As the princes and the little emperor's family entered the Taihe Palace, the clan meeting was about to be held. Empress Dowager Li raised objections, hoping that some ministers and internal officials would also attend the meeting, at least so that they could attend the meeting as observers. The purpose of this is to worry that the princes will rely on the strength of the people and the superiority of the little emperor, and they will unite to bully the little emperor. With outsiders present, ministers and internal officials, these princes will be a little more restrained, at least they will not bully the little emperor unscrupulously and arbitrarily. Although these ministers and internal officials are not very satisfied with the little emperor, at least they have some reverence for the little emperor, and they will help the little emperor to a certain extent. Therefore, the two queen mothers and the little emperor and his wife felt that it was beneficial to let the ministers and internal officials attend the meeting. But whoever makes this suggestion needs to be prepared. If the little emperor proposes it, everyone will definitely oppose it immediately. What Empress Dowager Chen proposed, some princes would bully Empress Dowager Chen for being weak and ignore it. If Queen Wang proposes it, everyone will not pay attention to the suggestion of this queen who exists in name only. Only when Empress Dowager Li, who once controlled the government and had a certain prestige, came out to speak, these princes might agree.

The princes disagreed on this suggestion, some princes disdained to hold a meeting with these people, some princes thought that these people were not qualified to attend the clan conference, and some princes felt that there was no need for this. Everyone pays attention to the initiator of King Lu, and as long as King Lu opposes it, everyone will oppose it together. However, to the disappointment of these princes, King Lu had no opinion on Empress Dowager Li's suggestion, so everyone had to follow Empress Dowager Li's wishes and let some ministers and internal officials also come to the meeting.

These ministers and internal officials attending the meeting were decided on an ad hoc basis, so it was impossible for either the little emperor's family or the princes to prepare in advance. There are five representatives of the ministers, namely, Zhang Siwei, the first assistant of the cabinet, who represents the cabinet of the imperial court, Tan Lun, the secretary of the military department, who represents the civil officials of the imperial court, He Hai, the commander of the Praetorian Guard, who represents the military generals of the imperial court, the priest of the country, Lu Tiaoyang, who represents the students, and Wei Ming, the husband of Princess Izumo, who represents the nobles of the capital. There were three representatives of the internal officials, one was Zhang Cheng, a close confidant of the little emperor, who attended the meeting on behalf of the celebrant supervisor, Jinyiwei and Dongchang, Mrs. Hong attended the meeting on behalf of the female officials and palace maids, and Li Shen attended the meeting on behalf of the female dependents.

In order to restrict the rights of these people, the princes only allowed them to attend the meeting as observers, and did not allow them to intervene casually. That is, they are only witnesses, and they can no longer express their opinions and suggestions at the meeting. Although the ministers and internal officials were a little reluctant to do this, there was nothing they could do, after all, it was already very good to let them attend the meeting, and if there was any suggestion, they really didn't even have the qualifications to attend the meeting. Zhang Cheng and Zhang Siwei sighed, they originally thought of helping the little emperor speak at the meeting, but now it seems that there is no chance.

At that time, there were thirty-eight vassal kings in the Ming Dynasty, and each of them was a descendant of the Zhu royal family, and they were all hereditary prince-level princes. Their eldest son has the right to inherit the throne, which means that he can inherit the title passed down from his father without being demoted. The other sons of the vassal king can be demoted to inherit the title with restrictions, in other words, the second son of the vassal king can be the prince of the county, the second son of the prince of the county can be the prince of the country, and so on until there is no title. However, these phoenix sons and dragon grandchildren who were demoted to inherit the title were different from the eldest sons who inherited the title completely, because they only had titles and no fiefs. Without fiefs and hereditary titles, the qualifications and status are inferior to other hereditary titles. Not to mention the children who were born in the concubines, whose status determined that they did not even have the possibility of hereditary titles. Therefore, whether it is a descendant or not, the order of birth is a very critical issue. The imperial court stipulated that in addition to the eldest son, who inherited his own title in the future and was characterized as a prince, the feudal king was allowed to have two sons who could inherit the title of county king in the future. In addition to the eldest son of the county prince who has a fief inherits his own title as a prince, the two sons are allowed to be demoted to the title of duke of the successor country. The title of the county king without a fief generally cannot be hereditary, and the eldest son is demoted to inherit the title as a prince, and the second son is demoted to inherit the title as a marquis. The eldest son of the prince with a different surname does not descend to inherit the title, the second son is demoted to inherit the title as a marquis, and the third son is demoted to inherit the title as an earl. The descendants of the royal family surnamed Zhu have one descendant inheritance without demotion and two demotion inheritance, and the royal family surnamed Zhu without fief has two demotion inheritances until there is no title. Only one descendant of the duke with a different surname can inherit the title, and the other descendants cannot be demoted to inheritance.

When the little emperor became the emperor, there were a total of 38 prince-level vassal kings in the Ming Dynasty, 117 prince-level vassal kings, 337 county kings without fiefs, 39 princes with fiefs plus different surnames, 178 princes without fiefs, and countless imperial relatives below the national duke. But there are only a few hereditary prince-level vassal kings who can really influence the overall situation, or dare to argue with the imperial court.

