The atmosphere in Prince Xing's palace was very depressing because of Zhu Youqi's illness. Zhu Si rarely showed happiness in front of others recently. He had a deep relationship with his father. It was only during the Chinese New Year this year that he realized that his father's illness was not an ordinary disease. He was likely to die in the middle of the year, and he began to prepare mentally for losing his father at a young age.
At this time, news came from the capital that the emperor was going to tour the south, and issued an edict in mid-February: "I will patrol from time to time and go south to Shandong and Jiangnan."
There were constant rumors in the DPRK about discouraging Zhu Houzhao's southern tour. The ministers felt that the emperor's southern tour was expensive and had impure motives, so it should be stopped.
Then a massive remonstrance campaign began.
Historically, this remonstrance lasted for three months. When Zhu Houzhao was angry, he directly ordered the imperial staff to kill and wound many ministers. Unexpectedly, the civil servants came one after another, until in mid-April, Zhu Houzhao found that ministers were beaten to death one after another. , but there was still an endless stream of people, so I finally gave up.
Then Zhu Chenhao's rebellion happened. In August, Zhu Houzhao finally embarked on a southern tour to seek death...
Zhu Hao has also been gradually improving and implementing his plan recently.
First, he mentioned to Zhu Si the dispute between the imperial court and the palace, so that Zhu Si could understand that if he wanted to be a good Prince Xing, he not only needed to be able to be the head of the household, but also needed to understand the old grudge between Prince Xing's palace and the imperial court.
Zhu Hao gave Zhu Si a lot of private class time, and taught him a lot of private things every time.
Today is the end of March, and the county examination has ended. Jinghong lived up to expectations and successfully passed the county examination, and is now preparing for the prefectural examination.
In a small classroom with only two teachers and students, Zhu Hao explained to Zhu Si the old grudge between the imperial court and Prince Xing's Mansion.
"...Your Majesty, do you know why I encountered so much resistance when I entered the palace? I was even kicked out of the palace on the way?" Zhu Hao asked.
Zhu Si shook his head.
He had heard some things before, but a child would not believe those "gossips" that he did not want to accept in his heart. He had never regarded Zhu Hao as an enemy.
Zhu Hao said: "To put it simply, the imperial court sent the Zhu family, a family with thousands of households, to be guarded in golden clothes, and moved all the way to Anlu to monitor Prince Xing's mansion nearby."
Zhu Si said with a bitter face: "I heard Yuan Changshi talk about this before, but hasn't the Zhu family moved away? Why are you telling me this today?"
"Actually, what I want to say is, do you know what caused the feud between the imperial court and the palace?"
Facing Zhu Hao's question, Zhu Si shook his head calmly.
"This starts with Concubine Wan Gui in the imperial court in the last years of Chenghua... Concubine Wan Gui could be said to have overwhelming power in the harem during the Chenghua period. At that time, Emperor Daxing Xianzong was deceived by her, and even the mother of the then crown prince might have died there. In her hands..."
Zhu Hao told a story like a story, telling a secret from the royal family.
In the current Ming Dynasty, there is not much publicity about the childhood experiences of Emperor Hongzhi Zhu Youtang, and very few people know about it. These things were only known to ordinary people after the compilation of Ming history. Otherwise, how could ordinary people know about the intrigues in the palace? And brutal killing? The Ming royal family would not allow such news to spread.
Zhu Si had never heard this story before.
He always liked to hear these anecdotes, and under Zhu Hao's explanation, he became involved with the characters in the story, especially the child who had not had his hair cut after he was five years old, and had been hiding in Tibet and eating the food of hundreds of families. …
"He is so pitiful. What happened next?"
Zhu Si asked stupidly.
Zhu Haodao: "He was the later crown prince, Emperor Daxing Xiaozong."
"Ah!? He...he is my imperial uncle?"
Only then did Zhu Si realize that this story was not made up, but actually happened.
Zhu Hao sighed: "Emperor Xiaozong suffered a lot when he was growing up. He was always in a state of fear, fearing that he would die inexplicably one day... In the last years of Chenghua, Concubine Wan Guifei was afraid that he would take revenge after he became emperor.
, I want to depose the prince and put your father on the throne..."
"What?"
This news shocked Zhu Si.
It turns out that this matter has something to do with his father?
Zhu Haodao: "At that time, many ministers tried to dissuade her, and the eunuchs and other officials refused to carry out the order, so the plan was not successful... Don't think that Concubine Wan Gui was good to King Xing. Do you know why she wanted to establish King Xing?
?”
Zhu Si thought for a while: "She wants to take advantage of my father... this bad woman!"
Plant a stereotype first, so that even if Concubine Wan Gui and Prince Xing seem to have the same political stance, they will still make Zhu Si feel disgusted.
You are a bad woman. You killed the mother of another child, and you also wanted to kill the prince. Then you used my father to calm your heart?
Zhu Hao said helplessly: "It is precisely because of this incident that Emperor Daxing Xiaozong took more precautions against Prince Xing's Mansion after he ascended the throne. Even now in the Zhengde Dynasty, the problem still exists... His Majesty has been childless, and he will succeed to the throne from the throne.
In terms of human order, if something happens to His Majesty, the throne will be passed to you..."
This was not the first time that Zhu Si heard Zhu Hao talk about the issue of the succession of the crown prince.
After hearing this, he couldn't help but pursed his lips, his eyes were full of little stars, full of desire... It seemed that he really wanted to be the emperor.
Zhu Hao smiled and said: "Now that the emperor is in his prime, if nothing unexpected happens, it is possible to give birth to an heir in the future, or as in the past, find a pregnant woman to enter the palace and pretend to be his child...
