Chapter 49: Poisonous Heart
There was unrest in the palace, and the same was true outside the palace. Under Zhu Yuhuan's deliberate exaggeration, the emperor's behavior was infinitely magnified in rumors, and there were many different opinions.
Previously, the rumor that the emperor committed suicide to sacrifice his life for his country was widely circulated. Now, there has been a sudden reversal, and many people are very angry. Some of the rumors have gradually changed their meaning as they were passed on.
For example, some people said that the emperor had sold out the border defense arrangements around the capital in order to survive, otherwise Xuanfu would not have had such a hard time resisting. Others said that the emperor had long been aware of the smuggling between border officials and the Oirat, but he had turned a blind eye and had therefore suffered retribution.
The Jinyiwei were already investigating the matter. They had previously followed Ma Shun and suffered a lot from the eunuch Wang Zhen. Now they were investigating Wang Zhen's followers, and they were faster than anyone else.
As for controlling the rumors outside? They were already busy investigating Wang Zhen's case, so how could they have the time to care about what ordinary people said?
Not to mention that the eldest princess didn't even give any orders to discipline him.
The capital was under martial law, and people were already in panic. With rumors spreading, even the officials began to feel uneasy.
To be fair, they actually didn't want the emperor to come back. After all, they had just submitted a joint memorial requesting the eldest princess to act as regent, but the emperor and the eldest princess had a complete falling out. Even if they welcomed the emperor back, Zhu Qizhen might not appreciate their kindness given his personality.
They knew exactly how Guo Jing, Yang Shiqi and Liu Qiu died. If the emperor really returned safely, he and Empress Dowager Sun would only think that the emperor was blessed with a long life, and would never remember the ministers' contributions.
Now the army is in Fujian to prevent the recurrence of rebellion. There are no garrisons in the capital, and the Beijing camp supporting Nanjing has not yet arrived in the capital. The defense of the city mainly relies on soldiers transferred from Baoding Prefecture and other places and temporary civilians in the capital. Moreover, grain must be transported from Tongzhou to the capital through the canal, and the manpower demand is extremely high.
For the current Ming Dynasty, the people are in great need at this time, but such news has come out, which has made people's hearts unstable and is a great unfavorable factor for strengthening the defense of the capital.
Not to mention that the Oirat Mongols were wandering around the border cities with their emperor, and more and more people would see the emperor being captured, especially the soldiers guarding the cities. There were already many soldiers fleeing to the border to avoid military service, and the border had been peaceful for some time. When these soldiers saw the troubled emperor running to the city gate to demand that the gate be opened, they would probably have all kinds of thoughts in their minds. If the general commanding the soldiers made a mistake, the situation would be even more out of control.
Moreover, the sudden spread of such news at this moment made many ministers speculate about the eldest princess's thoughts.
After all, there had been news that the eldest princess and the emperor were not on good terms, which showed that the two of them were already at odds with each other. The eldest princess allowed such rumors to spread at this time, and she probably had other plans.
The eldest prince is young, and the eldest princess's behavior can be said to be "Sima Zhao's intention is known to everyone."
If the Prince of Qing was made emperor, as an adult prince, he would not need the eldest princess to rule the country, and sooner or later, the two would develop a rift, just like Zhu Qizhen and Zhu Yuhuan did. However, if the eldest son was made emperor, Empress Dowager Sun would inevitably take the opportunity to participate in politics, and the eldest princess would never do such a foolish thing.
Even if they don't want to admit it in their hearts, many people can't help but think of another result.
Could it be that the eldest princess is planning to take the throne herself?
As soon as this idea came out, many people subconsciously denied it.
Putting aside the fact that a princess inheriting the throne was unprecedented in all dynasties, why would the eldest princess go to such lengths to make enemies for herself? With her methods, even if she were the eldest princess, she would not be inferior to Empress Dowager Sun, so why bother with such a fuss?
With the eldest princess's personality, she could have played power games without leaving any trace, instead of doing so in a critical situation. Such behavior would only leave room for future generations to talk about. Who in the world doesn't cherish their reputation?
