Volume 1: Birth! Seven time travelers Chapter 022 The Crown Prince Will Become a Hero
"Oh, my dear grandson, come here and let grandpa take a look. Tsk tsk tsk tsk, half of your face is swollen. This little bastard is so cruel."
Uh... Father, how can you say that about your own son? I am a little bastard, then what are you?
Looking at Zhu Youdong who was acting cute and pitiful in Wanli's arms, Zhu Changluo who was standing below felt dazed: Is this the son who spoke with murderous intent just now?
"Chang Luo , come here!"
"Father?"
"Closer, closer, bang~~!"
"Father?!"
"If you hit my good grandson, I will hit you!"
While the grandfather and grandson were performing a live drama in the Qianqing Palace, a brother and sister were glaring at each other in the Cining Palace west of the Qianqing Palace.
"Queen Mother, you have to make the decision for our family. Look, he just beat up his men and detained one person. What did this little bastard do? He killed people and burned houses. Is there any law in this? I am fine if I was slapped in the face, but it is clear that he does not take you, Queen Mother, seriously!"
Li Caifeng, the Empress Dowager of the Ming Dynasty, was 58 years old this year. Overall, in terms of history, this Empress Dowager was scheming and skillful, but more importantly, she knew her limits.
Before Wanli came of age, she was very strict with him. She used Feng Bao in the inner court and Zhang Juzheng in the outer court. She held great power and was the most powerful person in the Ming Empire at that time. But when Wanli took power, she was able to hand over all power very happily and return to the Cining Palace completely.
She generally turned a blind eye to minor faults of her relatives and did not force them too much. However, if they got too outrageous, she would step in to stop them or even punish them. In short, in terms of historical evaluation, except for the fact that she was too devout to Buddhism and too enthusiastic about building temples, which cost her a lot of money, everything else was relatively positive.
At this time, she was sitting in the main seat, listening to her brother crying and making a fuss for a long time, but she still had a stern face and didn't say a word.
"Empress Dowager? Empress Dowager~~It's a pity that so many people in our family died. Empress Dowager, oh, my sister~~"
"Hey, all of you, please step back."
After asking the eunuchs and palace maids to leave, Empress Dowager Li got down from her seat and said softly to Li Gao, "Let's just forget about this matter. Don't make a fuss. It will be good for you."
"What?!" Li Gao, who was originally sitting on the chair, jumped up all of a sudden: "How can this be! Why? Sister, what is the generation of that little bastard? What is my generation? Shouldn't you call that brat over, apologize to me, and compensate for the loss?"
"Shut up! Marquis Wuqing, you are becoming more and more outrageous. Is that what you call the Crown Prince? If you continue to be so arrogant, I will ask the Emperor to abolish your title!"
After all, all his honor and disgrace depended on the Queen Mother. After being scolded by his own sister, Li Gao remained silent for a while.
"I started serving the late emperor during the Jiajing period."
Li Caifeng sighed and said, "At that time, the people who came and went in the Ming Dynasty court were all very powerful. In the cabinet, there were Yan Song, Xu Jie, and Gao Gong. In the local areas, there were Hu Zongxian, Zhao Zhenji, Hai Rui, Tan Lun, Qi Jiguang, and Yu Dayou... Emperor Shizong was able to control these people in the palm of his hand. He was truly an emperor who was unparalleled in the world.
But! The talent shown by the grandson last night is far beyond that of Emperor Shizong. In my opinion, that is something that only the founding emperor Taizu and Chengzu who pacified the rebellion have. "
"What? Sister, are you praising me too much?"
"Hey, brother, you are a marquis now. Read more books when you have nothing to do, and don't spend all day calculating where you can get benefits and where you can collect money."
At this point, Queen Mother Li simply moved a chair and sat next to Li Gao: "Look, the Crown Prince received the news in the afternoon, but he showed up in Honghe Village that night. He killed people and burned houses, and did it cleanly and neatly. What do you call this? He is brave, resolute, and decisive.
You might say that this is clearly a child venting his anger and acting without regard for the consequences. But according to the information handed over by my sister's spies in Ciqing Palace, the Crown Prince was involved in this matter throughout. You have to know that the Crown Prince is only four years old! If a child vented his anger, would he have to travel nearly a hundred miles in the cold wind overnight? This is leading the troops and personally participating in the battle.
My sister also heard that afterward, the kid gave each person who participated in the evening a red envelope of five taels of silver. Although the amount was a little less, as long as you think about the fact that the crown prince himself didn't have much money, it was a way of treating the soldiers well, just like Wu Qi. "
Although Empress Dowager Li followed Emperor Longqing and read a lot of books, she was well-educated. But after being in a high position for a long time, her sensitivity to money became worse and worse. In fact, at least during the Wanli period, the purchasing power of five taels of silver was quite considerable. The most typical example is the following description in the late Ming Dynasty: Ximen Qing and Hua Zixu and others became sworn brothers. Ximen Qing bought a pig, a sheep, a few bottles of rice wine, incense, candles, money, paper, chickens, ducks and other sacrificial supplies, as well as some other side dishes. He asked someone to set up an incense table for sacrifice, and asked someone to use these ingredients to prepare a banquet... How much did the ingredients, labor, stall fees, etc. cost in total? Four taels of silver!
So Zhu Youdong is actually very generous.
"And brother, you have to see that, just because of this incident, the nobles, the generals and even the emperor all stood on the side of the grandson in a very short time. It can be seen that the entire Ming Dynasty has long been impatient with the Wuqing Marquis family. What do you think will happen to our Li family in the future if we don't restrain ourselves?"
"Ah ? Sister, what do you mean?"
"Hmph, you know about the people from the Duke of Ying and the Earl of Ningyuan's mansion, right? But what you need to know is that without the support of the Emperor and the Imperial Palace, how could the Crown Prince and his party leave the city in the middle of the night, and how could they enter the city smoothly before dawn? What is the Emperor's attitude? Do I need to ask?"
"this……"
"Hey, brother. I know that our family used to be a small family and lived a hard life. So after my father was granted the title, he did some unkind things with the help of my relationship. Some of them were too much, and I would say a few words. Some of them were just turned a blind eye. Is it because I don't know the law? No, I just think that my family used to suffer too much, and it's normal for them to make more money and enjoy themselves now. However, when doing these things, we still have to prioritize and distinguish between people. I never care if you take advantage of those businessmen and corrupt officials. But if you bully ordinary people, I will scold you every time I know about it. We used to be ordinary people and were bullied by dignitaries. How can you do that now that you are rich?
Also, there are some people in the Ming Dynasty that you cannot mess with. It’s fine that you pass off inferior tributes from various places as good ones to fool the emperor. Although the emperor has problems of this or that kind, he is a filial son and won’t bother with you. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have any thoughts in his mind. You bullied the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Works, and you offended the generals and nobles of the entire Ming Dynasty! Now you dare to mess with the grandson? ! You saw the strange scene over Beijing more than four years ago! And what happened last night has made it very clear that the grandson will definitely be a powerful ruler in the future. Do you think you can mess with such a person?"
Looking at Li Gao who finally fell silent, Empress Dowager Li sighed again: "Brother, you are already sixty years old this year, right? I am fifty-eight this year. We may have to go to see the late emperor someday. If we are gone, what will happen to the descendants of our Li family? It is a custom in our Ming Dynasty that the empress dowager's family will be granted a title of nobility. In the past two hundred years of the Ming Dynasty, there must be at least ten families who were granted a title of nobility because of the empress dowager in their family. But where are they now?"
