Just when Zhu Qizhen and the concubines were in doubt, Chen Xiang came in and reported: "Emperor, the eunuch Ruan Xi asks to see you." ”

When Zhu Qizhen heard this, he hurriedly summoned in.

After Ruan Xi saluted, Zhu Qizhen asked eagerly, "What is the emperor going to do with me?" ”

Ruan Xi didn't answer this, but said perfunctorily: "There is an order in the saint, and the matter involves the imperial family, and everything is decided by the meeting of the relatives." ”

"And what are you doing here?"

Ruan Xi replied: "There is an order on the saint, and the people of Nangong Palace participated in the rebellion, and they were all imprisoned, waiting for their fate." Previously, the saint bought more than 1,000 slaves and maids from North Korea, and now he has selected 50 palace maids and 50 eunuchs to serve His Majesty and all the ladies.

In addition, Xia Shi and other eunuchs forcibly hanged the imperial concubine, and the holy slaves and maids asked His Majesty, how should they be released? ”

Zhu Qizhen waved his hand helplessly: "Kill the staff." ”

Ruan Xi reported again: "There is an order from the saint, the prince will move to Ciqing Palace from now on, Chonghua Palace is temporarily closed, and the palace people are not allowed to enter and exit.

The Holy Lord has ordered Ruan Lang and Ma Liang to return to Beijing. Ruan Lang was relieved of his post as the master of ceremonies and appointed as the head of Chonghua Palace. Ma Liang was demoted to a thousand households in brocade clothes, and he guarded Chonghua Palace full-time. ”

Zhu Qizhen sighed and didn't say anything more. This is house arrest, and it is to be expected. The younger brother let Ruan Lang and Ma Liang live and let them stay in Nangong, which was really merciful.

Empress Zhou asked eagerly: "Can't you let the prince be raised by the palace, he is still young, and now he is frightened and sick." ”

Ruan Xi replied: "If the prince wants to go out of the pavilion to study, how can he be imprisoned in Chonghua Palace." Even if the saint agrees, the civil and military officials will not agree. ”

"Then let the prince stay for another night, how about moving the palace tomorrow?"

Ruan Xi nodded: "The slave respects the queen's decree, and the slave will retire first." ”

Ruan Xi and Chen Xiang withdrew, commanded the Jing army to enter, detained and took away all the palace people in Chonghua Palace, and then fifty eunuchs and fifty palace maids entered Chonghua Palace.

And Lu Zhong led the Jinyi Guard, and the water around the Chonghua Palace was impassable.

Chonghua Palace is fifty zhang wide from east to west, and eighty zhang wide from north to south, which is about the same size as the Yuquan Lake in front of Zhu Qiyu's Hehuan Palace.

In addition to several large halls in Chonghua Palace, there are also wings where people live, as well as a small garden.

In the future, Zhu Qizhen and his ten women will have to suffer in this small world.

Ruan Xi left the South Palace, and went to the Ten Princes' Mansion and the Zhuwang Pavilion to convey the emperor's will to the vassal kings, and then continued to go back and be busy raiding the house.

In the Pavilion of the Kings, Zhu Zhaoxuan, the king of Lu, sat in his room with a bitter face and a piece of paper.

King Lu's six sons and Tang Jie sat alongside.

After sitting in a daze for a long time, King Lu sighed to his sons with a look of chagrin: "It's all because my father is confused, I don't want to rebel." At that time, there was a lot of noise, and I was fooled into going to the Forbidden City. ”

The eldest son, Zhu Taikun, the king of Anqiu, advised: "Father doesn't have to blame himself too much, originally the imperial court summoned us to be invited here to be given a banquet by the emperor at Fengtianmen on the first day of the seventh month.

We went to Fengtianmen on the morning of the first day of the seventh month as agreed, what's wrong with that?

Besides, we didn't hand over the guards to Shi Heng, so why do we say that we rebelled. ”

King Lu nodded: "That's what I said, but tomorrow the emperor summons our family, and Tang Jie will meet him, and I don't know if it's a blessing or a curse." ”

King Lu said, and slapped the piece of paper in his hand on the table: "Look at it, Sun Zhong, the Marquis of Huichang, committed suicide by leaving a suicide note, and the suicide note listed seven major crimes for the queen mother."

Now the emperor has transcribed many copies of Sun Zhong's suicide note for us to see.

A few days later, a meeting of the royal relatives appointed by Taizu was to decide how to deal with these matters. ”

Zhu Taiyu replied: "It's nothing, according to his son, the emperor is very weak, and he even ordered the three grandsons of the Marquis of Chang to send the coffin of the Marquis of Chang back to his hometown for burial."

I thought none of the Sun family would survive. ”

King Lu asked Tang Jie, "Jie'er, what do you think?" ”

Tang Jie replied: "My nephew thinks that my uncle's words are wrong. Huichanghou pointed out the sin of the empress dowager holding the son of the national concubine, and then as long as Dingxiang Bo Guo Deng agreed with Huichanghou's statement and admitted that his sister Guofei Guo Ai did give birth to the prince privately and raised the empress dowager, then this crime will be completely confirmed.

Ding Xiangbo's only son, Guo Song, is a Jinyi Wei Qianhu, who is responsible for guarding the Nangong, and is also suspected of rebellion. For the sake of his son's life, Uncle Dingxiang may have to confess his guilt.

And the emperor left the lives of the three grandsons of the Marquis of Huichang, and even the lives of the great-grandsons of the Marquis of Huichang can be discussed. After the Empress Dowager's charges are 'conclusive', as long as someone hints a little, it is very likely that the Empress Dowager will take the initiative to admit all the charges in order to save the lives of the four children and grandchildren of the Sun family.

