Zhu Youxiao picked up a few more question books and looked through them. The contents were basically the same and there was nothing surprising.
But even if these questions were written like this, they would still be fatal. The content of these questions was very simple, that is, regicide.
The Donglin Party was very familiar with this trick, and Zhu Youxiao had no choice but to accept it.
The Donglin Party directly made a big deal out of Fang Congzhe's case. The crime of murdering the former emperor was so serious that who in the world could bear it?
No one can bear it, not even Zhu Youxiao himself.
The most important thing is that he was forced into a corner. With the ability of the Donglin Party, he had no choice but to investigate this matter. You know, it was a murder of the emperor's father.
In this era's mainstream values, filial piety is absolutely the most important. If someone says someone killed your old father and you don't care, then you are not worthy of being an emperor, let alone a human being.
How can I bear the hatred of my father being killed and my wife being taken away?
If I pretended not to see it, the Donglin Party might not have made any noise.
If you push them too far, they'll probably do anything. Never overestimate their bottom line. The Ming Dynasty's literati had no bottom line.
Glancing at Chen Hong, who was trembling with fear beside him, Zhu Youxiao casually threw the notebook on the dragon desk and said with a smile on his face, "Look how scared you are."
"Yes, Your Majesty. I am used to being timid." As he spoke, Chen Hong made a gesture of wiping the sweat off his face.
It wasn't just the movements. His forehead was indeed covered with sweat. He himself wasn't sure whether it was because he was sweating from the heat of running or because he was sweating coldly.
Zhu Youxiao also knew about Chen Hong's worries.
Chen Hong was actually afraid. You know, this time the Donglin Party not only implicated some ministers, but also the eunuchs in the palace.
The Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was killed in the palace, and all these eunuchs were suspicious. Obviously, this move was used to counterattack Wei Zhongxian, and they might use this incident to attack Wei Zhongxian.
At the same time, Prince Fu's mother, the most beloved concubine of Emperor Wanli, Concubine Zheng, was also involved here.
Many memorials said that it was Concubine Zheng who murdered Emperor Taichang.
After all, there was a dispute over the crown prince back then, and everyone in the court knew one thing, which was that when Emperor Wanli was dying, he left a will, wanting to enthrone Concubine Zheng as the queen.
Zhu Youxiao knew a little about his grandfather, Wanli. Of course, most of it was from his past life.
Grandpa Wanli was a student of Zhang Juzheng. He was taught by Zhang Juzheng since he was a child, but was also suppressed by Zhang Juzheng.
So after he came of age and gained power, he directly took revenge on Zhang Juzheng. Zhu Youxiao was not good at judging right or wrong.
However, he mainly disagreed with Zhang Juzheng's reforms because they were too limited.
Zhang Juzheng's "One Whip Law" did not achieve the effect of allocating land tax, and the ultimate pressure was still on the common people.
However, Zhang Juzheng re-planned the land allocation throughout the country, which reduced the pressure on the people and increased the income of the court. This is another good thing he did.
Zhang Juzheng also implemented the performance evaluation system, which allowed the court to exercise some control over local officials.
Zhu Youxiao will not comment on the merits and demerits of Zhang Juzheng, nor on the things done by Grandpa Wanli.
Because if I were in that position, I would probably do the same thing.
You should know that many people say that Emperor Wanli beat Zhang Juzheng because he was suppressed by Zhang Juzheng when he was a child, or that Zhang Juzheng was a hypocrite.
Zhu Youxiao didn't want to find out what the truth was.
I was only considering it from the perspective of an emperor. When the new emperor ascended the throne, the power of the court was controlled by others. This was something that the new emperor could not accept in any way.
It's just that Grandpa Wanli's approach was inappropriate, or perhaps he lacked experience, and was fooled. Zhang Siwei and his people took over power by overthrowing Zhang Juzheng.
The considerations here are actually very complicated. Grandpa Wanli wanted to take back power, and Zhang Siwei and others wanted to have power, and the two sides hit it off.
But what happened next was beyond everyone's expectation. People in Zhang Siwei's family died one after another, and finally, he himself died.
From the perspective of conspiracy theories, it is not certain who did this. It is also hard to say whether his family members really died as recorded in history books.
Of course, these have nothing to do with Zhu Youxiao. It’s just that the current incident of assassinating the emperor involves his grandfather’s favorite concubine.
In these memorials of the Donglin Party, it was described in detail that Concubine Zheng held a grudge against Emperor Taichang because Emperor Taichang did not respect the imperial edict to make her the empress dowager. So she planned to murder Emperor Taichang, and sent him beautiful women and various aphrodisiacs, allowing him to live a life of debauchery.
As Emperor Taichang's health deteriorated, Concubine Zheng colluded with the eunuchs in the palace and Li Kezhuo outside the palace to give Emperor Taichang a poisonous medicine, which directly killed him. This was a conspiracy to kill the emperor.
The speculations of these civil servants revealed a complex and far-reaching storyline, involving countless people in the court. The most prominent of these was Fang Congzhe, the former Grand Secretary and Prime Minister of the Cabinet.
The Donglin Party claimed in the memorial that Fang Congzhe and Concubine Zheng colluded with each other to murder the late emperor.
Fang Congzhe wanted to monopolize power and colluded with a large number of his own people outside the court. The late emperor saw through his conspiracy and promoted the Donglin Party members. However, before the late emperor could investigate him, he had already harmed the late emperor.
The whole thing sounded so real, Zhu Youxiao tapped the armrest lightly with his fingers.
There are still treacherous factions in the palace and treacherous ministers in the court, so this matter needs to be thoroughly investigated. This is the gist of the Donglin Party's memorials.
Zhu Youxiao sneered repeatedly, leaning on the couch, squinting his eyes slightly, and went over everything in his mind. In the end, he had to sigh that the Donglin Party was not only bold, but also very clever in their tactics.
If this case were to get stirred up, it wouldn't be certain who would die.
It can be said that the Donglin Party had a good plan for the whole thing, and even included themselves, the emperor, in the plan.
Now that something like this has happened, as a son, I have to do something. I can't pretend to be ignorant of this matter. This is what the Donglin Party will do.
They want to muddy the waters in the court and even mess up their own harems. They are very experienced in their actions and choose their angles very tricky.
Zhu Youxiao stood up gently, walked out of the hall with an expressionless face, and stood on the steps looking at the sky in the distance.
Not to mention, the weather today is really nice, with a feeling of clouds rolling and unrolling, but Zhu Youxiao's mood is not as good as just now.
Sure enough, an accident happened.
Once this party struggle begins, it will never end.
No matter how well prepared you are, others will not sit idly by and their counterattacks will be sharp enough.
Things are getting interesting.
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