Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 8 There is no two suns in the sky, but there is only one sun in my heart!
The emperor did not attend court for many days and did not see anyone. The number of Donglin Party memorials rejected increased day by day.

The Zhejiang, Chu and Qi parties, which were in great trouble after the memorial of August 11th, which was full of vacancies and candidates for filling them, seemed to have found a life-saving straw. Under the leadership of Fang Congzhe, the leader of the Zhejiang party and the chief minister of the cabinet, they united and launched an attack on Yang Lian.

As long as Yang Lian was convicted, they could turn the blame on the entire Donglin Party.

So the Donglin Party followed their plan, submitting a memorial to defend Yang Lian while at the same time vaguely distancing themselves from him. Zhu Changluo's attitude towards this was the same from beginning to end: "I understand."

Both sides have their own understanding of this response.

The Donglin Party members firmly believed that the fact that Yang Lian was not tortured after being imprisoned, but instead was well fed and well-rested while writing his increasingly lengthy memorials in prison, showed that the emperor, while deeply disgusted by Yang Lian's harsh words, still recognized his advice and the Donglin Party. The emperor's indifference to these attacks was a silent endorsement of theirs.

So they began to attack the three parties for their ulterior motives and accelerated the pace of cutting ties with Yang Lian. For the Donglin Party, this "idiot" like Hai Rui was really a time bomb.

Only a handful of people in the entire Donglin Party sincerely defended him, such as the Supervisory Censor Zuo Guangdou and the Imperial Secretary Wei Dazhong.

However, the Zhejiang, Chu and Qi parties believed that the emperor's silence confirmed Fang Congzhe's guess, and began to resist these so-called clean streams.

On August 19th, a memorial to the emperor detonated the entire court. Yang Lian, imprisoned in the imperial prison, impeached Liu Yirong, Grand Secretary of the Dongge Palace, for colluding with Cui Wensheng, the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department. He also detailed the unprecedented nature of honoring Zheng as empress dowager and requested the emperor to revoke his decision.

Although Yang Lian described the two events as independent incidents with no connection in his memorial, the Qi, Chu and Zhejiang parties naturally linked the two together.

That same day, the three factions ceased their attacks on Yang Lian and instead launched a fierce attack on Liu Yirong and Cui Wensheng, echoing Yang Lian's impeachment. They accused the Donglin Party of colluding with the inner court to plot illicitly. The evidence was that the Donglin Party's previous memorials had never mentioned Cui Wensheng's medicine donation.

The Donglin Party members were completely stunned by this series of attacks. They couldn't understand how Yang Lian knew that Cui Wensheng had sent someone to meet Liu Yirong?
But the fact is that the Donglin Party was returning the favor. They had a secret plan, hoping to ease the relationship with Cui Wensheng after solving the Zheng family problem, and extend their influence to the inner court through Cui Wensheng.

The so-called dislike of Zhang Jiangling, understanding of Zhang Jiangling, and becoming Zhang Jiangling are just that.

But on August 20, Wu Liangsi, a member of the Chu Party and a member of the Imperial Censorate, submitted a memorial to impeach the Left General (first rank) Zheng Yangxing for twelve major crimes, including corruption and bribery, excessive money laundering, disregard for human life, illegal occupation of private houses, and rape of women.

Zheng Yangxing was the nephew of Consort Zheng Guifei. After the death of her brother Zheng Guotai, he became Guifei's contact person at court. He was arrogant and domineering.

However, the content written by Wu Liangsi in the memorial was too detailed, and it was obvious that he had received information from someone.

The memorial was submitted to the cabinet, and Prime Minister Fang Congzhe immediately organized a draft. The conclusion reached was: "Detain the criminals, order the censors to conduct a thorough investigation, and hand them over to the three judicial departments for a joint trial, with the Imperial Household Department and the Embroidered Uniform Guard as observers."

Not long after the draft of the imperial edict was submitted, the Imperial Household Department's official approval came down: "Approved."

From then on, the Donglin Party was intercepted and they had no more excuses.

On the same day, two imperial edicts that had nothing to do with the case were sent to the cabinet by Wang An, the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department and the commander-in-chief of the Eastern Depot.

"Yao Zongwen, the Imperial Secretary, will be demoted to a commoner. Xiong Tingbi, the Liaodong Governor, will be promoted to Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of War and concurrently Left Censor-in-Chief for his meritorious service in defending the border, and will be awarded 100 taels of silver."

"Sun Chengzong, Zuo Yude (fifth rank) of the Zhanshi Palace, was promoted to Shao Zhanshi (fourth rank) and appointed as a lecturer to the emperor's eldest son."

As the Donglin faction and the three factions fought tooth and nail over the "Zheng Family Palace Relocation Case," and everyone felt threatened, no one paid any attention to the defense of Xiong Tingbi, the Liaodong Governor, and Yao Zongwen, the Imperial Secretary. Instead, the fact that Sun Chengzong was appointed as a lecturer to the eldest son of the emperor caused some ripples.

People speculated that the emperor might be hinting that his eldest son Zhu Youxiao would enter the Eastern Palace?

Southern Study of the Palace of Heavenly Purity
Although there was chaos outside the palace, Zhu Changluo had a rare moment of peace and quiet.

There were many memorials submitted, but he instructed Wang An to treat all the memorials from the two factions attacking each other as "acknowledged" and to deal with them coldly. If there were any other memorials, he would submit them to him for decision. However, there were basically no other memorials at this time.

