As the fire grew bigger and bigger, the whole capital was in commotion.
The news spread from one to ten, and the people shouted loudly and exclaimed again and again. Almost all the people, even those who were already asleep, were woken up, put on their clothes and went out to watch this rare spectacle that could not be seen in a hundred years.
Older people all know that the three main halls were burned down once during the reign of Emperor Taizong. But within half a month, there were two fires in the Forbidden City, which was something new and unprecedented.
The news of another fire in the Forbidden City was quickly dispatched by the clerk's office.
Just after midnight, the news reached Yuquan Mountain.
Those little maids had already received instructions from Zhu Qiyu when the Fengtian Palace was on fire, so there was no need to rush to report any further fires.
So it wasn't until the morning of the 16th day of the first lunar month that the little maid reported the news.
Zhu Qiyu only replied that he knew it, and without even reading the report, he continued to get back into bed, holding the little fragrant jade in his mouth, wandering in the gentle land, feeling so free and at ease.
Lin Xiangyu gently raised her jade arm, took the memorial, waved the little maid away, and then read the memorial carefully.
Before Lin Xiangyu could ask, Zhu Qiyu replied vaguely: "Don't panic, I asked someone to light that fire."
Lin Xiangyu heard this and asked curiously: "Husband, you ordered the Cining Palace. I can understand it. But why did you let you light the Qianqing Palace? Queen Qian was blind in one eye and lame in one leg. This If there is another problem, can we still explain it clearly?"
When Zhu Qiyu heard this, he quickly stuck his head out, took the memorial and read it carefully, and then replied with a puzzled look on his face:
"I didn't ask anyone to kill the Qing Palace. I don't know who is being smart.
But feel free to do it, we are forty miles away from the Forbidden City, and we don’t know what happened there, so let them go. "
So Zhu Qiyu continued to get back into bed until three o'clock in the morning, then he got up to wash himself, dress neatly, and went to the West Pavilion to handle government affairs.
Zhu Qiyu had just sat down when He Yi handed over the guilty edict.
After reading it carefully, Zhu Qiyu nodded with satisfaction and ordered He Yi to immediately send it to the cabinet to prepare a formal edict and issue it to the world.
The sixteenth day of the first lunar month was the day when the imperial court officially resumed its official duties. When the ministers returned to their respective yamen, they looked north and saw the Forbidden City with billowing smoke.
There were two fires in a row within half a month. Even the ministers who had experienced the "thunder and fire from the sky" in the Taizong Dynasty were embarrassed to say that this fire was a "natural disaster".
Chen Xun, Wang Wen and others gathered in the cabinet to discuss whether to pay respects to the Queen Mother.
It stands to reason that when the Queen Mother and Empress were so frightened, the cabinet ministers should go to express condolences and apologize.
But now that the emperor has fallen out with the queen mother, if he goes to see the queen mother again, he will be suspected of taking sides, which will easily give the emperor a bad impression.
The cabinet ministers stayed up hesitantly until noon, when the emperor's edict of sin was passed to the cabinet.
Now everyone was even more scratching their heads: they received news of the fire in the Forbidden City last night, and as soon as they arrived at the cabinet this morning, they saw a pile of memorials asking the emperor to issue an edict to punish oneself.
Well, now, the matter has not yet been sorted out, the emperor's edict has been drafted, this efficiency is too terrifying.
Previously, everyone was worried that the emperor's retreat to Xishan would affect the efficiency of handling government affairs. Now it seems that everyone is worrying too much.
Chen Xun took the guilty edict and looked at Wang Wen. Wang Wen said with a smile: "Since it is the emperor's will, what else can we say? Let's copy it down exactly as it is and then forward it to the Supervisor of Ceremonies."
When Chen Xun heard this, he quickly replied: "Qian Zhi, your calligraphy is far better than mine. You should write this edict."
Wang Wen smiled and nodded, and kept writing. After all, he had come to this point. He could only live as the emperor's man, and die as the emperor's ghost. Don't even think about leaving a way out, and it's impossible to rebel. Just break the pot, think about nothing, and just follow the emperor's path to the dark side.
