Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 268 Have to be on guard
Originally, the three cabinet ministers came to report on how to deal with the dispute between the governors of Sichuan and Guizhou, but after Zhu Cilang's deliberate involvement, the topic turned directly to his marriage, and Qian, Ma, and Yuan became worried.

Are these three ministers timid?

Probably somewhat. Although the imperial power of the Ming Dynasty at this time was not as absolute as it was during the time of Taizu and Chengzu, due to the war, the civil service group and local forces had suffered a considerable blow, and the military power was firmly controlled by Zhu Cilang, so his power as an emperor was already considered to be at the top in the late Ming Dynasty.

But that's not why they are so cautious.

After all, although Zhu Cilang's imperial power had an advantage over various forces in the court, his actions were always within the framework of the court. Even if there were occasional conflicts, they all followed the rules of the years and never imitated the Southern and Northern Dynasties and the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms.

In this way, civil servants gradually realized that as long as they acted according to the rules, they would be safe.

Therefore, the three ministers would naturally not be afraid of offending the imperial power due to their inappropriate words.

So the question is, what exactly made them so anxious?

After answering the questions about the selection of concubines and reporting the solution to the dispute between the two governors, the three of them left the Qianqing Palace in silence after getting Zhu Cilang's consent. However, when they were alone, Yuan Jixian said something out of the blue.

"With your majesty's ability, it is expected that you will achieve great success. We only need to follow your orders and leave our names in history. You two should not ruin your own future because of a little selfishness."

After he finished speaking, Yuan Jixian turned around and left, without even giving Qian and Ma any chance to argue.

Faced with this situation, Qian and Ma could not chase after him to argue. After digesting the situation for a while, Ma Shiying could only say quietly, "This old man has suffered an unprovoked disaster."

"What do you mean?!"

"He has no foundation in the court, and we, the 'eunuch party', are always flatterers. Who else but you, the 'clean stream', would cause trouble for His Majesty?"

Qian Qianyi asked sternly, but Ma Shiying still had that helpless tone as if he was implicated. What was even more infuriating was that after answering this question, he turned around and left like Yuan Jixian, leaving Qian Qianyi with no place to vent his grievances.

At first, none of them could figure out why His Majesty asked about marriage, but when Ma Shiying answered the last question, they all gradually figured out something.

Perhaps someone was interfering in the selection of the concubine.

Since Emperor Renzong, the Ming Dynasty has upheld the tradition of selecting daughters of the common people to enter the palace as empresses. Empress Dowager Zou not only took advantage of the previous chaos to choose the daughter of a noble as the candidate for the Crown Princess, but also quietly obtained the approval of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

Even though no one paid attention to it before because of the war, now that the situation is gradually settled and the election is a top priority, how could no one notice such a violation of the ancestral system? How could no one take action to stop it?

Can.
This is really not me!
Thinking of this, Qian Qianyi, who was originally full of helplessness, turned his head and looked in the direction of the Qianqing Palace.

He really wanted to go back and explain everything to His Majesty, but after thinking for a while he had to give up the idea.

Just like a talented general, Yuan Jixian, who had no foundation in the court, could naturally leave with a swagger, and Ma Shiying, who came from the eunuch party, was not suspected of much.

Thinking about it this way, looking at the entire central government, it seems that the only one who has the ability to influence this is Lord Qian.

Under such circumstances, even if he really went to explain, would His Majesty believe it?
"Ah~~~!"

With a heavy sigh, Qian Qianyi finally went to Wenyuan Pavilion reluctantly, but in his heart he kept wondering for whom he had become a scapegoat.

"Your Majesty, why don't you take a rest before reading the question book?"

With the departure of the three ministers, Zhu Cilang's lunch was finished. Just as he stood up and was about to go to the warm room, Zhou Quan, who had been waiting beside him, reminded him carefully.

"Well, I'll go get some sun."

Having said that, Zhu Cilang turned and walked out of the hall, but his heart was far from as calm as he appeared.

Just as the three elders thought, his question was certainly not groundless. All this was indeed related to Xu Yinjue's arrival.

Originally, Zhu Cilang thought that Xu Yinjue's sudden visit was because something went wrong with the Jiang defense, but after talking for a long time, his topic was just some trivial matters about the Jiang defense and some seemingly true "enemy situation".

