Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 439: Let's Kill the Rabbit Too

You can't just have power, you have to let others know that you have power.

Although the strength of your power is important, it is more important to let people know that you dare to use this powerful power.

This is one of the important rules of dealing with people.

It's like a strong child who is stronger than his peers, but if he is timid, he will still be bullied by his classmates.

The previous Ming emperors always acted within the rules and regulations. To the officials, they were like children who were strong but only had a mouth.

This incident was just like a child suddenly pushing someone else. Even though he didn't use much strength, just this slight push was enough to make people feel fearful.

Obviously, this is an oath.

This means that the child who has always only engaged in verbal fights with others has found other ways, and those around him have to reconsider the way they get along with others.

Of course, for Zhu Cilang, it was just a light wave of his hand, which could not be considered as exerting any strength at all, but for the person who bore this force, it was like the collapse of the sky and the crack of the earth.

"Traitor! Your Majesty has devoted all his energy to the Ming Dynasty, yet you slandered him with such words. My fellow students, today is the day to be loyal to the country! Even if your head and body are torn apart, you must get rid of that old bastard for the Ming Dynasty!!!"

"rush!"

Following a scholar's loud shout, the students surrounding Liu Zongzhou's mansion immediately rushed towards the human wall formed by the Yingtian Prefecture's yamen runners. However, when the noise spread, Liu Zongzhou, who was huddled inside the mansion, was like a clay sculpture or a wooden carving.

He did not have much foundation in Yingtian, and his mansion was just a two-courtyard house. Even though he could not see the outside because of the wall, he was old enough to judge the current situation from the hoarse shouting.

But what can we do if we can judge it?

It's not that he hadn't thought of ways to make amends in the past two days, but no matter whether he voluntarily resigned or admitted his mistakes, he couldn't invite Zhu Cilang back to the palace, and that sentence completely blocked his plan to save his life by committing suicide.

When the students from Yingtian surrounded his mansion today, he was no longer able to do anything.

"Teacher, why don't you ask Huang Duyuan to invite Lord Qian?"

The momentum outside was growing louder and louder. Although Liu Zongzhou, who believed he had a clear conscience, could still maintain his final dignity, his students had long been like ants on hot pan.

At first, they all thought that their teacher's plan could impose some constraints on the increasingly powerful imperial power, and they also felt that they were supporting the Ming Dynasty.

On the eve of Zhu Cilang's triumphant return, some of them even drank the whole night, as if they were going to fight a decisive battle with the Tartars the next day.

But the enthusiasm before the battle is ultimately vain. Only those who can withstand the fear of death and disgrace can be considered as real warriors.

It was obvious that among all the people in Liu Zongzhou's mansion, no one except himself could resist the fear of the future. After glancing at his students, Liu Zongzhou could only sigh.

"Foolish boy, can't you see the situation clearly? Your master has reached the end of his rope. All struggles are in vain. Just wait for His Majesty's decision."

As soon as he finished speaking, this famous scholar from Jiangsu and Zhejiang closed his eyes.

He understood clearly that no matter whether His Majesty acted on impulse or had been prepared in advance, things had come to this point and there had to be sufficient rewards to justify the commotion.

However, his previous actions did not receive a response from His Majesty, which meant that what he wanted was not as simple as toppling someone.

But where will your majesty's request end?

With this in mind, Liu Zongzhou gradually fell into deep thought. However, who would have thought that before his thoughts could go on for a few rounds, he was pulled out of his thoughts by his own student's words.

"Teacher, you are fair-minded. It is only because of your inappropriate words that His Majesty is tempted to abdicate. The situation is becoming increasingly tense. You must take the initiative."

When Liu Zongzhou heard these words, he immediately felt powerless and even looked at his own students impatiently.

"Don't worry, if your majesty wants to kill or chop me up, I will bear it all by myself, and I will not implicate you young people!"

If he were around, with Liu Zongzhou's temperament, he would never use such words to hurt his students.

But in the past few days, he had been under tremendous pressure and his mind was severely damaged. Even though he knew that such words were inappropriate, he still blurted them out.

"I have spoken out of turn. You can go back first."

After turning around for a moment, Liu Zongzhou closed his eyes again, but this time he felt somewhat guilty towards his students, and it was not just a simple moment of meditation.

