Chapter 167: The Study of Emperors, Bipolar Personality
In the middle of the night, Jiang Qingzhi got up for the seventh time.
I drank a pot of water first, but still felt thirsty.
The feeling of hotness all over the body is very uncomfortable.
Jiang Qingzhi staggered out of the bedroom, feeling dizzy.
He went to the well and staggered to get a bucket of water to cool his body.
There is a trick to drawing water from a well. Jiang Qing had never done this in his previous life, and he only got a little water out each time.
"Uncle!"
Someone was talking behind him, and Jiang Qingzhi shuddered, feeling the hairs all over his body stand up.
He turned around suddenly and saw Dou Jialan behind him.
"Let me do it!"
Dou Jialan took the bucket, threw it down quickly, swung the rope back and forth a few times, and then pulled it up.
Full of water!
Jiang Qingzhi buried his head in the bucket.
Cool!
A cool feeling that penetrates the heart.
He raised his head and wiped his face with his hand, "Why aren't you sleeping yet?"
Dou Jialan stood in the night breeze and said, "Just woke up."
"At your age, you must be having a hard time waking up from a deep sleep. Are you worried about something?" Jiang Qingzhi took the towel and wiped it.
"Nothing." Dou Jialan said, "I just remembered some things from the past."
"Why... don't you go home?" Dou Jialan has never returned home since entering the Jiang family. It is not easy to ask such questions. Tonight, under the influence of alcohol, Jiang Qingzhi asked the doubts that had been in his mind for a long time.
"Home...is gone."
Jiang Qingzhi was startled, closed the well cover, pointed at the cover, and said, "Sit down."
"Uncle, please sit down." Dou Jialan refused to sit down and just stood in the night wind.
"Tell me." Jiang Qingzhi sat down.
"It was fine at home, but later... my father learned how to gamble from them when he was in the Imperial Guards."
Tsk!
Jiang Qingzhi thought of the gamblers he knew in his previous life. Almost all of those who were addicted had no good ending.
"Every time my father lost a bet, he would come back with red eyes and say that he was just a little short."
Gamblers always have a kind of mysterious confidence.
"He took all the money he could at home," Dou Jialan said softly, "and his mother was beaten when she tried to dissuade him."
Gambling, beating his wife...this is the beginning of a man's fall into the abyss.
"The last time, my father lost the whole family."
"As long as you're here, that's good." Jiang Qingzhi comforted.
"I also owe a gambling debt."
"..." Jiang Qingzhi didn't know how to comfort her.
"My gambling debt is due and I can't pay it back. Someone is willing to marry me for 500 taels of silver, but my father... didn't agree."
Fortunately, Jiang Qingzhi sighed: "This is probably his last conscience."
"He thought it was too low and asked for one thousand taels."
Dou Jialan's long hair was blown by the night wind. She smoothed her hair and said, "My mother wanted to fight him to death, but my father kicked her down and said he was going to find a rich man to marry me."
Jiang Qingzhi looked at her and asked, "Are you selling it?"
Although the Ming Dynasty did not allow the buying and selling of innocent people, this was not a problem for the rich or powerful.
"Yes." Dou Jialan's voice was very calm. "My mother and I were trembling at home, but what we finally waited for was not my father, but the news of his death."
The evildoer died, and the family lived happily ever after... This is a standard plot in farming literature.
"My father met a debt collector from the casino on the way and was hit and killed by a carriage."
"I think this is a good thing, do you mind?" Jiang Qingzhi said.
"My mother and I cried with joy."
It's really speechless that a man would force his wife and daughter to this point.
"In order to save face, the Jinyiwei said that my father died in the line of duty." Dou Jialan said it lightly, but Jiang Qingzhi could imagine the difficult days this woman had in the Jinyiwei.
"In order to pay off my debts, I joined the Imperial Guard." Dou Jialan said it easily, but Jiang Qingzhi knew that the process was not simple.
"I started as a strongman, and I always rushed to the front." Dou Jialan suddenly shook his head, "Look, why am I saying this. Uncle, it's late, let's go to bed!"
Jiang Qingzhi stood up and asked, "Where's the gambling debt?"
"I pay back some every year, and now less than 50% is left." Dou Jialan said it lightly, but Jiang Qingzhi saw the clue from her habit of seldom buying things.
“You have to support your family.”
