Chapter 1102
Urging Childbirth
The officials were very satisfied that the emperor had returned to the right path, but the Taoist priests were not so satisfied.
Even Zhang Liuzhen couldn't help but say to Pan Yun, "People have a deep misunderstanding of me, a Taoist."
"Cultivation, cultivation, is about cultivating one's true self. We seek the Great Dao and pursue the true nature of this world."
Pan Yun: "Is the ultimate goal to achieve immortality?"
Zhang Liuzhen choked and said, "But they think too much of us. Immortality is not for pleasure."
He paused, then muttered to himself, "I've always felt that we shouldn't aim for immortality, but rather for attaining the Great Dao. Immortality is merely a byproduct of attaining the Dao."
Pan Yun: "Keep spreading this propaganda. In less than three years, the number of people practicing Taoism will definitely drop to rock bottom. This would also be in line with the imperial court's policy of curbing the number of monks and Taoists."
Zhang Liuzhen: ...
“Alright, let’s talk about something else,” Zhang Liuzhen said. “I plan to travel around preaching and explaining the key points of cultivating the mind technique to everyone.”
Pan Yun: "Go to the military. The cultivation method cannot be made available to the public for the time being."
Pan Yun introduced him to Yu Qian, the Minister of War.
Yu Qian warmly welcomed Zhang Liuzhen's arrival.
After practicing Zhang Liuzhen's mental techniques in the army, and combining them with the army's swordsmanship, spearmanship, and military formations, his power greatly increased.
In the previous campaign to conquer the north, the carefully selected vanguard made outstanding contributions.
This is why the military began to promote his mental techniques extensively, and they even began to circulate among military children who had not served in the military. Now the Ministry of War plans to promote them in military settlements, starting to train and select military children from the age of eight.
To facilitate the cultivation of this mental technique, the Ministry of War, through the Daoist Records Office, hired many Daoist priests to serve as instructors in various military units.
The Taoist priests recommended by the Taoist Registry were of varying quality; some were graduates from academies, while others were independent cultivators from the martial arts world who would start teaching as soon as they received the cultivation manual.
Reading a book like "Free and Easy Wandering" will give you a thousand different interpretations of Zhuangzi in a thousand people's minds, let alone a book on mental cultivation.
It can be said that the teaching methods of the military center are varied and diverse.
To this end, Pan Yun hand-wrote an annotation book and sent it to the army. The bookstore printed it into a booklet, which circulated only within the army.
However, due to a lack of instructors, the situation varied among the different armies.
Yu Qian was overjoyed that Zhang Liuzhen could come.
After all, he is the originator of the cultivation method. Is there anyone who can teach the method more closely than him personally?
Yu Qian excitedly arranged for Zhang Liuzhen to preach, and even planned to make it a tour, spreading the Dharma in the Five Military Commands and Imperial Guards in the capital, and then radiating out from the capital region.
The Celestial Master rarely works diligently, so he is determined to make the most of everything.
Having broken free from the path of cultivation and returned to normalcy, the emperor was also focused on his career.
Once the emperor stepped outside of his own preconceived notions and looked at the matter from a different perspective, he could rationally conclude that the so-called new cultivation method was nothing more than a way to strengthen the body for the general public.
The soldiers in the army were much stronger than him and had started practicing the mental cultivation method earlier. Through their experiments, they found that the mental cultivation method could indeed improve the soldiers' physical fitness in general, but it only improved their martial arts skills from the lowest level to the third or fourth level.
Only a very small number of people have the opportunity to become top-tier martial arts masters through this set of techniques; the proportion is probably one in a thousand.
Among these top-tier experts, those who have the opportunity to break through to the Dao realm and ultimately reach the first Marquis level are less than one in a hundred.
Currently, only 108 people have been reported by the military as being able to overcome these limitations and directly convert the spiritual energy of heaven and earth into primordial energy.
These 108 people were being nurtured by the Ministry of War like seedlings. The imperial court already had plans to cultivate a team of cultivators of their own.
They will become the strongest fighting force of the Ming Dynasty.
Moreover, as the practice becomes more widespread, there will be more and more people like this.
There are countless strong people in the world, and it's not surprising that he, a physically weak emperor, can't do what they can't do.
