince?"

You little rascal, you still need someone to carry you.

Zhu Jue asked with some doubt, "Can you even carry him?"

Of course I can carry it.

Xiao Zheng nodded repeatedly and said, "I can carry it, I can carry it, Your Majesty. I am very strong. I can carry such a big rock."

This kid actually compared the future crown prince to a rock!
Children's words have no restraints, children's words have no restraints.

Upon hearing this, everyone couldn't help but smile.

(End of this chapter)