Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 436: The way to cause chaos?

The window for harvesting wheat was slightly longer than that for other crops, but with the concerted efforts of the Ming army, the people, and the herdsmen, Hanzhong's grain only lasted for a dozen days before being delivered to the people's homes.

The whole Hanzhong was busy, so Zhu Cilang would not hide in the military tent.

These days he patrolled everywhere during the day, and would sneak into any camp he came across at night to have a meal. The people and soldiers became more and more familiar with this emperor who was not at all arrogant, and he seemed to have some of the same feelings as when he was surrounded in Yingtian.

But then again, he is no longer the same as he was before. Even though he is still looking forward to such days in his heart, he can only rush back to Yingtian after the harvest this season, and he doesn't even have time to visit those saltpeter mines.

Speaking of saltpeter, I have to mention it a little more.

Everyone knows that gunpowder was invented by China, but no one knows why it was invented by China. The key may lie in saltpeter.

Saltpeter is not scarce in China. It has been used by Taoists to make elixirs as early as before the Christian era. However, this is not the norm for civilization. In places like Europe, saltpeter almost does not exist in its natural state.

Of course, with the help of the Arabs, gunpowder eventually spread to Europe, and the barbarians in the midst of war naturally used it as a tool of war.

However, Europe does not produce saltpeter, and without this main ingredient, large-scale application is out of the question.

But then again, a small country with a commercial civilization still has its advantages.

Primitive gunpowder could not cause much damage to China's strong city defenses and sophisticated armor, but it could cause great damage to Europe's simple things.

As a result, the use of gunpowder in Europe increased day by day, and in order to earn this huge profit, merchants began to rack their brains.

At first, the solution they came up with was "nitrate fields", which provided European prostitutes with an extra source of income.

Then the era of great plunder suddenly arrived, and all kinds of resources flowed into Europe. The merchants of Venice made a fortune, and that disgusting method became an alternative.

Of course, this substitution is only to a certain extent. In some special circumstances, prostitutes can still sell their bacteria-rich urine for a good price.

Take Britain, which was in the midst of a civil war. The royalist party's supply of saltpeter was cut off by Cromwell. In order to maintain gunpowder production, Charles I asked the people under his rule (especially women) to donate urine.

At that time, in the towns controlled by Charles I, the church directly changed the tithe into a urine tax. In order to save trouble, some churches simply placed a row of urinals under the long benches and encouraged women to "relieve themselves" during gatherings to meet the needs of the army.

Whenever he thought of this, Zhu Cilang couldn't help but sigh that China is a vast land with abundant resources, otherwise he would have to issue an imperial decree to stop peeing.

No more gossip.

According to Zhu Cilang's original idea, after ending the war in the southwest, he would follow the same route from Sichuan to Yunnan and Guizhou, then go from Guangxi to Huguang, and after seeing the recovery work in these places, he would go straight to Zhejiang from Jiangxi, and this would be a perfect ending.

It's definitely not that he doesn't want to be confined in the palace.

After all, Sichuan was about to be recovered, Yunnan and Guizhou had just been stabilized, and Huguang was an important place for him to make his move. If he only relied on the reports from below, he was still worried that all policies would go astray.

But plans can never keep up with changes. The old man Philip IV made such a strange move, which seemed to give the Ming Dynasty the opportunity to extend its hand to Europe.

Faced with this situation, he had no choice but to board a ship in Chongqing and return to Yingtian as quickly as possible.

January 9

Yingtian
Just like last time, the news of the emperor's return had already spread quietly, and the road from Qinhuai River to Zhengyang Gate was decorated with lights and bustling with people.

However, when the dignitaries and common people in the city were all rushing to welcome the emperor's triumphant return, there was someone alone in the Duke of Wei's mansion sighing as if he had encountered a huge difficulty.

"Young lady, stop sighing. Your face is almost covered with wrinkles these days. Aren't you afraid that His Majesty will be disgusted by you?"

The person who spoke was a personal maid who grew up with Xu Shaoyue, so the frivolousness in her words was nothing.

In the past, the two girls of similar age would probably have quarreled over this sentence, but this time, Xu Shaoyue just stared blankly at Chengxi without any reaction at all.

"My lady, your Majesty is magnanimous and will not blame you."

Another voice was heard, but Xu Shaoyue remained the same. Just as the atmosphere in the boudoir gradually solidified due to her reaction, she suddenly said something.

"Don't mention this anymore. I guess we are not meant to be together."

