Ming: I am fake, walking on thin ice

Chapter 101: Your Majesty arrived, and King Zhou died on the same day?

Kaifeng government office.

In the back hall, the prefect Chen Shou and the co-prefect Zhao Jing were drinking tea. Zhao Jing placed the teacup on the table and said, "Sir, there are no victims in Kaifeng City. Everything has been properly arranged. Your Majesty, when you come, you will see only the prosperous scene of Kaifeng."

Chen Shou nodded slowly, but his brows were furrowed, as if he was worried: "There is a letter from the capital. Although the Queen Mother is no longer in charge of government, we were all promoted by the Queen Mother and should be loyal to her."

Zhao Jing nodded affirmatively, but with a puzzled look on his face: "Sir, the Marquis of Huichang has left, and the Queen Mother is now behind the scenes. Who is leading the capital now?"

"King Qing!" Chen Shou said in a deep voice, "The Queen Mother personally appointed King Qing and asked us to obey him from now on."

"It's actually him." Zhao Jing was quite surprised when he heard that.

Chen Shou's eyes flashed with brilliance, and he took out a letter and handed it to Zhao Jing, saying, "This is a private letter from Prince Qing to me. If we follow what Prince Qing said, then our future will be bright. He is more generous than the Queen Mother, hahahaha."

Zhao Jing received the letter, read it hastily, and his face suddenly became overjoyed: "Okay, then we will all obey the orders of King Qing from now on."

Chen Shou took the letter back and placed it in front of the candle. In an instant, the letter caught fire and turned into ashes in an instant. Zhao Jing asked in confusion, "Sir, what is the meaning of this?"

"It is better to be cautious." Chen Shou said with a smile, "Old Zhao, you and I have worked together for many years, so I naturally trust you. Only you and I know about this matter, and there is no need to inform the officials below. They just need to follow our instructions."

Zhao Jing bowed gratefully and said, "I understand."

Chen Shou smiled slightly, signaled to continue drinking tea, and said: "The dragon boat will arrive tomorrow, we will go to the dock to welcome His Majesty in person."

……

The next day.

Officials of all ranks in Kaifeng gathered at the dock, looking at the dragon boat approaching the shore, ready to welcome the emperor. But after the dragon boat approached the shore, half an hour passed, and no one got off.

The officials' feet were sore from standing so long. The prefect Chen Shou, who was at the front, hummed, "Are you trying to intimidate us?"

Zhao Jing, who was standing by, looked up at the dragon boat and asked, "Should we go up to greet them?"

Chen Shou shook his head: "Without the Emperor's order, we cannot board the dragon boat. Wait, the Emperor is young and his methods are immature. Haha, but we cannot lose our manners."

After a while, a eunuch finally came down from the dragon boat. He came to the crowd and said, "My Lords, there is no need to wait. Your Majesty has learned that the King of Zhou is seriously ill and has gone to the King's Palace to visit him."

Everyone was shocked. When did Your Majesty go to Prince Zhou’s Palace?

At this moment, in the Prince Zhou's Palace.

Prince Zhou Zhu Youjue and everyone in the palace knelt to welcome the arrival of His Majesty the Emperor. Zhu Qizhen, who was dressed in casual clothes, hurried forward, helped Prince Zhou up, and said, "Uncle, please get up quickly. I heard that you were seriously ill and I was very worried all the way. As soon as I arrived in Kaifeng, I came to visit you immediately."

"Your Majesty still cares so much about your old minister." King Zhou looked pale, sweating profusely, and looked very weak.

"Hurry, help Uncle Wang onto the couch." Zhu Qizhen waved his hand.

He could see that the King of Zhou was indeed seriously ill. After the maids helped the King of Zhou to lie down on the couch, Zhu Qizhen walked to the couch and said with concern: "Uncle Wang, I will ask the imperial physician to come and see you later."

King Zhou panted for a moment, shook his head, and said, "No need. I know my illness well, and I'm afraid I won't live for many days. I'm already satisfied to see Your Majesty one more time before I die."

"Don't say that, Uncle Wang, your illness can definitely be cured." Zhu Qizhen comforted.

"Your Majesty, please call me uncle." Prince Zhou grabbed Zhu Qizhen's hand and said, "Then I have a few words to tell you before I die."

Zhu Qizhen nodded with a sad face: "Uncle Wang, you go ahead."

The King of Zhou entrusted his descendants with this. He knew that His Majesty was cracking down on land annexation, but he hoped that the land of the King of Zhou's palace would not be affected.

"Uncle Wang, don't worry." Zhu Qizhen responded, "Some of the land in the palace was awarded by the Great Ancestor, and some was awarded by the Emperor Taizong, Emperor Renzong, and Emperor Xuanzong. It should belong to the Zhou Palace."

After hearing this, King Zhou felt as if a huge stone had been lifted off his chest and his expression became relaxed.

Zhu Qizhen looked at him, sighed and said, "Uncle, I have something to ask you for help. According to the ancestral system, Uncle, you... after you die, you need concubines to be buried with you. I cannot bear it, but concubines and below do not have to die with you."

King Zhou listened and nodded repeatedly: "After the death of this old minister, the funeral will be simple, and there is no need to bury him alive with the dead."

Zhu Qizhen patted his shoulder gently and nodded. He had long detested the bad custom of burying people alive with their dead, and now he was trying to abolish this evil custom, starting with Zhou Wang Zhu Youju.

……

The emperor came to Kaifeng and stayed at the Prince Zhou's Palace.

Officials at all levels in Kaifeng, as well as the common people, all knew the news. The officials headed by the prefect Chen Shou wanted to go to the palace to pay homage to the emperor, but were rejected.

