In the summer of Chongzhen's sixteenth year, it was so suffocating that it was suffocating.

In the southeast corner of the palace, Emperor Chongzhen, who had ascended to the throne for seventeen years, wore a winged crown and a regular dress with a plate collar and narrow sleeves, and sat on the dragon chair. Although there are ice cubes in the hall, they cannot dispel the strong heat in the slightest. And the sun and moon on the shoulders of the dragon robe also exhausted the young genius.

Thirty-three-year-old Son of Heaven.

"Bixia, now Beijing is like a ghost domain, every family is clothed with linen, and the door is filial piety, and I also ask Bixia to open a warehouse and release medicine." Gong Yonggu, the commander of the horses, choked up, and his voice was sad, as if his family had also suffered misfortune.

Chongzhen sighed, only felt that his neck was tight, and said, "This epidemic is coming violently, and many people have died in the palace. I have ordered the Heavenly Master Zhang Yingjing to open a dojo to overtake the dead and pray for blessings. As for the application of medicine, let it be as Qing asked. Fortunately, my brother has grown up, otherwise it would be really worrying. ”

At the mention of his brother, the eyes of the people in the hall involuntarily drifted to a small table next to the imperial case.

The crown prince, dressed in a red dragon-patterned civilian dress, was concentrating on dividing the notebook sent by the cabinet into four stacks, and the tip of his forehead and nose was slightly sweaty, crystal clear, and people couldn't help but want to wipe it off for him.

The crown prince is the eldest son of the queen of the middle palace, Chongzhen was born in February of the second year, and was named the crown prince the following year. In addition, Chongzhen and Empress Zhou have a deep relationship, so the status of this prince can be said to be unshakable.

Especially since this prince is still a prodigy, even those civil servants in the outer court who think highly of themselves cannot deny this.

Zhu Cihong happened to classify the Zuihou notebook, and easily divided the four stacks of notebooks into two stacks, and asked the eunuch of the celebrant to present it to the emperor Bixia.

"Father." Zhu Cihong stepped forward and bowed slightly, and said: "This epidemic is menacing, and the people are panicking, and I am afraid that just administering medicine is not enough." ”

Gong Yonggu couldn't help but sit up straighter, his heart was relieved, and he said secretly: It is said that the prince is benevolent, and he really deserves his reputation.

Chongzhen knew that his son had been wise since he was a child, never forgot it, and was thoughtful in his work, comparing those pavilions and assistants. Any parent in the world, if they can have such a prodigy son, I don't know how happy they will be. However, it is precisely because he is too smart that this prince's thinking is always a little different from that of normal people.

Ordinary people are just ordinary people, but there has been an alchemy emperor and a carpenter emperor in the Ming Dynasty, so as soon as Chongzhen saw the prince fiddling with those bottles and cans and making pulley wooden rails, a chill inevitably rose from the soles of his feet. Now that the state affairs are in turmoil, and his life hangs by a thread, he can no longer bear emperors like Jiajing and Tianqi.

- Perhaps the death of the country will be on my head.

Unconsciously, Chongzhen's heart darkened, and he looked at the prince numbly.

"The son asked his father to go out of the town as a prince to supervise the treatment of the epidemic." Zhu Cihong is in puberty, with a circle of fluff growing on his lips and a somewhat high-pitched and unsteady voice. This slowed him down more and more, biting every word clearly.

And this kind of speech has the advantage of making the listener feel his unwavering will, and even if he disagrees with what he says, he will unconsciously loosen up.

The struggle between people is nothing more than a struggle of wills.

"The Prince?" Chongzhen regained some of his spirit: "You are recommending yourself in Maosui." ”

Chongzhen once had seven sons and three daughters, and now there are only three sons and one daughter left. The eldest son, Zhu Cihong, is only fifteen years old, not to mention the two younger brothers below. Moreover, even the crown prince with the halo of a prodigy is not convinced, how can he let the two younger children go out to take charge?

