Chapter 7: The Mystery of the Lotus Seven

Qin Tai pulled up Zhan Xiaoxiao, bowed deeply to the back of the old drunkard master. The old drunkard also seemed to feel it, and although he didn't look back, he stood and accepted the salute. After Qin Tai and his wife stood up straight, the old drunkard master left firmly again. Zhan Xiaoxiao hugged the wine gourd of his godfather and old drunkard, and cried very sadly. Qin Tai also hung the jade pendant on his son Xiao Ping'an's body, which is a kind of concern of the old drunkard master for Xiao Ping'an, Xiao Ping'an and Qin Tai will never forget.

Zhan Xiaoxiao hugged the child, looked at the jade pendant carefully, and immediately found that the jade pendant was unusual. This jade pendant is an authentic Hetian white jade, although it is not very large, but the texture and color are the best. Zhu Houzhao sent the old drunkard master, everyone will think that it is a dragon-shaped jade pendant unique to the royal family or a jade pendant engraved with a dragon pattern. But this jade pendant and the royal family don't seem to be in line at all, if it weren't for the old drunkard master himself, everyone wouldn't think of the royal family. Zhan Xiaoxiao stroked this jade pendant, in fact, no matter whether the jade pendant is good or not, expensive or not, for Zhan Xiaoxiao, it is a thought left by the godfather and the old drunkard master to their mother and son.

Compared with his wife Zhan Xiaoxiao, her husband Qin Tai thinks more deeply than Zhan Xiaoxiao. He also looked at this jade pendant carefully, and also felt that this jade pendant was different. However, the couple was far from thinking about the origin of this jade pendant, and of course, no one in the world knew the true origin of this jade pendant. Speaking of this jade pendant, I have to talk about an old past. Ming Xianzong Zhu Jianshen was confined in the Nangong Chonghua Palace with his father when he was a child, and there was only one big palace maid Wan Zhuzhu by his side. Because Ming Xianzong's father listened to the instigation of the eunuch Wang Zhen, he personally conquered Wara, but not only was the whole army wiped out, but he was also caught by the Warat people. At that time, the country was in chaos, not to mention, the Warat army had already reached the vicinity of the capital. At this critical moment, under the leadership of Yu Qian, an old minister in the court, he found the old empress dowager and asked for the uncle of Ming Xianzong, who was the younger brother of the emperor at that time, to be the new monarch. In desperation, the new monarch ascended the throne and fought against the Warat army. Seeing that the attack was unsuccessful, the Warat army retreated and returned to their own territory. At this time, the new monarch has already sat firmly in the country, the year name is Jingtai, and the imperial brother is the emperor. Ming Xianzong's father became a dispensable waste, although he saved his life, he suffered a lot and suffered a lot of grievances. Under the unanimous persuasion of the ministers, Emperor Jingtai exchanged a large amount of gold and silver treasures for the Emperor Taishang, but at this time the Emperor Taishang had become a laughing stock. The ministers did not support him, the common people looked down on him, and Emperor Jingtai did not want him to come back to power. Emperor Jingtai ostensibly cared about his brother Emperor Taishang, but in fact, he was worried that he would regain the throne, so he imprisoned Emperor Taishang's family in Chonghua Palace. Every day, except for the delivery of food, the gate is closed, there are eunuchs inside to watch, and there are guards outside, and the emperor and his family are not even free. Soon after, everyone's attitude towards Emperor Taishang became worse and worse, and I don't know if Emperor Jingtai deliberately arranged it, or if someone did it on purpose. The soldiers guarding outside were replaced by the people who finally Emperor Jingtai, and the officers were also unknown to the Emperor. The eunuchs in Chonghua Palace were also replaced by those who were once bullied by Wang Zhen, and these people hated Wang Zhen and hated the emperor who obeyed Wang Zhen in everything, that is, the current Emperor Taishang. These eunuchs not only did not care to serve the Emperor Taishang's family, but also always sneered at the Emperor's family on the side.

In the end, it developed to the point that the Emperor Taishang's family was not full of food and clothing, and it was also difficult for the Emperor Taishang to eat a meal of meat. Because the meals delivered are getting less and less, and the quality is getting worse and worse, the Emperor Taishang's family can't eat enough. In order not to starve to death or die of cold, the wife of the Emperor Taishang, the former queen, had to take a few concubines and palace maids to do needlework day and night. After it was done, the eunuch who entrusted the food to deliver it was taken out and sold, and the money in exchange for food or clothing was added. The eunuch who delivered the meal was not easy to talk to, not only did he take a lot of benefits from it, but he also did not have much respect for the queen mother. For the sake of the family's food and clothing, Ming Xianzong's mother had to endure all this.

Because of insufficient food and clothing, Ming Xianzong not only lost the qualification to read and write since he was a child, but also lacked people to take care of him. The eunuchs didn't dare to bully the emperor's personal body too much, nor did they dare to offend the fierce queen mother too much, so they had to take out their anger on the ignorant little prince. At that time, Ming Xianzong, who was still the son of the emperor, was often bullied by the eunuchs, and was frightened and teased by the soldiers, leaving a lot of shadows. Only one palace maid by his side is better for him, often helps him protect him, and hugs him at night to coax him to sleep. Ming Xianzong, who was still a little prince at the time, made a promise to this palace maid that he would be good to her in the future and listen to her for the rest of his life. I didn't expect this promise to really come true later, and Ming Xianzong really did it to the end.

