The Ming Dynasty: I Fabricated Dreams for Zhu Di 38

Chapter 38: Landlord

Upon hearing this, Yao Guangxiao burst into unrestrained laughter. The old monk’s booming laughter echoed throughout the tavern. Zhuang Mu looked at Yao Guangxiao in bewilderment.

“What’s so funny? Did I say something wrong?”

In his thinking, noble character and all other good qualities were cultivated and nurtured. Selfishness, however, was innate. Therefore, those who could be cultivated into virtuous individuals were ultimately a minority. But selfishness was something almost everyone possessed. It didn’t just include humans; animals were the same. Survival required resources; limited resources necessitated competition, and competition was the manifestation of selfishness. Without competition, they couldn’t survive, their bloodline would be cut off. Genes that didn’t compete would disappear. Over time, competition became instinct, the purpose being simply to survive.

Yao Guangxiao shook his head with a smile, then sighed.

“You’re right. Betting on people’s selfishness and wickedness has a far higher probability of success than betting on their goodness.”

“It’s a pity you were born too late. If I had met you earlier, we could have been friends.”

In Yao Guangxiao’s philosophy, the most important thing was utilizing people’s selfishness. He didn’t reject goodness or the pursuit of saintliness; it was simply his way of doing things.

During the Jingnan Campaign (the rebellion of the Prince of Yan), the Yan army and the court army under Zhu Yunwen were locked in a stalemate. They fought for two years before securing the three prefectures of Beiping. By this time, Zhu Yunwen had begun to appoint younger, more capable generals: Sheng Yong, Tie Xuan, Ping An, and even Xu Huizu, among others. Both sides had their victories and defeats, but in a protracted war, the court’s resources were far greater than the Prince of Yan’s. If the stalemate continued, they would surely lose.

It was at this time that he proposed a strategic idea that would establish the Prince of Yan as the Yongle Emperor (Zhu Di). That was to bypass Jinan City, bypass Sheng Yong, Tie Xuan, and Ping An, and directly attack the Capital City. Other places could be ignored.

Many in the Yan army disagreed with this suggestion. After all, no one had ever done this before. If they failed, they would be completely surrounded. Moreover, even if they captured Zhu Yunwen, could Zhu Di ascend the throne? Would other areas give up their resistance after Zhu Yunwen’s capture?

The facts proved him right. In many places, people didn’t want to fight in the Jingnan Campaign, because it was an internal struggle within the Zhu family. Why should they sacrifice their lives? While there were opportunities for social advancement, life was still more important. Therefore, after Zhu Di ascended the throne, the other areas ceased resistance and submitted their petitions, welcoming Zhu Di’s ascension. Resistance? What was the point? The throne would always be occupied by someone surnamed Zhu. It was better to peacefully welcome the new emperor than to face the annihilation of their entire family.

“Haha, aren’t we friends now?”

“Whether you consider me a friend or not, I consider you a friend.”

Yao Guangxiao paused slightly. That was true.

“But it’s still a pity. I’m old,” he said. “My time is short. If only I’d met you sooner.”

It was truly unfortunate to have finally found a friend to his liking, only to have so little time left.

Zhuang Mu fell silent as well. Life and death were predetermined; the old monk looked to be seventy or eighty years old. He didn’t know whether death or tomorrow would come first. The topic of death was always heavy.

Zhuang Mu suddenly remembered something. He rummaged on the counter, finding four square pieces of wood, each carved with several red stars.

Looking at the four square pieces of wood, Yao Guangxiao curiously asked, “What are these?”

Zhuang Mu smiled, “These are called playing cards.”

“I originally planned to make a game of Sanguosha (a popular Chinese card game), but as you know my situation…”

He didn’t have much time awake. Sanguosha, most importantly, involved various generals’ skills and character portrayals. These were more difficult. Landlord only required numbers and the suits of diamonds, hearts, clubs, and spades—much simpler. Making a simple card game first would also serve as practice.

“Time is short, but to repay you, I’ll make this simpler card game first. After I’m familiar with this, I’ll make Sanguosha for you.”

Yao Guangxiao picked up a diamond-shaped piece, looking at the carved number. “These are made of wood. Why are they called ‘playing cards’?” It had the number 10 carved on it, a number in each upper left and lower right corner, and small symbols in the middle: diamonds, clubs, hearts, and spades.

Zhuang Mu explained, “Paper is easily damaged; wood isn’t.” The paper of this era was quite thin, unlike the durable paper of the future. More importantly, he was in a tavern, where paper would easily get wet. Wood was much easier to work with.

Yao Guangxiao mused, “Good paper is too expensive; you can’t afford it, right?”

“Hahaha,” Zhuang Mu was exposed, awkwardly coughing. “Ahem, I didn’t say that. Where did you get that idea?” He hadn’t expected the old monk to see through him. Good quality paper was expensive, while cheaper paper wouldn’t do—it would fall apart with a little water. And his business was a tavern, where water was inevitable. Cheap paper was also too see-through, revealing the cards. Thus, he chose wood; it simply had to be thinned down enough.

Yao Guangxiao didn’t mind. He was curious, though: How did you play with only four cards?

“There are only four cards, all tens. How do you play?” Due to time constraints, Zhuang Mu had only made four cards for now.

“I haven’t finished yet. It’ll probably take a few more days.”

“I’ll tell you the rules after I’m done.” Now that Xi Mei was helping with the work in the tavern, he could free up a lot of time. The original month-long task was shortened to about half a month.

Yao Guangxiao nodded.

“Haha, then I’ll look forward to it.”

Meanwhile, Di Ping followed Zhu Gaosu. All the way, Zhu Gaosu remained silent, his face grim, and Di Ping dared not speak. But the Dragon Robe case still needed to be investigated; the petition had to be submitted the day after tomorrow, and he had no leads whatsoever. Not only had the case not been solved, he had also been poisoned, requiring an antidote every seven days. When would this miserable life end?

After much thought, Di Ping finally mustered his courage and spoke to Zhu Gaosu.

“Your Highness, are we… just leaving like this? The case hasn’t been investigated yet. His Majesty will…”

Before Di Ping could finish, Zhu Gaosu kicked him in the abdomen. Di Ping stumbled and fell into the snow.

Zhu Gaosu said angrily, “Investigate your mother!”

Di Ping was stunned, but still smiled, “Your Highness, what does my mother have to do with this?”

Zhu Gaosu was both angry and speechless. Grabbing Di Ping’s collar, he roared,

“Di Ping, are you really stupid or just pretending to be? If you hadn’t failed to figure out who Zhuang Mu really is, would I be in this mess? Forget about that. Someone poisoned me! What the hell were you thinking? The case hasn’t been solved, and you’ve put your life in someone else’s hands! I really want to kill you!”

(Chapter End)

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