The First Prince of the Ming Dynasty

When Xia Ru came out of the room, Zhu Yi followed behind him to see him off.

Neither side said much.

Xia Ru's two sons followed behind, not daring to make a sound.

According to the tradition of the Xia family, juniors cannot interrupt or ask questions without first asking questions from their elders.

Upon reaching the door, Xia Ru bid farewell to Zhu Yi with profuse thanks before heading towards the carriage, his emotions running high.

"The little prince is already preparing the miraculous medicine to cure the illness. He said he would send someone to deliver it to the mansion, but we can't let his people go through the trouble, so you should have someone wait here." Xia Ru made arrangements for his son.

Xia Chen also seemed very excited and said, "Being able to save my father is a blessing from Heaven."

Xia Ru said, "You can't say that. This is the kindness of the little prince and the Prince of Ning, as well as that Master Tang. We must remember it all."

Before anything even happened, the Xia family was already discussing who got the credit.

As they were talking, someone hurried over. He was dressed in military uniform, and upon seeing Xia Ru from afar, he greeted him, "Isn't this Father-in-law Xia? Have you met the son of Prince Ning?"

The way the other party addressed Zhu Yi was very disrespectful.

Xia Ru didn't recognize the other person either, but seeing the carriage, he recognized it as belonging to the Duke of Ying's mansion. He walked over, bowed, and said, "Indeed, is it the Duke?"

"The Duke didn't come. He told me to come and ask if the medicine had been found?" The other party was still very arrogant.

Xia Ru said, "Found it."

The other party immediately replied, "Has anyone mentioned preparing a copy for the Duke?"

"This..." Xia Ru said with difficulty and shame, "I am already grateful for the treatment I received, and I really have no face to make any more requests. Please inform the Duke that I am incompetent."

He didn't feel that Old Man Zhang was offensive, but rather that he was incompetent and had failed to secure medicine for Zhang Mao.

The other party said, "Lord Xia, my master paved the way for you and even helped you find out the whereabouts of the Prince of Ning's son. Is this how you repay his kindness? Really..."

Having said that, the man decided to ignore Xia Ru, perhaps because he truly looked down on this nominal Earl of Qingyang, and then headed towards the official post station.

Xia Ru admonished his two sons, "Remember this: whether or not I am cured this time, you must always remember the kindness of this little prince and repay him no matter what. Remember this well."

"Yes, Father." The two sons immediately bowed and accepted.

……

……

As expected, the British Duke's men ran into a wall with Zhu Yin.

Although Zhu Yi also needed a military officer like Zhang Mao to help him complete the adoption process, he chose a more aggressive exchange of benefits in his relationship with Zhang Mao.

Because he knew that people like Zhang Mao were most likely ungrateful and would feel that others owed them help.

Wanting help from others without showing sincerity, yet expecting them to save your life again and again?

You're really giving me too much credit!

When Zhang Mao's advisor, Zhang She, returned to report the details of his meeting with Zhu Yi, Zhang Mao was quite surprised.

"What? I didn't see him?" Zhang Mao also found it unbelievable.

What is the other party's identity?

How dare anyone, in a place like the capital, not give face to him, the foremost military official of the Ming Dynasty?

Zhang She said helplessly, "Those who went said they weren't allowed inside at all, and there wasn't even anyone to announce their arrival. Speaking of which, it was right after that of that Grand Tutor Xia, who did manage to see the person, and according to Grand Tutor Xia, the Prince of Ning's son has agreed to prepare the medicine for him."

Zhang Mao frowned and said, "What does this mean? Does he not care because my situation isn't critical? Or is it that the medicine Tang Yin gave him was only enough for Xia Ru?"

At this point, Zhang Mao even considered stealing Xia Ru's medicine.

It's better for me to keep some medicine as a precaution than to let that Xia Guozhang die directly.

Who do you think you are to want the same life-saving medicine as me?

Zhang She said, "My lord, there is something I'm not sure if I should say."

"Spit it out!" Zhang Mao seemed very annoyed.

Zhang She said helplessly, "It's like this. You see, although Tang Yin predicted that something bad would happen to you and even gave you medicine, the Ning Prince's Mansion actually played a significant role in it."

"What contribution? That Prince Ning just wants to use me to build his reputation! I'm being ridiculed!" Zhang Mao seemed unconcerned.

