My God, I am the emperor, the lord of mankind.

Chapter 1 Prologue: The Dream of the Zhengde Emperor (Newcomers beg to collect it)
Emperor Zhengde woke up from his bed again. The palace of Qianqing, which used to be majestic and solemn in the past, now looked so mysterious, weird, and even terrifying in the darkness.

He dreamed again, and it was the same dream that had been recurring since he unfortunately fell into the water in the Qingpu River when he went south to conquer King Ning's rebellion in early August of the 15th year of Zhengde.

After falling into the water that time, maybe it was due to the water in his lungs due to panic, or maybe it was something else, some more terrifying and strange reasons. Like Zhu Yuanzhang, Emperor Zhengde, who had never been sick, fell ill.

This time, he was extremely ill, and even had to stay on the bed for several months, making it difficult to manage the affairs of the state. State affairs had to be decided by the Queen Mother Zhang and her chief minister Yang Tinghe together.

But physical ailments are nothing to this emperor who has been a soldier all his life. He has just defeated the powerful opponent known as the "Second Genghis Khan" who once again unified the Mongolian plateau in Yingzhou, Dayan Khan of the Golden Family. .

In the south, the emperor's shipyards in various places reported good news frequently. This year alone, 120 large ships were launched.

The cloth, silk, and porcelain confiscated from various manufacturing bureaus for trade with the Frankies in the coming year were also shipped to the coast in batches.

Restoring the prosperous age of Yongle and returning to the Western dream seems to be getting closer and closer.

Compared to his father who only relied on constantly betraying the country's interests and compromising with the powerful gentry in the world, his vision has obviously seen further.

The physical pain could not defeat him, only the spiritual loneliness made him feel depressed and lost.

During this period, his favorite general and powerful eunuchs never came to the palace to see him, even once.

Gu Dayong, Zhang Yong, Jiang Bin...

What are they doing?

Zhu Houzhao, who is not yet 30 years old this year, looked at the golden statue of Bodhisattva placed in front of the imperial couch, which the great Tibetan temple paid tribute to pray for the health of the Emperor of Tomorrow. He looked at this unknown Bodhisattva with kind eyebrows and kind eyes, and felt somewhat I thought in despair.

The eyes of the palm-sized golden Bodhisattva in front of him seemed to move, which made Zhu Houzhao think that he was dazzled.

He blinked and looked again.

But the Bodhisattva statue is still sitting there quietly, with his eyes lowered, as if he is looking down with pity on the world, or he is lowering his head and laughing, mocking the arrogance and stupidity of the world.

Zhu Houzhao smelled a pungent fish smell.

He frowned. Maybe the eunuch and maid who cleaned yesterday were negligent and did not throw away the debris in the palace in time.

But soon, his thoughts drifted back to yesterday's dream along with the fishy smell.

In the dream, he was walking on the deep and cold seabed, surrounded by strange and strange scenes that he had never seen or read in any book.

Until, he saw the legendary "Dragon Palace" suddenly appeared in front of him.

That is really a magnificent palace——

It is more extravagant and grand than the palaces in the two capitals of the Ming Dynasty combined.

Qionglou Yuyu, rare pavilions.

He saw the mermaid girls walking between the dancing pavilions and singing stages with shells filled with pearls in their hands. Their upper bodies were human and their lower bodies were fish, and their appearance was as beautiful and sentimental as described in the stories of down-and-out scholars.

The noble ladies of the Mermaids wore clothes as delicate and thin as cicada wings. This kind of craftsmanship was unheard of and unseen even by Emperor Zhengde, who was rich in the world.

No one noticed Zhu Houzhao, the uninvited guest, or in other words, it was like no one could see the Zhengde Emperor.

He was able to continue deeper until he saw the unspeakably disgusting and grotesque things deep in the palace.

Emperor Zhengde shuddered.

He avoided thinking about the terrible things.

But the memory kept pouring into his mind like it was chasing Emperor Zhengde's soul.

