"You bastard, you bastard, do you know what you're talking about?"
Chongzhen's face was purple and blue, and he was so angry that he was pointing at Zhu Cixiang.
Empress Zhou, however, opened her small mouth and was so frightened that her face turned pale.
After coming back to his senses, he hurriedly stepped forward and hugged Zhu Cihong, saying urgently: "Hong'er, what nonsense are you talking about? Kneel down and admit your mistake to Father Qin..."
"Mother, please don't worry about this!"
"Father, to tell you the truth, most of the eunuchs and maids in the palace have died in service to me."
"The Han generals outside the palace are all obedient to my orders. No one will come to rescue me. Father, I'd better issue an edict as soon as possible!"
Zhu Cixiang first took off his cloak and put it on Queen Zhou, then stared at Chongzhen with burning eyes.
He said this on his lips, but in fact he was extremely anxious in his heart.
Because in the past year, he did win over many eunuchs and maids, but the Han general only bought dozens of people.
Although the main gate of Qianqing Palace was closed at night, the entire harem was filled with eunuchs and maids, but there were still three thousand Han generals outside the palace.
So he simply couldn't afford it.
Of course, if things were different as usual, even if the prince killed the emperor, he would not be able to successfully succeed to the throne.
Because the Ming Dynasty is not the Southern and Northern Dynasties where rituals and music have collapsed, but the most orthodox dynasty that governs the world with filial piety.
Even if they completely control the palace, the civil servants and nobles will never let a rebellious prince inherit the throne.
However, this moment is the same as that moment!
Those civil servants and dignitaries probably no longer care about who is the emperor in the old Zhu family.
Chongzhen's expression also changed drastically.
For a moment, I didn't know whether what he said was true or not. After looking at the group of palace maids and eunuchs behind him, I could only say sternly: "Little beast, if I don't agree, do you still dare to kill the king and kill the father?"
"Hmph! Why don't you dare?"
"For the sake of our ancestors, and for the sake of all the people in the world, today we have done such a treasonous and unethical thing. If Taizu, the old man, finds out, I am afraid he will only praise me as a good grandson, well done!"
Zhu Cixiang thought about the fate of his mother and his younger brothers and sisters after Li Zicheng conquered the city of Beijing in history, as well as the sufferings suffered by the Chinese people after the Tatars entered the country. He suddenly became angry and pushed away Zhou who was holding his arm. The queen raised the knife in her hand and shouted.
"You...you...poof..."
Chongzhen's chest rose and fell violently, he spurted out a mouthful of blood, and fell down on his back.
"Your Majesty..."
"His Majesty…"
Wang Chengen and Queen Zhou on the side were so frightened by this scene that they screamed and rushed over.
"Hong'er, do you really want to force your father to death? If so, kill your mother first."
Empress Zhou held the unconscious Chongzhen with tears streaming down her face.
"Prince, I beg you, please call the imperial doctor quickly." Wang Chengen begged with the same sadness.
"Liu Xi, go and call the imperial physician on duty in Qianqing Palace."
Zhu Cixiang's face was tangled for a moment, and finally he sighed.
He returned the knife to its sheath and gave instructions to a young eunuch behind him.
Then he and Wang Chengen carried Chongzhen to the couch in the inner room.
In fact, he didn't really want to kill Chongzhen, he just wanted him to abdicate to avoid another tragedy.
In the entire harem at night, except for the emperor and the underage princes, it was probably the imperial physician on duty in the Qianqing Palace who was a real man.
This was also to prevent the emperor from getting sick suddenly at night so that he could receive timely treatment, so an imperial doctor with a white beard was soon brought in.
After some treatment, Chongzhen finally regained consciousness.
However, his face was as pale as paper, and his whole body had lost all energy. It was obvious that the shock was too great.
"His Majesty…"
"Mr. Hu, how is your Majesty's health?"
"Back to your Majesty, Your Majesty, your Majesty has been overworked for a long time, coupled with the impatience of your heart. This time your mind and energy have been damaged. You need to calm down and cultivate. Remember not to get angry again, otherwise..."
The imperial doctor replied respectfully.
After hearing this, Queen Zhou relaxed her tense heart.
Then he looked at Zhu Cihong: "Hong'er, kneel down quickly and admit your mistake to your father..."
"I am right, but my father is wrong. If my father was willing to listen to even one of my suggestions, how could the situation have deteriorated to this point? How could my father have come to this point?"
