Chapter 31
After the eldest son's full-month ceremony, officials would submit petitions to Emperor Huiyuan every day during court sessions requesting him to be named the crown prince. However, Zhu Mingji rejected all petitions on the grounds that "the eldest son is too young to bear such an honor and is likely to die young."
On July 29th, officials from Empress Dowager Zhang's party, led by the Chief Minister Cheng Jingsi, took turns to submit petitions for the establishment of a crown prince.
Half of the regular court session had passed, and Zhu Mingji, who was sitting on the dragon throne, looked increasingly unhappy. He could not help but reprimand Cheng Jingsi.
"Since I ascended the throne, the Imperial Court has been cutting spending year after year, but the annual tax deficit in the two capitals and thirteen provinces of our Ming Dynasty continues to grow. Last year, the fiscal deficit was 5,391,200 taels. Yuanfu, you are in charge of both the Cabinet and the Ministry of Personnel. The Ministry of Personnel overspends by three to four million taels every year. When I hand over the Ming Dynasty to your grandson, I'm afraid there will be a joke of the grandson asking his grandfather for a debt."
Cheng Jingsi knelt on the ground, apologized to the emperor, and explained the reasons why the Ministry of Personnel had overspent every year.
However, a eunuch came to report that the wet nurse Qian Jinlan suffocated the eldest prince to death with a pillow while he was sleeping and then committed suicide by banging her head against the wall.
The regular court ended early, and Zhu Mingji left all the civil and military officials behind and rushed to Kunning Palace.
Those officials who petitioned for the establishment of a crown prince all had expressions of regret and sorrow.
Cheng Jingsi couldn't even stand steadily and stumbled several times.
Xu Pingzhi, Jiang Yang, Chen Ang and Zhang Xihua left the Huangji Hall together. Originally, today was the day for Jiang Yang's youngest son to hold the "Zhuazhou" ceremony. After leaving the court, they were going to Jiang Yang's house for a feast. However, judging from the current situation, the Jiang family's "Zhuazhou" ceremony would definitely not be held.
"Your Majesty ascended the throne several years before having a son. The death of the eldest prince is too strange." Chen Ang whispered.
Xu Pingzhi and Zhang Xihua exchanged glances and turned the topic to Jiang Yang's youngest son. Chen Ang also joined the conversation.
*
Kunning Palace.
In the bedroom, Queen Cheng was still sitting beside the cradle, looking at the baby with a purple face in it and crying.
The palace maids knelt on the ground, crying bitterly for the death of the emperor's eldest son.
When Zhu Mingji entered the hall and saw this scene, he was distracted for a moment. The scene overlapped with the scene in his dream. The same thing happened in the dream when Ningning's three daughters died.
But he could empathize with the heart-wrenching pain in the dream, and he felt relieved about the death of the eldest prince.
He dismissed all the palace servants, walked to the cradle, picked up the cloth tiger beside the baby, and looked at it for a few breaths before speaking, "Is there anything the Queen wants to say to me?"
Queen Cheng was as heartbroken as a dead tree.
"If this child is the son of me and Zhang Jijiu, can this child survive?"
"Does that madman have any similarities with Erlang?" Zhu Mingji deliberately did not answer Queen Cheng's question.
"He's just a man that my aunt has placed beside me. As long as he can make me pregnant, it's fine." Empress Cheng touched the baby's cheek. "He, me, and the child are all just pawns that my aunt can discard at any time."
"You really don't know the relationship between that lunatic and your aunt?"
"What does it matter?"
"Before becoming a concubine of Emperor Zhengxi, your aunt had been a widow for six months and had given birth to a son for her late husband."
Queen Cheng also heard her mother talk about what happened that year, but her mother said that her aunt strangled her aunt to death her first son because she didn't want that burden to hinder her own future.
