Yuan Chonghuan's face turned slightly red when he was cornered by Zhu Youjian.
He quickly opened his mouth again and said, "Your Majesty, the matter of Ningyuan is of utmost importance!"
"Even if His Majesty does not trust me, he must choose another reliable and capable minister to go and defend the area."
Upon hearing Yuan Chonghuan's words, Zhu Youjian laughed.
"I already know that Lord Yuan is devoted to the country."
"Just settle down and be the Minister of War."
Upon hearing this, Yuan Chonghuan knew that the emperor's mind was made up, and nothing he said would make a difference.
He sighed and said helplessly, "Since that's the case, then I accept the decree and thank you for your grace."
After Yuan Chonghuan left, Zhu Youjian shook his head slightly.
"This Yuan Chonghuan was indeed still unconvinced."
“But the more he does this, the less I can keep him outside the pass.”
In fact, Zhu Youjian was not worried that Yuan Chonghuan would avenge the Donglin Party.
Yuan Chonghuan was merely an outsider of the Donglin Party and could not be considered a core figure at all.
Moreover, at that time, apart from a very few people, no one in the world believed that the Jurchens would be able to enter the Central Plains.
I'm afraid even the Jurchens themselves didn't have such ambitions.
Therefore, it was even less likely that Yuan Chonghuan would submit to the Jurchens.
Zhu Youjian wanted to transfer him back to the capital purely to cultivate his own faction.
"The officials, scholars, and common people of the Ming Dynasty have been blinded by the idea that they are the Celestial Empire."
“If the Jurchens hadn’t been so aggressive and kept causing trouble for our Great Ming, if they had been even slightly more submissive, I’m afraid someone in the court would have spoken up and suggested that the Great Ming negotiate peace with the Jurchens.”
"Once I have pacified Liaodong, the Jurchens will be free of external threats. From the court to the common people, they will definitely want to close their doors and live a peaceful life again."
"Then how can I continue to wage wars abroad?"
He looked up at the map hanging behind him, and then took out the map of the future that Gao Qingyun had drawn.
Upon comparing the two, a fiery glint appeared in Zhu Youjian's eyes.
"Since Heaven has bestowed Master Gao upon me, then my Great Ming Dynasty will not only defy fate."
"And we need to expand significantly!"
"To achieve this, all the ministers in the court will have to gradually step aside."
"I will either promote new talents from among the common people, or I will have to rely on Master Gao's students."
Zhu Youjian breathed a sigh of relief upon thinking about this.
"Even I must plan ahead..."
Zhu Youjian was not very old to begin with, only sixteen or seventeen years old.
In modern terms, it was the age of being a "chuunibyou" (a person with delusions of grandeur).
In addition, over the past six months, he has frequently sought out Gao Qingyun to learn about things in the future.
He has now... become a true Han chauvinist.
Moreover, they are genuine Han Chinese.
"First the Jurchens, then Japan, then South Asia..."
Zhu Youjian walked up to the map, stretched out his finger to stroke it, and began to imagine.
A long time passed, until the sky gradually darkened.
Wang Chengen reluctantly walked in.
"Your Majesty, it's getting late, you should rest."
"The Empress just sent someone over to ask."
Zhu Youjian then came to his senses.
"That's true, there's plenty of time in the future."
"Even if we were to wipe out the Jurchens, it would still take several years."
He glanced at the map one last time with reluctance before heading to find Empress Zhou.
Seeing the emperor's absent-minded appearance, Empress Zhou smiled and said:
"Your Majesty, what's wrong?"
Zhu Youjian smiled and shook his head: "These are all important national affairs."
Empress Zhou nodded slightly, without asking any further questions, and then said:
"These are international affairs, and it's not appropriate for me to ask too many questions."
"But I have a small matter to ask of Your Majesty."
Zhu Youjian casually waved his hand and asked, "What is it?"
"It concerns my father," Empress Zhou said cautiously.
Upon hearing this name, Zhu Youjian immediately frowned.
"Governor Zhou?"
Empress Zhou's father, Zhou Kui, was granted a military post shortly after Zhu Youjian ascended the throne.
This is essentially about preparing in advance.