"Bixia must not!" Gong Yonggu was suddenly stirred up into a cold sweat: "The prince is still in his prime, and his soul is not complete, how can he enter a vicious place in vain." The happiness just now vanished in a blink of an eye, and there was not half a point. For Gong Yuma, even if the people of Beijing are all dead, they can't exchange the life of the prince of the country.

Zhu Cihong glanced coldly at the captain of the horse, and secretly gave two "cowardly" as test words.

"Erchen is located in the East Palace, blessed by a hundred gods, not to mention that it is just a ferocious epidemic, even if there are really evil ghosts, they have to retreat." Zhu Cihong raised his voice and said: "Father, if you are unstable today, if you don't take advantage of this to lift your spirits, I'm afraid the people's hearts will be even more lazy." ”

"Stand down." Chongzhen frowned slightly and waved his hand.

Zhu Cihong pursed his lips slightly, and finally spit out only three words: "The minister obeys the order." ”

Looking at the eldest son who bowed down and retreated, Chongzhen leaned heavily on the back of the chair. On his desk, two piles of notebooks were neatly stacked. This power to organize the manuscript was taken over by the crown prince from the master of ceremonies in the eighth year of Chongzhen.

That year, the thieves broke through Fengyang, the central capital, and dug the ancestral grave of the Zhu family.

That year, the crown prince was only six years old.

The six-year-old prince ran from Zhongcui Palace to Wuying Hall by almost miraculous means, and told his red-eyed father, the twenty-five-year-old Son of Heaven, the truth of "going into battle as a father and son soldier", and successfully took advantage of Chongzhen's natural paternal love and the opportunity of psychological fragility to obtain the power to organize the notebook.

Because of Wei Zhongxian's chaotic experience, the Chongzhen Dynasty had no eunuchs, let alone eunuchs approving red. However, the celebrant is not called in vain. Even if he was as diligent as Emperor Chongzhen and worked sixteen hours a day, it was impossible to read all the recitals of the day.

When to hand over someone's notebook became an opportunity for the eunuchs to play with power. Through the timing of the handing over of the book, they controlled the political affairs that the emperor dealt with every day. Put simply, this right is the privilege of prioritization.

By the time Chongzhen realized this, it was already four years later.

It's not because the emperor has been in office for a long time and has good political wisdom, but because Emperor Bixia inadvertently read the transcripts that were placed underneath. As a result, the classification criteria of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince were quickly debunked by the wise emperor.

All the transcripts of the impeachment of officials against each other, as well as the recitals of the impeachment of the border ministers by the imperial historians, were stuffed underneath.

The prince argued that he was "important" and "urgent" as the scale, and arranged the order of the cantata. But these books that the prince thinks are not important and urgent, but in the eyes of the emperor, they are where the national program lies, and the rules of employing people are the most important political affairs. Therefore, Emperor Chongzhen changed to start reading from the bottom book, which can be regarded as an iron determination to plunge into the scourge of Wenchen's party dispute.

Zhu Cihong withdrew from the Wenhua Palace, and as soon as he turned around, a wave of heat rushed up to him. He narrowed his eyes and looked up at the sun in the clouds, vaguely revealing its outline. Why not be more intense? I hate such a cloudy sky that is neither sunny nor rainy, which makes the whole world seem depressing.

"Brother Chun, are you going back to the palace?" Zhou Jing, the guard of the East Palace, saw Zhu Cihong coming out, and hurriedly stepped forward, while beckoning the eunuchs who accompanied him to pick up the Russell umbrella and fan, and cover the heat first.

Because he was born in the mid-spring season, the prince's milk name naturally adopted the word "spring". Moreover, the East Palace is also known as the Spring Palace, so the name of "Brother Spring" is well deserved.

Of course, this milk name is not something that anyone can call it. In addition to the father, queen mother, and other close relatives to the royal family, only the nurse and the two disciplined mothers-in-law in the palace can call him so. Since he was weaned, the nurse has been dismissed, also to prevent the Hakka story. Later, the East Palace guards were selected, and Zhou Jing was the foreman, and there were more people who could call him that.

