King Xiang of the Red Chamber

Chapter 657: Cutting off people and making money
The princess's marriage is not just a matter of the day, there are also some tedious matters to be attended to afterwards.

But these had basically nothing to do with Zhu Jinghong. He stayed obediently in the palace and led a shameless and decadent life.

It was May, and after a delay of one and a half months, Prince Rui Zhu Jingyuan finally left Beijing and rushed to Nanjing to do his important business.

But before leaving, this guy played another big trick and asked the Jinyiwei to report the illegal activities of the servants of the former Guangyang Palace.

As soon as the incident happened, a large number of censors came and criticized General Zhu Jingrun harshly.

Zhu Jinghong would be fine in a storm of this magnitude, but it was a disaster for Zhu Jingrun.

On the ninth day of May, the third day after Zhu Jingyuan left, under widespread public criticism, the emperor once again issued an edict to demote Zhu Jingrun three levels, and his rank was reduced to lieutenant of the state.

During the more than 300 years since the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, there has never been an emperor's own son with the title of lieutenant defender of the country, and even the title of first-rank general defender of the country was extremely rare.

It can be said that Zhu Jingrun set a precedent but also became a disgrace to the royal family.

Perhaps Zhu Xianming also felt ashamed. After only two days, he ordered Zhu Jingrun to be demoted to a commoner and sent to Fengyang to be exiled, just to avoid seeing him and getting annoyed.
Honestly speaking, Zhu Xianming had indeed gone too far by imprisoning Zhu Jingrun's family for generations. Even the queen herself could not stand it and pleaded for Zhu Jingrun several times.

Even though she knew that Zhu Jingrun intended to seize the position of crown prince, the empress was still willing to give him a chance, but the emperor did not accept the empress's opinion.

Only three days later, Zhu Jingrun's entire family, under the escort of the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Eastern Depot, embarked on a life of prisoner in Fengyang.

For a time, all members of the royal family were shocked. After all, Zhu Jingrun was the emperor's son and much more noble than Zhu Jingting, a distant branch of the royal family.

If even such a person is subject to such severe punishment, then who else would dare to make a mistake? They can only behave themselves as much as possible.

There were many royal family members who relied on their status to bully good people, but after this incident, they restrained themselves a lot, and the people in the capital all praised the emperor for his wisdom.

Time flies, and in a blink of an eye, another seven or eight days have passed, and Zhu Jinghong's house arrest period has finally arrived.

In the past three months, he has been much more well-behaved than before, and he immediately let himself go when the house arrest was over.

First of all, he went to Shanglin Garden and invited a group of clan members and guards to go hunting together.

The most active in this regard are Zhu Jingchun and his partner, who have always liked to join in the fun.

There is a Liang Mansion to the north of the capital. Zhu Yunsheng is sitting in the main hall, and the son-in-law Liang Yi is standing in front of him.

"Brother Thirteen invites you to go hunting, why don't you go?" Zhu Yunsheng asked softly.

"I'm not feeling well and don't want to go!" Liang Yi answered casually.

Knowing that he was pretending to be sick, Zhu Yunsheng explained: "The people attending today are all close relatives of the royal family, as well as meritorious nobles and talented people. It would be a good thing for you to meet them!"

In the past, Liang Yi was just the son of a second-class male family. As the lowest among the nobles, he had no right to come into contact with these people.

Only now that he has become a royal consort can he integrate into this circle, but it is obvious that he is quite disgusted with the idea of ​​living off others.

"I'm not looking for promotion or wealth, so what's the point of meeting them!" Liang Yi said calmly.

But it was this calmness that revealed his inner dissatisfaction with his marriage to Zhu Yunsheng.

Why don't men take Wu Gou and recover the fifty states of Guanshan...

Liang Yi also fantasized about fighting for a bright future through his own efforts, but all his dreams of becoming a royal consort turned into a bubble.

Although he is now a super-rich man, facing the wealth that is within his reach, he only feels disgust and frustration.

Zhu Yunsheng is a smart person, but she only figured it out in the past two days.

But now that the marriage is done, there is no possibility of regretting it, and she can only guide Liang Yi to accept the reality.

"I know you are angry and feel that your future has been ruined, but as the legitimate daughter of an imperial family, have I wronged you?"

"You can be angry, and I can tolerate it, but my father and brother... can they tolerate your behavior?"

Standing up, Zhu Yunsheng said seriously: "I'm not threatening you. Even if you don't think about yourself, you should think about your family!"

This is the truth. Just because Zhu Yunsheng can tolerate Liang Yi doesn’t mean the royal family can tolerate him.

"Now that the matter is settled, whether you like it or not, you and I are already husband and wife... Since you are not afraid of fighting in the battlefield, are you afraid of marrying a princess?"

Zhu Yunsheng is also good at persuading people, and his words left Liang Yi speechless.

Then she walked closer to Liang Yi, walked around behind him and continued, "To be honest, given your family's original first-class male title, you are only a sixth-rank official when you first join the army. Even if you are lucky enough to survive a long battle, can you be promoted to the second or third rank?"

