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

Chapter 685 Azolla

There were sixty Mongolian guards in the Qianqing Palace, divided into two shifts to take turns guarding. The leader was Nahai, the centurion of the Tenger tribe.

The Mongolian name Nahai is not very nice, because in Mongolian, Nahai means dog. Because Nahai was born a slave, he didn't know who his parents were, so he got this lowly name. This is somewhat similar to Wang Hai. When Wang Hai was selecting guards in the Tenger tribe, he chose Nahai. After learning about his life experience, he felt a little sympathy. After observing for a while, he found that Nahai was honest and loyal, and he was a useful person. Wang Hai transferred him to his side as his guard. After that, Nahai made contributions in many wars, and thus he was freed from slavery and became a free man, and he was appointed as a centurion.

Logically speaking, Na Hai could have changed his name, but Na Hai chose to keep his original name and continued to fight with Wang Hai. According to him, the name was just a code name. Although the name Na Hai was humble, it had a good meaning. Everything he had was given by Wang Hai and his master Zhu Shenzhui. He was willing to continue to keep the name Na Hai to show his loyalty to his master.

After taking over the imperial palace and placing Emperor Chongzhen under house arrest in the Palace of Heavenly Purity, Zhu Shenzui thought of Na Hai and appointed him as the chief guard of the Palace of Heavenly Purity and stationed him there.

Since he was stationed there, Na Hai has done a very good job. Not only has he guarded the Qianqing Palace tightly, so that not even a fly can fly in and not a piece of paper can get out, but even palace maids and eunuchs are not allowed to approach the Qianqing Palace without Zhu Shenzhui's order. Once someone crosses the line, Na Hai will kill them without hesitation, and his move also makes Zhu Shenzhui extremely satisfied.

"Master!" Seeing Zhu Shenzhu coming, Na Hai, who was on duty, hurried over and paid his respects.

"Get up." Zhu Shenzhui raised his hand and said. Mongolians are different from Ming people, and Na Hai's background is different. When Wang Hai first followed him, it was the same. He called him "Master" all the time and knelt down and kowtowed from time to time. It was not until a long time later, at Zhu Shenzhui's strong request, that Wang Hai gradually got rid of these bad habits.

However, Zhu Shenzui did not care about Na Hai's behavior. After all, in Na Hai's view, this was natural, and the current Zhu Shenzui was not the same Zhu Shenzui as before. The etiquette of foreigners was different from that of the Ming people, and there was no need to force them to be consistent.

"How has he been these days?" Zhu Shenzhui asked.

"My lord, he is still the same as before, with three meals a day. In his spare time, he either reads a book, writes, or sits in a chair and daydreams." Na Hai answered respectfully.

"Where's Wang Chengen? Still serving?"

"My Lord, I am waiting for you, just like before."

"Here..." Zhu Shenzhui looked around and asked, "Has anyone come near recently?"

"Master, rest assured. Since the first time someone approached, I ordered a few people to be killed. No one dared to approach again. Everyone in the palace knows that anyone who enters the Qianqing Palace will be killed without mercy. As for all the food and drink in the Qianqing Palace, I have also personally checked it. There is absolutely no problem at all."

"Well done, thank you for your hard work."

"This is what a servant should do. I dare not ask the master to praise me." Na Hai said with his head down.

Zhu Shenzhui was very satisfied and patted him on the shoulder. Nahai smiled and was very excited. In his opinion, Zhu Shenzhui entrusted him with such an important task. If he couldn't do it well, how could he contribute to his master? It was his greatest honor to be recognized by Zhu Shenzhui. He was so happy that he couldn't wait.

He nodded, and took Na Hai up the stairs and headed towards the Qianqing Palace.

The Qianqing Palace is one of the three major palaces, so its scale is naturally not small. It is much larger than the Wenhua Palace where Zhu Shenzhui lives now.

After all, the Qianqing Palace has always been the bedroom of the Ming Dynasty emperors. Among several generations of Ming Dynasty emperors, the Wenhua Hall was the bedroom of the prince. Because the Wenhua Hall is located in the east, it is also called the Eastern Palace. This is the origin of the Eastern Palace.

Zhu Shenzhu did not move into the Palace of Heavenly Purity at the beginning because Emperor Chongzhen was still alive. After all, he was fighting for the purpose of clearing the court of evil and calming the country. He could not just move into the Palace of Heavenly Purity after taking over the imperial palace, right? If he did so, wouldn't it be like telling the world that he was not here to clear the court of evil and calm the country, but to rebel and usurp the throne? Wouldn't that lead to gossip?
Zhu Shenzui did not move into not only the Qianqing Palace, but also the other palaces in the harem. Instead, he chose the Wenhua Palace.

There is a profound meaning behind Zhu Shenzhui's doing this. Wenhua Hall does not belong to the harem palace, but it is one of the eastern palace residences of the crown princes of all dynasties. Zhu Shenzhui lives in Wenhua Hall, and he is now the regent of the Ming Dynasty. From this point of view, it is natural for him to live in Wenhua Hall.

After entering the palace, Zhu Shenzui came to the Qianqing Palace twice. The first time was when he captured Emperor Chongzhen. When Zhu Shenzui first entered the palace, he sent people to put him under house arrest here and kept him under strict guard.

The second time was half a month after he took over the capital. At this time, Zhu Shenzhui had completely controlled the capital and took office as regent. He appeased the court and the local areas, and the cabinet, the Imperial Household Department, the Embroidered Uniform Guard and other departments were all under his control. Zhu Shenzhui made a special visit to visit Emperor Chongzhen.

