Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 5: Anxious to Establish Zhu Houcong
After Empress Dowager Zhang received the cabinet's reply, she bit her lip and asked the eunuchs Zhang Yong and Gu Dayong who had returned from the cabinet:

"Will they not raise an heir for my son?"

Zhang Yong and Gu Dayong remained silent.

"The Queen Mother is asking you, why doesn't the cabinet advocate choosing a royal family member as the heir to the late emperor?!"

At this time, Wei Bin asked Zhang Yong and Gu Dayong in a stern voice.

Zhang Yong had no choice but to answer: "Mr. Yang said that the late emperor did not issue a decree to appoint a successor before his death. Moreover, even if there was a decree to appoint a successor, according to ancestral teachings, the emperor should be appointed according to the order of succession."

"He wants my son to be extinct."

"Yang Tinghe is my son's teacher!"

Empress Dowager Zhang's eyes suddenly turned red and she yelled a few words in disappointment.

"The Queen Mother calm down!"

"The elders are also for the sake of the stability of the country. Only the Yiwang family can be appointed as the heir, but the Yiwang is still alive!"

Wei Bin glanced at Zhang Yong, thought for a moment, and then immediately knelt down.

Empress Dowager Zhang was stunned when she saw this.

She suddenly thought of the five words Zhengde wrote on her palm, and she finally understood why Zhengde wrote those five words to her.

As a result, Empress Dowager Zhang had to give up completely. She wanted to make a son of the royal family the heir to Zhengde so that she could better control the new emperor's thoughts.

After all, even the eunuchs in the palace would not stand on her side for their own interests.

Powerful eunuchs like Zhang Yong and Wei Bin have even defected because it would be more beneficial for them to enthronize Zhu Houcong.

Who made Zhu Houcong, the prince of Xing Wang, have no father or brothers and is weak and powerless? If he wants to gain a foothold in the court and check and balance the civil officials, he will undoubtedly need the old people in the Zhengde court like them.
The fertile ground for the imperial harem to interfere in politics no longer exists in the Ming Dynasty.

What's more, Empress Dowager Zhang's family was not very capable, which made the civil servants unwilling to let the Zhang family continue to be so domineering. Not only did they not get support from the inner court, they also did not get support from the outer court.

Therefore, Empress Dowager Zhang finally compromised, secretly sighing that her son was the wisest one, and said, "Then let Crown Prince Xing be enthroned!"

"Yes!"

Wei Bin came to the cabinet in person and said to Yang Tinghe and others:
"After our strong persuasion, the Queen Mother issued an imperial decree to establish Prince Xing according to the rotation order. I also ask the elders to draft the imperial edict and the imperial decree to welcome the new emperor as soon as possible."

After learning that Empress Dowager Zhang had compromised, the three great scholars Yang Tinghe, Liang Chu, and Mao Ji all breathed a sigh of relief and echoed, "We will follow the Empress Dowager's order."

Therefore, the cabinet drafted an edict to enthrone Zhu Houcong as emperor.

After Yang Tinghe drafted the will, he said: "To welcome the new emperor, we should send one noble, one noble relative, one university scholar and one ceremonial officer. In addition, we should send three eunuchs, one to take care of the emperor's daily life, one to take care of the emperor's travel, and one to take care of the emperor's greetings."

"The nobles should be nominated as Dukes, and the noble relatives should choose Cui Fu Ma."

Jiang Mian said something at this time.

Yang Tinghe nodded and said, "It would be best if the Grand Master of Ceremonies personally carried the imperial edict. The Grand Secretary should ask Lord Liang to go. After all, Lord Liang is older and has more experience. It's a pity that I'm afraid that Lord Liang will not be willing to go because of his old age and the long journey."

Yang Tinghe said this and looked at Liang Chu.

Liang Chu narrowed his eyes.

He knew that Yang Tinghe wanted to transfer him away so as to keep Jiang Mian and Mao Ji, his two cabinet colleagues who listened to him, to help him exercise power calmly and abolish the Zhengde policy before the new emperor came to Beijing.

But Liang Chu couldn't refuse Yang Tinghe.

Because Liang Chu had no strong desire to retain the Zhengde system, he was happy to let Yang Tinghe exercise his power to strengthen his position as a civil official. He was more willing to go to Huguang to welcome the new monarch and gain credit for the succession so that he could retire peacefully in the future.

He also knew that Yang Tinghe was using his contribution to the enthronement in exchange for his contribution. As long as he was willing to leave and not help his accomplice, the Minister of Personnel Wang Qiong, to oppose his reforms, Yang Tinghe and his accomplices would let him go in the future and allow him to retire peacefully. Moreover, the reason would be ready in the future, that is, after all, he was a Grand Secretary who traveled across mountains and rivers to Huguang to welcome the new emperor despite his old age.

Therefore, Liang Chu decisively chose to abandon his fellow party member, the Minister of Personnel Wang Qiong, and at this time he said:

"There is nothing more important than welcoming a new emperor. How can I not welcome a new emperor just because I am old?"

"This is my duty, so you don't need to say anything more!"

