Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 51 The Old Slave Is Guilty
Zhu Houzhao opened the door and walked out, holding an umbrella in his hand, standing in the night, and only ordered: "Gao Feng, open the door!"

Gao Feng was still a little scared and glanced at Zhu Houzhao, but finally she obeyed Zhu Houzhao's order and opened the palace gate.

As the palace gate opened, Guo Rong, who was standing outside the gate, became even more nervous, fearing that someone would rush into the palace and assassinate His Majesty.

Zhu Houzhao, however, was already standing behind Guo Rong, looking at Lu He, the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department and the commander of the Eastern Depot: "Lu He! Who gave your dog the guts to yell in front of me?"

Lu He smiled slightly and took three steps back. At this time, Wang Yue, the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department, who was wearing a red cloak, stood up and said, "Your Majesty, please calm down! This old servant ordered me to do this. Today, I have brought a group of eunuchs to see Your Majesty. I only ask Your Majesty to kill Liu Jin and other eunuchs! To rectify the government!"

Zhu Houzhao looked up. Although he still couldn't see the faces of Wang Yue and others under the rain, he could see that there were no less than a hundred eunuchs behind him, some of whom were holding weapons.

The inner court of the Ming Dynasty was a huge group, with twenty-four yamen alone and no less than ten thousand eunuchs. Now Zhu Houzhao could see that Wang Yue was indeed powerful in the inner court, and there were no less than a hundred people willing to follow him to force abdication.

"As expected of you, you are the ancestor! You are quite majestic! And you dare to force me!"

Zhu Houzhao laughed.

"I dare not! I am only pleading for the people! As long as the emperor kills Liu Jin and other eunuchs, the emperor will still be the emperor!"

Wang Yue hurriedly bowed to Zhu Houzhao and replied.

"What if I don't comply?" Zhu Houzhao stood in front of Wang Yue, the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department, with a cold tone.

"Your Majesty, have you heard the footsteps outside? I dare not deceive you. If you do not kill Liu Jin and other thieves, the soldiers led by Zhang Zhao will enter the palace and kill Liu Jin, Zhang Yong, Gu Dayong, Ma Yongcheng and other eunuchs for you!
And you, Your Majesty, will also be killed suddenly because of the riot of officers and soldiers!"

Wang Yue replied with a hint of threat in his tone.

Gu Dayong and Ma Yongcheng became a little panicked. They were really afraid that Zhu Houzhao would be forced to kill them.

Zhu Houzhao laughed out of anger: "As expected, you are the ancestor, you are really so powerful. Let me ask you, did you treat Emperor Xiaozong in the same way?"

"I dare not deceive the emperor. I was unaware that three days before Emperor Xiaozong passed away, I had already been ordered to go to Wanshou Temple to fulfill my vow!"

Wang Yue replied.

Zhu Houzhao had not killed Wang Yue and other high-ranking eunuchs directly, because he wanted to keep them alive for interrogation about the cause of Emperor Xiaozong's death. However, Zhu Houzhao did not expect Wang Yue to clear himself so well. However, he did not say anything more, but turned around and left: "Close the door!"

"Wait! Your Majesty, I advise you to judge the situation. Liu Jin and other eunuchs are just dogs around you. What's the harm in killing them?"

Lu He shouted at this time.

"You are all eunuchs, why do you look down on each other? Even if they are dogs, they are still my dogs. At least they are better than you dogs who betrayed your master!"

Zhu Houzhao said this and continued walking into the house.

At this time, Wang Yue, the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department, suddenly yelled, even calling out Zhu Houzhao's name: "Zhu Houzhao! Don't be stubborn! I, Wang Yue, just want to live, and don't want to commit regicide! Do you hear the footsteps outside? Once the officers and soldiers come in, my Ming Dynasty will have to change its king!"

"I just don't believe that the men of the Ming Dynasty would listen to you instead of me!"

Zhu Houzhao said with a smile.

……

At this time, under the cover of night, nearly 100,000 Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers trotted into the palace city from various palace gates like a tide.

For these Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers, they did not know that they played a crucial role at this time. They were just following the orders from above.

