The ground in the harem collapsed, and the iron stele erected by Emperor Gaozu disappeared, sinking into the ground and nowhere to be found. Emperor Gaozu, in his grave, could not rest in peace, and he was crying out for the injustice done to his six sons!
Especially the Prince of Xiang, whose entire family was killed.
The Xiang prince and his family refused to "plead guilty" and committed suicide by locking themselves in the palace. They were unwilling to be demoted to commoners like other princes and imprisoned in their hometown of Fengyang for life.
Zhu Bo, the Prince of Xiang, was as proud and vigorous as pine and cypress. As the son of Emperor Gaozu, he had the capital to be proud. He was good at both literature and martial arts. He was "study-loving and studied until midnight". In terms of martial arts, he "liked to talk about military affairs, had extraordinary physical strength, was good at bows and arrows, swords and spears, and rode a horse like flying". He was also good at talking and recruiting talents. He built a Jingyuan Pavilion specifically for "recruiting talented people, dealing with enemies every day, and aiming to govern the country".
Not only that, his aesthetic taste is also transcendent and extraordinary, "when he encounters beautiful mountains and rivers, he will linger there all day long."
In addition, he believed in local Taoism and called himself "Zixuzi".
The key is that he believes in Taoism and knows how to select the essence and discard the dross, unlike his tenth brother, King Lu Huang, who is like in "Breaking Bad" and makes elixirs and takes drugs.
Finally, since he became a vassal, he has never oppressed the people. On the contrary, he led the army of the vassal palace to quell the rebellion in Changde, and he also quelled the rebellion in Guzhou together with King of Chu Zhu Zhen.
If such an outstanding prince of the Ming Dynasty appeared in Jinjiang Literature City 500 years later, he would definitely be the protagonist of Jack Su. Who can not love him? Who can not respect him
It's a pity that the Zhu family finally produced a good vassal king of the Ming Dynasty who was well-rounded in morals, intelligence and physique, talented in both literature and sports, and had ideals, morals, culture and discipline, but he was burned to death just when he was about to break.
It should be noted that it was not only the Prince of Xiang who was burned to death, but his wife and children also died in the fire. These were Emperor Jianwen’s aunt and cousins.
In a feudal society that emphasizes family and blood ethics, if Emperor Jianwen used the name of killing the vassal, no one in the government or the public would support him.
When Cao Guogong Li Jinglong went to arrest the King of Xiang, he did so on the grounds that he had "printed private banknotes". This bad idea was even more ridiculous than the rebellion of the King of Zhou, who only knew how to edit medical books. Because the Ming Dynasty banknotes had long been worthless due to Emperor Gaozu's excessive printing, the silver bills printed by private banks could be circulated unimpeded, but the Ming Dynasty banknotes printed by the court were rejected by all merchants and were as good as blank paper.
The treasure notes printed by the Ming Dynasty Treasure Note Factory are now only used as royal rewards. They are just symbolic rituals to express royal grace. No one would be stupid enough to use treasure notes to buy things.
Moreover, due to the scarcity of printing, the Baochao Factory was unable to maintain normal operation, and now it has switched to producing a daily necessity - yellow paper specially used for wiping buttocks. The toilet paper produced by the Baochao Factory is cheap and in large quantities, and is a hot commodity on the market.
Li Jinglong, the "expert in reducing the power of the feudal lords", actually used such a lame excuse as "printing privately the treasure banknotes", which is almost the same as the Prince of Xiang printing toilet paper. What's even more amazing is that Emperor Jianwen, who was eager to reduce the power of the feudal lords, agreed to it...
The Prince of Xiang was forced to burn himself to death with his entire family, which caused a stir both among the people and in the court. However, in the previous incident where the Prince of Zhou was demoted, Princess Qingyang relied on her seniority and qualifications to speak a word of advice, which led to her being demoted to Princess Qingcheng. Everyone was watching the new emperor's three major actions upon taking office, and whoever touched them would be unlucky. What was going on
Their own lives, wealth and importance are valued, so no one dares to advise anymore, as they don’t want to be the first to stand out and be shot down.
But silence does not mean obedience. If the accumulated resentment is not relieved, it will not disappear on its own, but will erupt in another form.
The collapse of the harem and the disappearance of the iron stele immediately became a breakthrough. With the instigation of Ji Gang and others, the Jianwen Emperor was accused of violating the will of Emperor Gaozu, being too harsh on his uncles, aunts and other elders, and forcing his innocent nephew to death. The voices of being unkind and unfilial suddenly erupted like a blowout.
