Chapter 272 Lu Ling
Princess Kunxing left the Cining Palace and reached another agreement with the Empress Dowager to hand over her military power. She also wrote letters to the White Spear Army and the old Kenan Army camp. The White Spear Army had already retreated to Shizhu, and the old Kenan Army camp had gone to Wudang Mountain in Shiyan, Hubei.
With the most powerful army in the country now in the hands of the imperial court, Empress Dowager Zhou felt relieved. As for the way to make money, she had seen it clearly after coming to Jiangnan. When her husband Chongzhen was alive, she asked these ministers for money, but they would rather watch the Ming Dynasty fall and their husbands hanged on Coal Hill than pay a penny. She even wanted her husband to reduce taxes! It's not easy to get money now! She called back the old camp of the Kenan Army and summoned all the sea merchants who supported the Donglin Party and asked them whether they wanted to live or die.
Pay the money and you can live! If you don't pay, we will confiscate your property. Your death is better than the death of us orphans and widows.
If the Donglin Party knew that Empress Dowager Zhou was plotting against them, I wonder if they would beat themselves up?
Princess Kunxing did not return to the palace immediately but went to the Palace of Heavenly Purity. Since Zhu Cijiong sneaked away to Wudang Mountain last time, he has been basically under semi-house arrest.
He had no power to begin with, and now the government fell into the hands of the Queen Mother and a group of ministers, and he had become a complete puppet.
Empress Dowager Zhou ordered him to study every day and never showed him the imperial edicts. Zhu Cijiong's only support now was Lu Ling, whom he brought back from Wudang Mountain.
As for the defeat of the Kenan Army, he had naturally heard about it. He also asked Lu Ling to go out of the palace every day to get the news, so the old teachers would not tell him what was happening outside. They always said that the emperor had sent him away because his studies were the most important thing.
Zhu Cijiong is now a teenager of thirteen or fourteen, with his own ideas and a strong rebellious nature. The more you try to stop me from getting close to Zhao Xiaofei, the more I want to know about him.
Before Zhao Xiaofei left for the battle, he had Lu Ling secretly send a letter to him. The two of them had a close relationship, and now that his brother-in-law was missing, he was extremely worried.
Ever since his brother-in-law went to war, it was difficult for him to get Lu Ling to go out and get information. Every time Lu Ling went out, she was stopped by other eunuchs, palace maids, or guards.
She was even threatened with being beaten to death if she left the palace again. This frightened Lu Ling so much that she never dared to sneak out again! You think she knows martial arts? How old is she? Her martial arts skills are just a few tricks. How can they compare to the imperial guards? So she could only endure it here, imprisoned with the emperor in the Forbidden City.
Today, Princess Kunxing came to the Palace of Heavenly Purity to see her younger brother. Zhu Cijiong was very happy and said to Princess Kunxing, "Sister, please don't be polite! Have you heard anything about my brother-in-law?"
Princess Kunxing was moved by this sentence. She never expected that the first question her brother asked would be about her brother-in-law.
Princess Kunxing felt a little kinship with her brother. She bowed and said, "There's still no news from him! Everyone in the palace is extremely worried!"
"Sister! I can't do anything. Those ministers insisted on forcing mother to issue an order to confiscate the palace. No matter what I said, no one listened to me. There is no point in being an emperor. I might as well be a Prince Taiping!" Zhu Cijiong said.
"How can you be a Taiping Prince! Only when the world is at peace can you become a Taiping Emperor!" Princess Kunxing said. She thought to herself, without the Queen Mother's order, how could those ministers dare to send the Jinyiwei to besiege the palace? Brother, you are still too naive. You are really not fit to sit on this throne!
"Sister! My brother-in-law will definitely come back! I believe in him, and he promised me. He said that when the world is peaceful, he will take me to travel around the world!" Zhu Cijiong said.
Princess Kunxing said: "I also think your brother-in-law can come back! When he comes back, we will reorganize the army and march north again!" Princess Kunxing said.
"Sister! You must take me with you next time! I don't want to be locked up here forever!" Zhu Cijiong said.
Princess Kunxing looked at her brother's eager eyes and couldn't bear to refuse. She said, "When your brother-in-law comes back, I will definitely ask him to take you with me to the Northern Expedition!"
"Sister! There's something you need to help me with!" Zhu Cijiong said, looking a little embarrassed.
"What's the matter?" Princess Kunxing asked puzzledly when she saw her brother acting like this.
Zhu Cijiong scratched his head and said, "Sister! Ling'er is pregnant! But Queen Mother may not tolerate her. Queen Mother knows that she is an Emei disciple. She told me that she cannot be the Queen! And she cannot give birth to children!"
Princess Kunxing understood that Empress Dowager Zhou was very forgiving. If she truly disliked Lu Ling, this Emei disciple would have been dead long ago. Knowing her brother loved her, she didn't kill her. But now it was different; she was pregnant with her brother's child. But her brother, as the emperor, hadn't even married yet!
Although she won't choose someone from the Zhou family, my mother won't let a martial artist be the queen!
The Ming Dynasty generally chose empresses from humble backgrounds. Even for officials, the selection was generally from the families of officials below the fifth rank. This was to prevent the monopoly of power by relatives of the emperor's wife, but it also never selected martial artists as empresses or concubines. Therefore, if her mother knew about Lu Ling's pregnancy, she would be doomed.
"Don't worry! I will take good care of her!" said Princess Kunxing.
"Thank you, sister! When my brother-in-law comes back, I'll give him the entire Zhejiang province as a fiefdom!" Zhu Cijiong said with a smile, his face filled with uncontrollable joy.
"No need! Zhejiang accounts for more than 30% of the Ming Dynasty's fiscal revenue. When the world is at peace, I hope the emperor will allow us to leave the Ming Dynasty because of the contributions my husband and I have made to the Ming Dynasty. We want to sail to the Kingdom of Nan'ao." Princess Kunxing said.
"Brother-in-law, do you want to go back to your hometown? Isn't the Ming Dynasty good? Here you, me, Zhaoren, and our children. Where in the world can compare to the Ming Dynasty? Sister! When brother-in-law comes back, please persuade him!" Zhu Cijiong immediately showed an anxious look when he heard that his brother-in-law was planning to leave.
"Okay! We'll talk about it later!" said Princess Kunxing.
Seeing that his sister agreed, Zhu Cijiong was very happy. He then asked his sister a lot about the outside world. Princess Kunxing felt that her brother was becoming a chatterbox.
In fact, Zhu Cijiong was forced to do so. No one spoke to him sincerely. Those old-fashioned people only lectured him, and his mother only lectured him.
After chatting for a while and promising him that she would visit him more often next time, Princess Kunxing took Lu Ling out of the palace.
Lu Ling's departure from the palace was unusually smooth, with no one trying to stop her. Kunxing suspected that his mother was eager for this woman to leave his brother's side as soon as possible.
After returning to the palace, Princess Kunxing said to Lu Ling in her bedroom, "I never thought you'd be queen!"
"I dare not! I just want to be by the emperor's side!" Lu Ling was so frightened when she heard this that she immediately knelt down.
"Don't be afraid! No one in the palace dares to bully you! As long as you give birth to a boy, the position of queen will belong to you!" Princess Kunxing said.
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