"Why are you still talking such nonsense? You want to make your mother angry to death, right?"
"That's it!"
Chongzhen waved his hand feebly, a mouthful of blood spurted out, and most of the anger in his heart disappeared.
Perhaps he knows that he is unable to control the government now.
Or maybe he really looked away.
He stared at Zhu Cixiang with complicated eyes for a long time, and then said slowly: "I underestimated you before, but you are so confident that I will pass the throne to you. I want to see if you are really better than me."
powerful!"
"My companion, go and draft the decree!"
"It's your Majesty." Wang Chengen could only reply.
"Father has finally become wise for once. From now on, he can rest peacefully in Kunning Palace and watch how his son turns the tide and becomes the emperor for eternity!"
Chongzhen was willing to compromise, and Zhu Cixiang breathed a sigh of relief.
When Empress Zhou saw her son still saying such things, she couldn't help but glare at him, but she was secretly happy in her heart.
His son has actually committed such a treasonous act, so becoming the emperor is naturally the best outcome.
Otherwise, given His Majesty's temper, even if he is not killed, he will probably be put under house arrest for life.
Time is running out.
Zhu Cixiang didn't dare to delay.
After leaving twenty confidant eunuchs to guard Kunning Palace, he took Wang Chengen back to Qianqing Palace.
Then he couldn't wait to call over the main eunuchs in charge of each department, as well as the three thousand Han generals stationed outside the palace.
Originally, the entire imperial city and palace defense work was far more than these three thousand Han generals, but one after another they were all wasted by Chongzhen.
In fact, Zhu Cixiang didn't make much noise.
Just with the help of dozens of eunuchs and maids whom he had won over, and with the cooperation of internal officials, they quietly went from Zhongcui Palace to Shenning Palace to remonstrate with them.
The eunuchs who were killed during this period were so frightened that they bumped into each other and refused to listen to advice.
In addition, it was too sudden, so no one in the palace knew what happened, let alone outside the palace.
When Wang Chengen read out the edict of succession in front of everyone, although everyone was a little surprised and shocked, they all chose to pay homage to the new emperor obediently.
No trouble occurred.
After all, Zhu Cixi was originally the crown prince of the Ming Dynasty.
Although this matter seems weird no matter how you look at it, everyone is not stupid. There are only two possibilities.
One is that the prince colluded with Wang Chengen to rebel, and his majesty has been killed or placed under house arrest.
The other is that His Majesty really abdicates the throne and makes way for someone more worthy.
But in the middle of the night, the possibility of the latter was very slim.
But no matter which one it is, His Majesty cannot show up to make the decision now. Anyone who dares to stand up at this time will be killed by His Royal Highness on the spot.
In addition, Chongzhen was also mean and ungrateful, and often killed palace maids and eunuchs, so no one stood up to question him.
"My lord, how much money do you still have in your internal funds?"
"Go back to your Majesty... Your Majesty, I still have more than 50,000 taels."
"Bring them all over here."
Zhu Cixiang waved his hand. He knew that the more than 50,000 taels were probably borrowed from those noble civil servants.
After Wang Chengen left, Zhu Cixiang looked at Wang Dehua and said: "My lord, I now order you to supervise the East Factory and be responsible for commanding the inner court's pure army."
"Liu Xi, Fan Xian, you two are responsible for assisting Wang Dehua."
"My slave obeys the order!"
Wang Dehua and the two young eunuchs quickly replied.
Zhu Cixiang also had no choice.
Although he really wanted to let his confidant eunuch Liu Xi and Fan Xian directly supervise the East Factory and the Inner Court Clean Army.
However, the two men were not qualified enough to convince the public, so they had to be asked to help Wang Dehua first.
Later, he promoted dozens of Han generals who had been bribed to officials, and the eunuchs and palace maids who followed him in rebellion were not left behind, and they were all promoted to officials.
After Wang Chengen came back with his men carrying the silver, Zhu Cihong directly rewarded him with all the silver.
Especially the three thousand Han generals were rewarded at least ten taels each.
This was something that had never happened before during the Chongzhen Dynasty.
Naturally, everyone was extremely grateful, and they recognized Zhu Cixiang as the new emperor even more.
At this time, it was only more than an hour before dawn.
Seeing that Zhu Cihong had basically taken control of the inner court, the eunuchs and maids in charge had all pledged their allegiance to him, and there was no way he could look back.
Only then did people ring the big bell and summon all civil and military officials.