Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 105 Red Pill
No one expected that Emperor Taichang Zhu Changluo, who had been on the throne for only one month, would lose his life after taking two red pills.

After reluctantly entrusting his son to the care of his parents, Zhu Changluo fell into a coma. A few hours later, the emperor died in the middle of the night.

From his accession to the throne to his death, it was exactly one month, so Zhu Changluo was also called the "One-Month Emperor" by later generations.

Moreover, Zhu Changluo alone was responsible for two of the three major cases in the late Ming Dynasty, namely the Stick-Attack Case and the Red Pill Case. His legendary experience is simply unmatched.

In addition to these two major cases, the last of the three major cases in the late Ming Dynasty, the Palace Move Case, also took place, which also had a great deal to do with him.

After Zhu Changluo's death, the ministers discussed and decided that according to Zhu Changluo's last wishes, the eldest son Zhu Youxiao would inherit the throne.

In just less than two months, the Ming Dynasty changed three emperors, which was unprecedented.

After it was confirmed that Zhu Youxiao would succeed him, although he had not officially ascended the throne, he was already the new master of the empire. Upon hearing the news, Li Xianshi, who was in the Qianqing Palace, was mixed with sadness and joy. On the one hand, she was caught off guard by the death of Emperor Taichang Zhu Changluo. She watched helplessly as she lost the position of empress that she had not yet obtained, and she did not even have time to be canonized as the imperial concubine.

On the other hand, as the adoptive mother of the new emperor, she would be the empress dowager in full and proper form after Zhu Youxiao ascended the throne. You should know that she did not title herself as the adoptive mother, but it was decided when Emperor Taichang was still alive. She had been taking care of Zhu Youxiao all these years.

More importantly, Li Xianshi arranged Zhu Youxiao in the Qianqing Palace in advance, putting him next to her. In this way, although she failed to become the queen, she could reach the position of queen mother by virtue of her son's status as a mother.

But Li Xianshi never expected that just when she thought she would soon become the empress dowager, voices against her suddenly arose in the court, led by the Imperial Censor Yang Lian.

In the past two days, Yang Lian has been colluding with people everywhere, spreading the message that Li Xianshi was just an ordinary concubine of the late emperor and had no qualifications to be the empress dowager. Moreover, the late emperor had passed away, so Li Xianshi had no qualifications to continue living in the Qianqing Palace. He demanded that Li Xianshi move out of the Qianqing Palace immediately.

Li Xianshi was not willing to move. She was stupid but not dumb. She knew very well that once she moved out of the Qianqing Palace, the position of Empress Dowager would no longer have anything to do with her. Moreover, the next emperor Zhu Youxiao was with her now. How could she be willing to give up such an opportunity? So she refused to move even if she was beaten to death.

Seeing that Li Xianshi refused to move, Yang Lian continued to publicize Li Xianshi's behavior that violated the ancestral system. Not only that, he kept throwing dirty water on Li Xianshi, saying that the eldest prince Zhu Youxiao's biological mother, Wang Cairen, died because of Li Xianshi's humiliation. Moreover, after Wang Cairen's death, Li Xianshi also persecuted and abused her adopted son Zhu Youxiao for a long time, causing the eldest prince to be afraid of Li Xianshi and have a weak character for a long time.

No one knew where Yang Lian got the information he said. He was a low-ranking official, but he knew all the secrets of the palace. He even told the details of how Concubine Li humiliated Concubine Wang and how she persecuted and abused Zhu Youxiao. Even Zhu Youxiao and Concubine Li, the parties involved, were unaware of all these things.

Regardless of whether Zhu Youxiao and Li Xuanshi believed it or not, Yang Lian himself believed it. Moreover, after his constant lobbying and propaganda, many ministers in the court gradually changed their attitudes from being skeptical at the beginning, and felt that what Yang Lian said seemed to be somewhat reliable.

In addition, as one of the six gentlemen of Donglin, Yang Lian was not fighting alone, and there were many Donglin party members around him. In addition, Yang Lian claimed that if Li Xianshi became the empress dowager, the Ming Dynasty might face the disaster of Empress Wu, which aroused the approval of most people.

