King Xiang of the Red Chamber

Chapter 649: Western Barbarians Send Envoys

The arrival of the emperor and empress was worshipped by everyone present.

But in fact there is a subtle difference here, that is, the queen is more popular, and the emperor is always more feared.

The Queen has been seriously ill recently, and the entire palace seems to have lost its protection. Not to mention the lowest-level palace maids and eunuchs, even the concubines in the harem have to live with extra caution.

The emperor and empress took their seats, and then the banquet officially began.

Although the emperor wanted the banquet to be more casual and reflect the warm atmosphere of a family banquet, he was still not satisfied with the performance of the people.

But he also knew that the royal family could not be the same as ordinary people, and many barriers and boundaries existed naturally.

Not only are there barriers, but there are also circles. For example, the four legitimate children talk together, and only Zhu Jingchun and Zhu Jinghao can squeeze in.

"Third sister, you are going to get married in the blink of an eye. It seems that fourth brother is getting old!" Zhu Jingyuan sighed.

Holding the mutton-fat jade cup in his hand, Zhu Yunsheng turned around and said, "Fourth brother, you are a thousand years old, but to be precise, you haven't grown up yet!"

Hearing this, several people at the scene laughed, and at this moment they were smiles that came from the heart.

Zhu Jingyuan said, "Third sister, if fourth brother hasn't grown up, wouldn't I be a child?"

Nodding, Zhu Yunsheng looked at Zhu Jinghong who was not far away and said, "Brother Thirteen is still a baby, and he is a headache when he makes a fuss!"

It is really funny to see a tough guy like Zhu Jinghong being described as a baby by Zhu Yunsheng.

Especially at this moment, he was holding the leg of lamb in his hand and looking at everyone at the scene with a confused face, which attracted even louder laughter.

Sitting on the throne, looking at his legitimate children chatting and laughing in harmony, Zhu Xianming was somewhat touched. After all, it was rare for these three brothers to get along without quarreling.

Soon, Zhu Xianming's thoughts flew to more than thirty years ago, when he was a close brother of the Crown Prince and the King of England. If he had not been born into the royal family, he would have surely had a good end.

The scenes of the brothers riding horses and hunting together when they were young and chatting and laughing appeared before his eyes unconsciously.

Soon, his thoughts returned to the scene, and at this time Zhu Jinghong and others were still talking and laughing, which made the emperor smile.

The queen was also very happy at this time, so she took the initiative to pick up the teacup and toasted to the emperor beside her.

"Your Majesty, please!"

"Madam, please!"

Hearing the emperor's address, Yang Qingyin felt a little shy and rolled her eyes at the emperor, but she was very happy in her heart.

Time passed quickly. An hour later, the banquet ended and the princes began to leave the palace with their princesses and children.

Of course the Crown Prince and Prince Rui walked in front. After their sedan chairs left one after another, it was Zhu Jinghong's turn to get on the sedan chair and leave. This was all determined by his title and status.

"Third brother, are you feeling better today?" Zhu Jinghong glanced at Prince Guangyang not far away.

The eldest and second sons died one after another, and this Prince Guangyang Zhu Jingrun was the de facto eldest son of the emperor.

Zhu Jingrun had never been in good health, and at this time he was still hunched over, supported by his two sons on both sides. His princess was talking to the fifth son's wife in the back.

"Thirteenth brother, it's like this anyway, wasting away half-dead... it's nothing like you riding a horse and killing the enemy across thousands of miles!"

Hearing Zhu Jingrun's sigh, Zhu Jinghong smiled and said, "Third brother, don't underestimate yourself. You are also good at what you do, but outsiders just don't know it!"

Hearing this, Zhu Jingrun's expression tensed up, but he immediately relaxed again, and asked with a smile: "Thirteenth brother, I am not that great, so don't flatter me!"

"I heard that you have a great hand in calligraphy, with vigorous and powerful writing. Isn't that amazing? Hundreds of years later, when we talk about famous calligraphers, you will definitely have a place among them!"

Hearing this, Zhu Jingrun felt relieved and immediately replied: "Thirteenth brother, you really flatter me. I just wrote a few words randomly, and you think I'm a famous calligrapher!"

Jinghai Prince Zhu Jinghao squeezed over and said with a smile: "Third brother, I also want to practice calligraphy recently. How about you give me some pointers?"

At this time, Qingyang Prince Zhu Jingchun sneered: "What are you practicing for? My third brother is so peaceful. If you go there, you will make his house a mess!"

"Nothing like you. You had a conflict with others and were taken to the clan house!" Zhu Jinghao retorted.

This time, the topic was brought up to the previous incident. Zhu Jingrun felt awkward and said, "Brothers, the previous incident has just been resolved. Please don't mention it again!"

