If you look at Zhu Houzhao's sixteen-year career as emperor from the height of history, it is neither short nor long.

He had only done this once.

That was before the southern tour, one hundred and forty-six ministers knelt outside the Meridian Gate to remonstrate. Zhu Houzhao, who had always been tolerant to his ministers, finally couldn't suppress the anger in his heart and decreed that all ministers who knelt outside the Meridian Gate would be punished.

Thirty sticks.

Eleven of them were in poor health and were killed on the spot.

Except for this time, although Zhu Houzhao had always fought with civil servants and often acted irrationally, his methods had always been gentle, he would never kill indiscriminately, and he even punished his ministers very rarely.

For example, if he wanted to leave the border, but the guard refused to let him go, he obviously only needed a decree to kill the guard.

After all, this guard has already rebelled and disrespected the imperial decree, and should be punished for his crime. Even the king of heaven and I will have to admit this logic.

But Zhu Houzhao did not do this. Instead, he chose to make a big detour and faced the officials who were chasing after him. He did not punish him or even scold him. He just complained after a few words and ignored them.

To sum up Zhu Houzhao's life, he wanted to do things, so he had to fight with ministers, so he created the Eight Tigers to check and balance the civil servant group, but he was not ruthless enough.

And from deep down, Zhu Houzhao is different from the Jiajing Immortal. He values ​​love and justice, has a straightforward personality, and does not like to fight with ministers.

Therefore, many of Zhu Houzhao's strange practices will look ridiculous from later generations, and they are completely unlike the actions of an emperor.

Because he hopes to use his own skills to get back his own power, in a relatively gentle way.

This is completely different from his cousin Zhu Houcong.

The Jiajing Immortal was keen on power struggles, with his devilish spirit, super-intelligent brain, and his cautious and sinister character that no one believed in. Before Yan Song, an old man, came on the scene, he used the power of ministers to check and balance each other, plus

He is so ruthless that he can trick the ministers of the dynasty around him.

If we compare it solely from the point of view of the emperor, Zhu Houcong could throw Zhu Houzhao away for more than a dozen streets, and even a will-o'-the-wisp could not catch up.

"Sage, I have a question."

The flames in his heart crackled for a few seconds, and Zhu Houzhao frowned.

"I don't have a knife now."

This was the embarrassing situation Zhu Houzhao faced.

According to the system of the Ming Dynasty, if a healthy emperor wants to kill someone, no matter it is a traitor or the chief minister of the cabinet, he can do it just by talking.

However, there is a prerequisite, and that is having a knife in your hand.

This knife is Jin Yiwei and Dongchang.

The institution that was once used to supervise officials has gradually evolved into a sharp blade for guarding imperial power.

This is why in the last years of Chongzhen's reign, the Donglin Party was in control of both the government and the opposition, but Chongzhen still abolished whoever he wanted and beheaded whoever he wanted.

Because I have a knife in my hand and you don't, I have no objection to cutting you.

But now the Jinyiwei and Dongchang admirals, as well as the capital regimental camp admirals, are all the mighty deputy general Jiang Bin. In other words, Jiang Bin is actually Zhu Houzhao's sword.

Obviously the cabinet had long been wary of this, so the first thing he did after Zhu Houzhao fell ill was to transfer Jiang Bin to Tongzhou.

At the same time, the nine gates of the capital were closely monitored to eliminate the possibility of Jiang Bin sneaking into the capital secretly.

As long as Jiang Bin cannot see the emperor, the Jinyiwei and Dongchang in his hands, as well as the elite soldiers of the regiment, will be just decorations. An ownerless sword can only be used as a decoration.

Because Jiang Bin is only an admiral and does not have the right to command. If Jiang Bin dares to use the three knives in his hand to cause chaos without the emperor's order, it will be tantamount to treason, and the cabinet will kill you without any discussion.

The civil servants in the temple were eager for Jiang Bin to cause trouble.

Jiang Bin himself knew this very well, so after being transferred to Tongzhou, Jiang Bin did not dare to make any move until the death of Emperor Zhengde.

Because he knew very well that if he moved, he would die.

As for Jiang Bin's rebellion before he fell into the water, judging from the many historical records that followed, it was most likely that the civil servants were talking nonsense. After all, if you want to cut a person alive, you have to name the person who committed the most heinous crime.

Since ancient times, the crime of treason has been tried repeatedly.

Although Jiang Bin has soldiers in his hands, he is not a warlord. They are fundamentally two completely different species. The power structure in his hands is more like that of a eunuch, and every bit of it is derived from Zhu Houzhao.

If Zhu Houzhao is gone, his power will be like a decoration. Whether it is Jinyiwei, Dongchang or Tuanying, they will all be loyal to the new emperor immediately. Who the hell would sacrifice their lives for a young man like Jiang Bin?