In the eyes of many officials, the previous emperor had not yet appointed Li Xuanshi as his concubine, and even though she was the adoptive mother of the eldest son Zhu Youxiao, she was just a concubine. Moreover, Zhu Youxiao was young, only sixteen years old. After ascending the throne, a young emperor would have no queen mother or other powerful forces to rely on, so wouldn't the civil officials have the final say in the Ming Dynasty?
After much thought, getting rid of Li Xianshi is indeed a good choice. In this case, just follow Yang Lian's wishes and let Li Xianshi step aside.

In this way, the last of the three major cases in the late Ming Dynasty, the Palace Relocation Case, began. The civil officials forced Li Xianshi to hand over the eldest prince. In order to protect herself, Li Xianshi refused to hand over Zhu Youjian to the civil officials, and the two sides confronted each other.

When the day of enthronement was chosen, Yang Lian waited and waited but Zhu Youxiao did not show up. In a rage, he led his ministers into the palace and rushed all the way to the Qianqing Palace.

Upon learning that Yang Lian was so bold as to lead people into the palace, Li Xianshi was immediately panicked and didn't know what to do for a while. She subconsciously asked the eunuchs around her to stop the officials outside, and at the same time ran to Zhu Youxiao to cry and curse these officials for being too aggressive.

What was wrong with a weak woman like her? All she wanted was a status, but now they didn't even give her that status, and they forced her to leave the Palace of Heavenly Purity? The emperor's body was still warm, and the ministers were bullying them, an orphan and a widow?
Zhu Youxiao was speechless after hearing this. Emotionally speaking, he still had some affection for his adoptive mother. Moreover, although Li Xianshi was stupid, she was not a really bad person. She was not bad to him. She was just too obsessed with status.

In fact, Li Xianshi's idea was very simple. As an ordinary woman, she had followed a man for so many years, gave birth to children for him, and even became a stepmother to the man's eldest son. For a woman who was only 25 years old to achieve this, even if she had no merit, she must have worked hard, right?
She had finally waited for the man to be willing to become a real couple with her legally, and to be canonized as the Imperial Noble Consort, thus confirming her status as the mistress of the family. But who would have thought that her husband would suddenly die, and even though he died, she didn't have time to do what she had promised before.

After her husband died, her stepson became the head of the family. This was not a big deal. As long as her stepson recognized her, it would be fine for her to continue staying at home and respect her as his mother.

Who would have thought that a group of outsiders suddenly came and yelled that she was not good in this way or that way, that she was simply a "fox spirit" with ulterior motives, and made up a lot of charges to throw dirty water on her, accusing her of harming the country and the people, and even drove her out of the house. No woman could stand it! Zhu Changluo died too suddenly. Although Zhu Youxiao was smart, he was still young. He was caught off guard by this situation and didn't know what to do. Moreover, Zhu Youxiao had no maternal family to rely on. His biological mother, Wang Cairen, had passed away long ago, and his adoptive mother had no power and strategy. Now he was in a mess with the ministers, and he was powerless.

Just as Zhu Youxiao was about to comfort Li Xuanshi and tell her not to be so anxious, and if it really didn't work, she should avoid the sharp edge first and think of a way after he officially ascended the throne. No matter what, this adoptive mother was real, and she was also his father's favorite concubine when he was alive. As an adopted son, he naturally couldn't leave her alone.

But who would have thought that at this moment, Yang Lian and others outside the palace broke through the eunuchs' obstruction and rushed in aggressively.

Seeing a large group of officials suddenly running in, Zhu Youxiao and Li Xuanshi were stunned without any preparation. Before they could react, Yang Lian rolled up his sleeves and ran away with Zhu Youxiao on his shoulders. Several Donglin Party officials stood guard on the side. The group of people came and went like a gust of wind, and in a flash, they snatched the future emperor away right under Li Xuanshi's nose.

Only when she saw Yang Lian and others carrying Zhu Youxiao out of the palace did the stunned Li Xianshi come to her senses.

She screamed in fear and wanted to stop them, but it was too late. Yang Lian and others who were carrying Zhu Youxiao had already gone far away. The remaining officials directly stopped Li Xianshi, and it was useless for Li Xianshi to jump up and down and curse.

Zhu Youxiao was taken away by Yang Lian and directly dragged to Wenhua Hall. At this time, the eunuch Wang An was ready. Wang An, who had secretly been in cahoots with the civil officials, stepped forward to help Zhu Youxiao put on the emperor's robe, and then he and Yang Lian, one on each side, pushed Zhu Youxiao onto the throne.