In the back garden of the palace, Zhu Qizhen, Yang Guifang and Zhang Lun were sitting around a table reading a pile of documents. After reading a few of them, Zhu Qizhen's face became increasingly grim, and he snorted, "The common people in Kaifeng have less than half of their arable land, but they have to pay the taxes of the entire Kaifeng. The Zhou Palace occupies almost three floors, and the gentry and bureaucrats occupy three floors, and they don't have to pay any taxes."

Yang Guifang frowned and said, "What's strange is that the imperial court has exempted Henan from taxes in recent years. So where did all the taxes and money paid by the people go?" Bang!
Zhu Qizhen threw the document on the table and said to Zhang Lun, "Ding Xiu has arrived on the dragon boat, right? Go and tell him to secretly investigate all officials in Kaifeng."

"Yes." Zhang Lun hurried away.

Zhu Qizhen sat down again and said in a deep voice, "I am also curious, where did the money and grain go? Also, does the Queen Mother know about these things? Officials like Chen Shou were all appointed by her."

"The Queen Mother is such a smart person." Yang Guifang smiled.

He didn't say much, but this sentence was enough to make Zhu Qizhen understand. The Queen Mother must have known the following trick, but she didn't pursue it. What secrets were hidden in it?
"Your Majesty... Your Majesty..." Prince Zhu Zihou of Zhou came running over, "Your Majesty, my father... He passed away."

"Ah?" Zhu Qizhen was shocked.

……

When King Zhou died, the emperor was extremely sad and temporarily refused to see any officials from Kaifeng.

In fact, Zhu Qizhen was not very sad. He wanted to wait for Ding Xiu to find out the results before appearing. The sudden death of King Zhou gave him a reason.

He ordered that the crown prince of Zhou, Zhu Zihou, inherit the title and give a grand funeral to the king. Everyone in the palace of Zhou was busy dealing with the funeral. Zhu Qizhen lived in a courtyard deep inside the palace of Zhou, but he was directing a strict investigation of the officials in Kaifeng.

At this time, Yang Guifang and Zhang Lun were both out on business, and Zhu Qizhen was alone in the corridor drinking tea. A servant was sweeping the floor in the yard, and he would steal glances at Zhu Qizhen from time to time, as if he wanted to say something but hesitated.

Zhu Qizhen had already noticed it and greeted him with a smile: "Old man, what can I do for you?"

The servant was frightened and took a step back at first, but then he mustered up the courage to step forward, knelt down in front of Zhu Qizhen, kowtowed and said, "I pay my respects to Your Majesty, please make the decision for me."

"Stand up and talk slowly." Zhu Qizhen raised his hand to signal with a gentle expression.

The old man knelt respectfully, kowtowed repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty, we common people and fellow villagers can hardly survive. All our land has been occupied. Those gentry and officials colluded and forcibly purchased our land at a low price..."

He spoke with tears in his eyes. Zhu Qizhen's face darkened terribly after hearing this. He stood up and said, "Come on, take me to your village."

In order to avoid being discovered, he ordered the guards not to allow anyone to enter the yard, and then he took the old man and quietly left the palace through the back door and headed straight out of the city.

The old man's name was Liu An, and he was from Liujia Village outside Kaifeng. Because his land was occupied, he went to the city to find a job and accidentally became a servant in the Zhou Palace. He didn't expect to meet the emperor here. After some struggle, he finally decided to appeal to the emperor for his grievances.

……

Liujiacun.

After Zhu Qizhen entered the village, he thought he had entered a disaster area again.

The houses here are all in ruins, with collapsed roofs, cracked walls, and some are left with only broken walls.

The people in the village looked haggard, their skin tanned and tight by the sun, their eye sockets sunken, their eyes lifeless. Their eyes were empty and desperate, as if they were swallowed by endless suffering and could no longer find a way out.

There were scattered furniture, farm tools and broken daily necessities everywhere, lying silently in the mud, blending in with the desolate scene around them. The air was filled with a smell of dampness and mildew.

The entire village was so quiet that the only sound that could be heard was the whimpering of the wind blowing through the dilapidated houses and a few occasional low moans coming from afar.

Zhu Qizhen's heart was gripped by the scene before him.

"Is there a flood here?" Zhu Qizhen asked.

"Yes, after the flood, there was not a single intact house left." Liu An said.

Zhu Qizhen looked solemn: "Didn't the government provide disaster relief grain and relief funds? Why didn't they rebuild the house?"

Liu An's eyes were filled with anger. "The government only distributed part of the relief grain, and required us to return to our hometown before distributing it. As for the relief money, we didn't see a single penny."

"No wonder there are no disaster victims in Kaifeng." Zhu Qizhen gritted his teeth, "They drove them all out. Kaifeng is so prosperous."

Liu An called out to the villagers and shouted, "Fellow villagers, come quickly, come quickly to see His Majesty the Emperor, he is here to make the decision for us."

The people in the village came over here, and soon, dozens of people gathered around. They looked at Zhu Qizhen with suspicion.

"Is he the emperor?" someone doubted.

"Why don't you kowtow?" Liu An shouted nervously, "He is the current emperor. I work in the Zhou Palace. You know that, don't you? I finally brought his majesty here. Please let him make the decision for us."

The villagers believed it and knelt down, kowtowed: "God is above, Your Majesty is above. Please make the decision for us."

Zhu Qizhen took a deep breath and raised his hand: "Fellow villagers, please get up quickly. I will definitely make the decision for you."

(End of this chapter)