"What? You said that traitor actually arrested more than thirty royal family members?"
In Kunning Palace, Chongzhen jumped up from the bed in shock and looked at Wang Chengen in disbelief.
"Yes, Your Majesty, even... even the head of state was arrested."
Wang Chengen hunched over and said carefully.
As for the matter of the father-in-law being beaten with ten sticks, after thinking about it I decided to keep it a secret for now, lest the emperor would be further irritated.
"What? The father-in-law arrested him too?"
This time it was Queen Zhou's turn to stand up in shock, her mouth opened, and the medicine bowl in her hand fell to the ground.
"This treacherous son, how can he regain people's hearts? He clearly wants to ruin our country!"
Chongzhen cried out sadly and almost spat out a mouthful of old blood again.
"Your Majesty, please don't get angry yet. Maybe there is some misunderstanding. I will go and ask clearly..."
When Empress Zhou saw this, she had no choice but to help him gently on the back and said.
"Go quickly! Leave me alone..." Chongzhen urged urgently.
He is no more noble than a civil servant, so he must not be arrested indiscriminately, let alone in this situation, more than thirty people were arrested in one go. How could he not be anxious?
Queen Zhou didn't waste any time, she was equally anxious.
As soon as I left Kunning Palace, I ran into a beauty in palace attire, who hurried over with a group of eunuchs and maids.
This beauty in palace attire is in her early thirties, and is almost the same as Queen Zhou, but her appearance and temperament are actually three points better. I am afraid she can only be described as beautiful and fragrant, charming the country and the city.
Especially the plump and well-proportioned figure, compared with Queen Zhou's petite and slender figure, she looks more graceful and luxurious.
Those who don't know think she is the queen of Muyi World.
The person who came was indeed a queen. To be precise, she should be the queen mother like Queen Zhou now.
"I've met the emperor's sister-in-law."
"Sister, you don't have to be polite."
Queen Yi'an Zhang Yan hurriedly stepped forward to help Zhou Hou who was saluting.
"Did the emperor's sister-in-law also hear about Xungui's arrest?"
The marriage between Queen Zhou and Chongzhen was arranged by Zhang Yan, so the relationship between the two was very close, and Queen Zhou also respected Zhang Yan very much.
"Well, sister, why did your Majesty arrest so many noble people at once?" Zhang Yan also sounded a little anxious.
Because not only did Zhu Cixi arrest his mother's father, Zhang Yan's father and brothers were also spared.
"I don't know either. I was just about to go find His Majesty." Zhou Hou shook her head with a bitter look on her face.
"Let's go together!"
Zhang Yan nodded, and the two women walked quickly towards Qianqing Palace without even taking the phoenix chariot.
………
Inside Jianji Hall.
As Zhu Cixi awarded rewards to the remaining seventy people, the tense atmosphere finally eased a little.
The banquet can also continue.
"My dear friends, please use it with caution. I will excuse you for a moment!"
"Congratulations to Your Majesty!"
Seeing that Zhu Cixi was about to leave, everyone hurriedly stood up and saluted, and they all let out a heavy breath.
Back at Qianqing Palace, Queen Zhou and Zhang Yan had been waiting for a long time and heard about the beating of the king's father.
"Kowtow to Your Majesty!"
As soon as Zhu Cihong entered the Nuan Pavilion, the two women bowed uprightly.
Zhu Cixi knew he was in the wrong, so he had no choice but to laugh with him and help the two women sit down.
"Mother, mother-in-law, what are you doing? Isn't this embarrassing the child? The child should be greeting you, but the state affairs are busy these days, so I didn't go!"
"Your Majesty is now in great power. Who dares to ask His Majesty to pay your respects?"
Zhou Hou looked serious.
She didn't care that her son didn't come to say hello, but this time he didn't care about her feelings at all, which really hurt her heart.
"Mother, aunt, I was indeed a little careless about this matter. I didn't tell you in advance."