As soon as she finished speaking, the heartless maid suddenly froze in place, obviously extremely surprised by what her girl said.

When Your Majesty was still the Crown Prince, Empress Dowager Zou had chosen my daughter as the Crown Princess. Even though Your Majesty rarely stayed in Yingtian due to his wars, he still expressed his regards for her in his letters to the Duke, clearly approving of this marriage.

The Queen Mother introduced them and His Majesty approved, if this is called fate, then what can be called a match made in heaven?
Thinking of this, the maid wanted to ask a few more questions, but Xu Shaoyue's eyes were distracted at this time, and her mind was no longer in the boudoir. She said half a sentence and when she saw that her girl did not respond, she could only shut her mouth obediently.

Xu Shaoyue originally thought so too.

But after going to the camp in the north of the city to borrow troops that day, Xu Yinjue had a deep talk with her.

That night, the Duke of Wei, who seemed so majestic in the eyes of outsiders, showed fatigue for the second time in front of his own daughter. Xu Shaoyue also understood the difficulty of supporting such a wealthy family.

At this time, the Duke of Wei's Mansion was truly in its heyday. Needless to say, Xu Yinjue himself was in charge of the city defense of Yingtian and was the emperor's most trusted confidant no matter which dynasty it was.

One of the two brothers died in battle, but his memory is engraved in the heart of Your Majesty; although the other one is only a thousand households, he has already made military achievements.

It can be imagined that if the situation continues to develop in this way, even if Xu Yinjue is unable to give birth to a boy, the Xu family will still be able to continue its glory in the Jingwu Dynasty.

It’s just that good fortune follows misfortune, and misfortune follows good fortune.

Don't think that the Duke of Wei's Mansion is as bright as the sun in the sky, but if this marriage goes through, it may fall under the open and hidden attacks.

Xu Shaoyue originally thought that this statement referred to becoming a relative by marriage, but that night Xu Yinjue no longer intended to hide anything, and as soon as he heard his daughter's words, he revealed the entire situation in detail.

The matter of whether they are in-laws or not actually doesn’t matter at all.

The main branch of his Xu family has few members, so even if he really gains power, it would be difficult for him to make any waves.

What's more, His Majesty is only seventeen or eighteen years old, and his body is getting stronger day by day after his conquests. Even if he follows the path of Emperor Taizong of Tang and does not live a long life due to injuries, it will not be difficult for him to wait until Xu Yinjue dies.
What really worries Xu Yinjue is the present.

He was the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, whose power far exceeded that of the past; she was the legitimate daughter of the Duke of Wei, representing the power of the nobles.

If this marriage is successful, the nobles who have not found a way to get married will surely gather around Your Majesty through the steps of the Duke of Wei's mansion. In addition, the military generals outside and the civil officials will also
Xu Yinjue saw clearly that in troubled times, the one with the biggest fist would be the king, but in prosperous times, the one who was good at using rules would rule the world. With your majesty winning one battle after another, the Tartars in the north would soon be gone. When the world is settled, no matter what your majesty wants, you have to put your weapons in the warehouse and let your horses go to the mountains.

By then, your Majesty's right-hand men will inevitably be gradually marginalized due to their incompetence in government affairs, and the suppressed civil servants will naturally have to fight back.

Of course, facing an emperor like Your Majesty, the counterattack would naturally be piecemeal and indirect, and the Xu family's relatives, who are Your Majesty's staunch supporters, would probably be the first to fall in the counterattack.

Xu Shaoyue didn't quite understand what Xu Yinjue said, but Duke Wei, who was born in a powerful family, had seen many dirty things. Just one question made Xu Shaoyue understand the danger his family was facing.

"There are nearly a thousand servants in the mansion, and there are at least 30,000 or 20,000 people in the farm outside. If we are not involved in those things, I can retire and enjoy my retirement after the world is pacified. By then, even if the servants do something illegal, the civil officials will turn a blind eye. But if you become the queen of the Ming Dynasty, my Xu family will not be able to get out of it."

Xu Shaoyue had read history books after all, so she knew how many powerful people had fallen over trivial matters. When she heard her father's words, she understood what her father was worried about.

How great it would be if it wasn’t the girl from the Xu family.

With a sigh in his heart, Xu Shaoyue felt his eyes become sore.

Deep down, she didn't care about the struggles in the court or being the target of public criticism, but if she could not care about herself, how could she not care about her family?