The reason why this clan assembly could be held was because King Lu summoned seventeen vassal kings and nine vassal king representatives, as well as more than thirty county kings or county king representatives, which exceeded the minimum standard for convening a clan meeting. King Lu himself is the first generation of Prince Lu, seventeen genuine vassal kings, nine feudal princes, more than thirty county kings or county princes with fiefs, plus some royal relatives without fiefs, this scale is enough to scare people. Although the status of the emperor is much higher than that of the vassal king, and even the status of the queen or the queen mother is much higher than that of the vassal king, but the number of princes is higher than that of the little emperor's family. The little emperor alone may be able to resist four or five vassal kings, the two empress dowagers alone can withstand two or three vassal kings, and the queen queen can withstand two vassal kings, but they still can't stop so many vassal kings and county kings from joining forces.

Each of the three major halls of the Forbidden City has its own meaning and usefulness. The Taihe Hall is the place where the emperor ascends the throne and holds the supreme council, and is a symbol of the supreme imperial power. The Zhonghe Hall is the place where the emperor holds a great court meeting and receives foreign countries, and it is also a place where civil and military officials bring their families to bow to the emperor's family during the festival. The Baohe Hall is the place where the emperor was in the early dynasty, and it is also the place where the emperor held large meetings, that is, the large conference room. In particular, the Taihe Hall is not allowed to be used casually, and the significance of this clan meeting held in this place has made people reverie.

Originally, the little emperor, the two queen mothers and the queen were supposed to sit on the dragon chair in the center of the hall for a meeting, but the people who participated in the meeting were not ordinary people, and some were even from the grandfathers of the little emperor, so the seating and sitting methods have changed. The little emperor agreed to the opinions of the princes in desperation, and placed a lot of Taishi chairs of the same style in the open space of the Taihe Palace. Four chairs are placed side by side in the direction of the main entrance, for the little emperor and his wife and the two queen mothers to sit. Fourteen chairs were placed on the left and right for the eighteen vassal kings, the nine princes of the feudal lords, and one prince who was the grandfather of the little emperor. After the first row of Taishi chairs on the left and right, other chairs were placed for the use of the prince and other imperial relatives. Several stools were placed next to the main entrance for ministers and ministers attending the meeting to sit. This made the little emperor, who had always been high, lose his advantage and good feeling all of a sudden, and it also made these princes who were pressed by the little emperor raise their eyebrows.

As soon as the little emperor entered the Taihe Palace, he was already unhappy, and the Empress Dowager Li and Empress Dowager Chen on the side secretly pulled the corner of the little emperor's clothes almost at the same time. Under the hint of the two queen mothers, the little emperor finally held back, the current situation is very unfavorable to the little emperor, and the little emperor can no longer lose his temper. For the first time, the little emperor felt the strangeness of this venue, and for the first time, he also felt that he had lost control of the situation. This kind of helplessness and uneasiness made the little emperor very depressed, especially after the fall of Zhang Juzheng, the little emperor did not have this feeling of powerlessness for a long time.

Soon after the little emperor's family sat down, King Han didn't wait for the little emperor to speak, and directly announced the start of the clan meeting. At this time, King Lu, who was sitting on the right hand side of the little emperor's family, was also a little nervous, because he obviously felt that some princes were a little strange to him, did these princes really want to knock him down with the little emperor's brother? King Han, who sat in the first position on the left hand of the little emperor, became the host of this clan meeting. In fact, whether it is status or seniority, this veteran feudal king is really qualified to preside over the meeting. Although this vassal king is only fifty-one years old, he is the cousin of the little emperor's grandfather, Jiajing Emperor Zhu Houcong, and if the little emperor is not the emperor, he will call King Han his uncle. He has the highest rank and status in the royal family surnamed Zhu, so he thinks that he is the natural host of the clan assembly. The princes also had no opinion, so King Han did it.

The little emperor looked at the two queen mothers helplessly, and then at his younger brother King Lu, who was a little nervous, and he finally understood that the situation of the clan conference was completely out of control. These people don't care that they are emperors, and they don't completely look at King Lu's eyes. These people usually don't care about things, and it is first-class to pick and scold their mother, it seems that the little emperor's family will have to spend some effort to get through this difficult time this time. Thinking of this, the little emperor couldn't help but glared at his younger brother King Lu fiercely, if it weren't for this stupid brother gathering so many princes, he wouldn't have to be afraid.

King Han announced the first project of the clan conference and listened to Qin Tai and his wife make closing statements on the murder that happened not long ago. A guard brought Qin Tai and his wife into the Taihe Palace, Qin Tai walked in front with a stack of materials, and Zhan Xiao followed behind her husband Qin Tai with two small jars. The last person who walked in was Qiu Xiaoqiu, the cousin of Qin Tai and his wife, who was holding a large stack of porcelain bowls and a few large spoons. As soon as Qin Tai and his wife walked into the Taihe Palace, they felt that the atmosphere was wrong, and Qin Tai and his wife glanced at everyone. The helplessness of the little emperor's family, the crying and laughing of King Lu, the smugness of King Han, the arrogance of the princes, and the paleness of Zhang Siwei and other ministers made Qin Tai and his wife feel that this clan meeting was a difficult time for everyone.