Chapter 15 Emperor Zhongzong wasn't exactly a respectable person...

Shen Mingzhe flew into a rage, appearing even more agitated than Emperor Hong'an. His face was flushed red from head to toe, even his neck turned bright red: "Your Majesty! This is absolutely unacceptable!"

Emperor Hong'an's gaze slowly moved down, fixing on Shen Mingzhe's face until the other's flushed face turned pale. Only then did he say in a calm tone, "What's the use of you telling me this?"

Shen Mingzhe was suddenly stunned.

Emperor Hong'an, with a look of world-weariness on his face and seemingly lost in thought, calmly said, "It seems... Emperor Zhongzong only has one daughter."

One of Emperor Cheng's greatest fortunes was that her father was a ruthless and unruly man. Emperor Zhongzong's attitude was always: What does it matter what the ancestral laws are? I've already said I have no ancestors. I am the ancestor, and anyone who dares to stop me will be sent to Vietnam immediately.

After a series of smooth moves, all the tough guys went on vacation to the south. Except for Xiao Yichun of the Great Xiao Dynasty, who didn't go because of his grandson's pleas and Emperor Zhongzong's old friendship, all the spineless ones were left behind. They could only kneel down and shout, "Your Majesty, whatever you say goes. We're just tools anyway."

In this struggle between imperial power and the power of the prime minister, the biggest winner was actually Emperor Cheng himself. Apart from him, Emperor Zhongzong suffered severe beatings from the historians, the bureaucracy endured a storm of criticism from the emperor, and the Six Ministries were almost completely emptied out—all were unfortunate victims.

The tools of the future looked at each other in bewilderment.

Since ancient times, scholar-officials and emperors have jointly ruled the world. The most resolute emperor of the Ning Dynasty was Emperor Gaozu, who was a true emperor who fought his way to power and had the ambition to dominate the world.

Emperor Zhongzong did the same thing; where did he get the confidence to do so?

If the civil service doesn't do anything, who will govern the country for the Zhong family?

Xiao Jianhe had the same question in his mind about not being kept in the palace this time.

Furthermore, Tianmu had previously mentioned that his grandfather had a falling out with the future emperor over the issue of choosing an heir, and he pleaded for the emperor's life...

A sudden chill ran down my spine. Could it be that he's up to something again?

Fortunately, the canopy quickly changed the subject:

[I've digressed a bit. In short, when it comes to choosing an heir, even a skilled cook can't make a meal without ingredients. If Emperor Renzong could find an heir of Emperor Cheng's caliber, he would definitely go to great lengths to elevate his own family member. Unfortunately, few of his male relatives were particularly intelligent.]

Emperor Renzong would no longer be angry about these things.

Getting angry was pointless; instead, he thought, what if I followed Emperor Zhongzong's example and made my daughter my heir...

No, absolutely not!

King Jungjong had no children, so he made a desperate gamble. But he still had several sons!

Moreover, Tianmu also said that although Emperor Zhongzong was acting recklessly, he himself was a military commander. If he couldn't succeed in civil administration, he would definitely succeed in military affairs, which would be an absolute source of pressure.

Given the different circumstances we face, how can we simply copy others' work?

Emperor Hong'an was not stupid and quickly suppressed the thought.

Let's continue talking about Lao Wu's amazing actions.

First, everyone should know that the fifth prince is a very cowardly person. But this cowardice is actually the result of years of repression; in other words, when he realized that the throne was rightfully his, well, he let loose.

A string of beads of sweat slid down the Fifth Prince's forehead.

He wiped the sweat from his brow, met his father's gaze, and bowed, saying, "Your subject is already reflecting on his own actions."

Last night, he seriously reflected on himself and came to the conclusion that: whatever Tianmu says, don't refute it before he finishes speaking.

My father was already very unhappy about poisoning my second brother; if anything else went wrong, we'd be finished.

Emperor Hong'an coldly glanced at his face without saying a word.

In the thirty-first year of the Hong'an era, Emperor Zhongzong returned to his territory in the northern frontier. His close friend Zhuang Shi also left the capital with him.

Zhuang Shi, a famous general of the Ning Dynasty, was a formidable figure who single-handedly enshrined his great-grandfather and himself in the Temple of Martial Arts. He was a spoiled brat in his youth, rose to prominence in his young adulthood, and only began to show some semblance of humanity in middle age.

