King Xiang of the Red Chamber

Chapter 447: Your Majesty, please issue the decree!
The 12th year of Orthodoxy, the first day of March.

From the first day of the first lunar month to now, Jia Zhen has been in mourning in the mansion for 49 days, and today is the time for the funeral.

The Jia family has been making preparations for this for a long time, and all possible pomps have been arranged. Monks, Taoist priests, flags and banners are tied with various paper...

In addition to these pomps, many people came to pay tribute to Wu Xun in the capital, and many sacrifice tents were erected along the streets.

Except for people with particularly good relationships, most of these honors are sent by the family's nephews and nephews, and the Jia family only needs to send people to express gratitude in return.

But what everyone didn't expect was that King Beijing, the only remaining one among the four kings, actually came to the road festival in person.

This was indeed beyond the expectations of everyone in the Jia family, so Jia She and Jia Zheng summoned close relatives of the Jia family to go together to see Wang Shuirong of Beijing.

While everyone in the Jia family was preparing in a hurry, Shui Rong in the sedan chair tightened his clothes.

"You will definitely offend Prince Rui when you go to the road festival. Have you really decided?"

"I have no choice!"

"In that case, then you go!"

This was a conversation between Shui Rong and his wife before leaving today, and it came to mind again at this moment.

"Yeah... I have no choice at all. Only by following the prince will I get good results!"

After murmuring softly, Shui Rong completely made up his mind and his eyes became firm.

After about a few minutes, everyone in the Jia family finally finished preparations and came to the water-soluble sedan chair.

"I'm waiting to see you, Your Majesty!"

Even though Shuirong had no status in front of the three Zhu Jinghong brothers, his status as the king of the county was really high, so at this time, Jia Zheng and others were bowing down.

The curtain of the sedan was opened, and Shui Rong walked out of it, with a slightly sad look on his face.

"Everyone is flat!"

After everyone stood up, Shui Rong finally spoke: "My nephew Zhen and I have a close relationship. Now that his soul has returned to Jiuquan, it's really..."

Speaking of this, Shui Rong shed a few tears. He really felt sad at this moment.

Sad about being alone and helpless...

That's right, the dignified Prince of Beijing County actually feels helpless at this moment.

The reason why I felt this way was because I saw Jia Zhen dead and thought that he was beaten half to death by Zhu Jinghong and finally died early.

Although his title of Shui Rong is high, but in front of the three brothers Zhu Jinghong, what does he mean?
When water dissolves and produces negative thoughts, it can be regarded as touching the scene.

After expressing his condolences, Shui Rongfang raised his head and said: "This person has passed away, but the living still need to move forward. Don't mourn too much because the deceased is gone..."

In the whole house, Jia Zheng and Shui Rong had the closest relationship. At this time, he stepped forward and replied: "The funeral of my foolish nephew is coming from the county of Lei Meng. How can I bear this responsibility?"

Hearing these words, Shui Rong smiled and said: "We are friends from all over the world, how can we say this!"

After saying this, Shuirong ordered the palace chief Shi to pay a memorial ceremony for him, and Jia Zheng, Jia She and others followed him. After the memorial ceremony was completed, they returned to Shuirong.

Because the timeline was complete, Shui Rong and Jia Baoyu were already familiar with each other, and they started chatting with him at this moment.

After staying here for about a quarter of an hour, Shui Rong drove off and the Jia family's funeral procession was able to move on.

The news that Shui Rong was going to the road festival in person reached Zhu Jingyuan's ears an hour later. At this time, he was talking to the bachelors at Jixian Hall.

Jixian Hall is not the Hanlin Academy. The bachelors here are just ordinary Jinshi. According to common sense, they can only be sent to other places as county magistrates.

But with Zhu Jingyuan's help, they can often find a better place to go, so this group of people naturally follows Zhu Jingyuan's lead.

Recently, Zhu Jingyuan arranged for a few more people to go out, and naturally he won a lot of praise. At this moment, everyone is fawning over him.

Naturally, he was happy to be flattered, but Zhu Jingyuan couldn't be happy anymore when the news came.

"Your Highness, what happened?" an official asked.