This sinful edict went through the cabinet, the Supervisor of Ceremonies, and completed the process. It was only in the afternoon that it was officially issued.
One stone stirred up thousands of waves, and this edict of sin shocked the civil and military officials of the entire dynasty. Although today is the sixteenth day of the first lunar month, considering the previous New Year's holiday, today is actually the second day of governance for the Jingtai Dynasty.
So on the second day after the Jingtai Dynasty began, the emperor issued an edict to punish himself. Is there any precedent for this? Did it set a new record for the fastest time in history for emperors to issue edicts against oneself?
What surprised the courtiers the most was that the emperor was very tough and clearly declared in the sinner edict that from now on, he would not live in the palace, build an imperial mausoleum, or establish a queen. And he no longer calls me me, he only thinks of himself as a widower.
Moreover, Zhu Qiyu clearly stated for the first time that he was forced to take over the throne as King of Qi. When he welcomed the Supreme Emperor back, he would immediately retire as King of Qi and return to Shandong to become a vassal.
The civil and military officials immediately welcomed the restoration of the Supreme Emperor and ascended to the throne again.
Although this was the unanimous wish of the middle and lower-level civil servants and generals, no one dared to applaud the guilty edict, and no one dared to openly agree with the emperor's abdication and the restoration of the Supreme Emperor.
Are you kidding? The throne is not a ball, it can be kicked back and forth. The emperor is not a plaything in the hands of civil and military officials. If you say abdicate, he will abdicate, and if you say restoration, he will restore. This is the imperial court. Are you here to play house?
Therefore, from the time Jingtai ascended the throne until the coup, no minister proposed that Jingtai return the throne to orthodoxy.
Zhu Qizhen was already a sinner of the Ming Dynasty by losing his master and humiliating his country. No matter how shameless a minister is, he would not dare to bring up Zhu Qizhen's restoration. No matter what they think in their hearts, the only opinion that everyone can express openly is to make Prince Zhu Jianshen the next emperor.
Everyone gathered together and discussed, and in the evening, two more imperial edicts came.
First, Liao Zhuang, the young minister of Dali Temple, Ni Jing and Zuo Ding, the censors, and Lin Cong, the military officer, disobeyed the emperor's orders and openly resisted the decree. With the emperor repeatedly emphasizing the need to be concise and pragmatic, the memorial was filled with thousands of words that were full of fluff, but did not make sense. The four of them went home and were suspended to await their punishment.
The second is to order all civil and military officials to go to the Cining Palace to pay homage to the Supreme Queen Mother Yisheng, and then to the Qianqing Palace to pay homage to the Supreme Queen Yisheng.
After hearing these two imperial edicts, all the officials looked at each other. The emperor also broke the pot and immediately suspended several leading civil servants who had written letters asking the emperor to issue an edict to punish himself.
In addition, everyone is asked to go to Cining Palace and Qianqing Palace to worship. You must know that these two palaces are still burning.
The poor three masters of the harem, among them Empress Dowager Sun and Empress Qian, are in the Yinghua Palace in the northwest corner, in shock. Queen Zhou, on the other hand, was patiently comforting the prince in the Qin'an Hall in the Imperial Garden.
When Chen Xun had gathered all the civil and military officials and lined up outside Fengtian Gate, preparing to go to Qianqing Gate, the latest news came from the harem:
Cining Palace, Qianqing Palace, Xian'an Palace, Renshou Palace, Yangxin Palace, Yongshou Palace, and Yikun Palace were all destroyed.
Yexian's sister Jingcairen, Boyan Timur's privet cairen, had been living in Yongshou Palace as the concubine of the Supreme Emperor.
In this fire, neither Jingcai nor Zhencai escaped and unfortunately died.
Empress Qian was so frightened when she saw his miserable condition. In addition, she was in danger last night and was very distressed. Now she has fainted several times and is bedridden.
Queen Mother Sun caught a cold last night and was also bedridden.
(End of chapter)
