My father is Jiajing

After Li Fang left, Emperor Jiajing looked at Zhu Zaigui and asked, "San'er, is this appropriate?"

Zhu Zaigui smiled and said, "Father, what's wrong with this? I did fall into the pond because of a fire in the palace. This is a false fact, right? If I hadn't been able to swim, I would have fallen into the pond in the dark and drowned without anyone knowing."

When Emperor Jiajing heard this, his eyes became cold.

The fire in the palace a few days ago was indeed inexplicable. The fire started in a side courtyard room that was rarely visited by people. Moreover, the side courtyard room happened to be connected to the bedrooms of Emperor Jiajing and Zhu Zaigui in the palace.

No one would believe that the water broke out in such a strange location without some trick!
Moreover, after hearing the screams of a fire that night, Emperor Jiajing was frightened reflexively, thinking that the story of the Weihui Palace was about to happen again.

Just when he was at a loss, Zhu Zaigui had already broken open the door of his bedroom, came into his bedroom all wet, and took him to a safe place.

Then the father and son stood in the empty courtyard, looking in the direction of the fire with lingering fear.

Li Fang and a group of trusted guards also rushed to put out the fire, thus preventing it from spreading.

According to Zhu Zaigui's recollection, he was also planning to go through the door, but the moment he pulled the door, he felt that it seemed to be locked.

That's why he jumped out of the window in desperation, swam out of the pond and came to his side.

This shows that there must be a conspiracy in this matter that must be investigated.

Zhu Zaigui looked at the cold-faced Emperor Jiajing and consoled him, "Father, don't be like this. We are also in the dark now. What matters at this moment is patience. Let's see who loses patience first. Then we can roughly follow the clues and find the mastermind behind it."

Emperor Jiajing's expression eased slightly. He looked at Zhu Zaigui and said, "Fortunately, you had prepared for this matter in advance. You asked Li Fang to keep a close eye on the situation in the Taiping tank and ensure that there was always clean water in the tank for firefighting. If the fire had spread, I really don't know what the consequences would be!"

"Now that the fire has been lit, we naturally have to cooperate and continue this drama to see whether the fire in the palace was a real accident or someone was secretly plotting a rebellion!"

Zhu Zaigui laughed, "Father is absolutely right."

Since the father and son have already made a plan, they will naturally not take any other actions. What they have to do now is to use stillness to overcome movement.

Outside the palace.

It should have been a bright spring day, but the sky was covered with a layer of lead-gray clouds, which made people feel depressed.

The occasional breeze carries with it an indescribable chill, without any of the warm spring breeze.

The sunlight struggled to penetrate the clouds, casting mottled shadows on the ground, like torn silk.

After several days of torment, Xu Jie, Guo Pu and other ministers who accompanied the emperor finally could not bear it anymore.

They united together tacitly, knelt quietly in front of the palace, and requested an audience with Emperor Jiajing!

However, the palace gates remained closed and remained unmoved.

But even so, none of the officials kneeling in front of the palace stood up or left. They were really trying their best today, and they were determined not to give up until the palace gates were opened!

Feeling the stinging pain from his knees, Xu Jie also felt that he was almost at his limit, but he still persisted with his extraordinary willpower, his body shape did not change at all, like a sculpture, kneeling in front of everyone.

The same was true for Guo Pu, but compared to Xu Jie, who had amazing perseverance, he was obviously not up to the task. His originally straight body gradually began to become deformed because he could no longer support himself.

At the same time, he couldn't help coughing.

And this is not a situation unique to Guo Pu. Some other officials also have the same problem, or even worse!
At the same time, their faces were filled with anxiety and fear, as if this crisis was as terrifying to them as a raging wave!
squeak-

Just when everyone was about to become numb, thinking that Emperor Jiajing was determined not to see them.

The gate of the palace finally opened.

Xu Jie and others saw the shadow appearing before them, and then raised their heads with difficulty to look at the person who was coming with his back to the sunlight. They endured the discomfort and stared hard to determine who the person was.

Li Fang walked out slowly, his eyes swept over the officials and finally stopped on Xu Jie's face.

Li Fang said: "The Emperor has ordered that Prince Yu needs to rest for a while. I have no intention of caring about him, but I understand your concern. I order the cabinet chief Xu Jie and the Minister of Rites Guo Pu to visit Prince Yu in the palace to reassure people. The rest of you should return to your posts and not gather in front of the palace gate again."

When Xu Jie, Guo Pu and others heard that Emperor Jiajing had finally allowed them to enter the palace to visit Prince Yu, they couldn't help but show a look of relief.

