I am the prince of the Ming Dynasty, I don't give up

Chapter 108 Don't let King Jing down
Zhu Houxuan was so furious today purely out of righteous indignation, and when he calmed down he did not feel any regret. If the same thing happened again, he would do the same thing.

He thought carefully about the possible situation and made a decision immediately: "Have the people in Jingwang Mansion prepare weapons for fighting. They should prepare some weapons, both sharp and unsharp. It is very likely that they will not be used, but they must be prepared."

Qin Ming quickly wrote down the order and said hesitantly, "Your Majesty, His Majesty probably doesn't know about this yet. Should I inform His Majesty about this?"

Zhu Houxuan paused and said: "Your Majesty should already know, there is no need for us to tell him"

Zhu Houzhao had indeed known about this.

He had just returned to the Qianqing Palace and summoned Li Dongyang to discuss government affairs for a while when a palace servant came to report this matter.

"What?" Zhu Houzhao stood up suddenly, "Prince Jing and my two uncles are fighting?"

"Is Prince Jing okay?" Zhu Houzhao asked anxiously.

"Prince Jing is fine, but the two uncles were beaten badly!" replied the palace servant who reported the news.

"That's good! Well done!" Zhu Houzhao slapped his thigh happily. He had disliked these two uncles for a long time.

The people around were stunned by these words, but they could only complain in their hearts.

However, after being disturbed like this, Zhu Houzhao was not in the mood to discuss state affairs, so he wanted Li Dongyang to go back first.

As a result, Li Dongyang advised: "Your Majesty, state affairs come first. How can you let family affairs delay state affairs?"

Zhu Houzhao had to continue discussing state affairs. He had always had a good relationship with Li Dongyang. As the chief minister of the cabinet, Li Dongyang had helped him share a lot of pressure during this period, so Zhu Houzhao still had to give him face.

After a while, the son-in-law of the emperor, Cui Yuan, asked for a meeting, and Zhu Houzhao hurriedly summoned him. He did not ask the elders to avoid him, but asked Cui Yuan to tell him what had happened.

Cui Yuan did not dare to exaggerate, but just gave a relatively objective account of what happened.

Li Dongyang suddenly asked, "Prince Consort Cui, may I ask who this Qin Yuelan is?"

Cui Yuan quickly introduced Qin Yuelan's situation.

"Where is King Jing now?" Zhu Houzhao asked with concern.

"His Royal Highness Prince Jing carried Qin Yuelan out of the palace and returned to the Palace of Princes." Cui Yuan replied.

Zhu Houzhao frowned, as if he couldn't figure out something.

After listening to this, Li Dongyang sighed and said, "Your Majesty, please don't let the King of Jing down!"

"Why do you say that, sir?" Zhu Houzhao seemed to have thought of something, but still asked.

"When I first heard about this, I thought that His Royal Highness the Prince of Jing was young and impulsive, and did such a wrong thing out of momentary indignation. But after listening to the introduction of Prince Consort Cui, I feel that this matter is quite strange." Li Dongyang said slowly.

"The two uncles were at fault in this matter, but the reaction of His Royal Highness Prince of Jing was a bit too extreme. We all know what kind of person His Royal Highness Prince of Jing is. He is not a confused person. He could have just stepped up to stop it instead of beating the two uncles of the king directly. He made such a big fuss. I'm afraid His Royal Highness Prince of Jing did it on purpose." "You have to know that Qin Yuelan is just a lowly woman," Li Dongyang said meaningfully.

Everyone present understood what Li Dongyang meant. In this era, women of low status were extremely discriminated against and had no human rights. No matter how beautiful they were, they would only be treated as a plaything or an object. Fighting with the emperor's uncle over an object could not possibly have been caused by Zhu Houxuan on impulse.

Zhu Houzhao's face became a little gloomy. He heard the hidden meaning in Li Dongyang's words. He knew that Li Dongyang meant that because he had always refused Zhu Houxun to leave Beijing, Zhu Houxun had resorted to this desperate measure and did such a rebellious thing in order to help him relieve the political pressure.

