"Trash! It's all rubbish! It's a waste!" With a roar, several young eunuchs retreated from the Qianqing Palace in fear. Several veterans at the door shook their heads helplessly. However, in just twenty days, the world was in chaos. Well, why is this happening? No one knows.
The entire army of the Imperial Secret Service sent to the south of the Yangtze River to search for the eldest princess was wiped out. The governor of Shanghai Road, Ma Shiying, fled with his seal, handing over a huge city to the rebels. The imperial court urgently dispatched an army of 50,000 to attack Shanghai, but was stopped in the city. Outside, no progress was made for five days, and the Zhejiang navy sent to block the sea route was sunk by several submarines of unknown origin. It was so frightened that it fled back to Ningbo Port in disgrace.
The bad news doesn't stop there. War broke out again in the west. Emperor Galdan of Xixia mobilized 500,000 troops from all over the country to attack the Ming Dynasty. Within seven days, he attacked several cities and reached Jiayuguan. The Gansu defenders were all Liu Ziguang's men. , there has been a lot of commotion recently. In order to prevent them from defecting, Yuan Chonghuan has ordered a ban on firing guns and ammunition before going to the front line, fearing that they would have weapons to deal with the imperial court and these rebels would die in the hands of the Xixia people.
The south was not stable either. King Ning, who had rebelled the year before, actually came back and appeared in Yunnan with a group of troops, claiming that he was Zhengshuo of the Ming Dynasty and was now recruiting troops to go north.
Of course, what irritated Zhu Youxiao the most was that Liu Ziguang actually escaped and made a fuss in Korea to show his presence. Now the rumors spread were self-defeating, which was like giving Liu Ziguang's old subordinates a reassurance. , completely disrupted the emperor's arrangement, and he had the intention to send the navy to Goryeo to capture the thief alive, but after taking stock of the power at his disposal, he found that there was no ocean-going navy at all, and the Beiyang navy with the ability to go to sea was Liu Ziguang's direct descendant. , Taiwan Navy is also disobedient. Zhejiang Navy and Yangtze River Navy do not have large-scale ships. They can only be used on inland rivers and coastlines, and cannot go out to sea at all. This makes Zhu Youxiao very upset. After so many years of reform and opening up in the Ming Dynasty, the country has become rich and strong. Where did the military's achievements go? Aren't they all so good to Liu Ziguang himself! Now looking back on what this guy did, it's really deplorable!
Shanghai Governor Ma Shiying, who was kneeling before His Majesty Qianqing Palace, was dragged down by the Jin Yiwei without even seeing the Emperor's face. The memorial signed by several veterans to vouch for Ma Shiying was also thrown out. The Emperor was furious now and no one wanted to see him.
When Ma Shiying, who was ashen-faced, was dragged down, he suddenly saw the young Eunuch Wei walking over. When he passed by, Wei Zhongxian gave Ma Shiying a meaningful smile, and Ma Shiying's frightened heart calmed down a little. , I said in my heart that I hope Eunuch Wei is a discerning person, and for the sake of my respect for his one million taels of silver, he will try his best to save me.
Although the emperor said that he would not see anyone, Eunuch Wei was an exception. Soon after Wei Zhongxian walked into the Qianqing Palace, he heard Zhu Youxiao's hearty laughter coming from inside: "Okay! Well done on this job! I will give you a big reward!" "The little eunuchs looked at each other in shock. Eunuch Wei was still more capable, and he extinguished the emperor's thunderous anger in a short time.
In fact, Wei Zhongxian didn't say anything. He just brought good news. Sun Qichao, the imperial envoy who inspected Shandong Province, lived up to his trust and rode to Qingdao alone without spending a single soldier or general. With reason and affection, he actually killed Liu Ziguang. The most solid fortress of the faction was surrendered, and from then on the whole territory of Shandong was surrendered to the king. It was really a great achievement.
Zhu Youxiao was in a good mood, and Wei Zhongxian took the opportunity to speak again, saying that the situation in Shanghai was dangerous. If a sword-to-sword confrontation occurred easily, this important tax town of the Ming Dynasty would be completely destroyed. It was out of this consideration that Ma Shiying loved the people like a son.
Abandoning the city, and there is a civil servant, it is difficult for him to lead the troops to fight against the rebels. It is better to pardon Governor Ma and let him go to study politics or something, so as to show the kindness of our emperor. As for Shanghai
, just send a Confucian general, and it won't take long to recover.
Principal Zhu You nodded in agreement and said, "In Xiao Weizi's opinion, who would be better to send?"
Wei Zhongxian said: "Yuan Chengzhi, son of Yuan Chonghuan, Minister of War and Prime Minister of Longxi Trilateral Military Affairs, can take up this post."
Zhu Youxiao slapped his head: "Look at my memory, why have I forgotten Yuan Aiqing? He is one of my generals. He is not inferior to my father in strategizing. He is many times better than someone else."
As he spoke, he was obviously thinking of Liu Ziguang. Zhu Youxiao's face darkened again, and he said bitterly: "Without Butcher Zhang, I might not be able to eat pigs with hair on them!"
