Concubine Zheng and Cui Wensheng were naturally anxiously waiting for news from Ciqing Palace.
Although the prince was poisoned, it would definitely cause violent shock in the court; he would also be pushed to the forefront.
But Concubine Zheng no longer cares about this. As long as her precious son Zhu Changxun can ascend the throne of the emperor, she is willing to die even if she is asked to do so.
It's a pity that they still didn't wait for the news of Zhu Changluo's death.
Soon the prince Zhu Changluo was poisoned and was reported to Kunning Palace.
Although the queen Zheng Guifei has not been officially canonized, it does not affect her right to exercise the queen's rights in the inner court.
Of course, regardless of whether she is a queen or not, the right to control the harem has already been with her.
The fact that the prince was poisoned was a big deal, so Empress Zheng couldn't ignore it. Soon she sent Cui Wensheng, the eunuch in charge of Kunning Palace, to investigate the matter thoroughly.
Cui Wensheng's "thief shouting to catch the thief" naturally could not find out the truth, and in the end the case could only be dropped.
Empress Zheng used the reason that Her Majesty could not be stimulated and strictly prohibited discussion of this matter in the harem. Violators would be punished with a stick!
However, both she and Cui Wensheng overlooked an issue. Although evidence is needed to handle a case, a motive is needed to kill someone!
Apart from her, Queen Zheng, is there anyone else in the world who has this motive?
Cui Wensheng's "let it go", coupled with Empress Zheng's "discussion is strictly prohibited", is more like "there is no three hundred taels of silver here", confirming the fact that she sent someone to poison the crown prince.
Soon this matter spread at an alarming speed in the inner court and the capital.
When Li Xianzhong heard this, he was directly shocked by the flirtatious behavior between Concubine Zheng and Cui Wensheng.
This Cui Wensheng is really unreliable. If you want to kill people, you should find a killer with strong martial arts skills.
In the "Struggling Case" five years ago, Mr. Cui spent a lot of money to hire experts.
But the person he wanted to kill was the prince. If it wasn’t for a bad brain, who would dare to take on this job?
The master who received his money found that he couldn't do the work himself, so he began to subcontract it to others.
In the end, the job changed hands several times and fell into the hands of a fool named Zhang Cha.
A farmer with no physical strength came directly to Ciqing Palace with a jujube stick and beat everyone he saw. In the end, he only injured one eunuch guarding the gate.
This time I finally made some progress, and I finally found the target.
But at this time, if Zhu Changluo was not a fool, he would definitely guard against anyone tampering with his diet.
Originally, Wanli and his ministers were in a stalemate over the matter of sealing the throne.
Now that they have made such a stupid move, can the Donglin Party miss the opportunity to show off in front of the future emperor?
With Wanli's current physical condition, he might just make them belch!
At this time, in the box on the second floor of the heaven and earth, a group of nobles represented by Zhu Chunchen, the Duke of Chengguo, and Zhang Zhiji, the son of the British Duke, were also worried.
After seeing Li Xianzhong arriving, Zhu Chunchen quickly asked him to take a seat.
Li Xianzhong looked around and found no trace of Zheng Yangxing. It was obvious that he had become the "god of plague" that everyone avoided since his last request to support Zheng Guifei's establishment as queen was rejected.
Nowadays, the honorable circle in the capital has been eliminated. The capital is indeed very big.
The capital of the Ming Dynasty had a population of nearly one million, making it the most populous city in the world at that time. However, the circle of powerful people in the capital was very small.
So small that there is no room for a person who has lost power.
If he hadn't been the boss behind this "Heaven and Earth", and these nobles had made a lot of money by opening up the North Korean market, I'm afraid his situation at this time would not be any better than Zheng Yangxing.
The nobles of the Ming Dynasty had actually been kicked out of the core circle of power by the civil servants, so their lives would certainly be easy if they encountered a hands-off boss like Wanli.
Wanli doesn't care about almost anything, they can blatantly eat the free wages of the Beijing camp.
The civil servant group of Ming Dynasty also reached a tacit understanding with the Xungui Group.
As long as the nobles did not interfere with the Ming Dynasty's affairs, the civil servants would turn a blind eye to their behavior of empty pay in the capital.
But if there is another emperor, it will be hard to say.
After all, it is difficult to find another hands-off shopkeeper like Wanli.
