Chapter 13 Between Sadness and Joy
After Wang Zhen left, Zhou Yingying returned to Zhu Qizhen's side. She looked terrified and said, "This court affair is truly terrifying. Yingying was horrified..." She gently stroked her chest and sighed, "Fortunately, Your Majesty is wise and decisive. He won't let these villains alienate the blood relationship between Your Majesty and the eldest princess and damage Your Majesty's reputation."
Zhu Qizhen's expression softened considerably. He smiled at Zhou Yingying and said, "What's there to be afraid of? You look a little pale."
Zhou Yingying touched her face, uttered a sigh, and said casually, "These days, I've been studying the 'Rules for Women' with the Empress. The Empress is so diligent, and I dare not rest either. Perhaps I'm a little short of energy and blood."
Zhu Qizhen frowned slightly and comforted her, "When your mother was managing the harem, she didn't force the concubines to practice every day. It's okay to be lazy occasionally. I'll talk to the queen later. It's okay to drink tea and chat with her on weekdays, just like your mother and concubines do." After that, he ordered someone to invite a female doctor to see Zhou Yingying.
Zhou Yingying took Zhu Qizhen's arm, snuggled up to him, and said, "Your Majesty still loves Yingying."
She had a lively personality and was good at doing small things like acting coquettishly, not to mention that Zhu Qizhen was very generous to her and always responded to her requests, so Zhou Yingying also enjoyed it.
Zhu Qizhen was very pleased with her dependence and said, "You are too kind. Such a small thing is worth it."
Zhou Yingying just smiled shyly and said, "Your Majesty's kindness to me is far from just a little bit."
It would have been better if the female doctor hadn't examined her. When she did, she was shocked to find that Zhou Yingying was actually pregnant for just two months, which was consistent with Tong Shi's pregnancy.
This was Zhu Qizhen's first child, and it was a great joy regardless of whether it was a boy or a girl. Zhu Qizhen's mood immediately became much more relaxed. With a wave of his hand, he rewarded Zhou Yingying and the palace maids, and promised to officially make her a concubine after she gave birth.
With this child, both the emperor and his ministers felt relieved.
The emperor was too young and Zhu Zhanji only had two sons of similar age. If the Ming Dynasty had no descendants, it would be a big problem.
Needless to say, Hu Shanxiang sent many good things to Zhou Yingying, and Queen Qian also generously arranged for the palace maids to take care of her and make sure to protect Zhou Yingying's baby.
If there was anyone who was unhappy, it was Empress Dowager Sun. She always hoped that Queen Qian could give birth to the emperor's eldest son. From time to time, she would summon the queen to her side, not only to build a good relationship with Queen Qian, but also to teach her to be more submissive and act coquettishly to the emperor.
Who knew that the queen was so slow-witted and her health wasn't good enough, there had been no movement for such a long time.
Empress Dowager Sun knew that Zhou Yingying was a tenant farmer of the imperial farm, so she always looked down on her. Zhou Yingying would not curry favor with him, so the two of them were just acquaintances.
But Empress Dowager Sun had never expected that Zhou Yingying would be pregnant first. If she gave birth to the eldest prince, even if Empress Dowager Sun wanted it, Zhou Yingying would never agree.
The mother-son relationship between Empress Dowager Sun and the Emperor was not as strong as that between Empress Dowager Zhang and Zhu Zhanji. If Zhou Yingying had not taken the initiative to speak up, how could the Emperor send the prince to her lap for upbringing?
At this point, Empress Dowager Sun could only hope that Zhou Yingying's baby would be a princess.
The emperor was happy about the royal family's pregnancy. Everyone thought that the emperor had decided to move on and ignore Liu Qiu's advice as usual. However, they never expected that the Jinyiwei would quickly move out and lock Liu Qiu up.
The reason is simple: Liu Qiu wrote a letter to slander Princess Shunde, and he should be imprisoned and punished.
This incident was quite sudden, but when they saw that the person who handled the matter was Ma Shun from the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and that Liu Qiu was imprisoned in the imperial prison, everyone understood that Princess Shunde was nothing more than an excuse for Wang Zhen to eliminate dissidents.
It was probably because Liu Qiu's advice to Wang Zhen about "abusing power" and "seizing power" inadvertently hurt Wang Zhen's fragile heart, so he arrested Liu Qiu and put him in prison to intimidate court officials and warn them not to think of "pointing fingers at the mulberry tree and cursing the locust tree".
In any case, Liu Qiu entered the court as an official through the formal imperial examination, and he previously held the position of Hanlin Bachelor, an official position that did not directly involve court politics. He must not have made any major mistakes.
Wang Zhen could not find any fault with Liu Qiu. Judging from the memorial submitted by Liu Qiu, it was not a serious crime. As long as his family could find a way to ask someone to plead for him and give Wang Zhen some gold and silver as a bribe, Liu Qiu would be released from prison soon.
