King Xiang of the Red Chamber

Chapter 737 Royal Troubles

"My beloved concubine, what do you mean by this?"

Zhu Jingyuan is not a fool, he certainly knows what it means. Asking the question at this moment is to let Yuanchun clarify it, which is somewhat like shirking responsibility.

Yuanchun knew Zhu Jingyuan's character and was not surprised at all. She approached him and whispered, "What I mean is that we should start now!"

Then Zhu Jingyuan subconsciously asked: "What is your plan, my beloved concubine?"

"According to the previous agreement, we will take action together inside and outside the imperial city, and there will be no other problems!"

They had already made several plans regarding the details of how and where to do it, so there was no need to discuss too much at this time.

Nodding, Zhu Jingyuan asked, "When and where will we start?"

Yuanchun replied: "August 15th, in Chonghua Palace!"

On the Mid-Autumn Festival on August 15th, according to tradition, the royal family will hold a family banquet in Chonghua Hall, and all the royal relatives will attend.

In recent years, Zhu Jinghong has been away from Beijing most of the time, and Baochai is the only one present at Prince Xiang's mansion.

"My mother has passed away, I'm afraid my father... won't hold a banquet!" Zhu Jingyuan said hesitantly.

Yuanchun said, "But apart from the Mid-Autumn Festival, the next time we can gather together for a festival is the Wanshou Festival in November!"

Before the death of the retired emperor, the emperor did not celebrate his own birthday. It was only in the last two years that he celebrated his own birthday, which shows that he did not celebrate his father's birthday. In fact, he did it to save money.

As for why we chose a festival, it is because we need to strengthen our vigilance at this time and the personnel adjustments involved are relatively large, which provides an opportunity to fish in troubled waters.

"I'm afraid that father may not be able to celebrate his birthday this year!" Zhu Jingyuan sighed.

Zhu Jingyuan knew very well how upset the old man felt, so he made this guess.

Yuanchun continued, "So... we have to seize every opportunity. The longer we wait, the smaller our chances of winning!"

"Your Highness is right. We can't have a big Mid-Autumn Festival this year, so we have to find a way... to let Father hold the banquet as usual?"

"What can I think of?" Zhu Jingyuan's mind was empty.

"Since the death of my mother, my father has been unhappy. Not only are the people inside and outside the palace worried, but even my mother's spirit in heaven would be worried if she saw this!"

"We can use this as evidence to persuade Father to hold a banquet as usual when the Mid-Autumn Festival is approaching, so that the family can reunite... and let Mother be at ease!"

There is some truth in what he said, but Zhu Jingyuan is not sure whether he can achieve his goal in the end.

But as Yuanchun said, now we can only try to find a solution instead of just sitting and waiting.

"Okay, when the Mid-Autumn Festival is approaching, I will personally persuade Father!"

Nodding, Yuanchun continued, "It's not just us who have to persuade them, we also have to get the Sixth and Thirteenth Brothers to contribute!"

"How can they obey my orders?"

Seeing that Zhu Jingyuan was not thinking straight, Yuanchun patiently explained: "They won't listen, but are willing to do things to please the old man. If we bring it up... I think they will support it!"

Of course, this is just a possibility, and Yuanchun is not 100% sure about it.

The two men discussed for a while, and then a eunuch outside reported that a scholar had arrived, so the prince went out to the front hall to discuss matters.

When Yuanchun came out of the study and returned to her bedroom, someone told her that Miaoyu was waiting for her.

To Yuanchun and even to the Eastern Palace, Miaoyu is a most trusted minister at the moment, because more than half of the people they sent into the palace are members of the White Lotus Sect.

As for the remaining half, they were people found by the Eastern Palace itself, mainly those who were unsuccessful or had been treated unfairly by the court.

"My queen, do you really want to kill Prince Rui and Prince Xiang?"

Miaoyu was the main instigator of this action, but Yuanchun just proposed to kill Zhu Jinghong and Zhu Jingyuan.

In Miaoyu's original plan, the action was to force the emperor to abdicate, and then the prince would inherit the throne. Little did he know that he would have to kill the other two princes.

It didn't really matter if he was killed, but Miaoyu felt uncomfortable about killing Zhu Jinghong.

Simply put, she actually didn't want Zhu Jinghong to die.

The reason is very simple. Zhu Jinghong is her only man, so Miaoyu fell in love with him.

In the past, she hated Zhu Jinghong to the core, but when she learned that she had to kill him, she realized her true feelings and realized that she didn't hate that man so much.

"How can we accomplish anything if we don't kill them?" Yuanchun asked back.

"Why...are you scared?"

When Yuanchun coldly questioned her, Miaoyu immediately raised her head and answered very solemnly: "I'm not afraid, I'm just a little surprised!"

"Master Miaoyu, if this is accomplished, your great wish will be fulfilled!"

"You must not have any distracting thoughts at this moment, just follow our plan and get the job done!"

"I understand!" Miaoyu nodded.

"When the mission is accomplished, you will be the chief contributor. Then the prince will appoint you as the national teacher. You will surely become a master of your generation!"