Look, even Emperor Gaozu, who is in the underworld, couldn't stand it anymore, and he dragged the iron tablet to the underworld as a warning to his grandson not to force his sons to death again.
Emperor Gaozu was reluctant to kill even that cruel and insane son of the Prince of Qin. But now, the Zhu family, which had finally produced a good prince of the Ming Dynasty who was both talented in literature and sports, was forced to commit suicide by their grandson.
The people in the Prince of Xiang's fiefdom spontaneously carried offerings to the former Prince of Xiang's Palace, which had been burned to ashes, to pay homage. Some ministers in the court also began to speak up for the Prince of Xiang - they did not dare to directly say that Emperor Jianwen was unkind and unfilial, but instead accused Li Jinglong, the Duke of Cao who was in charge of reducing the power of the princes, of fabricating charges and forcing the prince to death.
After all, one has to keep secrets for the emperor, and no one wants to be the second unlucky Princess Qingcheng.
During the grand court meeting, Duke Cao Li Jinglong became the target of public criticism and was almost drowned in spit.
However, Li Jinglong also knew that he was the scapegoat for Emperor Jianwen, otherwise what use would the emperor have for him? The more he was scolded, the more trust he would gain from Emperor Jianwen.
Therefore, Li Jinglong has recently developed the ability to swallow his anger and occasionally reply, "The evidence of privately printing banknotes is irrefutable. I led the troops to make him confess his crime and surrender. I did not force him to commit suicide. He burned himself to death."
The ministers asked: "Why didn't you save him and just stand by and watch?"
Li Jinglong: "The fire was so big at that time that anyone who went in would be burned to death. How could I let my soldiers rush into the fire and die? If you can do it, go ahead. Don't just stand here and talk nonsense!"
Emperor Jianwen watched Li Jinglong debate with his ministers quietly. At last, he said, "Not admitting guilt and accepting punishment, listening to the court's arrangement, and being escorted back to Beijing for trial, which puts me in an unjust situation, is disloyalty. Your body and hair are given by your parents. You don't take good care of your body, but you commit such an unfilial act of self-immolation. This is unfilial. Twelfth uncle Zhu Bo is unfaithful and unfilial. Even if he self-immolates, he cannot wash away his guilt. I give him the posthumous title of Li to serve as a warning to others."
Even though the ministers were well-informed, they were stunned at this moment: What was going on? The people were in turmoil, and the court was arguing fiercely. Shouldn't they appease the people and bury the King of Xiang's family properly at this time? Why did they turn around and slap a dead person in the face and give him a derogatory posthumous title of "Li"
Killing people is not the right thing to do. Emperor Jianwen not only killed someone but also stepped on the person's face. It was really cruel.
In fact, Emperor Gaozu was also ruthless, but he was a great ruler who held all the power in the government. At least he did not make any major mistakes in military affairs and political orders. He could be said to be an emperor of all ages and had the capital to be arrogant.
However, as a king who only maintained the status quo, Emperor Jianwen was so ruthless to his own blood relatives, which is really chilling.
Emperor Jianwen had no other choice. In the current situation, he could only make the best of a bad situation and go down this path to the end. It was impossible for him to apologize, not in this lifetime. He was the emperor and his uncles were his subjects. Prince Li had resisted the emperor's orders by such an extreme method as self-immolation and even won people's sympathy. If he was not suppressed by such thunderous means, the effectiveness of reducing the power of the princes would be thwarted.
No, since I want to reduce the power of the princes, I must do it in one go and reduce it to the end. No one and nothing can stop me from reducing the power of the princes.
As for the people's grievances, what do they matter? The people are still concerned about their three meals a day. After a long time, they will forget about it. Just get through this period of time.
The King of Xiang became the King of Li. Half a month after the news spread, the people who went to the ruins of the King of Xiang's mansion to pay homage found an iron tablet on the burned ruins, which read "Eunuchs are not allowed to interfere in government affairs. Those who do will be beheaded."
It was the iron stele inscribed by the emperor himself when the palace collapsed and disappeared.
The people knelt down in front of the iron tablet and shouted: "The Emperor Gaozu has appeared! The Emperor Gaozu has appeared! Our king has been wronged, and the heavens are moved. A miracle has been sent down from heaven. The traitors in the court have deceived the king and made slanderous remarks, causing the wise king to suffer injustice and be forced to burn himself."