My comment should sound familiar to you, right?

Huai Leju, taking two steps back: "?"

What does this have to do with me?

As a trusted confidant, Emperor Hong'an had nine-tenths of his trust in Huai Leju, and upon hearing this, he couldn't help but smile: "You too have made your mark in history."

As for whether this fame will be a good one or a bad one, it's really hard to say.

Zhou She, who was hiding to the side pretending not to exist, almost burst out laughing: This is something Huai Leju would actually say.

This person appears calm and collected, but is actually the most petty and mean-spirited.

[Disclaimer: The above is not my dialogue. Please don't attack me, Zhuang fans. This is General Huai's personal comment, especially the last sentence, which suggests a grudge.]

As Tianmu's voice faded, the screen changed again.

This time, what appeared on the sky was a colorful pony. The pony was half-sitting against the wall, with one hoof raised as if pointing. Half of its body already resembled a human, and next to it was a line of colorful text.

"Taking the initial human form?"

Huai Leju read out these four words expressionlessly.

[Huai Leju, true to his name, was a stubborn mule. Of course, he disliked Zhuang Shi, but he was different from Zhuang Shi. Zhuang Shi was only "beginning to take human form" at the age of thirty, while he was famous from a young age. Apart from occasionally targeting Zhongzong, he rarely spoke out of turn.]

At least for Zhuang Shi, what he said was basically correct.

In the thirtieth year of Hong'an, Zhuang Shi's younger brother was beheaded, and most of the Zhuang family's military power was taken over. The Zhuang family was on the verge of collapse, and was only supported by Zhuang Ziqian.

After a year of torment in the capital, Zhuang Shi finally received the emperor's favor. Although it was largely due to the influence of his trusted general Zhuang Ziqian, Zhong Shizhe clearly never imagined that this man, skilled in all manner of pleasure and entertainment, would one day stir up such a storm.

Zhuang Shi, who had just woken up and was looking at the sky, felt a sense of foreboding.

Why is the sky so against him?!

Zhou She exclaimed in admiration: "His maternal grandfather is truly magnanimous. After Zhuang Che finished his business, he actually released the Zhuang family members. He is so generous and courageous!"

If it were him... He considered himself petty, and he would be considered too lenient if he didn't trap Zhuang Shi to death in the capital.

Historical records indicate that the sign of Zhuang Shi's collusion with King Jungjong was when he went to King Jungjong's house one night after getting drunk and asked him, "If you plot to usurp the throne, can you carry me into the Temple of Martial Arts?"

Keep in mind that back then, he was still living in the sandy north of Xinjiang with his elderly father, completely unskilled. His ambition was truly remarkable.

Everyone present had the same thought: You're really daring to dream big.

Moreover, to be able to openly utter such words as plotting to usurp the throne is truly astounding; one wouldn't even know why they were killed.

Emperor Hong'an also revealed his standard fake smile: "If this Zhuang Yuanchu is truly a famous general who can drive out the Tartars for me, what's wrong with me bestowing upon him a place in the Temple of Martial Arts?"

He used the name given to him by later generations fluently, completely disregarding the fact that Zhuang Shi himself was only eighteen years old, and casually drew a conclusion in his mind.

The evaluation of the famous general by Tianmu is probably just another sarcastic remark.

Most of what Tianmu says should be taken in reverse.

King Jungjong was also drinking at the time, but he already had a wife and daughter, unlike Zhuang Shi, who was a widower. He kicked Zhuang Shi out of the door and said: "You've had too much to drink. I'll pretend I didn't hear you. Get out of here yourself. Don't drag me down with you if you die."

But for good brothers, what they say doesn't matter.

Because of this statement recorded in official history, some people mistakenly believe that King Jungjong was an honest man. Of course, most experts still believe that Jungjong wasn't so loyal, but they lacked evidence. Later, they unearthed his diary—who keeps a diary, anyway? But as everyone knows, Jungjong wasn't exactly an honest man.

The sky paused for a moment, then a decaying book flipped through the pages with a rustling sound, so smooth it didn't seem like a real page turn, finally settling on one of the pages.