But she did it anyway, just like the petition that openly asked the emperor for power, making it difficult to see her purpose.
What benefits will this bring to the princess?
With this thought in mind, the officials went into court the next morning to discuss matters as usual. In the morning, they saw soldiers from the Four Tengxiang Guards guarding the palace gate. They must have been worried that they would repeat the scene of beating Ma Shun to death.
Zhu Yuhuan arrived earlier than them, but his attire today was different from the crimson python costume he wore before. Instead, he wore a moon-white dress with a hibiscus-colored round-necked robe on the outside. His long hair was combed into a high bun, tied only with a jade crown. He looked extremely simple, in stark contrast to the python costume he wore two days ago.
The most important thing is that next to Zhu Yuhuan stood Zhu Qiyu, the Prince of Qing, who was also dressed simply. The Prince of Qing had his hands folded in front of him, and both the brother and sister had solemn expressions.
It is said that "when something is out of the ordinary, there must be something wrong." Seeing the eldest princess dressed like this, all the ministers attending the court had a vague sense of foreboding.
Everyone in the hall was silent. After a while, the two Empress Dowagers sat down behind the pearl curtain.
Hu Shanxiang instructed the female officer beside her to pass on the report, motioning for the officials attending the court to review it one by one. Then she slowly spoke, "The Xuanfu General has sent a military report stating that Your Majesty has been captured by the Oirat. The Oirat are exploiting Your Majesty's status and reputation to deceive and threaten the border garrisons, demanding they open the gates or hand over supplies and valuables. Yang Hong, quick-witted, lied about being injured and ignored the Oirat's knocks, so they turned and headed towards Datong."
Zhu Yuhuan, who had been silent until then, finally spoke up. "I discussed this with Duke Ying and the cabinet yesterday. I've ordered my men to rush to Datong and inform General Shi Heng and others that if the Oirat forces directly close the border, they must verify the identity of 'Your Majesty'. The guards must not open the gates easily, and certainly not interact with the Oirat forces at will. If the Oirat forces force their way through, we must immediately launch a counterattack without further ado."
Upon hearing this, Empress Dowager Sun immediately became restless and shouted, "What do you mean by this? Doesn't this mean you're not allowing the emperor to return? Zhu Yuhuan, you're truly vicious!"
When everyone heard that Zhu Yuhuan had summoned Duke Ying and all the cabinet members to meet yesterday, they knew that this was the result of their discussion. This way of verifying the emperor's identity was not excessive. The only problem was that the Oirat would never agree to this method.
For the Oirat, if the emperor they held was genuine, wouldn't this physical examination be an opportunity to deceive people? If the emperor they held was a fake and the Ming Dynasty could identify it, wouldn't the Oirat, wandering back and forth at the border, be fools?
Unable to verify the identity, the Ming Dynasty had to consider that the emperor in the hands of the Oirat might be the real one, and whether it was defense or counterattack, it would inevitably be restricted.
To avoid this embarrassment, the best way is to simply assume that the emperor is dead and support a new emperor. In this way, the army can also deal with the Wala with ease, without having to consider that the Wala still has the emperor in their hands.
Even through the beaded curtain, Empress Dowager Sun could vaguely sense that the atmosphere in the hall had changed significantly after she said that sentence.
She almost immediately realized the problem with her words. If she did so, the blame for not allowing the emperor to return would fall entirely on the eldest princess. The ministers could simply support Zhu Jianshen as emperor, and how could that not count as a meritorious service? Then, Concubine Zhou De would undoubtedly kick her out and choose the eldest princess as regent...
Empress Dowager Sun was just thinking about how to remedy the situation when Hu Yi stepped forward and said, "Your Highness is right. In this case, why not honor Your Majesty as the Supreme Emperor, appoint the eldest son as the Crown Prince, and have Your Highness and Prince Qing jointly govern the country."
Empress Dowager Sun was relieved when she heard that Hu Yi did not completely abandon the captured emperor.
As long as the Emperor does not allow Princess Shunde's family to dominate, he will always have a chance. If he can use the issue of assisting in the administration to alienate Hu Wu and the two siblings, that would be perfect.
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