Emperor Taishang had already given up the battle for the throne and decided to stay in Chonghua Palace for the rest of his life. But things changed dramatically, and he had to change his mind. It turned out that when he returned to his country as the emperor, Emperor Jingtai, who was his younger brother, was worried that he would return to the throne, so he personally promised at that time that Zhu Jianshen, the eldest son of the emperor, would be the crown prince in the future, that is, he would return the throne to the descendants of the emperor in the future. Because of this promise, because the Emperor Taishang also felt that he was sorry for his ancestors and everyone, the Emperor Taishang did not make trouble. But then things changed, and Emperor Jingtai not only became worse and worse for the Emperor Taishang's family, but also wanted to overturn the original promise. The Emperor himself can give up everything, but this country must be left to his children and grandchildren. In order to regain everything for his son, in order to vent his anger, Ming Xianzong's father began to secretly contact his cronies. Although Emperor Jingtai is always wary of the imperial brother, he is not the orthodox heir of the royal family after all, and he does not know the actual role of the merits of the nobles. The reason why Zhu Yuanzhang, the Hongwu Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, did not kill all his relatives and nobles was to prevent the emperor from being overturned by the ministers, and someone would seize the throne and kill his descendants. Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang left a hand, the civil and military officials restrained each other, suppressed the hundred officials with brocade guards, the imperial family supervised the emperor, and the emperor controlled the merits of relatives and nobles. When necessary, the emperor can take out the relics left by Zhu Yuanzhang and mobilize the meritorious descendants to balance the power of the court. This relic is unknown to outsiders, only the previous emperor passed it on to the next emperor, and even the crown prince who has not succeeded to the throne does not know. Ming Xianzong's father knew this secret from his father, the emperor, and Emperor Jingtai was not a descendant, of course he didn't know. Ming Xianzong's father was also not ready to tell his younger brother, and wanted to tell this secret directly to his son in the future to the future emperor.

The pro-noble meritorious service nominally enjoys the best treatment of the Guo family, but in fact, he does not have much real power in his hands. This is because everyone is worried that the power in the hands of the nobles and nobles will be too great, and they will become enemies of the state and the royal family in the future. However, the descendants of these noble and meritorious deeds still nominally serve as the No. 1 commander of various armies, especially the army in the capital. Even if they don't have to go to work every day to report, even if they are not familiar with the lower-level officers, everyone knows that these meritorious descendants are the highest commanders of their own troops. Because the army of the Ming Dynasty implements the military household system, that is, both officers and soldiers are passed down from father to son and from brother to brother, so more than half of the officers and soldiers of each unit are familiar with the descendants of meritorious service. The status of these meritorious descendants is fought out by their ancestors with a knife and a gun, and they and their subordinates are friendships received in battle, so their descendants are either relatives or small. Once these meritorious descendants received special instructions and the emperor authorized them with special rights, they were really able to control the army as soon as possible. Even if the army commanders at the time did not cooperate, these meritorious descendants who enjoyed happiness at home were still able to mobilize the army in person. On the surface, these meritorious descendants are all wine bags and rice bags, and they usually only do some ridiculous things, but in fact, which one of them has not undergone special training when he was a child? The descendants of these meritorious deeds know that they are the descendants of the generals, and they must not only inherit the skills of their ancestors, but also be prepared to work for the emperor at all times. If they forget the fundamentals, if the emperor can't use them when he wants them, they and their families will be abandoned by the emperor. So each of them has more or less learned some kung fu, and they also have some skills to lead troops to fight. Although these people's skills may not be used for a lifetime, it is necessary to be "prepared". No, if the Emperor wants to regain the throne, he will have to use these meritorious descendants.

Not only did these meritorious descendants listen to the words of the Emperor, but also some generals with military power in their hands were also willing to help the Emperor. Among them, the most famous is the general Shi Heng, whose standing directly affects the situation behind. Shi Heng turned out to be a military descendant who did not learn and did not know how to do it, because his father was a general, so he lived a lawless life since he was a child. Because he was not the eldest son in the family, he was not eligible to inherit his father's position, but it was good for him not to have to be a soldier. Unexpectedly, after a battle, his father was seriously wounded, his eldest brother died in battle, and he became the successor of the Shi family. His father taught his son Shi Heng and let Shi Heng take over the army. Because Shi Heng's father was defeated, many of his subordinates either died or dispersed, so his strength was not as good as before. After Shi Heng took over, not only did he not become a general, but even the garrison was changed to a place where there was relatively no oil and water. Just when Shi Heng thought he was out of luck, the "Battle of Tumubao" began. Although it was a personal expedition, although there was a 100% possibility of victory, Shi Heng, who was timid and afraid of death, still did not dare to go to the front line. He managed to secure a task of garrisoning the rear without having to take troops to the front.

;

。 All come to read m.