"No. My mother remarried and now I have a younger brother."
Are you... a doomed orphan?
Jiang Qingzhi lay on the bed, still thinking about Dou Jialan's fate.
When he woke up, Jiang Qingzhi felt refreshed.
After breakfast, Prince Yu and Prince Jing arrived.
The little niece also followed her two brothers like a little tail.
"Cousin."
"Have you eaten?" Jiang Qingzhi was taking a walk.
If you are weak, you don't need to take care of yourself... This is what an imperial physician said. Jiang Qingzhi was puzzled and asked him why he didn't take care of himself.
The imperial physician said: "In order to maintain your health, you should drink a sip of water, eat a bite of food, walk a few steps, and sleep late... all the time you are calculating and thinking...
In this way, you are constantly reminding yourself that your body is not in good shape and that there are problems with you.
This person! He can't stand being talked about. If he talks about it too much, he will become sick even if he is not sick.
Eat when you should eat, drink when you should drink, and don’t keep things in your mind.
Forget about your own body and everything will be fine. "
Isn’t this a psychological suggestion?
Jiang Qingzhi felt that he had underestimated the old Chinese doctor.
From then on, he just smoked a few medicinal cigarettes as a treatment.
As for walking, it is not maintenance but enjoyment.
After dinner, I cleared my mind, walked slowly in the courtyard, felt the cold and warmth of the four seasons, and felt the atmosphere of life. It was very refreshing.
"have eaten."
Someone behind said.
The little girl turned around and suddenly exclaimed, "Who are you?"
When the two princes heard the girl's voice was wrong, they subconsciously turned around and rushed over.
A young man in brocade clothes stood in the morning light, stretched out his hand and shouted, "It's me! I'm Zhu Shitai!" But the two princes rushed over and started fighting.
Zhu Shitai squatted on the ground, "Uncle, help me!"
Jiang Qingzhi didn't care. When Prince Yu and the other two pretended to say that they had recognized the wrong person, he coughed and said, "This is the classmate you are waiting for, the junior brother... He is not young anymore, Zhu Shitai. I think you all know him."
The line of Duke Chengguo is a long-standing noble family with close ties to the royal family.
"It is you!"
"It was dark, I couldn't see clearly, I'm sorry."
The two princes apologized and secretly gave each other a smug look.
"Go to class!" Jiang Qingzhi didn't care about the grudges between these teenagers.
In today's class, Jiang Qingzhi talked about the border situation.
"…The current border situation is extremely unfavorable to the Ming Dynasty. If nothing changes, the north will become a major concern for the Ming Dynasty."
After Altan Khan, Li Chengliang began to raise a tiger to cause trouble, and Nurhaci thrived under his command...
"Uncle, there are nine sides!" Zhu Shitai looked pitiful with his bruised face and nose.
"Remember." Jiang Qingzhi suddenly frowned, and the three disciples quickly sat down.
"There has never been an indestructible defense in the world. The Great Wall is like this, and so are the Nine Frontiers." Jiang Qingzhi thought of the Maginot Line of later generations, "and the more you rely on so-called defense, the faster you will perish."
"Uncle, I heard from those nobles that the Nine Borders have wasted countless money and grain of the Ming Dynasty, and they are indestructible?" Zhu Shitai said stubbornly.
Why is this kid so stubborn?
He didn't notice that Prince Jing gave Prince Yu a look, and both of them quietly distanced themselves from Zhu Shitai.
"Nothing is indestructible." Jiang Qingzhi did not realize that "the history of the Great Wall can be traced back thousands of years, but in the past thousands of years, whether it was the Qin and Han dynasties or the Tang and Song dynasties, could the Great Wall stop the cavalry of foreign races?"
Zhu Shitai shook his head, "But..."
"Because of the Great Wall, the Central Plains dynasty thought it was safe, so the civil and military were at ease." Jiang Qingzhi said: "Remember, be prepared for danger in times of peace."
Prince Yu said: "If we go out without enemies and encounter external threats, our country will always perish."
Jiang Qingzhi said approvingly, "That's right. Every dynasty felt that they had the Great Wall as a protection, so they just muddled along. The reason why Emperor Chengzu moved the capital to Beiping was at least partly to make his descendants aware of danger in times of peace."
Peking is too close to the grassland. Once Datong and other places are breached, the foreign cavalry will be able to directly confront the capital.