Yang Tinghe's brows slightly opened, he was overjoyed, and bowed to Liang Chu: "You are indeed loyal and upright, worthy of admiration!" Jiang Mian and Mao Ji also smiled at each other, and followed suit to flatter Liang Chu.

Yang Tinghe then looked at Wei Bin and said, "Which three people will be chosen by the eunuchs? Please let the internal minister decide."

Since Wei Bin decisively chose to stand on the side of the civil officials and supported the enthronement of Zhu Houcong, rather than supporting Empress Dowager Zhang's attempt to force an heir to Zhengde and the harem's interference in government affairs, Yang Tinghe naturally had to return the favor and let Wei Bin choose the eunuch who would be sent to enthronize the new emperor, which was considered an opportunity for Wei Bin to show his favor to his people.

Wei Bin thought that Zhang Yong had taken the initiative to work with the cabinet before him, and would undoubtedly challenge his position in the future, so he decided to support Gu Dayong to check and balance Zhang Yong, and at the same time send two of his own people to keep an eye on Gu Dayong. In this way, the successor emperor and the eunuchs in the inner court would feel that he was fair, not only in private, but also better consolidate his position in the inner court.

thus.

Wei Bin smiled and said, "We think it's appropriate to send Gu Dayong, Wei Bin, and Zhang Jin. Eunuch Gu is an old man who has served the late emperor for many years. Since he knows how to serve the late emperor, he also knows how to serve. Although Wei and Zhang are younger, they are always steady and not prone to trouble."

Yang Tinghe nodded, then asked Jiang Mian to draft the decree, and asked Wei Bin to ask the empress dowager to use the seal.

When Empress Dowager Zhang saw the arrangements made by the Cabinet and the Imperial Household Department, she was greatly surprised and asked, "Why are there no Marquis of Shouning or Marquis of Jianchang among the ministers who are welcoming the emperor?"

"I argued, but the ministers said that the Marquis of Shouning and the Marquis of Jianchang might not be able to bear the burden of the carriages and horses, so they decided to let Master Cui represent the noble relatives to welcome the king."

Wei Bin knelt down with a look of panic on his face and replied.

Empress Dowager Zhang thought of the five words that Zhengde left her before his death, so she didn't ask any more questions. She just sneered and said, "Well, it's up to you to arrange it."

In this way, the imperial decree to arrange the welcoming personnel was finalized.

The day.

Duke Dingguo Xu Guangzuo, Grand Secretary Liang Chu and others were eager to leave the capital, wishing they could fly directly to Anlu to meet Zhu Houcong as soon as possible so that Zhu Houcong would remember them as soon as possible.

Gu Dayong, filled with gratitude towards Wei Bin, rushed to Anlu without stopping.

However, Gu Dayong was not the first person to set out to Anlu to inform the emperor of the will that Zhu Houcong would be made emperor.

The Imperial Palace was unable to keep secrets, and soon after the Queen Mother agreed to the cabinet's enthronement of Prince Xing, someone came to Anlu on the pretext of urgent delivery, riding on an official express horse.

And there's more than one person.

For a time, the post road from the capital to Huguang was filled with the sound of horse hooves, as everyone wanted to rush to Anlu first to claim credit and receive a reward.

……

At this moment, An Lu appeared to be as quiet as before.

Except for Wang Yu, who went to the palace once to obtain additional salary rice, no other local civil officials dared to see Zhu Houcong without permission.

After all, they haven't received any definite news yet.

However, the reason why it seems so quiet on the surface is because there are undercurrents underneath.

Wang Yu had already shared his meeting with Zhu Houcong with the officials in Huguang.

All the officials in Huguang knew about Zhu Houcong's courtesy and frugality, and they all hoped that Zhu Houcong would ascend the throne and become the emperor, so that the Ming Dynasty would have another benevolent ruler like Emperor Xiaozong.

In particular, after the officials in Huguang learned that Zhu Houcong immediately reduced the rent as soon as the rice owed to him was paid, they praised Zhu Houcong as a virtuous man even more.

After all, if such a vassal who is willing to reduce rent becomes the emperor, wouldn't he also be willing to reduce taxes throughout the world?

After Zhu Houcong ordered rent reduction, many of his officials in the palace who wanted to make progress hoped that Zhu Houcong could become emperor, so they took the initiative to publicize Zhu Houcong's concessions to the people, and even actively persuaded their colleagues and relatives to publicize it.

They hoped that this would make it more likely that Zhu Houcong would become emperor.

After all, his prince is a man who is very kind to the people around him. If he becomes the emperor, he will naturally give more grace to these people like him.

Moreover, in order to make it more likely for their sons to become emperor, many of them did reduce the rent for their own low-level tenants after Zhu Houcong reduced the rent, so that many of the lowest-level tenants in Xingwang Mansion benefited from Zhu Houcong's favor and became grateful to him.

For a while.

In Anlu area, everyone from bureaucrats and gentry to merchants and common people began to hope that Zhu Houcong could really become the next emperor, and they couldn't wait to put the yellow robe on Zhu Houcong.

(End of this chapter)