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

Chapter 377 Rumors spread
Xu Xiancheng did not accompany Emperor Tianqi for long, because a high-ranking eunuch soon arrived, and then even Wei Zhongxian quickly entered the palace and rushed over here.

Seeing that someone had taken over, Xu Xiancheng said goodbye to Emperor Tianqi. He told the emperor that there had just been an explosion at the construction site of the three main halls, causing heavy casualties, and he had to go back immediately to lead the rescue, so he would take his leave first.

Emperor Tianqi nodded slightly and waved his hand to let Xu Xiancheng go and do his work. After Xu Xiancheng saluted, he quickly ran towards the three main halls. After Xu Xiancheng's figure disappeared, Wei Zhongxian also arrived.

"Your Majesty is frightened, I am willing to die..." When seeing Emperor Tianqi, Wei Zhongxian rushed up to him crying, and hurriedly reached out his hands to touch Emperor Tianqi all over. After making sure that Emperor Tianqi was not hurt, he breathed a sigh of relief, knelt on the ground, kowtowed and apologized.

The Emperor Tianqi naturally would not blame Wei Zhongxian. This kind of thing was not caused by Wei Zhongxian, so how could he be angry with him? Moreover, with the arrival of Wei Zhongxian, the Emperor Tianqi was completely relieved. He stood up with the help of Wei Zhongxian and looked around. The Qianqing Palace behind him was in a mess, with bricks, tiles, wood and stones everywhere on the ground, and several corpses buried underneath.

The Qianqing Palace was uninhabitable at the moment, so Wei Zhongxian hurriedly asked the people around him which palace was still intact. After waiting for a reply, Wei Zhongxian pleaded with Emperor Tianqi to move to a side palace that would not be affected as much. When he arrived there, Wei Zhongxian was busy running around, and then brought ginseng tea, which he served to Emperor Tianqi to drink. Seeing that the emperor looked okay, he was completely relieved.

But just as she breathed a sigh of relief, bad news came from the harem.

Although the empress and concubines were not injured, except for a few eunuchs and palace maids who were crushed to death, Emperor Tianqi's son, who was less than one year old, was gone. The little prince was frightened to death in the huge explosion just now. When the news came, Emperor Tianqi's face looked extremely ugly.

Wei Zhongxian had not expected such a thing to happen. This little prince was born to Concubine Rong last year, and he was just over half a year old. The little emperor was born in good health, and Emperor Tianqi loved him very much. Since one of the previous two princes was stillborn and the other died, Emperor Tianqi was particularly caring for this little prince. He had planned to make him the crown prince when the prince was older. Who would have thought that he would die so suddenly? It was really fate.

After sitting in silence for a long time, Emperor Tianqi said, "I understand," and waved his hand to ask people to leave. After everyone left, Emperor Tianqi glanced at Wei Zhongxian, who immediately stepped forward and asked the emperor if he had any instructions.

"Go! Check whether there was an accident at Wang Gongchang? Report to me as soon as possible about the losses in the capital!" Emperor Tianqi said.

Wei Zhongxian quickly agreed and said goodbye. After Wei Zhongxian left, the Emperor Tianqi's face was gloomy and uncertain. In addition to grief, there was also anger in his expression. He was silent for a long time, raised his hand to take the teacup placed beside him, but when he raised his hand, he suddenly touched something.

Looking down, isn't this the small wine gourd that Xu Xiancheng used to feed him wine? Emperor Tianqi picked up the wine gourd and took a look. This wine gourd was not an exquisite thing, but an ordinary wine gourd among the people. The wine inside was not good wine, but ordinary muddy wine.

If Emperor Tianqi guessed correctly, this wine was used by Xu Xiancheng to ward off the cold when he was at the construction site. The work at the construction site was heavy, and carrying some wine with him could come in handy.

Reaching out to take off the lid, Emperor Tianqi put the wine gourd to his mouth and took a big sip. Because he drank it in a hurry and the wine was strong, Emperor Tianqi couldn't help but cough violently. After finally calming down, he took another sip. After this sip, his eyes were full of tears, which couldn't help but fall down his cheeks...

The Wanggongchang explosion alarmed the entire capital. Such a violent explosion directly razed the Wanggongchang warehouse and the surrounding area of ​​nearly five miles to the ground.

According to subsequent statistics, the casualties reached 20,000, and those who were located in the center of the explosion did not even leave their bodies.

Countless corpses and body parts were scattered everywhere, which was truly shocking. As for the cause of the explosion, there were countless rumors in the capital just a few days later.

Some said that the explosion was a warning from God, because there were treacherous people rampant in the court and God could no longer bear it, so he sent down the punishment as a warning.

There are also reports that there were celestial phenomena occurring a few days before the Wanggongchang explosion, and the sky had changed strangely, sometimes red and sometimes purple.

There are also rumors that before the explosion, a red god appeared at the explosion site and disappeared in a flash. This red god was Zhurong, the ancient god of fire. His appearance was because the eunuchs in the court were doing evil things, and he was punishing them on behalf of the gods, which led to such a violent explosion.

These rumors spread at a rapid speed, and within a few days they not only spread throughout the capital, but also spread to other places. The more they spread, the more outrageous they became, and the more detailed they were, as if they had seen it with their own eyes.

