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

Chapter 303: Message from the Capital
Zhu Shenzhui was looking at the letters sent from the capital. Zhang Xijun would write to him every once in a while in the capital, reporting the situation in the capital in detail.

Although it was cold and the roads were difficult to travel, it was still easy to deliver letters from the capital to Pingyang with the court's post station and the Jinyiwei's channels. Moreover, Zhang Xijun wrote to Zhu Shenzhu in secret, so even if the letter fell into the hands of others, they would not be able to understand the contents.

This time, Zhang Xijun's letter was quite long. It took some time just to translate the letter after receiving it. After reading the letter, Zhu Shenzui frowned.

Wei Zhongxian is now fighting fiercely with the Donglin Party. As Wei Zhongxian's power grows, the so-called eunuch party in history has taken shape. The current Wei Zhongxian is not the powerful "Nine Thousand Years Old" but is not far from it.

As more and more people gathered around Wei Zhongxian, the eunuch party became more powerful. More importantly, all this was due to the support of Emperor Tianqi behind the scenes.

Under the instruction of Emperor Tianqi, Wei Zhongxian gradually rose from an ordinary eunuch to his current position. If nothing unexpected happened, when Wei Zhongxian became fully fledged, the struggle between the Eunuch Party and the Donglin Party would really begin.

Zhang Xijun judged that the Eunuch Party was not yet a match for the Donglin Party, but the gap between the two had narrowed a lot. In addition, Emperor Tianqi deliberately protected the Eunuch Party. Although the Donglin Party still controlled the government, there were actually signs of fierce conflict in the court.

Zhang Xijun told Zhu Shenzhu that if he was right, Wei Zhongxian would definitely win the battle with the Donglin Party in one year at the shortest and two to three years at the longest. And there would only be one winner in this life-and-death struggle, but this winner would definitely not be the Donglin Party or Wei Zhongxian.

So who is the winner? It is the Emperor Tianqi who is hiding in the palace without anyone noticing.

Zhang Xijun didn't know much about Emperor Tianqi before he went to the capital. In fact, when he first arrived in the capital, Zhang Xijun had a bad impression of Emperor Tianqi because of various rumors. He only thought that the young emperor was an emperor who favored those around him and was obsessed with carpentry.

There are many such emperors in history, and many of them are famous. Among them is Li Yu of the Later Tang Dynasty, who was known as the master of poetry, and Zhao Ji, the famous Song Huizong, who was good at calligraphy and painting.

There were many similar emperors in the Ming Dynasty. Emperor Xuanzong loved cricket fighting and was called the Cricket Emperor. Emperor Wuzong Zhu Houzhao loved eating, drinking and having fun. Emperor Jiajing was obsessed with Taoism. Even Emperor Tianqi's grandfather, Emperor Wanli, did not attend court for decades and hid in the harem as a stay-at-home....

All these things are not surprising. But as time went by, Zhang Xijun in the capital gradually discovered that this rumored carpenter emperor was not that simple. Everything he did had a deep meaning, especially the use of Wei Zhongxian to support the so-called eunuch party, which was a brilliant move, and the power of this move was gradually increasing.

To outsiders, Wei Zhongxian was a powerful eunuch, but in fact he was just a knife in the hands of Emperor Tianqi. The handle of the knife was always in the hands of Emperor Tianqi, and everything he did was at the instruction of Emperor Tianqi.

Zhang Xijun was a very smart person. He was also good friends with Wei Liangqing in the capital. Through Wei Liangqing, he got to know Wei Zhongxian and his godsons, such as Tian Ergeng, Cui Chengxiu, Feng Quan, Xu Xianchun, Ni Wenhuan, Sun Yunhe and others.

Through his contact with them, Zhang Xijun discovered a situation that outsiders did not know, that is, the so-called eunuch party was actually the emperor's party. These people, including Wei Zhongxian, were all pawns of the Tianqi Emperor, and the chess player was none other than the emperor known as the Carpenter Emperor.

After understanding all this, Zhang Xijun could not help but sigh at the depth of the Tianqi Emperor's planning, his sophisticated methods, and his accurate judgment of people. It was really surprising that a young emperor who was less than 20 years old would make such an arrangement. The "incompetence" and his obsession with carpentry were just a protective color for him to paralyze his political opponents, the Donglin Party.

Zhang Xijun told Zhu Shenzhu that the Tianqi Emperor was an accomplished ruler and all he planned was to consolidate the imperial power. Moreover, as Wei Zhongxian's power continued to expand, he had implicitly achieved certain goals with the help of Wei Zhongxian's power. Although the Donglin Party still temporarily controlled the government, Zhang Xijun judged that it was only a matter of time before the Donglin Party failed.

Once the Donglin Party was completely defeated, the court would be dominated by the eunuch party, but this so-called eunuch party was controlled by the Tianqi Emperor, that is, the actual imperial party. At that time, the imperial power in the hands of the Tianqi Emperor would no longer have any rivals, and the Ming court would be able to operate according to the will of the Tianqi Emperor, and there would be no political groups like the Donglin Party to seize power from the emperor.

By this time, Emperor Tianqi would slowly weaken the power in Wei Zhongxian's hands, or find an appropriate opportunity to get rid of Wei Zhongxian, and eventually the power would be completely in the hands of Emperor Tianqi.

As for whether Emperor Tianqi could deal with Wei Zhongxian? Zhang Xijun was not worried about this issue. The Ming Dynasty was different from other dynasties. The status and life and death of the eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty were always in the hands of the emperor. How powerful was Liu Jin, who was known as the "Emperor" during the reign of Emperor Wuzong? Even if Wei Zhongxian was not as powerful as Liu Jin now, what was Liu Jin's fate? It was just a small note written by Emperor Wuzong, and Liu Jin was instantly knocked down from the clouds to the ground, and ended up being cut into pieces.