Zhu Chunchen, Duke of Chengguo, said: "Everyone knows what happened at Ciqing Palace a few days ago, right?"
"Now these civil servants are gathering in front of Dong'an Gate with great enthusiasm, demanding that Your Majesty severely punish the mastermind behind the scenes!"
"Should our nobles also speak out, at least to leave a good impression on His Royal Highness?"
Zhu Chunchen's words caused a lot of discussion. After all, it was only a matter of time before the crown prince ascended the throne. If they took no action or caused dissatisfaction with the crown prince in the future, their good days might be over.
Li Xianzhong said: "The titles we hold are hereditary and non-replaceable. As long as the throne is legally inherited by the Zhu family emperor, we will support it."
"This is the biggest difference between us and those homeless officials!"
"If we follow these civil servants and join in blindly, I'm not sure whether the Crown Prince will appreciate us."
"But this kind of forced uterus behavior definitely goes against our consistent position!"
"In addition, the act of forcing the palace is contempt for the imperial power. Maybe the prince will be grateful to these people now, but once the prince ascends the throne and becomes the emperor, do you think he will be afraid of this kind of contempt for the imperial power? "
Li Xianzhong's words were quickly recognized by most people.
What they want to protect is the Zhu family. As long as they are the Zhu family, no matter who becomes the emperor, they should be loyal to the emperor. This is the foundation for their livelihood.
If they also participate in forcing the palace, they will be feared by the emperor sooner or later. If the autumn harvest comes to settle accounts, the gain will outweigh the loss.
Li Xianzhong went on to say: "Even if we go, we can't be as shameless as the Donglin Party. They don't even have to show their loyalty to show their loyalty. They behave and roll around and carry coffins against pillars. There is no bottom line!"
"Do you have the confidence to compete with these shameless civil servants?"
Zhu Chunchen also felt a little ashamed when Li Xianzhong said this. As a dignified prince, could he still do such naughty things?
He said: "What Uncle Ning Yuan said is true. It was indeed because of my brother that I didn't think carefully about it."
Li Xianzhong said: "What Duke Cheng Guo is worried about is correct. If you don't have long-term worries, you will have immediate worries!"
"Our ancestors all relied on their military exploits to earn their fortune for generations to come!"
"Therefore, the military power in our hands must not be left aside. Whether it is the Beijing camp or the North Korean garrison, whoever dares to touch these will not only touch the 'money bags' of our brothers, but also the well-being of our descendants."
Li Xianzhong's words quickly received a response from everyone. Zhu Chunchen said: "Don't worry, Uncle Ning Yuan. I, Old Zhu, have left his words here. No matter who is the chief minister, if he dares to touch your position as the Governor of North Korea, he will be at odds with me, Old Zhu!"
The nobles present were more or less involved in North Korea's trade. Li Xianzhong was very good at this, and no one "eat alone."
Everyone also knew the embarrassing situation of Li Xianzhong. He, the most favored minister of the Wanli Dynasty, was labeled as a "devil's party member", and he was in the same boat as the Donglin Party.
Once the new emperor ascends the throne, he will definitely be retaliated by the Donglin Party.
Relying on his military exploits and the Li family's position in Liaodong, it is estimated that Li Xianzhong will not be able to move his position as deputy economic envoy to Liaodong for a while, but the North Korean governor can be removed.
This affects their interests.
Li Xianzhong is different from Zheng Yangxing. His Zheng family has never brought others to make a fortune, but Li Xianzhong has found a good way for everyone to make money.
According to the pie he painted for everyone, North Korea was just the beginning. In the future, Cochin, Burma, Siam, Ryukyu and even Japan and Java could all refer to the North Korean model.
Naturally, they were reluctant to give up on such a "big brother" who led everyone to make a fortune.
The strategy adopted by the Ming Dynasty towards the vassal kings was to "raise pigs", so why not do the same for nobles?
They were all trapped in the capital. Even Li Chengliang, who was recently granted the title of Ning Yuanbo, was almost trapped in the capital in the end.
Li Xianzhong is now the last frontier official with real power in the circle of nobles.
So everyone recommended Li Xianzhong as the leader of the nobles, leading everyone to make a fortune together!
Li Xianzhong said: "Xianzhong is very touched by your kindness. It is Xianzhong's duty to lead everyone to make a fortune together. However, in terms of qualifications and reputation, the British Duke Zhang Weixian is the representative of our nobles, and Xianzhong is naturally the only one." The British stallion follows suit!"
