Chapter 336: Premeditated Regicide

Hearing Chen He's question, the Prince of Lu glanced at him, then said irritably, "What's there to ask about this kind of thing? His Majesty didn't tell me either, so I'm not going to go prying. If this makes His Majesty suspect me, what would I do then?"

Hearing the Prince of Lu's words, Chen He felt helpless inside. In the end, this prince was someone he could not count on.

After thinking it over, Chen He probed cautiously, "So aside from the matter of someone rebelling, His Majesty didn't say anything else?"

"Isn't the matter of a rebellion scary enough?" The Prince of Lu's eyes went wide as he said, "Anyway, don't talk nonsense. I'm not leaving this place — I'm staying right here. As it stands now, this is the safest spot. Even if someone does rebel, nothing will happen to me."

"Hey, do you think I could discuss with His Majesty whether I can have my forty-eight wives and concubines brought over? If someone really does rebel, it's still safer here after all."

The Prince of Lu smacked his lips and said, "Who knows whether those rebels might set their sights on my residence. If they breach my home, my losses would be huge. Losing some valuables would be one thing, but if my forty-eight wives and concubines got hurt, that would be a real loss."

Watching the Prince of Lu talk to himself, Chen He felt utterly helpless.

Is His Majesty protecting you?

This is His Majesty placing you under house arrest. You simply don't understand a thing!

But then again, this prince was always like this — a good-for-nothing since childhood.

This wasn't what Chen He wanted to hear. He patiently continued asking, "Your Highness, was there really nothing else said?"

"Oh, right, there was something." The Prince of Lu seemed to remember at that moment. He turned to look at Chen He and said, "His Majesty did tell me one other thing — he asked me to contribute some money and grain. First, to relieve the people, and second, to supply the army suppressing the rebellion."

"Take a look at how much grain and money our household still has, and give half of it." After thinking it over, the Prince of Lu gritted his teeth and made a big decision, saying directly, "Write up a routine memorial and submit it to His Majesty tomorrow."

Hearing the Prince of Lu say this, Chen He's heart gave a jolt. He stared wide-eyed and said, "Give away half?"

"What's wrong with half?" The Prince of Lu saw Chen He's miserly look and said irritably, "Keeping your life is what matters most. Wealth is all external stuff. What's wrong with spending a bit of money for His Majesty? Didn't you see what His Majesty ate today? It made people's hearts ache to watch."

"Speaking of which, have some good things prepared and sent to His Majesty tomorrow. Delicacies from land and sea, old mountain ginseng — prepare plenty. That's His Majesty of our Great Ming — how could he eat such things? Those underlings don't know how to do their jobs either — they're all a bunch of fools!"

"Oh, right — His Majesty also bestowed a piece of calligraphy on me. Take it out and hang it up."

Chen He felt very helpless. Clearly His Majesty had told the Prince of Lu quite a few things, but the prince simply hadn't understood any of it. He hadn't paid attention to much, and had only remembered two matters.

One was that someone in Shandong was planning to rebel, that he was very afraid, that hiding here was safe, and that His Majesty would protect him.

The other was that His Majesty wanted him to contribute money and grain, and he was preparing to send half of it to His Majesty.

These two matters were important, but they weren't the most crucial point.

"Rest assured, Your Highness — this servant will make arrangements right away." Chen He said hurriedly.

Only upon hearing these words from Chen He did the Prince of Lu nod with satisfaction.

Then, as if remembering something else, the Prince of Lu asked, "How is it that our princely residence has business dealings with the government offices? Today His Majesty asked me about the disaster relief grain and pay, and I was completely baffled."

"Hasn't the residence's business always been managed by you? How did such a big mistake happen? Today I covered for you in front of His Majesty. Once you go back, cut off all these dealings. If His Majesty starts investigating, what good end would there be?"

The Prince of Lu's tone was very serious — he was truly frightened.

For the Prince of Lu, a peaceful and uneventful life was best. Don't stir anything up — just let him and his forty-eight wives and concubines live out their days in stability.

Hearing these words from the Prince of Lu, Chen He's body gave a violent shudder. He had finally heard what he wanted to hear.

His Majesty had indeed already taken notice of this matter. As for the prince's claim of covering for him, Chen He didn't believe a word of it.

Chen He knew all too well what sort of caliber the Prince of Lu was. If he hadn't covered for him, perhaps things would be better; now that he'd covered for him like this, things had actually gotten worse.