Compared with the optimism of others, Yang Pu, Zhang Fu and others were not so relaxed.
Once you enter the imperial prison, you will be in great danger. Not everyone can be as lucky as Yang Pu, who was imprisoned in the imperial prison for many years and still came out safely.
Wang Zhen was obviously different from Zhu Di. He was more like Zhu Zhanji who imprisoned Dai Lun and others. This person did not have a good end. Zhu Zhanji ordered his men to beat him to death with sticks, and even his relatives were implicated and their property was confiscated.
Zhu Qizhen's temper was not good to begin with, not to mention that there was Wang Zhen who was eyeing him covetously.
"I'm afraid Liu Qiu is in great danger."
Yang Pu sighed deeply and said, "Liu Qiu is a man of integrity, and this time he's run into Wang Zhen again... Now, we can only think of a way to save Liu Qiu's life first. Once the news reaches Princess Shunde, she will surely not sit idly by. As long as she writes a petition, Liu Qiu will surely be released safely."
Zhang Fu shook his head helplessly. "Yunnan is remote, and we don't know when we'll get any news. I'm afraid Wang Zhen can't wait any longer. Wang Zhen wants to use Liu Qiu as an example to scare the monkeys, so why not that guy?"
Yang Pu fell into silence, picked up the teacup on the table and took a sip.
Before Wang Zhen became the sole ruler, some officials had already reported that Wang Zhen, as the eunuch of the Imperial Household Department, abused his power for personal gain, calling him a "corrupt eunuch."
But the emperor seemed to turn a deaf ear to this and never took any measures. He even promoted Wang Zhen repeatedly. It can be seen that the emperor had no intention of punishing Wang Zhen at all. Instead, he used Wang Zhen to attack officials. This was the case with Yang Shiqi before and it is also the case with Liu Qiu now.
In other words, their so-called "enemy" was not Wang Zhen, but the emperor.
Zhang Fu continued, "Dan'an, you should be careful too."
Yang Pu sighed, a look of melancholy on his face, and said, "Leaving early has its advantages."
Of the Three Yangs, Yang Rong passed away the earliest, returning to his hometown to visit his ancestors' graves, a true return to his roots. However, compared to Yang Shiqi, he was much luckier. While Yang Shiqi's reputation couldn't be said to be completely ruined, his life could certainly be described as "miserable."
Now Yang Pu was the only one left in the court, caught in a dilemma. His constant hesitation made him appear to be in a difficult position.
Especially since Liu Qiu himself was a Jinshi in the 19th year of Yongle. Zeng Heling, Yu Qian and Xue Xuan of that year were now considered to be in important positions, and they all pleaded with Yang Pu to intercede for him.
However, after seeing what happened to Yang Shiqi, Yang Pu knew that Zhu Qizhen's personality was even worse than Zhu Gaochi and Zhu Zhanji. He felt that he could not protect himself, so he dared not speak easily.
Zhang Fu consoled him, "The only solution now is to be patient. Your Majesty is like the rising sun, so dazzling that we cannot gaze directly upon him."
Anyway, they are all old men. As long as they can get through the last few years, it will be considered as accumulating blessings for their children and grandchildren.
Yang Pu remained silent. Even though he had been an official for many years, he still felt a pang of anger in his heart.
If he kowtowed to Wang Zhen, not only would his colleagues look down on him, but Yang Pu himself would also despise him, not to mention his reputation among future generations. However, if he openly opposed Wang Zhen, it would be tantamount to openly opposing the emperor. Not only would he risk his own old bones, but given Wang Zhen's petty mind, his descendants would also be doomed.
He couldn't do it alone, but if he could join forces with Princess Shunde to deal with Wang Zhen, there might be a chance to get rid of Wang Zhen.
But no matter how benevolent Zhu Yuhuan appeared outwardly, or how ambitious he expressed himself in his writings, the blood relationship between the two siblings remained. Wang Zhen was the emperor's tool, so how could the eldest princess help an outsider to deal with her own brother?
Not to mention that Princess Shunde's current power also depends on the emperor's trust. Moreover, the emperor kept Wang Ji in Yunnan, perhaps with the intention of letting Wang Ji and the princess monitor each other.
Moreover, Princess Shunde's mind was clearly focused on the issue of the transformation of the natives into commoners. In addition, she was far away from the central government and had to maintain a superficial peace with Wang Zhen...
After much thought, Yang Pu concluded that the only path he could take was the one Zhang Fu mentioned.
surrender.
Seeing that his face looked more vicissitudes, Zhang Fu could not help but understand Yang Pu's mood.
Zhang Fu raised his hand and patted his shoulder, saying, "Now we can only hope that Princess Shunde's memorial will arrive in the capital and save Liu Qiu's life."
"I hope news from the Princess will arrive soon..."