So he said to Zhang Zhiji: "We, the nobles, can no longer be in a state of disarray and let the civil servants manipulate us, and we still ask the British public to take the helm for our brothers."
Zhang Zhiji looked at Li Xianzhong with a somewhat complaining look, thinking to himself that Li Xianzhong made everyone angry. In the end, you didn't come forward and threw the blame to the British government.
But he couldn't refuse at this time. At this time, the nobles really needed a leader, and it was none other than the British Duke Zhang Weixian.
Just when the nobles united in "heaven and earth" and prepared for a big fight.
The civil servant group of the Ming Dynasty, headed by the first assistant Fang Congzhe and the Donglin Party members, was also performing their drama outside Dong'an Gate.
This "poisoning incident" was suspected of murdering the prince, which touched the bottom line of all civil servants and almost stung a "hornet's nest".
This time, the civil servants are all elite, including Fang Congzhe, the leader of the three parties of "Qi, Chu and Zhejiang", the chief minister of the cabinet, Xiong Tingbi, the minister of the Ministry of War, and Li Zhi, the minister of the Ministry of Punishment; as well as Liu Yijing, the backbone of the Donglin Party, the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, Zhou Shunchang, the chief of the Ministry of Personnel, and Ducha Yang Lian, the censor of the capital, and Zuo Guangdou, the censor of the city patrol, were kneeling in front of Dong'an Gate with hundreds of officials.
Liu Yijing, known as the "Coffin Coffin Waiter", came here again carrying his coffin.
For civil servants breaking into the palace, the imperial guards at Dong'an Gate have long been accustomed to it.
Almost every few months, civil servants would come here to cause trouble, sometimes even several times a month.
However, the scale this time was so large that it broke the previous record.
There are also a huge crowd of people watching around. After all, you have to pay for watching the performance. Watching the show here is for nothing.
It was okay at first, just the traditional drama of "crying, making trouble, and hanging myself".
These civil servants were crying and shouting: "I beg your Majesty to severely punish the murderer, find out the mastermind behind the scenes, and give everyone an explanation."
But then the trend changed, and a group of excited civil servants began to invade the palace. They even rolled up their sleeves and claimed, "I will use my old bones to guard the palace for the prince and protect the prince from being framed by traitors."
More and more ministers began to stand up and storm the palace gate.
The guards carefully pulled out their sabers, and the general guarding the gate shouted: "Please stay calm, everyone. Breaking into the forbidden palace without permission is a capital offense. Please don't embarrass the general!"
This group of Donglin Party members are also experienced in breaking into the palace. Every time they pretend to be brave and fearless of death, they bump into these Forbidden Army guards, but they can avoid the position of the blade very accurately every time.
Both sides have already reached a tacit understanding. From a distance, it seems that the civil servants are constantly attacking the palace gate, with increasing momentum, but they can't get in.
At this time Liu Yijing said: "Shoufu Fang, if we continue as before and just make a fuss in front of the palace gate to create a little momentum, I'm afraid it won't work!"
"It is said that His Majesty is currently ill and cannot leave Qianqing Palace at all. Everything in the harem is controlled by the demon concubine Zheng. Maybe His Majesty cannot hear our thoughts at all!"
"For this purpose, we can only let His Majesty know the true situation by actually breaking into the palace gate!"
Fang Congzhe knew that what Liu Yijing said was true, but if he really broke into the palace, it would be like forcing the palace, and the nature would be different.
If His Majesty becomes angry and directly takes down himself as the chief minister of the cabinet, this will be advantageous to the Donglin Party.
When he was in a dilemma, he saw Cui Wensheng leading a group of guards to Dong'anmen.
He is here to deliver the decree of Empress Zheng: Anyone who breaks into the inner palace without permission will be punished directly.
Everyone was very excited at first. When they saw the servant Cui Wensheng, whoever shouted first said: "This Cui Wensheng is the number one minion of the demon concubine Zheng. He must not have good intentions when he comes to Dong'anmen!"
At this time, the ministers were completely shocked, and then someone shouted: "This Cui Wensheng is the mastermind who poisoned His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!"
So the angry ministers rushed forward, claiming to beat Cui Wensheng to death and directly seek justice for His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!
