The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 8: If you undermine the imperial power, I will give up
Wanli's rebellion seemed to be beyond Zhang Siwei's understanding. This little emperor was too willful and was simply doing whatever he wanted.

They wanted Wanli to betray his teacher and ancestors and settle accounts with Zhang Juzheng, so that they could continue to induce Wanli to abolish Zhang Juzheng's reforms.

Unexpectedly, Wanli turned around and respected his teacher, and wanted to confer a title of nobility on Zhang Juzheng, with the title being hereditary.

This is not a big deal.

They did not agree to confer the title of nobility on Zhang Juzheng, so Wanli actually took the seal and went to play in the harem, ignoring everything else!
In fact, Wanli did it on purpose. He wanted to find an excuse to show off.

He knew it was impossible to confer a title of nobility on Zhang Juzheng.

Shen Shixing even called him a traitor, using this as a token of his loyalty to Zhang Siwei.

Now he has even more excuse.

He just started to play badly.

You want to undermine the imperial power, right? You want to turn my imperial edict into waste paper, right?

Then I won’t go to court, meet with anyone, approve anything, or talk about it. I’ll just give up.

This was Wanli's attitude towards state affairs after the dispute over the foundation of the country in history.

He did not attend court, meet with court officials, review memorials, issue any imperial edicts, or give any instructions.

At that time, the Ming Dynasty court was messed up by him. More than half of the six ministers were always vacant, there were only a few vice ministers in the six ministries, and there was often only one grand secretary in the cabinet. Most of the major government offices in the capital were vacant, and many important court officials above the third rank didn't even know what he looked like!

The reason why he acted like this was actually to paralyze Zhang Siwei and Shen Shixing and make these guys think that he was still the rebellious teenager.

In fact, he had secretly issued a secret order to recruit the famous general Qi Jiguang to return to Beijing. He just wanted to buy time by playing badly.

This was not the late Wanli period in history. If the Ming Dynasty had given up at that time, it would have been heading towards the abyss of destruction. But at this time, giving up was not a big deal, as the Ming Dynasty's treasury was still very full.

Moreover, he already understood the current situation in the court. The disciples promoted by Zhang Juzheng still occupied many important positions.

If he did not attend court and review memorials, Zhang Siwei would not be able to purge the court, let alone abolish the reform.

This is beneficial to him but detrimental to Zhang Siwei and his gang.

He was not in a hurry anyway, and it was just right that he could also find out about the situation of the concubines and their families in the harem.

He still has a lot of things to do right now. If he wants to control enough military force, it is not enough to just recruit Qi Jiguang.

He also had to find a way to gather hundreds of thousands of troops for Qi Jiguang to train, and equip the gathered troops with weapons and equipment. He also had to find a way to solve the problem of food and wages for these troops, etc.

He has to plan all these things out, and to get things done he needs manpower, and they have to be trustworthy people.

The problem is that at the moment he has no one else available except his confidant Liang Menglong, and he has to find someone to do some things.

Now all he could think of were the families of the concubines in the harem.

After all, the concubines in the harem are his real family. Even if others don't listen to him, the concubines in the harem have to listen to him.

Of course, it is not ruled out that some concubines in the harem would play tricks on him.

For example, Concubine Zheng.

This woman's story was revealed in later books.

This woman was the culprit in the dispute over the crown prince. If she had not been so arrogant and insisted on making her own son, Prince Fu, the crown prince, leading to a complete rift between the monarch and his ministers, the Ming Dynasty might not have perished so quickly.

Moreover, this woman was so vicious that it was frightening. She relied on her favor to imprison Wang, the mother of Crown Prince Zhu Changluo, in the cold palace and tortured her for nearly thirty years. She tortured Wang to the point of blindness, becoming emaciated, unable to walk, and could only crawl on the ground!

In the case of the assassination, it was she who sent her eunuchs Pang Bao and Liu Cheng to bring Zhang Cha into the Cining Palace to assassinate Crown Prince Zhu Changluo.

In the Red Pill Case, Cui Wensheng, the Imperial Household Department's Clerk in charge of the Imperial Pharmacy, was also promoted from her eunuch. At that time, Emperor Taichang Zhu Changluo, who had already succeeded to the throne, had diarrhea. She instructed Cui Wensheng to give Taichang the laxative rhubarb, which made Taichang suffer from diarrhea so severe that he was almost dead. Then she gave Taichang two red pills to send him to the west.

Moreover, this woman is very scheming.

In the 29th year of Wanli's reign, Wanli woke up from his coma after being seriously ill. Only Queen Wang was sitting beside the bed with tears on her face, holding Wanli's hand. Concubine Zheng was nowhere to be found. She had gone out to plot to seize the throne!

In other words, she was hypocritically deceiving Wanli at that time!

Wanli knew what kind of person Concubine Zheng was, so he naturally would not be fooled again.

He already knew who to look for.

At about 5 p.m. that afternoon, he had just ordered someone to pass on the oral order not to attend court, not to see anyone, not to approve anything, and not to speak. Then he brought the seal and Feng Bao and his entourage to Kunning Palace to find Queen Wang.

The Queen Wang’s name was Wang Xijie, and she was truly the most beautiful woman in the harem.

As for Concubine Zheng, she is still Concubine Zheng Shu at this moment. She is not even a concubine. Her status is far inferior to Queen Wang. She is also far inferior to Queen Wang in appearance. She is just scheming.
As long as he doesn't fall for it, Concubine Zheng will have no chance at all.

At this moment, the person he likes most is Queen Wang.

He still remembered that when Wang was made queen, her background was somewhat problematic.

Wang's biological father, Wang Wei, was the deputy envoy of the Wensi Academy of the Ministry of Works. The "Imperial Ming Dynasty Ancestor's Instructions" clearly stipulated that the selection of candidates must be made from common women, and the daughters of current officials were not allowed.

