Volume 2: Soaring! The Overlord of the Region Chapter 230 History Fails to Repeat Itself (I)
The first State Council meeting of the new year took a long time because it involved the summary of the previous year and the new year's plan. Everyone had lunch in the conference room at noon, and the meeting lasted until about seven in the evening.
Such a high-intensity and long meeting was too much for even a 14-year-old like Zhu Youdong. So, after the meeting, when he returned to his bedroom, he asked the eunuchs to prepare some snacks for him to fill his stomach, so that he could take a nap after eating.
But Wang Chengen came closer with a serious look and whispered in his ear, "Young Master, Eunuch Zhang from Fu Fan is here. He said he has something urgent to report."
"Fu Fan? Extremely urgent?" Zhu Youdong took a deep breath and lowered his voice: "No one knows that he has come to Beijing, right?"
"Probably not. According to Eunuch Zhang, after he came from Luoyang in disguise, he first went to Eunuch Wang Kun's outer residence. When Eunuch Wang Kun came home from work and saw him, he immediately locked up the gatehouse of the outer residence and then had the guards from the East Factory hide Eunuch Zhang in a water cart and send him to Xinghua Palace."
"Okay, go to my study, blindfold him, and lead him through the tunnel."
"yes."
…
Let’s go back two days.
After seeing off "Boss Wang", Zhu Changxun called his close friend Zhang Tong over without any hesitation.
"Otomo, that's what happened. It seems that the Donglin Party has run out of ways to deal with my nephew who has taken control of the military power, and they want to poison or assassinate him."
"Your Majesty is much smarter than Crown Prince Huiren, as he can see the big picture from the small details and draw inferences from one instance. What a pity... So how does Your Majesty plan to deal with this?"
"Hmph, Donglin Party, if these guys hadn't gotten in the way, I would have been the crown prince long ago. But my eldest brother, whom they regarded as the future wise ruler, died too early, and now this crown prince is too cruel, so they turned around and wanted to frame me... Do you really think I'm made of clay?"
"Your Majesty is right. These civil officials are unreliable. But I was thinking, it is easy to dodge an open attack but hard to guard against an arrow from the dark. Now the six major daily newspapers of Yanjing, Jinling, Chang'an, Nanyue, Tianfu, and Chutian have covered the whole country. The Crown Prince has control over public opinion. It is not easy for local gentry to incite civil unrest and cause trouble for the country. In addition, the Crown Prince has already controlled the military power, so the civil officials cannot rebel openly... But it is hard to say whether they will be poisoned or assassinated."
"so what?"
"Your Majesty." Zhang Tong bowed with great respect: "Since your Majesty was born, I have been assigned to serve you. If I say that I don't want you to ascend to the top, that is absolutely a lie. But the current situation really cannot be taken lightly. In your opinion, your Majesty should send capable people as soon as possible to sneak into Beijing and warn the Crown Prince and the Emperor!"
"Um……"
"Your Majesty, you cannot hesitate on this matter. The throne is important, but your safety is more important to me! If crown prince fails to escape this time, Crown Prince Huiren still has many sons... Even if Your Majesty is made the crown prince, with such a stain, Your Majesty will be threatened by those civil officials all the time in the future. How can you feel about being the emperor? And if the crown prince escapes this time, given his character, there will definitely be a bloody storm. If Your Majesty does not warn me in advance, I am afraid that not only will the title of king be lost, but also his life will be in danger!"
"Well... I have been reading the Jinling Daily for years." Zhu Changxun took a deep breath and said, "The foundation of the country, the Huangce Library, is rotten. The Ming Dynasty is in great danger. These guys don't think about how to save the country all day long. But for the loss of a little bit of their own interests, they dare to take the risk to kill the king! How dare I cooperate with such a minister? I am not convinced by my weak and incompetent elder brother, but I am convinced and admire my nephew who is the reincarnation of the Azure Dragon! Big friend, the hesitation just now was just a test by me. There is no way. This matter is too serious. Even if it is Big friend, I have to..."
"Your Majesty, there is no need to say more. This is the way it should be. Then, I will personally take care of this matter."
