Ming Dynasty: At the beginning, the house was ransacked and the ancestral temple was burned down.

Chapter 242 Wanli cried and decided to depose the crown prince!

Zhang Chonghui knew very well that if Wang Youfu, who gave birth to the emperor's grandson, really died, there was no way the prince would take the blame himself.

Naturally, the responsibility for the "death" was put on him, the barefoot doctor.

Zhang Chonghui's guess was indeed correct. Zhu Changluo was even hoping that Wang Youfu would die after drinking the medicine! In this way, all the responsibility could be thrown onto Zhang Chonghui!
As for the injuries on her body… she fell! She fell carelessly! There was no coroner to perform an autopsy anyway!

But what Zhu Changluo didn't know was that Wang Youfu didn't die so easily. She didn't even really faint. She even heard the entire conversation between Zhang Chonghui and Zhu Changluo.

Wang Youfu also knew that Zhang Chonghui knew from the beginning that she was pretending, but despite this, he did not expose her.

……

royal palace.

A few days after the wedding of Prince Fu Zhu Changxun, Zhu Yijun, who had been ill for more than half a year, was finally truly happy.

Once my mood improved, my body felt a lot more relaxed.

On the contrary, Zheng Mengjing was a little absent-minded. Her woman's sixth sense always made her feel that something was wrong, but she couldn't put her finger on it.

However, this feeling of unrest soon disappeared because she received another letter sent by Zhang Chonghui.

After reading the contents of the letter, Zheng Mengjing ran to her husband, the emperor, without saying a word and told Zhu Yijun what the letter said, that the prince had lost his temper and smashed things on the emperor's birthday.

Zheng Mengjing thought that Zhu Yijun would be furious and scold the prince, but what she didn't expect was that Zhu Yijun didn't react much because he had already learned about this from Zhang Chonghui.

Zhu Yijun knew even more clearly. He even learned from Zhang Chonghui that his good son almost beat the mother of the emperor's eldest grandson to death.

Zhu Yijun knew everything, but he didn't say anything because he was waiting. He waited until the abscess was almost rotten so that he could squeeze it out all at once!
……

Zhu Yijun thought it was still early to squeeze out the pus, but he found that it was not too early.

His ministers started again, this time urging him, the emperor, to send his son, the Prince of Fu, who had just got married, to his fiefdom.

Of course Zhu Yijun would not agree. He kept those memorials in his possession and not sent them out. He also used his younger brother Zhu Yiliu as a shield, saying that Prince Lu was so old and had not yet gone to be a fief, so why should Prince Fu go?
……

It is understandable that His Majesty the Emperor does not want his beloved son, Prince Fu, to be sent to a fiefdom, although the rule that princes should be sent to a fiefdom after they reach the appropriate age and get married was set by Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang.

But rules are dead, but people are alive.

As long as His Majesty the Emperor continues to ignore the reports of his officials, his ministers will not dare to rush into the harem to force him face to face.

Facts have proved that it is impossible to force the emperor in person, but there is still a way.

……

The fifth day of the twelfth month in the twenty-ninth year of the Wanli reign.

On this ordinary but dry day and night, another strange evil fire started!
……

Honglu Temple.

After roll call, a few people in the queue who had nothing to do started chatting in private.

"Have you heard? The night before yesterday, there was a fire in Prince Fu's mansion. A large area of ​​the mansion was burned. His Highness Prince Fu was even accidentally hit by the broken tiles from the explosion!"

"How can such a good person slip into trouble?"

"Maybe it's because the weather is dry. It hasn't rained for more than a year. It's normal for the flood to happen. Didn't Wanggongchang explode last month?"

"Alas, I don't know how long this drought will last. I heard that the emperor was so distressed by the drought and the flood in Prince Fu's mansion last night that he vomited blood..."

"so serious?"

"Well, the weather is not favorable..."

"..."

Zhang Chonghui seemed not to hear the gossip. He walked through the crowd calmly and went to the chief clerk's office where he was the only one there, as usual.

Meanwhile, the Cabinet Office.

Several ministers knew about the sudden fire in Prince Fu's Mansion the next day.

What they are facing now is the emperor's order, ordering the cabinet and the Dali Temple to catch the arsonist.

No one knows whether the fire was set intentionally.

They only knew that this time, His Majesty the Emperor had determined that the fire was man-made, and not caused by dry weather as rumored by the outside world, or by "divine punishment" as the censors had said.

"Now that the year is coming to an end, there is such a unsolved case. It is not easy to investigate." Fang Congzhe sighed helplessly.

Yu Shenxing just remained silent and said nothing.