"Your Majesty, although the abbot is usually a little confused, he would never do anything like colluding with rebels."
The tone slowed down a bit after the week.
Zhang Yanze never said a word, but her attitude was there.
She also didn't care that Zhu Cixi didn't come to pay her respects. What she cared about was that he had arrested his father.
"Of course this kid knows."
"Then why are we still arresting people?"
"Alas! There is nothing I can do. If you want to defend the capital, you must have a lot of money and food. If you don't attack these nobles, who should you attack? As for the abbot and Taikang Bo, they are also trying to stop people from talking."
Zhu Cixiang stood up and sighed, which was quite simple.
"You are the emperor now. Even if you are short of money and food, you can't arrest people for no reason? Otherwise, how will the world view you?" Queen Zhou was angry and anxious.
"Then what should we do? Waiting helplessly for the intruders to come? The city will be destroyed and the country will be destroyed?"
Zhu Cixi said angrily.
The two women were speechless for a moment and fell silent.
After a while, Queen Zhou sighed and asked: "Hong'er, what do you plan to do with them?"
"I'll lock them up for now. After the intruders are defeated, the child will give some land to the father-in-law and Taikang Bo respectively, so that they can stay away from the capital and become ordinary rich people. They won't be allowed to suffer during this period. The queen mother and
Don’t worry, Auntie.”
"That's fine!"
"Everything the two families have now was given by the royal family. Now that the country is facing a national crisis, it is understandable that Hong'er wants to take it back."
Both women were famous virtuous empresses in history. Seeing Zhu Cihong say this, they didn't say anything more.
Then Zhou Hou said angrily: "Hong'er, your grandpa is quite old. He is just stupid and stingy. You just arrested him, why do you still beat him?"
"Mother..."
Zhu Cixiang didn't want to talk about it, but he also knew that she would know about it sooner or later, so he told Zhou Kui about embezzling her jewelry.
Sure enough, after hearing this, Queen Zhou felt angry and sad, with tears rolling down her cheeks.
"Father, how could he be like this..."
"well!"
Zhang Yan originally thought that her father was a fool back then, but who would have thought that Zhou Guozhang was worse than her father this time, so she had to sigh and comfort her.
"Hong'er, you stole more than 30 nobles this time. Although you can get money and food, you also put yourself in the spotlight. Other nobles will definitely become alienated. You should be more careful in the future."
After Queen Zhou's mood stabilized, Zhang Yan thought about it and reminded her with a solemn face.
Obviously, Zhang Yan's political level was higher than that of Queen Zhou, and she had already thought of the serious consequences of this incident, that is, the remaining nobles would never allow Zhu Cixiang to secure the throne.
Because this kind of thing cannot be started at all. Once it is started, if the court is short of money and food in the future, who knows whether the emperor will raid the nobles' homes again?
"Thank you, Auntie, for reminding me. I'm mentally prepared. If things really don't work out, the worst case scenario is that my father will be reinstated, and I'll just go to Shandong and become a fan king."
Zhu Cixiang waved his hand at the end.
He had already thought of this.
In fact, he didn't want to take advantage of the nobles now, but those civil servants couldn't get much money from him.
Because the property of those civil servants is basically in their hometowns, and the embezzled money has been transported back to their hometowns long ago.
Therefore, we can only raise a large amount of money and food in a very short period of time by taking advantage of nobles and nobles.
His original plan was to encourage his father, Chongzhen, to play dirty and let him copy some noble civil servants to cause public outrage. Now he is stepping forward to contact other noble civil servants and force Chongzhen to abdicate.
In this way, he has money and food, and he can also get the support of everyone. It can be said to be the best of both worlds.
However, my father Chongzhen wanted to save face, so he would not be fooled and would scold him every time.
Seeing that Li Zicheng had already reached Ningwuguan, he had no choice but to force Chongzhen to abdicate and make a bad face for himself.