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

Chapter 825 Preparation for Ascension
An ordinary woman would never dream of having an emperor in her family. Her younger brother and sister-in-law, who lived with her day and night, were about to become the empress of the Ming Dynasty. As for her two nephews, it was even more so. The eldest, Zhu Minlan, was undoubtedly the crown prince, and the second, Zhu Mincheng, was definitely the prince.

Zhang had been feeling dizzy for the past few days, and she didn't come back to her senses until she was helped to get on the carriage and left Yangtou Mountain. As the group set off, Zhang finally woke up. After waking up, Zhang couldn't help but feel tangled in her heart. Why was she going to the capital? She was different from Xu Jingqiu. She was just Zhu Shenzhui's sister-in-law, a woman from an ordinary family. What could she do in the capital? How would her uncle, who was the emperor, arrange for her? If it really didn't work, why didn't she go to Mongolia? Right! Qiao'er and Wang Hai were in Mongolia. It would be more comfortable for her to live with her daughter and son-in-law than to let her be at a loss.

The group left Yangtou Mountain and headed towards the capital along the official road.

The Queen and the two princes were entering the capital, which was no small matter. Not only did the capital send a team of soldiers to escort them, but the Jinyiwei also sent a pacification envoy to personally lead people to protect them. In addition, Wang Rong, the commander of Shanxi, also sent 500 elite soldiers to escort them. In addition, the battalion of new troops that had been protecting Xu Jingqiu and the others at Yangtou Mountain also set off together, commanded by Li Hu and others to ensure that nothing could go wrong.

The entire team was huge, with more than 2,000 people in total, and the escorting troops were all extremely powerful and guarded tightly along the way. With their strength, let alone a few assassins, even thousands of soldiers might not be able to break through.

When Xu Jingqiu and others were on their way to Beijing, the capital was already making intensive preparations for Zhu Shenzhui's ascension to the throne.

The first major event after Qian Qianyi took over as the Minister of Rites was the enthronement ceremony. In order to organize this ceremony well, Qian Qianyi tried his best to read a lot of information and made a detailed plan for Zhu Shenzhui and the cabinet to refer to.

Qian Qianyi gambled his reputation and everything on Zhu Shenzhu's ascension to the throne. He paid a lot of price to make it happen, and the result made him extremely happy.

Sure enough, his bet was right. Zhu Shenzhui really wanted to go further. He didn't do it before because the time was not right. Now, with the easing of external threats and the basic pacification of internal bandits, the Ming Dynasty is no longer the same as before. Zhu Shenzhui's position has been consolidated and the opportunity to ascend the throne has arrived.

Qian Qianyi took the risk of persuading Wen Tihen to ascend the throne, but the greater the risk, the greater the reward. Before Zhu Shenzhu officially ascended the throne, he became the Minister of Rites. Minister of Rites! The most honorable and highest position among the six ministries. As the Minister of Rites, Qian Qianyi is only half a step away from entering the cabinet. When Zhu Shenzhu officially ascended the throne, maybe he can take advantage of this achievement to go one step further and enter the cabinet, fulfilling what he has always wanted.

Emperor Chongzhen had moved out of the Qianqing Palace. With the departure of Emperor Chongzhen, the Qianqing Palace was cleaned and welcomed its new owner - Regent Prince of Wu Zhu Shenzhui.

Although Zhu Shenzhu had not yet officially ascended the throne, he had already moved into the Qianqing Palace. This practice was completely in line with the etiquette. According to the succession to the throne of the Ming Dynasty, when the previous emperor passed away (abdicated), the crown prince (heir apparent) would first move into the Qianqing Palace to determine the qualifications of the heir, and then officially ascend the throne.

This was the case with the Palace Moving Case, one of the three major cases of that year. Emperor Tianqi and Consort Li lived in the Qianqing Palace. In order to force Consort Li to leave the Qianqing Palace and seize the initiative for Emperor Tianqi to succeed to the throne, the Donglin Party eventually came up with this so-called Palace Moving Case.

Before Emperor Tianqi passed away, Emperor Chongzhen was summoned to the palace and lived in the Qianqing Palace until he ascended the throne. This was a rule that had always existed in the Ming Dynasty. Although Zhu Shenzhu was not a crown prince or a successor, and Emperor Chongzhen did not pass away but abdicated, the principle was the same. There was no problem for Zhu Shenzhu to move from the Wenhua Palace to the Qianqing Palace according to the ancestral system.

In the side hall of the Qianqing Palace, the chief minister, the second chief minister and the cabinet elders were all there. Apart from the cabinet, there were several other people, namely Xu Xiancheng, the Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate and Minister of the Interior, Wang Jinwu, Earl of Ningshan, Wu Weiying, Marquis of Gongshun, Xu Yunzhen, Duke of Dingguo, Zhu Chunchen, Duke of Chengguo, Zhang Shize, Duke of England, Qian Qianyi, Minister of Rites, Zhang Ruitu, Grand Secretary of the Dongge, Yang Sichang, the new Minister of Revenue, and Chen Qiuyu, the new Minister of War.

Among them, Marquis Gongshun Wu Weiying, Duke Dingguo Xu Yunzhen, Duke Chengguo Zhu Chunchen and Duke Yingguo Zhang Shize were all old nobles. Marquis Gongshun was first conferred the title by Emperor Renzong, and the other three were conferred by Emperor Chengzu. They were the leading figures of the nobles in the capital. Except for Duke Wei in Nanjing and Duke Qian in Yunnan, the other four were well-known among the nobles in terms of both title and status.

However, it has been more than two hundred years since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, and there have been many changes among the nobles. Although the four of them have high titles and important positions, they no longer have much real power. In particular, Wu Weiying, Marquis Gongshun, was defeated by Zhu Shencui, which led to the destruction of the entire Beijing camp and eventually resulted in Zhu Shencui directly taking over the capital.

