One day passed, and some officials who were looking forward to it did not hear the news of the emperor's death as they wished.
But there was one person who did not panic at all. It was the patrol censor Wang Zhongzhong who was recalled from Shandong by Zhu Youxiao last year.
The emperor was stabbed and poisoned by the assassins he arranged to die.
Although he was just an ordinary imperial censor in the Metropolitan Procuratorate, he was only a seventh-rank official. The emperor Zhu Youxiao didn't even know who he was.
But his background is not low, and his family is a famous big family in Zhejiang.
His family's fortune began during the Yongle period, when he entered the political arena because of his meritorious service in helping Emperor Chengzu to be defeated.
Later, he relied on smuggling to become a local wealthy man in just a few decades.
His ancestors participated in the first three of Sanbao Eunuch's seven voyages to the West, and because of this, he discovered huge profits.
But at that time, Chengzu still attached great importance to overseas affairs, and the imperial court had an extremely large fleet, so it still had some control over going to sea.
However, since the Xuande period, the imperial court implemented a maritime ban. This business opportunity and the huge profits therein drove them to engage in smuggling out to sea.
But after all, his family is a traditional gentry family, and this kind of thing cannot be brought to light after all. After all, the influence and jealousy of others have to be taken into consideration.
Therefore, even though it has been in business for hundreds of years, its scale is still not as large as that of rising stars such as Li Dan and Zheng Zhilong.
And it was precisely for this reason that he decided to take great risks to assassinate the emperor.
You must know that he was the censor of Shandong Province at the beginning, and the fact that the emperor established a huge maritime fleet in Denglai could not be hidden from him.
As the saying goes, cutting off someone's financial path is like killing one's parents.
Although the emperor has not cut off his family's financial resources yet, if he just leaves it alone, it will only be a matter of time.
The emperor recruited a large number of Westerners to serve as instructors in the army.
There are also many skilled people who manufacture and develop various firearms and cannons in the arsenal.
He didn't believe that the emperor had no idea about this huge overseas trade market.
Seeing that this day was getting closer and closer, and the civil servants like them had no choice but to do anything to the emperor, he had no choice but to take risks.
Fortunately, his bold adventure this time paid off. Now he only needs to wait until he dies, and then everything will be easy.
Of course, no one except himself knew what he had done, and it was impossible for him to tell others, otherwise the Nine Clans would be dead.
Of course, he didn't know that his so-called dead soldiers did not die before being captured, but were now in prison undergoing severe torture from the Jin Yiwei.
He is now thinking about how to report to the new emperor after the emperor dies and ask him to abolish Denglai Military Town.
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Another day passed, and there was still no news from the palace.
All the ministries in the central government were also under the control of the six cabinet ministries and were running meticulously, as if the emperor's assassination had never happened.
No matter how the outer court discussed the emperor's assassination, the three cabinet ministers did not come forward to explain anything.
And the factory guards who had frightened them had all stopped since the emperor was assassinated, and there was no movement at all.
The oppressive feeling that made their spirits extremely tense all the time finally disappeared.
Seeing this situation, some bold officials who were already on the opposite side of the emperor began to gather privately to discuss the matter.
Although they had no way of knowing what was going on in the palace, and they didn't know whether the emperor was dead or alive, what was certain was that the emperor was no longer able to care about anything else, and whether he died or not would only be a matter of the next few days.
Since this is a God-given opportunity, they must firmly seize this opportunity and abolish all the new policies implemented by the emperor. At least these policies cannot be implemented in Jiangnan, their base.
They knew the King of Rui Zhu Changhao very well, but he was just a mediocre person. He had not done anything serious in the capital for so many years. In the palace, he only chanted sutras and Buddhas and slept all day long.
It is not difficult to deal with him, except for the eunuch officials who are attached to Wei Zhongxian and the royalist officials, mainly Wang Zaijin, Cheng Guoxiang and others.
Although the emperor is about to die, he has promoted a large number of officials, and now they are all in high positions and have great power, which is beyond their ability to shake.
As a member of a wealthy family in Southern Zhili, Zhang Jin naturally realized that this was an excellent opportunity.
A perfect opportunity for the Jiangnan gentry to once again have the say in government affairs.
"The current plan is to open three gaps in this prisoner's body and let him help us. Only in this way can great things be accomplished."
Zhang Jin summoned more than a dozen officials, three of whom were even from Donglin.
But they discussed it for half an hour, but finally found that the seemingly perfect opportunity only had King Rui as a breakthrough.
Seeing that Zhang Jin had come to a conclusion, others had the same idea.
If you want to get the benefits you want, you really can only go through King Rui.
A Donglin official answered:
"Yes, as the saying goes, one emperor has one minister. Although King Rui is only a supervisor of the country, the emperor personally appointed him to manage the government on behalf of heaven. Now it is only in name only."
"And Prince Rui is the son of Emperor Shenzong and your Majesty's uncle."
"Your Majesty has no heirs, and Prince Guang is a vassal far away in Guangzhou. Your Majesty doesn't like him either. Prince Rui and Your Majesty are so close in blood, and now they are the supervisors of the country. They are close to each other. It is impossible to say that he can inherit the throne."
"At this critical moment, if we can lend a helping hand to King Rui, it would be a huge favor. Once he truly ascends the throne, we and I will be able to work together to achieve a prosperous age with all the righteousness and prosperity. It will be a piece of cake."
The analysis of Donglin officials was indeed reasonable, but General Secretary Liu Wenbo did not think so. He said:
"However, we have no interaction with King Rui on weekdays. When he applied for vassal affairs many times, we offended him. Will he accept us?"
"Besides, he is already the supervisor of the country and has an overview of the major affairs of the government. This has never happened before in our Ming Dynasty when the emperor was critically ill and the vassal king supervised the country."
"In my opinion, this may be a sign that Emperor Bao Buqi really wants him to inherit the throne."
"In this way, no matter whether King Rui accepts us or not, and no matter how we help him, it is just a useless effort and does not affect the overall situation."
"What Yintai said is good. If the emperor really has this idea, then most of the ministers of the six cabinet departments, as well as the left and right ministers, will obey the emperor's will and assist him." (Yintai is the elegant name of the General Secretary)
"If they stand over, what do we mean? There may not be as many of them as us, but everyone holds great power. In this court, after all, it is Wang Zaijin and those who have the highest say."
Zhang Jin's words revealed a little helplessness. This was indeed their disadvantage. In the Ming Dynasty, their right to speak could be said to be minimal.