However, because Wang was extremely beautiful, gentle and virtuous, he liked her very much and insisted on choosing her as the queen.

Seeing that he was desperate, Empress Dowager Li had no choice but to order people to carefully investigate Wang's identity.

Why didn't the officials in charge of the open auditions and the eunuchs in charge of the preliminary selections find out that there was something wrong with Wang's identity?

The result came out very quickly. It turned out that the deputy envoy of the Wensi Academy of the Ministry of Works was just a low-rank official of the ninth rank, and had always been a craftsman.

Wang Wei was a carpenter by birth, and was chosen as the deputy envoy of the Wensi Academy of the Ministry of Works only because he was so good at it. To put it bluntly, Wang Wei was just a foreman who led the craftsmen to do their work. After Empress Dowager Li understood the situation, she agreed to make Wang the empress, because she was also a craftsman by birth, and her father-in-law, Li Wei, was a bricklayer.

It can be said that he and Queen Wang went through a lot of hardships before they got together, and the feelings between them were real.

When Wanli thought about meeting Queen Wang, he felt a strange feeling in his heart. It was a feeling of anticipation, excitement, warmth, happiness, and a little sweetness.

Perhaps this is true love.

What is Queen Wang doing now?

As he walked into Kunning Palace in the setting sun, Empress Wang came hurriedly towards him, holding her six-month-old eldest daughter, Princess Rongchang, and asked with a look of surprise, "Your Majesty, are you free today?"

The queen was really beautiful, with a cherry mouth, a tall and straight nose, almond eyes, smoky eyebrows, skin as white as cream, and a pure and elegant appearance with unparalleled beauty.

In fact, there are requirements when selecting queens, including temperament and figure, which must meet the requirements.

At this moment, the Queen's figure was even more attractive, like a peach, because she had given birth to Princess Rongchang.

Wanli couldn't help but asked in surprise: "Xier, have you eaten yet?"

Queen Wang shook her head repeatedly and said, "No, I heard that His Majesty had arrived, so I ordered the imperial kitchen to add more dishes."

Wanli nodded slightly, then gently pinched Princess Rongchang's pink little face and said lovingly: "Mianmian, Mianmian, call me father."

"嘤嘤嘤嘤?"

The little guy stared at him with his big eyes and a silly face, not knowing what he was saying.

At this moment, he only has this child. The eldest prince Zhu Changluo has not been born yet, and Prince Fu Zhu Changxun has no chance of reincarnation.

Wanli followed Queen Wang into Kunning Palace, and while having dinner, he learned about the situation of the concubines and their families in the harem.

Queen Wang was gentle and virtuous. She never bullied other concubines in the harem and had a good relationship with them.

When women get together, they chat about family matters. Naturally, she is quite familiar with the families of the concubines in the harem. She knows exactly who comes from a farming family, who comes from a craftsman family, and who comes from a merchant family.

Wanli also had preliminary plans on how to use craftsmen to develop military industry, build weapons and equipment, and make money from merchants in the future.

However, his plan could not be implemented at the moment. He could only regain the imperial power by controlling the military force. Only with the imperial power could he do what he wanted.

After that, he spent every day sticking to Queen Wang, hoping to give birth to a legitimate son so that there would be no dispute over the throne.

However, this kind of life of raising a child behind closed doors is not destined to last long.

He had only been playing in Kunning Palace for a few days when Zhang Siwei couldn't help himself.

This old bastard Zhang Siwei has another habit, which is that he never does things himself. He always tricks others into doing it.

Early that morning, around noon, Wanli was in Kunning Palace, being affectionate with Queen Wang, when suddenly a scream came from outside: "The Empress Dowager has arrived."

Upon hearing this, Queen Wang quickly jumped up from his arms and stood respectfully with her hands hanging down.

He just sat there motionless.

After a while, Empress Dowager Li walked in with a frosty face.

Queen Wang quickly bowed and said, "Greetings, Mother."

Empress Dowager Li snorted coldly, then raised her eyebrows and said sternly, "Rebellious son, don't you know how to bow when you see me?"

We are no longer mother and son.

Wanli sat there and said coldly: "Didn't you say that you don't have a son like me?"

Empress Dowager Li was furious and shouted, "You really don't want to be the emperor anymore, right?"

You bastard, do you really think this world belongs to your Li family?

Wanli coldly retorted, "According to the Imperial Ming Dynasty's ancestral precepts, the harem is forbidden from interfering in government affairs. How dare you make irresponsible remarks about the dethronement and enthronement of the emperor? Are you planning a rebellion?"

I want to rebel?

I'm so mad!

Empress Dowager Li was furious and roared, "You are a disobedient and unfilial person. You are a tyrant who spends every day indulging in women and neglecting state affairs. Why can't I depose you?"

Am I a tyrant?

Do you think I don't know what you are thinking?
Wanli was so angry that he roared, "Are you really doing this for the good of the Ming Dynasty?

Zhang Siwei asked you to come. You have conspired to undermine the imperial power. My imperial edicts have become pieces of waste paper. Why should I interfere in state affairs?
Don’t you have the final say in government affairs? You are seizing power, you are usurping the throne, you are rebelling!
I want to see whether the world belongs to the Zhu family or the Li family."

you!
Empress Dowager Li was so angry that she almost fainted.

Upon seeing this, Empress Wang hurried forward to support Empress Dowager Li and said, "Mother, don't be angry. Your Majesty's imperial edict was rejected, and he's in a bad mood. Don't argue with him."

Empress Dowager Li was caught in a weak spot and didn't know what to say.

She simply said, "Okay, just wait for me. I will definitely depose you, this tyrant!"

After saying that, she turned away.

(End of this chapter)