Wu Weiying was a man who could take things easy. After escaping by chance, he returned to the capital and went straight to Zhu Shencui for refuge. Although he had no special abilities and was just a playboy, he was a prominent figure among the nobles after all, and he was also a smart man. So Zhu Shencui took advantage of the situation and accepted him. Although he lost his position as the commander-in-chief of the Beijing camp, he gave him a real job in the Jinyiwei, which was not bad.

As for the other three, except for Zhu Chunchen, the other two were good-for-nothings. They had already ruined the glory of their ancestors. They had no skills or abilities, but were first-rate at cockfighting and dog-playing. Without the titles passed down by their ancestors, they would be useless. But now they had to be used. After all, ascending the throne was not a trivial matter, and the support of the nobles was still needed. With their participation and appearance, ascending the throne could save a lot of trouble.

As for Chen Qiyu, he had just arrived in Beijing. Because of his meritorious service in suppressing the bandits, Zhu Shenzhu decided to recall Chen Qiyu and gave him the position of Minister of War. The former Minister of War, Yang Sichang, was transferred to the position of Minister of Revenue. Yang Sichang was quite capable, and it was not inappropriate for him to be the Minister of War with his talent, but it would be better to be the Minister of Revenue. Moreover, Yang Sichang was a smart man. Now part of the power of the Ministry of Revenue had been assigned to the Imperial Household Department. With his intelligence and talent, Yang Sichang could cooperate well with the Imperial Household Department, which was more appropriate than being in the Ministry of War.

Although Chen Qiyu was the governor of five provinces with considerable power, the so-called governor position in the Ming Dynasty was only a temporary position, not a real position. In terms of official position, Chen Qiyu was the Right Censor-in-Chief, which was only a fourth-rank position.

He was originally the governor of Yansui as the Right Censor-in-Chief. Because of his meritorious service in suppressing bandits, he was valued by Emperor Chongzhen, who granted him the temporary post of governor-general of five provinces to be responsible for suppressing bandits. With the defeat of Zhang Xianzhong, Luo Rucai, Li Zicheng and other bandits, Chen Qiyu's post as governor-general of five provinces was naturally resigned. Because of his meritorious service in suppressing bandits, the court had to reward him. After much deliberation, Yang Sichang took over the Ministry of Revenue, and the post of the Ministry of War was vacant. It was just right for Chen Qiyu to take over as the Minister of War.

The reason why Chen Qiuyu was called here today was not only because he had just been appointed as the Minister of War, but also to give him a chance to participate in major events. Chen Qiuyu himself knew that without Zhu Shenzhui, he would never have been able to become the Minister of War.

Moreover, as a person involved in the incident, Chen Qiuyu knew very well what the situation was like in the local encirclement and suppression of bandits before Zhu Shenzhui became regent. Although the Ming army had won many battles against the bandits at that time, the bandits' power was growing stronger and stronger. Coupled with the local unrest and the shortage of military pay and food, the various Ming troops were exhausted and suffered terribly.

As Zhu Shenzhui took over the government, the situation gradually improved. Especially after Shaanxi was stabilized, the Ming army no longer had any worries in the rear, and they began to strangle the various gangs of bandits, eventually achieving the current glorious result.

All this was based on the fact that Zhu Shenzhu was in power. If Emperor Chongzhen was still in power, Chen Qiuyu would not be able to wipe out the bandits. Instead, he might be defeated and killed when the bandits became too powerful for the Ming army to contain them.

"What do you think of the plan put forward by the Ministry of Rites?" After reading the enthronement process submitted by Qian Qianyi, Zhu Shenzhui smiled and handed it to Wen Tiren who was sitting below him. After Wen Tiren and the others had read it one by one, he asked directly.

Zhu Shenzhui was dazzled by these cumbersome procedures. Although he was a member of the royal family, he was not familiar with them. After all, he was just an ordinary member of the royal family before. How could he know these?
In order to demonstrate his abilities, Qian Qianyi spent a lot of time thinking about this process. Not only was the entire process extremely perfect, he also added a few steps to ensure that Zhu Shenzhui's ascension to the throne was the will of heaven and the wish of the people.

Let alone others, even Wen Tiren had to admire Qian Qianyi's ability after reading these contents. If he were to do this, he would definitely not be as good as Qian Qianyi. Qian Qianyi put a lot of thought into it. Why didn't he see that this old guy would flatter like this before? Now he is the Minister of Rites, and if he goes one step further, he can enter the cabinet. If he enters the cabinet, with his current status in front of Zhu Shenzhui, this old guy will definitely threaten him.

Don't forget that I worked with Yang Sichang to drive Qian Qianyi out of the capital. Now this old guy has made a comeback and is even worse than before. This is not a good thing. No! After the enthronement, I have to contact Yang Sichang privately. I must stop this old guy from entering the cabinet. Otherwise, once he enters the cabinet, it will definitely affect my control of the cabinet. Even if I give this opportunity to Yang Sichang, it is better than Qian Qianyi entering the cabinet!
While thinking this in his mind, Wen Tiren said that Qian Qianyi's process plan was very detailed and he felt there was no problem.

Following Wen Tiren's statement, the others also expressed their approval, believing that the Ministry of Rites' plan was impeccable and could be implemented accordingly.

"Thank you for your hard work, Lord Qian. Since you all have no objection, we will follow Lord Qian's plan. The Ministry of Rites will need to pay more attention to this in the next few days."

"I obey your command. Your Majesty, please rest assured that I will do my best to get this done!" Qian Qianyi's face flushed with excitement and he agreed immediately. At the same time, he glanced at everyone with a proud look, and he felt proud that no one else could do this but him.

(End of this chapter)