Yuanchun was just making promises to Miaoyu, but what she was thinking in her heart was that after the success, she would kill Miaoyu and her gang to help the Eastern Palace wipe out these stains.

However, facing Yuanchun's big promise, Miaoyu was completely unmoved. She thought that maybe she could find a way to take Zhu Jinghong away and put him under secret house arrest, which would not harm the prince's plans.

Of course, doing so went against the prince's arrangement, so Miaoyu was willing to give up the so-called first merit, and did not even seek the empty title of a master.

This was a very immature idea. When Miaoyu reconsidered the matter, even she was shocked.

She is already thinking about what will happen next before the big thing even starts. This is indeed too optimistic.

Soon another two days passed, and the East Factory had investigated Zhao Jin's situation and confirmed that what Zhao Jin said was true.

Zhao Jin's lawsuit against Ningguo Mansion was formally referred to the three judicial departments for trial, and there was a heated debate in the public opinion field about this.

People in the Eastern Palace made a big fuss about Youshi's martyrdom, while people in Prince Rui's party fanned the flames, keeping this case at the center of public opinion.

At this point, no matter how the Jia family was dealt with, the purpose of Rui Wangfu forcing the Eastern Palace had been achieved.

But the case must be tried to a conclusion, and investigation and evidence collection also take time. Unfortunately, most of the evidence obtained by the three judicial departments was unfavorable to the Ningguo Mansion.

There is no way. Jia Rong is such a bastard. He has done so many evil things. Now there are people who are happy to blame him for what he has done.

On July 25th, someone from the Shuntian government filed a complaint against the Jia family, pushing the Jia family into the abyss again.

The person who made the complaint was You Sanjie. After learning that her eldest sister had committed suicide for the chastity of her husband, she thought about the safety of her second sister, but when she went to look for her, there was no sign of her.

As someone who knew the inside story, You Sanjie of course knew that her eldest sister was forced to death. In addition, since she had not found her second sister for several days, she was certain that both sisters were killed by the Jia family.

The three sisters were bullied by Jia Rong many times, and now two of their elder sisters were killed, which made Third Sister You extremely hateful.

Finally, she came to the Shuntian government office to seek justice for her two sisters.

As the younger sister, she spoke up for her two elder sisters, and her words were extremely credible and could easily expose the lies of the Ningguo Mansion.

In other words, Third Sister You's action at the critical moment dealt a heavy blow to the Jia family.

The Shuntian Prefecture Court could not review You Sanjie's appeal, and of course they were not willing to review it, so they directly submitted the appeal documents to the Sanfashi.

Then, the countdown to the end of the Jia family has begun! Upon hearing the news, Zhu Jingyuan was so happy that he threw all the books away in the study room of the inner house in the Rui Palace, which made Chen Zhi, who was standing by, feel very distressed.

"This is a rare copy. It was hard to find it!" Chen Zhi picked it up personally and carefully put it back on the bookshelf.

"Liu Youshi really did a great thing by sending a pillow when I feel sleepy!"

Zhu Jingyuan became more and more excited as he talked. He couldn't sit still at all. He walked and said, "Before that, Zhao Jin filed a complaint, and the old man suspected the Thirteenth Master. Now it's his disciple who filed a complaint again. I'm afraid the old man will be sure that it was him!"

At this time, Chen Zhi had already sat on the chair behind the desk, flipping through the books in front of her.

Chen Zhi said at the right time: "Don't be too happy too soon. Old Thirteen is now deeply rooted and the old man can't touch him for a while!"

Zhu Jingyuan saw through the matter very clearly. He only heard him say: "Old Thirteen has been very strong recently, but compared with the old man who has been running the business for many years, he is still a lot behind!"

The current emperor has been in power for ten years. He rose to power through military merit. Almost all of the middle and high-level generals in power today were promoted and appointed by him.

Zhu Jinghong is very powerful, but when compared with the old man in terms of absolute strength, he is indeed far behind.

Of course, the combined absolute strength of the Crown Prince and Prince Rui is still far behind Zhu Jinghong.

"Your Highness, I just received news that His Majesty has summoned His Highness Prince Xiang to an audience!"

After hearing the report from his confidant outside, Zhu Jingyuan smiled even more brightly and said to Chen Zhi, "Did you hear that? The old man summoned Old Thirteen so quickly, obviously he is suspicious of him!"

Back inside the Qianqing Palace, when Zhu Jinghong arrived, he saw the emperor's gloomy face.

"Old Thirteen, today, a document was submitted to the Shuntian Prefecture Yamen. A woman filed a lawsuit against the Jia family of Ningguo Prefecture!"

"I heard that the Liu family is your disciple. Can you tell me...what's going on?"

The emperor's tone was very bad, and this question was difficult to answer.

Zhu Jinghong was also very uncomfortable at this moment. This was completely an unprovoked disaster. The key point was that he failed twice.

Although the emperor did not shout, Zhu Jinghong still stood up and said bluntly: "Dad, I am a straightforward person and I will not hold back when I speak!"

"In the final analysis, you suspect your son is framing your fourth brother, right?"

