The Ming Dynasty's Five Hundred Years

Chapter 42 The Emperor's Entrustment

"Your Majesty's mercy has allowed me to survive in this world, and it is thanks to Father Emperor's trust that I am able to enter the palace today. But if Father Emperor has any orders, I will go through fire and water without hesitation."

Both Zhu Yuanzhang and Li Qi knew that this might be the last time they would speak alone. The next time they met would be when Zhu Yuanzhang announced his will on his deathbed. If Li Qi had entered the palace any later, he might not have even seen Zhu Yuanzhang one last time.

"It's a pity you're unwilling to enter the Crown Prince's Palace."

Others may not have noticed Li Qi's avoidance of the Crown Prince's palace, but Zhu Yuanzhang's intuition was so sharp that he realized it soon afterward.

Li Qi directly admitted, "Your Majesty and Qi Tai, Huang Zicheng and others are not compatible in personality and I am unwilling to work with them. Moreover, the Crown Prince is close to Qi and Huang. If I were in the Eastern Palace, I would only incur the Crown Prince's dislike. It would be more useful for me to be an outsider."

Zhu Yuanzhang guessed the same way, so he didn't take Li Qi's unwillingness to enter the Eastern Palace to heart.

He naturally couldn't guess that Li Qi was deliberately distancing himself from Zhu Yunwen so that he could sell him off without much burden in the future.

By this point in the conversation, Li Qi was quite relaxed. Judging from the current situation, Zhu Yuanzhang had indeed summoned him to the palace to entrust him with his final instructions.

Although Zhu Yuanzhang did not appoint any regents to Zhu Yunwen, he still made a series of personnel arrangements in order to enable Zhu Yunwen to quickly take control of the entire country.

The nobles have been mostly killed off, leaving only a few veteran generals, which should be more than enough, since the princes guard the northern border and the court has an overwhelming military force to deal with the princes.

The civil officials were Qi Tai, Huang Zicheng, and Fang Xiaoru. This arrangement would probably leave most people speechless and even make them question Zhu Yuanzhang's judgment.

But this wasn't Zhu Yuanzhang's problem; it was Zhu Yunwen's.

Zhu Yuanzhang left these three men to Zhu Yunwen so that he could establish a civil service. Who would have thought that Zhu Yunwen would discuss important military and national affairs with three scholars who had never experienced war?

“Li Qi, although we do not appoint regents, we will summon our most trusted ministers separately. Each minister has their own tasks, which no one but us knows.”

The task we're giving you is both the simplest and the most difficult.

Li Qi paused for a moment. History only records the three fools of Jianwen, but Zhu Yuanzhang arranged for more than just these three people. There were also the Duke of Wei, the Duke of Cao, the son-in-law Mei Yin, and a group of others who accepted Zhu Yuanzhang's private entrustment and were spread far and wide, either in the military or in politics.

“You are the leader of the scholars in the north, and we have always supported you. We are just worried that the scholars in the south will continue to have a strong influence in the court in the future.”

You know we've wanted to move the capital for a long time, but it was delayed because of Biao'er's death. Now we don't have the chance anymore. The relocation of the capital can only be done by Yunwen. But most of his staff are from Jiangnan, and he was born in Jiangnan. I'm afraid he will be reluctant to leave his homeland, and I'm also afraid he will be swayed by the sentiments of his fellow scholars and unwilling to move the capital.

Although Yingtian is a strategically important location, it is not a long-term solution for establishing the capital. The Ming Dynasty must move its capital!
"This matter is entrusted to you. You must ensure that Yunwen's relocation of the capital is accomplished. I can leave you a warrant; if things fail, you shall use the warrant to carry out your orders."

It turns out that's what happened?!
Li Qi never dreamed that, compared to others, the responsibility for this matter was indeed small, but the difficulties were truly immense.

The biggest problem here is that if Zhu Yuanzhang really wanted Zhu Yunwen to move the capital, why didn't he just give the order to Zhu Yunwen and issue an imperial edict?