It must be said that for Liu Zongzhou, who always valued his reputation, the current situation had become extremely passive, but as he waited for his fate, he could not help but feel a little confused.

After all, it has been two days since the incident, and not only has the situation in Yingtian shown signs of being out of control, but even the surrounding area has become slightly unstable due to the "emperor's abdication."

But even though he had given up struggling, His Majesty still refused to return to the palace, which made him really unable to understand what His Majesty's purpose was.

His doubts were of course not wrong. Whether he wanted to make a statement or take the opportunity to eliminate the Zhejiang clique, everything had developed to this point and everything was natural and inevitable.

just
"You all are the pillars of the Ming Dynasty. If anything happens to you, how can I explain to the new emperor?"

After looking at the important officials of the royal family kneeling in the yard, Zhu Cilang winked at Hu Yiqing, and then teams of soldiers came forward to support them, but the leader Ma Shiying started howling.

"Your Majesty! I am dying for my lord's humiliation! That corrupt scholar slandered the king and father with such vicious words. I wish I could eat his flesh and swallow his blood, but the country cannot be without a king for a day! You must not abandon your millions of people!"

"Your Majesty! You must not do this!"

As Ma Shiying's words were heard, a group of important officials of the royal family immediately shouted in unison. However, after hearing these words, Zhu Cilang seemed extremely surprised. He stared at King Chu Zhu Huabi for a long time before asking a question.

"Old Prince, you are in charge of the royal family, why haven't you chosen a suitable one in these few days?"

"Your Majesty, please don't do this!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the King of Chu, who was nearly seventy years old, knocked his head to the ground.

He didn't know how such a triumphant return had turned out like this, but the old prince, who had experienced the battle of Hangzhou, knew very well that although the Ming Dynasty seemed to be stable, if they were to leave the gentleman in front of them, they would be like a stray dog ​​in a year or two.

"You are the crown prince appointed by the previous emperor, and you are also a wise ruler who can turn the tide. If even you are forced to abdicate, who will be able to rule the world?"

"Old Prince, get up first."

As he spoke, Zhu Cilang pulled the King of Chu up, and then he continued, "I think the King of Tang and the King of Lu are both sensible and reasonable, so it would be a good idea to choose a wise man from among them to be the king."

"His Majesty!"

"His Majesty!"

With just these words, the two princes of the royal family lying in the back row looked as if they had seen something horrible. Then they rolled and crawled in front of Zhu Cilang, and kowtowed to him three times before crying.

"How could we have done such a deed? When Yingtian City was captured, we could only flee. If it weren't for your Majesty leading the army to rescue us, we would have been captured in Hangzhou. This time, you actually called us sages. I'd rather die of shame in front of Taizu's mausoleum!"

“This is troublesome.”

After taking two steps back without leaving a trace, Zhu Cilang sighed, and was obviously also worried about who to choose as the new king.

According to his original idea, he would just be an ordinary censor this time, and by using a tough attitude to arrange the marriage, he would have achieved the purpose of showing his attitude.

But who would have thought that Liu Zongzhou would go into battle shirtless, and the Xu family caused such a commotion. In the end, the matter became more and more serious, and his mind naturally became active.

After all, the grass has been harvested, so we might as well kill the rabbit as well.

Although this group of royal princes did not do anything too outrageous, after they recovered many lost territories, they either demanded to return to their fiefdoms or demanded that the court pay off their unpaid salaries. As a result, Zhu Cilang had to receive a petition every three days and a report every two days while he was fighting outside. It would be better to give them a good beating this time.

"Mr. Ma, do you have any suitable candidates for the cabinet?"

"Your Majesty! Please don't do this! Such words are a sin to me. How can you keep saying them?"

"A crime? Is it a crime to just listen to it? I'm out there fighting the Tartars with my head on the line, and you're either calling me Jie or Zhou or saying I'm a royal family member. So I might as well hand the throne over to you, and I'll just be a hands-off boss!"

"Oh!"

After saying all this in one breath, Zhu Cilang turned around and went into the house. Then a group of important court officials looked sinisterly at the princes of the royal family next to them, but the King of Chu turned around after taking a breath.

"Make a fuss! You guys make a fuss! I've said it a long time ago, the court has been using troops one after another, and the treasury has been drained of rats, but you just won't listen! Just won't listen! Now that His Majesty has given up the throne, whoever has the guts, stand up!"