Cui Yuan became a little anxious when he heard this. He was a rich and idle man who basically did not participate in political affairs. Therefore, he did not know much about Zhu Houxuan's recent request to leave Beijing. He thought that Li Dongyang said this in order to let Zhengde severely punish Zhu Houxuan.

However, he still had a very high favorable impression on Zhu Houxun, and he couldn't bear to see Zhu Houxun being severely punished for this, so he couldn't help but speak out in defense: "The King of Jing is only sixteen years old, and he must be very fond of Qin Yuelan. He made such a mistake because of his anger for beauty. This is all unintentional, how could he do it on purpose?"

Li Dongyang and Zhu Houzhao looked at Cui Yuan in surprise. They knew that he had misunderstood, but they were too lazy to explain it to him.

"If His Royal Highness Prince Jing dotes on Qin Yuelan, would he let her show up in public like this and even go on stage to do those things that an actor does?" Li Dongyang continued.

This is the difference between the concepts of ancient and modern times. Zhu Houxun did not think there was anything wrong with women appearing in public and performing on stage.

"And if His Royal Highness Prince Jing was impulsive, he should have calmed down after beating someone up. But he just carried Qin Yuelan out of the palace and returned to the Princes' Hall. So many people saw it along the way, which shows that he didn't want to suppress the matter at all, and wanted to make it bigger."

"Even if His Royal Highness Prince Jing didn't calm down at the time, he should have calmed down after returning to the Princes' Hall. He has such a good relationship with Your Majesty. If he wanted to suppress this matter, he would definitely send someone to inform Your Majesty to find a way. But has His Royal Highness Prince Jing sent anyone to inform Your Majesty now?"

Li Dongyang's series of analysis left Cui Yuan speechless and unable to utter a word.

If Zhu Houxuan was present, he would be stunned to hear Li Dongyang's analysis. He just went up and beat him on impulse without thinking too much.
Zhu Houzhao's face became increasingly gloomy. Li Dongyang's series of analysis made him more certain that Zhu Houxun did this in order to relieve the political pressure on him.

He thought again of what Zhu Houxuan said before the opening today, and felt even more determined.

"Moreover, the person that His Royal Highness Prince Jing beat must have been chosen after careful consideration. He is the one who will have the least impact on Your Majesty." Li Dongyang looked at Zhu Houzhao with sharp eyes.

Zhu Houzhao immediately understood what he meant. If Zhu Houxun viciously beat someone in the capital, it would definitely cause an uproar in the city against the backdrop of Prince Anhua's rebellion and would lead to more impeachments. As the person who summoned Prince Jing to the capital, he would definitely be under greater pressure.

But it was different if the people being beaten were the two uncles of the emperor. Their reputations had long been infamous. Zhu Houxun's beating of them would only make the people of the capital and the civil and military officials applaud. Except for some corrupt scholars, it would not cause much impeachment, and would not add any pressure to him at all.

However, beating an elder was a big deal in itself under feudal etiquette, enough to make Zhu Houxuan show his determination to leave Beijing, and this step was also important enough for him to use it as an excuse to expel Zhu Houxuan from Beijing.
Brother! Have you considered me to this extent? Zhu Houzhao felt a pang of sadness.

It took him a while to calm down, and he said to Li Dongyang solemnly: "Please teach me, sir!"

Li Dongyang sighed again and said, "The brotherhood between your majesty and His Royal Highness the King of Jing is enviable. I have only one thing to say: Don't let the King of Jing down!"

Zhu Houzhao held his head in pain when he heard this, "Let me think about it, let me think about it again."

Cui Yuan on the side was confused by this conversation: Why do I suddenly not understand what you are talking about?
Sorry to have kept you waiting for a long time. It’s the end of the year now and I suddenly have a lot more things to do at work.

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(End of this chapter)