Looking at everyone, Zhu Jingyuan just sighed, seeming hesitant to speak.

This made everyone more curious, so they asked about the situation again, and took the opportunity to express their loyalty to help him solve his problems.

Seeing that the atmosphere was almost tense, Zhu Jingyuan opened his mouth and said, "Someone is bullying me!"

Everyone who heard this was surprised. Who else in this world can bully you?Is it His Majesty the Emperor or the Prince?
"Your Highness, who is so ignorant?"

"Beijing Wang Shuirong, he and I have an old grudge, but his family has made great contributions to the country, so I can only be more tolerant!"

Here, Zhu Jingyuan ignored how Shui Rong bullied him because he didn't know how to make it up.

Others also knew that this was just a reason, and they did not delve into the details. They all understood that the point was that Zhu Jingyuan vented his anger.

"Your Highness, although King Beijing has made great contributions to the country, it does not mean that he can act unscrupulously..."

"What Mr. Chen said is reasonable. Our Ming Dynasty has national laws and regulations. Let alone the current King of Beijing, even if his ancestors are guilty, they should be punished according to national laws!"

These people are also very talkative. The ancestor of Beijing King can be given the title of king with a different surname by the ancestors. That is the absolute kingdom of Qiancheng.

If the first King of Beijing really stood here, these people would never dare to let go of anything.

Of course, there are no ifs in the world, so now they both dare and can fire at Beijing Wang Shuirong.

Everyone expressed their grievances for Zhu Jingyuan, but the latter said with a worried look on his face: "Forget it... He didn't make a big mistake after all. If he can't be brought to justice, it will only make him a laughing stock!"

On the surface, Zhu Jingyuan was saying to forget it, but in fact he made very strict demands. He wanted to kill the Prince of Beijing directly.

Ever since the Donghuamen Incident, nobles have adhered to a rule, which is not to participate in the struggle to establish the crown prince.

Now that Shui Rong is clearly siding with the crown prince, Zhu Jingyuan will never be happy unless he is killed to show his power to the public.

He also believed that the emerging nobles would definitely be happy to see the results of clearing out old nobles such as King Beijing who occupied high positions.

In fact, three of the four kings, eight princes and sixteen princes who assisted Shizu in Zhongxing were executed during Shizu's time, and three more families were destroyed due to crimes during the subsequent Taiping years.

In other words, under a system such as downgrading to nobility, it is extremely normal for nobles to decline or even die.

Since other nobles can perish, so can the Beijing Palace.

"Don't worry, Your Highness, the Prince of Beijing has always been domineering, and I will impeach him as soon as I find evidence of his crime!"

"This person has no duty to serve as a minister and yet he humiliates His Highness. This is unbearable..."

Seeing that everyone had unified their thoughts, Zhu Jingyuan felt truly relieved. He no longer needed his guidance on what to do next.

At the same time, the news of the memorial ceremony for Jia Zhen on Wanglu Road in Beijing also reached the ears of Xu Xinan, a bachelor of Zuo Chunfang.

Xu Xinan knew the serious relationship between them. He knew what King Beijing's actions today meant, and he also knew that Prince Rui's Mansion would definitely take action against him.

Xu Xinan naturally disliked Shui Rong's behavior of "exceeding the rules". As a civil servant, he rejected Wu Xun's involvement in seizing the direct descendants, believing that this was a way to create chaos.

But even if he was rejected, Xu Xinan had to be profit-oriented and unite a group of people to protect him in this matter.

Shui Rong himself did not expect such a situation at all. He only thought that following the prince would offend King Rui, and he thought about the seriousness of offending King Rui.

This is not because Shui Rong is not smart enough, but because he underestimated the significance of his actions to the entire drama of seizing the heir.

Soon, Xu Xinan found the prince Zhu Jingyuan, who was reading memorials as usual.

The memorials were all written a few years ago. Zhu Jingyuan mainly looked at what happened and how he responded to these things in his comments.

On his left and right sides, there were several bachelors accompanying him so that he could ask about the situation at any time.

