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

Chapter 75: Confused Zhu Houxuan

"Summon King Jing to Beijing?" Zhu Houzhao said in surprise.

To be honest, although Zhu Houzhao admired Zhu Houxuan for a series of things he did, he had never thought of summoning Prince Jing to the capital.

To be precise, it’s not that I don’t want to, but I’m restricted by my fixed mindset.

In the early Ming Dynasty, it was very common for princes to come to Beijing, and the princes liked to go to the capital whether they had something to do or not.

The Imperial Ming Ancestor Instructions stipulates that the princes can pay homage every year: "All princes who pay homage every year are not allowed to come at the same time. One prince must come to pay homage and return to the country safely, and inform the other princes before he is allowed to pay homage. All princes, regardless of age, must come first from the eldest to the youngest. After the eldest prince has finished paying homage, the concubines can come, and they should also come in order of age and rank. This cycle should be repeated without losing order."

After the Jingnan Campaign, with the promulgation of a series of policies to reduce the power of the kings, the political and military power of the kings plummeted. This institutionalized audience with the kings was contrary to Zhu Di's political intention to weaken the power of the kings. Therefore, after the 15th year of Yongle, the audience with the kings became increasingly rare.

After Xuanzong ascended the throne, imperial edicts prohibiting the kings from entering the court were issued one after another. During the Xuande period, only the Crown Prince of Zhao and the Prince of Anyang entered the court to pay homage.

After the institutional Hajj was banned, even the kings were banned from going to Beijing to attend funerals. However, this was against human nature, especially in the social environment of the Ming Dynasty which particularly advocated filial piety.

Then the cool move came. Starting from Renzong, all the emperors, empresses and empress dowagers’ last wills would include this sentence: "Princes of the royal family have heavy responsibilities as vassal states and must guard their fiefdoms with caution."

Even if you are a legitimate prince, you are not allowed to attend the funeral.

Therefore, if a prince of the Ming Dynasty could not inherit the throne, then from the moment he was conferred the title of prince and left the capital, he would never be able to return to the place where he was born and grew up, and he would be separated from his biological parents in the palace forever. Even if he received the news of his biological parents' death, he could only set up a mourning hall in his own palace, burn some paper, and cry a few times.

Therefore, if the princes wanted to go to the capital, they could only be summoned by the emperor, but how could the emperor be sincere? The emperor would not summon the princes to the capital.

The exception was Baozong. When Baozong went to study in Wala and during the Jingtai period, Prince Xiang Zhu Zhanji publicly supported him several times. So after Baozong was restored to the throne, he treated his uncle very well. He summoned his uncle to the capital several times and allowed him to go out of the city for fun every year.

Besides, being summoned to the capital by the emperor was not a good thing. If a prince committed a crime, he would be summoned to the capital for trial, because the prince had great legal privileges, and local officials had no right to try him. For example, the three generations of Jing Wang enjoyed this treatment.

It was precisely because of the above background that Zhu Houzhao never thought of summoning Prince Jing to come to Beijing, but he actually had the power to do so.

After Empress Dowager Zhang mentioned that, Zhu Houzhao suddenly felt that this was a very good idea. He was really curious about Zhu Houxuan.

But he was also very curious about why Queen Mother Zhang made this request.

"I wonder why the Queen Mother summoned the King of Jing to the capital?"

Empress Dowager Zhang looked embarrassed, but still replied: "I like the Jing Opera written by the King of Jing very much. A few days ago, I had a chat with the troupe owner Zheng who played Zhu Bajie, and learned that the King of Jing was also writing a new Jing Opera, so I was eager to try it..."

"New Jing Opera? Is this true?" Zhu Houzhao's interest was also aroused.

"The troupe leader Zheng said that the new Jing opera is called The Legend of White Snake. When they set out from Qizhou two months ago, the King of Jing had already written one third of the play." Empress Dowager Zhang looked a little eager.

