Ming Jiajing: Starting from Immortality

Chapter 99: Drink from the golden cup and show no mercy!
The two doors of the mansion were slowly pushed open from the inside.

A group of grim-looking people staggered out.

The leader was none other than Duke of Wei, Xu Pengju. His hair had turned completely white, and he was barefoot with his hair loose, like a walking corpse.

Behind him were his eldest son Xu Bangrui and the descendants and relatives of the Duke of Wei.

The Duke of Wei knelt on the ground, trembling with fear and begging for forgiveness, and his descendants and relatives followed him.

For a moment, drums roared and trumpets blew.

The pacification officer of the Nanjing Pacification Office stepped forward, passed by Duke Wei, and walked to Xu Bangrui, extending his hand to help him up, "Young Master, please stand up. The Ming Dynasty would like to thank you."

The secret letter informing the Nanjing Pacification Office of Duke Wei's actions was delivered by Xu Bangrui, the eldest son of Duke Wei's mansion.

Xu Bangrui played an indispensable role in the Nanjing Pacification Office's perfect solution to the Weiguo Mansion and preventing the Southern Zhili from being turned upside down.

Upon hearing this, Duke Wei's body shook violently. He turned to look at his eldest son, countless emotions flooding his heart. He opened his mouth, but no sound came out.

The betrayal of my own son!

The descendants and family members of the Duke of Wei realized that they were betrayed, and they knelt down and loudly rebuked the people standing.

Especially the youngest son of Duke Wei, Xu Bangning, who was also born to a concubine, scolded his half-brother harshly.

The words were so vicious that even the pacification envoy could not bear to listen to them anymore. He spread out his wide sleeves and slapped Xu Bangning in the face. Several of his teeth were knocked out and his mouth was shut.

Xu Bangrui looked at his father who suddenly lost his voice, and then looked at his gloomy and vicious brother. He no longer felt guilty and said, "For the country and the family, this is what we should do."

This sentence.

The pacification envoy understood.

Duke Wei also understood.

Duke Wei's wife, Zhang, died early and had no children.

According to the system of the Ming Dynasty, the eldest son Xu Bangrui should inherit the title.

However, the Duke of Wei liked his concubine Zheng's son Xu Bangning, so he asked Yan Shifan, the son of Yan Song, the then Prime Minister, to confer the title of Lady Zheng as the Duke of Wei's wife and to send Xu Bangning to the Ministry of War to learn strategy.

Fortunately, the then Minister of War Liu Cai warned that the eldest son should be the heir, so the Duke of Wei sent both of his sons to the Ministry of War to study.

But later, the Duke of Wei was still determined to depose the eldest son and enthrone the youngest son. He also made friends with Liu Shiyan, the Earl of Chengyi, and gave him gold, silver and jewelry. He discussed with him the matter of deposing the eldest son and enthrone the youngest son. Liu Shiyan wrote a secret letter to Jiang Bao, the chief academician of the Ministry of Rites, saying that Xu Bangning should inherit the title, but Jiang Bao was hesitant.

At that time, Deputy Envoy Feng Qian made public the collusion between Duke Wei and Marquis Chengyi, and also implicated Jiang Bao. After all, Jiang Bao had not accepted bribes, so he was shocked and immediately submitted a petition to evade punishment.

In the end, the Duke of Wei was fined one month's salary and Zheng was deprived of her status as the wife of the Duke of Wei.

Although the succession was decided under the pressure of the emperor and the court, the Duke of Wei was still troubled by the desire to depose the eldest son and enthrone the youngest son.

Xu Bangrui, the eldest son of a concubine, was like a servant in the mansion of Duke Wei. Duke Wei, Zheng, and Xu Bangning ordered Xu Bangrui around, and occasionally even beat and scolded him.

If parents are not kind, how can children serve them wholeheartedly?

Xu Bangrui, who realized that he might not be able to inherit the title of Duke of Wei, accidentally heard about the conspiracy between Duke Wei and Zheng during their love affair. Whether for self-protection or other reasons, he notified the Nanjing Pacification Office.

Deposing the eldest and enthroning the youngest is the way to chaos.

Wan Fang was guilty, and the crime was committed by Duke Wei, not Xu Bangrui. Xu Bangrui was asked to step aside by the pacification envoy, and then, facing Duke Wei and his descendants and family members, he announced: "Imperial edict: Duke Wei is requested to come to the capital immediately, without delay!"

Apart from the unconventional method of 800 li express, at present, the fastest way for people to travel by water is by boat. Therefore, it is said: "I left Baidi in the morning among the colorful clouds and returned to Jiangling a thousand miles away in one day."