Once the Empress gives birth to a son, the court can easily grant Zhou Kui a military merit and bestow upon him a title.
Actually, Zhu Youjian initially had a pretty good impression of his father-in-law.
After all, Zhou Kui used to tell fortunes on the street in his early years, and his skill in flattering people was his specialty.
However, when Zhu Youjian was spoiled by Gao Qingyun that the Ming Dynasty was about to collapse, Zhou Kui refused to spend money to help.
The Empress herself took out her own savings and donated it in Zhou Kui's name...
Zhu Youjian had absolutely no good feelings towards his father-in-law.
If it weren't for the Empress's sake, she probably would have found an excuse to punish him severely long ago.
Zhu Youjian said coldly, "What's wrong with him now?"
Seeing the emperor's attitude, Empress Zhou felt a little uneasy.
But she still said, "It is like this, my father said that Zhou Yanru in the court recently wanted to establish a kinship with him."
"Your Majesty, what do you think of this matter...? Is it permissible?"
"Hmm?" Zhu Youjian raised an eyebrow: "A clan alliance?"
He waved his hand and said, "No way!"
When Empress Zhou saw this, she knew that the emperor did not agree to the matter.
She quickly replied, "Your Majesty, I also feel that this matter is inappropriate, which is why I have come to report it to you."
Zhu Youjian breathed a slight sigh of relief.
"I know your feelings for me, Empress."
"From now on, you should talk to me less about matters concerning the Emperor's father-in-law."
Empress Zhou dared not say another word and quickly nodded, "Your Majesty, I understand."
The next morning, Zhu Youjian was still thinking about this matter.
"It's one thing for Zhou Kui to be out of his mind, but what is Zhou Yanru trying to do?"
"What was Master Gao saying again...? That's right!"
"I just gave him a little sunshine, and he's already getting all smug?"
Zhu Youjian stamped his foot and, like a child, ran straight to Gao Qingyun.
"Master Gao, the people in our village are all so wicked!"
Gao Qingyun was preparing his lesson when he heard this and shook his head helplessly.
"Little Zhu, what's wrong now?"
Zhu Youjian sat in a chair, slapped the table, and said:
"What else could it be? It's just those old folks from our village!"
“There’s this old guy. I just gave them a nice look, and they went to my father-in-law and said they wanted to form a clan with him.”
What is he trying to do?
Upon hearing this, Gao Qingyun smiled slightly.
"That's normal."
"It's because your prestige has gradually been established, Xiao Zhu, that people are trying to curry favor with you."
"As for this alliance of clans... that's a bit strange. Does anyone still do this kind of thing these days?"
At this point, Gao Qingyun scratched his head.
"It seems like nobody cares about that anymore."
"Besides, your Dahe Village is quite isolated. People with the same surname in the village are probably related by blood or marriage."
"Is there any need to specifically establish a clan connection?"
Zhu Youjian was worried that Gao Qingyun would notice something, so he quickly changed the subject.
"Ah... that old man moved to our village later."
"By the way, Master Gao, you seem to know quite a bit about this clan alliance?"
Distracted by Zhu Youjian, Gao Qingyun didn't think about the matter in detail.
He laughed and said, "I don't know anything about this; I've only read about it in books."
"Xiao Zhu, you must know that Granny Liu in Dream of the Red Chamber was able to enter the Grand View Garden because her son-in-law's grandfather was related to the Wang family."
In Gao Qingyun's view, although the people of Dahe Village do not know much about the outside world, those who are older are almost all masters of traditional Chinese culture.
He speaks in classical Chinese all the time.
Even his students could always quote a few lines from Confucius.
Xiao Zhu must know the Four Great Classical Novels by heart, if not by heart.
That's why he used this example.
But Zhu Youjian was already numb.
"And what is this Dream of the Red Chamber?"
However, he didn't ask, and said calmly, "Oh, I see. I almost forgot."
"Um... Master Gao, I have something to attend to, so I'll be leaving now."
When he reached the outside of Taiye Pond, he called out to the Imperial Guards who were guarding it.
"Go tell Luo Yangxing to investigate what exactly this Dream of the Red Chamber is."
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