As the two expected, Wang Zhen gave Liu Qiu's relatives little time to operate, and ordered a strict interrogation of Liu Qiu, implying that he wanted to torture Liu Qiu into confessing in order to get rid of him.
Coincidentally, someone else submitted a memorial to speak for Liu Qiu, so Wang Zhen, under the pretext of collusion, imprisoned the officials who had come to intercede in the imperial prison and tortured them severely.
It happened that Hanlin editor Dong Lin was arrested and imprisoned for requesting to be appointed as Taichang Qing. Wang Zhen instructed Ma Shun to have Dong Lin falsely accuse Liu Qiu of being the mastermind, taking the opportunity to frame Liu Qiu.
Seeing that most of Yang Pu and others remained silent, Wang Zhen struck while the iron was hot and directly ordered Ma Shun to deal with Liu Qiu secretly and tell the outside world that Liu Qiu died of illness in prison.
As Wang Zhen's confidant, Ma Shun knew that Wang Zhen hated Liu Qiu deeply, so he naturally would not miss the opportunity to please Wang Zhen.
"Death from illness" is too "easy" for Liu Qiu. This man must be torn into pieces.
However, within a few days, news of Liu Qiu's "death from illness" spread from the imperial prison, but the actual situation was not the case.
Ma Shun first cut off Liu Qiu's head and then dismembered and discarded his body. He was used to being domineering around Wang Zhen, and he didn't even give Liu Qiu's son a corpse before driving him away. If Liu Qiu's son hadn't asked around, I'm afraid he wouldn't have found even one of Liu Qiu's arms.
Although Dong Lin, who was tortured, did not witness the scene with his own eyes, he heard the noise next door. The next day, when he saw someone cleaning up Liu Qiu's troubles, he guessed that he might have met with misfortune.
Liu Qiu was thus implicated, and Dong Lin felt extremely guilty, so he begged the jailer to hand over Liu Qiu's bloody clothes to him.
When the jailer was cleaning the cell, he thought of how Liu Qiu died tragically and couldn't help feeling pity, so he gave the clothes to Dong Lin. After Dong Lin left the imperial prison, he handed them over to the Liu family.
Liu Qiu had been in the imperial prison for only a few days. He was first tortured and then his body was never found. Even a dumb person could guess that Wang Zhen must have ordered Liu Qiu to be killed.
For a moment, no one in the court dared to say a word.
Although Liu Qiu's advice was inappropriate, his crime was not serious enough. However, he lost his life in such a confused way. How can this not make people tremble with fear?
The more you talk, the more mistakes you make; the more you do, the more mistakes you make. Instead of doing this, it’s better not to do it.
Seeing that everyone was obedient to him, even Yang Pu was no exception, Wang Zhen became more and more proud.
He pacified Luchuan, reformed the native system, and now he can intimidate all officials and assist the emperor in becoming a wise ruler. He deserves the title of eunuch of Silijian!
Next, as long as Wang Zhen can serve the emperor well and do a few things that will satisfy the emperor and benefit the people, why should he worry about not being able to leave his name in history?
By then, Wang Zhen's name, which once belonged only to a failed scholar, will surpass the names of those hypocritical cabinet officials and will be remembered for thousands of years.
Just when Wang Zhen was feeling very proud of himself, he received a memorial from Princess Shunde from Yunnan, which surprised him greatly.
In order to prevent her intentions from being misinterpreted, the princess usually submitted both the official memorial and the memorial to the emperor together. But this time, there was only the memorial but no memorial, which was really too strange.
What's even more rare is that this memorial is surprisingly thin and doesn't look like it was written by Princess Shunde.
Wang Zhen opened the memorial and was stunned. He then hurriedly ordered his servants, "Let's go and ask for an audience with the Emperor!"
The young eunuch was startled when he saw him suddenly stand up, and hurriedly caught up with Wang Zhen.
"Dad, Dad!"
Wang Zhen's pace continued, even more hurried. He frowned and said, "Princess Shunde is unwell and unable to report. This is no small matter. We must report it to the Emperor immediately! The Emperor will decide how to deal with it and whether to inform Empress Cihui..."
Not to mention that the reform of the native system in Yunnan hadn't yet concluded, Princess Shunde was the emperor's eldest sister, and even a sneeze required a lot of caution. Furthermore, the memorial described Princess Shunde's illness as having come on very quickly, and since the memorial had been delivered at full speed, it was possible that Princess Shunde's health was on the verge of collapse...
Although Wang Zhen was secretly happy, he could not reveal it in front of outsiders, especially Zhu Qizhen. Not only that, Wang Zhen had to report it to Zhu Qizhen as soon as possible.
He couldn't help feeling a little nervous, secretly looking forward to the good news he wanted, but also wondering why Princess Shunde suddenly became so seriously ill.
He didn't know about others, but Wang Zhen knew this Princess Shunde very well. She had been practicing riding and shooting since she was a child and was as strong as an ox.
How could such a healthy body become so seriously ill?
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