However, the two previous meetings were not good. From a high and mighty emperor to a prisoner, it would be strange if Emperor Chongzhen would have a good face for Zhu Shenzhui, a traitor. He either cursed at Zhu Shenzhui after meeting him or tried to provoke Zhu Shenzhui and let him have a quick death. But how could Zhu Shenzhui let the other party get what he wanted? A living emperor is far more valuable than a dead person. Besides, he had been prepared for this and did not care about the other party's attitude at all. Instead, he kindly advised Emperor Chongzhen to take good care of him, and leave the Ming Dynasty to him. This is the third time he has come. It has been almost two months since he last met Emperor Chongzhen. Time flies so fast. So many days have passed in a blink of an eye. Although the situation of the Qianqing Palace is reported to Zhu Shenzhui every day, Zhu Shenzhui also knows the current situation of Emperor Chongzhen, and the distance from Wenhua Hall to the Qianqing Palace is not far, Zhu Shenzhui, who is busy with political affairs, has not found time to visit until today.

Emperor Chongzhen lived in a side hall on the east side. There was no one serving him except Wang Chengen. Even when Wang Chengen came here alone, it was because Zhu Shenzui saw that Emperor Chongzhen was alone and was afraid that the Mongolian guards would not take good care of him, so he released the captured Wang Chengen and sent him here.

Pushing open the heavy palace door and stepping in, he could immediately see two Mongolian guards guarding the east side hall.

Hearing the noise, the two Mongolian guards had already put their hands on their swords, ready to fight at any time. When they saw that the people coming in were Na Hai and Zhu Shenzhui, the two Mongolian guards were relieved, took their hands off the sword handles, and knelt on one knee to salute Zhu Shenzhui.

Raising his hand, Zhu Shenzui asked them to stand up, and then looked towards the closed door of the side hall.

"Open!"

"Yes!"

The two Mongolian guards responded and stepped forward to open the tightly closed door. The door opened with the sound of hinges, but there was no other movement from inside.

Zhu Shenzhui stepped forward and was about to go in when Na Hai said, "Master, let me lead you in."

Na Hai was worried that there would be an accident if Zhu Shencui went in directly. Although Zhu Shencui did not think that the powerless Emperor Chongzhen could pose any threat to him, let alone Emperor Chongzhen, the same was true for Wang Chengen. Zhu Shencui's martial arts skills were not low. Even Wang Jinwu was not his opponent. Moreover, he had a sword hanging on his waist, so he could easily face several Ming soldiers.

But Na Hai had good intentions after all, so Zhu Shenzhui did not refuse and nodded slightly.

Na Hai held the hilt of the knife in one hand and strode into the side hall. Zhu Shenzhui followed him at a leisurely pace and entered the side hall where Emperor Chongzhen lived.

Although it is a side hall, it is not small in size. It is divided into three areas with an area of ​​more than 200 square meters. One is the bedroom of Emperor Chongzhen. The bedroom is the smallest area, only about 30 square meters. One is the daily living room, about 70 to 80 square meters. The other is the study room, which is about the same size as the living room. The two are interconnected and used to be the office where Emperor Chongzhen reviewed memorials.

Entering the side hall, one can see the study from the living room. Zhu Shenzhui saw Emperor Chongzhen wearing a Taoist robe, writing on the table, but he didn't know what he was writing. Not far from him, Wang Chengen was serving him.

When the sound of Zhu Shencui and others coming in was heard, Emperor Chongzhen, who was writing, was not moved at all and continued to concentrate on writing. However, Wang Chengen noticed the movement and subconsciously looked up. When he saw that the person coming was Zhu Shencui, his whole body trembled slightly involuntarily, and the teacup in his hand made a crisp tinkling sound.

"Emperor...Emperor..." Sweat oozed from Wang Chengen's forehead and his face looked extremely ugly. He looked towards Emperor Chongzhen and saw that Emperor Chongzhen was still writing his words. He couldn't help but let out a soft cry.

Emperor Chongzhen ignored him and continued writing. Wang Chengen called out softly, "Your Majesty... the Regent is here..."

“Oh…” Emperor Chongzhen made such a sound in his throat. The pen in his hand paused slightly, but he quickly continued writing. It seemed that he didn’t care at all who came. No one could compare to what he was doing.

"Your Majesty!" Wang Chengen was very anxious. Zhu Shenzhui was here. Even if you were the emperor, you couldn't just turn a blind eye! After all, it was Zhu Shenzhui who controlled the government. Even the life of Emperor Chongzhen was in his hands. If he angered Zhu Shenzhui, maybe Zhu Shenzhui wouldn't do anything to Emperor Chongzhen, but he, a servant, would be implicated. If he chopped off his head in anger, wouldn't it be unfair?
"I know. Come on, wait!" Emperor Chongzhen said lightly, with a tone of disapproval in his words. Hearing him say this, Wang Chengen's face became even uglier. Just as he was about to persuade him again, Zhu Shenzhui spoke first.

"Your Majesty is in a very good mood. I wonder what you are writing. Can you let me take a look? I will also appreciate your writing style."

Emperor Chongzhen did not say anything and continued to write. After he finished his last stroke, he threw the pen aside and then looked up at Zhu Shenzhui.

"What I wrote is Yue Wumu's Man Jiang Hong. Would you like to take a look at it, Regent?"

(End of this chapter)