Rule the Ming Dynasty Alone

There is an undercurrent surging in the capital, but the East Palace Residence in the southeast corner of the Forbidden City does not seem to be affected.

The beautiful woman in gorgeous clothes didn't get up until three o'clock in the morning. She was lying on the bed as lazily as a demon, wrapping black silk between her white fingers, and selecting the gold and silver hairpins in front of her with her big watery eyes.

Like all women in the world, she has a special liking for beautiful jewelry, and now she has become a major customer of Baixinzhai, the largest gold shop in the capital.

Zhang Yujiao picked up a beautiful golden phoenix hairpin from the plate and asked as if she suddenly remembered something: "How many days has the prince been sleeping in the study?"

"Replying to the Crown Princess, it has been five or six days!" Xiao Zi, the chubby-faced palace maid, knew that the Crown Princess wanted to show mercy to the Crown Prince, so she immediately replied happily.

Zhang Yujiao played with the hairpin carved with a golden phoenix in her hand and asked indifferently: "Has the prince been dishonest to anyone these days?"

"No! Your Highness, the Crown Prince, gets up very early these days for morning exercises, and then goes to the daily lecture hall for classes as usual. He is not being dishonest to anyone!" Xiao Zi immediately shook her head like a rattle and responded very seriously.

"I don't want this one, keep the rest!" Zhang Yujiao handed the jewels and gold hairpins in her hands to the palace maid next to her, and then told the palace maid Xiao Zi: "Don't let the prince continue to sleep in the study tonight, arrange for him to come back to sleep!"

"Yes!" Xiao Zi's eyes suddenly lit up, and she held her hands in joy.

The dark clouds over the East Palace for many days seemed to be dissipating. The Crown Prince Zhu Youtang, who had been neglected by the Crown Princess, finally received grace and no longer needed to sleep in the study tonight.

Zhu Youtang did not know this "good news" and was slowly adapting to this new identity. He stayed in the East Palace Residence every day. Apart from going to the Wenhua Hall for classes, he spent the rest of his time flipping through books in the study and sorting out some useful knowledge points based on his memories from previous lives.

During this period, not only did Liu Jian, a scholar of the Imperial Academy, often come over to instill in him the idea of ​​governing the country, but Xu Pu, the left minister of the Ministry of Personnel and an academician of the Imperial Academy, also came to join in the fun, and even pretended to mention the demoted Yuan Si inadvertently. Eunuch Huaien is in the palm of the ritual seal.

It is said that civil servants and eunuchs are naturally hostile groups, but this is not absolutely true.

Huai'en was born in the Dai family of Suzhou. His brother Dai Lun, the minister of the Ministry of War, was ordered to be beaten to death with sticks. His father Dai Xiwen was a servant at the time, and his uncle Dai Xian, the prefect of Henan Province, was confiscated and imprisoned. He was castrated as a eunuch and given Named Huai En.

That's right. Although Wynn is a eunuch, he is actually a member of the civil service group.

Zhu Youtang realized that the court had an extremely large network of relationships and that he was facing a very powerful force. Even Emperor Chenghua chose to compromise in the end.

If you want to completely master this court, you must first sort out these intricate relationships, so that you can make a deadly sword.

"Prince, the food is ready, please have lunch!" Although Tan Conggui was no longer Zhu Youtang's personal eunuch, he had resolutely become the eunuch in charge of food in the Prince's Mansion, and he greeted Zhu Youtang respectfully.

Zhu Youtang looked at the very bland dishes on the table and immediately asked in confusion: "Only for one or two days, why is the food so bland every day?"

As soon as these words came out, the eunuchs and maids present could not help but silently exchanged glances.

Zhu Youtang frowned slightly, and immediately turned his attention to Tan Conggui, who was in charge of the meals, but Tan Conggui didn't dare to say a word as if he was constipated.

The other eunuchs and maids lowered their heads, but they did not dare to accept these words.

Zhu Youtang's face suddenly became more solemn. It was not entirely because of the lack of oil and gas, but because he felt that these eunuchs did not take his prince seriously, or that the woman deliberately gave him Feeling uncomfortable.

"Your Highness, I heard that there is not much silver left in the prince's treasury, so all of us have to be careful about our meals. You are already doing very well!" Niu Mengmeng couldn't bear it when he saw that no one dared to speak. Stand up and reveal the truth.

But as soon as these words came out, the eunuchs and maids, including Huang Pan, all looked at Niu Mengmeng with pity.

Zhu Youtang looked at this palace maid with particularly clear eyes, but said with great confusion: "I remember that at the beginning of the opening of the palace this year, my father allocated a total of ten thousand taels to the prince's palace!"

Qin Conggui swallowed hard, only to find that Niu Mengmeng dared to continue talking, even though he winked hard, he really had never experienced the princess's method of punishing people.

"Prince, that's right! But the Crown Princess spends too much. She not only bought a lot of gold and silver jewelry, but also gave a lot to her family..."

Niu Mengmeng's face straightened, and she was counting with her fingers like a housekeeper. However, Tan Conggui's heavy coughs next to her finally made her realize that these words seemed not to be spoken nonsense, and she obediently closed her mouth.