If her father and third uncle were really framed by others because of her, how could she feel at ease even if she really lived with her lover?

"Girl~~! Girl~~! His Majesty has entered the city!"

Just when Xu Shaoyue was feeling depressed, there was a loud shout from outside the yard, then the gate opened, and an old woman ran in excitedly.

"Don't make noise! ​​The girl is upset!"

Although the personal maid didn't know why her lady was upset, she knew it must be related to His Majesty. As soon as the old woman stood still in the yard, she ran out angrily.

"Oh, oh, it's the old woman who doesn't know what's going on. The young lady is under house arrest by the master, so she's naturally upset. Sister, please tell the young lady that His Majesty has entered the city."

"you go?"

"went."

The personal maid was young at heart and had been thinking of getting rid of the old woman so that her daughter would not be troubled anymore. But after hearing these words, her attention was drawn outside.

"Tell me, what's the situation?"

"Alas, sister, you don't know. We all know that your majesty won a victory, but we didn't know that the battle was so big." After saying this, the old woman paused, and then glanced at Xu Shaoyue's boudoir as if inadvertently. When she saw her girl sitting by the window, her voice became a little louder: "When your majesty went out this time, he first defeated the Tatar Prince Ying in Ganzhou and annihilated his entire army. In that battle alone, more than 100,000 Tatars were killed. That so-called Prince Zhishun is still imprisoned."

As soon as the words fell, the personal maid opened her eyes wide, obviously shocked by such a result.

Although there were only the two of them at the moment, the old woman's attention was always on the window of the boudoir. After glancing at her own girl, she started talking again.

"later."

As the words came out, the personal maid was startled and had already forgotten the reason for her coming out. In the sight of the old woman, although Xu Shaoyue did not make any expression, she still leaned to the side. She felt that she was currying favor with the master, and her words became lighter.

After a while, the old woman finally recounted in vivid detail what she had heard outside, but to her surprise, her own girl did not show any intention of praising or rewarding her, so she could only leave in disappointment.

"Hey! Has His Majesty returned to the palace?"

"Oh, he said he was going to discuss matters with some adults."

"Meeting? We have to meet right after we got back."

After hearing the words, the maid muttered something and went back to her room. But when she was about to report the old woman's words to her own girl, she saw that Xu Shaoyue still maintained her original appearance. She hesitated for a moment and stopped talking, waiting quietly by the side.

She didn't know what her girl was thinking, nor did she know what she should think.

After a while, she felt her eyelids were about to collapse, so she asked tentatively.

"Girl, go take a walk in the garden."

Usually, when the girl was in a bad mood, she would go for a walk in the garden. She thought that this time would be no exception. But who would have thought that after the voice came out, Xu Shaoyue was still staring blankly out the window, and a chaotic sound of footsteps was heard outside the yard.

"That woman likes to flatter. I'm going to chase her away right now."

As she spoke, the maid walked straight out of the house. When she reached the yard, she saw a young man with a scar on his face and wearing armor rushing in.

"How dare you! Where did you come from?"

"How dare you! You are not polite in front of His Majesty?!"

"Snapped!"

As the loud shout was rang out, the sound of a porcelain bottle breaking was heard in the boudoir, followed by a figure flashing past the window. However, Zhu Cilang stopped near the gate, showing no intention of going in.

"Shao Yue, I have a few questions to ask you. Please come out and see me."

After he finished speaking, there was no movement in the boudoir. Hu Yiqing then planned to ask the maid to go in and ask for help, but Zhu Cilang stopped him.

This trip into the city could be considered to have gone almost smoothly, but he never imagined that after returning to the palace, someone would use the ancestral rules to make trouble for him.

What's even more infuriating is that Xu Yinjue, who had been persuaded by him at the beginning, actually stood together with that bunch of old men and said that making the daughter of a noble the queen was a way to cause chaos.

Go to hell with your ways of causing chaos. You just want to reach out to the harem. Do you really think I can't see through your thoughts? !

Faced with this situation, Zhu Cilang did the last and most outrageous thing since he came here.

While that large group of people were still looking for a sedan chair outside the palace gate, he had already ridden his horse into the Duke of Wei's mansion.

just
Time passed little by little, but there was no response in the boudoir. After six or seven breaths, he roughly guessed the reason and shouted loudly.

"I know what you are worried about. It's just a bunch of old men who refuse to give up. Once I kill them all, your father will no longer be the target of public criticism!"

(End of this chapter)