Cough cough cough...
Emperor Chongzhen was coughing very hard, and his cough was deafening!
Wow wow wow...
Prince Zhu Cixiang was also howling there, crying so much that he felt so filial piety!
After hearing the news, Ge Lao and Wei Shuai, as well as the ten princes in Beijing, who came to Xipu saw this scene of a sick father lying in bed and a filial son crying bitterly.
It's just that the atmosphere seems a bit wrong. Chongzhen, who was lying upright on the dragon bed, was covered in thick quilts and coughing desperately. He looked like he was about to die. But the cough sounded a bit fake, and it was full of breath, and it didn't look like he was about to die!
That filial son who stood by the bed and cried loudly, didn't seem to shed any tears, he was just howling. I wonder if his throat was damaged by howling?
There was also Empress Zhou with her eyebrows furrowed, looking at the emperor and his son pretending to be dead and filial, neither crying nor laughing.
Of course Zhu Cixiang knew at this time that Emperor Chongzhen was pretending to fall into the water! At most, his trouser legs were wet, and he definitely didn't choke on the cold water, and of course he didn't catch any cold - Prince Zhu had a spy beside Emperor Chongzhen! Before Zhu Cihong returned to Xipu, Emperor Chongzhen also passed on a meal, and he had a delicious meal. How could he look like he was dying?
This Emperor Chongzhen had obviously learned bad things and learned how to play dead to win sympathy - he fell into the water on New Year's Eve. I don't know if he slipped in by himself or was pushed into the water by someone sent by a prince who couldn't wait to usurp the throne. What's inside... what a big basin of dirty water this is. If it's poured on your most filial son like this, will your conscience really not hurt?
Zhu Cixiang was so disappointed! Chongzhen was such an honest emperor, but now he has learned bad things. I don’t know who he learned it from? Don’t you think there is anyone around Emperor Chongzhen who is more treacherous?
Now that all the important ministers have arrived, Zhu Cixiang stopped crying. He turned around and walked out of Emperor Chongzhen's bedroom. Wei Zaode, Wu Xiang, Cao Youyi, and a fat prince in his forties - the lucky king Zhu Yousong, this Seeing this, several people also sneaked out of the dormitory and followed Zhu Cixiang into the courtyard.
The four of them wanted to salute Zhu Cixiang, but he stopped him with a wave of his hand. Then he looked at Zhu Yousong, the King of Fortune, who seemed a little drunk, and frowned: "Uncle Wang, have you drunk too much again?"
Zhu Yousong is the Hongguang Emperor of the Southern Ming Dynasty who was blackmailed by the Donglin Party in history and soon became the most stupid emperor in the history. He is now the head of the thirty-three kings who work as a vase in Nanjing - he is related to the father and son of Chongzhen and Zhu Cixiang. The nearest prince, and apart from his fondness for drinking, there is nothing wrong with him. Now that he is not the emperor, he poses no threat to the gentlemen of Donglin, so he will naturally have no evil deeds... He is a vase, who has nothing to do to arrange him!
And he didn't pose much of a threat to Zhu Cixiang. Now that Zhu Cixiang's three brothers are still alive, Emperor Chongzhen is "addicted to women" and has already enriched the belly of several selected servants and palace maids. He will soon add a few more brothers to Zhu Cixiang. Sisters. They probably want to have more children and enjoy the poor and rebellious Zhu Cixiang! So Zhu Yousong can't get the throne no matter what!
In addition, Zhu Yousong himself had no children - his son died when Luoyang City was destroyed! She is in her forties again. She drank too much and is not in good health. She probably won’t be able to give birth to a son. For such a prince, if Zhu Cixiang tries to embarrass him again, it will be unworthy of him.
So these days, Zhu Cixi still respects this uncle Wang very much. He gave him a mansion in Nanjing, and also rewarded him with 10,000 acres of land and a villa outside Nanjing. He also made him a clan official and made him a villa. All royal affairs that were originally in charge of the Ministry of Rites were handed over to the Zongren Mansion.
In other words, Zhu Cihong held Prince Fu high as an elder of the clan!
"Prince, this is what I like, uncle, and today is New Year's Eve..." Prince Fu smiled, then lowered his voice and asked, "Prince, what's going on? Do you want me to take the lead in persuading you to come in?" ah?"
Wu Xiang on the side also said: "Master Qiansui, the old minister has been wrapped in a yellow robe..."
Cao Youyi also patted his chest and said: "Now all the internal and external armies, except Zuo Liangyu's army, will support His Highness! Moreover, the new army has more than 150,000 soldiers, and there are 20,000 Yangtze River Navy troops. Zuo Liang Yu’s little people can’t beat us.”
"Thousand-year-old Master," Wei Zaode shook his head, "The New Deal has not yet been completed, the Tatars from the north will go south at any time, and Zuo Liangyu has ulterior motives... Please think twice before you act!"
Wei Zaode is now a "great reformer". He will leave his name in history in the future, and he will write a biography based on "The Biography of Zhuge Liang". Of course, he must consider the issue more comprehensively.
In fact, immediately usurping the throne was not Zhu Cihong's first choice, not because he was afraid of the "leftist lunatics" upstream, but because he had a larger reform plan.
In Zhu Cixiang's view, it would take several months to a year for the Qing Dynasty in the north to take over Li Zicheng and Datong Mansion before moving south. It is estimated that the time to go south will be later than in history.
For Zhu Cixiang, these few months to a year are a window of time for reform and military reorganization.
During this period, he should avoid unnecessary civil war. Civil war is different from foreign war. Foreign war can unite people's hearts and sometimes is more conducive to reform. The situation in the civil war was the opposite. Once the civil war started, Zhu Cihong had to make concessions to the scholar-bureaucrats in order to maintain the stability of the southeast, thus missing the best opportunity for reform.
"Your Highness, the Donglin Conference will be held soon!" Wei Zaode said again, "Now Master Qiantose has the great cause of 'protecting the Mingjiao and defending Konglin'. As soon as the conference opens, the Donglin Party will be controlled by Master Qiantose." ...It’s better not to cause unnecessary complications.”
According to the plan, the Donglin Conference will be held after the Enke Provincial Examination - Donglin candidates should be relatively easy to talk to at this time. If the words go well, he will be a Jinshi, if the words go wrong, he will lose his reputation!
Who will give this Jinshi diploma? It’s all a matter of Zhu Cixiang’s words!
As long as the Donglin Party is usurped by Zhu Cixiang, the subsequent reforms will be much easier... The landlord class intellectuals in the southeast must have their own organizations in order to rebel against the imperial court. Without organizations, they will be in disarray, even though they have strength. It's very big, but it can't form a combined force.
Moreover, the power of the southeastern scholar-officials was originally talkative, and their military strength was almost zero. Without the Donglin Party, they would not be able to control the direction of public opinion and would not be able to fight.
"It's better to slow down..." Zhu Cixiang thought for a long time, but still felt that there was no need to take this gamble, "It's better to slow down, anyway, the power is already in hand, and there is no shortage of this title. Besides, there is a Yingzong to seize the door. In the past, even if you become a prince, you can cause trouble."
