On the morning of the first day of May in the eighth year of Wanli, Zhu Yijun hurried to his biological mother, Empress Dowager Li, to say hello and said she had something urgent to report.
Empress Dowager Li put on her clothes and got out of bed inexplicably, and summoned the emperor into the palace to ask why.
Zhu Yijun looked nervous. When he saw his mother, he immediately knelt down and kowtowed and replied, "Mother, my son dreamed of his father. The father blamed him for nearly ten years, but he failed to see his father's mausoleum in person. This is extremely unfilial. I am extremely frightened and have come to see my mother."
Empress Dowager Li was a very sincere worshiper of Buddhism. When she heard Zhu Yijun's words, she couldn't help but be shocked. All her sleepiness disappeared in fright. She sat upright and asked, "What else did your father say?" "
Zhu Yijun shook his head and said, "I didn't say anything else. My father just scolded my son for being unfilial. My son woke up with shock and came to see his mother immediately."
Empress Dowager Li couldn't sit still anymore, stood up, paced back and forth a few times, and said, "No wonder the Ai family has always been a little uneasy lately. Your father's death anniversary is at the end of the month, so he is unhappy. Jun'er, this time On the anniversary of your father’s death, how did the court originally arrange who should be sacrificed on his behalf?”
Zhu Yijun thought for a while and said, "It should be Gu'an Bo."
Gu Anbo was Chen Jingxing, the father of Empress Dowager Rensheng. In terms of the Ming Dynasty's custom of offering sacrifices on behalf of Emperor Ming Dynasty, it was indeed very appropriate for him to offer sacrifices to Emperor Mu Zong. In the past few years, when it came to paying homage to Emperor Mu Zong's Zhaoling Mausoleum, except for one occasion when Chen Jingxing was ill and could not make the trip, he was the one who went there without exception.
But this time, Mrs. Li waved her hands decisively and said, "Let this matter go. Later, the Ai family will send someone to convey the decree to the cabinet and explain it to Mr. Guo." As she spoke, she looked at the sky and said to the people around her, "Give the Ai family a good deal." , go to Ciqing Palace. Emperor, you come too."
Zhu Yijun was secretly delighted with my idea. It was a great idea. Not only could it create an opportunity for Yao'e to meet Hou Gongchen, who was traveling with pragmatically, but he could also pay homage to his father in person. It killed two birds with one stone. It was wonderful.
Then I thought about my father silently in my heart. It was not because the sons and ministers deceived the mother and queen. This fact was for the good of Yao. You, the old man, have a spirit in heaven, so you will definitely not blame him, right?
Not long after, Empress Dowager Fengjia and Emperor Luanjia were walking to Ciqing Palace. About halfway through, Chen Hong, the eunuch in charge of the ceremony, ran over with sweat on his face, got in front of Empress Dowager Li Fengjia, and asked cautiously, "The Empress Dowager?" , what happened, it actually alarmed Yijia?"
Empress Dowager Li glanced at him and saw that he was sweating profusely from running. She said warmly, "The emperor dreamed of the late emperor. The late emperor blamed him for not offering sacrifices in person. The Ai family is going to discuss with Empress Dowager Rensheng. On the anniversary of the death of the late emperor Mu Zong this year, the emperor will personally offer sacrifices to Zhao Zhao." Mausoleum.”
Chen Hong was surprised and said, "Didn't the Emperor pay homage to Zhaoling this year along with the empress dowagers of the two palaces?"
The incident he was talking about was in February of this year. In accordance with the rules of the second year of Longqing, Zhu Yijun first visited Changling. After the sacrifice, he paid homage to the empress dowagers of the two palaces, led the concubines to pay homage, and then visited Yongling and Zhao. The mausoleums are all like the Changling Mausoleum, and each of the mausoleums sends an official to offer sacrifices. So theoretically speaking, Zhu Yijun did pay a visit to Zhaoling, and it was only for more than three months.
But Empress Dowager Li waved her hand and said, "Spring sacrifices are spring sacrifices, and death anniversaries are death anniversaries. Each has its own rituals, how can they be confused?"
Chen Hong secretly thought that this matter had nothing to do with him. Since the Queen Mother asked the emperor to go up, then go ahead. Even if someone else had to suffer, it would be Chen Ju's misfortune. He, Chen Zhangyin, didn't have to worry about others. So I said no more words.
When they arrived at Ciqing Palace, Queen Mother Li told the Queen Mother Chen about the matter. Queen Mother Chen didn't care. Anyway, the emperor was young and he would make more trips. And now Anda has been quiet for many years, and there is no danger near Tianshou Mountain, so I agreed immediately.