"
Zhu Sidao: "He...how could he act so recklessly?"
Because it was no secret that the emperor found pregnant women in the palace before, and it almost became the biggest scandal in the world. Even Zhu Si felt that this cousin's behavior was too ridiculous.
How can the royal bloodline be tarnished by your nonsense?
If that's the case, wouldn't it mean that someone who has nothing to do with the royal family was chosen to be the crown prince? The key is, he also stole my position as crown prince.
"There is no way. The emperor and the vassal princes are already suspicious of each other. Since ancient times, there have been many rebellions among the vassal princes. The emperor naturally feels that someone will take away his throne, so he is wary of those who hold power, not to mention
Your father almost stole the throne of Emperor Xiaozong back then..."
Zhu Hao explained the situation.
Don't be angry, but put yourself in someone else's shoes and think about the causes and consequences of the power struggle.
Zhu Haodao: "Your Majesty, let me ask you, do you want to be the emperor?"
Zhu Si looked around. When he grew up, he also knew that this was a taboo topic and could not be heard by outsiders.
"I...of course I want to...but there seems to be no way, right?" Zhu Si said with a bitter face.
Zhu Hao smiled: "If what I predict is correct, in a few months, Prince Ning will rebel in Jiangxi. At that time, His Majesty will lead his troops southward on the pretext of his personal expedition. Originally, he was in the deep palace.
It can be said that there is no way..."
"Ah!? Zhu...Zhu Hao, you don't want to assassinate...this...this can't be successful, right?"
Zhu Si heard Zhu Hao tell many stories about ancient knights.
Even he could hear the intention of assassination from Zhu Hao's hints.
Zhu Haodao: "If there is no mention of assassination, how can we get close to Luan Jia? I just want to ask you, without you taking action, do you support such a thing?"
Zhu Si was a little timid: "Even if I didn't take action, if someone related to me does this kind of thing, it will be blamed on me in the end, right?"
Zhu Hao smiled and nodded: "Very good, you have the idea of loyalty to the emperor, but this goes against your personal ideals and ambitions. Those who achieve great things must not stick to small details and find ways to achieve themselves. Sometimes it is worth taking certain risks."
"Okay, that's the end of today's class. You can go back first. Later I will tell you the sequel to the story of the down-and-out old scholar and the noble lady..."
…
…
Zhu Hao did not tell Zhu Si this to make Zhu Si plan an assassination. Neither of them had such ability.
The first is to test Zhu Si's reaction to becoming emperor, and the second is to let Zhu Si know that Zhu Hao can help him become emperor.
If something unexpected happens to Zhu Houzhao in the future, Zhu Si will inevitably think of today's conversation and wonder... could this be something Zhu Hao did for me secretly?
Is there something fishy behind the death of my cousin?
Later, Zhu Hao went to meet Zhu Wanhong.
He wanted to use Zhu Wanhong to do one thing. He wanted to make this uncle feel that Prince Xing's Mansion had done a good job in handing over the old and new Prince Xing, and let the court decide that although Prince Xiao Xing was easy to deal with, he was very ambitious and should use some special methods.
method to trap it.
"...Zhu Hao, I haven't seen Mr. Tang of yours recently. Is he okay?" Zhu Wanhong counted the balance payment that Zhu Hao had asked him to pay, and asked intentionally or unintentionally.
Zhu Haodao: "Mr. Tang has been very busy recently and met a lot of people... Forget it, uncle, how are you doing in Anlu recently? I heard that the Zhu family's manor outside the city has been taken over by a wealthy family in the city? The Zhu family
Aren’t you going to move back here in the future?”
Zhu Wanhong curled his lips and said, "How can you make a living as a single person in the capital? When the Zhu family moved back to the capital, they needed money for everything, especially your second uncle... Of course, the dog is not a fuel-efficient lamp. He is used to spending too much, so how can he save money?
Money? Alas, if everyone in the Zhu family is like you, why worry about sitting back and having nothing, and the family business will not prosper? "
Zhu Hao thought to himself, Uncle, do you want to be so direct in your speech? You praised me so much that I felt a little embarrassed! You are hiding a knife in your smile. Don't think that I don't know that you have bad intentions.
"How is King Xing's condition recently?"
Zhu Wanhong asked tentatively.
Zhu Hao shook his head and said: "Prince Xing's illness is not a secret. Even if he can't be cured by all the famous doctors, Prince Xing wants his son to have more experience. He said that when he succeeds to the throne in the future, he may go to the capital to accept the imperial title... He proposed to let me
go together……"
"Oh? This is a good opportunity for you to rise to the top." Zhu Wanhong said with a smile.
Zhu Hao thought to himself, if I don't explain clearly, you can't understand?
Zhu Hao could only continue to pretend to be confused: "If the prince stays in the capital for a long time, I may be able to help him by staying with him, but if I just inherit the throne, it is hard to say whether he will be called to the capital by the court. Maybe I will just go there."
Just going through the motions, I won’t be here for long and then I’ll go back..."
At this point, Zhu Hao's hint was obvious.
You not only want to make contributions to the court, but also want me to be alone with the prince and cultivate a relationship for a few more years. For the sake of the future of the Zhu family, you should suggest that your superiors trap Zhu Houcong in the capital and use it as a hostage so that he cannot be seen.
Now that there are a group of officials and staff in the palace, it is best to see only me.
Zhu Wanhong smiled and nodded, looking over with a little more admiration: "Zhu Hao, if you are left alone with the Crown Prince for a few years, you will definitely become the Crown Prince's most trusted person... However, this will not matter for you in the future in the court.