eldest son of Ming dynasty

Chapter 932 Where is the conscience?

Chapter 932 Where is the conscience?

Probably because of the return of the third brother, the harem suddenly became lively.

This is only natural. With so much bustle outside the palace, how could there be little bustle inside?

Zai Yao’s biological mother was the emperor’s favorite concubine, Consort Xian. She was always dignified, but ordinary people would be congratulated for such a great achievement, let alone a prince?

So she couldn't stop it, and the harem was decorated with lights and full of joy and happiness.

Queen Xia's position in the harem was always somewhat awkward because she failed to give birth to a prince. Fortunately, the emperor and she had always been deeply in love, which stabilized the current situation.

And because of her "congenital deficiency", she made friends with other concubines and tried her best not to offend anyone.

Basically, she acted like a true mother of the nation, treating every child as her own son, and Prince Qing certainly could not be inferior to her.

Unfortunately, the emperor's mood has been ruined.

Zhu Houzhao now began to understand what his parents had said to him before: 'Children are no longer fun when they grow up'. He was unhappy and would no longer save face for anyone. No matter how great your achievements are, I am your father.

Instead, he played more with fourteen-year-old Zaiji and thirteen-year-old Zaizhen.

Outsiders always say that Zai Ji is a little timid and unstable, and because of his Mongolian ancestry, his reputation is obviously not as good as that of his brothers, but Zhu Houzhao does not think so.

Every time he saw Lao Si, he would punch him in the chest, neither too hard nor too light, and say, "Tiger boy, you're getting stronger again!"

He also wanted the fifth brother to learn from his fourth brother and eat more meat to gain strength.

Forget about being an emperor, for any leader, the first thing to be healthy is health. If you are not strong enough, you will fail after a few major incidents. Then, no matter how great your abilities are, it will be in vain.

In fact, by the 21st year of Zhengde,

The imperial court has already conducted three rounds of concubine selection, and the emperor's concubines are not just the original ones.

As for the prince's successor, he has actually reached the ninth position.

However, medical technology was limited back then, and the number of people who grew up was not nine, but seven. Even this ratio is considered high.

After the fifth year,

He also has a seventh and a ninth younger brother.

The sixth and eighth sons unfortunately died when one was over three years old and the other was over four years old.

If they are only a few days old, they may not be ranked, but there will always be a place for three or four years old.

By the way, Zhu Houzhao also had a younger brother named Zhu Houwei, who also died early.

This kind of thing is hard to avoid.

But Zhu Houzhao had modern thoughts after all, which were relatively difficult for him to accept. This also made him unwilling to think too much about it. Perhaps for this reason, he felt a sense of distance towards the concubines and children who entered the palace later.

In recent years, seeing the innocence of the Seventh Prince Zaigui and the Ninth Prince Zaikun, and feeling that children brought him a kind of comfort, he had more contact with them.

Zaigui was born in the 15th year of Zhengde and is seven years old this year.

Zaikun was born in the 19th year of Zhengde and can now walk steadily.

For this grand event of their third brother, they were of course dressed up and all showed up.

However, Zhu Houzhao did not stay at the harem banquet for too long.

He used the excuse of being busy with state affairs to return to the Qianqing Palace early.

The night in the Forbidden City in October was actually a bit chilly, and the emperor wore a cloak and wandered around in the warm room.

When You Zhi came in with a lantern, he looked up and asked, "Is there no memorial from the boss? One from Nanjing would be fine too."

"It should be there. I will go and take a look."

"Forget it." Zhu Houzhao saw his embarrassment, "I'm not targeting you."

The old man smiled and said, "Your Majesty is just after me, and this is as it should be. I just think that it is getting late, and Your Majesty should go to bed early."

Zhu Houzhao scraped his eyebrows with his thumb.

If what Zai Yao said is true, then there should be some information passed in from Nanjing.

Wang Shouren would never lie to him.

But so far, nothing.

He was a little angry when he first thought of this, but when he sat down and thought about it carefully, from Wang Shouren's perspective, he was definitely more concerned with protecting the overall interests of the emperor and the court.

If this kind of thing gets out of hand, it will force the emperor to admit that the monetary reform was not carried out properly, which would have a huge impact.

Another thing is that this matter involves the eldest prince, who is his own son.

Wang Shouren would not simply and crudely point out the mistakes of the emperor's son and ask the emperor to "kill his own son for the sake of justice". How could this decision be easy to make?

