Chapter 63: Turning Passive into Active
With Zhu Gang's arrival in Beijing , the atmosphere of sadness in the entire capital seemed to become much more intense.
Because everyone knew that Zhu Gang had entered the capital, and other princes would be here soon.
Sure enough, just one day later, Prince of Qin Zhu Chong and Prince of Yan Zhu Di each rode back at full speed with 500 guards.
On the third day, Zhu Su, the Prince of Zhou, and Zhu Zhen, the Prince of Chu, rode in carriages into the capital. Two days later, the motorcades of Zhu Gui, the Prince of Qi, and Zhu Zhaohui, the Prince of Lu, the uncle and nephew, also drove in in a mighty procession.
When Lao Zhu saw these people returning, his anger finally subsided a little.
But when he thought of the secret report from the Embroidered Uniform Guard, which said that the King of Zhou and the King of Chu had been staying in Jimingyi for ten days and had refused to enter the capital until they saw that the King of Yan and others were safe and sound, he felt a little resentful.
Aren’t these two rebellious sons too cautious?
Although the royal family has been ruthless since ancient times, as a father, I have never treated them unfairly.
Now they are so scared that they dare not enter the city just because their eldest brother died. If they lose their father in the future, they will be so scared that they dare not leave the country at all!
Fortunately, these people finally made it back. Although the remaining King of Shu Zhu Chun and King of Xiang Zhu Bai have not arrived yet, they have sent people to inform us that they are only a few dozen miles away from the capital and are expected to arrive before noon tomorrow.
Old Zhu had no resentment towards his two sons, because the places where they were granted fiefs were in Bashu, where the roads were difficult to travel, so even if they walked slowly, it was forgivable.
Therefore, he decided to hold a small family gathering tomorrow at noon, and then take everyone to the Prince's Mansion to pay homage after lunch.
Old Zhu felt depressed when he thought of this. Fortunately, he was still the emperor, but it became a luxury for him to reunite with his sons throughout the year.
While Lao Zhu was mumbling to himself, Erhu walked in with a serious expression.
"Your Majesty, His Royal Highness Prince Jin is in a bad condition..."
"What?"
When Lao Zhu heard this, he stood up suddenly, his face full of disbelief.
"Isn't it just that I was too tired on the road and caught a cold? How could this happen?!"
"Your Majesty, the third master did not return to the palace that night he returned, but slept next to the first master's coffin all night."
"According to the imperial physician, the cold and damp air in the mourning hall may have entered his body, which is why he became seriously ill."
Old Zhu got furious when he heard this and pointed at Erhu's nose and cursed.
"Asshole!"
"Such a big thing, why didn't you tell me earlier!"
Erhu lowered his head in shame.
"Your Majesty, it was the Third Master who stopped us, saying that he didn't want you to worry about him."
When Old Zhu heard this, he ordered the car to be prepared and walked out of the hall cursing.
"These rebellious sons!"
"It's a pity that the eldest brother and I were so nice to them, but they had to be delayed on the road, and even made our third son sick with anger, wuwuwu..."
Erhu was completely numb when he heard this. This old man was too unreasonable. Could he blame others for this?
But for the emperor, it seems normal to vent his anger on others. I just don't know which vassal king will be unlucky this time...
"Someone come!"
"Call all the princes in Beijing and have them kneel before the prince's spirit!"
"If the third brother doesn't get better today, they won't have an easy life in the future!"
"promise!"
Erhu agreed and hurriedly ordered someone to pass on the message while urging his men to prepare the dragon chariot.
Soon, Old Zhu rode on a dragon sedan chair, led hundreds of guards, and marched towards the Prince of Jin's Palace in a mighty manner.
In order to get to Prince Jin's Mansion as quickly as possible, Old Zhu even gave up going through the main gate and ordered people to go directly through Donghua Gate.
When Erhu saw that the emperor was so anxious that he took a side door, he hurriedly urged his men to speed up, fearing that he would anger the emperor.
Even so, Old Zhu would still lose his temper from time to time while sitting on the dragon sedan chair, complaining that the carriage was moving too slowly.
However, when passing by Donghuamen, Lao Zhu suddenly heard a burst of shrill laughter.
Old Zhu immediately lifted the car curtain and looked over, only to see a few young men catching toads by the moat!
Where did those young men from the Forbidden City come from? They are nothing but those rebellious sons born to us!
When Old Zhu thought of this, he immediately ordered the Jinyiwei to stop the car, and then ordered people to capture all those rebellious sons who were catching toads.
Zhu Yunhuan was also in the toad catching team.
He didn't want to come today, but he was almost exhausted from copying "Fights Break Sphere" for many days in a row.
Therefore, when I heard Zhu Zhi suggest catching frogs after school today, I thought of coming out to change my mind.
Just when they were having fun, they suddenly saw a dozen Jinyiwei coming over and saying that His Majesty wanted to invite them over.
When the royal heirs heard this, they were dumbfounded. They looked anxiously at the dragon sedan standing on the Donghua Bridge, wondering if they had done something wrong again.
Zhu Yunhuan also had doubts in his heart. After thinking about what he had done in the past few days, he unexpectedly discovered that he was surprisingly well-behaved and sensible.
He gets up on time every day to exercise, then goes to Lao Zhu's place for dinner, goes to the main hall to sleep after dinner, and goes back home to stay up late to write books at night. He is as well-behaved as can be.
Even someone as picky as Lao Zhu hasn't hit me for several days, which shows that my performance has been really good recently.
However, why did the Emperor call me over today? Could it be that this group of people had violated some taboo?
Zhu Yunhuan pondered for a while and suddenly remembered one thing, which was the illness of his great enemy, his third uncle.
Because the Prince of Jin's Mansion was right next to Chaoyang Gate, he had visited it the day before yesterday.
Zhu Yunhuan felt a little angry when this matter was mentioned. The mourning hall was full of ice cubes. It would be strange if the innocent guy didn't catch a cold after sleeping there all night!
If the Emperor really went to visit Third Uncle, then Third Uncle's condition should have worsened, right?
My uncle was exhausted from traveling to attend his father's funeral and fell ill. As a filial son, I followed a group of children to catch toads...
When Zhu Yunhuan thought of this, he couldn't help but shudder.
Damn it!
No matter how you look at it, it looks like he's going to be beaten to death !
No, we have to find a solution quickly, otherwise thirty lashes today will be the least of our worries!
Just as Zhu Yunhuan was getting anxious, he suddenly caught a glimpse of a few willow trees near the palace wall.
“I figured it out!”
Zhu Yunxun ran to the willow tree, snapped off a few willow branches, and then ran towards the dragon chariot in the surprised eyes of his friends.
"Grandpa Huang, wait for me. I'll go with you to visit Uncle San!"
Erhu, who was riding on a horse, saw Zhu Yunhuan running towards him, and then looked at the willow branch in his hand. He felt sick all over.
His Royal Highness the Third Grandson is too self-conscious. He knew he was going to be beaten, so he helped the emperor prepare all the tools for beating in advance?
However, the Third Grandson of the Emperor's quick-witted words were quite clever, turning passivity into initiative.
If I didn't know the truth, I would have thought that the child was waiting here just to go with the emperor to visit His Royal Highness the Prince of Jin.
When Old Zhu saw Zhu Yunhuan's behavior, he sneered in his heart.
Does this grandson think that we will forgive him if he says this and then puts on a show of asking for forgiveness?
Nonsence!
He wishes!
If we don't beat him half to death today, we will be unworthy of the love that the Third Brother has for the father and his son!