In such a situation, Zhu Cilang naturally noticed something unusual. He then simply changed the subject and asked Xu Yinjue directly if he had anything else to say.

In his opinion, this was nothing, after all, Xu Yinjue had fought hard when he first took control of Yingtian. But who would have thought that after asking this question, the Duke of Wei of the Ming Dynasty actually knelt on the ground and begged Zhu Cilang to spare his life.

God bless him, his cheap father is indeed a mean and ungrateful man, but he, Zhu Cilang, is a man who cherishes old times.

Seeing Xu Yinjue, who had helped him a lot, behave like this, how could he take it lightly?

After some comfort and persuasion, and after he explained everything in detail, Zhu Cilang finally understood the reason.

Xu Yinjue didn't want his daughter to enter the palace as queen.

After hearing this answer for the first time, Zhu Cilang was indeed very surprised, and even doubted whether he could maintain the character of "nostalgia".

But when he thought about it carefully, he had to admit that his character was absolutely solid. In this way, he also realized that this matter was not simple.

Afterwards, Zhu Cilang had a heart-to-heart talk with Xu Yinjue, during which he also sorted out the general situation.

When Xu Yinjue first learned that his daughter might be chosen by Empress Dowager Zou as the Crown Princess, he was only worried that it would affect the future of his two younger brothers. But at the same time, he felt that Zhu Cilang was indeed someone he could entrust his life to, so he just kept hesitating and did nothing.

He didn't know whether the speaker was unintentional and the listener was intentional, or whether someone really was influencing him unintentionally, but ever since the siege of Yingtian was lifted and the news of the selection of a concubine spread, he always heard people mention the word "relatives by marriage."

As a result, Xu Yinjue, who was not strong to begin with, began to look up "foreign relatives" in books intentionally or unintentionally under such pressure, and was then frightened by the incidents of family extermination, property confiscation, usurpation of power, and seizure of the throne, and took today's actions.

Facing Xu Yinjue, who was like a frightened bird, Zhu Cilang only said one sentence.

"My dear, do you think you have the ability to seize my kingdom, or do you think I can't outlive you?"

With just this sentence, Xu Yinjue was so frightened that he threw his head to the ground and even said he dared not do it. Even though he knew that the real harm caused by the relatives of the emperor was not in this dynasty, he could only pretend to be stupid and leave. "Zhou Quan."

"His Majesty."

"Call Wang Fuping."

While walking around in the open space, Zhu Cilang suddenly said this. When Zhou Quan heard this, he was stunned for a moment, and it took him nearly half a breath before he took the order and left.

Obviously, the name Wang Fuping was too unfamiliar to him, and he needed some thought to connect it with a real person.

After a while, Zhu Cilang returned to the hall, but when he sat on the chair again, he could not focus on the questions.

The three cabinet ministers probably only thought about things like ancestral rules, and Xu Yinjue probably only thought about the storms his family would face after becoming a foreign relative. However, Zhu Cilang realized from this incident that someone, or some people, were restricting his power.

Indeed, the harm caused by external relatives could threaten the foundation of the imperial court, and even a once-powerful dynasty like the Han Dynasty was destroyed because of it.

But is it true that the Ming Dynasty, which had always been very strict in guarding against foreign relatives, was free from the trouble caused by foreign relatives?
According to common sense, since Emperor Renzong, the Ming Dynasty has adopted daughters from ordinary families as empresses, so naturally there would not be such disasters when the empress's family was not powerful enough.

However, power can be cultivated. If the right partners are found, even if the Ming dynasty's descendants are born with deficiencies, they still have the ability to become foreign relatives of the Han dynasty.

Just like the Sun family during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong, although they were only the daughters of a chief clerk, their influence on the government continued until the Chenghua period. If they had not encountered Emperor Xianzong, who was quite resourceful, who knows how long the Sun family could have controlled the capital's garrison.

At this point, some people may think that the Sun family is the uncle of Emperor Xianzong, and it is possible that they have been in charge of the capital's garrison for so many years out of trust, but what is the reality?

After the death of Emperor Xuanzong, the power of the Sun family continued to grow over time. By the time Emperor Baozong was restored, they had even gathered the troops in the northern Zhili area into the "Twelve Battalions Stationed in Beijing". It could be said that the life and death of the emperor depended on their words.

Such power would be considered top-notch even in the Han Dynasty where the foreign relatives were quite powerful, let alone in the Ming Dynasty?