By traveling along the canal, one can travel at least 150 miles in a day and night.

Shuntian and Yingtian are only 1,800 miles apart. Under the escort of the Embroidered Uniform Guards, the Duke of Wei boarded a fast ship heading north to Beijing. After twelve days and nights, he would surely arrive in the city.

But the matter of the Nanjing Pacifier was not over yet. The emperor ordered not only the Duke of Wei but all the dukes of the Ming Dynasty to come to Beijing.

Since Emperor Taizu Gao ascended the throne, in the two hundred years of the Ming Dynasty, only four emperors held the ceremony of conferring the title of Duke.

Among them, Emperor Taizu Gaodi held it five times, in the third, eleventh, thirteenth, seventeenth and twenty-first years of Hongwu.

After Emperor Chengzu Wen ascended the throne after the Jingnan Rebellion, it was held three times, in the 35th year of Hongwu (also known as the 4th year of Jianwen), the 2nd year of Yongle, and the 6th year of Yongle.

Emperor Yingzong held it once in the first year of Tianshun after the restoration of Nangong, and Emperor Xianzong held it once in the fifteenth year of Chenghua.

There were 19 people who were granted the title of Duke during their lifetime, including Chang Yuchun, Li Shanchang, Xu Da, Chang Mao, Li Wenzhong, Feng Sheng, Deng Yu, Tang He, Fu Youde, Lan Yu, Deng Zhen, Chang Sheng, Qiu Fu, Zhu Neng, Xu Jingchang, Mu Sheng, Zhang Fu, Shi Heng, and Zhu Yong.

As time went by, many dukes and their descendants failed to inherit the title of duke or lost their titles. Up to this dynasty, there are five duke's mansions that have existed since the Ming Dynasty.

The Duke of Wei's Mansion of Xu Da's direct line, the Duke of Ding's Mansion of Xu Jingchang's branch line, the Duke of Cheng's Mansion of Zhu Neng, the Duke of Qian's Mansion of Mu Sheng, and the Duke of Ying's Mansion of Zhang Fu.

The three duke mansions, namely the Dingguo Mansion, the Chengguo Mansion and the Yingguo Mansion, all went to Shuntian with Emperor Chengzu Wen. The Dingguo and Chengguo mansions were in Daxing County, and the Yingguo Mansion was in Wanping County, so there was no need for the Jinyiwei to notify them.

The Duke of Wei's mansion is in Nanjing, and the Embroidered Uniform Guards just sent him away.

The most difficult one is the Mansion of the Duke of Qian.

For generations, they have guarded the Ming Dynasty and controlled the Yunnan and Guizhou regions.

The task of notifying the Duke of Qian to come to Beijing for an audience with the emperor fell on the shoulders of the Nanjing Pacification Office.

Perhaps it is true that “there is no coincidence in the world”!
Just when the pacification envoy was preparing to dispatch his cavalry to Yunnan and Guizhou in an urgent journey of 800 miles, he received news that the Duke of Qian had come to Nanjing.

The reason is predestined, it is for my son’s medical treatment.

The pacification envoy then remembered that the recent generations of Duke of Qian seemed to have been in poor health.

The fifth Duke of Qian, Mu Shaoxun, inherited the title in the 16th year of Zhengde and died in the 15th year of Jiajing.

His son, Mu Chaofu, the sixth Duke of Qian, inherited the title and died in the 26th year of Jiajing.

His son, the seventh Duke of Qian, Mu Rong, inherited the title and died in the 28th year of Jiajing.

His younger brother, Mu Gong, the eighth Duke of Qian, inherited the title but died suddenly soon after.

Then it was the turn of the current Duke of Qian, Mu Chaobi, the uncle of the seventh and eighth Dukes of Qian, to inherit the title, and the title remains in place to this day.

In the forty years since the Emperor ascended the throne, he has seen the passing of four generations of Dukes of Qian. Judging from this, the fifth generation will soon be here.

The Emperor summoned the dukes to the capital, and he was bound to use Duke Wei's rebellion as an excuse to hold the entire noble group accountable.

According to the Nanjing Pacification Office, the current Duke of Qian does not seem to be an honest person.

He beat his biological mother, raped his widowed sister-in-law, seized his cousin's land, hid criminals, and even sent troops to the capital to spy on the court.

The pacification envoy recalled the intelligence reports from Yunnan and Guizhou and said in a cold voice: "Come here, invite the Duke of Qian to the capital!"

(End of this chapter)