They were getting closer and closer to the Cining Palace. Liu Jin, the Minister of War Xu Jin, and Duke of England Zhang Mao were leading the troops and horses in the front, and now they had even passed the Qianqing Gate. However, due to the large number of troops, many officers and soldiers could only stand in the outer court, and many did not even enter the palace.

However, Liu Jin, Minister of War Xu Jin, Duke of England Zhang Mao and other important figures still came to the Cining Palace, and with them was Zhang Zhao who was also under escort.

These officers and soldiers all held torches and swarmed outside the Cining Palace, illuminating the entire exterior of the palace blood red, allowing Zhu Houzhao to clearly see their yellow faces and the face of Wang Yue, the eunuch who held the seal of the Imperial Household Department.

Wang Yue, the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department, laughed at this time. He also saw the appearance of a large number of officers and soldiers, and a smug look appeared on his face.

"Zhu Houzhao! You have no chance now. We can only help you kill Liu Jin and others, but it's a pity that you can't live anymore."

Wang Yue, the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department, laughed sinisterly.

However, Wang Yue, the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department, could see the faces of the officers and soldiers clearly. When he turned around, he saw that the person standing in front of the officers and soldiers was Liu Jin, not Zhang Zhao!
The eunuch Wang Yue, who was in charge of the Imperial Household Department, turned pale in an instant.

"How could it be, how could it be Liu Jin! Where is Zhang Zhao? Where is Zhang Zhao!"

Wang Yue, the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department, muttered to himself, and then shouted loudly.

Liu Jin then ordered his men to throw out Zhang Zhao, who was already tied up, and Zhang Zhao cried and said, "Grandfather, things have changed. It turns out that the emperor has already given them rice!"

Wang Yue, the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department, looked even uglier after hearing this, and couldn't help but look at Zhu Houzhao, wondering when he had issued the rice salary, how could he have issued the rice salary worth 200,000 taels of silver! Didn't the cabinet say that he had less than 50,000 taels of silver in his treasury? Was the cabinet lying to me, or had he already prepared for this step?

After thinking for a while, Wang Yue, the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department, didn't want to say anything more. His knees softened and he knelt down in front of Zhu Houzhao: "This old slave is guilty!"

Lu He, the chief eunuch of Silijian and commander-in-chief of Dongchang, showed confusion and panic on his face and took a few steps back.

This time, it was Zhu Houzhao's turn to laugh.

Zhu Houzhao walked up to Wang Yue and said, "You haven't forgotten that I have appointed Liu Jin as the commander of the regiment camp, right?"

Wang Yue, the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department, did not answer. He certainly did not forget, but he just did not expect Liu Jin to take control of the army so quickly.

"Eunuch Liu Jin greets His Majesty, and is here to lead the imperial guards to protect His Majesty!"

"Eunuch Zhang Yong greets His Majesty, and is here to lead the regiment to protect Him!"

Liu Jin and Zhang Yong both dismounted and prostrated themselves in front of Zhu Houzhao, while other officials and generals came out one after another to pay their respects.

"I, the Minister of War Xu Jin, greet your majesty!"

"Your Majesty, I, Duke of Ying, Zhang Mao, greet you!"

"Your Majesty, I, Zhang Jie, the Marquis of Taiping, greet you!"

"I, Xia Ming, the commander of the Yongzi Camp, greet your majesty!"

……

Zhu Houzhao hurriedly ordered these people to stand up and only looked at Zhang Zhao. He remembered that he had ordered the Jinyiwei to put Zhang Zhao in the Jinyiwei prison. Now that he saw Zhang Zhao really entered the palace with the officers and soldiers as Wang Yue said, he realized that there was indeed a traitor in the Jinyiwei! He thought to himself that it was a good thing that he had asked Liu Jin to go to the Forbidden Army Camp as soon as he took over the Imperial Horse Supervisor.

Thanks to the book friend Liuli Zhazha for the 1000 starting coins reward, and thank you to the book friend Yuexiahongzhuang for the 500 starting coins reward

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(End of this chapter)