Dozens of miles northwest of Laoshan Palace, next to the imperial mausoleum on Wolong Mountain, there is a magnificent temple called Wolong Mountain Huangjue Temple. This temple guards the imperial mausoleum, so of course it will not be very popular. After all,

The area around the imperial mausoleum is unlikely to be a bustling place. There are only some mausoleum guardians (who are not hereditary, but are linked to the farm, and if they contract the farm, they have to bear the obligation to guard the imperial mausoleum) and the people who were buried there.

The businessman who contracted the construction of the imperial mausoleum hired craftsmen here to do the construction and lived near Huangjue Temple.

Moreover, the Wolong Mountain Imperial Mausoleum was used by Chongzhen, Hongxing, and later the Ming Emperor Long Yubin. However, Emperor Chongzhen had no intention of coming to Wolong Mountain to live permanently, and Emperor Hongxing was even less anxious.

....He wants to devote another few decades to the people of Ming Dynasty!

Regardless of the current reversal of the Ming Empire's national destiny, it is no longer a resurgence, but a glorious and prosperous one. But Emperor Zhu is still very uneasy...because he knows that this feudal dynasty is not far away from the end! Even if

Although he was able to disrupt the French Revolution as he wished, he may not be able to postpone the revolutionary storm for many years.

Because there were so many unified dynasties in Chinese history, didn’t they all collapse in the end? Is the Bourbon dynasty of New Rome really an exception? If there really is a New Rome, this country only appeared after Europe was divided for more than a thousand years.

A unified empire, just like the Qin Empire in history, does not know how to maintain a country governed by unified bureaucrats.

Although New Rome could copy the work of the Ming Dynasty, the national conditions of New Rome were different from those of the Ming Dynasty, and it was unlikely that Louis XIV would use force to conquer the countries of Western and Southern Europe and achieve unification like conquering all countries.

It is very likely that New Rome will become a "unified country" like the Holy Roman Empire, so New Rome may not be able to resist the Great Revolution!

Therefore, Zhu Cixi also wanted to use the rest of his life to patch up the Ming Dynasty so that the national destiny of the Ming Dynasty could be maintained as much as possible.

So he doesn’t want to come to the Imperial Tomb at Wolong Mountain at all...

But today he still came to Wolong Mountain, and he came with Emperor Chongzhen. Although Chongzhen and Hong Xing father and son came to Wolong Mountain, they did not visit the mausoleum area, but went to Huangjue Temple outside the mausoleum area. However,

They did not come to Huangjue Temple to offer incense, but to see someone off.

On the official road not far outside Huangjue Temple, there was a long line of carriages and horses parked, as well as guards and honor guards in bright armor. These guards officers and soldiers, chariot drivers and even the servants who followed them were all escorted by the emperor at this time.

Jue Temple provides a vegetarian meal, and on both sides of the official road, there are groups of three or five sitting on the ground, eating and drinking dripping with juice.

Of course, it is not ordinary people who can send the emperor and the emperor together for dozens of miles.

In a clean and bright Zen room in Huangjue Temple, there were only a few days left, and they were sitting around the Eight Immortals table. While eating the vegetarian meal prepared by the monks of Huangjue Temple, they were discussing something.

Among them, there are three older ones, namely Emperor Chongzhen, Emperor Hongxing and Minister of Foreign Affairs Wei Zhongcheng. The other two younger ones are charter kings Zhu Cibing and Zhu Henry.

It turns out that today is the day when the envoys led by Zhu Cibing and Henry Zhu leave the capital for a long trip. Once they leave, I really don’t know when they will be able to return?

Since the Strait of Malacca has been blocked by the French, Dutch and Portuguese fleets (ships from neutral countries can still pass through), Zhu Cibing and Zhu Henry have no way to travel by sea, so they can only take the land route and travel thousands of miles to India - specific route

It first went to the Western Chu Republic, and then went south through the Jungar Kingdom and entered the Tajik Province of India.

If possible, they will meet Aurangzeb in Lahore in the Timurid Empire of India. After receiving Aurangzeb's support, the mission will take the Indus River to sea and then board an Ottoman ship.

Go to Basra and then from Basra to Istanbul.

If everything goes well, next spring, Zhu Cibing and Zhu Henry will be able to arrive in the capital of the Ottoman Empire.