In this way, the emperor's gains were too great: the empress dowager would definitely be deposed, and the legitimacy of the emperor's throne would be greatly shaken. And the status of the crown prince has been fundamentally shaken.

And there is another point in the suicide note of the Marquis of Huichang, he publicly admitted that the current son is the concubine of Empress Hu.

This is a good deal, compared to the price paid by sparing the four descendants of the Sun family, the emperor is simply hundreds of times more profitable.

Besides, the four descendants of the Sun family are not free anymore, Fengyang's Zhongdu is so big, the emperor will not leave it empty. ”

At this time, Zhu Taikan, the second son of King Lu and the son of his descendant, retorted: "That's right, but most of the vassal kings rebelled, but the emperor didn't dare to kill us, and he was still serving with good food and drink." How can you say that the emperor is not weak and deceitful? ”

Tang Jie was directly amused by Zhu Taikan's words: "Uncle, are you thinking too much." Look at the nobles and civil servants present at that time, are there not a single one left dead?

As for the vassal king's survival, it was only the emperor who deliberately let it go.

If you count from the beginning, did the most famous vassal kings not go to the Forbidden City, and did the most discredited vassal kings all die in the chaos? Those who survived the rebellion were not even too bad vassal kings? ”

Zhu Taikan asked curiously, "Do you mean that the emperor is killing people in a planned way?" Then why didn't he kill all the vassal kings who entered the Forbidden City? Why did he kill all the ministers and nobles? ”

Tang Jie smiled: "Uncle, think about it, those ministers and nobles will die when they die, and they will have no effect on the emperor at all."

However, at the local level, the emperor needed vassal kings, civil servants, gentry, and powerful to check each other and maintain balance.

If all the vassal kings are killed now, it will be a pleasure, but without the restraint of the vassal kings in the local area, the civil officials, the gentry, and the powerful collude with each other, and it will soon be a big deal.

And the emperor only has two sons now, both of whom are still babies, and they can't be counted on at all.

Therefore, the emperor is not weak, but has no choice, so he can only leave some of the vassal kings who have returned their morals and continue to guard the place for the Ming Dynasty. ”

King Anqiu echoed: "This is really true, you think about the square in front of the Fengtian Palace, the scene of the final killing.

The brothers Cao Jixiang and Cao Qin just killed the Xungui family and the vassal king's guards, and Tian Cewei also rushed in just right.

At that time, Hao Yi, the eunuch of the imperial horse supervisor's palm seal, was not far from me, and I saw him respectfully helping King Huai who fell to the ground, and politely ordered his own soldiers to protect King Huai and leave.

Then Hao Yi turned his head, and with a slight wave of his hand, the Tiance guards immediately rushed forward and cut their throats and beheads all the remaining Huai Wang guards.

In the end, more than 10,000 people were killed on the spot, all of whom were mended by Tiance Wei and beheaded, except for the vassal king, not a single living mouth was left.

But the brothers Cao Jixiang and Cao Qin should have been captured alive, and then the judicial department will be tried and Ling Chi will be executed. But what is very strange is that the Cao Qin brothers asked Hao Yi to let their concubine have a way to live, Hao Yi nodded, and said: Don't worry.

Then Hao Yi actually ordered the Tiance guards to give Cao Jixiang and Cao Qin brothers a happy heart. ”

Tang Jie nodded and praised: "Uncle is right, Cao Jixiang and the others are definitely deliberate." Seeing that the tide was turning, they began to do dirty work for the emperor in turn, killing the vassal king.

In this way, it can be reasonably explained why the Cao family suddenly went crazy and rushed desperately to kill the guards of the vassal king and the noble family.

And Cao Jixiang, the old fox, was picky and killing the vassal kings, so it was such a coincidence, the vassal king with a bad reputation died almost, but the vassal king with a good reputation did not suffer much loss. ”

When everyone heard this, they suddenly realized.

King Lu instructed everyone: "We can understand this matter from our own family, you can't spread it, and you can't tell your princess when you go back, you have to rot in your stomach."

is still smart, in the end, it is the origin of family learning, and he has seen these twists and turns in the DPRK and China thoroughly. ”

Tang Jie smiled bitterly, this compliment to the Tang family is worth it. Few of the founding heroes of the Ming Dynasty can survive from the hands of Taizu, and their ancestor Xinguo Gong Tanghe is one of the very few who have the last laugh.

The descendants of the Tang family dare not say anything else, but the ability to wait and see the direction of the wind and protect themselves is really a family study.

It's just that after the Tumubao Incident, the Tang family was still too conservative, and it was clear that the new monarch had already sent someone to invite the Tang family to King Qin, but the Tang family chose to wait and see for the time being.

Who would have thought that the war would end so quickly, and who would have thought that the new monarch would not only defeat Warat, but even kill Yexian immediately afterward.

Tang Jie missed this opportunity and broke his thigh with remorse. Li Xuan, who was about the same age, easily took back the title of Duke of Cao Guo because he took hundreds of families to actively enter the king of Jingqin, and he did not make a particularly big contribution.

Tang Jie regretted it, if he had entered King Jingqin early, it is estimated that as long as he went to the battlefield and waved a few times with a knife, he would have been a prince of Xinguo now.

Turning things around and falling is also the first; The wind swept the clouds and annihilated the mutiny. After seeing the emperor's two major strokes, Tang Jie has been completely convinced.

One victory may be due to luck, but two successive victories like autumn wind sweeping leaves must not be explained by luck alone.

But the problem is that Tang Jie wants to be loyal to the emperor now, and it's a little late. Because now people who think the same way as Tang Jie have begun to line up.

Now that you want to be loyal, the emperor must first ask: Which green onion are you?

(End of chapter)