Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 76: Clean the inner court and weed!

When Qiu Julai met Zhu Houcong.

Zhu Houcong was reading a memorial of impeachment.

Qiu Ju didn't dare to disturb him. He just knelt on the ground and took a brave glance.

then.

He saw that it was a memorial impeaching the eunuch Wang Yue who held the seal of the Imperial Household Department.

Qiu Ju couldn't help but feel secretly happy.

He knew that the emperor had been keeping the memorials from the outer court impeaching the eunuchs in the inner court these days, and it was obvious that he intended to decide how to deal with the situation based on the circumstances.

Qiu Ju also knew that his emperor had already said that he would not be too merciful to the old people of Zhengde.

Therefore, people like Wei Bin have not been executed yet.

Even if the eunuchs did anything excessive, they would certainly not be punished by this benevolent emperor.

"What do you think of Wang Yue?"

Zhu Houcong asked at this time.

Qiu Juze knew that Zhu Houcong would not be ruthless to his eunuchs, and now he was asking him, it was obvious that he wanted to replace Wang Yue and was dissatisfied with Wang Yue, probably because Wang Yue often visited Wei Bin recently, so he spoke frankly:

"Replying to His Majesty, Eunuch Wang has been quite dissatisfied with Eunuch Wei recently, saying that the Imperial Household Department cannot do without Eunuch Wei. He is a nostalgic person."

"But I heard that he wanted to rescue Eunuch Wei because he received money from him."

“It’s good to be nostalgic!”

"But it's wrong to accept the money. I can't stand people who are disloyal!"

Zhu Houcong said as he looked at Qiu Ju: "Qiu Ju, are you a traitor?"

"Reply to the Emperor!"

"I dare not betray my own people. If I do, I will be struck by the thunder!"

Qiu Ju said this and secretly pouted.

Zhu Houcong nodded: "I will give you a task."

"Please give me your instructions, Your Majesty."

Qiu Ju replied.

Zhu Houcong said: "The Holy Mother is coming to Beijing. You will follow the Jinyiwei Commander Wang Jing and lead a thousand soldiers to escort her. You must guide the Holy Mother to Beijing smoothly and without any mistakes in etiquette and law. This is a meritorious mission, so you must do it well."

Qiu Ju was overjoyed and immediately kowtowed and agreed.

He knew that Zhu Houcong was hinting at him that when he returned, he would use this as an excuse to promote him to be the seal holder of the Imperial Household Department.

What Qiu Ju was thinking was that when the time comes, he would not only come back to be the seal holder of the Imperial Household Department, but also unite with the Protector of Rites faction to make the emperor accept Emperor Xiaozong as his father, and then control the emperor.

then.

Qiu Ju called several of his confidants to his home that day and said:
"We are going to pick up the Virgin Mary. You and your people must not act rashly, so as not to alert the emperor and let him find out. If anything bad happens, tell me quickly. Do not make decisions on your own."

"Don't worry, godfather. Your sons will remember this!"

Su Rui from Qiu Ju replied.

Only then did Qiu Ju leave the capital with peace of mind.

But on the night after Qiu Ju left.

Zhu Houcong conveyed the order to Luo An, Zhang Tong, Lu Song and other trusted generals of the Jinyiwei through Huang Jin.

Luo An, Zhang Tong, Lu Song and other military generals from the old residences of the princes, including Wang Jing who was ordered to welcome the Virgin Mary, were all very reliable generals in the Jiajing Dynasty in terms of their abilities and loyalty in Zhu Houcong's memory.

The most famous among them is Lu Bing, the son of Lu Song.
Besides.

Inside.

Luo An was praised by Gao Gong.

Gao Gong said that he "was determined to serve the country and did not avoid the suspicion of the public."

The Records of Yongzhou Prefecture, Biography of the Former Officials, and His Achievements also praised him for his "peaceful and honest nature. Whenever he was ordered to serve the imperial court, he always followed the imperial constitution and the imperial decrees, and all of them were in accordance with human nature and fair and just."

Zhang Tong was also praised by Zhang Cong of the Jiajing period as being "honest, capable and moderate."

Perhaps Zhu Houcong's father was good at training people, or perhaps Zhu Houcong's grandfather, Emperor Chenghua, was good at selecting people, so the guard team provided for his son, King Xingxian, was a reliable team.

In short.

Zhu Houcong wanted to control the inner court, the Eastern Factory, and the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and he first used this group of people and the orphans trained in the royal palace under their leadership.

"The Emperor said that there must be fragrant grass within ten steps! Now the palace is full of grass and it is no longer habitable!"

"After the palace and the imperial city are locked tonight, you can sneak in with your men, and we will arrange for you to go into the palace and weed."

"Choose people to weed according to the list, and don't leave anyone out."

"Each of them will bring a hundred men."

"If there is resistance, shoot without mercy!"

"All the bodies taken were displayed in the Imperial Household Department, and they were examined by our family and Eunuch Qin of the Imperial Household Department."

"Tonight's operation is called Operation Weeding."

After Huang Jin received Zhu Houcong's order, he handed the list to these trusted generals.

"Yes!"

Luo An and others then took over the list.

Zhu Houcong then waved his hand and entered the East Pavilion of Qingning Palace.

Wang Chunjing followed and asked, "Which bed will your Majesty choose to sleep in tonight?"

Because the emperor had many beds, Wang Chunjing would ask first.

Zhu Houcong stood up and walked west, saying, "Go to another pavilion to choose a bed!"

