Chapter 1100
Strike
Chapter 1100 Strike (Part 1)
The emperor always lived with the empress in Kunning Palace, only occasionally staying in the rear hall of Qianqing Palace when he was busy with state affairs, or occasionally visiting other concubines in the harem.
Therefore, the palace he was referring to was Kunning Palace.
The Empress happily pulled the Imperial Advisor to Kunning Palace first: "His Majesty has been living alone in the rear hall of Qianqing Palace for the time being in order to cultivate."
The Empress muttered under her breath, "Actually, His Majesty is just lazy. He'd rather sleep cross-legged in the Qianqing Palace than go back to the inner palace."
Pan Yun was a little worried: "His Majesty is still so young, how could he have lost interest in the harem? He only has one prince now."
The Empress remained silent, gently placing her hand on her stomach.
After walking a short distance, she glanced back at the palace servants behind her.
The person following behind subtly slowed down, increasing the distance between himself and Empress Pan Yun.
Pan Jun paused slightly, then continued forward as if she knew nothing.
The Empress walked beside her, placed one hand on her abdomen, and asked, "May I ask the Imperial Advisor to interpret the name of the child in my womb?"
Pan Jun stopped in his tracks, glanced at her still-not-yet-showing belly, then took two steps back and stared at her face.
Pan Xiaohei, who was perched on Pan Jun's shoulder, turned around and tilted his head to look at the Empress.
Empress Wang's appearance changed, but her fate with children remained the same; she still only had two daughters. However, her children's palace was blessed with good fortune, and the fates of her two daughters changed. Unlike in another timeline, one of them married but had no children, and the other never married and died young.
Pan Jun smiled slightly and said, "The princess is very fortunate. Congratulations, Your Majesty."
The Empress paused slightly, a hint of regret flashing in her eyes, but she quickly rallied, gently patted her belly, and smiled, "It's good that you're safe."
The two walked hand in hand towards the inner palace. Just as they sat down, the emperor strode in.
He was in a much better mood now and no longer cared that he couldn't shake Pan Yun with the yellow talisman. He complained to her like a friend, "Grand Preceptor, why can't I ever feel the Qi in my cultivation?"
"Your Majesty's strength lies not in cultivation, but in governing the country."
Zhu Qiyu sighed deeply and asked with some sadness, "Grand Preceptor, is it that no matter how I cultivate, I can't cultivate any sense of Qi?"
"No, Your Majesty, if you were willing to work as hard as a cultivator, with your talent and comprehension, you could also cultivate Qi, and even go further. Living to a hundred years old would not be a problem."
At this time, Zhu Qiyu was only twenty-one years old. Although he wanted to live forever, he was not in a hurry. When he heard Pan Yun say that as long as he worked hard, he could enter the path of cultivation, he immediately abandoned his doubts and regained his confidence.
Pan Jun smiled slightly at him: "Your Majesty can give it a try. If you still wish to cultivate after three months, I will certainly enlighten you."
The emperor was extremely excited and asked repeatedly, "What should I do?"
"Since Your Majesty wishes to cultivate, you shall stay at the Imperial Observatory. I will devise a schedule for Your Majesty that will neither interfere with state affairs nor with your cultivation."
The empress was taken aback, but the emperor readily agreed.
Pan Yun said, "To achieve success in cultivation, one must absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth every morning, so daily morning practice is indispensable."
Since Pan Yun was born into this world, unless she is seriously injured or in battle, her morning training has never been interrupted.
What was easy for an ordinary person to achieve was difficult for the emperor. So, after careful consideration, the emperor decided to show some compassion for the ministers who always rushed to the palace early for the morning court session.
Pan Yun's father was fortunate enough to break through the fifth rank in his lifetime and gain the qualification to attend the morning court.
Then, Pan Yun learned just how bizarre the morning court sessions of the Ming Dynasty were.
