Ming Dynasty: I risked my life to teach the prince, the emperor begged me not to die

Chapter 27 Earthquake Precursors
Chen Ce looked at Zhu Houzhao seriously, with a serious expression that Zhu Houzhao had never seen before.

In the past, he always saw Chen Ce as being very dull and not very concerned about anything, but today his expression became exceptionally serious.

"This is really going to be a disaster."

In the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the capital city was often hit by earthquakes. The earthquake in the eleventh year of the Hongzhi reign was the largest of the entire Hongzhi reign. Thirteen out of ten houses in the capital collapsed. The largest cracks caused water and fire to ooze out. There were even cases of people falling into holes and coming out again...

Although it is much less severe than the earthquake in the Jiajing period that killed more than 800,000 people, it should definitely not be underestimated.

Perhaps there may be errors in the celestial phenomena, but the content recorded in the Ming Shilu should not be false. It’s just that Chen Ce forgot about this matter. If Liu Jin hadn’t reminded him today, he really wouldn’t have thought of it.

So Chen Ce could only explain to Zhu Houzhao: "The ancients had records of abnormal astronomical phenomena regarding earthquakes, such as the water in a well being calm and still suddenly becoming turbid like ink, with mud floating up; it being dark in the middle of the night, and then suddenly the sky becoming clear, etc."

He now had no way of telling Zhu Houzhao that he knew history and the court had to be on guard, so he could only use these astronomical phenomena to justify his words.

Zhu Houzhao was skeptical, but after all, it was a disaster caused by a dragon turning over. As long as there was a possibility, he, as the crown prince, could not treat it as alarmist. So he hurriedly asked Chen Ce, "How should we deal with it?"

you ask me?
Aren't you the crown prince? Go find Emperor Hongzhi. He has so many officials under him. They can't be useless people who just sit there and do nothing, right?
There must be some preventive measures, right? If the government's functions are not being fulfilled, what is the point of having a court?

Chen Ce shook his head and said, "I don't know, so I asked you if you could get the court officials to take precautions in advance."

Zhu Houzhao said "oh oh" twice, "Then I, then I will go back to the palace now... and go back to the government office to find someone."

Chen Ce did not stop Zhu Houzhao, he also had to find a way to deal with the impending natural disaster.

Chen Ce didn't know when the natural disaster would come, so he looked through the Ming Shilu again and found that it was only recorded at the end of October, but there was no record of the specific date.

Chen Ce was speechless. Why did this Ming Shilu of planting and harvest feel like buying fake wine? It was so unreliable.

He didn't have time to care about so many things. It was now October 25th, and there were still five days left. An earthquake could happen at any time, and he had to notify his neighbors.

Chen Ce first knocked on the door of Mrs. Wu next door and said solemnly, "There may be a dragon turning over in the next few days. We must prepare a response plan in advance."

Miss Wu exclaimed in surprise and asked Chen Ce, "How did you know that?"

Chen Ce didn't have time to talk to her any more as he still had to go and inform the other neighbors.

Most people don’t quite believe it. After all, there hasn’t been any major changes in the celestial phenomena, and there has been no celestial warning. How could an earthquake happen?

Chen Ce asked them to go to the backyard to look at the Tongji Canal and then at his own well water, but unfortunately, it had all returned to calm. The more so, the more likely it was that it was the calm before the storm.

Chen Ce returned to his own courtyard. The front door was a long and narrow alley with houses all in front. If there was a collapse, it would not be easy to leave smoothly from the front yard.

The backyard is right next to the river when you open the door. The only way to escape is to jump into the river and swim, but it is winter now and it is not easy to escape by jumping into the river.

They could only temporarily move to the Dishe Restaurant on Zhengyang Street, and they needed to find a spacious area.

Thinking of this, Chen Ce took the money and went out to look for a house.

……

Zhu Houzhao was not idle either. After bringing Liu Jin back to the Forbidden City, he rushed to the Hall of Mental Cultivation to look for Emperor Hongzhi without going to the Eastern Palace.

