As soon as Zhu Cixiang finished speaking, Wu Xiang, the Minister of War, suddenly remembered something big.
Wu Xiang said: "Your Highness, the Emperor looks forward to it day and night, hoping that he can meditate early and take care of his life. Last time when you went to Huguang, you promised to meditate after returning to the court. Now Li Zicheng has probably been The officers and soldiers killed them, and only Xiangyang, Nanzhang, Gucheng, Guanghua, and Junzhou in Xiangyang Prefecture were left in Huguang, as well as Yiling Prefecture, Guizhou, Changyang, Yidu, Xingshan, and Yunzhou in Jingzhou Prefecture. Yang Yifu has not yet been recovered, but the overall situation of victory has been determined..."
That’s right!
Today is the second day of July in the nineteenth year of Chongzhen, and Emperor Chongzhen has long been impatient to wait. Zhu Cixiang, such a filial prince, has repeatedly disappointed his father on the issue of taking over the throne in advance, which cannot be justified in his conscience!
But the food problem is not a small one. At least one to two million Northland refugees are hungry now, and many of them are military dependents.
If we don't feed them, can Zhu Cixiang's throne be secure?
Wu Xiang also knew Zhu Cixiang's difficulties, but he hoped that his son-in-law could take over his position as soon as possible.
Only when Zhu Cihong ascends the throne can his daughter Wu Sanmei take a further step!
By the way, Wu Sanmei got pregnant again recently. And Zheng Chagu also gave birth to a daughter for Zhu Cihong more than a month ago...Thank God, the Wu and Zheng families are tied again.
But Wu Xiang didn't want to fight another round, because he had already heard the news that Zheng Zhilong was preparing to send two more nieces to the palace - the Zheng family was so numerous! Zheng Zhilong himself has several younger brothers, and the Zheng family brothers all have a lot of wives and concubines. There are groups of daughters in the family. If you send a few more into the palace, you can always give birth to sons.
And here in the Wu family, Wu Sanmei is the only one fighting alone!
So Wu Xiang wanted to put Zhu Cixiang on the throne as soon as possible, and then take advantage of Wu Sanfu's meritorious service and Wu Sanmei's pregnancy to put her third sister on the throne of the queen.
As long as Wu Sanmei becomes the queen, there is no need to worry. The son may be born slowly, and there will always be one!
"Lord Protector, inner Zen is a big deal and must be handled well." Qian Qianyi, the Minister of Rites, reminded, "But so many northern people in the southeast are still hungry! Recently, Yangzhou, Huai'an, Suzhou, and Shanghai have Reported the rice-grabbing rebellion.”
Of course Qian Qianyi supports the Zheng family's daughter - he is Zheng Sen's teacher! Moreover, Zheng Zhilong was from Fujian and a "southern". Although he did not participate much in the party struggles in the court, he was still regarded by the southerners as one of their own.
Of course he understood Wu Xiang's little plan, so he went against Wu Xiang... He had received news that Zheng Sen had reached several important agreements with the Tokugawa shogunate in Japan and would return to the Ming Dynasty soon. , and will also bring back the Japanese mission.
Japan's "come to Korea" is a prosperous time, and after establishing good relations with Japan, it will be able to open up the waterway to New Spain - this is a great achievement!
Therefore, as long as Zheng Sen returns to China, the competition between the Zheng and Wu families for the throne of the queen should continue.
"Chief Assistant," Zhu Cihong looked at Wei Zaode, "What do you think?"
Wei Zaode said: "Your Highness, there are big families in the south of the Yangtze River. It's better to eat in the south of the Yangtze River first, and then go to Huguang after the thousand-year-old master has ascended the throne."
Zhu Cihong thought: If this is the case, the Southern People's Party will probably be even more dissatisfied! And it was a huge blow to them.
What Zhu Cixiang wanted to deprive were the privileges of the southeastern scholar-officials - such as tax exemption, exemption from corvee, and expansion of these two privileges through the consignment system.
But it is not to eliminate them economically, because the southeastern gentry who have lost their privileges are the "fat sheep" who pay taxes according to the law. If we really wipe them out, who will eat the whole pot? All benefits go to the country? is it possible? Can a constructionist country have such executive power? In the end, didn’t most of the money and water go to leaders of the Beiren Group like Wu Xiang and Wei Zaode?
These people are originally privileged landowners in the North, and they are very good at evading taxes and sending money. If they really let them swallow up the property of the southeastern landlords, Zhu Cixiang would become the second best in Chongzhen!
"How much surplus grain can the landlords in the south of the Yangtze River have?" Zhu Cihong shook his head. "The south of the Yangtze River is full of cotton and mulberry fields, and there is not much rice. And the landowners in the south of the Yangtze River don't harvest much rice. They are all cashiers, or cotton and silkworm cocoons. .”