Zhu Youtang looked at Tan Conggui, who looked like he had tuberculosis, and said dissatisfiedly: "Tin Conggui, are you really suffering from some serious disease? Do you want to stop appearing in front of me from now on?"

"Your Majesty... Your Majesty, it's nothing... nothing!" Tan Conggui hurriedly stopped coughing and waved his hands repeatedly in fear.

Zhu Youtang looked at the Eight Vegetables and One Soup in front of him and finally understood the problem.

The finances of the prince's palace are tight, not because of the problem with Sui Ci, but because of marrying a profligate princess. Unfortunately, the princess has to take care of her family from time to time

In view of the dangers of foreign relatives interfering in politics in the Han Dynasty, after Taizu conquered the country, he restricted the marriage partners of princes to small families to prevent foreign relatives from getting bigger.

Zhang Yujiao's father, Zhang Luan, entered the Imperial Academy as a tribute from his hometown. His cousin Zhang Qi was the former governor of Liaodong, but after all, he did not belong to the aristocratic family, so he could only be regarded as a middle-class family.

Zhang Yujiao is the daughter of the Zhang family, and she and Zhu Youtang have just been married for half a year. It is impossible to say how deep the relationship between the two is. After taking control of the financial power of the Prince's Palace, although ten thousand taels seemed like a lot, the money could not withstand her squandering, and now she would naturally be stretched thin.

Zhu Youtang knew that he was the cause of all this. His weakness in character and excessive pampering caused Zhang Yujiao to push her too far, and in the end he did not even have an heir in his lineage.

Zhu Youtang looked at the clear soup in front of him. Only the plate of mutton crystal dumplings on the table had a meaty taste, so he stretched out his chopsticks and picked one up.

Gu...

Niu Mengmeng, who was standing nearby, looked at the mutton crystal dumplings on Zhu Youtang's chopsticks. His stomach suddenly growled, and then he lowered his head in embarrassment.

Zhu Youtang was slightly startled when he heard this movement. Then he noticed that among the row of palace maids, only Niu Mengmeng was staring shyly at his toes, and realized what was going on.

Tan Conggui also heard the noise, but glared at Niu Mengmeng sternly.

Zhu Youtang knew that the life of the palace maid down here might not be easy, so he pointed at the plate of mutton crystal dumplings and said: "Niu Mengmeng, you are very loyal to me, so I will reward you with this pot of mutton crystal dumplings!"

"Ah?" Niu Mengmeng raised his head suddenly, his beautiful big eyes looking unbelievable.

However, Qin Conggui didn't really like this carefree palace maid, so he immediately reminded her, "You still don't want to thank the crown prince for your kindness?"

"Thank you, Crown Prince, for the reward!" Niu Mengmeng suspected that he had heard wrongly, so he hurriedly thanked him.

A pot of mutton crystal dumplings was a dish that the prince could eat almost every day, but to her it was a fishy and oily dish that she had never tasted before, but it was one of the foods that she dreamed of.

Niu Mengmeng took over the pot of mutton dumplings and immediately stuffed one mutton dumpling into his mouth, his meaty face looking even fatter. However, he suddenly noticed that Qin Conggui was glaring at him fiercely, so he hurriedly walked out of the door with the plate of mutton dumplings.

The maids present couldn't help but look at each other, who did they learn this court etiquette from?

Bang!

Naturally, what happened in the dining room could not escape the eyes of the princess. After learning that Zhu Youtang was dissatisfied with the food, Zhang Yujiao immediately smashed the porcelain bottle he was playing with.

"Crown Princess, that Niu Mengmeng is really hateful. I think she just wants to seduce the Crown Prince!" An older palace maid made a small report and immediately added fuel to the fire.

But as soon as she finished speaking, Xiao Zi, the palace maid next to her, immediately reprimanded: "Don't talk nonsense! With the Crown Princess here, how could she be so pretty and overconfident in seducing the Crown Prince!"

"Yes, my slave made a mistake!" The elderly palace maid who made the report immediately admitted her mistake.

Zhang Yujiao waved her hand at the palace maid who was snitching. After the palace maid left, she said angrily to the palace maid Xiao Zi beside her: "You asked His Highness the Crown Prince to continue to stay in the study tonight. If I don't serve him anymore, let me From now on, he can go wherever he wants to stay!"

"Yes!" Xiao Zi was well aware of Zhang Yujiao's strength, so she agreed bravely.

But who can be blamed for this? If the Crown Prince had not asked about Ku Yin today and stayed away from the palace maid named Niu Mengmeng, then he and the Crown Princess would have gotten back together tonight. The result would be a pity...

Zhu Youtang did not know that he had missed the opportunity to get back together with Zhang Yujiao. That night he stood in the courtyard and looked in the direction of Qianqing Palace for a long time.

Ordinarily, the prince should be summoned to the Qianqing Palace to accompany him at this time, but the world seems to have forgotten the prince.

Perhaps, in the eyes of many people, the prince is really dispensable, or the puppet emperor does not need to appear yet.

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