Chapter 5

In the heart of the great Ming Empire, the most skilled craftsmen gathered. They received favors that ordinary craftsmen could hardly imagine, but a single misstep could send them to the depths of despair. Therefore, everyone worked with extreme seriousness and responsibility. With three or five layers of supervision overhead, everyone kept their eyes wide open, not daring to be the slightest bit careless.

Chongzhen, as usual, got up at the fifth watch of the night. Four palace maids immediately brought in the prepared purple-gold basins to attend to his washing.

Each of the four gold basins had a specific use. The basin with a diameter of two feet was used for the initial hand washing, the one with a diameter of one foot for rinsing the mouth. The basin with a diameter of four feet was used for washing the face. Finally, a basin with a diameter of one and a half feet was used for the last hand washing. After the washing was complete, it was time to comb the hair.

After the emperor combed his hair, he would put on his formal attire to worship heaven, and then change into casual clothes to prepare for breakfast.

After Chongzhen changed into his casual clothes, the palace maids served tea and pastries. Since the empress would also join him for breakfast today, and it would take time to serve the meal, the emperor's stomach might get hungry, so he had to eat some pastries to fill his stomach first.

Chongzhen had some tea and pastries, and the palace attendants had almost finished setting up the breakfast. They were just waiting for the music to start, and the emperor would proceed to the central hall to begin his breakfast. Although Chongzhen had canceled the music during meals to save money, the music in the palace was also a form of command, and it could not be completely eliminated.

Since the empress would also come today, there were two tables set up in the central hall.

Chongzhen walked to his imperial table, and before he even sat down, he saw the new book by the Crown Prince placed on the table. This was a privilege of the Crown Prince; other writings had to wait until the emperor finished his meal and went to the Wuying Hall or the Wenhua Hall to be presented.

The emperor unfolded his robe and sat down, casually flipping through a couple of pages, and his expression immediately became serious.

"Where is the Crown Prince?" Chongzhen asked.

"Your Majesty," the eunuch from the Office of Ceremonial hurriedly replied, "The Crown Prince just went to the Renshou Hall to pay respects to Empress Dowager Zhang and was invited to stay for a meal."

"Call him here." Chongzhen brought the book closer, the fresh ink smell tickling his nose.

This book, "Treatise on Epidemic Prevention," was a new work by the Crown Prince. It did not have many illustrations and was not as obscure as the previous "Physics" and "Chemistry." However, it convincingly explained the origin of the epidemic and listed how to prevent and control it, making it hard to doubt.

What truly worried Chongzhen was the introduction, where the Crown Prince mentioned that this epidemic had caused a three-year pandemic in Europe 300 years ago, resulting in 25 million deaths. According to the population of Europe at that time, almost one in every three people died.

The Ming Empire had been suffering from floods, droughts, and various disasters since the Tianqi era. If such a major epidemic were to occur again... Chongzhen almost felt hopeless.

Zhu Chilang did not proactively present the book to Chongzhen because Chongzhen had not yet issued the final decree allowing him to go out to comfort the troops. However, he was not surprised that Chongzhen could see the sample book so quickly. This was the palace rule; the Office of Ceremonial would never mass-produce a book without first submitting it to the emperor for review.

After bidding farewell to his aunt, Zhu Chilang stepped out of the Renshou Hall, looked at the gloomy sky, and said to the eunuch who had come to deliver the oral command, "Go and inform Johann Adam Schall von Bell at the Astronomical Bureau to wait for the summons."

The eunuch did not dare to disobey and quickly bowed and left.

Zhu Chilang, accompanied by his Eastern Palace guards and eunuchs, walked to the central hall of the Qianqing Palace. Although the Crown Prince had the right to ride in a sedan chair, he preferred to walk, as it was faster. When he reached the entrance of the Qianqing Palace, he happened to meet the empress's sedan chair and naturally went forward to pay his respects, then entered with his mother.

The Inner Palace Supervisors quickly prepared the Crown Prince's table and meal, as if everything had been arranged in advance.

Zhu Chilang saw this and thought to himself: If the administrative system of the Ming Empire could be as efficient and strict as the inner palace, how could there be any chance for people like Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong to rise?

"Did Your Majesty sleep well last night?" Zhu Chilang asked.

"Peacefully," Chongzhen pointed to the table, "Sit down."

Zhu Chilang sat at the lower end of his parents' table, facing a variety of breakfast dishes. He had long wanted to change this buffet-style breakfast to a pre-ordered menu, which could save at least half of the meal expenses. Although the food would be given to other palace attendants and was not wasted, the cost of the imperial pastries was several times higher than that of ordinary palace pastries!

Since he had already greeted his mother, Zhu Chilang did not need to ask about her well-being again. He looked at the "Treatise on Epidemic Prevention" in Chongzhen's hand and knew he had guessed correctly again.

"Crown Prince, the black death you mentioned here, is it the current epidemic in the capital?" Chongzhen asked.

"Father, the epidemic currently spreading in the capital, known as the bubonic plague, is indeed the black death, or plague," Zhu Chilang, who had prepared his answers on the way, replied in detail: "It is transmitted to humans by fleas carried by rats. Patients will have lumps in the groin, armpits, and neck, and the disease incubates for two to eight days. Once it breaks out, the patient will die within four hours, often accompanied by vomiting and diarrhea."

Upon hearing this, Empress Zhou, who had just raised her chopsticks, felt as if they weighed a thousand pounds and dropped them on the table, feeling slightly nauseous.

—This son knows everything and nothing at all! Couldn't these matters wait until after breakfast?

Empress Zhou took a deep breath.

Chongzhen had lost his appetite but did not show any anger. He asked again, "Was the black death in Europe also like this?"

"Because many of the dead turned black, the Europeans called it the black death," Zhu Chilang explained. "As for the number of deaths, Your Majesty can consult Johann Adam Schall von Bell from Germany."

"Summon Johann Adam Schall von Bell." Chongzhen was always decisive.

While waiting for the witness, Chongzhen asked about the transmission methods and observation of the plague bacteria.

"Because of the microscope," Zhu Chilang explained simply, "I know that there are things as large as Mount Tai and as small as dust, and even smaller than dust, such as bacteria."

Chongzhen nodded. He knew about the Crown Prince's invention and had seen plant veins through the simple microscope himself. At that time, the Crown Prince was a very humble person, saying that he had made it based on the "Treatise on Telescopes" presented by Johann Adam Schall von Bell in the second year of Chongzhen.

In fact, even Johann Adam Schall von Bell did not expect that a six-year-old child could make a microscope.

Although this invention had already been created by the Dutch forty years ago.

—No wonder the Crown Prince is so confident about going out to provide disaster relief; he already knows his enemy well.

Chongzhen thought to himself.

However, he did not know that Zhu Chilang would never really look for plague bacteria samples.

In this era without antibiotics, contracting the plague was almost a death sentence. He was not willing to risk bringing such a highly contagious disease to himself for the benefit of all humanity. Moreover, his microscope, though impressive, was not powerful enough to observe bacteria.

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