"Okay, I will just pretend to be nice to this 'Boss Wang' in Luoyang, and you should go and come back quickly. After all, someone like you is too conspicuous in the palace. If you don't show up for three to five days, those scoundrels might get alert."
"Yes, I will return within five days. I will have to trouble you these few days. Please relax your guard on the outside and strengthen the guard of the palace."
…
Looking at Zhang Tong in front of him, with a big beard, a face full of sweat, dust, and mud, Zhu Youdong did not feel angry at all. On the contrary, he was more relieved: after all, the people who care most about the future of this country are still his own people.
Yes, in the late Ming Dynasty in the historical dimension, whether it was King Zhou who defended Kaifeng and blocked Li Zicheng's repeated attacks, or King Fu, King Tang, and King Gui who died successively at the hands of the Qing Dynasty... Although the descendants of the Zhu family had various problems, their basic bloodiness was still retained.
"Zhang Tong."
"The servant is here."
"You've worked hard. When Cao Huachun comes, he will take you to the Qianqing Palace to see Grandfather Emperor, and then you can go back quickly. Tell my third uncle that no matter the help the imperial concubine gave me more than a year ago or his warning to me today, I am grateful for your kindness and will remember it in my heart. In the future, I will definitely repay you generously!"
Soon, Cao Huachun, who heard the news, took Zhang Tong away from the tunnel. Zhu Youdong then came out of the study and entered the outer room of his bedroom in Xinghua Palace. A delicate snack and a cup of Tremella soup were already on the table.
"Master, this matter..."
"Don't make it public for now. Go out of the palace quietly and bring Cao Wenzhao, Tian Ergeng, and Wang Kun in."
"yes."
Wang Chengen left, and Zhu Youdong fell into deep thought again.
Honestly speaking, the fact that the civil officials waited until this time to take action was beyond his expectation: before, when the crown prince was around, the civil officials still had a glimmer of hope, so it was understandable that they did not take action. But now the crown prince has been dead for more than a year, and if they wanted to take action, they should have taken action long ago. Why wait until now?
Zhu Youdong was mentally prepared for the shamelessness and lack of bottom line of the Ming Dynasty's civil officials: Zhengde, Taichang, and Tianqi in the historical perspective all died in unclear circumstances . Except for Taichang, who was unlikely to be killed by civil officials, the other two were highly suspected by civil officials!
Back then, Zhengde seized the military power, while Tianqi used Wei Zhongxian to purge the Donglin Party. Then, they suddenly died when they had just completed their careers and were about to start making great plans...
What about me? The military power was seized, and the Donglin Party was purged once... Ah, yes, the current Donglin Party is not as strong as it was during the Tianqi period in the historical plane . This purge was carried out when the prince was still alive. Therefore, they were a little caught off guard, and the relevant layout was not completed, so the assassination came a little late.
But then I thought again, that's not right. The Donglin Party members confronted Prince Fu on the first day of the Lunar New Year, which means they are very confident that they can kill me in the next one or two days. But now it's the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, and I'm still alive and kicking - aren't they afraid that Prince Fu will come to tip them off?
Uh... it seems that I have been here for so long that I have forgotten one thing: my body, like the other six travelers, is immune to all poisons. Maybe someone has already poisoned me, but I have no idea and ate the poison as if it were candy?
After figuring this out, Zhu Youdong turned around with a gloomy expression and looked at the plate of snacks and Tremella soup on the table.
He stood up and grabbed a cat.
You can easily catch a cat. All the emperors of the Ming Dynasty were famous cat lovers. Emperor Jiajing even buried his beloved cat in a golden coffin after it died. The emperor was willing to be a cat owner, so is there any need to ask how the people below him treated cats? In addition, the palace never sterilizes cats here, so there are many cats in the Forbidden City! Moreover, over the past few hundred years, the cats here have learned to be smart and know which people in the palace they can't afford to offend. They have never been arrogant to such people.
"Meow~" The fat orange cat acted coquettishly in Zhu Youdong's arms, and then Zhu Youdong blew a spoonful of Tremella soup to cool it down and put it into the orange cat's mouth!