When the news reached the capital, Emperor Jianwen summoned Hu Shanwei and said, "Hu Shanggong, the eunuch I sent to Jingzhou said that the iron stele is exactly the same as the one sunk into the foundation. Are you sure that the iron stele sank into the foundation?"
Emperor Jianwen was somewhat frightened. If someone deliberately carried an iron tablet weighing several hundred kilograms out of the harem without anyone noticing, the people who transported the tablet might threaten his life and attempt to usurp the throne!
Hu Shanwei has been waiting for this day for a long time.
Because the matter was confidential, no one else was in the study. Hu Shanwei straightened his dress and knelt down to plead guilty. "Your Majesty, I am guilty."
Emperor Jianwen looked at Hu Shanwei in disbelief, "It was you... you who got the iron tablet out."
Hu Shanwei admitted cleanly: "Yes, but also no. The iron stele has sunk. The one on the ruins of the Prince of Xiang's Mansion is a fake one, deliberately made to look old."
Emperor Jianwen took a deep breath and asked, "Who ordered this?"
Hu Shanwei said: "I dare not say."
Although he didn't dare to say it, Hu Shanwei looked up and did not avoid the scrutinizing gaze of Emperor Jianwen: I'll give you a look, and you can feel it yourself.
The first thing that came to Emperor Jianwen's mind was the vassal king, but seeing Hu Shanwei's strange, compassionate look, he quickly changed his mind. If it was a vassal king, Hu Shanwei would definitely not be so calm.
Hu Shanwei encouraged him to continue thinking deeply, because the results he reasoned out step by step were far more credible than the answers directly told by others.
A second idea flashed through Emperor Jianwen's mind, but it was too taboo, so he instinctively ruled it out. However, Hu Shanwei nodded slightly at him, his eyes full of compassion.
The second thought came back into my mind, took root, and grew wildly.
Emperor Jianwen's voice was trembling and a little hoarse, "...It's the Queen Mother."
Hu Shanwei said, "There is also Prince Heng. The Queen Mother wants to be the second Wu Zetian and control the power. She thinks she has the upper hand over me and wants me to cooperate with her and Prince Heng to coup..."
The first step of the plan was to use Emperor Jianwen's tough measures to reduce the power of the princes, which caused dissatisfaction among almost the entire royal family, but they had no choice but to find opportunities to expand the conflict and let the royal family accumulate resentment to the extreme, so that the royal family would consider replacing them with a new emperor who would treat them well and be willing to share wealth with other members of the royal family.
During this period, Prince Heng would show his filial piety as a nephew to the princesses and aunts in the name of stabilizing the royal family, and show goodwill to other vassal kings at the border to win their support. In short, Emperor Jianwen played the bad guy, and he was responsible for the good guy.
The second step was that next year would be the first year of Jianwen, when the new country would be named, a general amnesty would be declared, and a large number of old palace maids and those who were eager to get married would be released from the palace to show the grace of the new emperor. Then Hu Shanwei, under the pretext of recruiting new people, would use his power to bring a large number of death warriors secretly bribed and raised by Prince Heng to the harem to wait for orders.
In the third step, the empress dowager held a family banquet and invited the emperor, empress, Prince Heng and other family members to reunite. During the banquet, the assassins shouted slogans for revenge for the self-immolated family of Prince Xiang, assassinated Emperor Jianwen and the two-year-old prince, and then committed suicide.
The fourth step was to follow the inheritance rules in "Huang Ming Zu Xun" of Emperor Gaozu, that is, after the father's death, the son would succeed; if there was no son, then the younger brother would succeed the older brother. The empress dowager would come forward to preside over the overall situation and support the second son, Prince Heng, to succeed to the throne. Since Prince Heng had a good relationship with the royal family, the princesses and princes would be happy to see the moderate Prince Heng succeed to the throne and would definitely support him with all their strength.
When Prince Heng ascended the throne, he immediately restored the title of Princess Qingcheng, re-ennobled Princess Qingyang, and restored the five uncles who had been demoted to commoners and imprisoned in Fengyang—only the titles were restored, and the palace and property were returned, but the palace's military system would not be restored. In this way, Prince Heng implemented a moderate policy of reducing the power of the vassal states and stabilizing the court...