How could the landlord’s family have no food left? If the landlord's family has no surplus grain, where can the astronomically priced rice costing five yen a dou come from in the Jiangnan market now? This year, Huguang rice is at least 7 to 8 million shi short. How can the grain merchants have so much inventory? It’s not until the inventories of landlords in Jiangnan are slowly released that rice can be sold on the market.
"The two governments should arrange matters concerning Huguang, Jiangxi, and Guangdong as soon as possible!" Zhu Cihong paused, "I will explain to my father the emperor."
...
Emperor Chongzhen has been ill since Zhu Cihong returned to the court. He may have been punished for his debauchery and immorality. These days, he is not well anywhere, and he is especially afraid of seeing his son - well, the other sons are not afraid, but they are afraid of seeing Zhu Cihong.
Unlike Zhu Cixiang who received the "father-in-law destiny" of two daughters in succession, Emperor Chongzhen got five more sons during the days when Zhu Cixiang went on the expedition. Including Zhu Cixiang and Brother Xiaochun, there were a total of seven sons by his side.
In addition, Emperor Chongzhen also had a lot of daughters around him. The eldest among them, Zhu Aona, was almost eighteen years old and it was time to get married.
Long before the fall of Beijing, Emperor Chongzhen had chosen a fiancé for her, a man named Zhou Shixian. However, this guy disappeared during the fall of Beijing, and he was probably dead.
Therefore, Chongzhen and Empress Zhou wanted to arrange another good marriage for their daughter, but Zhu Cixiang could not get around this matter, so it has been delayed until now.
Today, when the filial son Zhu Cixi came to Wuying Palace to see him, Emperor Chongzhen was discussing his daughter's marriage with Queen Zhou. As soon as he heard that the filial son had arrived, Emperor Chongzhen, who had been fine just now, immediately started coughing.
While coughing, he said to Queen Zhou: "I seem to have caught wind and cold. No, I seem to be seriously ill. It must be that the root cause of the illness caused by falling into the water last time has resurfaced. Quickly, Dr. Zeng is here..."
Looking at Chongzhen who suddenly fell ill, Zhou Hou was a little speechless - isn't it just to be the emperor? You have been in power for so long, how are you any different from the Supreme Emperor?
Queen Zhou said: "Your Majesty, it's better to meet Brother Chun first and set a date. Let's see the imperial doctor again."
Emperor Chongzhen pretended to be confused, "What day? What day? Is it the day when Ainao gets married?"
"Your Majesty!" Empress Zhou frowned, "We haven't decided who the consort is, so how can we get married? What we have to decide now is the date of the Inner Zen Ceremony!"
"Inner Zen..." Emperor Chongzhen's heart almost broke when he heard these two words, and he even forgot to cough for a while.
He originally thought that the rebellious ministers and traitors would stand up for him, but he didn't expect that the rebellious ministers and traitors would all learn to behave after seeing Zuo Mengeng's fate. Even the three major warlords in Shandong, Shi Kefa, Gao Hongtu, and Zuo Maodi, remained silent.
At this moment, the filial son Zhu Cixiang arrived.
"Father, I, my son, bow to my father, and my mother is also here! I, my son, pay my respects to my mother."
After saluting his father, the emperor and his mother, Prince Zhu stood up without waiting for the other party to speak. Then he looked at Emperor Chongzhen who was slumped in the chair and groaned, and said distressedly: "Father, are you sick again? Oops. , your face is sallow and your breath is sluggish, you must have worked too much on state affairs!"
Zhou Hou turned to look at her husband. His face was obviously rosy and his breathing was even. How could he look like he was sick?
Emperor Chongzhen has been relatively dissolute recently, but he is not excessive. In order to continue his debauchery, he listened to Dr. Zeng's advice and paid attention to his diet and exercise more. I spend every day in the palace drawing bows, throwing stone locks, and rowing boats in the lake in the imperial garden. Now my health is extremely good!
Zhu Cixiang looked at Emperor Chongzhen who was getting stronger and stronger, and smiled very apologetically: "Father, I'm sorry for you!"
Chongzhen's heart skipped a beat, "It's over, we're going to usurp the throne..."
Zhu Cixiang sighed: "Recently there is a shortage of food in the southeast, and the refugees have no food... Food is the most important thing for the people, and without food there will be chaos!"
Chongzhen looked at his son, a little strange: "Brother Dachun, do you want my internal funds to buy rice?"
Chongzhen had a conditioned reflex, because when the civil servants of the Ming Dynasty encountered any financial difficulties, they usually thought of using internal funds as if they had endless internal funds to spend.
"No, no..." Zhu Cixiang shook his head repeatedly, "I am a filial son, how can I use my father's pension money. So I am going to take the refugees to beg for food... I'm afraid of Nei Chan's affairs. Going back again!”
What?
Chongzhen and Zhou Hou were shocked!
A prince wants to take refugees to beg for food... What happened to the Ming Dynasty?
