save the bachelors

Chapter 4228 Chapter 4230 [Plan to usurp the throne]

Xiang Nan then took the eight Tiangang and twelve Disha and went to the south to eliminate the eunuchs guarding the East Factory.

However, after leaving the capital, he cast the Soul-Taking Curse and controlled all eight Tiangang and twelve Disha.

As soon as they were asked, they found out that they were indeed secretly following the orders of the Godly Marquis and had the responsibility to secretly monitor the four major spies.

Once you detect that they have any intention of opposing the God, you must eliminate them immediately.

"It is true." Xiang Nan nodded, then branded the hand of Tian Gang, the leader, and gave him a two-sided mirror so that he could keep in touch with him anytime and anywhere.

Then, Xiang Nan left the team and asked them to go to the south to eliminate the eunuchs guarding the East Factory, while he quietly followed Haitang.

Haitang was in charge of leading a team to the west. She was loyal to the Godly Marquis and had no suspicion of the Heavenly Gang and Earthly Demons she led.

Therefore, if they wanted to kill her, she would have no chance of defending herself. She would probably die if they did it unintentionally, so Xiang Nan had to follow them and be ready to protect her at any time.

……

Three days later, Xiang Nan contacted Yagyu Tajima no Kami through a two-way mirror.

At this time, Yagyu Tajima no Kami received a letter from the divine prince via carrier pigeon and was rushing back to the capital, ready to assist him in usurping the throne and ascending to the throne.

It turned out that Kamio had made a deal with the Tokugawa Shogun of Fuso, asking the Tokugawa Shogun to help him usurp the throne. He promised that after ascending the throne, he would cede the Izumo Kingdom to the Tokugawa Shogun.

It turns out that Izumo was a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty. Fuso was ambitious and had long coveted Izumo. However, as the suzerain state, the Ming Dynasty naturally did not allow it.

Although Fuso was stronger than Izumo, it was weaker than Ming, so it did not dare to send troops easily because of Ming's obstruction. But if Ming acquiesced, Fuso could annex it.

In this way, Fuso's territory will be greatly expanded, and its population, wealth, and strength will also be greatly enhanced.

More importantly, Izumo Province is located on the mainland. After Fuso occupies it, it can further interfere with the Northeast and the grassland, and may even threaten the interior of the country.

Therefore, Tiedan Shenhou's action is tantamount to cutting flesh to feed the tiger, seeking the skin of the tiger, collaborating with the enemy and selling out the country, which will cause endless harm.

Of course, because the two parties had already made a deal, Yagyu Tajima no Kami had long known that the Lord of the Gods was planning to usurp the throne.

Now that Cao Zhengchun is dead, the last stumbling block for Shen Hou has been removed, and he has begun planning to force the emperor to abdicate and usurp the throne.

At this time, Kamiya recalled Yagyu Tajima no Kami to ask him to help assassinate those officials who were unwilling to be loyal to him and completely clear the obstacles for his ascension to the throne.

……

With the information from Yagyu Tajima no Kami, Xiang Nan knew more about the every move of the Godly Marquis.

It turned out that after Shen Hou successfully eliminated Cao Zhengchun, he went to the palace to meet the emperor that morning and presented the seventy major crimes of Cao Zhengchun that he had collected.

Among them are conspiracy to usurp the throne, usurpation of power, rudeness, forming cliques for personal gain, corruption and abuse of power, plundering by unscrupulous means, etc. Add them all together and it would not be an exaggeration to say that they should be put to death by slow slicing.

After seeing the evidence of Cao Zhengchun's crimes collected by the Divine Marquis, all the civil and military officials in the court said in unison, "Cao Zhengchun should be killed. He should have died long ago!"

Emperor Zhengde was naturally very dissatisfied when he saw that Shenhou had killed Cao Zhengchun without authorization.

Because he originally used Cao Zhengchun to check and balance Shenhou, and then used Shenhou to check and balance Cao Zhengchun, thus achieving the goal of political balance.

