"Sir, are you the King of Hell?"
After the eunuch Cheng En helped the fallen monarch sit down, he carefully bowed and looked at Cheng Hao.
"The King of Hell? It's not wrong to say so! " Cheng Hao smiled. For ordinary people, he could decide their life and death with a single thought. It was not wrong to say that he was the King of Hell.
"My name is Haotian, the owner of this inn. You are the first batch of guests after my inn opened. It's fate!"
"Haotian?" The man in the imperial robe and the eunuch beside him looked at each other in surprise. Then, they got up and knelt on the ground in fear.
"Zhu Youjian, the fallen emperor of the Great Ming Dynasty, pays his respects to God Haotian!"
"Wang Chengen, the eunuch, pays his respects to God Haotian!"
Haotian, this name, for Chong Zhen and the others, was simply a name that couldn't be more resounding. Haotian was the high and mighty God, the name of God, the incarnation of God.
They did not doubt Cheng Hao's identity as God. Who in the world would dare to use God Haotian's name to court death?
"You two don't need to be nervous. I am now the owner of this inn. You are guests. Between us, there is no need to care about the rules of rank."
With a thought, a giant, invisible hand lifted the two of them up. By the time they were seated, Gongsun Wan 'er had already warmed the wine on the table, and was pouring wine for the three of them with a smile on her face.
"Young Master, Wan 'er has heard of Zhu Youjian's name. He seems to be the fallen emperor of a mortal kingdom, right?" Gongsun Waner said with a smile as she poured wine.
"Yes, the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Chongzhen, Zhu Youjian!" Cheng Hao nodded. Then, he could not help but look at Chong Zhen.
This fallen emperor of the Ming Dynasty was actually in his thirties, but half of his hair was white and his eyebrows were full of wrinkles. He did not have the spirit that a young man should have. Instead, he looked more like an old man.
"The ruler of a fallen kingdom in the lower realm, I've brought shame to you, God!"
When he heard Cheng Hao mention his name, Chong Zhen's face turned pale. There was fear and shame on his face. He was the Emperor, and he had always considered himself to be the Son of Heaven. Now that he had finally met the Heavens, his status made him feel extremely awkward.
"There's nothing to be ashamed of." Cheng Hao shook his head. "I opened this inn to welcome guests from all over the universe because I wanted to hear their stories. Now that I've prepared the wine, shouldn't you tell me your story? "
"What kind of story does a fallen ruler have to tell? I'm afraid I'll have to disappoint you, God! " Chong Zhen waved his hand embarrassedly. Did it have to be so shameful to talk about the fall of his country in front of God?
"Let's talk about it. If your story is interesting, then I can give you a chance to start over. What do you think?" Cheng Hao laughed.
"Start over?" Chong Zhen was a little confused. "God, are you trying to make me come back to life? Even if I live again, I won't be able to turn the tide! "
"No, as long as your story satisfies me, I can let you be reborn with your memory to the day when you just ascended the throne. As a person who has lived two lives, you should have a way to pull the stranded ship of the Great Ming back to the right course, right?"
"Is what you said true, God?" Chong Zhen was so excited that his whole body trembled. If he could be reborn with his memory to the day when he ascended the throne, there were too many things he could change. At the very least, he didn't want to let go of the Donglin Gang that had caused the destruction of the Great Ming Dynasty!
"Of course it's true!" Cheng Hao pointed at the wine on the table and motioned for Chong Zhen to drink and tell the story.
"Since God wants to hear it, I'll tell you a simple story!"
After drinking the wine in the cup, Chong Zhen's face flushed red. His spirit seemed to have improved a lot.
"Thirty-four years ago, I was the Fifth Prince. Seventeen years ago, I was Prince Xin. But because I wasn't the eldest son of the Emperor, my fate might have been fixed in Prince Xin's Mansion. Every day, I would just eat and wait for death, like the other princes.
"However, under circumstances that I never expected, God gave me a chance. Although this chance wasn't a good one, I was still grateful. I was afraid that I would fail to live up to God's love for me.
"When I was seventeen years old, my brother, Zhu You of Xi Sect, died. Because he didn't have an heir, I took over the throne from my brother at the age of seventeen, or rather, the mess. Since then, I became the person with the highest power in the Great Ming Empire.
"God, you are high and mighty. You may not understand the feeling of a fish leaping over the dragon gate and reaching the sky in one step. This feeling is ecstatic, but also frightening.
"The power of the world is in my hands, and the lives of hundreds of millions of people are in my hands. This feeling of fear and uneasiness has been pressing on me ever since I ascended the throne. I'm afraid that if I'm not careful, I'll fail to live up to God's expectations, fail to live up to my brother's expectations, fail to live up to the expectations of all the civil and military officials, as well as the expectations of all the people.
"I want to be a good emperor. I want to be like Emperor Wu of Han and Emperor Taizong of Tang. I want to be strong and prosperous, and I want to be a wise emperor whose name will go down in history.
"Unfortunately, my ability is limited, and my wisdom is much worse than those great emperors."
Speaking of this, Chong Zhen's expression became dispirited again. He picked up the wine on the table and took another big gulp. Only then did he manage to raise his spirits.
"God, you may also know that in order to prevent the princes from rebelling, the princes of the Great Ming Dynasty, except for the crown prince, are basically in a free-range state. Although they don't lack luxurious clothes and food, they strictly control their education. Most of the princes are unambitious and mediocre. They don't even know how to read, let alone the principles of governing the country."
"I'm lucky. My brother is the emperor, and he takes good care of me. Therefore, I can read and study, and I have a teacher to teach me. Although I have been attacked by the civil and military officials, I have survived with my brother's protection."
"It's a pity that although I'm much better than the other princes, what I've learned is very limited. I've never left the Forbidden City in my life. I only know a little about the general trend of the world from books and from the mouths of others. I don't know anything about the politics of the emperor. I have to figure it out by myself."
"I'm congenitally deficient, and my aptitude is limited. In order to live up to the gift of the throne, I have to rely on diligence to make up for it. I hope that diligence can make up for my shortcomings and restore the vitality of the Great Ming Dynasty again."
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