Cui Wensheng saw something was wrong. These ministers were all here for him.
So he quickly ordered people to open the Dong'an Gate and ran back to the palace.
When the officials saw the palace door open, they rushed in as if they had been given blood.
In the end, Baiguan broke through the dam like a flood.
At this point, the deal was already done, and even if Fang Congzhe wanted to stop it, it would be too late.
The excited officials were divided into three waves.
Some people went to the Prince's Ciqing Palace to guard the Prince to show their loyalty.
This way you can show your face and there is no risk, so naturally there are the largest number of people.
The other two waves of people went to Kunning Palace, where Concubine Zheng was, and to the Qianqing Palace in Wanli to demonstrate.
They demanded that the real culprit who poisoned the prince be found out and the mastermind behind the scenes was severely punished. Moreover, the management of the harem was in chaos and Zheng's virtue was not worthy of her position. Wanli was asked to withdraw the edict on the canonization of Empress Zheng.
Because Empress Zheng strictly prohibited anyone from telling Wanli the news about the prince's poisoning, so as not to irritate His Majesty.
She even specifically warned Chang Yun, the eunuch in charge of the ceremony, not to irritate His Majesty to avoid adverse consequences.
Therefore, Wanli is still kept in the dark about this matter.
But now that these ministers have already made a fuss at the gate of Qianqing Palace, naturally this matter cannot be hidden.
Chang Yun quickly told Wanli the whole story.
Wanli clearly realized that due to his physical condition, he could no longer control the situation.
A single order from Queen Zheng in the harem could make him completely unaware of the situation in the outside world.
And these damn civil servants outside the palace were already eager to show their loyalty in front of the prince.
However, he was somewhat comforted when he heard that the nobles in the capital did not participate in the invasion of the palace this time.
Wanli was also extremely angry about Empress Zheng's shameless operation of sending people to poison her, but now that the end was done, it would be useless to blame her anymore.
Next, I still need to "wipe her butt" myself.
Although Wanli has been acting badly, it does not mean that he has given up his rights.
On the contrary, he attaches great importance to rights.
He did not fill many positions, partly because he wanted to disgust those ministers; more importantly, he could not find suitable candidates.
Including the position of Supervisor of Ceremonies, although Chang Yun is loyal, his ability is still lacking.
After the eunuch Chen Ju and the eunuch Tian Yi died one after another, he simply did not fill the vacancies, limiting the powers of the eunuch and returning some rights to the emperor's hands.
But now he could only choose to compromise. The target of the compromise was not the group of civil servants, but the Crown Prince Zhu Changluo whom he despised the most.
Wanli adjusted his breathing and said: "It is said that the crown prince Zhu Changluo and the chief minister of the cabinet Fang Congzhe should come to see me."
Soon Zhu Changluo and Fang Congzhe arrived at Qianqing Palace under the leadership of Chang Yun.
At this time, Emperor Wanli was not lying on the bed, but steeled himself and sat in front of the desk.
Although Wanli was very passive, Zhu Changluo still did not dare to look at Wanli after years of suppression.
Wanli was not angry, but smiled and said: "Aren't you clamoring outside to see me? Now I'm right in front of you. Just say what you want to say."
Fang Congzhe said: "Your Majesty, the prince was poisoned. This is something that has never happened in the two hundred years of our Ming Dynasty. Your Majesty, please investigate carefully and find out the real culprit."
Wan Li still said calmly: "Hasn't this Queen already been thoroughly investigated?"
"The murderer has already taken poison and died, and no substantial evidence can be found."
Then he said to the prince: "Prince, I am from your palace. Did you find anything?"
Zhu Changluo whispered: "It is said that someone saw the poisoned eunuch Zhang Chu having contact with people from Queen Kunning Palace!"
Wan Li asked with a smile: "According to who, who you are in contact with, you will know it when you are arrested and asked, so why bother here to catch the wind?"
Then Wanli asked again: "Who handled this case before?"
Chang Yun said: "The Queen Mother assigned Cui Wensheng, the eunuch in charge of Kunning Palace, to investigate this case!"
Soon Cui Wensheng arrived at Qianqing Palace.
Wanli said: "Have you carefully investigated the case of someone poisoning the prince in Ciqing Palace?"
