Bowing slightly, Xu Yan lowered his head and said with a frightened expression while presenting the secret letter to Zhou Chen: "My subordinates don't dare to say it, it's better for you to come and see it yourself!" ”

Hearing this, Zhou Chen's brows couldn't help frowning even tighter, but he didn't continue to say anything, just took the secret letter in Xu Yan's hand and opened it.

"On the seventh day of the fifth month of the eighteenth year of Hongzhi, Emperor Daxing collapsed in the Qianqing Palace!"

The content of the secret letter is very brief, but the meaning of it can be called a shock, this is actually a secret letter from the brocade guards to report the funeral.

Hongzhi Emperor Zhu Youzhi died two days ago.

Because Emperor Hongzhi only had such an only son as the crown prince Zhu Houzhao, his funeral was not covered up, and on the day of his death, the funeral news spread from the capital to all parts of the Ming Dynasty.

Now Zhou Chen only learned the news in advance from Jinyiwei's channels, and in a few days, the urgent messenger in the capital may also arrive at Guangyang Mansion.

After learning the news of Emperor Hongzhi's death, Zhou Chen's eyes couldn't help but show a look of surprise for a while.

Although through Emperor Hongzhi's previous series of measures, Zhou Chen guessed that Emperor Hongzhi's body was afraid that it was not as good as day by day.

But even so, Zhou Chen didn't expect that he had just been transferred to Guangyang Mansion by Emperor Hongzhi for more than a month, and Emperor Hongzhi would really control Bintian.

According to Zhou Chen's previous speculation about Emperor Hongzhi, Emperor Hongzhi should let him serve in this Guangyang Mansion for a period of time, and then he will be transferred to the capital to take charge of Jinyi Guard, becoming a sharp blade for the future Son of Heaven Zhu Houzhao to deter hundreds of officials in the court.

However, the news of Emperor Hongzhi's death was so sudden that Zhou Chen was a little unsure of how his next path would be arranged.

It's just that the matter has come to this, and all Zhou Chen can do is wait quietly.

Whether he continues to serve as the prefect in this Guangyang Mansion or is transferred to the capital, there will definitely be a result.

After pondering quietly for a moment with the secret letter, he only heard Zhou Chen say to Xu Yan in a loud voice: "The secret letter has already been read by the official of the secret letter, you will go down in a while and prepare in advance, just wait for the messenger in the capital to send a funeral report, and the officials and brocade guards of the government will all wear a vessel."

As for the rest, let's wait until the messenger in the capital arrives! ”

Although now Zhou Chen learned the news that Emperor Hongzhi had died one step ahead of time through Jinyiwei's intelligence channels, he couldn't do anything else at all.

At present, the news mentioned in the secret letter from the headquarters of Jinyiwei is just that Emperor Daxing died in the Qianqing Palace.

As for when the crown prince will ascend the throne and succeed to the throne, what is the new era name, how the temple name of the Daxing Emperor should be announced, and so on.

All this had to wait for the conclusion of the capital, and the messenger would send it to the various places before it could be announced to the people.

So what Zhou Chen can do now is to ask the officials in Guangyang Mansion to prepare mourning clothes in advance, and then quietly wait for the funeral report in the capital.

After receiving Zhou Chen's instructions, Xu Yan seemed to have found the backbone of the main heart, and the panicked look on his face finally gradually eased a lot.

Immediately, I saw Xu Yan clenching his fists and bowing down in response and said, "Obey the orders of the adults, and my subordinates will go down to prepare Su mourning clothes." ”

"Let's go down!"

Bowing slightly, Zhou Chen said softly.

So Xu Yan retreated and left Zhou Chen's room, and went down to prepare in advance according to Zhou Chen's instructions.

In the blink of an eye, three days passed in a flash, and the urgent messenger in the capital finally came to the outskirts of Guangyang Mansion with the edict.

Before the messengers from the capital entered the city of Guangyang Mansion, Zhou Chen led a group of officials to the outskirts of the city to greet them.

It was a group of elite soldiers dressed in plain clothes, all of whom were elite forbidden troops in the Forbidden City in the capital, and their arrival showed that the era of Emperor Hongzhi had come to an end.

Emperor Hongzhi died in the Qianqing Palace, and the crown prince Zhu Hou succeeded to the throne in front of Ling, and changed the name of the year to Zhengde, which is the content of the edict brought by the forbidden army.

At the same time, the cabinet elders also discussed the temple name and the nickname of the Hongzhi Emperor according to the merits of the Hongzhi Emperor during his lifetime.

The temple name is Ming Xiaozong, and the name is Jiantian, Mingdao, Chengchun, Zhongzheng, Shengwen, Shenwu, Zhiren, and the Great Virtue of the Emperor, and the special envoy of the forbidden army proclaimed the world.

In addition to the edict about the death of Emperor Hongzhi, the commander of the forbidden army also handed over a secret edict to Zhou Chen.

They then left Guangyang Mansion and went to other surrounding state capitals to deliver funeral news.

As for the content of the secret letter, it is up to Zhou Chen to see it himself.

Enshrined the edict in the main hall of the government, Zhou Chen and a group of officials from Guangyang Mansion put on plain mourning clothes and began to salute solemnly.

This kind of funeral lasts for three days from the day the edict arrives, and is held once a day and once a night.

And the plain mourning clothes worn by Zhou Chen and the others could not be removed until twenty-seven days later.

After the mourning salute, Zhou Chen instructed the officials such as Xie Ming to begin preparing the proclamation that would be known to the people.

so that the people may know the news of the death of the first emperor, and they shall not marry or have fun for a hundred days during the state funeral, so as not to violate the taboo.

In addition, the news of the crown prince Zhu Houzhao's ascension to the throne will also be announced.

All official names, place names, personal names, etc., which have the same name as the new emperor, need to be changed, which is called avoiding names, so as not to commit the crime of great disrespect.

After instructing all the matters, Zhou Chen had time to go to the mansion to check the secret decree.

There is no difference between this secret decree and the two secret decrees that Zhou Chen received before in terms of style and specifications, but the person who made the decree seems to have changed.

At present, the crown prince Zhu Houzhao has ascended the throne and succeeded to the throne for Emperor Zhengde, so this secret decree naturally came from his handwriting.

There is nothing peculiar about the content of the secret decree, it is nothing more than asking Zhou Chen to go to the capital to report on his work after being discharged from service in the twenty-seventh day.

As for what arrangements were made for Zhou Chen later, Emperor Zhengde did not say it clearly in the secret decree, and everything still needs to be known after Zhou Chen himself goes to the capital.

It's just that Zhou Chen has some guesses in his heart, Emperor Zhengde asked him to return to the capital to report on his work, it should be just like Emperor Hongzhi's plan before his death, ready to let him take charge of the Jinyi Guard and become a sharp blade to start shocking the court officials for the new emperor.