I

  Chapter 666 663 [The distress of the former prince and princess]

  Nanjing, Forbidden City, Qinzheng Hall.

  The emperor's usual office desk was lifted aside at this moment.

  Zhao Han sat on the throne with a calm expression, looking ahead.

   In front of him are four painters.

   There is a painter named Zhu Mou, who is a descendant of King Ning. Standing next to him was his nephew Zhu Tong (钅齐), whose handwriting was hard to read. Let's call him Zhu Da.

  Another painter named Li Zhicheng, an Italian, stood next to his Chinese apprentice.

  Both are swaying paintbrushes, nephew and apprentice help.

   After a while, Zhu Mouyi took the lead and said: "Your Majesty can read a book." After speaking, he raised his eyebrows at the Italian as if provocative.

  Li Zhicheng also said: "Your Majesty, please help yourself."

  The table has not been brought back, and the painters still need to perfect the details of the clothes. Zhao Han just doesn't need to pose anymore, just sit there and read a book by himself.

  Drawing until noon, neither of them finished the painting, but they all chose to resign, and the rest can be taken elsewhere to finish.

  Two days later, Zhu Mouyi came to hand in the task first. It was a traditional meticulous painting of portraits of characters, and the name was "The Royal Face of the First Emperor of the Republic of China".

  Zhao Han got it done here, Zhu Moou went to paint the portraits of the concubines, and the Italian Li Zhicheng was still working on it slowly. This foreign devil painted oil paintings, oiling layer by layer, and it took half a month at the shortest time, and one or two months at the longest. After all, he was very serious about painting the emperor's portrait.

   After the victory report of the Nanyang naval battle came back, Li Zhicheng finally finished the painting and presented the oil painting to the emperor.

  Zhu Mouyi and Zhu Da's uncle and nephew came to watch the jokes of foreign devils. They have already painted all the portraits of the concubines, and the foreign devils have just finished the first one.

  Zhao Han compared the two portraits, each with its own merits, and said, "You guys should take a look too."

  Zhu Mouyi and his nephew bowed to receive the oil painting from the female officer. At first he was disdainful, but soon he began to look at it seriously, because the light and shadow effects of oil paintings aroused his interest.

   "How?" Zhao Han asked.

  Zhu Mouyi said: "Reporting to Your Majesty, this Western oil painting also has merits."

  Zhao Han said: "You can learn from each other, maybe you can combine Chinese and Western styles to create a new painting method."

  Historically, it was Castiglione who combined Chinese and Western styles.

   "Follow the order!"

  The two painters bow to each other at the same time.

  Zhao Han said: "There is a new painting hall at the Hanlin Academy. You should all enter the painting hall and become a bachelor."

   "Thank you, Your Majesty!" The two were overjoyed.

  Emperors of all dynasties wanted to support royal painters. Zhao Han didn't plan to be raised in the Forbidden City, and he was thrown into the Imperial Academy together, and the salaries of those painters were not bad.

  Zhao Han waved and said, "Zhu Da, come here."

  Zhu Da's identity is the son of Yiyang Prince. If the Ming Dynasty does not perish, he can be a county king with rich clothes and fine food.

  When the Datong army captured Yiyang, his father was so scared that he almost hanged himself. Later, after a public trial, it was found that several generations of Yiyang kings were all obsessed with the art of poetry and painting, and they didn't care about other things, and those who did evil were all the officials of the palace.

  So, Yiyang Wang and his family were not punished, but their property was taken over.

  Even the palace is kept, just remove the plaque, only the garden villa is confiscated. King Yiyang also reciprocated, volunteering to donate money and food to help the Datong army pacify eastern Jiangxi.

   King Yiyang died of illness four years ago, Zhu Da stayed in mourning for three years, and followed his uncle to Nanjing.

  He even changed his name, no longer using the family name of the Ming Dynasty, and directly changed it to the current Zhu Da.

  Hearing the emperor's call, Zhu Da hurried forward: "The grass people are here."

   Zhao Han said: "You are not yet 30 years old. If you want to be an official, you can go back to Jiangxi to take the provincial examination next year."

  Zhu Da said: "Your Majesty, Cao Min is not a scholar of the former dynasty, and he is not eligible to take the provincial examination."

  Zhao Han smiled and said, "I have granted the license."

  Seeing that his nephew was stunned and silent, Zhu Moou hurriedly urged: "Don't thank you yet!"

   Zhu Da said: "Your Majesty, Caomin is obsessed with painting and has no intention of official career. Caomin... wants to enter the Painting Gallery of the Imperial Academy."

  Zhao Han nodded and said, "Sure."

   "Thank you, Your Majesty!" Zhu Da cheered up.

  When he was in his teens, Zhu Da had resentment towards the Datong Xinchao. Now I have figured everything out. Except for the heinous and beheaded clans of the Ming Dynasty in Jiangxi, which one is not luckier than the clans in other provinces?

  Look at those princes in the north, what will happen to the rogues.

  The painters left the palace, and they really planned to go back to learn their painting skills, and then come up with a painting method that combines Chinese and Western styles—the emperor said something casually, and everyone below had to be serious.

  Zhu Da was walking on the street when he suddenly heard cheers coming from the front.

Then the sound of horseshoes came from far to near, and a postman came galloping on horseback, shouting along the way: "Great victory for the navy, great victory for the navy. Our Datong navy officers and men defeated the Dutch fleet in Nanyang and captured more than ten large and small warships. The South China Sea is safe and sound. Jing, the South China Sea is peaceful..."

   Zhu Da said happily: "We have won the battle again, our army is truly invincible."

  Li Zhicheng, an Italian, also gloated: "Well played, it's time to teach Holland a lesson!"

