On the fifth day of the fourth month of the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, three days earlier than the original history, Lu Zhenfei, the governor of Huai'an, received a report from Tang that Shenjing had fallen.

After discussing with Zhu Cihong, Lu Zhenfei announced the news to the local gentry and informed the officials of the Sixth Ministry of Nanjing.

Originally, Lu Zhenfei wanted to block the news, and only asked the family to go to Nanjing to report and Shi Kefa quickly, but Zhu Cihong refused.

Now that Shenjing has fallen, it is only a matter of time before the news reaches the south. At such a time, the blockade of news is not only useless, but will make the local gentry fearful and cause a lot of unnecessary trouble.

A few days later, the news that Emperor Chongzhen had come from the Hanging Coal Mountain, and the royal families such as King Yong and King Ding were also captured by the thieves. Fortunately, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of the East Palace successfully crossed south and arrived in Huai'an.

This news was also disseminated, which gave the desperate officials of the Sixth Department of Nanjing a glimmer of hope.

Zhu Cihong had already been mentally prepared for the news of the fall of Shenjing and Chongzhen's self-hanging, but Lu Zhenfei and the others were difficult to accept for a while, if they didn't have to preside over the overall situation, they were really afraid that they would collapse.

It just so happened that at this time, Zhu Yousong, King of Fu, Zhu Changshu, King of Lu, King Zhou, and King Heng all fled to Huai'an and temporarily lived in Xihuzui in Huai'an City. Zhu Cihong summoned them to discuss the matter of going to Nanjing to take the throne.

These vassal kings were all surprised to learn that the East Palace was in Huai'an. Originally, the two popular candidates for the historical succession, Zhu Yousong and Zhu Changshu, the king of Lu, both firmly supported the succession of the crown prince at this moment, and there was no political speculator's face.

Zhu Cihong issued another order and ordered someone to send it to Nanjing to be handed over to Shi Kefa.

As the secretary of the Nanjing Military Department, Shi Kefa is the highest status among the civil officials in the capital, and Zhu Cihong wants to go to Nanjing to succeed the unification, so he naturally wants to find him.

Shi Kefa was very excited when he received Zhu Cihong's order. Originally, he was the initiator of the invitation to the prince to supervise the country, and now that the prince is really crossing to the south, he will naturally support it without hesitation.

Shi Kefa immediately summoned the officials of the six ministries to discuss the specific plan and details of the prince's trip to Nanjing.

It was only at this time that Ma Shiying, the governor of Fengyang, had just learned that the crown prince was in Huai'an.

He couldn't help but be furious, and was very dissatisfied with Lu Zhenfei's 'deception' behavior.

However, at this moment, the prince relied on Lu Zhenfei a lot, and he didn't say much, so he only ordered some escorts to come to Huai'an at night to escort him.

Originally, Ma Shiying, who had soared to the top of the ranks in history by virtue of decision-making, couldn't even drink soup at the moment. Shi Kefa, the secretary of the military department, and Wang Duo, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, took the lead and arrived in Huai'an on April 13, while Ma Shiying arrived outside Huai'an on April 14.

I don't have a good impression of this political speculator Zhu Cihong, but I can't say I like it.

Some people say that Ma Shiying is a eunuch and labels him a big eunuch. In fact, this is the result of a political struggle, and it is too reluctant to say that Ma Shiying is a eunuch.

But since Ma Shiying has been labeled as a eunuch, Zhu Cihong can use this to check and balance the court.

After all, the background of the East Lin Party, an official of the Sixth Department of Nanjing, is too strong, and some balance is still needed.

On 15 April, accompanied by Shi Kefa, the secretary of the Ministry of War, Wang Duo, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, Ma Shiying, the governor of Fengyang, and Lu Zhenfei, the governor of Huai'an, Zhu Cihong officially set off from Huai'an for Nanjing.

On 18 April, the prince's boat arrived at Yanziji, outside Nanjing. The left-behind officials and gentry in Nanjing were all present to greet them.

Zhu Cihong did not go directly to the city, but went to pay homage to the filial piety tomb first.

Jiashen changed the country, the Son of Heaven from the coal mountain, at this time the prince paid homage to the filial piety tomb naturally with a hint of different meaning.

The officials and gentry with a keen sense of smell all felt that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince had a strong killing intent on his body, and he was afraid that Nanjing City would not be calm recently.