"Legend of the White Snake? That name doesn't sound interesting!" Zhu Houzhao said with some disappointment. "Don't just look at the name. I heard from troupe leader Zheng that this new play is also a fairy play. It tells the story of a thousand-year-old snake demon and a mortal falling in love. The snake demon is a white snake, so it's called the White Snake." Empress Dowager Zhang explained hurriedly.

Thousand-year-old snake demon? A human and a demon in love? Zhu Houzhao immediately became alert. "Why didn't you tell me earlier? I won't be sleepy if you tell me this."

"Then mother, you can also issue an imperial decree to ask the Prince of Jing's Mansion to send another troupe that has rehearsed a new play to Beijing. There has been no precedent of a prince coming to Beijing in recent decades in our dynasty." Zhu Houzhao wanted to deliberately make things difficult for Empress Dowager Zhang.

"The Jingwang Mansion has already sent the best musicians and actors from the Dianyue Institute to the capital. The remaining personnel are of varying quality, which may be a waste of the new play written by the Jingwang."

"And I heard from the troupe leader Zheng that the Prince of Jing only stays in the Music Bureau for one hour a day. At this rate, I don't know when the new play will be finished. So why not summon the Prince of Jing to Beijing to write the new play, let him live in the Princes' Hall, and spend four hours a day writing the new play. Wouldn't the new play be finished quickly? And after it's finished, let the inner court bell and drum department rehearse it directly, and we will be able to see the new play soon."

Zhu Houzhao felt a little overwhelmed. The King of Jing was also a prince of the Ming Dynasty. How could he be ordered around like this?
However, the idea of ​​letting Prince Jing come to Beijing made him very excited.

"Since my mother has said so much, then the emperor will issue an edict to summon Prince Jing to the capital. No prince has visited the capital for decades. It is time for these royal relatives to visit and show our royal friendship." Zhu Houzhao agreed with a smile.

"Your Highness is absolutely right." Empress Dowager Zhang also laughed. She knew that her reasons were not acceptable, so using Zhu Houzhao as an excuse was also a good choice.

The next day, Zhu Houzhao issued an edict to send people to Qizhou City to investigate the matter of Shi Lu, the left chief secretary of the Prince of Jing's palace, accusing the Prince of Jing.

There is also a corresponding system for investigating the princes. Generally, an eunuch, a civil servant and a member of the royal family are sent.

Zhu Houzhao directly appointed Zhang Yong as the internal envoy for this investigation, which set the tone for the investigation.

With Zhang Yong's rank, he generally shouldn't have done such a thing, but Zhu Houzhao stubbornly made this decision.

Li Dongyang tactfully sent a doctor from the Ministry of Rites.

As for the Ministry of Clan Affairs, they sent Cui Yuan, the imperial consort who had married the second daughter of Emperor Xianzong of the Ming Dynasty, Princess Yongkang.

The three-person investigation team will travel south along the Grand Canal and is expected to reach Qizhou in more than a month.

Even faster than the three-member investigation team were the servants of the nobles' houses. They traveled by land and rode on horseback and reached Qizhou in just over 20 days.

So Zhu Houxun, who had no idea what was happening in the capital, received many envoys from noble families with a confused look on his face.

"My lord, Duke Dingguo, sincerely orders a long iron sword. The deposit of 50,000 taels of silver is on the way and will arrive in Qizhou soon. I hope His Royal Highness the Prince of Jing can agree to my lord's request." said the envoy of Duke Dingguo.

Zhu Houxuan was sitting on the throne in Chengyun Hall, frowning as he flipped through the gift list sent by the envoy. He knew that the Damascus sword he presented must have become famous in the capital, which was why so many nobles sent people to come. However, there was one thing he couldn't figure out.
"Why do Duke Dingguo and other nobles send me so many supplements? I am in my prime, and I don't need so many supplements yet!" Zhu Houxuan finally couldn't help asking.

"Tonics? My master said it's for replenishing the blood of His Royal Highness Prince Jing!"

"Replenish blood?" Zhu Houxuan was even more confused.
(End of this chapter)