Cui Wensheng said: "I did investigate this case according to the order of the Queen. But before I took over, the two criminals in this case had been tortured by the people of Ciqing Palace, and all I saw were two corpses."
"The people in Ciqing Palace can't even find out what happened to the living criminals. How much can this slave find out when faced with two corpses?"
Wan Li added: "The prince said that someone reported that eunuch Zhang Chu had contact with people from Kunning Palace before. Have you investigated this matter carefully?"
Cui Wensheng said: "There is indeed such a reaction, but the description of the man is not clear. He only has an approximate height. How can I confirm the suspect?"
"With the special permission of the Queen, she asked the man to go to Kunning Palace to find the suspect. He couldn't find it himself, so I had no choice but to give up on this clue."
Wanli said to Fang Congzhe: "Fang Chief Assistant, the facts of the case are very clear. There is no evidence to prove it. What else do you have to question?"
"The previous 'Queen's Treasure' was forged by someone who wanted to use it to deceive Empress Zheng. Now that these two people died in strange circumstances, there is no guarantee that those people are not repeating their old tricks."
"There is insufficient evidence in this case now. If the Ministry of Punishment and the Inspectorate have questions, I can allow you to conduct a three-judge trial. Do you still have questions?"
"As for the safety of Ciqing Palace, I have already sent additional guards. Aren't they better than you, the powerless civil servants?"
"I would like to ask you, why do you stop me time and time again from making the Zheng family your queen?"
After all, Wanli had been the emperor for 48 years, and he still had the majesty of the emperor. This series of questions directly left Zhu Changluo speechless.
However, Fang Congzhe is an old Jianghu after all. He knows that he has a showdown with Wanli at this time, and he must not back down, otherwise he will be doomed.
He said: "Indeed, there is no conclusive evidence pointing to Concubine Zheng, whether it is the previous 'Queen's Treasure' or this time's 'Poisoning the Crown Prince'."
"But there were so many problems in the harem under his control, which just shows that Concubine Zheng is not suitable for sitting in this post."
"I also want to boldly ask Your Majesty, who in the harem has the motive to poison the prince?"
"Of course, I have no right to interfere with who your Majesty will appoint as your queen, so I have been asking your Majesty to postpone the canonization. At least until these murders behind the scenes are found out, and the prince's safety is safe, then canonize him!"
Wan Li said coldly: "Fang Shouxuo means the prince who was sent to be poisoned by Empress Zheng?"
Fang Congzhe said: "I don't dare. But Concubine Zheng really can't get rid of her suspicions. In this case, to seal her as a queen is probably because the ministers of civil and military affairs and the people of the world will not accept it!"
At this time, cold sweat broke out on Wanli's forehead, and his face became very ugly.
Fang Congzhe suddenly knelt down and said: "The harem under the control of Concubine Zheng is indeed unable to guarantee the safety of the prince."
"Your Majesty is not in good health right now. I am afraid that someone will take the opportunity to cause trouble and harm the prince. If something happens to your majesty and the prince at the same time, where will the Ming Dynasty go?"
"For the sake of the country and the country of the Ming Dynasty, I request that your Majesty decree that His Majesty the Crown Prince shall temporarily supervise the country and handle the affairs of the country; he will cancel the supervision of the country by the Crown Prince after His Majesty recovers."
"After the crown prince supervises the country, the safety will definitely be guaranteed. If Zheng is canonized as queen at this time, the courtiers will not have so many worries?"
Wanli did not expect that Fang Congzhe would dare to force the palace directly. He was threatening himself and using the crown prince to supervise the country in exchange for the Zheng family's establishment of a queen.
At this time, Wanli was already feeling very uncomfortable, but he still asked sharply: "Prince, do you think so too?"
Zhu Changluo knew that Fang Congzhe had shown off his cards on his behalf, so he changed his previous submissive attitude and said to Wanli: "My father is in poor health, and I am willing to share my father's worries!"
Thank you to all book friends for your support with monthly tickets, recommendation tickets, and follow-up subscriptions!
Thank you brothers for your subscription and double monthly ticket support!
Thanks to book friends "Autumn Autumn Autumn Brewing", "Watching Baba Fly", "Snow Mountain Herding Horses", "2020042610252175", "Flying Magazi", "Come, hurt each other", "20200527140642959", "20210301106583291072", " Monthly ticket support for "Wind and Rain Jianghu"!
(End of chapter)
