Rule the Ming Dynasty Alone

Although the natal family of Empress Dowager Zhou had been disposed of by Zhu Youtang, the consort of Princess Chongqing, the daughter of Empress Dowager Zhou, was beheaded in the West Market. Princess Chongqing was banned from the princess mansion for helping Prince Xing marry the Jiang family.

It's just that the Empress Dowager Zhou is not a loner in the true sense, nor is she a careless old witch.

Zhu Jianze was her only living son. Because she loved her youngest son so much, she wished she could keep him by her side forever. Nowadays, she often exchanges letters.

The prince who was serving as a vassal outside the country was not allowed to enter the capital, let alone even take a step into the palace. This was a custom made during the Chengzu period.

However, in the original history, the Empress Dowager Zhou claimed to be ill and wanted to summon King Chong to Beijing to see him. As a result, the civil and military officials of the court did not dare to stop her, and the weak Hongzhi had no objection.

However, major changes have taken place in history. Not only did King Chong not enjoy the privilege of entering Beijing, he was also involved in this invisible struggle.

"Prince Chong? What does Zhu Youtang want to do?" When Empress Dowager Zhou saw that the matter involved her youngest son, Prince Chong, a panic immediately surged into her heart.

It would be okay if it was Princess Chongqing. She didn't care much about Princess Chongqing's daughter, but she always cared about her youngest son who was far away in Henan.

Now, the emperor actually turned this fire on King Chong, which was something she had never thought of beforehand.

Eunuch Li knew that King Chong was the person that the Empress Dowager cared about the most, and he analyzed bitterly: "The Empress Dowager, once He Shanggong was bitten to death and it was King Chong who ordered her to burn down the Qing Palace, what would happen to her family and Chongqing?" With the evidence of the king’s correspondence, King Chong’s crime has been basically confirmed!”

Originally, he had always felt that the Empress Dowager was the emperor's grandmother after all. In this world where filial piety was respected, only the Empress Dowager could bully the emperor.

The Qianqing Palace was burned this time, and the result was as he expected. This matter was only traced to He Shanggong. When Jia Jun, the old man in the court, got up because of the food given by the Empress Dowager, the civil and military officials in the court didn't even dare to fart.

It's just that the emperor's counterattack was so sharp. Although the emperor didn't harm the Empress Dowager in the slightest, King Chong would probably have his skin peeled off even if he didn't die.

If the emperor held on to Prince Chong, it would seem that the empress dowager was unscathed in this contest, but she was completely defeated. There was no guarantee that the emperor would still have some tricks up his sleeve.

As soon as he thought of this, he felt a sense of uneasiness in his heart. The Empress Dowager in front of him did not necessarily seem to be invincible.

"This is clearly an attempt to frame King Chong. Is there any justice in this world?" Empress Dowager Zhou regained her sense of justice and angrily defended her youngest son.

Eunuch Li thought of the elder Jia Jun who died suddenly after drinking seafood soup out of loyalty, and he advised with a clear mind: "The Empress Dowager, the top priority is how to resolve this disaster for King Chong!"

A vassal king had committed a taboo by exchanging letters with people in the court, and now he was accused of being the culprit behind the burning of the emperor's palace. This crime could even lead to beheading.

Coupled with the fact that the Empress Dowager indirectly killed the cabinet minister Jia Jun earlier, the emperor may not let it go easily, and may want to kill King Chong.

"So what if he puts the blame on Prince Chong? Prince Chong is his uncle!" Empress Dowager Zhou had always regarded the emperor as a junior, and immediately said with disdain.

The surrounding palace people looked at each other and realized that the grumpy empress dowager was not as smart as everyone thought. With things like this, how could there be any family cards to play?

Eunuch Li sighed secretly, and then directly pointed out the stakes: "Empress Dowager, in the past, it is not uncommon for uncles and nephews to fight against each other. Even in this dynasty, Xuanzong cooked his uncle, the King of Han, to death. If the emperor does this If you insist on executing King Chong this time, I am afraid that the people of the world will not criticize the emperor much! "

Unlike the Empress Dowager Zhou who was the imperial grandmother, King Chong was just an imperial uncle, and the nature of killing the imperial uncle was very different from that of killing the imperial grandmother.

Just as Eunuch Li said, when Xuanzong cooked his uncle the King of Han to death, no one called him unfilial, or even thought that his execution of the King of Han was wrong.

That's why the emperor didn't need to worry much this time. Not to mention that reducing King Chong's status to a commoner would already make King Chong uncomfortable, even if he was beheaded, there wouldn't be much negative impact.

"He dares!" Empress Dowager Zhou really cared about her youngest son and immediately threatened her fiercely.