Did Zhang She also have a new breakthrough in his understanding of Zhang Mao's shamelessness?

How could there be such shameless people in the world?

"But my lord, at least your life... has been saved, hasn't it?" Zhang She reminded him.

Zhang Mao said with a dark face, "That's because my body is strong and I survived. Whether the medicine worked or not is another matter."

Zhang She said, "If you insist on saying that, then I have nothing more to say. I think we should leave it at that."

Zhang Mao immediately realized that he might have overreacted.

He said, "Go on, even if it's unpleasant to hear, I'll just treat it as a joke."

"Sigh!" Zhang She sighed first, then said, "Last time, we should have given them a generous gift to thank the Prince Ning's family for saving our lives. That's normal interpersonal communication. But now that they've arrived in the capital, we haven't even given them a token of our gratitude, yet we're going straight to their door asking for medicine again. Do you think they'll feel good about that?"

Zhang Mao frowned and said, "He is the son of a prince, and not even the eldest son of the legitimate wife. Even if he is granted a title in the future, he will only be a county prince. Why should I give him much face? Even if he does inherit the title of Prince of Ning in the future, according to the rules of my Great Ming, princes are 'granted but not granted land, given titles but not subject to the people, and receive salaries but not govern affairs.' I hold military power, and my status is far above his."

The Ming Dynasty's rules for bestowing titles upon princes were that, before the age of 12, generally between 18 and 19 (by the traditional Chinese age reckoning), the sons of princes would be granted the title of Prince of the Second Rank.

For example, Zhu Chenhao was granted the title of Prince of Shanggao in the seventh year of the Hongzhi reign, after he had turned eighteen. The title of Prince of Shanggao was always granted to the eldest son of Prince Ning, while the other sons were granted their titles later than the eldest son, but usually before they came of age.

Zhu Yi is not yet nineteen years old and has not yet been formally granted a title. Zhu Chenhao has not even asked the emperor to name his son, nor is he in a hurry to request a title for his son. In Zhu Chenhao's view, it doesn't matter whether Zhu Yi, who is not the eldest son of the legitimate wife, has a title or not, since he is determined to become the emperor himself.

Zhang She said, "This is not the attitude one should have when asking someone for a favor."

Zhang Mao's expression grew even more unpleasant.

Although he didn't want to admit it, he understood that what Zhang She said made sense.

"So you mean I should do what that Xia guy did and go to his door to beg him?" Zhang Mao's face was very displeased. "I can't bring myself to do that."

Zhang She asked, "Does Your Excellency know the specific purpose of this young man's arrival in the capital?"

"Hmph, you think you can hide it from me? Do you think I don't know that Prince Ning has always wanted to adopt his son into the main lineage, and even wants him to become the crown prince and inherit the throne in the future?" Zhang Mao said. "Qian Ning is pulling these strings behind the scenes for his own ulterior motives."

Zhang She said, "If His Majesty had no such intention, even if Qian Ning had a hundred times the courage, he would not dare to do such a thing."

Zhang Mao frowned and said, "Are you saying that His Majesty really intends to adopt an heir?"

Zhang She sighed, "The situation now is different from that of Emperor Xianzong. During Emperor Xianzong's reign, the emperor had many children, but they all died young. But now, Your Majesty..."

Zhang She clearly knew that criticizing the emperor's fertility was a major taboo.

However, there were some things he, as an advisor, had to remind Zhang Mao of.

Isn't the current Zhengde Emperor exactly in that mule's predicament?

With no sons and no fertility, the concubines' bellies showed no signs of pregnancy... In the end, they could only adopt offspring from the imperial clan... If the emperor hadn't made preparations in advance, the Ming Dynasty might have been thrown into chaos.

Otherwise, there wouldn't have been a situation where, if the emperor had children late in life, a bunch of ministers would have advised him to take more concubines and have more sons, because the ministers would have felt that the dynasty might be in crisis at any time.

"Then this old man..."

Zhang Mao seemed hesitant.

Zhang She said helplessly, "That's all the advice I can offer. Whether you go to see him in person or not is not important, but in my opinion, it wouldn't be so bad if His Majesty really wanted to adopt this child. At least it wouldn't be a loss for you, would it?"