After hearing Xu Xinan's analysis, Zhu Jingyuan was particularly surprised, and then became worried about Shui Rong.

Then, as always, he asked Xu Xinan how to deal with it.

"Your Highness, I thought..."......

While the two parties were making intensive preparations, Zhu Jinghong was accompanying the emperor to watch the martial arts performance.

More than 20 days have passed since the last outing. Hou Jing and Wang Jie have led their troops to the northwest. Others have also been assigned to the pro-army. Everyone has a good destination.

Today's military exercise is for the emperor to once again test the actual combat capabilities of the Northern Four Guards, and decide whether to send them north based on their performance today.

Although the generals of the Northern Four Guards were highly relied upon by the emperor, they all hoped to achieve more military exploits so as to lay the foundation for promotion.

There are only three options for pro-army commanders. The best is to be transferred to the Beijing camp to serve as deputy chief military officer, and the second is to be transferred to a local place as a capital commander.

As for the third way, that is to stay until the age of 50. The imperial court will give you the false title of deputy commander-in-chief of the Beijing Camp, and then you can serve as an official and go home to recuperate.

In other words, although the bodyguards and soldiers are deeply trusted by the emperor, it is not easy to be promoted to the commanding officer, so military merit is particularly important.

On the watchtower on the hillside, Zhu Xianming held a monocular and observed the movement and retreat of the troops on the plain below.

Zhu Jinghong stood quietly beside him. Although the emperor didn't say much during the whole process, he already felt that the old man was very satisfied today.

Behind them were the governors of the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion, as well as Qian Shi, who also served as the commander-in-chief of the Beijing camp, and other pro-army commanders.

Today's martial arts performance was to test the actual combat capabilities of the Northern Four Guards. Zhu Xianming didn't like to act arbitrarily on this kind of matter, so he called in senior military attachés to discuss the details.

Although the emperor did not speak, the military attachés behind him started talking, generally speaking in praise of the Northern Four Guards.

Not all armies have to conduct actual combat to test their combat effectiveness. The North Four Guards have already proven their strength by just performing military exercises.

The martial arts exercise lasted for an hour and ended. The unique combat method of infantry and artillery coordination put a bright smile on Zhu Xianming's face.

After the martial arts performance, Zhu Xianming did not leave in a hurry, but called the generals together for discussion.

In the meeting hall of the school ground, Emperor Zhu Xianming sat at the top of the table, and on his left stood Zhu Jinghong, holding a sword.

A group of generals were arranged on both sides of the hall according to their rank, and they were currently discussing the performance of the four northern guards.

Everyone is talking, and the angles and contents of their words are different, but there is only one meaning... The North Four Guards have actual combat capabilities.

After listening to everyone's thoughts, Zhu Xianming looked thoughtful. At this moment, he was making the final decision.

"His Majesty……"

"His Majesty……"

Several shouts came, and Zhu Xianming raised his head and looked forward, but it was the four commanders of the North Guards kneeling in front.

Jiang Qingsheng, the commander of the Yulin left guard at the front, has the highest rank among the four, so he is the leader.

"Your Majesty, Junggar is ambitious and intends to disturb the balance of the world. I serve as your majesty's pro-army and the sword of the emperor, and have been well treated by the court. Your Majesty has the trust of your Majesty..."

"At this time when the rebels are rebelling, I am able to sit back and enjoy the wealth and wealth. Please be gracious to Your Majesty. I will be loyal to you and serve the country. I will transfer my ministers to the northwest to conquer the rebels!"

Jiang Qingsheng had prepared these words a long time ago, so when he said them at this moment, he was not only fluent, but also had feelings about his family, country and world, which was quite effective.

"I hope that your majesty will grant you permission to attack the traitors, capture the enemy chiefs alive, and hold the emperor accountable for his crimes!"

This sentence was uttered by these four commanders together. The true feeling of loyalty to the emperor and the country was particularly contagious. At least Zhu Xianming was touched.

Immediately afterwards, the four people who were almost lying on the ground raised their heads in a very awkward posture and prayed: "Your Majesty, please issue an edict!"

"Your Majesty, please decree that the soldiers of the Four Northern Guards are willing to die for your Majesty!"