The start time of the Ming Dynasty's morning court was not fixed; it was set at dawn.
Just like the national flag raised in front of Tiananmen Square, it rises a little earlier in the summer when the days are long and a little later in the winter when the days are short, basically hovering between five and seven in the morning.
Therefore, to avoid being late, the ministers had to line up outside the Meridian Gate at 3 AM. That's 3 AM!
However, the palace gates usually open at the beginning of the Mao hour (5 a.m.), and cabinet ministers who can cut in line might consider scouting the location and arriving around 4:30 a.m.
Even so, counting backwards, ministers who lived nearby had to get up at one or two in the morning, while those who lived far away had to get out of bed around 11 p.m. the previous night to prepare.
Who says people in ancient times didn't stay up late?
It's just that people in the 21st century stay up for the first half of the night, people in the 15th century stay up for the second half, and people in the 26th century stay up all night, hahaha...
After careful consideration, Zhu Qiyu decided to fix the morning court session at Chenzheng (8:00 AM). The drums would sound at Chenshi, and the palace gates would open two quarters of an hour later.
In this way, not only could the officials sleep in an hour later, but Zhu Qiyu could also set aside half an hour each day for cultivation.
However, time was only delayed, but the number of things did not decrease.
Officials are fine; most of them already have ample working hours, so shortening their time allows them to rest more openly, which naturally makes them happy.
But the emperor was different.
He still had so many assignments to complete, and he also had to practice his skills at night. Even the right to work overtime was taken away from him, so he could only squeeze in his lunch break and speed up his work.
If neither of these methods can resolve the issue, then the only option is to work overtime and stay up all night after finishing the training.
On the first day, the emperor was woken up at 5 a.m. (卯时), and he responded well, as he usually woke up at this time.
After waking up, Pan Yun led him to sit cross-legged on the top of the artificial hill and meditate for half an hour. Just as he was about to fall asleep, the sunlight shone on his face, and Pan Yun woke him up with a palm strike, leading him to practice boxing in the morning sun.
At this moment, the officials were queuing outside the palace gates...
When the bell rang and the officials orderly crossed the Golden Water Bridge to the Taihe Gate, they had just finished performing the second round of fist punches.
Pan Yun finished his practice and adjusted his breathing, indicating that the emperor could go change his clothes, have breakfast, and go to court.
It was already this late, and Zhu Qiyu had no time to dawdle. He grabbed his robe and rushed to his room.
While changing the emperor's dragon robe, Cheng Jing stuffed a steamed bun into the emperor's mouth.
From changing clothes and tying up hair to setting off, it took less than fifteen minutes.
Zhu Qiyu sat on the imperial carriage eating steamed buns, and arrived at his destination at just the right time.
To complete today's workload, Zhu Qiyu shortened his lunch break by 25 minutes, and after practicing martial arts with Pan Yun in the evening, he worked overtime for nearly an hour.
He felt pretty good on the first day; at least he felt that everything was under control.
But on the second and third days, getting up in the morning became increasingly difficult, and he worked later and later at night. Zhu Qiyu's expression grew increasingly numb...
On the fifth day, Zhu Qiyu had already learned to secretly doze off under the watchful eyes of all the officials.
Anyway, they didn't dare to look up...
With this in mind, Zhu Qiyu secretly took two naps. He had finally gotten a day off, but Pan Yun took him out of the palace to experience the lives of ordinary people.
It is said that cultivating truth requires cultivating the mind, and cultivating the mind requires understanding oneself, understanding people's hearts, and understanding the world...
Despite having two days off, Zhu Qiyu did not get any rest; instead, he became even more exhausted.
So when he went to court again, he dozed off even more happily.
The censors of the Censorate could no longer tolerate it and finally impeached the emperor in court.
The censors reasonably suspected that the emperor was indulging in pleasure and was not sleeping when he should have, which is why he was sleeping inappropriately when he shouldn't be!
(End of this chapter)