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

Chapter 526: Developments in the Capital
"Did my royal brother, my royal brother, pass away?" Zhu Houxuan asked in pain, covering his chest.

When Zhu Houxuan heard the news, his first reaction was that Zhu Houzhao had passed away, otherwise he would not have been so anxious to send Prince Heng to the capital.
"Your Highness has misunderstood!" Chen Hong said hurriedly, "I have not received any news of His Majesty's death in the city. I guess His Majesty is not dead."

"How did you guess that?" Zhu Houxuan perked up.

"The Royal Group has deep roots in the capital. We were well-informed when we were in the capital. Many people secretly wrote to Nangong to pass on the news to us." Chen Hong said.

"Prince Heng was sent to the capital because Empress Dowager Zhang issued an imperial decree and took out Prince Heng's golden seal, and asked the eunuch to go to Qingzhou to summon him to the capital. According to the information I received, Empress Dowager Zhang wanted to adopt Prince Heng's two sons as the chief sons on behalf of the late emperor." Chen Hong continued.

"Empress Dowager Zhang? Adopting the prince's son on behalf of the late emperor?" Zhu Houxuan raised his eyebrows and said.

His brain started working quickly.
That's right. Only with the order of Empress Dowager Zhang would Prince Heng dare to leave his fiefdom and come to the capital.

The enemies in the capital would definitely not let Prince Heng become the emperor. After all, Prince Heng Zhu Youju was the younger brother of Emperor Xiaozong Zhu Youtang. If he were to become the emperor, where would Zhu Houzhao stand? Where would the lineage of Emperor Xiaozong Zhu Youtang stand?

Zhu Houzhao is no longer the ridiculous emperor he used to be. Over the years, he has fought wars in the east and the west, expanded the territory by tens of thousands of miles, and his achievements in civil and military affairs are unmatched. His merits are comparable to those of Taizu, and he is an emperor that cannot be ignored among all the emperors of the Ming Dynasty. Letting Prince Heng become the emperor is obviously extremely unfair to Zhu Houzhao, and it will not convince the people and will make him a laughing stock of the world.

This is not in line with etiquette. They have always opposed Zhu Houchun becoming the heir to the throne. One very important reason is that Zhu Houchun's identity is not in line with etiquette, so the selection of the new emperor must be in line with etiquette in order to win the support of the people.

Prince Heng did not have an advantage in this regard. He was only the seventh son of Emperor Xianzong. Emperor Xianzong's fourth son, Prince Xing Zhu Youlang, had been dead for more than ten years, but Emperor Xianzong's sixth son, Prince Yi Zhu Youbing, was still alive. Even if someone with the surname You was needed to become emperor, it should be Prince Yi. However, Prince Yi was in Jianchang Prefecture in Jiangxi, which was too far away and could not arrive in a short time.

In fact, the most legal approach would be to choose one of the great-grandsons of Emperor Xianzong Zhu Jianshen to adopt as his son to Zhu Houzhao, but this proposal had always been rejected by Zhu Houzhao.

Now it is unknown whether Zhu Houzhao is alive or dead, and he may be unable to take care of the affairs of state. In this case, it would be a complete joke to adopt a son for him without Zhu Houzhao showing up, because Zhu Houzhao has not been buried yet. This can only be done after he is buried!

Moreover, Xianzong's great-grandsons were too young. The oldest great-grandson was from the line of Prince Yi, who was fifteen years old this year and obviously could not make it in time.

The grandchildren of King Heng were all too young, all under ten years old. They probably couldn't bear to travel more than 800 miles to the capital in such a cold weather.
So they could only choose the third way and persuade Empress Dowager Zhang to come forward and adopt the two sons of Prince Heng on behalf of Emperor Xiaozong. In this way, Zhu Houzhao would have two more younger brothers in the clan system, and there would be no problem in the order of family relationships.

They even adopted one more son just to be safe. After all, King Heng had six sons.
Zhu Houchun quickly figured out the secret. This coup was not just about getting rid of Zhu Houchun, they also wanted to bring forth an emperor who was popular enough.

As for why Empress Zhang was so easily persuaded, it was because Zhu Houxuan and Zhu Houzhao had a bad relationship with her. Zhu Houxuan did not think about easing the relationship with Empress Zhang, but the best way to ease the relationship with Empress Zhang was to show goodwill to her two disgusting brothers. Zhu Houxuan felt nauseous when he thought of this, and finally nothing happened.
Moreover, Zhu Houzhao had a deep prejudice against Empress Dowager Zhang. If Zhu Houxuan tried to ease the relationship with Empress Dowager Zhang, it would inevitably affect his relationship with Zhu Houzhao. Therefore, Zhu Houxuan almost ignored Empress Dowager Zhang for so many years. So it is reasonable for Empress Dowager Zhang to make such a choice now.

Thinking of this, Zhu Houxuan couldn't help but sigh, and then talked to Chen Hong about how they left the capital.

It turned out that after Chen Hong sent an envoy to Dalian, he found that there were many more people around Nangong who were monitoring Nangong. At that time, he made up his mind to pack up his things, organize people, burn confidential documents, and prepare to evacuate.
On the third day after the envoys were sent, the guards blocked the Nan Palace and did not allow anyone to enter or leave.

This made Chen Hong start to evacuate directly. They evacuated through the secret passage of Nangong, which led directly to the outside of the city.
As for why a secret passage was built in such an important place as the capital, it was because the capital had been engaged in urban construction in the past few years, building roads, sewers, water pipes, etc. It was also a very simple thing to build a secret passage leading to the outside of the city while building sewers.
This secret passage was even built to be quite wide, large enough for carriages to pass through and people to walk upright.

After leaving the city, Chen Hong did not dare to run directly to Tangshan in the east. Instead, he divided the people from Nangong into several groups. They first took the train westward, then southward, and then eastward. After making a circle, they headed north to Tangshan.

Because Chen Hong analyzed that Zhu Houxuan would definitely stop in Tangshan after returning from Dalian.

After listening to Chen Hong's story, Zhu Houxuan felt quite relieved. Chen Hong handled this matter flawlessly and comprehensively, and he was worthy of being his best student.

But then Zhu Houxuan discovered something different from Chen Hong's story.
"Prince Heng entered the capital on the day you evacuated the capital?" Zhu Houxuan asked.

"Yes!" Chen Hong replied.

"The timing is not right," Zhu Houxuan said thoughtfully.

"It's not quite right." Chen Hong also thought of it.

"The capital is only 800 miles away from Qingzhou. It can be reached in one day by express train via the post station. Even if the weather is bad now, it can still be reached in two days. You sent an envoy to Dalian on the fifth day after you found out that Your Majesty fell into the water, but Prince Heng arrived in the capital on the third day after you sent the envoy. This means that they sent an envoy to Qingzhou on the fourth day after Your Majesty fell into the water. This time is a bit too late, and their decision seems to be very hesitant." Zhu Houxuan said softly.

Chen Hong nodded silently after listening.
Zhu Houxuan shook his head. It seemed meaningless to say this now. After all, he was at a huge disadvantage.
At this time, someone came in to report on the mobilization of militias in various factories.
After listening to the report, Zhu Houxuan said: "Let the militia directly enter the various defense points and be careful of the Guards attacking the Tangshan Industrial Zone!"

The man immediately took the order and left.
Chen Hong looked at the man's departing figure and suddenly said, "Your Highness, you don't have to worry too much about the guards attacking."

(End of this chapter)