At this time, Baochai came forward accompanied by two princesses and said coldly, "You are the princes of the royal family. Your every move attracts attention. How can you be so ignorant of the limits when joking?"

Being scolded coldly by Baochai, Zhu Jingchun and the others lowered their heads and bowed, saying, "Sister-in-law, you are right. We know we are wrong!"

With just one sentence, she made the two princes bow their heads. Was this Xue Baochai's strength? No, it was because of Old Thirteen's identity... Zhu Jingrun thought so in his heart.

There is only one level difference between a prince and a prince, except that there are two fewer dragons on their clothes, but their status is worlds apart.

"Okay, stop talking nonsense from now on!" Zhu Jinghong said.

"Yes!" Zhu Jingchun and the other man responded quickly.

"Third brother, please go first!" Zhu Jinghong turned around and started to chat politely with Zhu Jingrun who was standing beside him.

"Thirteenth brother, you go first!" Zhu Jingrun said modestly.

Although he is the older brother, some things have to follow the unspoken rules, especially at this critical moment.

To the extent that at this moment Zhu Jingrun was wondering if Old Thirteen was testing him!
In these years, he has been hiding from the court and the country, watching the political situation and the fight for the throne with a cold eye. Because he is not involved, he can see it very clearly.

So he understood that the Prince Xiang in front of him, the Thirteenth Master whom the world thought was reckless, was actually the most scheming and the most powerful.

Therefore, tonight, every word Zhu Jinghong said would make Zhu Jingrun think more.

At this time, Zhu Jingrun felt uneasy again when he heard Zhu Jinghong asking him to go first, so he kept refusing.

While the two of them were arguing, Baochai was instructing the two princesses, asking them to control their men more and not to get into trouble every day.

Baochai often heard similar words from the Queen, which shows that women really like to make things difficult for other women.

In the end, Zhu Jinghong still didn't say anything to Zhu Jingrun. He took Baochai into the sedan chair and walked out of the imperial city.

Inside the sedan, Zhu Jinghong sat in the main seat and Baochai sat in the guest seat.

Holding the teacup in her hand, Baochai stared at the amber tea and asked slowly, "What did you mean just now?"

"What do you mean?" Zhu Jinghong looked puzzled.

"What's the meaning of constantly asking Third Brother to go first?" Baochai asked, looking up.

"He's not in good health, and he's far away, so just let him go!"

At this point, Zhu Jinghong smiled and added: "Like the story of Kong Rong!"

Baochai raised her head and said calmly, "You are generous, but you embarrass others!"

In fact, Zhu Jinghong didn’t think so much about it. He was simply trying to be humble to Zhu Jingrun.

He was in the middle of the situation and couldn't see the whole picture, but Baochai, who was watching from the sidelines, could see a little bit of the clue.

Although some of Zhu Jingrun's micro-expressions when he spoke were well hidden and disappeared quickly, they were still caught by Baochai.

After repeated consideration, Baochai was almost certain that this third brother was not right and must be hiding something. "Embarrassing?"

"Isn't it embarrassing? You should be more careful in the future!" Baochai remained calm.

She was now in the sedan chair, with guards, maids and eunuchs accompanying her outside. It was really not the right place to talk, so she didn't plan to talk about Zhu Jingrun now.

So they chatted about some daily things, and returned to the palace after about half an hour. Then Zhu Jinghong was led to the back garden by Baochai.

The back garden is spacious, so you can be sure that no one will eavesdrop and you can say anything here.

"The third brother is probably not simple!" Baochai said the first sentence.

Zhu Jinghong had said this just half an hour ago, so he smiled and replied: "Yes, he has a good handwriting, I knew it a long time ago!"

Baochai didn't smile at this time. She just stood beside Zhu Jinghong and said seriously, "Just now when you were talking to Third Brother, I saw that he looked uneasy and his eyes were evasive..."

"Oh?"

At this moment, Zhu Jinghong understood what Baochai meant, so he stopped and turned around.

"Especially when it comes to the previous incident!"

While speaking, Baochai was constantly thinking and analyzing, which made her thoughts clearer and clearer, and a bold guess emerged in her mind.

Zhu Jinghong also frowned and thought. He didn't expect that something he did casually would lead to such an accident.

So far, the mastermind behind the previous incidents has not surfaced yet.

Although Zhu Jinghong guessed that it was the Crown Prince and Prince Rui, no matter who he inferred was the mastermind, there were many things that didn't make sense.

The reason why I identified these two people was entirely out of inertia and from the perspective of benefit.

"You mean... the third brother..."

For a moment, Zhu Jinghong thought of a lot of things and was suddenly shocked.