Eunuch Li didn't dare to answer, but he knew very well that he would dare to do this.

After so many years, there is really nothing the emperor dares not to do. His courage can be seen from the initial execution of the Qingyun Houfu. If he was really afraid of the Empress Dowager, so many people would not be pushed to the guillotine.

Now, with the help of He Shanggong's confession and the letters found in He's mansion, the emperor was able to kill King Chong, and all the people in the world would not say that the emperor was wrong, and even applauded the emperor's actions.

The Empress Dowager Zhou was a smart person, so she made the latest decision in a slow tone: "Go to Xiyuan immediately to send a message and ask the emperor to come and see the Ai family!"

Originally, she planned to fight the emperor to the end, but seeing that the situation involved her youngest son, Prince Chong, she had to reposition herself and planned to reconcile with the emperor.

It would be fine if he punished his daughter Princess Chongqing, but this time the emperor targeted his most beloved son, so he had to endure the bad breath and compromise, and look for opportunities to hit the emperor in the future.

Eunuch Li responded and went in person to convey the Empress Dowager's decision.

Due to the intermittent snowfall over the past few days, the Forbidden City is now covered in snow. Many places are covered with snow, except for the cleared palace roads.

The inner palace and the outer court belong to two different areas. It is very difficult for the palace people of the outer court to get to the inner palace area, and it is even more difficult for the old people of Qingning Palace.

Before Eunuch Li arrived at the inner palace area, he found several eunuchs walking towards him, and suddenly became alert and said: "Who are you? What do you want to do?"

"Eunuch Li, you are suspected of embezzlement by falsifying accounts. Come with us to the East Factory!" Tan An's mouth corners slightly raised, and he seemed irresistible.

Eunuch Li immediately realized that he had become a pawn that the emperor wanted to get rid of, so he pointed at Tan An's nose angrily and said: "How dare you? I am the person around the Empress Dowager!"

Puff!

Tan An took a step forward and punched Eunuch Li in the face.

Eunuch Li was short and thin. He immediately felt a huge impact from the fist, and fell backwards, then landed heavily in the snow.

"You really can't tell the difference between the big and small princes, and you dare to ignore the East Factory?" Tan An rubbed his fist that was too strong, and said coldly.

Eunuch Li covered his nose with blood, and immediately realized that this was a revenge action, so he accused the other party: "You...you are using public power for personal gain!"

"Who is public? Who is private? You'd better not choose such a pig head in your next life, otherwise you won't know how to die!" Tan An waved his hand to the followers behind him, and said very coldly.

Eunuch Li was panicked, and said in disbelief: "You East Factory want to kill Zajia? Why?"

"The evidence of your embezzlement is enough, not to mention that you... stood on the wrong side, and you shouldn't kill Jia Ge Lao!" Jia An stepped forward and lowered his voice, and then kicked Eunuch Li heavily in the face.

But I don't know whether Eunuch Li is really stupid or just pretending to be stupid. It's obvious that he has dirty hands and feet, but now he dares to stand on the side of the Empress Dowager, and even sends seafood soup without knowing whether he will live or die.

Eunuch Li's fate is doomed just because he indirectly killed Jia Ge Lao. Now anyone who dares to deal with the palace servants who are doing their best for the Empress Dowager will face disaster.

Eunuch Li looked up at the foot kicking towards his face, and finally realized that he was indeed stupidly on the wrong side. He knew that he would die this time, and his eyes went dark.

Runing Prefecture was changed from Caizhou. Because the water from the upper source of the Ru River was cut off and entered the Ying River through Yancheng, the flood in Runan was greatly reduced, and the people were slightly at peace, so it got this name.

After Yingzong was restored, he named his sixth son Zhu Jianze as the first generation of Chong Wang, and Chongwang City was located in Runing Prefecture.

Chong Wang Zhu Jianze was a big fat man. Although he was only 45 years old, he was much better than several emperors of the Ming Dynasty, and he was already considered a long-lived person.

Because he had to stay in Runing City every day and couldn't go anywhere, he just ate and waited for death every day, and he didn't have the ambition to seize the world like King Ning, so he became a fat man weighing 200 kilograms.

Zhu Jianhan, the Prince of Chong, sat on a finely carved sandalwood chair and enjoyed the singing and dancing performance, but he didn't have the elegant image of a prince imagined by the outside world, and he was chewing pork elbows.

But he was deeply loved by the Empress Dowager. When he came to the fiefdom, her mother asked her brother, the emperor at that time, to reward him greatly. Although the scale of the palace could not be increased, the palace was decorated magnificently. The jade and porcelain ornaments here were dazzling and brilliant, and the walls of the study were hung with famous paintings and calligraphy worth a million gold.