Xu Jie and the others immediately bowed, "We obey your order!"

At this time, Li Fang also came over to help Xu Jie stand up, "Why are you doing this, Lord? The prince has his own accompanying imperial physician to take care of him in the palace. The emperor doesn't like your insistence."

Xu Jie stood up with difficulty and said to Li Fang: "It's not that I insist on doing this, but Prince Yu is related to the foundation of the country, so I have to do this."

Li Fang sighed, and then supported Xu Jie and said, "Let's go in. Prince Yu has already made arrangements."

Xu Jie hummed, "Thank you, eunuch."

Then Xu Jie, Guo Pu and others followed Li Fang, supporting each other, and limped towards the palace.

None of the remaining people could stand up at this time. They all sat on the ground, relaxing their knees that had been kneeling for a long time, and then watched Xu Jie and others enter the palace.

Xu Jie and others endured the discomfort and followed Li Fang into the palace.

The group passed through the palace gates, and the strong smell of medicine hit them in the face.

This also made Xu Jie, Guo Pu and others feel a chill in their hearts, and they felt that the problem was more terrible than they had imagined!
Zhu Zaigui's bedroom was closed on all sides, not allowing a single breath of cool air to come in or out. The candlelight inside was flickering and jumping like a pair of heart-wrenching eyes.

At this moment, Zhu Zaigui was lying on the bed, his face as pale as paper, leaning weakly on the soft cushion on the bed.

Xu Jie and others noticed that Zhu Zaigui's forehead was also covered with fine beads of sweat and his breathing was a little rapid.

Just as they were about to observe further, Zhu Zaigui's weak voice rang out, "I'm sorry to have embarrassed you gentlemen. Ahem."

Xu Jie, Guo Pu and the others immediately knelt down, their voices trembling with worry, "Your Highness, we are here to pay our respects to you."

Zhu Zaigui said weakly, "Gentlemen, please stand up. I am fine. I just caught a cold. I am sorry to have caused you to worry."

Xu Jie got up from the ground, his eyes full of worry, "What happened to the prince? What did the imperial physician say?"

Zhu Zaiqi shook his head and smiled, "Doctor Li said."

As a result, before he could finish this sentence, he started coughing violently. Meng Chong, who was serving on the side, felt as if his heart was being gripped by someone, and handed him a handkerchief with a nervous look on his face.

"Your Highness, please take a rest. Dean Li said that you should rest and recuperate, and should not be seen by people."

Zhu Zaigui coughed for a long time and finally stopped. His face was unhealthily red and the handkerchief in his hand was clenched tightly.

However, Xu Jie and others still saw traces of blood on the handkerchief.

Xu Jie, Guo Pu and the others took a deep breath, and their voices trembled, "Prince!"

Zhu Zaigui turned his head and looked at the nervous Xu Jie and others, "It's okay, Doctor Li is making a fuss, it's just a common cold, don't worry."

Just as Zhu Zaigui said this, Emperor Jiajing came over with a gloomy face.

"Have you seen enough?" The Jiajing Emperor's voice suddenly rose, startling Xu Jie and the others. They quickly turned around and knelt on the ground. "Your Majesty, we are here to see you!"

Emperor Jiajing said, "Come out if you've seen enough. San'er needs to rest!"

Xu Jie and others did not dare to hesitate at all. They quickly got up from the ground, went outside, and tremblingly lowered their heads in front of Emperor Jiajing, like children who had done something wrong.

Emperor Jiajing said again: "Now that you have finished reading, go out."

Xu Jie and the others bowed again hurriedly, "We will take our leave."

Then they left the palace in a hurry without even daring to look back.

When they arrived outside the palace, the ministers who were about to leave gathered around excitedly.

They asked in unison:
"How is your Majesty?"

"How is Prince Yu?"

"What happened in the palace?"

These people have a lot of questions and they are very urgent.

Xu Jie remained silent, lowered his head and continued walking forward.

Guo Pu, who was following him, looked at the excited expressions of the crowd and sighed, "Your Majesty is fine, but the prince's situation is very complicated."

After saying this, Guo Pu and others hurriedly left with Xu Jie.

The people who stayed behind couldn't help but chatter again.

"I just said it was because of 'Two dragons don't meet'. What's going on now? Prince Yu is in trouble too! Why couldn't Your Majesty hold back?"

Everyone was talking at once, some even blaming the problem on Emperor Jiajing not abiding by the taboo of "two dragons not meeting each other".

It can be seen that this group of people have very tricky angles in finding problems, and they all put the blame on the "two dragons shall not meet" that Emperor Jiajing originally insisted on, which they disdained but dared not say.