However, Zhu Yijun brought up another matter, saying that although the late emperor only scolded him for being unfilial, he thought that King Lu and several imperial sisters had not been able to pay homage to Zhaoling, and he hoped that the queen mothers of the two palaces would consider the filial piety of their younger brothers and sisters. , and allowed them to go with him.
This made the empress dowagers of the two palaces hesitant, because generally speaking, only the emperor could offer sacrifices in the imperial tombs of the Ming Dynasty. If the emperor had something to do, he could only sacrifice on his behalf by nobles or ministers, and vassal kings could not follow suit. I have never heard of anyone who casually went to pay homage to the princess.
However, the two queen mothers were both Emperor Mu Zong's former bedfellows, and knew that Emperor Mu Zong was a man who attached great importance to family ties. Since he "entrusted a dream" to accuse the emperor of being unfilial and refused to pay homage to the anniversary of his death in person, who knew that his spirit in heaven would not also want to see him? King Lu and his daughters
Therefore, the emperor's words made the two empress dowagers hesitate. In the end, it was the empress dowager Chen who asked the emperor to go to the Wenhua Palace to summon Mr. Guo Ge to pay respects. If Mr. Guo Ge thought it was okay to go, the emperor would take his younger brothers and sisters with him. If Mr. Guo Ge thinks it is inappropriate, then the emperor can only go alone.
Zhu Yijun then took the order to go to the Wenhua Hall and invite Guo Pu, who had just arrived on duty at the cabinet, to the Wenhua Hall to pay tribute.
Guo Pu originally wanted to say, "The son has no words, strange powers, and chaotic gods." If he could only dream of it, he would go there himself.
But then I thought about it, the emperor personally paid tribute to the late emperor on the anniversary of his death, which was also a manifestation of filial piety and could not be generalized. The reason why most emperors would not go there in person is because the Zhu family has a long list of royal tombs in Tianshou Mountain, but the Ming Dynasty has many kinds of sacrifices. If every emperor's various kinds of sacrifices require the emperor to attend If he went there in person, the emperor wouldn't have to do anything else. It would be too much to just run between the capital and Tianshou Mountain all year round.
But in the final analysis, there is no problem for the emperor to sacrifice his father in person.
Guo Pu was also confused about whether King Lu and the princesses could go along. In Guo Pu's view, it didn't matter if the princesses went to pay homage to Mu Zong. They just went and it didn't matter much.
The key is King Lu. The Ming Dynasty's attitude towards the vassal king not only inherited Zhu Yuanzhang's idea of being nourished by heaven's grace, but also inherited Zhu Di's strict monitoring policy, so in the end it became pig farming. Raising pigs is no better than raising cattle and sheep. There is no such thing as free-range farming.
Even if you raise cattle and sheep in a pen, you can sometimes let them out to graze, but raising pigs is different. They are kept in the pig pen every day and grow fat, and they want to be let out to dream.
So Guo Pu finally said, "The emperor's worries are already known to the old ministers. However, the country has its own laws and regulations. Since His Highness King Lu is underage, it is not suitable for him to leave the capital at will."
Zhu Yijun's heart tightened and he quickly asked "those princesses?"
"The old minister is not unreasonable." Guo Pu glanced at the nervous emperor. He felt a little confused, but he continued according to his own thoughts. "The princesses should not go, but since the two palace emperors The Queen Mother feels that this matter is important, so it is not impossible to be accommodating."
In fact, Guo Pu knew that the empress dowager of the two palaces and even King Lu had no problem in the past, not to mention the princess, but Guo Pu was Gu Mingfu after all. Some things could be followed the wishes of the two palaces, but some things were absolutely not allowed.
In his opinion, not allowing King Lu to go was because he adhered to the dynasty's rules. It was a matter of principle that the princess was not allowed to go, which was a bit too disregardful of the actual situation. After all, the princess was also the daughter of the late emperor, so there was nothing wrong with going to pay homage to her father. of
Of course, the key is that the princess cannot threaten the throne. Therefore, on this issue, we can give some face to the empress dowagers of the two palaces.
Zhu Yijun was relieved when he heard what he said, but just as he was about to speak, he saw Guo Pu continue, "But the sixth princess is only ten years old, and the seventh princess is only nine years old. I thought it would be inconvenient for her to travel far away."
It didn't matter, Zhu Yijun didn't want to take care of the kindergarten. If it weren't for taking the third princess alone, it would easily arouse the suspicion of the government and the public. He wished he could just take Zhu Yao'e alone. Now that Guo Pu has taken the sixth princess and the seventh princess alone, Zhu Yijun couldn't wish for it.
At that moment, the emperor said happily, "Mr. Guo has thought it over, so I will take my third sister, fourth sister and fifth sister to commemorate the death anniversary of the late emperor."