Zhu Yunsheng didn't know much about these things at first, but after she knew what Liang Yi was thinking, she asked someone to find out.

Seeing Liang Yi's thoughtful expression, Zhu Yunsheng continued, "Even if you are promoted to the second or third rank, how high a title can you get?"

At this time Liang Yi replied: "Your Highness, are you saying that now that I am a super-class person, I should be content?"

"You have always wanted to bring glory to your family. Now that you are soaring to the sky, isn't that just what you want?"

"How could I be a person who covets wealth and fame!" Liang Yi sneered. He felt that the princess in front of him was very vulgar.

Zhu Yunsheng was not annoyed, but said bluntly: "Humph... You are not greedy for wealth and fame, you are just hypocritical!"

Her judgment was indeed correct. Liang Yi's unhappiness came from his "arrogance", but objectively speaking, it did seem pretentious.

Neither of the two young men was able to convince the other at this time, so the atmosphere became somewhat tense.

At this time, a maid appeared outside the house and asked, "Princess, how should I respond? The people in Prince Xiang's mansion are still waiting!"

"Tell him that the prince consort will arrive on time!"

"Yes!"

Liang Yi really didn't want to go, but now Zhu Yunsheng had made the decision for him, so he had to go even if he didn't want to.

At this moment, Liang Yi looked annoyed, but he could only swallow his bitterness.

"I'd feel bad seeing you anyway, so just take it as a way to relax!"

…………

It was almost noon, and the people Zhu Jinghong had summoned had already arrived at Shanglin Garden.

This place is the royal hunting ground. Normally, no one dares to ride horses here except the garrison troops.

The arrival of Zhu Jinghong and his party made this forest, which had been quiet for several months, lively again.

"Thirteenth brother, I asked the mansion to prepare good wine today. We will have lunch at Shanglin Garden at noon!" Zhu Jingchun said while riding a horse and squeezing in aside.

"You can arrange it too!" Zhu Jinghong said with a laugh.

Zhu Jingchun smiled and said, "I can't let you worry about it all the time!"

Looking forward, Zhu Jinghong said with a smile: "Then I'll listen to you!"

Besides Zhu Jingchun and Zhu Jinghao, Zhu Jinghong was also accompanied by Zhang Lin, Lu Yuxin and others, as well as the Dragon Guards who accompanied him.

As for other royal nobles, they were scattered at a farther distance, trying their best to obtain prey.

After riding forward for a while, Zhu Jinghong said, "I say, since you two are here to hunt, don't always follow me around, go and do some riding and shooting!"

He made such a big fuss when his confinement period was over, actually he was testing the emperor.

Now that the emperor did not stop him, it gave him greater courage and he would look for opportunities to make bolder attempts, such as Li Wenzhao's position as a thousand households.

Of course, we can't rush this matter for now. We have to find a suitable opportunity.

Zhu Jinghong's side was bustling with activity. Meanwhile, at the other side of the palace, Baochai was also hosting a banquet to entertain guests.

The people who visited today were high-ranking ladies, all of whom were countesses or above. Their presence was very telling. Of course, since it was just a group of ladies, it didn't seem to be a big taboo.

Grandmother Jia was also among the guests, and she was accompanied by her two daughters-in-law and her two granddaughters.

While everyone was chatting and laughing, Yingchun sat alone in the corner, forming a sharp contrast with Tanchun, who was good at dancing with long sleeves.

Seeing this scene, Grandmother Jia was also worried.

Yingchun is almost seventeen years old, but she still hasn't found a marriage, which makes the old lady worried.

Of course, the Jia family is responsible for this, but in Grandmother Jia's opinion, the important reason is Yingchun's own lack of ambition.

Every family that marries a daughter-in-law wants a virtuous wife, and Yingchun's performance is obviously not up to the task.

As a result, Grandmother Jia seized every opportunity to "promote" her granddaughter among the nobles, but her actions further exposed Yingchun's "incompetence".

For example, at this moment, Yingchun, who was sitting in her seat stiffly, was mentally crossed out by the ladies present.

On the contrary, Tanchun's performance was highly regarded by most people present, but they did not want to marry her.

While everyone was chatting and laughing, a rider on a flying horse arrived at the imperial city and delivered the urgent items he was carrying into the palace.

Inside the Qianqing Palace, Zhu Xianming looked at the report in his hand with a grim expression.

"I didn't go to fight these barbarians, but they dared to show off their power to me!" Zhu Xianming said angrily.

The original report was that around mid-April, more than a dozen merchant ships that sailed from Fujian were all seized by the Spanish fleet.

These people seized the ship on the pretext of searching for pirates, looted the cargo, and killed all the merchantmen on board.

The nearby Jinling Navy and Zhejiang Navy did not dare to act on their own after learning of the situation and could only watch the Spanish fleet come and go freely.

"It's unbearable!"

At this moment, Zhu Xianming finally realized the importance of having a strong navy. It turned out that the enemy would really come from the sea.