It was as if they all understood at this moment, and they were all heartbroken, as if it was all Emperor Jiajing's fault, otherwise how could something happen to Prince Yu?
A few more days passed.

The news of Prince Yu's serious illness also spread to the capital thousands of miles away.

All officials in the capital were also in an uproar.

Li Chunfang, Hu Zongxian, Zhao Zhenji, Zhang Juzheng and others also had gloomy faces. They sat together and no one said a word.

It can be seen how depressed and unwilling they are at this moment!
After a long while, Li Chunfang finally spoke. His voice was hoarse and his eyes swept over everyone.

"Recently, the cabinet has been filled with memorials requesting His Majesty and the prince to return to the capital. There are also some memorials suggesting that Prince Jing temporarily supervise the country. What do you think?"

Li Chunfang's words made Hu Zongxian, Zhao Zhenji, Zhang Juzheng and others tremble in their hearts.

They could understand Emperor Jiajing's request and desire to return to Beijing.

After all, the capital is the most important city in the world and the emperor cannot leave for long. Moreover, there are many imperial physicians from the Imperial Medical Bureau and famous doctors in the capital. If Prince Yu can return to the capital and have a consultation with these imperial physicians and famous doctors, he may be able to recover and turn bad luck into good.

But what does it mean to suggest that King Jing be the regent?
The capital is not yet at such a tense moment.

Moreover, before Emperor Jiajing and Prince Yu left Beijing, arrangements had been made for the imperial grandson and ministers to stay behind.

At this time, they suggested that King Jing come out to supervise the country. How is this different from forcing the king to abdicate and rebel?

However, these thoughts and ideas are only the thoughts of the Prince Yu party members and do not represent the mainstream.

Hu Zongxian, Zhao Zhenji, Zhang Juzheng and others looked at each other, then looked at Li Chunfang and said, "Anlu is thousands of miles away from the capital. Why don't we also submit a petition and request to leave the capital to see His Majesty and the prince to see the real situation?"

Li Chunfang sighed, "It's the only way. I can't suppress these memorials that have been sent to the cabinet, so I can only send them to the imperial court and let Your Majesty make the final decision."

Li Chunfang's words silenced Hu Zongxian and others again.

They also knew that they were out of options. They could not suppress any memorial they wanted to present to the emperor. If they tried to suppress it, it would only backfire and give people a chance to criticize them, which would only make them more passive.

Therefore, these memorials requesting King Jing to temporarily supervise the country in the capital could only be sent to Anlu together.

At the same time, Nanjing, which was also thousands of miles away from Anlu, also received the news that Prince Yu had fallen into the water and was seriously ill.

The atmosphere of the entire city of Nanjing changed instantly.

Gao Gong's face looked extremely ugly, and his hands, which were tightly gripping the armrests of the armchair, were now pale.

Hai Rui and Yan Maoqing were also here.

Hai Rui's face was also extremely ugly. He never expected that Prince Yu would have such a big accident in Anlu.

If Prince Yu is in trouble, the whole world will be shocked!
Therefore, Hai Rui felt very unhappy at this moment.

Moreover, compared to Gao Gong who was only worried about Prince Yu's thoughts, Hai Rui was more worried that the Nanjing issue would be abandoned halfway.

By now, Hai Rui had collected almost all the evidence and witnesses of the Xu family's illegal activities.

But if something happened to Prince Yu, these witnesses and evidence would become meaningless. Even if he wanted to insist, it was not certain that anyone would support and trust him like Prince Yu did.

So, Hai Rui is now in a state of confusion and doesn't know what to do.

Yan Maoqing, who was next to them, was anxious, but at the same time, he was also involuntarily thinking about other issues in his mind.

He thought about the relationship he once had with Prince Jing. If Prince Yu was no longer around, could he still join Prince Jing?

Therefore, at this time, Yan Maoqing's mind became wandering. He was thinking about his retreat and new path.

At this moment Gao Gong suddenly said: "No, I can't stay in Nanjing anymore, I have to go to Anlu to meet His Majesty and the Prince in person!"

Hai Rui and Yan Maoqing were both shocked when they heard Gao Gong's voice.

Hai Rui immediately said, "Please think twice, my Lord. You are the head of Nanjing and the Governor-General of Southern Zhili. According to the rules of the court, you are not allowed to leave your post without permission."

Yan Maoqing shrank his head after hearing Hai Rui's words and dared not speak.

Gao Gong immediately said anxiously: "This won't work, and that won't work either. What else can I do? Are you going to let me wait in Nanjing forever? The prince is our backbone!"

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