"Now, I will reply to your question. I have absolutely no intention to do this, and I will never do this. Moreover, although I am stupid, I am not so dumb as to...let my best disciple do this!"

"Liu Youshi is Jia Youshi's sister. She had doubts when she learned about her elder sister's death. It is normal for her to report it. My son has nothing to do with this matter!"

Zhu Xianming could certainly guess what Zhu Jinghong explained, but he couldn't help but think more about it, for example, Zhu Jinghong might be playing the trick of "making the false appear real".

The royal family's affairs are so complicated and intertwined that it is impossible to sort them out.

For example, when he suspected Zhu Jinghong, Zhu Xianming also suspected that it was the sixth brother who was behind this, and even suspected that it was the fourth brother who directed and acted in this tragic drama.

The emperor was a lonely man, and after the empress's death, Zhu Xianming had no one he could trust anymore.

"Although what you said makes some sense, the Liu family is your family after all. How can people not be suspicious of you?"

At this point, Zhu Xianming said coldly: "Can you tell me these things and shut up the people of the world?"

"You should cut off all ties with the Liu family to prove your innocence!"

The emperor made this arrangement for the sake of Zhu Jinghong's reputation, but more importantly, it was to maintain the royal face.

If people really speculated that the royal brothers were at odds with each other and that this had been going on for several generations, Zhu Xianming would feel very ashamed.

After his wife's death, he began to pay more attention to family harmony.

Although he was unwilling to follow the emperor's arrangements, Zhu Jinghong still nodded in agreement.

"Are you unwilling?"

"Not very willingly!" Zhu Jinghong answered honestly without being polite to the emperor.

Zhu Xianming said with a gloomy face: "We have to do it!"

"roll!"

After Zhu Jinghong left, Zhu Xianming took away the report in front of him. There were three words written on the paper below. His eyes were focused on the word "Yuan" in the middle.

Although he still suspected his three sons, the person he suspected most now was the insidious Zhu Jingyuan.

For a long time, Zhu Jingyuan was considered insidious in Zhu Xianming's mind, but he also admitted that this kid was very capable.

"Qingyin... you've only been gone for a short time, and these three bastards are already making trouble. How do you think we should deal with them?"

On the one hand, both the palms and the backs of the hands are made of flesh, and on the other hand, the balance of the father-son relationship must be maintained, and it is indeed extremely difficult to strike the right balance.

From ancient times to the present, there are indeed not many emperors who have handled problems well under a situation similar to the current one.

Let’s talk about Zhu Jinghong returning to Prince Xiang’s Mansion. At this time, Baochai was summoning Lin Hongyu, who was reporting the situation to her.

Of course, Lin Hongyu knew not much more about the inside story than Baochai, and what she said at this moment focused more on the situation of Third Sister You.

Lin Hongyu was of course also very surprised about what happened today. After a conversation with the princess, she finally understood what was going on.

In her opinion, Third Sister You had gotten into big trouble this time, and had also implicated Prince Xiang's Mansion.

On weekdays, Lin Hongyu had close contacts with You Sanjie, and she admired this brave woman who dared to love and hate, so she said some good words for her during the question and answer session.

"Forget it... There's no point in saying more now. Go back and explain the situation to her. Tell her that the palace won't blame her, but it won't help her either!"

"Princess, you are so kind. On behalf of Mrs. You, I bow to thank you for your grace!" Lin Hongyu bowed deeply.

Then Baochai asked her to take it off, and Daiyu said, "Sister Bao, this is not like your style!
"Oh? What style should I adopt?" Baochai asked with a smile.

"You's trip will inevitably be speculated by outsiders, and it is instigated by Prince Xiang's Mansion and is for the Prince's Mansion... You should cut off your relationship with her, or even severely punish her for spreading rumors about the Eastern Palace!"

Hearing this, Baochai replied: "Alas... one must be shrewd, but not too shrewd!"

"Liu Xiang is a capable person who has earned a lot of money for the palace. If we abandon or even criticize such a meritorious person casually, it will surely make others feel disheartened!"

"Besides, this matter is a big deal and a small matter, and Youshi is right!"

As the two were discussing, someone outside came to announce that Zhu Jinghong had arrived, so Baochai and the other two stood up to greet him.

"When I entered the inner hall, I saw Jia Lin. How did you question her?" Zhu Jinghong asked.

So Baochai told the situation, and then Zhu Jinghong said: "The emperor ordered me to cut off contact with the Liu family. They can no longer use it!"

"How could it be so?" Baochai was very surprised, and so was Daiyu.

"Liu Xiang is good at making money, is he really going to give it up like this?" Baochai reminded.

She was in charge of the palace's accounts, and the money that Liu Xiang sent to the palace every one or two months was very important to her.

If Liu Xiang is removed, first of all, finding a replacement will be a problem, and secondly, whether this person can provide stable supply of services is also a problem.

The expenses of Prince Xiang's Mansion are so huge that it would be very difficult without someone who can make money.

At this time, Daiyu said, "Removing his assignment does not mean that he cannot be used!"

(End of this chapter)