Today, the total tax revenue from maritime trade is nearly 10 million taels per year. This is a huge fortune and a benefit that Zhu Xianming absolutely cannot give up.

Perhaps, a temporary retreat could make the Western barbarians retreat and gain extremely rich short-term benefits, but Zhu Xianming could be sure that it would be a huge loss in the long run.

Even as Zhu Jinghong said, the inability to travel around the world caused the Ming Dynasty or China to lose its future.

Of course, even without mentioning these ambitious goals, the huge tax losses caused by the fact that merchant ships now dare not go out to sea are enough to make Zhu Xianming anxious.

Cutting off someone's source of wealth is like killing his parents, and for Zhu Xianming, not being able to earn money was more painful than killing the emperor.

Therefore, he would not be able to sleep or eat unless he killed the Spaniards.

"Send this urgent letter to the Five Military Commander's Office and have them come see me after reading it!" Zhu Xianming ordered in a cold voice.

Cheng Ying immediately took it and told the eunuch to pass on the message that he would not leave the emperor unless there were special circumstances.

Zhu Xianming went around to the desk, where he saw several intelligence reports clearly listing the enemy and our own situation.

The current Spanish fleet has 17 Class A warships, 38 Class B warships, and 63 Class C warships.

The Jinling Navy had seven A-class ships, twenty-two B-class ships, and thirty-one C-class ships; the Zhejiang Navy had eight A-class ships, twenty-seven B-class ships, and twenty-eight C-class ships.

In other words, the Nanjing Navy and the Zhejiang Navy combined were barely on par with the Spanish fleet in Luzon.

If the imperial court were to really fight with the other side, it would be hard to tell whether it could win.

While he was thinking, Zhu Xianming suddenly asked, "Is Old Thirteen still hunting?"

"Yes... I heard that Master Thirteen is planning to stay at Shanglin Garden tonight!"

"Stay one night?"

Cheng Ying then replied: "I heard that he brought a military tent!"

Zhu Xianming had a frown on his face, but he couldn't help laughing when he heard this. He then said, "Wait another hour and ask him to come see me!"

"Yes!"

As for Zhu Jinghong, the morning hunting had ended and he was now sitting on a camp chair, watching the people in front of him busying around.

Zhu Jingchun was stirring the meat in the pot with a spoon, while Zhu Jinghao was adding firewood under the pot.

As for the other nobles and royal family members, they were either cutting meat with knives, piercing meat with skewers, or making fire...

They would never get involved in these things on normal days, but they are doing it now, firstly to curry favor with Zhu Jinghong, and secondly because they think it is quite fun.

While everyone was busy, Zhu Jinghong was seeking peace and quiet in the midst of the hustle and bustle, sitting there and watching everyone quietly.

At this time, he understood a truth more clearly: power is not just granted from top to bottom, the real power is supported from bottom to top.

And the current situation is enough to show that he is deeply supported.

Otherwise, any normal person would avoid a prince who has been under house arrest for three months instead of rushing to get close to him.

Zhu Jinghong is not complacent about this, and even wants to keep a low profile. He will not dare to do such things again in the future.

"Your Highness, the consort is here!" Yu Hai's voice sounded from the side.

There are two princes-in-law present today, one is the husband of Zhu Jinghong's half-sister, and the other is Zhu Yunsheng's prince consort Liang Yi.

Looking at Liang Yi who appeared in front of him, Zhu Jinghong became curious about him.

This guy used to be lively and confident, and he was in high spirits on the polo field, which left a very deep impression on him.

"Greetings to Your Highness!"

Looking at Liang Yi kneeling in front of him, Zhu Jinghong said calmly: "Stand up... No need to be polite!"

"Thank you, Your Highness!"

"Move him a chair!" Zhu Jinghong ordered Yu Hai.

"Yes!"

Liang Yi was flattered by this situation. He had never thought that he would be able to have a conversation with Zhu Jinghong, let alone have a seat in front of him.

The reason I have this qualification now is all because of Zhu Yunsheng’s face.

"Hey...brother-in-law is here!" Zhu Jinghao's voice came from behind.

Liang Yi quickly stood up and saluted. Although he was a little arrogant, he didn't show it at all in front of these real big shots.

"Sit down, sit down..." Zhu Jinghao waved his hand, looking very warm.

But Liang Yi knew very well how powerful the Prince of Jinghai was, and he was harmless in front of Zhu Jinghong.

Liang Yicai appeared and sat down, and another voice came over: "Third sister has been here these days, you haven't let her suffer any injustice, right?"

So he could only stand up again and salute Zhu Jingchun who was approaching.

"Greetings to Your Highness!"

"Why call me Your Highness? Just call me Fourteenth Brother like you do my third sister!" Zhu Jingchun said with a smile.

Zhu Jingchun was wrong here. When something happened, Zhu Yunsheng called him "Brother Fourteen", and when he annoyed the girl, he would just call her "Zhu Fourteen".

(End of this chapter)