The cries of "Your Majesty is wise!" from the Execution Platform still seemed to echo in his ears.
Zi Shou knew those onlookers had only shouted it casually and probably would not take it to heart, but just thinking about it left him feeling sick.
To succeed, one had to stand on the shoulders of giants-no, that was wrong.
To fall deeper, one had to jump into the pit one's predecessors had dug.
The foolish monarchs of every dynasty had long since dug those pits through their own tireless efforts.
He had to learn. Learning knew no bounds, and these pits ran deep.
After pondering for a long time, Zi Shou finally chose Jiajing.
The Jiajing Emperor, Emperor Shizong of Ming.
Zi Shou had already learned just about everything he could from Zhu Houzhao, the Zhengde Emperor, Emperor Wuzong. It was time for his younger cousin.
Opinions on Jiajing were mixed. He was an emperor who had done both good and bad.
Aside from the previously mentioned feat of wiping out the entire Imperial Medical Academy, which made him quite an expert at medical disputes, there was another thing he had done that absolutely qualified as foolishness.
Keeping cats.
Unlike Wu Zetian, who hated cats, Jiajing loved cats more than people.
His two favorite cats were named Huamei and Lion Cat. Although he had not established an official household for a chicken like Gao Wei of Northern Qi, or made a dog an official like Emperor Ling of Han, he had granted his beloved cat the title "Horned Dragon" in a grand ceremony.
Like Zhengde's Leopard House, Jiajing had his own Cat House, staffed with several attendants dedicated to feeding cats that held formal status before the emperor. The attendants even received promotions to supervisory posts.
But the most important