Wandering the Heavens

In contrast to Yu Xian's thriving career, Zhu Gaochi's health was deteriorating. Empress Zhang had been managing the harem for many years after Empress Xu's death, but she was still a little panicked facing the fate of her husband's impending departure, which gave some people an opportunity.

When Zhu Gaoxu, who was far away in Shandong, received the news that Zhu Gaochi was seriously ill, he felt that his chance had come again. He immediately arranged for people to move around to create momentum and sent his confidants to wait on the roadside for robbery. As long as he could kill his eldest nephew, the throne would be within his grasp.

All these little actions fell into Yu Xian's eyes. In order to avoid being executed in the future, Yu Xian decided to take action again. He sent the Beidou Guards to kill all the killers along the way. At the same time, he reported the list of Zhu Gaoxu's spies in the palace to Empress Zhang.

Her husband had worked hard for the country for so many years, but when he was about to die, he was surrounded by a group of people with bad intentions. She summoned Duke Yingguo Zhang Fu and the eunuch of the East Factory and arrested all the people on the list. For a time, the people of Beijing were in panic.

At this time Zhu Zhanji returned, and his prince's entourage entered the Forbidden City with great fanfare.

"Father, I'm back!" Zhu Zhanji knelt before Zhu Gaochi's bed.

Zhu Gaochi turned his head with great effort to look at his unruly son, then raised his hand and pointed at the tray in the hands of his personal eunuch, which contained several drafted imperial edicts.

Zhu Zhanji looked at the thing in the hand of his personal eunuch in confusion. Before he could ask what it was, the concubines, eunuchs and palace maids in the hall knelt down one after another, crying loudly.

On May 12, the first year of Hongxi, Zhu Gaochi died of illness.

"Call Duke Yingguo Zhang Fu to see me!" Zhu Zhanji asked the palace maid to change into mourning clothes for him while sending someone to call Duke Yingguo over alone.

In fact, Zhu Zhanji didn't need to order him to do so. When the 45th bell rang throughout Beijing, the court officials should have come. The reason why he summoned Zhang Fu alone was to impose martial law in the capital to prevent chaos at this time and to guard against any actions by his second uncle who was far away in Shandong.

"Your Highness the Crown Prince is greeted by your humble servant Zhang Fu!" It was obvious that Zhang Fu had cried.

"Duke Yingguo, my father has passed away and the people of Beijing are in panic. I order you to be in charge of the defense during the mourning period. If there are any suspicious people, I allow you to execute them first and report later." Zhu Zhanji didn't say anything more to him.

"Your Highness, can you summon the Earl of Xuanwu to the court now? He was the one who handled the assassination case back then, so he will definitely be able to assist me in managing the defense during the period of mourning." Even at this time, Zhang Fu still did not forget to play tricks and wanted to test Yu Xian's weight in Zhu Zhanji's office.

"I believe you are capable of handling this matter. Duke Xuanwu is not interested in court affairs, so we won't bother him."

Zhu Zhanji was very wary of Yu Xian. On the surface, this man seemed to be very sensible, but his bad point was that he didn't even leave any handle for himself. Instead, he had exposed many of his weaknesses in his hands. For example, when he forged the imperial edict, it was all his fault that he was young and didn't think straight and accepted the small porcelain vase that he gave him.

How can I trust such a person?

Grandpa used me because he was confident that he could control it; if my father had not passed away, he would have used me sooner or later because he had no burden in his heart; as for me, forget it! I can't control it.

"I will go back to the Governor's Office to dispatch personnel." Zhang Fu did not hesitate and went to the Governor's Office to mobilize the army to start martial law in the whole city.

The good news was that the new emperor who was about to ascend the throne had no intention of using Yu Xian and was very wary of him; the bad news was that the new emperor had no intention of suppressing or getting rid of Yu Xian. Zhang Fu could only spread Zhu Zhanji's attitude and tell everyone not to provoke Yu Xian, otherwise he didn't know how this unsociable and unruly noble would respond.

Zhu Gaochi had been on the throne for less than a year, but he had done many things that emperors in years or even decades could not do. In fact, these things were quite simple. He just had to stop a lot of useless and expensive face-saving projects during his father's reign, and exempt some taxes and corvee labor.

These decrees brought respite to the common people, and Zhu Gaochi himself also left a good reputation in history books.

The news that all his men were annihilated and that Zhu Zhanji returned to Beijing unharmed and successfully ascended the throne reached the King of Han Zhu Gaoxu. Looking at this familiar style of doing things, he hated Xuanwu Earl Yu Xian. Why the hell do you always have to get involved every time I do something!

In the tenth year of Yongle, he killed all the old party members of Jianwen that he had worked so hard to recruit. Last year, they prevented him from seizing the imperial edict of enthronement, and now they are secretly helping Zhu Zhanji to ascend the throne...

How much money do I owe you, Yu Xian? Just tell me! I will pay it back even if I lose everything I have, so that you won't trip me up again.

Zhu Gaoxu should be the kind of person who cannot rest. After becoming a fiefdom, he had nothing to do, and he daydreamed about the throne every day, becoming even more obsessed and crazier.

In fact, everyone knew that Zhu Gaoxu wanted to rebel, but they treated him as a joke. Yu Xian had a bad guess: Zhu Di believed that his son had this intention, but he would let it go when he reached a certain age; Zhu Gaochi was really good to his brother, and he also knew that he could not rebel.

Only Zhu Zhanji sincerely hoped that Zhu Gaoxi would rebel, and the way he executed Zhu Gaoxu was very confusing. It didn't seem like something a normal person could do, but rather like the methods of a cult...

Sometimes Yu Xian couldn't help but investigate what secrets he had. After all, the process of his succession to the throne was an extremely mysterious thing. There were even speculations that he personally arranged to have his own father killed.

At this time, a man in cloth came to the gate of Xuanwu Marquis's Mansion with a servant and handed over a visiting card.

"Mr. Yu, after his mourning period, did not report to the Ministry of Personnel. What are you doing here?"

Although the current situation was sensitive, Yu Xian still let Yu Qian in.

"Yu Qian left in a hurry three years ago. Today I came to apologize to the envoy." Yu Qian bowed sincerely.

"No, I'm a cruel official and I will break your waist." Yu Xian quickly moved aside.

"My Lord, Yu Qian has finished his mourning period and will soon enter the court as an official. I wonder if the strategy you said to control Mongolia was just talk or if you had a mature plan." Yu Qian started talking about work at this time.

"Your classmates who took the imperial examinations have been promoted and demoted so far. You should report to the Ministry of Personnel first and see what position they will assign you. There is a vulgar saying among the people that the head is determined by the butt. You will do what you are supposed to do according to your position. Of course, there is also a saying that everything is planned in advance, while lack of planning will lead to failure. You can collect useful information and think about it without delaying your official duties. Now that the Ming Dynasty is resting and the people will not have a major war for at least 30 years, the Mongolian affairs can only maintain the status quo in the short term." Yu Xian gave a specious answer.

"Thank you, sir!" Yu Qian bowed again and prepared to leave.

"Wait a minute." Yu Xian remembered something.

"Uncle, is there anything else?" Yu Qian stopped.

“If the King of Han does something unforgivable one day, you must find a way to send him to Fengyang. Remember not to let him stay in Beijing.” Yu Xian was still kind-hearted and couldn’t bear to see him die so miserably.

"Yu Qian has made note of this!"

Although these words were incomprehensible, Yu Qian took them to heart. As for the unforgivable thing, it was naturally rebellion, but he didn't know how big the impact would be.