Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 41 Your Mother is Not Virtuous
The chief minister of the cabinet, Liu Jian, and others were somewhat surprised. They did not expect Zhu Houzhao to suddenly propose to give the empress dowager a title of honor.

Frankly speaking, the chief minister of the cabinet, Liu Jian, and others had never had a good impression of Empress Dowager Zhang. In the final analysis, it was because they hated the fact that Empress Dowager Zhang doted on her two younger brothers and even Emperor Hongzhi, which led to the resurgence of the power of the nobles and relatives of the emperor, and greatly affected the interests of their civil servants.

Therefore, when Zhu Houzhao mentioned the idea of ​​giving the empress dowager a title, the chief minister of the cabinet, Liu Jian, and others were not very happy about it.

However, on the surface, the cabinet chief Liu Jian could not directly say no, and only said: "Your Majesty is benevolent and filial, and we are very pleased, but the Queen Mother is still suspected of being unvirtuous, and there are rumors that she is jealous, so the emperor has not had many heirs and the six palaces are not complete. Fortunately, Emperor Xiaozong is benevolent and cannot bear to depose the queen and hurt the country, so he has honored her until now. If you rashly give her the title of empress, I am afraid that the people will not accept it!"

"Your Majesty, what the Prime Minister said is very true. Only those who are dignified, virtuous, and have virtues that are appreciated by the world can enjoy the title of honor and the prestigious position of the court. I hope Your Majesty will be cautious about this!"

Li Dongyang, the second assistant of the cabinet, also said.

Then Xie Qian from Sanfu also echoed.

Zhu Houzhao finally understood that these three cabinet ministers did not want to give his mother a title at all. They even directly said that his mother was unvirtuous and jealous. They also blamed Empress Dowager Zhang for the fact that Emperor Hongzhi only had one concubine and one son, which was tantamount to completely denying the deep love between Empress Dowager Zhang and Emperor Hongzhi.

Moreover, he directly said in front of his son that your mother was unvirtuous and jealous, and forced your father to be unable to find a concubine. How arrogant and unscrupulous he is!

Zhu Houzhao had no choice but to ask the Minister of Rites Zhang Sheng: "Zhang Aiqing, you are the Minister of Rites, tell me whether the title of Empress Dowager can be given to her."

Zhang Sheng was very cunning. He did not dare to offend the cabinet or the emperor, so he just said, "Your Majesty, it is not appropriate to add any more for the time being. Your Majesty is still in mourning, and Emperor Xiaozong's tomb has not yet been built. It is too early to discuss this."

When Zhu Houzhao saw that the Minister of Rites Zhang Sheng also said so, he could only sigh helplessly: "Well, you all should leave!"

So the ministers retreated.

After the officials left, Zhu Houzhao ordered, "Liu Jin, bring two porcelain bottles!"

So Liu Jin brought two pieces of blue and white porcelain from the imperial kiln and said, "Your Majesty, I have brought them here."

"Come with me, I want to catch birds in the snow!" Zhu Houzhao said as he took Liu Jin out of the palace.

But as soon as Zhu Houzhao walked out of the palace, he saw Wang Yue, the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department.

Wang Yue, the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department, hurriedly bowed to Zhu Houzhao and said, "Greetings, Your Majesty. Where are you going?"

"Go catch the bird!"

Zhu Houzhao said as he walked away, shouting to Liu Jin behind him, "Hurry up and follow me!"

Liu Jin, holding two porcelain bottles, hurriedly followed.

Upon seeing this, Wang Yue, the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department, just smiled slightly, thinking that the emperor was indeed not doing his job properly.

At one point, Zhu Houzhao brought Liu Jin to the imperial garden. After looking around and seeing that there was no one around, Zhu Houzhao found a secluded place, squatted down, and dug the snow to both sides with his bare hands, regardless of the cold.

Zhu Houzhao gritted his teeth and dug hard. After a while, his hands were frozen red and his nose began to run.

Zhu Houzhao ignored everything and kept digging.

