On the morning of the eighth day of the Lunar New Year, Zhou Zheng, who was guarding Emperor Xuande in the Jingshan Shouhuang Palace, was summoned to Kunning Palace by Empress Sun.

When Zhou Zheng came to Kunning Palace, Empress Sun was scolding a palace maid who had done something wrong, and the palace maid was so frightened that she knelt on the ground trembling all over.

"Get up, don't make an example, otherwise this palace will drive you out of Kunning Palace." Seeing Zhou Zheng coming, Empress Sun waved her hand at the palace maid in distraught.

"Thank you, Queen Mother." The palace maid was immediately relieved when she heard this, kowtowed to Empress Sun and bowed away, she was just walking a little louder just now and was taught a lesson by Empress Sun.

In the past few days, Queen Sun's spirit is very bad, and she seems to be a little excited, especially easy to get angry, and the reason why this is naturally because of the arrival of King Yue.

Although others didn't know, Empress Sun knew in her heart that King Yue did not come to the capital at the behest of Empress Dowager Zhang, because Empress Dowager Zhang was also very surprised when she learned that King Yue came.

Originally, Empress Sun thought that Empress Dowager Zhang would drive away King Yue, but Empress Dowager Zhang did not do so, but asked King Yue to stay and assist in the funeral of Emperor Xuande.

What particularly disturbed Empress Sun was that she had heard that many court officials had come to visit King Yue, which was obviously not good news for her.

Because the Ming Dynasty forbade the emperor's relatives to engage in politics, and the people who married the royal family were not famous families, Queen Sun had no one to rely on.

Taking Empress Sun as an example, when she married Emperor Xuande as a concubine, her father was only the lord of Yongcheng County, so she couldn't count on her mother's family.

Ming Taizu's approach completely swept away the possibility of foreign relatives interfering in politics, and it also meant that once there was a situation where the monarch was weak and the ministers were strong, it would be difficult for the royal family to deal with it.

For the sake of the crown prince, Empress Sun naturally could not remain indifferent, and because Emperor Xuande abolished Empress Hu, she had a bad reputation in the imperial court, and many officials, including Yang Shiqi, opposed the abolition of Empress Hou back then, so there were only a handful of court magnates who were worthy of her trust and could form a strong help to the prince, and Zhou Zheng was obviously one of them.

Zhou Zheng was the part of Xunguili who was loyal to the imperial power, and the King of Han failed to win him over with high-ranking officials and lords, so he was worthy of Empress Sun's trust.

What's more, Zhou Zheng is Li Yuntian's father-in-law, and Li Yuntian is the prince's teacher, and there is a close connection between Zhou Zheng and the prince.

What is especially important is that Li Yuntian did not die in the fire in the Gyeonggi Governor's Mansion, Li Yuntian will definitely stand on the side of the prince in the court, so Zhou Zheng can only do this, because the Zhenguo Mansion and the Zhongguo Mansion will definitely advance and retreat together.

"Chen Zhou Zheng see the queen's mother." After the scolded palace maid left, Zhou Zheng stepped forward and bowed to Empress Sun, before the new emperor ascended the throne, Empress Sun was still the queen of the Ming Dynasty, and only after the new emperor ascended the throne did she become the queen mother.

"Zhongguo Gong, among all the nobles in the imperial court, you and Zhenguo Gong are the two most trusted by Emperor Daxing, if the prince is in trouble, our orphans and widows can only rely on you and Zhenguo Gong."

Empress Dowager Zhang walked away, leaving only a personal female official by her side, and said to him with a lonely expression after Zhou Zheng sat down.

"The queen is serious, and it is the duty of a minister to be loyal to the prince." Zhou Zheng was taken aback when he heard this, and hurriedly stood up and replied respectfully.

"Zhongguo Gong, you must have known that Zhen Guogong escaped the fire of the Gyeonggi Governor's Mansion, and this palace has nothing to hide from you, and now it is inconvenient for Zhen Guogong to come forward, and it is up to you to contact the nobles of the court."