"Wang An, ask the East Factory to pass a message to Xiong Tingbi." Zhu Changluo suddenly thought of something.

"Your Majesty, please speak." Wang An put down the red pen in his hand and listened seriously.

"Let him control his temper and quarrel less with others," said Zhu Changluo.

Xiong Tingbi "had a stubborn and irritable nature, loved to curse, and would never be humble." (Ming History, Biography 147)

"Yes." Wang An felt that this order was a little puzzling, but he still agreed.

"Your Majesty, Concubine Zheng requests an audience." Cui Wensheng trembled with fear.

Cui Wensheng understood that he had reached the crossroads of fate.

Although he thought he had done it very secretly, the fact that he passed information to the Donglin Party was still discovered. Moreover, this matter was even exposed by Yang Lian who was in prison.

Yang Lian was imprisoned in the Jinyiwei prison, but his guards were from the Eastern Depot. It was clear whose instructions Yang Lian received. However, for him, the leak of information was not entirely a bad thing, because the fate of an eunuch was never determined by the imperial eunuchs, but by the emperor's will.

The emperor was now lazily lounging on the dragon throne, eating an orange. It had to be said. This chair wasn't ergonomic at all; my back and waist ached after just a few minutes of sitting. Zhu Changluo thought to himself, "I need to find a carpenter to make me a comfortable chair sometime. Otherwise, my work efficiency would suffer."

"That's pretty fast. Let her in." Zhu Changluo nodded.

When Concubine Zheng entered the Southern Study, the first thing she saw was the eight girls she had given to Zhu Changluo. They stood by, and one of them was peeling an orange for Zhu Changluo.

Well, this is a good start, Concubine Zheng thought. But the next moment she didn't think so.

"I am not feeling well, please forgive me for not being able to get up and welcome you in person." Zhu Changluo opened his mouth and took the orange handed to him by the girl.

Concubine Zheng was keenly aware that the girl she gave to the emperor was still a palace maid and had no official status.

"Your Majesty, what do you want in exchange for letting Yang Xing go?"

"The state has its own laws. Even though I am the Son of Heaven, I cannot relax them because of family matters." Zhu Changluo said, "This matter has been handed over to the Three Judicial Departments for trial. The palace has only sent people to observe the trial. Cui Wensheng, is that right?"

"Your Majesty," Cui Wensheng said, his heart settling. He knelt on the ground and replied in a resounding voice, "Zheng Yangxing's actions are utterly devoid of conscience. He should be brought to justice."

"Well, then you can sit in as the representative of the Imperial Household Department." Zhu Changluo chuckled.

"I will obey your Majesty's command." Cui Wensheng kowtowed.

"Cui Wensheng! It's you." Concubine Zheng understood immediately and angrily said, "You traitorous bastard!"

"There is no two suns in the sky. There is only one sun in my heart, the emperor. How can I sell out my master for fame and fortune?" The wound on Cui Wensheng's head had not healed yet, but he still fell heavily to the ground.

"Water flows to the lowest places, and people go to the highest places. Imperial Concubine, what can you bring to him? A fatal disaster?" Zhu Changluo sat up and pulled the maid beside him into his arms. "What do you think?"

"Your Majesty, I..." The girl was startled by the emperor's sudden action.

"Don't be afraid. Tell me what the imperial concubine ordered you." Zhu Changluo's tone was as if he was asking them what they were going to eat tonight.

"The Imperial Concubine has instructed us to serve His Majesty well and report to her on His Majesty's words and deeds." The girl standing farthest away was the first to kneel down, her voice almost trembling. She was terrified, but she mustered her courage.

"Raise your head." Zhu Changluo let go of the girl in his arms and ordered.

No wonder he was standing so far away, it turned out he was the one who “slipped through the net” that night.

Although the young woman was beautiful, her skin wasn't particularly fair, making her somewhat less attractive than the other seven women. Therefore, on August 10th, during the Dragon and Phoenix Parade, Cui Wensheng placed her last in the queue. By the time she finally entered the giant step-out bed, the emperor had already collapsed from exhaustion. Thus, she "unfortunately" retained her virginity.

But good and bad are interdependent, and the gears of fate are turning quietly.

"What's your name?" Zhu Changluo asked.

"Your Majesty, my maid's name is Mi Mengshang."

"Very good, from today on, you are Mi Cairen." Zhu Changluo nodded.

Mi Mengshang bowed politely. "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your grace!"

"Zhu Changluo, you don't need to show off your power to me. You win!" Concubine Zheng sighed. "I will move to the Cining Palace and submit a petition to the court to decline the title of empress."

"Yes." Zhu Changluo nodded, as if asking for her opinion. "Dismiss him from office, confiscate his property, and send him back to his hometown. What do you think, Your Majesty?"

"How cruel." Concubine Zheng gritted her teeth, her face full of resentment. "I hope you will do what you say."

"Compared to you, who killed my mother, I am already very gentle." Zhu Changluo raised his head and looked at Concubine Zheng. His cold eyes made her shudder.

When did the cowardly prince who had to rely on Wang An and the Donglin Party for protection become like this?

Maybe he has always been like this, but he just hid it well.

"Why would the Imperial Concubine want to harm me?" Imperial Concubine Zheng couldn't help but feel sad when she recalled Zhu Changluo's apologetic smile during the "Stick-and-Kill Case" in the 43rd year of the Wanli reign.

"Your Majesty!" Concubine Zheng cried out in grief. But the person she called out could no longer hear her.

(End of this chapter)