The ground on the west long street of the harem collapsed. The palace maid who was sweeping the floor was the first to report it to the harem steward Hu Shanwei. Hu Shanwei rushed to the scene and found that the iron tablet had just sunk into a huge pit, so deep that he could not see the bottom. So he secretly advised the Queen Mother and Prince Heng:
First, he mobilized his cronies inside and outside the court to create the impression that Emperor Gaozu would die with his eyes open, and used the astronomical phenomenon of the iron stele sinking into the ground as a warning, implying that Emperor Jianwen was lacking in virtue and disrespectful to Emperor Gaozu, thus creating an atmosphere of resentment against Emperor Jianwen.
If Emperor Jianwen used tough measures to suppress the matter, then he would start to "add another blow".
An identical iron stele was cast outside the palace and secretly placed at the site of the Prince of Xiang's Mansion, in order to stir up resentment among the people and the royal family and discredit Emperor Jianwen. This was bound to turn Emperor Jianwen from the popular heir to the throne into a target of public criticism, with even Emperor Gaozu, who was in his grave, extremely disappointed and dissatisfied with the new emperor.
Then Prince Heng came forward to show goodwill and appease the emperor in order to gain the favor of the royal family. In this way, the first step of forcing the emperor to abdicate was successfully completed.
After listening to Hu Shanwei's statement, Emperor Jianwen was filled with shock, disappointment, fear, anger and other emotions, like knives stabbing into his heart.
It turns out that the current motherly love and filial piety are all illusions, to confuse and paralyze me. How could this be? Why is it like this? For the first time in my life, I disobeyed the order of Emperor Gaozu and stopped the pot of poisoned wine for my mother. Why did my mother want to kill me
Emperor Jianwen had feelings for his mother, and he instinctively began to deny it, muttering, "The prince... the prince is still so young, he is the empress dowager's grandson, how could she bear to lay hands on a child who can't even speak clearly."
Hu Shanwei said, "Because if your Majesty dies, the two-year-old prince will ascend the throne, and Empress Ma will rule the country from behind the curtain to assist the prince. The Grand Empress Dowager sounds like she has a high status, but in fact she is not as powerful as the Empress Dowager."
Without a husband and a crown prince, Queen Ma was just a widow.
Emperor Jianwen still refused to believe the cruel reality, "What kind of leverage do you have in the hands of the Queen Mother? You actually cooperated with the Queen Mother and Prince Heng to force the emperor to abdicate!"
Hu Shanwei said, "Because the Queen Mother told me that before Emperor Gaozu passed away, she asked Consort Fan to give her a pot of poisoned wine to prevent future troubles. But the Emperor intercepted the pot of poisoned wine and asked Consort Fan to keep it secret, and Consort Fan agreed. But the Emperor was worried that Consort Fan would tell others about his disobedience. If people in the world, especially the princes, knew about it, it would definitely threaten the Emperor's throne. In order to prevent future troubles, the Emperor pretended to agree to let Consort Fan leave the palace, created a shipwreck, and drowned her in the river. In order to silence her, he forced Wang Dianzheng, who gave her the wine, to write a suicide note and hang himself, so that no one would know about the evil deeds the Emperor had done."
Emperor Jianwen's head buzzed, his face turned pale and blue, and after a long while, he asked, "Do you believe what the Queen Mother said?"
Hu Shanwei nodded first, then shook his head, "I only believe half of it. I have served under Emperor Gaozu for fifteen years, and I know Emperor Gaozu's personality and methods. He either does not take action or does it to the extreme. When the Queen Mother was still the Crown Princess, she was ambitious and wanted to use her grace to control you, the Crown Prince. Emperor Gaozu finally planned to let the harem interfere in politics. Since he ordered the entire harem to be buried alive with him, the Crown Princess should be taken away as well. However, there is no legitimate reason to execute the Crown Princess, so this matter needs to be done in secret."
"Therefore, Emperor Gaozu would have ordered Consort Fan to execute the Crown Princess. However, Emperor Gaozu did not expect that the Emperor would be so filial and had already prepared for this. Your Majesty, when I entered the palace, you were only three years old, an ignorant child. I can say that I have watched you grow up. You are kind-hearted, smart and studious. Emperor Gaozu believed that you are a king who can maintain the status quo, so he named you the Crown Prince. Your Majesty is a filial son. As a son, although you know that your mother has made a big mistake and angered your grandfather, your mother is still your mother. Based on my understanding of Your Majesty, you will definitely not sit idly by and watch your mother die in her early forties, otherwise, you will have a guilty conscience for the rest of your life."