Ye Xianggao took the initiative to speak: "The emperor was so angry that he vomited blood. Even if it is difficult to investigate, we, as ministers, must investigate."

"But how easy is it to find the arsonist?" Fang Congzhe said.

"Let's take our time to look for him. What else can we do?" Ye Xianggao sighed, "The emperor's condition had improved, but something like this happened. It's really unpredictable."

This time, Yu Shenxing, who had been silent for a long time, finally took action. He looked at Ye Xianggao and said, "Right now, rumors are spreading outside. Some people say that the prince had people burn down Prince Fu's mansion. As the prince's teacher, what do you think of this rumor?"

Ye Xianggao frowned and said, "Prince, the prince has always been loyal and honest. How could he do such a heinous thing? Have you been filled with rumors like those people outside and believed in them?"

"No." Yu Shenxing smiled and said, "I was just asking casually. Why are you so excited, Jinqing?"

Ye Xianggao stopped talking. He knew that Yu Shenxing was trying to trick him. He was already fed up with the repeated tests and threats from his boss.

The situation in the cabinet was tense, and there was no peace in the Qianqing Palace either.

……

Qianqing Palace.

Zheng Mengjing had been crying in front of Zhu Yijun for almost two days. While crying, he said with certainty: "It was the prince who wanted to harm Xun'er. Wuwuwu, Your Majesty, you have to take care of Xun'er. He almost lost his life."

Zhu Yijun leaned weakly on the dragon couch. Although his face looked very rosy, it was easy to tell from his weak expression that the rosy complexion on his face was superficial.

"Stop crying." Zhu Yijun's head hurt a lot now. He had not slept well since the incident in Prince Fu's Mansion.

Even when he fell asleep, he always dreamed of his beloved son Zhu Changxun, crying and shouting to him in the fire:

"Father, save me, they want to kill me!"

Zhu Yijun had been ill for a long time and was sleep deprived, so one can imagine how weak he was at the moment. He didn't want to listen to Zheng Mengjing crying anymore, but he couldn't bear to yell at her.

"You go back first. I will seek justice for Xun'er." After Zhu Yijun said this, he lay down facing the wall, as if he was so sleepy that he was about to fall asleep on the spot.

Zheng Mengjing knew that he should stop while he was ahead, so he didn't dare to bother her anymore and turned away.

Zheng Mengjing left, and Zhu Yijun called out softly, "Chen Ju, are you there?"

No one answered, and he was the only one in the bedroom.

There was no response at all. It was at this moment that Zhu Yijun finally understood what it meant to be truly alone.

At this moment, a huge feeling of loneliness swept over him like a tide, and his body began to tremble slightly. The middle-aged emperor, who had been ill for nearly a year, finally could not bear this heavy blow.

He cried. Zhu Yijun hadn't cried for many years. The last time he cried was when his second son Zhu Changxu died in his arms.

At that moment, he felt like a failed father as he could only watch his long-awaited child die in his arms.

And at that moment, he, the father, the emperor, could do nothing but cry.

Zhu Yijun had many children, and over the years, many of his children died young. He had even forgotten who some of them were, what their names were, and if they were still alive, how old they were.

Zhu Yijun thought that he had forgotten the past that made him feel powerless.

After all, a person's life and death is not something he can decide, even if he is the emperor or the Son of Heaven.

However, the fire in Prince Fu's palace still woke him up.

Zhu Yijun had been arguing with the civil officials for so many years, and he refused to abolish the mining tax no matter what. Even when the three main halls were burned to ashes, he still refused to give up.

But now this fire has burned on his favorite son, which once again made him feel his own incompetence, once again reminded him of his second son who had died many years ago, and once again told him that he was not only a failed emperor, but also a useless father who could not even protect his own son.

Zhu Yijun knew that the original intention of the fire was not to force his son to become a fief, but to force him to abolish the mining tax.

But in his opinion, he just wanted to save some money to rebuild the three main halls left by his ancestors. Is there anything wrong with that?

His son is so innocent, what has his son done wrong?

Zhu Yijun really wanted to yell at his ministers: "Come and burn me if you have the guts! Why burn my son?"

Zhu Yijun seemed to have forgotten that if he had abolished the mining tax earlier, perhaps the three main halls would not have been burned down.

He seemed to have forgotten that Zhu Changxun had only suffered minor injuries.

What was injured in Zhu Changluo's entire right hand was what he did. All his emperor father did at that time was just a bland greeting.

When people are extremely depressed, they always like to find excuses for themselves to show that they are helpless and forced.