Seeing this, Liu Jin was so frightened that he knelt down holding the two porcelain bottles. He knelt on the snow with a thud and cried, "Your Majesty! I know you feel wronged, but there is no need to abuse yourself. If you are really angry, just hit me and scold me! Please, Your Majesty!"

"Why are you crying? Stand up and look around carefully. Don't let anyone see you!"

Zhu Houzhao scolded Liu Jin. Liu Jin then stood up sobbing and looked around vigilantly.

Zhu Houzhao continued to dig out the snow until he had dug out a large area of ​​space. Then he stood up and patted his frozen hands.

Zhu Houzhao first took a porcelain bottle from Liu Jin's arms and threw it hard onto the freshly scraped blue brick floor.

Then Zhu Houzhao fell again.

"Whoever steals Tai'a will be killed by me!"

Zhu Houzhao shouted loudly, and then ordered Liu Jin: "Clean up all these fragments! I'll wait for you in the Plum Garden!"

Zhu Houzhao went to the Plum Garden as he spoke.

Half an hour later, Zhu Houzhao returned to the Cining Palace with a bright red rose in his hand, as if nothing had happened.

Liu Jin, who was following behind Zhu Houzhao, had swollen eyes, as if he had been beaten.

Zhu Houzhao came to Empress Dowager Zhang and said, "Mother, the plum blossoms in the Imperial Garden are blooming a little early. Perhaps it is because the weather is a little colder than in previous years. They have already bloomed in October. I picked a branch for you to enjoy!"

Empress Dowager Zhang laughed and said, "It's rare that you have such filial piety." Seeing that Zhu Houzhao's hands were red from the cold, she was moved and distressed, and hurriedly held Zhu Houzhao's hands, "Look how you've frozen yourself, aren't you afraid of catching a cold!" As she spoke, Empress Dowager Zhang hurriedly asked someone to bring a warm hand warmer.

Zhu Houzhao just smiled slightly and did not mention the fact that the cabinet was unwilling to give her the title of emperor.

……

It was past noon and although the heavy snow had stopped, the sky became increasingly gloomy. Zhu Houzhao was in no mood to go out and just sat around the stove picking up charcoal.

The north wind was blowing very hard outside the window and came in from the palace gate, making the wooden door creak. Zhu Houzhao stood up and kicked it hard, making the red door clang and close, thus blocking the cold wind.

Seeing this, Liu Jin, Zhang Yong, Gu Dayong and others did not dare to breathe loudly, but just stood obediently in front of Zhu Houzhao.

Zhu Houzhao raised his eyes and glanced at Liu Jin: "Is the Empress Dowager asleep?"

"The female official accompanying the Queen Mother said that she had taken medicine and went to bed," Liu Jin replied.

Zhu Houzhao nodded: "How are the preparations going?"

Liu Jin and the other eight tigers looked at each other, and Gu Dayong stood up first: "Don't worry, Your Majesty, we have prepared everything. It will work when the time comes."

Zhu Houzhao nodded and asked Zhang Yong: "How is the morale of the regiments and imperial guards in the capital now? How many officers are willing to join the Loyalty Society and follow me to kill the enemy? Eliminate the treacherous officials in the court?"

"Ever since the emperor distributed the rice as a stipend, most of the soldiers have been praising him highly and vying to join the Loyalty to the Emperor Society. Now, if the emperor is willing, he can order the troops to go out at any time," Zhang Yong replied.

"Now that the Minister of War is our man, it will be convenient to mobilize troops when the time comes. Now we just need to kill Zhang Zhao from the Imperial Horse Administration. However, I have to be busy with the burial of Emperor Xiaozong in the next few days. You don't have important positions yet, so it's convenient for you to act. You must ensure that nothing unexpected happens in this month! After October 26th, I will draw my sword against these treacherous officials in the court outside the Meridian Gate!"

Zhu Houzhao looked at Liu Jin and others with flaming eyes, clenched his iron fists, and the teacup in his hand shattered with a bang. The broken porcelain pieces directly cut his skin, and blood dripped into the stove, splashing sparks.

Liu Jin and others replied respectfully: "We obey your order!"

(End of this chapter)