"So, even though the emperor knew that he was disobeying his order, he still intercepted the poisoned wine and persuaded Concubine Fan to forget about it. The two things about granting the wine and intercepting the wine are true."
"These two things involve palace secrets and the legitimacy of the emperor's throne. Anyone who violates them will die. The queen mother used this to threaten me, saying that if the emperor knew that I had seen through this, the fate of Concubine Fan would be my future."
After hearing Hu Shanwei's analysis, Emperor Jianwen's shocked eyes began to slowly turn cold.
At this time, Mu Chun had personally confirmed the fact that Minister Bao had shelved the shipwreck case. Only the emperor would make Minister Bao, who was known as Justice Bao, stop.
Looking at the look in Emperor Jianwen's eyes again, Hu Shanwei became even more certain that he was the murderer—at least he was the one who sent people to kill Concubine Fan.
Hu Shanwei said quickly, "I also have parents. I understand your actions very well. If it were me, I would also choose to disobey the order and save my mother. My mother died in the massacre of Suzhou City by Chang Yuchun. For me and my father, my mother was trampled underfoot by refugees. She even cried out in pain, asking my father not to care about her and to carry me on his back to escape. The bond between mother and daughter is thicker than blood. How can a child sit back and watch his parents being killed?"
After hearing this, Emperor Jianwen's gaze warmed up a little.
Hu Shanwei changed the subject and continued, "However, if you say that the emperor sent people to hunt down Concubine Fan and force Wang Dianzheng to death in order to silence her, I absolutely do not believe it. The emperor has a kind and generous character, while the queen mother is narrow-minded and vindictive. She spread rumors that I had an affair with Ji Gang just because she thought that I had alienated the relationship between your majesty and her son. It can be said that there is a grudge to complain and a grudge to avenge."
"So, the one who hunted down Consort Fan and forced Wang Dianzheng to death was none other than the Queen Mother herself. The Queen Mother was worried that the execution would be exposed, and she was obsessed with power and unwilling to just be a Queen Mother enjoying her old age. She longed to gain power, so she told a lie mixed with half the truth to threaten me to cooperate with them in forcing the emperor to abdicate."
Emperor Jianwen's eyes turned cold again, "So you surrendered, thinking I would kill you?"
"No." Hu Shanwei met the scrutinizing gaze of Emperor Jianwen, without dodging or evading, and said: "I have never doubted the emperor and succumbed to the tyranny of the empress dowager. However, the empress dowager and the emperor are mother and son after all, and they have a deep relationship. If I had gone to the emperor to complain at that time, telling him about the ambitions of the empress dowager and Prince Heng to force the emperor to abdicate. Once I confronted the empress dowager, as long as the empress dowager insisted on not admitting it, she would have turned around and accused me of being bribed by the princes and deliberately slandered her to alienate the mother-son and brotherly love between the emperor and her son."
"Your Majesty, at that time, will you trust your mother, the Queen Mother, or an outsider like me?"
Emperor Jianwen nodded in agreement, but ultimately did not say the words "I will trust Concubine Hu" against his will.
He will definitely believe his mother.
"So..." Hu Shanwei said, "I came up with this countermeasure for the counter-espionage plan. I will pretend to surrender first and cooperate with them to complete the first step of forcing the emperor to abdicate. This will serve as a token of my surrender, so that the Queen Mother and Prince Heng will trust me. Then I will come to the Emperor and reveal the truth. The location where Prince Heng stole the cast iron tablet and the list of the assassins who will enter the palace are all in my hands. In this way, I will have evidence to make the Emperor believe in my loyalty. This will not only make it easier for the Queen Mother to confront me, but I will also have the confidence to win."
Emperor Jianwen was restless after hearing this, and finally said, "Mrs. Hu is a thoughtful and capable woman who is able to survive in a desperate situation. She is truly a female Zhuge Liang. Get up now."
"Thank you, Your Majesty." Hu Shanwei stood up, his knees aching from kneeling, "What should I do next? I am at your disposal."
Emperor Jianwen's eyes froze. "Don't let this matter leak out. You continue to contact the Queen Mother and Prince Heng and start planning the second step. This will lead out their helpers and minions. I want to catch the Queen Mother's party and Prince Heng's party in one fell swoop."
The author has something to say: Tonight's chapter is so fat, please comment! Please give me flowers! Please praise~send me a red envelope~