He suddenly realized that if the third brother was the mastermind behind the scenes, he could really use the previous incident to throw dirty water on the three royal sons.

"I was implicated in the rumors, and the fourth and sixth brothers were suspected of framing me. It can be said that... I killed three birds with one stone!" Zhu Jinghong said with emotion.

Comparing oneself to a "bird" is really unique.

But Baochai couldn't laugh at this time. She just continued, "My eldest brother committed suicide, and my second brother died early. He is the eldest son of the emperor!"

"He has been recuperating at home these years. How could he have such means to mobilize so many officials to stir up trouble..."

Baochai didn't understand the second half of the sentence, but she reminded him again: "If you can hide, why can't others hide?"

I don’t know the true face of Mount Lu, just because I am in this mountain!
Baochai's final reminder made Zhu Jinghong truly certain that the third brother might really be the mastermind behind the scenes.

Although there are still many things that don’t make sense, it gave Zhu Jinghong a new direction, which might be a breakthrough to the truth.

Zhu Jinghong continued walking forward without saying anything more. He wanted to review the case again and then sort out his thoughts.

Baochai followed behind him and didn't say a word. She was also thinking about the whole process.

About a few minutes later, Zhu Jinghong walked to the pavilion by the lake, sat down with the help of the railing, and said, "Chen Yuntai has been investigating for so long, but he has only found some trivial matters. I think we can ask him to change the direction!"

"Check the Prince Guangyang's Palace directly?" Baochai asked.

To investigate a prince, first of all, it is difficult, and secondly, it will be impossible to shed light on the matter once it is exposed.

"Investigate!" Zhu Jinghong looked determined.

"Should we ask Chen Yuntai to send someone to investigate?"

"No... Chen Yuntai has instructed several times to let Li Wenzhao handle this matter!"

Although Chen Yuntai was promoted to deputy captain based on his "merit", he actually relied on Zhu Jinghong's support. Everyone who is interested in this knows this.

Chen Yuntai has been assigned to do several tasks recently, and it is not appropriate to assign him such a critical mission at the moment, otherwise the risk of being exposed will be very high.

On the contrary, Li Wenzhao has not received many instructions recently, so it would be more appropriate to assign him to do the job.

"This matter involves a lot of serious matters, so we must send a reliable person to handle it!" Baochai reminded again.

Zhu Jinghong replied: "Li Wenzhao is mature and prudent, he will understand the pros and cons!"

Li Wenzhao had been in Beijing for several years and had handled many private matters for Zhu Jinghong, promoting several people in the process.

These people are not only his confidants, but also have received a lot of money from the palace. Their interests are highly tied to the Xiangwang Palace, so he can rest assured when letting them do their work.

"Ok!"

The two men agreed on the matter, but did not act in a hurry. Instead, they planned to wait for two days and let Deng An pass on the message quietly.

Two days passed quickly, and when the Prince Xiang's Mansion sent Deng An to deliver the message, a group of people came from outside the capital, a relatively rare group of foreigners.

It is said to be rare, but it is not that rare. After all, there are at least thousands of Westerners living in the capital city, most of whom are businessmen or craftsmen.

The people who have arrived in Beijing now are neither craftsmen nor merchants, but envoys from Spain.

These people had reported in advance, so they had an official letter issued by the Jinling Provincial Government allowing them to enter the capital smoothly.

After finding a "guide" in the city, they were led to the imperial city. People from the Honglu Temple had been waiting outside after receiving the news.

Although there were many people in the delegation, only three of them were able to enter the imperial city, and the others were taken to the residence.

Even those who entered the imperial city could not see the emperor directly, but were taken to the Honglu Temple.

The letter they submitted was translated by the people from the Honglu Temple half an hour later and then submitted to the Tongzhengsi.

Another half an hour later, the translated letter appeared on Zhu Xianming's desk.

The two countries agreed to be brotherly countries and help each other. This is the main content of the letter of credence.

A few months ago, the Spanish fleet attacked Luzon, occupied the port and killed countless people. The ruler of Luzon had asked the Ming Dynasty for help.

And now, this bunch of murderers and arsonists actually said that they came with peace and friendship, which must have made Zhu Xianming laugh.

Zhu Xianming had already formulated a strategy for intervening in the affairs of Luzon.

If the matter could be resolved peacefully, Zhu Xianming would not resort to force, so he had sent officials to negotiate with the Spaniards in advance.

However, the negotiations were fruitless, and then the Spaniards sent someone themselves and delivered the letter in his hand.

The issue of Luzon was also mentioned, but they had no intention of withdrawing, and instead talked about their own helplessness.

But they were also willing to ease relations with the Ming Dynasty, so they came here specifically to negotiate.

(End of this chapter)