After paying homage to the tomb of filial piety, Zhu Cihong entered the city from Chaoyang Gate on 20 April and was ceremoniously welcomed by the people of Nanjing.

Shenjing fell, and the news of the Son of Heaven's hanging came one after another, and countless gloom gathered in their hearts. And the arrival of the prince of the East Palace is like a beam of sunshine, dispelling all these gloom.

Zhu Cihong's arrival was too timely, he gave hope to the people of Nanjing at their most vulnerable moment, and let these poor Shengdou people find their backbone.

For these people, as long as there is one person who can stand up and lead them, it is good, not to mention the prince of the East Palace who is too MSI.

Zhu Cihong originally wanted to live in the Inner Garrison Mansion first, but at the insistence of Shi Kefa and others, he still lived in the Forbidden City.

He passed through the Chengtian Gate and the Duanmen Gate surrounded by the ministers, walked all the way to the Noon Gate along the Thousand Steps Corridor, and then entered the Forbidden City from the Noon Gate under the escort of the Han general.

Most of the accompanying civil and military officials stopped here, and Shi Kefa and other six important ministers made a detour to Donghua Gate. This is also a matter of no way, the noon gate is only for the Son of Heaven and the prince to travel, except for very special circumstances, civil and military officials mostly enter and exit from the East and West.

Zhu Cihong intended to summon Shi Kefa and others in the Wenhua Palace, so it was most convenient for them to enter the palace from the Donghua Gate.

The construction of the Forbidden City in Nanjing was in the Hongwu period, and later Chengzu Zhu Di launched a martyrdom to seize the country of his nephew Emperor Jianwen and moved the capital to Beijing.

Nanjing, as the capital of Liudu, became a place for politically frustrated officials and eunuchs to retire.

There are always people working in Nanjing's six yamen, but the Forbidden City is undoubtedly idle. Over time, the wind and rain and the lack of maintenance have made most of the palaces of the Forbidden City dilapidated.

Among them, there are three major halls: Fengtian Palace, Huagai Palace, and Jinshen Palace.

This is also the reason why Zhu Cihong decided to convene Shi Kefa and others in the Wenhua Palace. The Wenhua Hall is relatively dilapidated and not as obvious as the three major halls, and it does not need to be repaired for the time being.

The people who were summoned were all important ministers who stayed in the capital, and they had also been angry with Shi Kefa before, knowing that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince meant that everything was simple for the enthronement ceremony.

But as human ministers, it is impossible for them to make the enthronement ceremony of the new Son of Heaven shabby.

As soon as they entered the Wenhua Palace, they pushed the golden mountain and fell down on the jade pillar, knelt down, howled and cried, and asked the crown prince to hold an enthronement ceremony according to the custom of their ancestors.

Zhu Cihong looked at Shi Kefa, and when he saw that he was silent, he understood that Shi Kefa also thought so.

Zhu Cihong knew that these civil officials valued Taoism more than anything else and would never give in at the enthronement ceremony, so he agreed to the plan they had designed in advance.

On April 25, Zhu Cihong held an enthronement ceremony in Fengtian Palace, officially enthroned as emperor, and changed the next year to the first year of Hongye. And ordered the subjects of the whole country to mourn for the first emperor Chongzhen for 27 months according to the ancestral system. Zhu Cihong appointed Shi Kefa, the former secretary of the Nanjing Military Department, as a scholar of the Zhongji Temple and the first assistant of the cabinet. Zhang Shenyan is the secretary of the ministry, Liu Zongzhou is the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, Gao Hongtu is the secretary of the Ministry of Works, Wang Duo, the former secretary of the Ministry of Rites, is reappointed as the imperial history of Zuodu, Ma Shiying, the governor of Fengyang, is the secretary of the criminal department, and Jiang Yueguang, the former Zhan Shifu of the Zhan Mansion, is the secretary of the household department. Jiang Yueguang and Liu Zongzhou both joined the cabinet with the title of Dongge University Scholar.

There was no objection to these personnel appointments, and to the surprise of the ministers, Lu Zhenfei, the former governor of Huai'an, was appointed by the new emperor as the secretary of the military department, and the rank of scholar of the East Pavilion University was added to the cabinet.

Lu Zhenfei's strong rise also made the originally calm court undercurrent surge.

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