"Prince, please enjoy!" The maids, dressed in uniform and gorgeous clothes, shuttled from the palace and served Zhu Jianze with delicious food and mellow wine.

Prince Chong Zhu Jianze's face was greasy after eating. He had no interest in these beautiful maids. He continued to eat here, and at the same time, he couldn't help but think of the fact that there was no letter from the capital.

Because he was used to a luxurious life, the palace spent too much, so he planned to ask the emperor for some rewards through the Empress Dowager, so that his life would be more comfortable.

It was just that the letter had been sent to the capital for half a month. It should have arrived in the capital by now, and there should have been a reply, but there was no news.

Prince Chong Zhu Jianshen's left eyelid suddenly twitched. He was always uneasy recently, and he felt that something bad was about to happen.

"My lord, something bad has happened!" A eunuch walked in quickly, looking very panicked.

Zhu Jianze continued to bite the pork elbow, and cursed indifferently: "Shut your crow mouth! The current Empress Dowager is my mother, and the current emperor is my nephew. What can I do?"

"Your Majesty, there is a news from Beijing just now. It is rumored that the Empress Dowager burned the emperor's bedroom!" Eunuch Liu, the eunuch in charge of the palace, was very shocked.

Zhu Jianze didn't care to continue to bite the pork elbow in his hand, and suddenly raised his head and said in shock: "Did the emperor burn to death?"

"No!" Eunuch Liu hurriedly shook his head to deny.

Zhu Jianze put down the pork elbow in his hand, rubbed his oily hands on his clothes, and then sent away the dancers standing in the hall: "The emperor didn't burn to death, what's the big deal!"

"Your Majesty, although the emperor didn't burn to death, but the reward you wanted is probably gone!" Eunuch Liu looked at the delicacies on the table and said bitterly.

Since the imperial court had begun to reform the rice allowances of the royal family and vassal states, the income of the royal family and vassal states had been greatly reduced. However, Prince Chong's Mansion had been accustomed to a life of extravagance and decadence, and at one point, it needed help from the Empress Dowager.

Now that the emperor and the empress dowager are at odds with each other, it is almost impossible for them to increase the reward.

Zhu Jianze frowned, then waved his hand: "Go to the study and take a look. Any calligraphy and painting that can be sold at a good price will be sold to me!"

Originally, he was already unable to make ends meet, but he was relying on the Empress Dowager, and the Empress Dowager took out a batch of ancient calligraphy and paintings from the inner treasury, which now became an important source of income for him.

"Your Majesty, although the author of "Travel to Xishan" is unknown, someone is willing to bid one thousand silver dollars to buy it!" Eunuch Liu's eyes lit up, and he immediately named a designated calligraphy and painting.

Zhu Jianze didn't know the specific value of the calligraphy and painting, so he waved his hand: "Sell! Those calligraphy and paintings hanging in the study are an eyesore, but this pig's knuckle is still delicious!"

The corners of Eunuch Liu's mouth twitched a few times, knowing that the prince in front of him was just a pig that only knew how to eat and drink.

At this moment, a rush of footsteps suddenly came from outside the hall, breaking the song and dance performance in the hall.

"The emperor was entrusted with the destiny of heaven and made a statement: After investigation by the Ministry of Punishment, the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and the Three Divisions of Dali Temple, He Shanggong was a witness, and the letter from He Mansion was used as evidence. Zhu Jianze, the Chongwang, ordered others to set fire to Qianqing Palace. This is truly treason and the crime cannot be tolerated. Execute... Now, King Chong’s title will be removed, King Chong’s city will be demolished, and a group of people will be escorted back to the clan’s mansion in the capital for trial!”

After Zhu Jianze heard the content of the imperial edict, he collapsed on the ground, with panic written on his face: "I have been wronged!"

"Zhu Jianze, let's talk about it when we get to the capital whether we are really unjust or not! Take it away!" Tan Conggui came in person and immediately waved his hand.

Following Qin Conggui's order, Dongchang's officers immediately stepped forward, and then arrested the members of Prince Chong's Mansion, and finally put a seal on the gate of Prince Chong's Mansion.

Different from the previous situation where most of the princes were cut off, this time the prince's palace was cut off directly, and all the members of Chongwang Zhu Jianze's lineage became guilty.

"Mother, you are hurting the emperor!" When Zhu Jianze saw what happened to his family, he suddenly looked in the direction of the capital and cried loudly.

There are various signs that due to the fight between the queen mother and the emperor, the prince who lives far away in Henan has become a victim of this political struggle. (End of chapter)