As the rumors spread, the Donglin Party, which had been suppressed by Wei Zhongxian, became excited, jumping up and down and connecting everywhere. Countless memorials and papers were sent to the palace, all of which were related to the Wanggongchang explosion. In the memorials, they all accused the eunuch party of causing harm to the country and the people, causing the wrath of heaven, and punishing them with this heavenly punishment. In addition, it was said that Emperor Tianqi should not reuse Wei Zhongxian because he used Wei Zhongxian to displease heaven, which caused such a disaster.

At the end of these memorials, they also said that they hoped that the Emperor Tianqi would reflect on himself, stay away from villains and be close to the nobles, and take down the eunuchs like Wei Zhongxian according to the will of heaven, otherwise similar things would happen again. In particular, the death of the little prince was a warning from heaven. If the Emperor Tianqi insisted on his own way, heaven would not let him off so easily next time, and it would be too late to regret it.

When the memorials were sent to the palace, Emperor Tianqi was so angry that his face turned blue after reading them. He usually had a good temper, but this time he got angry. He swept all the memorials to the ground and cursed them regardless of his status.

In the side hall, Wei Zhongxian drove everyone out and stayed alone to serve Emperor Tianqi. Looking at the furious Emperor Tianqi, he did not dissuade him, because he knew that the Emperor was so angry that he would not listen to anyone's persuasion.

"Great! What a punishment from heaven, what a warning from heaven! Haha! Hahaha! In their eyes, I am a foolish and incompetent monarch, and my prince deserves to die? Hahaha!"

Emperor Tianqi laughed wildly, stretched out his hand and pulled out the sword hanging beside him. He raised his hand and swung the sword, directly cutting the table in front of him in half.

"Your Majesty, please calm down. You must not fall into the trap of the villains at this time!" Wei Zhongxian couldn't help but advise.

Emperor Tianqi leaned on his sword and took a few breaths. He glanced at Wei Zhongxian with a sharp gaze and asked, "Have your Dongchang and Jinyiwei found anything?"

"Your Majesty, I sent someone to investigate, but because the scene was so horrific, I was ashamed to find no evidence..." Just as he said this, seeing the Emperor Tianqi's grim expression, Wei Zhongxian hurriedly said, "Although there is no evidence, I am sure that this must have been done by the Donglin Party."

"Oh, can you tell me why you are so sure?"

Wei Zhongxian explained: "There are three reasons. First, after the death of Yang Lian, Zuo Guangdou, Ye Xianggao resigned, and Sun Chengzong returned home, the Donglin Party's power has been greatly reduced. These days, the Donglin Party has been suppressed by me and I can't breathe. If there is no way to reverse it, I will definitely destroy the party completely."

"As for the second question, does Your Majesty still remember the previous order to rebuild Juehua Island?"

Seeing the Emperor nod, Wei Zhongxian continued, "Originally, I intended to use this incident to strictly check the reserves of various ministries, especially the gunpowder and military equipment reserves of the Ministry of Works. I have long heard that the Donglin Party has been using various means to empty the warehouses and sell military equipment privately to make a profit. I specifically gave them a deadline and asked them to hand over the supplies within the deadline. In fact, I know that the Donglin Party can't produce these supplies at all."

"My plan was to wait until the deadline, then take inventory with the warehouse books, and if the amount is wrong, I would directly attack them and arrest them. But who could have thought that these people were so bold as to directly set fire to the warehouse? Now Wanggongchang has been razed to the ground, and all the materials have turned into smoke, so it is impossible to count them anymore. Naturally, the Donglin Party has no handle for me to use."

"As for the third point, after the explosion, all sorts of strange news spread all over the capital, such as red gods and divine punishment. These are all nonsense. I have already inquired about it. Most of these rumors come from the red houses in the capital, and the Donglin Party and its followers happen to be frequent visitors. If these rumors are not directed by the Donglin Party, I would never believe them even if you kill me."

"Hehe...hahaha, hahaha!" Emperor Tianqi laughed angrily, but his face was ferocious.

If Wei Zhongxian could think of it, couldn't the Emperor Tianqi think of it? In fact, on the day of the explosion, when Xu Xiancheng told the Emperor Tianqi that the direction of the explosion was Wanggongchang, the Emperor Tianqi felt something was wrong. Afterwards, news from all sides continued to come, which made the Emperor Tianqi pay attention to the Donglin Party.

Now Wei Zhongxian's words made Emperor Tianqi more certain that this incident was done by the Donglin Party. The Donglin Party killed three birds with one stone by doing this. They could use the explosion to completely destroy the materials in the warehouse, so that Wei Zhongxian could not catch the Donglin Party secretly embezzling materials. They could also use this incident to spread rumors of so-called heavenly punishment and use it to attack political opponents.

In addition, this trick could also be used to force the Tianqi Emperor to bow his head. In history, whenever there were unusual celestial phenomena, it was often because the emperor was immoral. The emperor's immorality meant that he favored villains and kept away from gentlemen. So who were these villains and who were these gentlemen? Isn't this obvious? No matter how high the Tianqi Emperor was, he could not ignore the will of heaven. He had to issue an edict of self-blame to punish himself and obtain forgiveness from heaven. Once this edict of self-blame was issued, the suppressed Donglin Party would have a chance to breathe and could win back a game through public opinion, continue to fight with Wei Zhongxian, and thus seize the right to speak in the court.

This was a very good plan. The Emperor Tianqi had completely understood the Donglin Party's intention. In anger, the rage buried in his heart burned fiercely. The Donglin Party had dragged the political struggle to the point of life and death, especially killing his less than one-year-old prince. This made the Emperor Tianqi unable to tolerate it.

(End of this chapter)