He may not be good at using his hands, and he may not be good at using his brain either, but he can be good at being an emperor.
The tutors said that a ruler must know how to use people and how to weigh the pros and cons.
It's about personnel management and weighing the pros and cons.
The emperor approved the Ministry of War's application, not only allowing Zhang Liuzhen to preach in the army but also permitting more disciples of the Celestial Master's Mansion to serve as instructors. He even issued a personal imperial edict praising Zhang Liuzhen and the Celestial Master's Mansion. For a time, Zhang Liuzhen was incredibly popular, almost overshadowing the Imperial Preceptor.
However, the Imperial Advisor remained silent, much to the disappointment of the officials who had hoped to see them fight.
The emperor seemed somewhat disappointed.
Pan Yun felt that they were all too idle, so she did some calculations and assigned two concubines to the emperor who were suitable for his fate.
They were all of good physique and health, with one gentle and the other lively. But regardless of which one, they were both daughters of minor officials, received a good education from a young age, and idolized Empress Ma, so they had a strong sense of righteousness.
Moreover, their families were of modest means, and they worked a lot to supplement their income.
Both of them were very open and easygoing. Once they entered the palace, they could become Empress Wang's assistants after a little training.
Zhu Qiyu: ...
He doesn't like this.
He liked Tang Fei's bright and gentle nature.
But these two were truly beneficial to having offspring. Less than half a year after entering the palace, they were both diagnosed with pregnancy. By then, the Empress had already safely given birth to her second daughter.
A year has passed, and Zhu Qiyu, at only 22 years old, is already the father of three children. Moreover, he is expected to become the father of five children this year.
Empress Wang, leaning against the bed, looked at her baby daughter in swaddling clothes and recalled the prediction Pan Yun had given her when they first met. She knew that she might really only have two daughters.
If that's the case, then we need to prepare early.
Empress Wang hoped that the harem would have as many offspring as possible, especially princes.
The emperor currently only has one son, Zhu Jianji, which is too few and too unsafe.
Therefore, she paid close attention to the two pregnant newlyweds, not only sending imperial physicians and female officials to take care of them personally, but also visiting them from time to time.
In September and October of the fifth year of the Jingtai reign, the second and third princes were born one after the other.
Empress Wang breathed a sigh of relief. Instead of taking away the custody of the two princes, she promoted their ranks and allowed them to raise their children on their own, just like Consort Hang.
For three consecutive years, Empress Wang was unable to conceive, but the imperial physicians examined her pulse and determined that both she and the emperor were healthy.
She then concluded that this was destiny and began to arrange for the emperor to bring more concubines into the palace.
Three years later, Consort Hang and Consort Liu, who later entered the palace, became pregnant again, but both gave birth to princesses.
Empress Wang made a plan and discussed it with the emperor, saying, "I think Your Majesty should give birth to three more princes and two more princesses within five years, so that the ratio of children to offspring will be balanced."
To achieve this goal, Empress Wang planned to have the emperor take three more concubines.
Zhu Qiyu: ...
He firmly rejected Empress Wang, saying, "Whenever people hear about the selection of virtuous women, they panic. It's better not to waste people's money and resources."
Empress Wang: "Times have changed. The late emperor abolished the practice of funerary sacrifice, and the palace has also set conditions for leaving the palace. The salaries of palace women have also been increased. People no longer suffer from the difficulty of selecting virtuous ladies. If Your Majesty does not believe me, you can ask Consort Liu and Consort Zhao."
The emperor refused again: "They are in the palace, how could they speak ill of the palace? Let's not make things difficult for them."
In any case, he simply doesn't want to take any more concubines or have any more children.
Having a child with such a clear goal is something only those who are pressured to do know. At this moment, Zhu Qiyu felt like he was a stud, which was not pleasant at all.
Empress Wang could only suppress her thoughts for the time being.
Zhu Qiyu was so afraid of her that he couldn't help but want to decide on the crown prince as soon as possible so that she would stop watching him have children.
But the matter was of great importance, and he dared not reveal it easily. He could only secretly go to Pan Yun to discuss it, bringing his three sons with him, of course. (End of Chapter)