As soon as the words were spoken, all the princes fell silent.

They were able to survive in this chaotic world, and no one thought that they could take over the throne by standing up. However, no matter what, they felt very wronged to be implicated in such a matter, and when this news came out, someone whispered something.

"Didn't you pay three or four million to the bandits?"

"Who?! Stand up!"

As soon as the shout was uttered, Yuan Jixian started shouting, and all the princes looked confused, as if they were also surprised that someone would seek death at this time.

"This year, the court has collected 3 million taels of money and grain. Even if we include the 3.7 million seized taels, it is still less than 7 million taels! Do you know how much the military pay alone will cost?! And how big the gap is?!" Yuan Jixian seemed to feel that it was inappropriate to treat the princes of the royal family in this way. After listening to him for a while, he continued, "Your Majesty has worked hard and did not expect you to share the worries of the country. But the court is in such a difficult situation. You princes should not cause trouble for your majesty anymore."

Having said this, no matter what the kings were thinking in their hearts, no one dared to say anything more. Seeing this, the King of Chu planned to say a few more words to ease the atmosphere, but just as he was thinking of what to say, he saw a man peeking outside the yard. Then he looked at Hu Yiqing who was guarding outside the door, and this rough man started drinking directly.

"Who dares to spy here? Capture him!"

"Don't do it! Don't do it! I am Lu Shaochun, the prefect of Yingtian!"

Seeing that the soldiers were about to pounce on him, Lu Shaochun immediately gave his name. Then all the ministers turned their heads to look at him, but his eyes were flickering, and no one knew what he was worried about.

In fact, his bet was right. As a major participant in the investigation of Ruan Dacheng's assassination, he was promoted twice after the case was closed and directly took the position of Yingtian prefect.

At that time, His Majesty had already stabilized the situation in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. He naturally felt the importance of standing on the right side. After that, His Majesty won a series of victories, and this time he even took back the chaotic southwest. He, the newly appointed prefect of Yingtian, was even more different from the previous one.

But who would have thought that such a great triumph would end up like this, making him even more busy.

But then again, it was just busy. He just sent some bailiffs to maintain order outside Liu Zongzhou's mansion, and then personally stood guard outside General Hu's courtyard.

It was just that he had done evil things in his previous life and was now the magistrate of the county, Fuguo, and had committed many evil deeds.

How could a greenhorn like him with no background understand the difficulties faced by the prefect of Yingtian?

"How did you get here?"

Seeing that Lu Shaochun seemed to be hesitant to speak, Ma Shiying frowned and asked, but to his surprise, this cunning fellow dared to ignore his questions in public. Even though the other party's expression was extremely painful, it still made him, the elder of the current dynasty, feel unhappy.

"To trespass here without permission is like trespassing into a forbidden palace. How many heads do you have to chop off?!"

"Master, this humble official did not mean to do this. I really have something important to report!"

Hearing this, Ma Shiying's frown not only did not relax at all, but there was even some anger in his eyes.

Not to mention Yingtian at this time, even in the entire Ming Dynasty, what could be more important than what happened in this yard?

And this fellow actually came to curry favor at this time. He really doesn't know how to write the word death.

"Report."

"Excuse me, sir, for letting me have a moment."

When Ma Shiying heard the words, he immediately wanted to yell at this fellow, but when those harsh words came to his lips, he suddenly thought of His Majesty in the room, then he took a long breath, and then walked towards Lu Shaochun with a sullen face.

Seeing this, Lu Shaochun immediately took a few steps forward, obviously intending to whisper something to Ma Shiying, but the difference between the two of them was almost as great as heaven and earth. Seeing this move, Lord Ma immediately shouted in a deep voice.

"Say!"

Faced with such a situation, as a third-rank official, he could not go against the elder's wishes. He hesitated for a moment, and after being stunned for three or two breaths, he spoke.

"Reporting to the Lord, someone came to my office and filed a complaint, saying that they wanted to sue the Shaoxing Liu family for hiding their land and other illegal activities."

Originally, everyone present thought that the Yingtian prefect was up to something big, but when they heard these words, they couldn't help but feel that he didn't know the seriousness of the matter. It was just that among all the people present, someone knew the details of the Shaoxing Liu family, and then there were several sounds of people sucking in a breath of cold air.

“Hiss~~~~.”

(End of this chapter)