Empress Sun smiled a little gloomily and looked at Zhou Zheng worriedly, "King Yue's return to Beijing this time is not good, and he frequently makes friends with powerful people in Beijing, and the palace is worried that he has other plans." ”

"The queen can rest assured that the ministers will unite with the lords of the court to fully support the crown prince." Zhou Zheng knew Empress Sun's anxious state of mind now, so he replied solemnly.

Zhou Zheng is the only one among the nobles of the imperial court who knows that Li Yuntian is still alive, as Li Yuntian's father-in-law, he has won Li Yuntian's trust, and Li Yuntian also needs Zhou Zheng to cooperate, so he quietly told Zhou Zheng the truth.

With Zhou Zheng's calmness and sophistication, Li Yuntian was not worried that he would leak the news, and the reason why he didn't tell Zhou Yuting and others was precisely to prevent being seen as flawed.

"Zhongguo Gong, you are the emperor's chosen minister, and the palace will entrust the prince to you and Zhenguo Gong." Seeing Zhou Zheng's statement, Empress Sun immediately breathed a sigh of relief, and said to Zhou Zheng with a stern expression, she knew very well that if the situation intensified, the only way to solve it would be by force.

"The minister must bow down and die!" Zhou Zheng bowed to Empress Sun again and gave Empress Sun a reassurance.

Not long after Zhou Zheng left Kunning Palace, Empress Sun summoned Yang Rong and Hu Ying successively, hoping to use the two to win over the civil official group in the court.

The reason why Empress Sun chose Yang Rong and Hu Ying was not without reason, Yang Rong supported Emperor Xuande in the matter of abolishing Empress Hu, and came up with a lot of ideas, so he was a rare important minister in the Wenchen group who was close to Empress Sun.

And Hu Ying was Emperor Yongle's henchman during the Yongle Emperor's period, and was secretly sent by the Yongle Emperor to find the whereabouts of Emperor Jianwen, who disappeared after the Jingjing, and was later reused by Emperor Xuande, who was promoted one after another until he rose to the high position of the Ministry of Rites and was also in charge of the household department, and his limelight was unmatched in the court's courtiers.

Because Emperor Xuande has the grace of knowing Hu Ying, and he is already a very popular minister, Hu Ying must support the prince in a reasonable way, otherwise he will not only be criticized by the outside world but also will not be able to see Emperor Xuande after his death, so Empress Sun attaches great importance to Hu Ying.

Judging from the current situation in the court, Hu Ying was challenged by Guo Jin, the secretary of the Ministry of Officials, and Liu Zhongfu, the secretary of the Ministry of Households, if the crown prince could not ascend the throne or fall from power, then his position would be threatened by Yanzhòng.

The so-called once a son of heaven and a courtier, once the king of Yue controls the political situation in the court, then he will definitely take Hu Ying to open the knife, which is not only to kill chickens and monkeys, deter the six ministries, but also support his cronies to serve as the secretary of the Ministry of Rites.

Even if Hu Ying wants to take refuge in King Yue, but because of his close relationship with Emperor Xuande, it is difficult to predict whether he can gain the trust of King Yue.

Besides, in order to fight against Hu Ying, Guo Jin and Liu Zhongfu have a great chance of being won over by King Yue, after all, the two do not have a close relationship between Hu Ying and the prince, so they chose King Yue as their backing.

Emperor Xuande would never have imagined that the twelve ministers he had carefully selected to check and balance each other would split under the "aggressive" offensive of the King of Yue, and then have unpredictable consequences.

Yang Rong and Hu Ying then began to contact civil officials close to the DPRK and China, preparing to wait for Emperor Xuande's first day to ask Empress Dowager Zhang to ascend the throne, so as not to have too many dreams at night.

Generally speaking, if it is not an emergency, the new emperor will not officially ascend the throne until after the funeral of Emperor Daxing, but the current situation is obviously not favorable to the crown prince, so the sooner the prince ascends the throne, the more beneficial it will be, and the more conducive it will be to stabilize the Ming dynasty.

