Imperial Master of the Ming Dynasty

Zheng He roared, but there was an eerie silence in the empty cell.

Jiang Xinghuo looked at him quietly.

"Mr. Jiang!" Zheng He said in a low voice: "Will the Ming Dynasty in the future really burn all the shipbuilding blueprints, abandon the huge fleet that it has worked so hard to build, and then finally completely block itself inland and insulate itself from the sea?"

Zheng He's eyes were full of hope. He really hoped that Jiang Xinghuo was lying to him and that this future that was too cruel to him would not happen.

It was Zheng He's lifelong wish to let the Ming Dynasty go to the ocean and explore the ocean. How could he bear to let it go to waste?

What's more, not long ago, Jiang Xinghuo told him that he would definitely lead Ming Dynasty's mighty fleet to the ocean near Mecca in the future.

Zheng He clearly remembered how happy he was that night.

But now, Jiang Xinghuo cruelly continues to predict his future, a future that can be called a two-level reversal.

——The Ming fleet led by him will stop at the east coast of Africa, and then all the efforts he made to sail to the Western Ocean seven times in his life will be turned into rotten wood and ashes that have long been invisible in the drawing library after a hundred years.

Jiang Xinghuo shook his head and said, "I'm sorry, in the future I foresee, it will be like this."

"Although, I also hope that the future I see will not happen like this, but there is nothing I can do."

Zheng He's eyes darkened. Now that he knew about this situation, he digested his emotions at this time and did not feel too disappointed. Instead, he asked: "Mr. Jiang, will there be other futures?"

"I can't see it." Jiang Xinghuo still shook his head, "I can only predict the future based on the present. If the present does not change, then the future will not change. In addition, I cannot predict my future, let alone grasp the present. The future for others that we can’t yet see.”

"At least now, I can't even see your future, so I can't give you any promises." Jiang Xinghuo said sincerely.

Zheng He understood the subtext of Jiang Xinghuo's words. In Zheng He's understanding, it meant that Jiang Xinghuo, as a banished immortal, was not omniscient and omnipotent. Jiang Xinghuo could not predict his own future, nor the future of some people.

But even so, this terrifying ability to predict the future, coupled with Jiang Xinghuo's perspective that stands high above the long river of history, and his knowledge that is obviously not of this world, is enough to make anyone feel intimidated.

This is not a banished immortal. Who else can be called a banished immortal?

Of course, for Jiang Xinghuo, it was a mistake to make mistakes, and follow the thinking of these Ming Dynasty people who thought he was a banished immortal, so that they would misunderstand that he was the real banished immortal. This was Jiang Xinghuo's plan to explain the rationality of his actions.

After all, if there is no reasonable explanation for a lot of his knowledge and prediction ability, people will immediately be filled with doubts when they hear it.

But in this era, which is accustomed to feudal superstition, if the identity of the banished immortal is attached to oneself, most of his peculiarities can be explained.

And if the other party is really Zheng He, then this confidant of Emperor Yongle will definitely spread his words about revealing his identity as an immortal to Emperor Yongle's ears.

Zheng He here didn't know about Jiang Xinghuo's plan to take advantage of the opportunity, but his mind kept changing and he fell into the same trouble as Zhu Gaoxu.

Mr. Jiang, do you know his identity?

And should he confess his identity?

Unlike Zhu Gaoxu, who is a tough guy, Zhu Gaoxu’s motive for hiding his identity was not to accept orders from anyone, but because Zhu Gaoxu wanted to finish the rest of the course before confessing his identity, and he wanted to confess before but was hesitant. In the end, I didn't confess.

But Zheng He is different!

Zheng He did not want to go to imperial prison, but the emperor arranged for him to take over Li Jinglong's lectures. He was afraid that Zhu Gaoxu would not understand the essence of some things, so he let him in.

Therefore, Zheng He had to consider whether it would affect the emperor's grand plan if he revealed his identity (Zheng He did not know that Zhu Gaoxu's identity had been exposed).

After all, for Zheng He to have the power and status he has today, the emperor's trust is essential.

If he exposes his identity in advance and ruins the emperor's important affairs, Zheng He himself will suffer a great loss.

But even so, the balance in Zheng He's heart still began to slowly tilt in the direction of "confession", and the side of "concealment" began to tilt higher and higher.

After all, to put it bluntly, there is only one class left. If the emperor intends to worship Jiang Xinghuo as the national teacher, then he confesses his identity to Jiang Xinghuo in advance. As long as he hides it from the emperor, it will not have much impact.

Although concealing this matter from the emperor was exposed, it would still cause major stains on Zheng He's future and status.

But right now, Zheng He couldn't care less.

This means that at this time, Zheng He had nothing more important than saving his lifelong dream.

Zheng He desperately wanted to know the answer.

And only Jiang Xinghuo can give him the answer.

Furthermore, Zheng He has another guess, that is, does Jiang Xinghuo really not know his identity?

Zheng He doesn't think so.

On the contrary, Zheng He believed that there was a high possibility that the identity he had tried so hard to hide had long been exposed under Jiang Xinghuo's insightful gaze.