Wang Chunjing bowed and said yes.

And at this time.

Luo An and others had already been assigned by Huang Jin, and they took the old people in the palace and took action in the palace with knives. "You Jinyiwei are so bold!"

"Do you know who my godfather is?!"

Qiu Ju's godson Su Rui was first pinned to the ground by Luo An and the Jinyiwei.

Luo An sneered and said: "It is you, Qiu Ju's godsons and grandsons, who are arrested by order!"

Su Rui was shocked and shouted to the Jinyiwei guarding outside:

"Go tell godfather quickly that the emperor wants to kill him!"

Before Qiu Cheng, the nephew who was inserted into the Jinyiwei by Qiu Ju'an, could react, Wang Jing's son Wang An led a group of Jinyiwei with knives to surround him: "Kneel down!"

Qiu Cheng knelt down obediently.

"what!"

at the same time.

At the Renshou Palace, Lu Song personally brought several Jinyiwei, and under the leadership of Xi Que, they tiptoed to the room where the palace servants rested, and took away a palace servant who had an affair with Qiu Ju with his mouth covered.

The palace maid just groaned and was taken to the Meridian Gate.

In Zhu Houcong's Qingning Palace, several palace maids and servants were also taken away by the Jinyiwei led by Zhang Tong.

but.

When the Jinyiwei came to arrest a servant, he actually set off fireworks into the sky, and then rushed towards the east pavilion of Qingning Palace with a knife.

Jinyiwei Zhang Tong was shocked when he saw this: "Catch him! Keep him alive!"

The servant then knocked down a palace maid at the door of the East Pavilion with one punch, then strangled her neck and asked, "Which bed is the emperor in?"

On the first day Zhu Houcong moved into the palace, he asked Wei Bin to arrange the maids who were originally on duty in Qingning Palace to stay outside, and only the old people in the palace would serve him personally.

Therefore, the servant did not know where Zhu Houcong was resting.

On the contrary, the palace maid in the hall was an orphan raised in the royal palace in the past. She had been with Zhu Houcong since she was five or six years old, so she refused to say a word and just struggled desperately.

"Damn it!"

The servant was so angry that he simply increased his strength and pinched the palace maid fiercely. Then he let her go and was about to go to the pavilion to look for her, but the palace maid held his calf tightly.

The servant was so angry that he kicked him.

But the palace maid refused to let go.

At this time, Zhang Tong and other Jinyiwei had also rushed in.

Upon seeing this, the servant quickly picked up a candle and was about to set fire to the curtains.

Zhang Tong was afraid that he would really set the gauze curtain of Qingning Palace on fire, so he threw a knife and stabbed the man to the ground, and the candle in his hand also fell to the ground.

Jinyiwei Wu Jize immediately came over and put out the fire, saying, "That was close. If it had really caught fire, there would have been rumors out there!"

"pity!"

Zhang Tong felt the servant's breath and said something.

"There's movement in the palace, go out and tell the master!"

at this time.

Inside the imperial city, in the Jinyiwei's room outside the palace, several Jinyiwei also hurriedly took action after seeing the fireworks.

But at this time, Zhao Jun, a captain of the Imperial Guard, appeared here with a group of musketeers and said to the Imperial Guards, "I know you were chosen because of your superb martial arts, but firearms have no eyes. You should just surrender. There is no need to suffer for yourselves!"

"It takes a while for the muskets to fire. Let's rush over, kill them, seize their muskets, and force the guards of the imperial city to let us out!"

The leading spy drew his sword and rushed towards Zhao Jun and his men.

The other spies immediately drew their swords and rushed over.

Snapped!
Snapped!
But the matchlock gun did have a longer range than the musket, and these people were shot one after another as soon as they started running.

Inside the West Pavilion.

Zhu Houcong, who was lying on the middle bed on the second floor, heard the faint sound of gunfire outside and couldn't help but sigh:

"Those people in the outer court do have loyal servants!"

After that.

Zhu Houcong closed his eyes and forced himself to sleep. After an unknown amount of time, he finally fell into a deep sleep.

But when he woke up, it was just daybreak.

Zhu Houcong did not plan to continue taking a nap, but asked Wang Chunjing to help him wash up. After having a quick breakfast, he went to the Imperial Household Department.

at this time.

In the Silijian Courtyard, many eunuchs, palace maids, and Jinyiwei were kneeling, and the corpses of some Jinyiwei and eunuchs were also displayed.

Qin Wen and Huang Jin came over: "Your Majesty, we have completed the inventory and nothing is missing."

"very good!"

"Except those who were forced to leave the palace, all of them will be strangled to death with a rope!"

Zhu Houcong nodded, spoke lightly, and then returned to Qingning Palace.

As soon as he returned to Qingning Palace, Zhu Houcong was overjoyed at the thought that he would have a peaceful life in the inner court from now on. He began to imitate the image of Jiajing that he had seen in later generations and spread his wings and flew.

After flying for a while, Zhu Houcong became serious again, took out the handwritten letter from his sleeve and gave it to the eunuch Mai Fu:

"Send someone to catch up with Wang Jing with my handwritten order."

"I want to use Qiu Ju's head to establish my authority!"

"Your Majesty, please understand. We cannot kill those people caught outside, and we cannot kill Qiu Ju either!"

But at this time, the voice of a eunuch was heard.

Zhu Houcong could not help but look in the direction of the voice with angry eyes.

I will recommend it tomorrow, please be sure to read it then, thank you!


(End of this chapter)