Empress Sun summoned Zhou Zheng, Yang Rong and Hu Ying, and the King of Yue was not idle, frequently meeting with the civil and military ministers of the court, abducting and deceiving in the name of the Empress Dowager Zhang, and wantonly wooing the civil and military officials in the court.

In fact, for most of the courtiers, whether the crown prince or the king of Yue ascended the throne, it had no effect on them, after all, the prince and the king of Yue had the qualifications to ascend the throne, and the stubborn and pedantic courtiers only accounted for a minority after all, otherwise the Naxi civil and military ministers who would not have entered the city of Nanjing would not have been Yongle Emperor back then.

In the final analysis, who can inherit the unification of the crown prince and the king of Yue, it depends on which of the two is stronger, although the king of Yue is just an idle prince, but he has not been in vain in the capital over the years and has a huge and complex interpersonal relationship, which can be fully applied at this time.

On the afternoon of the eighth day of the Lunar New Year, King Yue specially went to the Zhenguo Mansion to mourn Li Yuntian, and counted Li Yuntian's great achievements in front of the coffin, and praised Li Yuntian greatly, and the people at the scene sighed.

Among the various forces in the capital, what King Yue wants to win over the most is the Zhenguo Mansion, if it is left in the past, he will not have this opportunity, because Li Yuntian is the prince's teacher, and he will definitely support the prince.

But now the shape is different, due to Emperor Xuande's suspicion Li Yuntian died inexplicably in the fire of the Gyeonggi Governor's Mansion, which caused an inconvenient rift between the prince and the Zhenguo Mansion, which was just enough for the Yue King to take advantage of the situation and win over the Zhenguo Mansion.

As the spiritual pillar of the Xiaowu Army, the intention of the Zhenguo Mansion determines the attitude of the military attaché and the generals of the Xiaowu Army, and the tens of thousands of Xiaowu soldiers in the Xiaowu Army camp outside the city are the most elite military force of the Ming Dynasty, which will affect the development of the political situation in the capital.

In other words, whoever the Zhenguo Mansion supports between the crown prince and the king of Yue will have the military power to overwhelm the other party in the capital, and any change of dynasty in history is not based on violence, and only with a strong military force can it ensure that there is an overwhelming advantage over the other party in the battle for the throne.

Regarding the olive branch extended by King Yue, Zhou Yuting was decent, neither accepting but not refusing, which made King Yue couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

Considering that the Zhenguo Mansion and the prince have always had a good relationship, Zhou Yuting did not refuse his kindness and had achieved the goal of King Yue, which means that the Zhenguo Mansion still has a very strong grudge against Emperor Xuande, so that the anger is transferred to the prince, otherwise the Zhenguo Mansion will firmly stand on the side of the prince.

Moreover, after the Zhenguo Mansion and his party, King Yue keenly felt from the words and deeds of Li Yuntian's wives that the Zhenguo Mansion was facing a split due to Li Yuntian's death, which made Zhou Yuting have to work hard to maintain harmony in the family.

King Yue even knew that the person who caused the situation in the Zhenguo Mansion was Li Yuntian's sixth wife Lei Ting, Lei Ting and Li Yuntian got along for the longest time and had the deepest feelings, so Lei Ting wanted to avenge Li Yuntian, so Lei Ting did not live in the Zhenguo Mansion after returning to Beijing but went to the martial arts hall, and Li Yuntian's tenth wife Nuo Min also supported Lei Ting.

Not only that, King Yue also keenly noticed an interesting thing, that is, Chen Ningning and Zheng Wanrou, who were in charge of the Kyushu Chamber of Commerce, and Liu Wenqing, who controlled the sailors, did not return to Beijing, but sent people back to Beijing to mourn Li Yuntian on their behalf.

It can be said that Chen Ningning, Zheng Wanrou, and Liu Wenqing's actions are very abnormal, which means that the three of them are full of wariness of the imperial court because of Li Yuntian's incident, so they stayed in the field to avoid being caught by the imperial court.

In the eyes of King Yue, he did not expect to be supported by Jiangwutang and Xiaowujun, but only hoped that Jiangwutang and Xiaowujun would not support the prince at that time, so his chances of victory would exceed that of the prince.