CH 193

Lin Ming was a college student, majoring in history, and was struggling with his thesis paper. For some foolish reason, he chose to write about Emperor Mingde. The research on this period was the most, and there were countless papers written on it, both at home and abroad. Countless experts and scholars published papers on it, so he really could not write anything new and novel about it.

Returning to the dormitory from the library, his dorm buddies looked at his sad and bitter face, and laughed at him with no sympathy: “Aren’t you also surnamed Lin? That’s also considered a story of your ancestors, yet you still can’t write it?”

Lin Ming waved his hand: “You guys, have some sympathy, I must have taken the wrong medicine when I decided to write a history thesis on Emperor Mingde.”

A buddy took pity on him and said, “How about you start from a different angle. Isn’t it rumored that Emperor Mingde’s lover was Chen Baisong? Why don’t you write about this?”

Lin Ming: “It’s not like no one had written that. If you search the Internet, don’t even mention thesis papers. There are already thousands of books published on the subject.”

The buddy said sympathetically: “You might as well write about Emperor Mingping then, who at least was the second female emperor in the whole of Chinese history.”

Lin Ming rolled his eyes: “Do you think she is easy to write?”

Buddy: “Well, her time reigning was short at least, and you won’t be scolded by the instructor if you can’t write something new.”

When Emperor Mingping ascended the throne, she was already in her forties and lived only to the age of sixty-two. Her eldest daughter succeeded her.

The buddy suddenly said: “I also wrote a thesis on Emperor Mingping before. Think about it, starting from her, the Ming Dynasty had produced three female emperors. If she hadn’t only had one granddaughter, and that granddaughter was also mentally retarded, the emperor would not have become a man again.”

“It sounds like you are quite regretful?” Asked the roommate who was reading in an upper bunk.

Buddy: “That’s right, when the three female emperors were in power, they were scolded a lot. When the male emperor appeared, no one scolded them anymore. After all, the three generations were all focused on developing national power. When Emperor Mingyong was in power, the industry developed very fast, and there were even already trains.”

“But as soon as the male emperor came to power, he launched a war on foreign lands. At that time, which country in Europe was not our colony?”

“We managed to conquer those lands, but we couldn’t control it. If it weren’t for that war, social development would only be faster.”

“At least fifty years of regression.”

“If it hadn’t been for Emperor Mingshao turning the tide, the Ming Dynasty would have been over by then.”

“And wouldn’t have lasted until it successfully transformed into a constitutional monarchy.”

Lin Ming nodded: “Speaking of which, I went to watch the ceremony when this female emperor ascended to the throne. I was the student representative of our province.”

“F**k!”

“F**k!”

“Lin Ming, you lucky bastard!”

Lin Ming said proudly: “You don’t know how many competitors I have defeated.”

At that time, it was truly like thousands of troops were crossing a single-plank bridge.

“No, you’ve all gone off topic, I’m going to write about Emperor Mingde!” Lin Ming collapsed.

Roommate: “Why don’t you write that he was a transmigrator, there has always been such a suspicion on the Internet.”

“Opening up the market economy, the state going under macro-control, improving the status of women, creating more jobs, laying a solid foundation for national unity, vigorously developing water conservancy and weapons construction. To be precise, he had laid down the foundation for a modern society.”

When the roommate mentioned this he began to go on endlessly: “His life was also quite magnificent. According to historical records, he was the son of a landowner in the northern region at the beginning, and he did business in the south. He was particularly prescient and built a farmstead with a city wall, and there was even a watchtower, and he also trained his own troops. All his future generals had followed him before he made his fortune.”

The roommate was a real history buff. Lin Ming had only majored in history because of his family’s expectations. His whole family studied history. He had lived in such an environment since he was a child and had no choice at all.

But the roommate was not the same. He liked it, studied it carefully, and had read a lot of official history texts. He was a person who really relied on interest to support his studies.

Just when the roommate wanted to continue, the big brother of the dormitory said, “Have you watched the new TV series recently? They used the Mingde Emperor Lin Yuan as the protagonist to promote it. The drama will recreate that period of struggle for hegemony in a chaotic world, and show how the Mingde Emperor developed a turbulent society and made the Great Ming the number one power in the world at that time.”

Lin Ming: “I saw the trailer, and the actor looks a lot like the portrait of Emperor Mingde.”

The portrait of Emperor Mingde was still preserved in the Imperial Museum. The painting was done in very real likeness as there were already sketches made back then.

“The eyes look alike.” The big brother said, “I just checked the Internet, there are too many romantic scenes…..”

“Right, right, Lin Yuan is practically like a stallion in it. Seeing one and loving one, loving one and sleeping with one, both men and women. That private life is just terribly chaotic. Anyway, I don’t believe it. I have discussed it with my instructor, we both agree that since he ascended the throne, Emperor Mingde had never been close to those so-called lovers in rumors, only Chen Baisong was by his side.”

“They say he’s bisexual, but I think he’s gay.”

“But I think Hong Xiu and Chu Lin should have been his lovers in the early days, right?”

“The history books say that Chu Lin’s face was as beautiful as a woman’s, and that his beauty was not that of mortals. I just don’t believe that Emperor Mingde, a homosexual, could have resisted. I wouldn’t have resisted if it was me. As long as they look good, both male and female are fine with me.”

Lin Ming: “I don’t think so. My dad also said it shouldn’t be. Anyway, the only lover that is clearly identified now is Chen Baisong. All the rest are just rumors.”

Roommate: “Anyway, I think Emperor Mingde must have been a libertine when he was young. Now that is charm.”