"Even if my aunt deceived me, what does it matter? Although I have hatred and resentment towards my aunt, the person I hate and resent the most in this life is Your Majesty. Your Majesty stole my beloved. If Your Majesty had agreed to marry me to Zhang Jijiu, I would have been the wife of the Marquis of Yongjia by now, and I would have given him children. He might have also fallen in love with me over time."
"You'll never be able to marry a man like Zhang Jijiu." Zhu Mingji called Deqing over with a brush, ink, paper, and inkstone. "The Empress is very good at writing small calligraphy with hairpin flowers, and she is also a talented woman who is well-read. Please draft this decree to depose the Empress on my behalf."
"Your Majesty, do you think that writing my name will pollute your writing brush?" Queen Cheng hit the nail on the head and hit the nail on the head on Zhu Mingji's mind.
She sat behind the desk, picked up her pen, dipped it in ink, and wrote a decree of more than 300 words on the paper to depose the empress.
Deqing took away the imperial edict deposing the empress, and led the palace maids to take away the empress's golden book, golden seal, and all her crowns and clothes.
Cheng Ying ignored the noise outside the bedroom and continued to sit beside the cradle, humming nursery rhymes to coax her little baby to sleep, until black blood beads flowed from the corners of her mouth. She sighed, picked up the teacup beside her and drank the mint lychee shell tea in it.
"two……"
Before she could utter the last word, she took arsenic and died with her son.
*
The night was as dark as ink and the rain was pouring down.
A group of Jinyiwei rushed into the capital on horseback. Among them was a prison cart, which contained prisoners who had just been escorted to the capital from the Prince of Cheng'an's Mansion.
The prisoner had just been put into the cell of the Northern Pacification Office.
An inconspicuous sedan chair entered the gate of the Northern Pacification Office.
After hearing the message from the doorman, Chen Fuzhou led a group of officials to kneel down and welcome the distinguished guest in the sedan chair.
Huang Yu, the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department, lifted the curtain of the sedan chair. Empress Dowager Zhang, who was simply dressed, got out of the sedan chair and put her hand on the sleeve of Huang Yu, who was bent over.
"Your Majesty, please be careful with your steps." Huang Yu reminded softly in a shrill voice.
Empress Dowager Zhang frowned deeply. When she entered the cell and saw her son covered in wounds, tears rolled down her cheeks.
The young man threw himself at Empress Dowager Zhang's feet, hugged her legs and called out "Mom" again and again.
Empress Dowager Zhang squatted down and hugged her son and cried bitterly.
At this moment, Empress Dowager Zhang had only one thought. She didn't care about any dignity or honor, as long as she could save her son's life.
After returning to the Cining Palace, Empress Dowager Zhang put on the crown and clothes that belonged to the Empress Dowager and summoned Emperor Huiyuan.
Looking at this young emperor who was more decisive and murderous than her son Emperor Hongde, she sneered a few times.
"I didn't lose to you, I lost because I'm a mother."
"When the Queen used her own son to set up the conspiracy, she should have treated him as a dead man at that time." Zhu Mingji said calmly.
"If you are willing to sleep with Aying, why would I do such a thing to confuse the royal bloodline." Empress Dowager Zhang originally just wanted Cheng Ying to give birth to the emperor's eldest son, and then slowly plan the emperor's life and support Cheng Ying's son to ascend the throne. However, the first step made her wait for four years and she still hasn't waited.
"Then it's my fault that I didn't let Your Majesty get what she wanted." Zhu Mingji said.
"So what if you sit firmly in the imperial court? Without an heir, your glory is temporary." Empress Dowager Zhang twitched a mocking smile. "I will go to the netherworld and report you to the ancestors of the Ming imperial family. You love Mr. Zhang Er, and even if you are guilty of a thousand sins, even if you have great achievements, you will never be able to wash away this crime."
"If I have to fight for a good reputation, I can neither be loved nor hated. I would rather let my name and Erlang's be recorded on the same page in the history books of future generations." Zhu Mingji bowed to Empress Dowager Zhang, "Take care, Your Majesty."