After Zhu Youxiao sat down, the ministers below kowtowed to him and shouted "Long live the emperor". In this way, the enthronement procedure of the new emperor Zhu Youxiao was completed in this incredible way.

After the procedure was completed, because Concubine Li was still in the Qianqing Palace, the ministers sent the new emperor to the former Eastern Palace, also known as the Ci'an Palace, for temporary residence.

After settling the emperor, the ministers continued to force Li Xianshi to move to the palace. At this time, Li Xianshi was still unwilling to move out, clamoring to see the emperor, and claimed that they did not take the royal family seriously and were clearly against the wishes of the late emperor. Unless she was honored as the empress dowager, she would never leave the Qianqing Palace.

Yang Lian, Zuo Guangdou and others scoffed at Li Xianshi's request and ignored it. Instead, Fang Congzhe, the chief minister, was a little hesitant and suggested that both sides should make concessions. After all, the throne was already decided, and Li Xianshi was the favorite concubine of the previous emperor and the adoptive mother of the new emperor. It was not impossible for her to temporarily live in the Qianqing Palace according to the rules.

But as soon as he said this, he was scolded by Yang Lian and others. Fang Congzhe was embarrassed to see a prime minister being criticized by a secretary. He simply shut up and stopped caring about it.

Then, the eunuch Wang An, on behalf of the civil officials, issued an ultimatum to Li Xianshi, forcing her to move out of the palace immediately. At this time, Li Xianshi was completely desperate. She had lost the support of the late emperor, and even the new emperor, her adopted son, fell into the hands of the civil officials. What could a woman like her do even if she threw a tantrum?

In desperation, Li Xianshi could only leave the Qianqing Palace sadly with her daughter, the eighth daughter of the emperor, who could not speak yet, and moved into the Heluan Palace prepared for her. With the completion of Li Xianshi's move, the Qianqing Palace was finally vacated, and the ministers invited Zhu Youxiao back to the Qianqing Palace from Ci'an Palace.

Afterwards, considering that the possibility of Li Xianshi's resurgence must be completely eliminated, Yang Lian, Zuo Guangdou and others forced Zhu Youxiao to issue an edict, claiming in the tone of the emperor that their biological mother Wang was abused to death by Li Xianshi, and that they themselves had also been abused by Li Xianshi for a long time.

The reason for doing this is very simple. It is nothing more than to prove that what Yang Lian and others said before was true, and to completely discredit this woman, Li Xianshi, from a moral perspective. It would be even better if Li Xianshi could be killed with the help of the emperor.

Looking at the edict that had been prepared for him, Zhu Youxiao was so angry that his hands were shaking and his face was livid. How could a minister still do such a thing of confusing right and wrong? Thinking of the scene where he was carried directly on Yang Lian's shoulders and abducted from the Qianqing Palace, Zhu Youxiao was even more furious.

"Your Majesty, the Donglin Party is now powerful, and they have people everywhere inside and outside the palace. If Your Majesty disagrees, I'm afraid they will continue to force you. They think that even the Empress has been driven away by them. If Your Majesty does not agree, who knows what these daring guys can do. Your Majesty, it is better to be patient and agree to it first, and then settle the score with them later!" Li Jinzhong saw that Zhu Youxiao was so angry, and was worried that he would do something in anger, which would be bad if he quarreled with the civil servants again.

Although Zhu Youxiao was the eldest son of the late emperor and the crown prince that the late emperor had planned to appoint before his death, it was reasonable for Zhu Youxiao, the eldest son of the emperor, to succeed to the throne after the late emperor's death. But the problem was that the late emperor had another son besides Zhu Youxiao, that is, the nine-year-old fifth son Zhu Youjian.

The late emperor had just passed away, and these officials could treat Li Xuanshi like this. What if Zhu Youxiao refused to submit and directly replaced the emperor to support Zhu Youjian? Once this happened, Zhu Youxiao would not just lose the throne. It was possible that he, the emperor who had just sat on the throne, would die in an unclear manner.

The court was controlled by civil officials, and Wang An, a traitor, was watching the inner court. It was unwise to resist at this time. As the saying goes, "One step back will open up a new world, and it is never too late for a gentleman to take revenge," Li Jinzhong kindly advised.

(End of this chapter)