Now, Shen Hou killed a third-rank official in the street without asking for permission. It can be said that he did not take the emperor seriously. What's more troublesome is that without Cao Zhengchun's checks and balances, Shen Hou is the only one in the court, and he has no way to check and balance. Therefore, Emperor Zhengde was very annoyed and furious.

However, all the civil and military officials in the court said that he should be killed, and even as the emperor, he was unable to overcome the majority opinion.

Moreover, Cao Zhengchun is dead now, and he doesn't have any decent helpers around him. Under such circumstances, he can only swallow his anger and not only praise Shen Hou for eliminating traitors for the country, but also reward him lavishly.

……

Seeing this, Shen Hou became even more proud. He then advised Emperor Zhengde to issue an edict of repentance, stating that he should not have turned a blind eye to Cao Zhengchun's many acts of rebellion, disobedience, corruption and lawlessness, and issued an order to permanently abolish the East Factory.

Cao Zhengchun controlled the East Factory and the Embroidered Uniform Guard for many years. He held great power, formed cliques for personal gain, embezzled money and perverted the law, and persecuted loyal and good people. Almost all the civil and military officials in the court had been bullied by him, so they were naturally dissatisfied.

Now the Divine Marquis is in the right position and is advising the emperor to issue a self-criticism edict, which seems to them to be a bit too much and presumptuous.

But they had suffered so much injustice from Cao Zhengchun over the years. Now the emperor issued an edict of guilt, which they thought was justified.

Emperor Zhengde knew that if he issued an edict of repentance, people all over the world would call him a tyrant.

After all, for so many years, Cao Zhengchun and his eunuch party have been arrogant and domineering, doing whatever they want, taking bribes and perverting the law, and bullying the people, which has long aroused public anger.

But the people generally only blame the eunuchs and not the emperor.

Because since ancient times, China has always emphasized "Heaven, Earth, Emperor, Parents, and Teachers". The emperor is the true dragon and son of heaven, and he will never make mistakes.

Even a tyrant like Song Huizong was described as "the most holy and wise" in "Water Margin", who was only deceived by the four treacherous ministers Gao Qiu, Tong Guan, Cai Jing and Yang Jian.

Once this self-criticism edict was issued, all the people in the world knew that Cao Zhengchun was a person that the Zhengde Emperor valued. The reason why Cao Zhengchun was so bad was that the Zhengde Emperor let him do what he wanted.

If this happens, the people will curse him to death, and he will become notorious and his infamy will last forever.

What's more troublesome is that if he issues an edict of apology, he will no longer look like a human ruler. In this way, the divine candidate can easily replace him.

However, he did not intend to write it, but the divine princes and civil and military officials put unanimous pressure on him, forcing Emperor Zhengde to write it.

Therefore, he was helpless and had to issue a self-criticism edict, apologizing to all the people in the world for his favoritism to Cao Zhengchun, which allowed him to monopolize power, engage in corruption and pervert the law, and persecute loyal and good people.

After the edict of repentance was issued, Emperor Zhengde was, as expected, cursed by people all over the country, and public opinion was boiling with anger for a time.

In contrast, the divine prince who had exterminated the eunuch party became the savior of the people, a great hero, a great hero, and a great loyal minister. His image in the eyes of the people was unparalleled.

……

Seeing that public opinion had already been created, Shen Hou officially began to force the emperor to abdicate.

Now he has the support of the ten generals, and more than half of the civil and military officials in the court also support him.

More importantly, he also received strong support from the world's richest man, Wan Sanqian.

Wan Sanqian provided him with food, weapons and military equipment for his 800,000-man army, allowing him to completely control the military power. In this way, the God-Holder had great power in his hands and was naturally fearless.

He also promised Wan Sanqian that after he ascended the throne, he would not only strongly support him in making money and let him run the salt and iron business, but he even promised to marry Haitang to him.

After learning the news, Xiang Nan was naturally very angry. Shen Hou's behavior was simply despicable and extremely dirty.