How could such a situation not make people wonder how the Sun family could have achieved such a level of power in the Ming Dynasty, where civil officials were extremely wary of external relatives.

The answer is simple: to become an assistant to civil officials in limiting imperial power.

After the restoration of the Baozong clan, it seemed that they had noticed the weirdness in the Battle of Tumu Fort. When they had a certain amount of strength, they began to rectify the civil service group.

According to historical records, in the first month of the fourth year of Tianshun, Baozong dismissed 930 civil servants in just one examination; in March, he ordered that the descendants of officials of the third rank and above in the capital were not allowed to enter the Imperial College.

In this situation, even a blind man can see the ill will of Bao Zong towards the civil service group, but if that were all, nothing would probably happen, after all, such actions would not be considered to be seriously damaging.

But the terrible thing was that after the Tumu Fortress, there was no significant progress. In April, he sent eunuchs to Zhejiang, Yunnan, Fujian and Sichuan to re-levy mining taxes.

You have to know that those who can afford to open a mine in this day and age are all local tyrants, and who doesn’t have the protection of important officials in the court?
In this way, he offended the local clans after offending the civil service group.

If Zhu Cilang was in his position, he would have to wear armor all day and try his best to win over other forces. However, this ignorant guy even showed his dissatisfaction and fear towards the more than 20 uncles and cousins ​​of the Sun family who were in charge of all the armed forces in northern Zhili, and put himself in a situation where he was surrounded by enemies.

What happened next is generally clear. Eunuch Cao Jixiang contacted his adopted son Cao Qin to launch a mutiny, but they were completely wiped out by the Sun family before they could even enter the gate of the imperial city.

Funny?
Does it feel like Guangxu wanted to use a military coup to regain power?
With this example as a template, all subsequent empresses of the Ming Dynasty came from the civil service group, and the emperors of the Ming Dynasty also died in various inexplicable ways.

When Jiajing ascended the throne, he issued a clear order that relatives by marriage without military merit could not inherit the title. Only then did the relatives by marriage, who had been hiding in the dark, begin to hibernate again.

It is easier said than done, and the situation of collusion between the Ming harem and foreign officials has not improved.

Knowing this situation, how could Zhu Cilang not be alert to what happened today?
About an hour later, Wang Fuping finally appeared in the Qianqing Palace, but before he paid his respects, Zhu Cilang said something first.

"Zhou Quan, order everyone to retreat 20 steps outside the Qianqing Palace, but anyone who comes close will be killed without mercy."

As soon as the words fell, not only did Wang Fuping realize that this meeting was unusual, even Zhou Quan, who had just been transferred from an idle department, was startled.

After a while, Zhou Quan came back to report, and then he was about to leave the warm room. But who would have thought that just as he bowed and took two steps back, the voice of His Majesty came.

"You are someone close to me, so you can stay and listen so that you can know how to act in the future."

"Yes."

After giving a gentle reply, Zhou Quan stood quietly at the door of the warm room. Although he still looked anxious, his heart was already surging with emotion because of the trust His Majesty placed in him.

"Have you any news?"

As Zhu Cilang asked this question, Zhou Quan forced himself to calm down and focused all his attention on Wang Fuping's next answer. However, who would have thought that the new Jinyiwei commander not only did not immediately answer His Majesty's question, but also asked directly: "I wonder if Your Majesty is asking about Jiangbei or..."

"Just say whatever you think is important. There's no need to be too rigid."

"Yes, according to the spies, the surrendered ministers sent by the Tartars have arrived in Huai'an one after another in the past few days, and the political affairs of the pseudo-court seem to be entirely decided by Hong Chengchou." Having said this, Wang Fuping paused, and when he saw that Zhu Cilang did not make any special comments, he reported all the major events he knew again.

What surprised him was that not only did His Majesty not react to the situation in Jiangbei, but he also looked calm even when he talked about food, political ties and the movements of the big families.

Faced with such a situation, Wang Fuping was naturally a little confused, but how could he, who had always been tactful and cautious, react too much? In the end, he could only report various pieces of information one by one and make some guesses based on the emperor's reaction.

"Don't alert Wu Zhikui yet, and see how far he can push the big clan."

"Yes."

Hearing this, Wang Fuping suddenly felt relieved, but who would have thought that another sentence would come right after that.

"Is there any news about the selection of concubines?"

(End of this chapter)