The text above is concise, and the handwriting is fairly neat, but it is too stiff and rigid, lacking the free and easy style that people admire at the time.

A scholar shook his head in dismay: "Such illiteracy, such crude handwriting, alas..."

In their eyes, the emperor must be better than them in every way and meet their standards in order to be considered a qualified emperor.

The fact that King Jungjong wrote this handwriting made them feel that it was absolutely unacceptable.

[The thirty-second year of Hong'an, winter, sunny.

Zhuang promised to send me money a couple of days ago, but he didn't today, so I'll make an exception for him. My family sent some money again yesterday, but it was a small amount, just enough to live on frugally. But something is better than nothing; if I stay this poor, I'll have to pawn my pants.

The Ning Dynasty is even more impoverished; they don't even allocate funds. Even the imperial relatives and nobles have no money. Is this reasonable? Is it reasonable that the front lines have no money?! I'll rob the national treasury sooner or later!

And this lousy squad, when are they ever going to retire? Do they have to burn down the entire Northern Barbarian royal court before they can retire?!

I can't take it anymore! Let it explode!!

Tianmu read with intonation, and everyone could clearly see that Emperor Hong'an's face was as stiff as iron.

This statement was truly earth-shattering; any single sentence could be terrifying. The Confucian scholars immediately began to spit and spew saliva.

"Such vulgar language is hardly befitting of a ruler!"

"His mouth is full of foul language and vulgarities; where is there any semblance of decorum in that?"

Taking advantage of their distance from the capital, they were quite bold, and the Confucian scholars were particularly skilled at cursing.

However, some generals quite liked this attitude.

Although the latter part, "Ning Dynasty is poor and stingy," is unpleasant to hear, Ning Dynasty has always been full of martial virtue. Even if it has been entangled with the Northern Di for decades, it will eventually beat them until they are trembling with fear!

A military officer slammed his fist on the table and stood up: "That's right! We must storm the Northern Barbarian royal court and burn it down! Then we'll take those audacious barbarians as our slaves and make them die in fear every day!"

He thought even more than King Jungjong, and instantly fell into wonderful daydreams, and couldn't help but look forward to his historic meeting with King Jungjong.

Inside the imperial court, everyone bowed their heads in silence. Only Emperor Hong'an's slightly cold voice echoed among them: "Heh... truly audacious!"

Emperor Hong'an remembered Zhong Jin again.

He remembered that among the list of attendants were two princes' heirs. One was Zhong Jin, the heir of Prince Huai, and the other was Zhong Yu, the heir of Prince Qi.

However, although these two have different personalities, neither of them seems as unconventional as Tianmu, the Zhongzong.

Emperor Hong'an's suspicions paused for a moment.

From this diary, we can glimpse his less-than-smooth life. Most of these unfortunate experiences can be attributed to the Fifth Prince—and not unjustly at all.

Emperor Jungjong's writing style was also quite unrestrained, with as much cursing as his observations and experiences.

In fact, from childhood to adulthood, Emperor Jungjong was not a refined person. He did become a little more restrained after ascending the throne, but in one memorial, he replied to a minister he disliked, "Bullshit, your mouth stinks." He even circled it twice with his vermilion annotation, showing great force and considerable emotion.

Later, he wrote to Zhuang Shi, asking him to deal with his younger brother, using essentially the same wording—simple, straightforward, and full of swearing.

The group noticed a certain keyword.

Zhou She couldn't help but feel a sense of longing: He had also been dissatisfied with Zhou Ze for a long time, could he ask Brother Zhuang to deal with him as well?

Many people were thinking: "No wonder he's a tyrant, he doesn't even spare his own brother!"

[Getting off-topic, due to the Fifth Prince's bizarre actions and the constraints of the northern frontier's material conditions, Emperor Zhongzong was extremely impatient at this time and wished he could resign immediately. However, he couldn't run away, so he could only work while cursing and swearing, but his emotions were also very unstable.]

Although King Jungjong later wrote poems and essays in remembrance of King Injong, most people believe that this was merely a policy of appeasement after his ascension to the throne, and that it lacked genuine sincerity.

Emperor Hong'an never showed his emotions; as an emperor, his acting skills were always top-notch, and his expression was not pleasant at this moment.

This man's arrogance truly startled him.