Otherwise, how could he explain that the first time he asked Jiang Xinghuo whether he could reach Mecca for pilgrimage, Jiang Xinghuo definitely pointed out that "Zheng He would reach Mecca once during his voyages to the West"?

Therefore, since the balance in his heart has tilted towards "confession", Zheng He also feels that his identity has most likely been discovered by Jiang Xinghuo.

At this time, what Jiang Xinghuo said, "I can't even see your future, so I can't give you any promises," became true in Zheng He's ears.

——If you don’t confess your identity, I won’t tell you.

Therefore, even if Zheng He has a mission assigned by the emperor, if he must confess his identity in order to further talk to Jiang Xinghuo, Zheng He feels that he must confess at this time.

Only in this way can Zheng He have the opportunity to see a different future for himself. Otherwise, I am afraid that Zheng He will be trapped in this nightmare of shattered ideals for a long, long time, and will have trouble sleeping and eating.

"Mr. Jiang really can't see any other future for this matter?" Zheng He struggled in his heart and asked one last time without giving up.

Jiang Xinghuo sighed: "This is not an answer I can give you."

When Zheng He heard this, he immediately fell into silence.

After a long time, he slowly stood up and bowed and saluted: "Please forgive me for the offence. I have been hiding something from Mr. Jiang."

"Just tell me."

Jiang Xinghuo nodded slightly.

Zheng He's posture was very low.

After all, he also knew that banished immortals like Jiang Xinghuo, who only existed in legends, had amazing and mysterious abilities. Since Jiang Xinghuo gave him the opportunity to confess his identity, Zheng He was determined to seize it.

"Mr. Jiang"

Zheng He spoke slowly, spitting out the story that had been brewing in his heart for a long time, word by word.

"At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, in Kunming City, Yunnan, there was a family named Ma. The head of this family was a tall and tall man with a strong personality who refused to attach himself to others in vain. However, he was good at doing good deeds and performing chivalrous acts. For example, we will definitely help those who are poor or widowed.

Moreover, he once traveled thousands of miles to make a pilgrimage to Mecca, so he was respectfully called "Haji" by the local people who believed in the great food law, which means pilgrim.

This man had two sons, the eldest son was named Ma Wenming, and the younger son was named Ma Sanbao. The younger son felt that the nickname "Sanbao" was embarrassing when he was a child, so he asked his father to change it to "Sanbao". "

As soon as he heard the beginning, Jiang Xinghuo already understood that the man in front of him was Zheng He.

Zheng He, on the other hand, was telling his story to Jiang Xinghuo.

Jiang Xinghuo did not interrupt and chose to continue listening quietly.

Although, facing this famous figure in history, Jiang Xinghuo's mood was inevitably complicated at this time.

"Yunnan at that time was the remnant force of the Yuan Dynasty, and the territory ruled by the Liang King was Zarawal's secret soldiers. In the fourteenth year of Hongwu, the world had long been peaceful. Emperor Taizu Gao of the Ming Dynasty wanted to eliminate the last Yuan Dynasty force entrenched in Yunnan. , sent two generals, Fu Youde and Lan Yu, with an army of 300,000 to launch a battle to pacify Yunnan."

"Oh?" Jiang Xinghuo's eyes flashed and he seemed to be listening with interest.

Zheng He continued: "That night, the man named Ma took several guards and wanted to protect King Liang from leaving the palace. As soon as he left the city and fled to Dian Lake, he was heavily surrounded by the Ming army and eventually died in battle. Liang The king sent a secret soldier to Zarawal, and finally chose to go to Dian Lake to commit suicide."

"And his two young sons, as the sons of criminal generals, were captured by the Ming army. Fu Youde, the chief general of the Ming army, asked the two children a question. One person needs to stand up and answer. If the answer is correct, they can all survive. ; If the answer is wrong, they will all die."

"Fu Youde asked: Was King Liang's suicide a heroic end like Xiang Yu's suicide, or was it a cowardly act of a coward?"

Jiang Xinghuo looked at Zheng He, and seemed to see that young child back then, surrounded by the strong and determined Ming army, making a difficult decision, who would answer Fu Youde's question, and how to answer it?

Zheng He said in a difficult voice: "A child named Ma Sanbao stood up and replied: The King of Liang committed suicide. It is not as cowardly as Xiang Yu, but it is just that when the soldiers of tomorrow arrived, he knew that he could not continue to resist."

"General Fu Youde was silent for a moment, then burst into laughter and pardoned the death penalty of the two sons of guilty generals."

"However." Zheng He looked a little depressed, "Death penalty can be avoided, but living crime cannot be forgiven."

"Ma Sanbao was punished with castration and served as a show boy in the army. Later, he entered the Nanjing Imperial Palace. Not long after, at the age of fourteen, he was elected to the Palace of Prince Yan in Peiping."

Zheng He described his miserable first half of life. Although his life was full of misfortunes, his voice did not rise and fall much, as if he was calmly telling someone else's story.

But Jiang Xinghuo knew what it meant for a boy to lose his father in a short period of time, his family was broken up, and then he was castrated.