Nanjing City.

Because of the rumors spread everywhere, the people couldn't help but talk about it.

"I heard that many people are rumoring that the current emperor is not the blood of the Zhu family and cannot be the emperor, is this true?" In a street tea shop, many people are discussing, shocked and inexplicable!

"I don't know, but I don't believe it's true!" One of the civilians shook his head, but immediately said firmly.

"Yes, yes, I don't believe it either, the reason is too simple, why didn't it come out early or late, but when the emperor wanted to cancel the privilege of never paying taxes for the scholars and clans, it was also brought to King Fu who was attacking Jiujiang and King Lu who had already attacked the Yangtze River, isn't it obvious, those scholars and vassal kings refused to obey the holy decree to pay taxes to the imperial court, and exempted the tenants' taxes, so they rebelled!" Another person actually explained the reason for the incident, and immediately won the unanimous approval of the other people.

The eyes of the people are bright, they will help whoever treats them well, they don't care whether the current emperor is the blood of the Zhu family, they only know that the current emperor is an emperor who really thinks about the ordinary people, and is worthy of their support.

"The emperor is the true son of heaven, and King Fu and King Lu are thieves!" I don't know which people shouted this slogan in advance, and immediately won the unanimous approval of the ordinary people, especially those miserable tenants, Zhu Cihong's holy decree undoubtedly made them see hope, in any case, they don't want the current court to be overthrown by the Fu Wang rebels, after all, if the Fu King and Lu Wang win, they will still have to pay seventy percent of the heavy taxes to the landlord in the future, and the rest is not enough to eat, and if the emperor wins now, the holy decree will inevitably be implemented, and then they only need to pay two percent of the tax to the landlord at most, That life was absolutely a sea change for them, and they knew how to choose.

"King Fu and King Lu are anti-thieves, defeat the anti-thieves!" Under the deliberate instigation of many unknown people, many ordinary people who have been exploited by the powerful landlords all year round have taken to the streets and shouted vigorously!

Ordinary people are hundreds of times more than the scholars, this is an overwhelming force, more than millions of people came out to shout, calling on the imperial court to exterminate the traitors, and the momentum shook the world.

Cining Palace, the Empress Dowager Zhou, who worships the Buddha all the year round, was furious.

"What are you talking about, there are such rumors outside!" Empress Dowager Zhou said angrily.

"This is not only an insult to the mourning family, but also an insult to the ancestors of the emperor and the Zhu family, and the mourning family will never allow it!" The clay man still has three points of anger, although the Empress Dowager Zhou is usually not a director, it does not mean that she can tolerate such rumors.

The palace door of Cining Palace was wide open, and the Empress Dowager Zhou, dressed in luxurious clothes, stepped out of Cining Palace, which had not been out for a year.

The Empress Dowager Zhou, who is only thirty-five years old, is not old, her whole body is full of luxury and grace, and her momentum is even more eye-catching.

Empress Dowager Zhou walked directly towards the imperial study where Zhu Cihong was currently located.

Zhu Cihong was listening to the information coming from all over the place.

"Your Majesty, the Empress Dowager walked out of Cining Palace and was on her way to the imperial study." As soon as Zhao Dequan got the news, he immediately came to report.

"Oh? Is the queen mother finally willing to walk out of Cining Palace! Zhu Cihong was overjoyed.

Since he ascended the throne in May of the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, the Empress Dowager Zhou has been worshipping the Buddha in the Buddha Hall of Cining Palace, not asking about the world, Zhu Cihong has invited her many times but has not been able to invite her out.

Zhu Cihong guessed the mood of the Empress Dowager Zhou, because of the tragic death of Emperor Chongzhen's self-hanging, she was sad in her heart, if it wasn't for Zhu Cihong's exhortation and pleading all the way, maybe the Empress Dowager Zhou had followed Emperor Chongzhen, although she finally went south safely and became the noble Queen Mother, but the Empress Dowager Zhou has always been concerned about the tragic death of Emperor Chongzhen, and has been worshipping Buddha in the Buddha Hall of Cining Palace, which has the meaning of exceedance for Emperor Chongzhen.

Zhu Cihong's feelings for the Empress Dowager Zhou are very complicated, although he is not the Empress Dowager Zhou's own son in his soul, but because he was an orphan and has never had a mother, he has regrets, so he has always respected the Empress Dowager Zhou as his own mother, plus this body is already connected with the Empress Dowager Zhou's blood, and it has also had some influences, over time, if he does not deliberately recall, deep in his heart, he has subconsciously thought that he is the biological son of the Empress Dowager Zhou, and his respect for the Empress Dowager Zhou is not fake.