Wei Zhongxian said: "Your Majesty is wise, if Marshal Yuan takes action, he will definitely win the battle. There is no need to worry about this journey. As for the Zhejiang Navy, your Majesty just orders to urge Shi Lang to send troops to blockade Shanghai as soon as possible. If he delays the war, he will be executed without mercy.
.”
Zhu Youxiao yawned: "Xiao Weizi is very good at doing things. You can take care of this matter. I'm tired. I'll go to the back garden to play for a while. If there are good things, I'll report them. If there are bad things, just watch by yourself."
Let’s do it.”
A hint of joy flashed across Wei Zhongxian's face, and he quickly knelt down and said, "I will obey the holy edict."
Zhu Youxiao was just about to move, and when he reached the gate of the palace, a palace maid suddenly shouted: "Your Majesty, the Queen has not eaten for three days!"
Wei Zhongxian was furious and shouted: "Which slave in the palace dares to come and talk nonsense? I will drag him down and beat him to death!" Several eunuchs were about to rush to arrest him, but Zhu Youxiao, who was sitting on the chariot, stopped them all.
He said to the palace maid: "Come here and talk."
The palace maid was quite courageous. She was originally a maid in the Duke's palace and came into the palace with the queen. Now that her master has been thrown into the cold palace without food or drink, the maids became anxious and risked their lives to come here to dissuade them.
The emperor was willing to listen to her, so he hurried forward, knelt down, and poured out the Queen's sufferings.
After Zhu Youxiao listened for a while, the muscles on his face gradually relaxed, and his eyes seemed to be moist, as if he remembered that when he met the Queen at Xuanwu Lake many years ago, Wei Zhongxian saw it and said anxiously in his heart.
: "Long live, the progress of Wei Guogong in Beijing is very unfavorable. I'm afraid he may be colluding with the rebels..."
Zhu Youxiao suddenly woke up, slapped the armrest of the chariot and said angrily: "Bitch, you are here too! Who told you to turn your heart to outsiders, and who told you that you can't give birth to a prince! You asked for this! Let's go!"
After the chariot left, the miserable palace maid wanted to catch up and beg, but she was dragged aside by a few muscular guards and died after being slapped with sticks.
Zhu Youxiao's anger was not unreasonable. As the Mingjun of Zhongxing, his harem was not full, with only seven or eight concubines. But five or six years later, none of these concubines were pregnant. Having no heirs was the most important thing for an emperor.
Zhu Youxiao also asked the imperial doctor to see the uncomfortable thing, but he discovered a huge secret. It turned out that Zhu Youxiao had no fertility at all!
This is no less than a thunderbolt hitting Zhu Youxiao's head. After carefully searching for the root cause, it turns out that he was poisoned by Queen Mother Li when he was a child. On the surface, he is a normal man and can have sex, but he cannot raise offspring, just like a mule.
of.
Zhu Youxiao killed the imperial doctor. Only he and Wei Zhongxian knew the secret. From then on, the emperor's temperament changed drastically. He was often angry for no reason, jealous of this and that, and alienated the queen and concubines. He was busy with state affairs and scientific research all day long.
, on the surface he became a wise king, but in fact he had a perverted personality deep down.
However, there were still a bunch of indifferent ministers and clan members who insisted on making a country without a crown prince and choosing a talented member of the clan to adopt Zhu Youxiao as his son. The ministers of the Wei Zhongxian group immediately counterattacked, saying that the emperor was in the prime of his life and that he could not succeed.
There was a need to establish a heir apparent, but the other party responded by saying that Emperor Wuzong was at his peak in the Spring and Autumn Period and had no sons until his death. In the end, he had to adopt one. Now that the country is in turmoil, it is better to have a heir apparent than none.
What the ministers and clan members said was reasonable, but Zhu Youxiao couldn't defeat them. He was so angry that he jumped up and down. It was Huang Zongxi who had a way and secretly suggested Zhu Youxiao to play dirty. Now all the clan members from all over the world have gathered in the capital. The capital is full of flowers and sensuality.
, these clan members from all over the country all enjoyed it, indulged in sensuality, and arranged for the personnel of the Imperial Secret Service to find evidence against them. It was too easy to accuse them of bad conduct. If they could not find any evidence, they would send people to assassinate them.
, they can’t be allowed to choose the crown prince anyway. The recent border troubles in Yunnan and King Ning have raised troops again, this is a good opportunity to design a few traps and accuse the clan of having an affair with King Ning and intending to rebel. That’s not what they want.
All disposal is done.
Zhu Youxiao has lived in a cold and cold palace since he was a child. He only has two close relatives - his mother and sister. He was also driven away from the palace and lived among the people. Because of his status as a little prince, many people tried every means to kill him.
Empress Dowager Li saved his life, but she just wanted to use him as a puppet. She even poisoned him and destroyed some of his organs, making him a useless mule.
Therefore, Zhu Youxiao had no feelings for the Zhu family at all. He only missed his biological mother and sister. However, when his mother and sister were taken away, he found that these two closest relatives had also changed. In their hearts
Only Liu Ziguang, and in the end, even his queen helped Liu Ziguang to protect his family. All of this caused Zhu Youxiao's emotional world to collapse. The human side in his heart gradually disappeared, leaving only the ruthlessness of the king.