That night, a fire broke out in the Cining Palace, and Empress Dowager Zhang died in the flames. Her trusted eunuch Huang Yu also died with her master.
Three days later, Cheng Jingsi submitted a memorial to Emperor Huiyuan expressing his intention to retire and return home.
After Cheng Jingsi left, Jiang Chunfang became the chief minister of the cabinet.
As for the officials who had previously been affiliated with Empress Dowager Zhang, some were executed, some were exiled, and some had their property confiscated... In short, no one had a good ending.
On the sixth day of September, Concubine Zhang Gui passed away in the palace. Zhang Xihua went to the Prince of Cheng'an's mansion to bring in Princess Anqing to keep vigil for Concubine Zhang Gui.
Concubine Zhang Rou was canonized last month and became the queen.
Empress Zhang was grateful for Concubine Zhang Gui's recommendation of her to the palace, and she was very concerned about Princess Anqing's food, clothing, and daily life in Renshou Palace. Zhu Mingji was fed up with Empress Zhang's frequent hints of her wish to give birth to an imperial heir, so she simply kept Princess Anqing in the palace and was raised by Empress Zhang herself.
Zhu Mingji had another selfish motive - Erlang would definitely go to the palace more frequently to visit his niece, Princess Anqing.
But after the winter, a snowstorm hit Shandong Province, the hometown of Confucius and Mencius and a country of etiquette. It has Zhusi Academy, Culai Academy, Taishan Academy, Nishan Academy and 167 other academies of various sizes.
In order to keep warm, the victims rushed into the academy, snatched books and burned them, and had disputes and quarrels with the students, resulting in countless casualties.
Zhang Xihua, the chief academic officer of the Imperial College, led his subordinates and 300 students to Shandong Province to investigate this important case together with the Ministry of Justice, the Dali Temple, and the Northern Pacification Office.
Of course, it was impossible to visit all 167 academies, so Zhang Xihua and his group settled down in Jinan Prefecture.
As for the victims who burned books, killed or beat students, they were escorted from various prefectures to the prison in Jinan Prefecture and detained together.
In the governor's office, officials were discussing matters.
Zhang Xihua sat next to Wang Runzhi, the prefect of Jinan, and asked about the current disaster situation in various prefectures in Shandong Province.
Wang Runzhi said, "The counties hardest hit were Qufu and Tai'an. The heavy snow blocked roads for over a month, and tens of thousands of people froze to death." His eyes welled up and his voice choked with sobs as he spoke. "Master Zhang, the victims were trying to save their lives by entering the academy and looting the books, burning them for warmth. The scholars were rather pedantic, and they clashed with the victims over those dead objects, resulting in a loss of life and a tragedy. I know the law is strict, but I'd like you to go and see outside the governor's office and see if there's any mercy."
Zhang Xihua went to the gate with other officials. The yamen runners stood in a row to block hundreds of elderly people from rushing forward.
There were also umbrellas piled up like a hill next to the two stone lions at the gate.
Zhang Xihua opened an umbrella and turned it towards the sun. The umbrella was covered with the names of elderly people over 60 years old from all over the country.
"These elderly people came here to take the blame for the young and middle-aged disaster victims who were imprisoned. They took the academy's collection of books back to the villages and towns and burned them first for the elderly, the weak, women and children to keep them warm. They had selfish motives but great love," said Wang Runzhi.
"How many students were killed or injured? How many victims involved in the case were detained?" Zhang Xihua asked.
"Three hundred and twenty students died, two thousand five hundred and sixty-seven students were injured, and four thousand eight hundred and sixty-three victims were detained," Wang Runzhi replied.
"The people are suffering so much. Go and release those victims involved in the case." Zhang Xihua had never felt so upset before. She knew that the Ministry of Justice and the Dali Temple would definitely not take the lead in disrupting the country's laws and order. The Imperial College was the most appropriate to take the lead. "If the families of the dead and injured students are dissatisfied, let them come to the governor's office and scold me, a corrupt official who abuses his power for personal gain."
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