Even if Zhu Yunwen was unwilling, he had no choice but to do it.

Li Qi's mind raced as he analyzed Zhu Yuanzhang's intentions.

Firstly, Zhu Yuanzhang believed that the fall of a ruler was inevitable, and even if he issued an edict, Zhu Yunwen could later move the capital back, so he needed double insurance. Secondly, Zhu Yuanzhang might have wanted to use this incident to maintain control over the literati in Jiangnan. If things didn't go well, he could use the late emperor's will to propose moving the capital, thus forcing the Jiangnan literati to deal with the situation.

Li Qi understood.

What Zhu Yuanzhang really needed to guard against were the scholars from the south, because in his view, even though he had favored some northerners in the imperial examinations in the past two years, the balance of power between the two sides was still far from being achieved.

Although Li Qi possessed extraordinary talent, due to the significant gap between the North and the South, his reputation among scholars was not as high as that of Fang Xiaoru. Furthermore, Zhu Yunwen was closer to the Jiangnan region. Without providing Li Qi with some assistance, balancing the North and the South would be impossible.

Once Li Qi understood this, he immediately realized that his opportunity had arrived!
Although Zhu Yunwen did not want to move the capital, Zhu Di did!

If he could obtain Zhu Yuanzhang's order to move the capital, then when Zhu Di wanted to move the capital in the future and the court officials opposed it, he could directly take out the order to support him and win face in front of Zhu Di!

Without the slightest hesitation, Li Qi said in a deep voice, "Your Majesty trusts me, and I would gladly die for you. Moving the capital is a matter of national importance. If anyone dares to obstruct it, they are treacherous and I will never forgive them!"

“Alright, there’s a blank imperial edict over there. Write it down as we instructed.”

The Grand Secretary was the emperor's secretary and was no stranger to drafting edicts. Zhu Yuanzhang said, "Li Qi, it's not an official imperial edict." Li Qi quickly finished writing it, gently blew the ink dry, and then presented it to Zhu Yuanzhang.

Zhu Yuanzhang checked it over and, after confirming there were no problems, took out his private seal and stamped it on. Li Qi put it away, his heart filled with uncontrollable excitement.

Although it was just a warrant, it was Zhu Yuanzhang's warrant!
A handwritten edict is an imperial decree bearing only the emperor's private seal. In many cases, this is considered a chaotic order, as the saying goes, "Without going through the Phoenix Pavilion and Luan Terrace, what is an imperial edict?" However, it is still the emperor's will, especially the will of the previous emperor, and its effectiveness is still considerable.

After seeing that Li Qi had carefully hidden the warrant on his person, Zhu Yuanzhang instructed him, "Remember this matter. There's nothing else important. Go and summon Lin'an and the others."

……

He entered the palace with trepidation, but left with boundless pride. The warrant in his arms seemed to be burning hot, just like Li Qi's heart, surging and beating intensely at that moment.

"Father, thank you for your trust in me on your deathbed. It's just a pity that Zhu Yunwen is a hopeless case. If this order had been used during the Jianwen era, it would have been a waste."

If used during the Yongle reign, it would surely have helped the Li family escape their current predicament.

Prince Yan, Zhu Di, was your eldest son, and he was a far more capable emperor than Jianwen. If he had ruled the Ming Dynasty, you would surely be deeply gratified in the afterlife.”

Zhu Yuanzhang probably never dreamed that Li Qi, who had just pledged his loyalty to him at his sickbed, would harbor such treasonous thoughts as soon as he left the palace.

Li Qi and Princess Lin'an each held one of Li Xianmu's small hands as they walked out of the palace gate.

The mottled traces in the palace gate passage are like the dust of history.

The majestic and continuous palace complex rises and falls like a mountain range, as deep as an abyss.

Above the palace, in a daze, it seemed as if an old dragon was roaring.

(End of this chapter)