The eunuch told Zhu Houzhao that Emperor Hongzhi was holding an imperial lecture in the Wenhua Hall. Zhu Houzhao was not afraid of disturbing Emperor Hongzhi and ran towards the Wenhua Hall.

Minister of Rites Xu Qiong took the lead in organizing today's small imperial lecture. Several Hanlin scholars sat quietly on both sides, and Emperor Hongzhi was in the middle. A eunuch came to Emperor Hongzhi cautiously and whispered a few words. Emperor Hongzhi frowned slightly and said, "Let him wait outside."

Thinking of what the eunuch said that the crown prince was looking for him urgently, Emperor Hongzhi could only stop the imperial lecture for a while and go to the side hall to meet Zhu Houzhao.

The Hongzhi Emperor was obviously unhappy that his interest in the imperial lecture was disturbed. He went to Zhu Houzhao with a stern face and asked, "What urgent matter do you have to see me about?"

"Father, this is bad. The earth dragon is about to turn over."

Emperor Hongzhi was stunned for a moment, stared at Zhu Houzhao suspiciously, and said, "Don't talk nonsense!"

After a pause, his face turned serious and he asked, "How did you know?"

Zhu Houzhao originally wanted to say that it was Chen Ce who told him, but if his father knew about the existence of his younger brother, wouldn’t his identity as the crown prince be exposed?

Will I still be able to get along with Brother Chen as friends at that time?

Others knew of his identity as the crown prince, and most of them flattered or took advantage of him. Zhu Houzhao felt that these were not true friends with whom he could confide in anything.

So he could only say: "Today I saw the water was calm and still, but suddenly it became turbid like ink, and mud floated up. Isn't this a sign of the earth dragon turning over?"

Emperor Hongzhi's face became more and more serious. This matter was of great importance, so he did not care about the imperial lecture and said to the eunuchs on his left and right: "Go and summon Lord Xu and Li Zhong, the director of the Imperial Observatory, to the Yangxin Palace for me!"

"Prince, please follow me to the Yangxin Palace."

"it is good."

The Hall of Nourishing Heart.

Not long after, the Minister of Rites Xu Qiong and the Director of the Imperial Observatory Li Zhong arrived here and paid a visit to Emperor Hongzhi in confusion.

Emperor Hongzhi looked at the two and asked, "Just now the Crown Prince discovered an abnormal celestial phenomenon and said it was a sign of a dragon turning over. Can you detect any signs from the Imperial Observatory?"

The Imperial Observatory was under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Rites, so Emperor Hongzhi summoned the Minister of Rites as well.

Li Zhong hasn't observed it yet, and in fact he can't observe anything. If the Imperial Observatory was really that powerful, 860,000 people would not have died in the Jiajing Huazhou earthquake.

He clasped his fists and said, "I will return to the Imperial Observatory to observe and report to the emperor later."

Emperor Hongzhi said: "Go now, and come back quickly!"

"According to the order!"

Li Zhong returned to the Imperial Observatory in a hurry. The Imperial Observatory was divided into four departments: astronomy, clepsydra, calendar and calendar. The astronomy department did not find any abnormalities in the sky, and apart from the cold weather in recent days, there were no special astronomical warnings that there would be signs of the earth dragon turning over.

Li Zhong had an idea in his mind, but he couldn't guarantee whether an earth dragon would really turn over. If it did, and the Imperial Observatory failed to find it, his days as an observer would be over.

If he said there were signs of an earthquake when none appeared, he would be impeached by the censor of the Censorate for exaggerating.

Prince, oh prince, why did you give the Imperial Observatory this difficult question when you have nothing else to do?!
Li Zhong was thinking all the way about how to deal with Emperor Hongzhi. It was impossible to smooth things over. The three paper-made cabinet ministers and six clay-sculpted chancellors of the Chenghua dynasty were dismissed by Emperor Hongzhi himself because of their attempt to smooth things over.

The most taboo for officials in the Hongzhi Dynasty was to smooth things over. The chief minister of the cabinet, Xu Pu, had this ability, but he didn't.

Thanks to 5630 brother for the monthly ticket, thank you very much
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(End of this chapter)