The heavens begin with the Dharma of absorbing power.

Chapter 314 In the [-]st year of Chenghua, the imperial concubine recognized her son. Did the emperor have the intention of giving birth to a child?

"Ignore it and try to see if these clothes fit. In two days, I will ask the female officer from the Clothing Bureau to come over and give each of you a new pair of clothes!"

Zhu Youtang took a piece of brocade clothing from Xu Xin's hand and handed it to Zhu Wuwu. Zhu Wuwu took the new clothes, his eyes were red, he nodded silently, turned around and entered the side hall.

Soon, the tenth prince, wearing new clothes, appeared in front of everyone. Zhu Wuwu's new clothes were made of thick material. According to the prince's etiquette, it was an azure round-neck robe with a snow-white fox fur covering it, so that it could face all the cold winds.

"Ignore it, you have suffered so much over the years. Your palace is simple and it needs to be filled in. If there is anything missing later, I will tell the emperor tomorrow. The emperor will have someone bring it to you. I also want to give it to you. They will send you some clothes on November [-], so you have to rest today!"

Zhu Youtang looked at the completely different Zhu Wuwu, nodded with satisfaction, said a few more words, and said goodbye to him.

"Thank you, brother!"

Zhu Wulan bowed his head respectfully.

Zhu Youtang nodded and turned around, got on the carriage with Xu Xin, and continued to deliver things to the next prince's residence.

On this day, the news of His Highness the Crown Prince caring for and sending gifts to the emperors quickly spread throughout the palace, and even the Chinese, civil and military officials heard about it.

Respect between brothers and sisters is a virtue advocated by the world. No one can fault what Zhu Youtang did, and he naturally won a lot of praise. Even Chenghua Emperor Zhu Jianshen rarely went to the East Palace to meet the prince in person and praised him for being sensible, polite and regal.

A seemingly random compliment from the emperor can have a great impact.

The prince was recognized by the emperor, which invisibly increased his influence. In addition, Zhang Min gathered the forces under Cao Shaoqin, and there was a faint tendency to become the new leader of Dongchang. This also brought the prince's weight and influence in the palace to be greater.

If the situation on the Prince's side is great, then naturally some people are in bad shape. For example, Concubine Wan Gui, who was always talking about everything in the harem, was in a bad mood.

Concubine Wan Gui specializes in pampering the harem, so she will naturally attract a group of people to her side. Over the past twenty years, a huge interest group has been formed. The sudden rise of the prince's power affected Concubine Wan Gui, which naturally made her very dissatisfied.

However, it can be said that Zhu Youtang now has many wings, and he is the country's crown prince with a special status. Even Concubine Wan Gui has no good way to deal with him.

Emperor Chenghua favored her exclusively, but he did not indulge her without any bottom line. The emperor has always had the final say in the harem, the court, and the entire Ming Dynasty.

……

After the day of "brother, friend, brother respect", Xu Xin gained Zhu Youtang's trust. In the following days, Xu Xin nodded, read, went out of the palace, and slept every day... like this day by day, He became more and more familiar with the palace, and he became more and more familiar with the prince and other princes.

Spring passed, autumn came, and winter came again. A year passed quietly, and in the blink of an eye, it was the twenty-first year of Chenghua.

One day in March, Xu Xin entered the imperial city as usual to prepare for the Wenhua Palace. However, after entering the palace, he felt some strange and strange atmosphere. He realized that something must have happened last night.

"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!" Xu Xin saw Zhu Youtang again. Today, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was wearing a blue satin robe with unicorn patterns embroidered with gold, silver and light blue threads. He wore a net scarf on his head and a gold crown and jade hairpin.

When he saw Xu Xin, he managed to put on a gentle smile on his face, but because of his poor complexion, he looked very ugly.

Xu Xin followed the prince to the Wenhua Palace to study. After a long time, he finally understood the cause and effect.

During the concubine's birthday banquet last night, Concubine Wan Gui asked for a favor from the emperor and took the emperor's thirteenth son, the youngest illegitimate prince, as her own son.

Although Concubine Wan Gui wants to adopt the prince, this is a bit unexpected, but it doesn't matter just like that. After all, Concubine Wan Gui has never had anything to do. For future plans, it seems normal to adopt a prince.

But something happened immediately, which meant that things seemed not to be simple. Hua En, the eunuch who was in charge of the eunuch and had a good relationship with Zhang Min, was demoted this morning. It is said that he interceded with the prince. There are rumors that the emperor intends to change the throne.

This news made Xu Xin frown. When he left the imperial city after studying with the prince, he tried his best to collect all kinds of information. He finally clarified the cause and effect, the origin of the matter, and an incident that shocked the palace a few days ago. Let’s talk about big things.

In the [-]st year of Chenghua, Emperor Zhu Jianshen went to the inner treasury for a leisurely stroll, and found that all the money in the inner treasury had been squandered. This was no small matter.

Internal money refers to the private wealth and property of the emperor and the royal family. Prince Zhu Youtang's mother-in-law, Ji, was once a female official in the inner treasury. She probably had a lot of contact with the emperor at that time, so one day she was lucky enough to be married.

The inner treasury was the private property of the emperor and contained ten cellars, each containing ten thousand taels of silver. This money was accumulated by the emperors of each generation for future generations to use for first aid at critical moments, such as... as military expenses.

In the event of a critical border crisis, this silver can be used for emergency purposes and is a reserve silver for military supplies. Precisely because the purpose and use of the reserve is so important, emperors of the Ming Dynasty did not dare to waste this money easily.

However, during the Chenghua period, as he grew older, the once wise and mighty emperor gradually showed signs of being indulged in pleasure. He built palaces and temples, purchased treasures, flowers and stones, etc., and the money stored in the ten cellars contained two taels of silver. Run out.

Emperor Chenghua was quite upset when he found out about this. He was very angry with the eunuchs who had encouraged him to spend money on his inner treasury. He scolded them severely, and then tried to find ways to supplement his money to replenish his inner treasury.

Originally this incident was over, but something Emperor Chenghua said when he was angry frightened some eunuchs. The general meaning of that sentence is that if I don’t deal with you today, people will naturally deal with you in the future.

This "future person", of course, refers to the later emperor, that is, the prince Zhu Youtang who is most likely to succeed.

Many of the eunuchs who were reprimanded were close confidants of Concubine Wan Gui. They could speak to Concubine Wan Gui, and they didn’t know who had the idea to connect the two matters of "easy storage" and "recognition of the son". Come together.

In the past year, the prince's power has increased greatly, and Concubine Wan Gui has long wanted to take action. She took advantage of the birthday banquet to make arrangements. It seems that she really persuaded the emperor and made him want to be a good man.

In early March, news suddenly spread in the capital that the emperor wanted to change his throne. It was also exposed that Huai'en, the eunuch and eunuch in charge of rituals, had been demoted to the Fengyang Ancestral Tomb. It was said that he was demoted because he interceded with the prince.

The Yi Chu incident caused a great uproar in the capital, but Xu Xin went to study with him every day as usual, without worrying about these ups and downs.

(End of this chapter)