Zhou Jing is the cousin of Empress Zhou, and he is still the uncle of the crown prince.

Shrouded in a cloud of shade, Zhu Cihong finally breathed a sigh of relief, took two steps forward, and said, "Kunning Palace." ”

Kunning Palace is the dormitory of Queen Zhou, known as the Middle Palace in the world.

Based on Zhu Cihong's fifteen years of life experience, there are some unimportant things, rather than begging the emperor Bixia, it is better to ask the empress.

Of course, in this Forbidden City, the most effective way to speak is actually the imperial aunt Empress Yi'an, Zhang Lao Niangniang. She is the queen of the Emperor of the Apocalypse, and it was she who strongly chose Queen Zhou as the princess of Xin, and when the Emperor of the Apocalypse died, she firmly welcomed King Xin into the inner house and inherited the throne, so the weight of her words was very heavy.

Mrs. Zhang is naturally very concerned about Zhu Cihong, the crown prince, and often asks people to send toys, and often calls the prince to take school exams. However, this lady is too upright, far less flexible than the queen mother Zhou Niangniang, such as leaving the palace to be in charge, will definitely be blocked by her as a deviant idea.

- Speaking of which, this is a big obstacle at such a young age!

Zhu Cihong walked under Russell's umbrella and couldn't help but sigh in his heart. In his opinion, in fact, in the early years of Chongzhen, the world had not yet reached the point where it was indispensable, and Chongzhen had the opportunity to completely eliminate the civil unrest in the fourth, eleven, and fifteenth years. However, the reason for this is that Chongzhen is vacillating, and the other is that the capable ministers and good generals have collapsed, and mediocre people steal high positions.

Over the years, every time he heard that those famous figures in history had died, Zhu Cihong's heart trembled. When the news of Songshan's defeat came last year, the contrast between the strength of Daming and Jiannu was completely reversed, which made him feel numb in his heart, thinking about the opportunity for Zuihou to escape.

As long as he can escape from the Forbidden City and escape from Beijing, he can go to Nanjing to reorganize the country...... As long as the legal system of the Ming Dynasty continues, the tragedy of internal strife in the Southern Ming Dynasty will not break out one after another. If Nanjing can't hold it, you can also go to Sichuan, Yunnan, Hainan Island or Dayuan. With Nanming's gang of faint monarchs able to last for forty years, for himself, it was only a matter of time before he recovered the Ming Dynasty.

However, the basis of it all lies here: escape.

When Zhu Cihong was once again deducing the recovery of Jihua in his mind, the honor guard of the brigade had already passed through the Qianqing Gate and entered the inner palace. This place that is longed for by countless people, in fact, there are not 3,000 beauties, and it is rare to drum and play sheng.

There is only repression and bondage.

As a teenager with an adult soul, this repression really put his self-proclaimed tenacious nerves to the test.

"The queen mother passed on the prince to meet you." The chamberlain recited the sermon aloud.

At this time, Zhu Cihong had just stood at the gate of Kunning Palace.

Sometimes the palace is like a magic shijie, with many invisible elves who do everything.

Zhu Cihong shook up the red clothes and strode towards the main hall of Kunning Palace.

Zhou Hou was wearing a light plain armor, sitting on the chair in the main hall, and the moment she saw her son, the originally invisible crow's feet appeared in the corners of her eyes.

"Brother Chun is here." Zhou Hou leaned slightly sideways, and his slender hand fell on the armrest of the seat. Her fingers are fine and white, and because she spins and weaves cloth herself, she has no habit of keeping nails, and she looks clean and neat.

"The eldest son, Cihong, asked Her Royal Highness Kun'an, the Queen Mother." Zhu Cihong bowed for a long time, and when he saw his mother raise her hand, he stood up straight.

After doing these indifferent hypocrisies in a serious way, you can say some serious things with an indifferent face.