A more foolproof way is to keep the matter in Nanjing, so that a big matter can be reduced to a small one and a small matter can be eliminated.

After all, it is not easy for the emperor to deal with this matter. After all, it is the prince's fault, so isn't it also the government's fault?

So for the emperor,

It would be best if things like this could be calmed down.

If all the difficult problems are left to the emperor, what is the point of having him?

This was indeed the reason why Wang Shouren reminded the third prince not to "file a complaint". Since it was the government's fault, it should be dealt with below the surface and not brought to the surface. In this way, there would be more room for maneuver.

In fact, what Zhu Houzhao did not expect was that Wang Shouren also considered the friendship between the emperor and his son.

No matter what, the injustice has already happened. Do we have to add a "father-son conflict" drama to make it more exciting?

Wang Shouren would naturally not hide much from the emperor.

Given his friendship with the emperor, he would tell every word of it as long as it was a major matter. But for matters like this that were difficult to talk about, he would focus on maintaining the overall situation and not bother the emperor too much.

Anyway, it would be better if the problem could be solved and the eldest prince could do his job smoothly.

Even if he has to take some risks in the process, it doesn't matter.

To this end, he has already started to work hard on both sides.

On the one hand, we should work on Zai Yao and persuade him to overturn Shao Dongru's case to appease the public grievances.

On the other hand, he was selling his reputation as "Mr. Yangming" to negotiate with those who led the riots. Of course, he was neither humble nor arrogant in the negotiation. Unjust cases could be overturned. At the same time, the governor's office was not a fool, and there would always be some tricks. How could he not have this bit of intelligence?

If we leave this matter to him, even if it takes more effort, there will always be a result.

When he was halfway through,

One morning, I suddenly heard a report that more than 20 key leaders were killed overnight!

This frightened Wang Shouren so much that he immediately threw off the quilt and stood up. Without asking any questions, he guessed what was going on.

"What a ridiculous guy!"

But no matter what, Zai Yao was a prince. Regardless of his status, he had to think about Zhu Houzhao and could not do anything to offend his superiors.

But when Zai Yao came to his house in the afternoon, he coldly told someone to report back that he was drafting a memorial.

Zai Yao waited for half an hour before he came out.

Zai was extremely anxious. If he had not been a special Wang Shouren, he would have rushed in directly. After meeting him, he also forgot all the etiquette and asked directly: "Wang Zhongcheng, are you drafting a memorial to be presented to the emperor?"

Wang Shouren neither nodded nor shook his head, but said, "This memorial is confidential. If Your Highness wants to ask this, I'm sorry I have nothing to say."

Don't listen to this nonsense.

"How did you report it? Did you report that Shao Dongru was wrongly convicted?"

Wang Shouren still didn't speak.

Secret letter, secret letter, how can this be revealed?

This made Zai Yao feel very uncomfortable. He stressed, "Wang Zhongcheng, this matter has been properly handled. The prefect of Yingtian is now trying the case. These people gathered to cause trouble and defied the court's policy of currency reform. They are all guilty. I think a verdict will be reached soon. This is why I came to discuss this case with Zhongcheng."

Wang Shouren's eyes were sharp. "What do you want to discuss with me, Your Highness? Are you discussing how to tell the governor's office not to interfere and let Zhao Yude handle the case? Or are you discussing how to cover up the matter between the lines and then report it to the emperor?!

"In my opinion, we are not the only ones who knew about the Shao Dongru case. Can you keep it secret? Moreover, when the currency reform was at its most difficult, more than 20 people did not die overnight. Now that it has been very effective, murders are happening more frequently. Your Highness must make up for this lie!"

"Won't it be difficult for the emperor if I report this? I'm doing this to help share his worries!" Zai Hao clenched his fists tightly. He had already made up his mind. If something really happened, he would report it like this.

"Then please let the emperor make the decision." Wang Shouren turned around, with a hint of anger in his eyes.

this matter,

By doing so, not only did Wang Yangming lose his reputation, but the court also lost the support of the people. The court showed its attitude of covering up its mistakes and refusing to correct them.

Even if we put all this aside,

It is obvious that Shao Dongru was wrongly killed, so why add so many more innocent souls later?

He had been an official for many years, so he naturally understood the general trend of the world and the mighty power of it. Before the will of the emperor, human life was as thin as paper, and sometimes it was inevitable.

But isn’t it a bit too much to let these people die in vain?

If they remain indifferent to this, where is the conscience of these self-proclaimed gentlemen?

(End of this chapter)