Father, son, grandfather and grandson were about to part ways, but they didn't say anything about cherishing the journey - they had already said this countless times when they left Laoshan Palace.

What they are discussing at the moment is a very big topic. Is it better to put all the eggs in one basket? Or is it better to diversify the investment?

This topic was brought up by Emperor Chongzhen while he was waiting for the meal. Although this old man had retired, his heart was still there. He was still very concerned about the future of the Ming Dynasty. And he still lived to learn from it.

I have an old spirit and have been learning skills from my son over the years.

After studying with his son for so many years, his level of governance has also improved significantly... If he could travel back to the first year of Chongzhen, the Ming Dynasty would not need Zhu Cixiang to save him.

The Supreme Emperor Chongzhen, who had learned how to be an emperor, could certainly see that Zhu Cixiang was abandoning the unification line pursued by most dynasties after Qin unified the world.

Even Zhu Cixi did not implement the Zhou system and established a large feudal empire with princes guarding the emperor, clear hierarchy, and strict etiquette and laws.

Instead, they established a bunch of so-called vassal states with different systems and various relationships with the Great Ming Dynasty... In fact, a loose Greater China Alliance was established.

The "Covenant of Suzerains and Vassals", which was quite serious in the early years, became more and more complicated due to the emergence of several "fatherless and kingless" countries such as the United States of Xinzhou, the United Kingdom of Nanzhou, the Republic of Western Chu, and the Junggar Kingdom.

It's dispensable... In other words, the "Zong-vass Treaty" is only valid for some of the Ming vassal states.

For example, North Korea, Japan, Annam, Chahar, Tumut, Siam, Laos, Luzon, Jeju, Sulu (Zheng's Sulu), Jiaqing, Makassar (located on the island of Sulawesi, consisting of a part of the

The kingdom invested and established by King Mingzong), Zamboanga (located in Mindanao, also a vassal state of the king), Aceh, Boni, New Ryukyu and the Twelve Principalities of Malacca all signed the "Treaty of Suspensions and Vassals", and it is still in

Those who abide by the rules are called "ritual-abiding states" by some scholars of the Ming Dynasty - in a sense, these countries are the real vassal states of the Ming Dynasty.

As for the four "fatherless and kingless" countries: the United States of Xinzhou, the United Kingdom of Nanzhou, the Republic of Western Chu, and the Kingdom of Jungar, as well as the Kingdom of Heshuote controlled by Jungar, and Nibala controlled by Liu Wenxiu

Kingdom, and the Kingdom of Ladakh, which thought it was a vassal of the Ming Dynasty, but Zhu Cixiang never paid attention to it, was not a real vassal state of the Ming Dynasty... A group of well-fed Ming Dynasty scholars even gave these countries names

A name that makes people laugh or cry - a land of indecent liberties!

Zhu Cixiang, the hero, is still there, and those powerful "irregular countries" must of course be obedient, but what if Zhu Cixiang is no longer there?

Will these "unruly countries" listen to Zhu Hexing? Don't even think about it!

However, this situation seems to have been caused by Zhu Cixi's deliberate laissez-faire... Especially the three "unruly states" such as the United States of Xinzhou, the United Kingdom of Nanzhou, and the Republic of Western Chu, are simply "pro-states".

”.

Not only did Chongzhen not understand Zhu Cixiang's approach of letting his vassal get out of control, but even the "Charter King" and Zhu Henry didn't quite understand.

Now, Western Europe, which has been divided for who knows how many years, has the possibility of reunification. How come China, which has been unified for so many years, has such an "irregular kinship"? What is it going to do?

Facing the questions from Chongzhen, Charter King, Zhu Henry and others, Zhu Cixiang had no choice but to patiently explain - this is indeed a problem!

"These countries that are not in line with etiquette cannot abide by the etiquette of our Ming Dynasty... What are our etiquettes? Lords, ministers, ministers, fathers, fathers, sons.

Although the United States of Xinzhou, the United Kingdom of Nanzhou, the Republic of Xichu, and the Kingdom of Jungar have investment from our royal family, fundamentally speaking, these four countries were not established with the investment of the Ming Dynasty, and they were not

The soldiers and horses of the imperial court can protect their...
Chapter completed!