“The audience also likes to see Emperor Mingde conquering all kinds of men and women.” The big brother said, “Those losers are just so appreciative of this kind of ability.”

“The directors also like to film in that direction.”

“The audience loves watching this now.”

“Wasn’t there a time-travel drama before? The heroine transmigrated into Hong Xiu, conquered the empire with Emperor Mingde, and then started to scheme and fight in the harem. After scheming the deaths of a bunch of men and women, she ruled the world with Emperor Mingde…..” Big brother, “I was honestly nauseated, why couldn’t they just make a good heroine centered TV series. Why did they have to put the setting in the early Ming Dynasty, and even transmigrated into Hong Xiu, who was a die-hard female fan of Emperor Mingde, and even requested to be cremated when she died so that her ashes could be scattered beside His Majesty’s mausoleum.”

“Now this is f**king loyalty!” The big brother looked excited, “My goddess!”

Lin Ming: “Anyway, every TV series about Emperor Mingde is always promoted under the banner of recreating history, but I suspect that the screenwriter had not even read the biographies regarding Emperor Mingde.”

“Yes, yes, there was a very classic one ten years ago, called “Emperor of the Great Ming”? Called itself a historical drama, and a lot of people even believed it. But Lin Yuan was a cold-hearted war-mongering madman in it, still wanting to fight even after unifying the empire, but was persuaded by Song Shizhao, and it was filmed as if Song Shizhao was Lin Yuan’s true love.”

“Those who did a little homework will know that Song Shizhao was more than forty years older than Lin Yuan. When the two met for the first time, Lin Yuan was in his teens and Song Shizhao was in his fifties, so how could they have anything between them? If that was the case then this world is really too psychedelic.”

“Be content, Song Shizhao is still a pretty mild choice, even Princess Chang’an was not spared by them. That group of losers thought that Princess Chang’an’s children could only inherit the throne because Lin Yuan did it with his own sister. Therefore, they found a princess’s consort to use as guise, and the successor to the throne was actually Lin Yuan’s child. I was seriously amazed when I saw this theory, and the poster of this forum has been looking for solid evidence this whole time.”

“For example, Princess Chang’an was brought into the palace less than three years after giving birth to her children, and she lived in the palace closest to the emperor’s living quarters, and the two children were brought up by Lin Yuan himself. When Emperor Mingping was old, she once said that she saw the late emperor as her father.”

Lin Ming: “…..Suddenly, I feel like that makes sense…..”

Roommate: “Don’t look at this kind of nonsense, that group of people on the Internet can come up with anything, and the evidence they put forth are not credible. According to their theoretical logic, Lin De and Lin Xuan may have been born by Lin Yuan himself and that Lin Yuan was intersex.”

Everyone in the dorm room laughed out loud.

Lin Ming took a sip of water: “Then I shall start from the transmigration perspective?”

Big brother: “Yes, write it well, maybe you can even rewrite it into a novel or a TV series.”

Lin Ming: “It makes sense. I’ll think about it carefully. If it is written like this, it will be very awesome when it is turned into a novel!”

The big brother patted Lin Ming on the shoulder and said with a look of pity, “Fight on.”

There were so many materials to check, this child would probably be crippled after writing the thesis.

Before going to bed, Lin Ming also asked: “If you could time travel to that time, who do you want to be?”

The several people said in unison: “Er Liang!”

“When I read the history books, I felt that Er Liang is really a winner in life. Although there is not much written about him, there are still many experts who study him.”

“Yes, he was Lin Yuan’s servant. He went to the south with Lin Yuan. He didn’t need to fight wars or manage governmental affairs. And he said it himself, Lin Yuan never scolded or yelled at him. When they were in dire straits just after arriving in the south, he even shared a quilt with Lin Yuan. In the end, he became the general director in charge of palace affairs, and he didn’t have to be castrated in order to be in that position. As the first general director in charge of palace affairs with a dick, his life is practically a cheat sheet.”

“If you think about it, changing the setting to the modern times, it is equivalent to being a secretary. You only need to bring tea and water to the boss, and the boss is very easy to get along with. In the end, the boss became the leader of the world’s largest company, and the secretary became the head of the logistics department of the head office. And he barely even expended much effort, was completely safe, dying a peaceful death and even having twelve children…..”

“A winner in life…..”

“I want to be Er Liang when I transmigrate over and cling to Big Boss Lin’s golden thigh!”

“Yes, otherwise I feel like I might starve to death during the famine and period of upheaval.”

Lin Ming pursed his lips: “You really have no ambition.”

Roommates: “Then what are your ambitions?”

Lin Ming: “I want to transmigrate as Chu Lin, he has good looks, a good figure, and is very popular. He also hugged thigh early and became a winner in life, and if I looked like him, I would be able to climb onto the bed of Emperor Mingde, and maybe even become history’s first male empress.”

Everyone: “…..such ambition…..”

Lin Ming sighed and said, “Having said so much, which point should I start my thesis on?”

Roommates: “Sleep.”

“Good night.”

“Fight on.”

“We bless you.”

Lin Ming cursed: “Are you all beasts?!”

Roommate: “We also have papers to write. You’re the one who chose a ten-star difficulty topic to write, so we can only express sympathy.”

“Lin Ming, we are optimistic about you!”

Lin Ming: “…..”

Emperor Mingde, please bless me so that my thesis paper will pass.

TN: well, we’ve finally reached the end, I’m gonna miss this amazing story ( ಥᐞಥ ) but what a journey! You guys have been amazing and I’m glad I could share this with you all. Long live kingdom building and farming stories!!!