In Zhang Xijun's view, when everything is settled, that may be the day when Wei Zhongxian steps down from the political stage. By then, the powerful Donglin Party in the court will be swept away by Wei Zhongxian, and the Emperor Tianqi will use Wei Zhongxian to consolidate the imperial power. The court cabinet, the six ministries and even the local areas will be the people of the Emperor Tianqi. The Emperor Tianqi does not need to kill Wei Zhongxian, but only needs to appropriately restrict his power, or support another person to replace Wei Zhongxian, then everything will be completely different from now. Zhang Xijun judged that once the matter is accomplished, the Emperor Tianqi will become one of the few emperors in the history of the Ming Dynasty who truly holds great power. When this answer emerged from Zhang Xijun's mind, Zhang Xijun himself was shocked, and after deep thought, he admired the Emperor Tianqi even more.

In a letter to Zhu Shenzhui, Zhang Xijun tactfully told Zhu Shenzhui that Emperor Tianqi was a very difficult person to deal with, and that everything he did was so experienced and not at all like the methods of a young emperor.

When seeing these contents, Zhu Shenzhui fell into deep thought for a moment. As a person of later generations, he still had some understanding of the late Ming Dynasty, especially the Tianqi Emperor, the carpenter emperor, and the famous Wei Zhongxian, who were both well-known.

But in his previous life, Zhu Shenzui only had a general understanding of this period of history from cold texts, or he knew a little through film and television dramas, but the real history is not like this, especially when he is in the real history, all the feelings are completely different.

He admitted that Zhang Xijun's reminder had some truth to it, but Zhang Xijun was too optimistic about the future of Emperor Tianqi. According to Zhu Shenzhui's memory, Emperor Tianqi died young. If he had not died so early, history would probably have been different. Unfortunately, Emperor Tianqi's life was very short. He died suddenly just when he was supporting the eunuch party to reach its peak. With his death, the powerful Wei Zhongxian also fell from the clouds, and everything became a cloud of smoke.

Zhu Shenzhui planned to write a letter to Zhang Xijun afterwards, to comfort him and tell him that he would never act rashly, and would not be as reckless as he imagined.

In addition to these, Zhang Xijun also told Zhu Shenzhu two things. One was Wei Zhongxian's plan to win over Yuan Chonghuan to replace Sun Chengzong.

When Zhu Shenzhu saw the name Yuan Chonghuan, he was quite surprised. This name was very famous, and Zhu Shenzhu certainly knew this person, but he never thought that Wei Zhongxian would have such a plan to win over Yuan Chonghuan to replace Sun Chengzong? This operation really surprised him.

Another thing is about the Donglin Party spreading rumors. Zhang Xijun told Zhu Shenzhu in a letter that the Donglin Party had recently spread the rumor in the capital that the reason why Queen Zhang Yan gave birth to a stillborn baby was the result of the joint efforts of Wei Zhongxian and Keshi.

This rumor made Wei Zhongxian furious, and the Tianqi Emperor was even more furious. Although neither the Tianqi Emperor nor Wei Zhongxian could completely stop the spread of the rumor, they also responded.

This reaction first occurred in the harem. Under the instruction of Emperor Tianqi, all the palace maids in the Queen's palace were replaced. Wei Zhongxian also conducted a thorough investigation of the matter. During the investigation, more than a dozen palace maids and eunuchs were beaten to death. The people in the harem were now in a panic.

That’s not all. The Tianqi Emperor suddenly issued an edict to confer the title of Concubine Kang on Li Xianshi, giving her a title and treatment. He also recalled the former censor Jia Jichun and ordered him to return to Beijing to resume his original post. These two actions are intriguing.

Everyone in the world knows who Li Xianshi is. She was the protagonist of the palace relocation case and the adopted mother of Emperor Tianqi. As a result of the palace relocation case, Li Xianshi not only did not get the title of empress dowager, but was driven out of the Qianqing Palace and even accused of murdering the biological mother of Emperor Tianqi.

It stands to reason that Li Xianshi could only stay in the cold palace for the rest of her life, and she ended up living like this. But now Emperor Tianqi suddenly honored Li Xianshi. Although he did not give her the title of Empress Dowager or Consort Dowager, he gave her the title of Consort Kang. This clearly sent a political signal.

Zhang Xijun judged that this was Emperor Tianqi's revenge on the Donglin Party for throwing dirty water on Wei Zhongxian. He used this method to tell the world that Li Xianshi's alleged crime of murdering her biological mother did not exist at all. As the adoptive mother of Emperor Tianqi, Li Xianshi suffered unfair treatment in the palace move case because of the Donglin Party. Now Emperor Tianqi wanted to rehabilitate Li Xianshi.

The same was true when the censor Jia Jichun was reinstated. The reason why Jia Jichun lost his official position was also related to the Palace Move Case. At that time, the Donglin Party forced Li Xianshi to leave the Qianqing Palace, and Yang Lian and others rushed into the Qianqing Palace to snatch Emperor Tianqi away. At the same time, they forced Emperor Tianqi to issue an edict to accuse Li Xianshi of a crime, intending to kill Li Xianshi. Jia Jichun strongly opposed it.

At that time, only the Imperial Censor Jia Jichun stood up and severely refuted the Donglin Party's disloyalty and spoke out for Li Xuanshi. His action also angered the Donglin Party, and under the pressure of the Donglin Party, Emperor Tianqi dismissed the Imperial Censor Jia Jichun from his post.

Times have changed. Now Emperor Tianqi suddenly appointed Li Xianshi as Consort Kang and reinstated Jia Jichun. What do these actions mean? Anyone with a discerning eye can see clearly.

(End of this chapter)