Moreover, all the civil servants in the dynasty wanted to chop him alive. His only support was the emperor, the rebel who created the hammer.

Jiang Bin himself should know this very well.

Therefore, not only would he not rebel, he would burn incense and worship Buddha every day, praying devoutly to God for Zhu Houzhao to live a long life, and preferably for another five hundred years.

Facing Zhu Houzhao's words, Ji Boying smiled slightly.

"Knife, I can help you get it."

"What you need is determination."

Politics is complicated, but sometimes politics is also very simple.

For the Zhengde Dynasty, and for Zhu Houzhao, it only took one person to make a comeback.

That is, Jiang Bin.

As long as Jiang Bin appears in the capital, as long as Jiang Bin sees Zhu Houzhao, everything can be solved.

Because only after seeing Zhu Houzhao and getting the imperial edict, Jiang Bin had the courage and his sword to be able to kill people legitimately.

Ji Boying looked at Zhu Houzhao, and he saw hesitation in Zhu Houzhao's eyes.

This is no wonder that Emperor Wuzong, although Zhu Houzhao was playful, had one thing that even the civil service group could not discredit, that is, Zhu Houzhao had a mellow nature and was very kind to his courtiers.

And the inertia that Ming Dynasty has developed over the years.

After Renxuan, especially after the Tumubao Incident and the Battle of Peking, the power of the civil servant group began to expand rapidly, and the emperor treated civil servants with even greater courtesy.

In particular, Zhu Houzhao's father, Emperor Xiaozong, Zhu Youtang, was known for being a courteous and virtuous corporal. He almost didn't even let the civil servants sell him, and he was still helping count the money.

All these deeply affected Zhu Houzhao's thinking inertia.

"I'll take you somewhere."

"What…"

Before Zhu Houzhao could finish asking this question, he had already noticed that the scenery around him had changed.

'What is this place?'

‘Why are there so many people wearing dragon robes?!’

'Have I gone to heaven?'

The moment he focused his eyes to see clearly, this was the first thought in Zhu Houzhao's mind.

Hongwu time and space, Zuixian Tower.

When Ji Boying brought Zhu Houzhao back to the main hall of Zuixian Tower, Lao Zhu was sitting on his Taishi chair and drinking tea leisurely, while Abiao was studying the silver strategy explained by Ji Boying alone, frowning, as if

Enlightenment.

Old Zhu Di and Zhu Laosi, two people from different time and space, and monk Dao Yan, the three of them formed a small circle and were discussing the plan of the great voyage.

Especially Zhu Laosi, he listened to Lao Zhu Di's explanation with a learning attitude and nodded frequently.

After all, in Lao Zhu Di's time, the Three Treasure Eunuchs had already made six voyages to the West, and had established a mature and strongest navy in the world. This was an irreplaceable reference for Zhu Laosi and could avoid many detours.

Jianwen Zhu Gaochi, on the other hand, was lying on the table alone. Looking closer, he could hear snoring.

Fatty Hong Xi and Fatty Yongle got together and the topic they discussed was very simple, that is, how to maintain health.

Emperor Xuande and Emperor Jingtai, the conversation between father and son was very harmonious and loving.

Emperor Jingtai just received a piece of information from Lianxiang, which recorded the content of the previous lessons. Emperor Xuande was explaining it to him one by one.

In the last row of the main hall, two tables were moved and joined together.

Yongle Zhu Zhanji was dragging little Zhu Si and fighting with crickets on top of him, while Hongxi Zhu Zhanji stood aside and watched with his hands up, shouting several times from time to time.

Lianxiangxiyu, on the other hand, kept going back and forth among the people, serving tea to the emperors and princes, and providing afternoon tea such as cakes.

"Brother is back."

When Lao Zhu saw Ji Boying appearing on the podium, he quickly put down the tea cup in his hand and stood up to greet him with a smile.

"Let you move freely, and this is how you move?!"

Ji Boying's eyes glanced sharply,

As soon as the words came out, everyone else reacted instantly and immediately corrected themselves.

Especially Zhu Zhanji and Xiao Zhusi, who were fighting crickets from Yongle, covered the cricket box and quickly put it away. They stood there with their heads lowered and dared not speak.

It looked like a naughty student who was hiding in the corner of the classroom playing mobile games after class and was caught by the class teacher.

"Master Immortal, who is this?"

Abiao, who had withdrawn his thoughts from the silver strategy, looked at Zhu Houzhao beside Ji Boying and asked subconsciously.

"Zhu Houzhao, the tenth emperor of Ming Dynasty, Zhengde."

Ji Boying said lightly.

Then he briefly introduced the identities of Lao Zhu, Lao Zhu Di and others to Zhu Houzhao.
To be continued...