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

Chapter 60 Zhang Family

Beijing.

A carriage was driving fast on the street, heading straight for the imperial city, but was stopped at Chengtian Gate on the way.

The imperial guards shouted, "Who dares to trespass into the imperial city?"

The servant driving the car replied arrogantly, "Don't you have eyes, you dog? How dare you stop the carriages of the two Marquises, Shouning and Jianchang?"

The captain of the guards immediately smiled and said, "So the two marquises are in the carriage. However, I have a duty to perform. Please get off the carriage and walk when entering the imperial city."

The curtain on the carriage was lifted, revealing Zhang Heling, Marquis of Shouning, and Zhang Yanling, Marquis of Jianchang, inside the carriage.

"You must be new on duty. I have a sudden leg disease and have difficulty walking. Please get out of the way!" Zhang Yanling said impatiently.

The captain of the guards smiled and said, "Then the two marquises can drive in, and the entourage please wait here."

Zhang Yanling's face immediately darkened. He suddenly snatched the whip from the driver's hand and lashed the captain of the guards, roaring, "I have an important matter to attend to the Queen Mother. Who dares to stop me?"

The imperial guards retreated one after another and actually let Zhang Heling, Zhang Yanling and seven or eight servants pass. They drove without slowing down and did not stop until they reached the Meridian Gate.

There was no way. The three main gates of the Meridian Gate were closed all year round. It was not convenient for them to pass through the side doors because they were riding in a horse-drawn carriage.

Zhang Heling and Zhang Yanling led the servants straight to the Empress Dowager's bedroom. No one dared to stop them along the way. It was not until they reached the door of the bedroom that they put on a submissive look.

Upon seeing Empress Dowager Zhang, Zhang Yanling immediately fell to the ground and cried loudly, "Sister, you have to help my brother! My brother has been bullied!"

Seeing this, Empress Dowager Zhang was also troubled. She frowned and asked, "What trouble have you caused again?"

Zhang Yanling immediately cried out, "It's unfair! Sister, I really didn't get into trouble this time. It was Zhang San from our family. He went to do something for me, but he met some bad guys on the way. He fought back but ended up killing two people by accident. Then the Shuntian prefect arrested Zhang San and put him in jail without any reason."

"Sister! Zhang San is a loyal servant of our Zhang family! He has followed my brother for so many years. Even if he has no merits, he has worked hard! We can't just watch him being arrested!" Zhang Heling also spoke up.

"Okay, okay, okay! It's just a small matter. Take my token to Shuntian Prefecture and ask the governor of Shuntian Prefecture to release him!" said Empress Dowager Zhang.

Zhang Heling hesitated for a moment and then said, "Actually, Zhang San has already come out."

"Come out? Then why did you come to see me?" Empress Dowager Zhang said in surprise.

"How could I bear to see my loyal servant suffer in prison? In a fit of rage, I took people and snatched Zhang San out of prison," Zhang Yanling continued.

Empress Dowager Zhang felt her headache getting worse. Robbing a prisoner in broad daylight, wasn't that a slap in the face of the imperial court?
"Then why are you saying you were bullied? No one is bullying you!"

"It's those court officials. I heard that many people are preparing to write memorials to impeach me. Isn't this bullying me? My brother-in-law has only passed away for a few years, and some people dare to impeach me. These outsiders are increasingly looking down on our Zhang family. This time they are targeting me, and next time they may force a palace and target my sister?" Zhang Yanling cried.

These words touched Empress Dowager Zhang's heart. She looked at her brother in front of her, who was still as chubby as he was when he was a child, and couldn't help but soften her heart a little.

"Alright, alright, I'll take care of it for you, just go back without worry, no one dares to do anything to you!"

Zhang Heling and Zhang Yanling brothers sat for a while and then left. Empress Dowager Zhang sat there thinking about how to settle this matter. She knew that the key to solving this matter was her son Zhu Houzhao.

She walked to the table, picked up a pen and wrote a few lines on the paper, but after looking at it, she felt that the wording was a bit too soft. She was the queen mother, and she really couldn't lower herself to beg her son.

Then she changed a piece of paper and wrote a few more lines, but she was still not satisfied. The wording was too harsh and she was afraid that her son Zhu Houzhao would not buy it.

In this way, Empress Dowager Zhang wrote on several sheets of paper before she came up with a wording that she thought was more appropriate, and handed it to the palace servant, asking him to deliver it to the Leopard Room.

The reason why Empress Dowager Zhang was so twisted was that her relationship with Zhu Houzhao was now very distant.

Especially after Zhu Houzhao moved into the Leopard House a year ago, they met less and less frequently.

It was not until the evening that the palace maid who had gone to deliver the letter returned, and the news she brought back made Empress Dowager Zhang very angry.

The letter was delivered, but no news came out for three hours.

Empress Dowager Zhang knew that Zhu Houzhao did this on purpose, and it seemed that Zhu Houzhao really wanted to punish her brother.

She couldn't help but feel a little anxious, but she couldn't think of any good solution for a while.

"Tomorrow there will be a grand court meeting and the emperor will come to the palace. You must keep a close eye on the emperor's whereabouts." Empress Dowager Zhang ordered. She was ready to stop Zhu Houzhao and talk to him about this in person.

The next day, the grand court meeting ended.

A thin young man with a mustache and wearing a bright yellow dragon robe was resting at the back of the hall. This was Zhu Houzhao, the Zhengde Emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

A eunuch in a dragon robe came in holding a pile of memorials, "Your Majesty, they are all impeaching the two uncles of the emperor."

"I have long disliked these two uncles. I will wait a few days. When the public outcry is strong, I will issue an order to investigate and punish these two good uncles of mine!" Zhu Houzhao said with a sneer.

The eunuch in the dragon robe put down the memorial in his hand, hesitated for a moment and said, "What about the Queen Mother?"

"Don't worry about her. The Zhang family is too arrogant. Not to mention that she just handed over a note, even if she begged me in front of me, I would still do this to the end. Besides, it's impossible for her to come to me for begging." Zhu Houzhao said with a stern face.

"Your Majesty, please be careful with your words. You have to consider the relationship between you and the Empress Dowager," the eunuch in the dragon robe said earnestly.

"Okay, Zhang Yong, stop talking. It's tiring enough to deal with those big turbans in the court. I want to relax. Is there anything new recently?" Zhu Houzhao began to change the subject.

"Of course there were. Liu Bo, the eunuch who was in charge of the Nanjing garrison, presented a troupe of actors to us. He said that the troupe's new play was extremely popular in Jiangnan. The style of the music was unprecedented and the plot was so touching that it was hard to find in ancient and modern times. It made people feel very sad after watching it. Tickets were sold at ten taels each and there was still no demand. The songs in the play were also sung by thousands of people in Jiangnan," Zhang Yong said respectfully.

"Liu Bo! He is loyal and still cares about me even in the prosperous city of Nanjing. But he exaggerates too much about this new play! He must be exaggerating." Zhu Houzhao sneered.

"Your Majesty is right. I will write a letter to reprimand him right away! Then shall we go back to the Leopard House?"

"Forget it. I don't want to disappoint Liu Bo's loyalty. It's okay to go and have a look. I haven't watched a Jiangnan drama for a long time."

(End of this chapter)