  The Netherlands is really disgusting. It not only occupies the North Sea trade, but also often wanders around the Mediterranean Sea. Italian businessmen have been in a long-term competitive relationship with Dutch businessmen—they were cheated by the Spanish royal family. Spain declared bankruptcy several times, causing a large number of Dutch and Italian businessmen to go bankrupt.

  The victory was being celebrated on the street, and news of the good news soon spread to Jinling University.

   Zhu Cijiong, the third prince of Zhu in the former Ming Dynasty, happily celebrated with his classmates. He was only a few years old when he left Beijing, but he has more memories in Nanjing, and he has long been used to his current identity.

  A female student walked up to him, frowning.

  Zhu Cijiong smiled and said, "Xiaomei, the navy has won!"

   Gu Xiaomei bit her lip and did not speak.

  Zhu Cijiong asked: "What's wrong with you?"

  After hesitating for a long time, Gu Xiaomei said with difficulty: "Father sent a letter, disapproving our marriage."

  Zhu Cijiong froze in place, then smiled wryly: "I know."

  Zhu Cijiong skipped class that day, bought a jug of wine on the way, and drank until he got home.

  In the evening, Aunt Zhu came back first, and when she entered the room, she could smell the smell of wine. Seeing my younger brother lying on the table, already asleep, I had to fetch clothes and put them on him.

  It was almost dark, and brothers and sisters came back one after another.

  The prince of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Cihong, is now an official in Jiangning County. His job evaluation is not bad. It is estimated that after a year or two, he will be promoted to a county magistrate in a different place. After all, he has studied at Jinling University (self-financed students, borrowed tuition from the emperor, and stopped studying without a diploma) .

  Zhu Cilang chose to drop out of university because he was in a bad mood.

  The classmates knew his identity, and treated him like a monkey, and always avoided suspicion. He had no close friends at all, which made him feel very awkward.

   "Third brother, what's the matter?" Zhu Cihong asked.

  After waking up from sleep, the alcohol dissipated a lot, Zhu Cijiong shook his head: "It's nothing, I'm in a bad mood, drink some wine to relieve boredom."

   "Third Brother, have you been bullied?" Zhu Cizhen asked.

  Zhu Cijiong smiled wryly: "The marriage fell through, and Xiaomei's family disagreed."

  As soon as this remark was made, everyone fell silent.

  Big brother Zhu Cihong is twenty years old and has never married a wife. I once said that the two marriages were fine, but when they heard that he was the former Ming prince, the woman's parents immediately changed their expressions.

  If they get married with ordinary people, they probably still have some hope.

  But their vision is very high, the women are all of status, even if the family is not an official, at least they are relatively rich. How can a family that is either rich or noble dare to marry the former prince? If something goes wrong one day, the family may be ransacked and exterminated.

   Zhu Cihong comforted: "Don't be discouraged, there are better people."

  Zhu Yuxi suddenly said: "It's better to find an ordinary family."

Zhu Cilang smiled and said: "To be honest, I have already asked a matchmaker to find one. Although the grocery store by the Xuanwu Lake outside the city has no prominent status and is not very beautiful, that woman has been in elementary school for three years and can still write. A girl who knows how to count. The matchmaker said that the woman's elders don't dislike us. When the date of birth is correct, and then choose a good time, you can go over and propose a marriage."

   "Congratulations brother!"

  The younger brothers and sisters hurriedly congratulated, and the elder brother's marriage was finally settled.

  Zhu Cihong said: "Third brother, why don't eldest brother find a matchmaker to help you find one?"

  Zhu Cijiong was still thinking about his lover, so he lost his interest and said, "Let's talk about it after graduating from college." Then he directed the conversation to Aimee Zhu, "My sister is nineteen years old, it's time to find her a broken home."

  Zhu Yuxi said unhappily: "Don't mention me, I'm just an aunt."

  The princess of the former court also had high vision and did not want to marry an ordinary person. But for a promising young man, who has the guts to marry her?

  Zhu Cizhen said: "Why don't I ask my mother?"

  Zhu Cizhen's biological mother is Tian Xiuying, but according to the rules of the previous dynasty, the biological mother can only be called aunt. Now, his biological mother has become a concubine again, but in order to avoid suspicion, she seldom enters the palace to meet each other.

  Zhu Cizhen said: "It's better not to trouble Auntie, for fear of making His Majesty unhappy."

  Zhu Cijiong seemed to have grasped at a life-saving straw: "Your Majesty is merciful, I will definitely not blame you, just this one time. It is not to embarrass Auntie, just try to say a few words, and see if I can ask Your Majesty to marry me."

  Zhu Cihong thought about it, and felt that procrastination was not the solution.

  He was not afraid of annoying the emperor, but he did not want to be helped by the emperor. As he got older, the former prince became more sensible, and his views on Zhao Han were very complicated. There is resentment, there is gratitude, and all kinds of emotions are mixed together, so I don't want to get involved with the emperor anymore.

  But it is impossible not to be involved, before he started working, he moved out with his younger siblings.

  The house was rewarded by the emperor, the living expenses were borrowed from the emperor, and the tuition fees after middle school were also borrowed from the emperor. Although the emperor would definitely not urge them to repay the debts, they could simply refuse, but the brothers and sisters of the Zhu family kept it in mind.

   Even, they dare not take the initiative to ask to move to other places, for fear of causing unnecessary associations with the emperor.

  After hesitating for a long time, Zhu Cihong said: "There is no need to ask Concubine Tian, ​​I will ask His Majesty by myself tomorrow."

  The next day, Zhu Cihong went to the imperial city, took out the waist badge given to him by the emperor, and the guards of the imperial city immediately reported it. The reply was also quick, and the emperor asked them to go to the imperial garden for an audience with the brothers and sisters two days later.

  (end of this chapter)