"Please give me your Majesty's decree!"

However, at this time, Zhu Xianming looked at Zhu Jinghong and said calmly: "There are really you guys!"

"Dad, my son really doesn't understand what you are saying!" Zhu Jinghong pretended to be confused.

After snorting twice, Zhu Xianming looked forward and said solemnly: "Okay, everyone, get up..."

"What does it look like for a dignified pro-army commander to be so frivolous and ungrateful as he is right now?"

That being said, everyone knew that the emperor was very happy at this time.

After Jiang Qingsheng and others got up to join the class, Zhu Xianming picked up the tea cup and asked: "What do you think of the North Fourth Guards participating in the war?"

Although there are many military attaches in the hall at the moment, the only ones who are qualified to speak on this matter are the governors of the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion.

"Reporting to your majesty, the four northern guards were originally strong soldiers, but now they have been completely transformed. I think they can be used!"

"The minister agrees..."

"The minister agrees..."

Although the Ministry of War has the power to deploy troops, it is a procedural process and they have little say in how the troops are deployed.

The advantage of military generals leading the army is that it can be oriented to war needs to the greatest extent without adding other unnecessary things.

So at this moment, the governors all support letting the Northern Four Guards participate in the war. On the one hand, they believe in the capabilities of the Northern Four Guards. On the other hand, they also want to know what the combat effectiveness of this new army is.

The latter point is particularly important, because it is related to the direction of military improvement and has a profound impact on the Ming Dynasty.

We all thought that with the support of ourselves and others, the emperor would agree.

Unexpectedly, Zhu Xianming looked at Zhu Jinghong again and asked, "What do you think?"

In fact, Zhu Xianming had already made up his mind, but he still asked this question by mistake, which made everyone at the scene think more.

"My son thought that we could let Bei Siwei give it a try!"

"Ok!"

"It was sent to the Ministry of Household Affairs to send an additional 70 shi of grain to the northwest, a message was sent to the Ministry of Industry to allocate ordnance, and a message was sent to the Ministry of War...the Northern Four Guards were sent to the northwest in mid-April!"

It is said that before the soldiers and horses are moved, food and grass should go first. In fact, in addition to food and grass, there are many things that need to be prepared for increasing the army.

Therefore, the North Fourth Guard will set off in mid-April, and there are still more than 40 days to prepare.

"I would like to thank Your Majesty for your kindness!" Jiang Qingsheng and four others went out to pay homage.

The other pro-army commanders present looked at them with envy in their eyes, secretly sighing that they were one step closer to promotion.

Regardless of the outcome of the war, just going to the northwest to fight a good battle can add a lot of luster to your resume and become an extremely powerful step into the military.

Next, everyone discussed the situation in the northwest, and then the emperor ordered the ministers to disperse and went to the palace himself.

On the way, Zhu Jinghong followed the dragon chariot on horseback, thinking about how he should speak.

After brewing for a while, Zhu Jinghong finally made up his mind and said, "Dad, my son also wants to visit the northwest!"

I only heard Zhu Xianming reply from inside the sedan: "I know you can't hold it in, so you better stop thinking about this matter. Even if I agree, your mother won't agree!"

"Dad... you are an emperor who obeys your words. Just agree to this. Are you still afraid that your mother will cause trouble for you?"

You really hit the mark... Although he thought so in his heart, Zhu Xianming said: "Your mother also loves and protects you, you kid, don't be ignorant!"

"Two years ago, when you went to Jinling with your fourth son, you got seriously ill and almost lost your life. You scared your mother half to death at that time, and she cried and complained every day..."

During those days, Zhu Xianming was also constantly complained by the queen, so he remembered the situation very clearly.

When I went to Jinling two years ago, it was outrageous that my predecessor, who was in good health, fell ill, and it was even more outrageous that he died of illness... The more Zhu Jinghong thought about this, the more wrong he became.

Thinking too much about it will lead to no results, so Zhu Jinghong gradually forgot about it, but now being mentioned by the emperor brought back his memories.

Could it be the murderous hand of Lao Liuxia?

(End of this chapter)