"The Queen Mother has arrived!" Before Zhu Cihong walked out to greet him, Empress Dowager Zhou walked in with a group of palace maids and eunuchs.

"Why is the queen mother here, it's rare to be willing to walk out of Cining Palace, and I don't inform the child in advance, so that the child can go to meet the queen mother." Zhu Cihong greeted him with a smile.

"If the mourning family doesn't come out again, you must not be slandered to death by those people outside, how can you still have the face to see your father when you die in the future!" Empress Dowager Zhou's words were full of anger, but she smiled at Zhu Cihong, and she was very satisfied with her son.

What Zhu Cihong has done since he ascended the throne, the Empress Dowager Zhou has seen it in her eyes, her vision is more far-reaching than Emperor Chongzhen, in many things, naturally she will not think that Zhu Cihong is messing around like some pedantic ministers, and even many courtiers think that when Zhu Cihong is messing around, they want to enter Cining Palace to ask the Empress Dowager Zhou to come forward, but the Empress Dowager Zhou ignores it.

"You too, if you want to do such things, why don't you prepare in advance, the queen mother has to worry about you!" This time, Empress Dowager Zhou also saw it clearly, and knew that what Zhu Cihong did this time was also not messing around, but the matter was too big and had to be worried.

Empress Dowager Zhou's care made Zhu Cihong's heart warm, and said with a smile: "Don't worry, the queen mother has already prepared, let them jump for a few days first, and then they can launch a thunderbolt to sweep them away." ”

Hearing Zhu Cihong say this, the Empress Dowager Zhou was a little relieved, but it was difficult for her to make a trip, and she also wanted to help Zhu Cihong.

"The queen mother believes in you, but the queen mother wants you to gather hundreds of officials immediately, and the queen mother has something to say!"

"Erchen, let's do it!" Zhu Cihong nodded.

Zhu Cihong could probably guess what the Empress Dowager Zhou was going to do, and he was very happy that the Empress Dowager Zhou was willing to come forward to help.

On the same day, Zhu Cihong summoned hundreds of officials, and the Empress Dowager Zhou came forward.

Empress Dowager Zhou was solemn and angry, first severely reprimanded the rumors outside, proved the purity of Zhu Cihong's bloodline with absolute evidence, and said the sins of King Fu and King Lu, and scolded them for being chaotic ministers and thieves, insulting the Ming clan.

Empress Dowager Zhou's anger was naturally not so easy to counteract.

"A group of selfish and selfish traitors are not worthy of being the descendants of my Zhu family, and the mourning family will order the Zongren Mansion to remove all the children of the clan who participated in the rebellion, and from now on they will no longer be the descendants of the Zhu family!" That's the worst thing.

As the empress dowager of the Ming Dynasty, as long as the reason is sufficient, the Empress Dowager Zhou has the qualifications to remove some of the children of the clan from the family tree.

With the Daming Daily being widely distributed to the world, in an instant, the world was shocked, and the people were more willing to believe in the imperial court than the thieves of King Fu and King Lu who were for the sake of the noble clan and the interests of the clan.

Not only that, in order to mobilize the emotions of ordinary people even more, Zhu Cihong dropped another bombshell.

and another decree for the benefit of the people.

From this year onwards, the imperial court will permanently abolish the conscription system, and in the future, the imperial court will recruit and transfer civil servants voluntarily according to the wishes of the people, and will not be forced, and the imperial court will pay wages according to the market price.

At this moment, the people of the world shook again and burst into cheers.

"Long live my emperor, long live, long live!"

The people cheered from the bottom of their hearts, the conscription was originally a mountain that was also pressed on their heads, and every year each household had to get a strong man to serve a month of labor, not only did they have no wages, but they even had to bring their own food, which was miserable, and now it was canceled by a holy decree of the emperor today, and the people all supported such benefits.

The number of people who stood up to support the imperial court to suppress the rebels increased again.

"The thief should die, destroy the thief!" Hundreds of people roared, in just one or two days, from the original millions of people to more than 50 million, most of the Ming people roared together, the momentum rushed into the sky, as if it could shatter the sky.

This is the roar of hope, this is the desire of the people, the number of participants is unprecedented, the momentum is unprecedented, the situation seems to have reversed all of a sudden, more and more favorable to the Ming Dynasty!

...