The door of Qianqing Palace was pushed open.

Finally, those hateful memories seemed to be shaken away.

Zhu Houzhao saw the leading female official holding a cup of medicine.

The maids at the back looked respectful.

They were all Empress Dowager Zhang, Zhu Houzhao's nominal biological mother. They were palace servants sent from Cining Palace, the Empress Dowager's palace, to serve Zhu Houzhao, who was bedridden.

He knew it was time for him to take medicine.

The medicine was prescribed by Taiyuan Hospital, but after taking it for almost half a year, Zhu Houzhao's health not only did not improve at all, but became worse and worse.

These quacks...

He secretly swore in his heart that after surviving this time, he would let Zhang Yong start reforming the Tai Hospital.His father Xiaozong and grandfather Xianzong both died at the hands of quack doctors.

And it’s the same quack.

"Add a good prescription to bring about the death of Xianzong"

"Hehe imperial medicine mistakenly followed the original prescription, which led to Xiaozong's death."

I thought that Liu Wentai, a quack doctor, escaped punishment in the end and was exempted from the death penalty and went home to spend his remaining years.

Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but feel angry.

He lay on the bed and took the good medicine prescribed by the Imperial Hospital while being served by the palace people.

After the battle in Yingzhou, peace in the north is not far away.

King Ning was executed, and the day of peace in the south had arrived.

When he recovers from his illness, he will immediately order Jiang Bin, Huozhe Yasan and others to lead the fleet to sail to the West again, clear the sea area, and reopen the trade route with the West.

With the advantage of sea transportation, the time of reopening and prosperous times is close at hand.

Then there are the rebellious chieftains in the southwest, the rioting Japanese pirates in the southeast, and the Jurchens in the northeast...

Zhu Houzhao still has too much to do.

Get better soon...

After drinking the medicine, I felt huge sleepiness as expected.

In his daze, Zhu Houzhao did not realize that the eyes of the palace people in front of him were all focused on him at some point.

They looked at Zhu Houzhao on the hospital bed, with the corners of their mouths slightly raised.

The strange thing is that the smiles are so similar, as if they were cut out of the same mold.

Emperor Zhengde fell into a deep sleep, and once again fell into that fantastic dream of the deep sea.

The fishy smell of the sea in the palace became stronger.

In front of the hospital bed, the Buddha statue seemed to feel something.

It trembled uneasily, as if it sensed a deadlier predator passing by.

A few drops of water fell from the eyes of the Golden Buddha. Perhaps it was due to the excessive moisture in the palace. Or perhaps, at this moment, this compassionate Bodhisattva really felt sorry for the Emperor Zhengde who was in a trance due to drugs and his empire. I cried over everything that happened to me.

But everything is irreversible.

The demon-conquering pestle in the Golden Buddha's hand broke, his forehead cracked, and a third eye grew out.

Sharp teeth sprouted from its mouth, and arms sprouted from its waist.

Grotesque and abominable.

The compassionate and true Buddha has transformed into a heretic ghost vehicle.

Outside the window, the sound of the palace guards ringing the clock came again. It turned out that it was still dark, and it was still a long time before dawn arrived.

The Ming Emperor, who will be 30 years old next year, is lying on his sick bed, falling asleep while planning the blueprint of his magnificent empire, sinking into the darkness in the palace. These darkness are swirling and flowing, and they have already begun to spread before others notice. Becomes restless.

　……

　　Because I have some doubts, I will answer them here.

　　The protagonist of this article travels through Emperor Jiajing.

　　Jiajing was the 11th emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

　　Emperor Zhengde was the tenth emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

　　Because Emperor Zhengde had no sons, after Zhengde's death, Jiajing inherited the throne as a vassal.

　　Father Jiajing was King Xingxian and had nothing to do with Emperor Zhengde Wuzong.

　　The protagonist of this article is Jiajing. Jiajing loves to cultivate immortality. I hope all gentlemen will know this.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)