Zhu Yijun cried for a long time. He was crying for his innocent beloved son, but more importantly, he was crying for his own cowardice and incompetence.

Now, there seem to be only two paths before Zhu Yijun.

Or, abolish the mining tax.

Or, let Zhu Changxun go to be a fief.

Zhu Yijun did not want to take either of these two paths, and he knew that the civil servants had learned to test his bottom line.

Once he agreed to one of the things, the civil servants would then force him to compromise on the other.

It is useless to compromise blindly. Zhu Yijun is tired of compromising. He feels like a child who is forced by his parents to do things he doesn't like to do.

They were testing him little by little, forcing him, making him accept little by little, and making him compromise without anyone noticing.

He was really fed up with this kind of life!
Even rabbits will bite when they are cornered, let alone humans. Even children who are being tested for obedience have a rebellious period.

……

The tenth day of the twelfth month of the twenty-ninth year of the Wanli reign.

Five days have passed since the fire in Prince Fu’s Mansion.

It can be said that the Cabinet and the Dali Temple found out nothing. After all, it was late at night, and even if someone set the fire, there were no eyewitnesses around.

The arsonist could not be caught, so the emperor was no longer in a hurry.

But at the same time, the rumor that the arsonist was sent by Crown Prince Zhu Changluo became more and more intense.

In addition, there were more and more other rumors about Crown Prince Zhu Changluo.

……

The 29th year of the Wanli reign passed amidst these rumors.

This year, there was severe drought in many places, and in Guizhou, the price of rice rose sharply due to the drought, with each dou of rice selling for four cents of silver.

Inspector He Erjian even reported to the emperor that Zhang Shicheng, a miner at Zhangshuidong in Fuping County, killed and cooked his six-year-old child because of hunger.

This year, the Wuchang Uprising caused a lot of controversy.

The Suzhou Weaving Bureau also suffered from arbitrary and excessive taxation by the tax supervisor, which increased levies and taxes, causing many weaving companies to close their factories and stop production, and weavers to lose their jobs, which eventually led to a weaver riot.

In this year, Italian missionary Matteo Ricci settled in the capital of northern Zhili and began his missionary journey at the feet of the emperor.

This year, horse markets were reopened in Kaiyuan and Guangning in Liaodong.

In this year, Nurhaci began to establish the Eight Banners system.

This year, Zhu Yijun was ill for the whole year.

This year, Zhang Chonghui also predicted his fortune for the coming year on the last day of the year.

The 29th year of Wanli passed and the 30th year of Wanli arrived.

This is destined to be a year of ups and downs.

……

The 30th year of Wanli’s reign, the first day of the first lunar month.

A new year, a new day, and Emperor Wanli was still ill.

On this day, Crown Prince Zhu Changluo, who was surrounded by rumors, was specially invited by his father, the emperor.

The emperor said that he wanted to see his grandson, and he specifically told the crown princess not to go to the palace with him, and that only the crown prince could go with his grandson.

If it were in the past, Zhu Changluo would get up before dawn to wash and dress up, just to have a good look at his father, the emperor.

However, this time, Zhu Changluo was extremely frightened. The first thing he did was to secretly send someone to bring Zhang Chonghui to the Eastern Palace.

……

"My father must have believed the rumors outside... He summoned me to the palace to destroy me... What should I do... Minghe, what do you think I should do..."

These days, Zhu Changluo has been frightened by the rumors outside and has lost his mind. After all, many of the things mentioned in those rumors were actually done by him!
"Your Highness, don't panic. The Emperor only said that he wanted to see his grandson. You just need to bring the grandson into the palace. Everything will be fine." Zhang Chonghui comforted Zhu Changluo softly, but in fact, his own face did not look very good either.

After all, he had already guessed that the emperor's purpose in letting the prince enter the palace this time was to depose him!
The situation has become so chaotic now that the emperor, who has been pushed to the limit, is ready to overturn the table and refuse to obey!

"Minghe, can you go with me?" Zhu Changluo begged, "I'm afraid I can't handle it. With you here, maybe..."

"Your Highness!" Zhang Chonghui held Zhu Changluo's shoulders and said seriously, "Don't worry, if anything happens to you, I will definitely not be able to escape."

Zhang Chonghui’s meaning was very clear: Don’t think about pushing me out. We are already grasshoppers in the same boat. If the boat capsizes, we will all be in trouble!

Zhu Changluo wanted to cry. Just when he was in despair, Zhang Chonghui said two more words that made him feel like the sky was about to fall!

"Your Highness, to be honest, I had my fortune told yesterday."

"I calculated that today... I will be in jail."

(End of this chapter)