I heard that the emperor passed away.

Civil and military officials braved the wind and snow to rush to the Palace of Heavenly Purity to hold a funeral for Chongzhen and assist Crown Prince Zhu Cixiong in ascending the throne.

In the funeral hall, the chief minister of the cabinet, Qiu Yu, read out the last will of Chongzhen.

"I have inherited the throne as a vassal and have been honored by the ancestral temple for thirty-four years. Recently, I have inherited the personal teachings of my father and brother, and I am deeply concerned about him... The Crown Prince Zhu Cijiong is a man of great benevolence and filial piety, and he is wise and mature. Now he follows the teachings of his ancestors and the will of the people and ascends the throne... The funeral ceremony shall follow the old system, with the year changing from day to day, and mourning shall be released after three days. There shall be no prohibition on folk music and marriage. The princes of the royal family and relatives shall not leave their fiefdoms without permission, and the governors, garrisons and three officials of various places shall not leave their posts without permission. On the day of the death, each of them shall mourn for three days in their respective places... Since I ascended the throne, all the ministers who have made suggestions and offended me shall be summoned if they are still alive, and those who have passed away shall be given condolences and recorded. This edict shall be announced to the world so that everyone will know."

(Revised according to the edict of Emperor Shizong of Ming Dynasty.)

After reading the imperial edict, Qiu Yu took the lead in kneeling down, bowing to Zhu Cijiong and persuading him to ascend the throne (inherit the throne).

The custom in the Ming Dynasty was that after the emperor passed away, the crown prince would preside over the funeral.

During this period, the officials advised three times and the crown prince declined three times.

After the mourning period, the coronation ceremony was held to honor the two Empress Dowagers.

(The title of the two Empress Dowagers began in the Ming Dynasty. After Zhu Qiyu ascended the throne, he honored his stepmother Sun as "Shangsheng Empress Dowager" and his biological mother Wu as Empress Dowager.)

Although Zhu Cijiong's stepmother and biological mother were the same person, Chongzhen's sister-in-law, Empress Zhang, was still alive.

According to the rules, she should also be respected as the Queen Mother.

Once these processes are completed, the transfer of power will be officially completed.

After the officials persuaded him three times, Zhu Cijiong said slowly: "I have received your will, and I dare not refuse. I will do as you ask..."

Qiu Yu and others immediately knelt down and saluted: "Your Majesty, long live the emperor..."

Hearing this, Zhu Cijiong was a little dazed.

The moment before he was the crown prince of Ming Dynasty, but now he has become the emperor of Ming Dynasty.

Only he himself can understand the feeling.

Seeing that Zhu Cijiong was reluctant to let everyone stand up, Wang Chengen whispered a reminder from the side.

Zhu Cijiong, who had reacted, said quickly, "No need to be polite, everyone."

After they stood up, everyone knelt down again and cried in front of Chongzhen's coffin.

Zhu Cijiong also started crying.

After a while, he suddenly remembered something, walked to Queen Zhou and whispered, "Mother..."

Before he could finish his question, Queen Zhou also remembered that incident.

She stood up and walked towards the dragon desk.

Zhu Cijiong followed behind him, and Wang Chengen stayed beside him.

Seeing this, Qiu Yu followed.

Queen Zhou ran straight to the corner of the dragon desk and found a piece of paper under the paperweight.

She held the paper in her hand but was afraid to open it.

Written on it are clues to Zhu Cilang's whereabouts.

Although she wanted to reunite mother and son, she didn't want to see brothers killing each other.

After all, Zhu Cilang is the former crown prince.

Zhu Cijiong is the current crown prince.

Brothers may turn against each other when fighting for the throne.

Zhu Cijiong asked: "Mother, this is..."

Queen Zhou took a deep breath and said helplessly: "Your father said that the clues are all on this piece of paper."

Zhu Cijiong reached out and "took" the paper from Queen Zhou.

He opened the paper carefully and looked at it carefully.

After reading it, he couldn't help but frown.

Queen Zhou thought there was an unexpected situation and hurried over to take a look.

There were only ten words written on the snow-white paper: Drinking Linjiangxian at night in Dongpo, waking up and getting drunk again.

Zhu Cijiong's mind was a little confused.

He handed the paper to Qiu Yu and asked, "Master Qiu, what does this mean?"

Qiu Yu, who was well-read, immediately recognized that this was the work of Su Shi, a great writer from the Song Dynasty.

He said: "In reply to your Majesty, this is the name of a poem."

"Poetry...?"

Without waiting for Zhu Cixiong to continue asking, Qiu Yu recited without hesitation: "I drank at Dongpo at night, woke up drunk again, and came back as if it was three o'clock in the morning. The houseboy's snoring was like thunder. I knocked on the door but no one answered. I leaned on my stick and listened to the sound of the river. I always regret that this body is not mine. When will I forget the hustle and bustle. The night is late and the wind is still. The ripples are flat. The little boat has gone from here, and the rivers and seas will be my life."

Zhu Cijiong subconsciously repeated the last line of the poem: "The little boat has gone from here, and the rivers and seas will carry the rest of my life..."

After a moment, he suddenly raised his head and looked at Qiu Yu: "In other words... my eldest brother really went out to sea?"

Qiu Yu didn't dare to confirm or deny it, so he could only say ambiguously: "This poem does have the meaning of rivers and seas, but the whereabouts of your majesty's brother is still under discussion."

Zhu Cijiong nodded: "What Elder Qiu said is right, we should indeed discuss it carefully."

That evening.

Zhu Cixiong summoned ministers from both inside and outside the court to a side hall.

The first person he met was Chongzhen’s personal eunuch Wang Chengen.

Wang Chengen knelt down and said, "Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you."

Zhu Cijiong motioned him to stand up and asked directly: "Eunuch Wang, do you know the whereabouts of my eldest brother?"

Wang Chengen answered honestly: "I don't know."

Zhu Cijiong was very suspicious. He asked, "Before my elder brother disappeared, did the inner court send an imperial decree to Jiangnan?"

Wang Chengen shook his head: "Before your majesty's brother (referring to Zhu Cilang) disappeared, the inner court did send an edict. But the edict was written by your majesty himself, and no one else knew the content of the edict."

"For whom is the will?"

"I don't know."

"Who conveyed the message?"

"Li Ruolian, commander of the Imperial Guard."

"Let him in."

"yes."

"etc..."

"What else do you want, Your Majesty?"

Zhu Cijiong thought for a moment and lowered his voice: "What did my father say to you before he passed away?"

Wang Chengen deliberately paused, lowered his head and said nothing.

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