"But as time went by, the people of the Ming Dynasty were still so intoxicated by the warm wind that they forgot that the threat was not far away."
"The Tumu Incident is a lesson for us, but I don't see anyone in the court thinking of danger in times of peace. Now Altan is watching us covetously. If things continue like this..."
Historically, Altan Khan went south the year after.
"The civil officials are at peace and the military officials are playful!" Jiang Qingzhi gave a comment on the current Ming Dynasty.
"Uncle, how should we deal with this?" Prince Yu asked.
"It's difficult to change everything now." Jiang Qingzhi said: "Governance, the army, taxes... everywhere is a problem, but what is the core of all this?"
King Jing said: "It's money. Without enough money, nothing can be done."
Prince Yu said: "It is the administration of officials."
Junior apprentice Zhu Shitai raised his hand, "Uncle, it's the army."
"Look, three people have three different ideas." Jiang Qingzhi knocked on the table. "In the final analysis, how did all this happen?"
Seeing the disciples at a loss, Jiang Qingzhi said, "All of this is caused by humans. So if we want to solve these problems, we still have to follow the human approach."
Prince Yu lowered his head in thought, then suddenly raised his head, "Yes, the corruption of the bureaucracy is caused by people, the lack of taxation is also caused by people, and the corruption of the army is also the same... The root of everything lies in people. If you grasp this point, you will not go astray."
Prince Yu stood up and saluted, "I will accept your instruction."
He looked a little excited, and Zhu Shitai asked softly, "What are you excited about?"
Prince Yu said, "This is the study of emperors, idiot!"
King Jing closed his eyes, but clenched his fists. It was obvious that he was not calm. "Wang Anshi's reforms seemed to be good, but he didn't know that the core of all this was people. He grasped the wrong direction. Therefore, the reforms were sniped at the beginning... What my cousin taught is a more incisive knowledge than the study of emperors. This is the way of the king!"
King Jing opened his eyes, stood up and saluted, "I will accept your instruction."
Prince Yu said softly, "If the Crown Prince knew how talented his cousin is, he would regret it."
"You all hid it from me!"
Zhu Shitai suddenly became furious, grabbed the brush and threw it at King Jing.
Prince Jing seemed to be prepared and easily avoided it. Prince Yu hurried over, and the two brothers looked at Zhu Shitai vigilantly.
Zhu Shitai paced around the room restlessly, yelling at Prince Yu and the other man from time to time.
What a bastard, what are you doing to bully me...
This is fucking wrong! Jiang Qingzhi ordered, "Go ask someone."
Soon, the servant who followed Zhu Shitai came in and apologized, "Second Master, the young Duke is a little..." The servant pointed to his head and said, "Sometimes he gets angry. Last year, the Duke found a miracle doctor to treat him, and he hasn't had an attack for more than half a year."
"So Lao Zhu concealed this matter?"
Jiang Qingzhi was angry.
"The Duke didn't mean to hide it. The miracle doctor said that as long as there is no attack for half a year, it will be cured."
What the hell is recovery!
Jiang Qingzhi asked, "What does it look like when it attacks?"
"Irritable, hits people, keeps moving..."
How does this sound like schizophrenia?
Jiang Qingzhi looked at his disciples who were constantly moving around and breathing heavily, and thought of another question.
The child looked fine and gentle yesterday.
Could it be... bipolar disorder?
"How to stop it?" Jiang Qingzhi asked.
The servant said, "Simple."
"Simple?"
"Whatever."
Jiang Qingzhi thought of the actions of Prince Yu and his brothers in avoiding Zhu Shitai before.
The palace must have known about this a long time ago.
At this time, Zhu Shitai came over and roared at Jiang Qingzhi, "Do you dare to bully me too?"
"Second Master, get out of the way." The servant exclaimed, "The young Duke doesn't distinguish between people at this moment."
"Uncle, retreat quickly." The two brothers of Prince Yu shouted.
Zhu Shitai held the inkstone in his hand with a fierce look in his eyes.
Jiang Qingzhi blinked.
What the hell!
That's too late.
Jiang Qingzhi shouted fiercely: "Damn beast, what are you shouting for?"
After saying that, Jiang Qingzhi slapped Zhu Shitai.
Snapped!
Zhu Shitai stopped, his anxious eyes dull...
(End of this chapter)