Thinking of this, Chen He couldn't help but grow tense. Who knew how this matter had blown up into such a mess?

After thinking it over, Chen He said, "Your Highness, we have a great deal of grain and farmland. This servant doesn't know how to organize it all at once — why not summon the steward to ask?"

Hearing Chen He's words, the Prince of Lu said irritably, "Just discuss this sort of thing among yourselves."

Standing up and stretching his limbs, the Prince of Lu said impatiently, "I'm tired. The journey here was exhausting, and on top of that His Majesty scared me half to death. I want to go sleep now."

"Oh, right — have one of the maids you brought come in. She'll sleep with me tonight."

Hearing these words from the Prince of Lu, Chen He breathed a slight sigh of relief. At least this way, the matter had finally come to a close for now. As long as the prince handed things over to him, the rest would be easy to handle.

"Rest assured, Your Highness — she'll be sent over right away." Chen He said hurriedly.

After the Prince of Lu left, Chen He dared not be the least bit negligent. He turned and walked toward the other side.

On that side, there was a rather concealed room where someone was already waiting for him.

This was a middle-aged man in his forties, dressed in a civil official's robe. He was lean of figure with a resolute countenance — at a glance he looked like an upright and impartial official. This man was none other than Zhou Yi, the steward of the Prince of Lu's residence.

Seeing Chen He walk in from outside, Zhou Yi hurriedly went to meet him and asked urgently, "How did it go?"

"Not good." Chen He said with some worry, "His Majesty indeed asked about the disaster relief grain and pay."

"Then what did the Prince of Lu say?" Zhou Yi asked hurriedly.

"The Prince of Lu said he covered for us in front of His Majesty." Chen He said in a displeased tone, "As for exactly what he said, I have no way of knowing. When I tried to press further, the prince said he was tired and went to sleep."

"Trouble is coming." Zhou Yi sighed, then sat down on a chair and said.

"Did His Majesty say anything else?" Raising his head to look at Chen He, Zhou Yi asked.

"He did." Chen He sat down helplessly, then relayed what the Prince of Lu had told him.

After finishing, Chen He looked at Zhou Yi with some hesitation and said, "Do you think His Majesty has already guessed?"

"He's definitely guessed." Zhou Yi said with a dark face, "The current His Majesty is extremely shrewd, and he has plenty of people around him. Originally, when His Majesty summoned the Prince of Lu here, it was clearly to question him about his crimes. Didn't we discuss this before?"

"This time His Majesty came to Shandong and directly took down Zhang Shun of Jining. Plainly put, His Majesty has set his sights on the disaster relief grain matter. The reason His Majesty summoned the Prince of Lu here is very likely because of this matter."

"But His Majesty called the prince over, asked about this matter, and then said nothing more — only had the prince contribute money. What do you think the reason for that is?"

"Because His Majesty knows the Prince of Lu couldn't have done such a thing?" Chen He said hesitantly.

Letting out a helpless sigh, Zhou Yi said somewhat dejectedly, "With the Prince of Lu being the way he is, anyone with even a modicum of sound judgment can see he's not cut out for it. Since he's not the one, then who did it? How long do you think our affairs can stay hidden?"

"His Majesty might need to exercise caution in dealing with the Prince of Lu, but dealing with the two of us would require no such consideration. When that time truly comes, I fear we'll die without even a place to be buried."

Hearing Zhou Yi's words, Chen He's face also turned as black as the bottom of a pot. He raised his head to look at Zhou Yi and said helplessly, "At this point, what do you suggest we do? We can't very well rebel, can we? And if we truly did rebel, what could we even accomplish here?"

After pondering briefly, Zhou Yi said, "His Majesty said someone is planning to rebel. Do you know who it is?"

Chen He shook his head and said helplessly, "How could I possibly know who it is? It's been so long, and I've never had any contact with matters of that sort. The Prince of Lu never asked His Majesty about it either, and he wouldn't care anyway."

"I can make a guess." Zhou Yi said after thinking it over.

"Who?" Chen He said hesitantly, "You're not connected to them in some way, are you?"

"The Wenxiang sect." Zhou Yi glanced at Chen He and said.

"Are you talking about them?" Chen He said hesitantly. "What evidence do you have?"

"How could there be solid evidence for something like this? But look at what those people do—they're just like the White Lotus sect. You must have heard how much trouble the White Lotus sect stirred up in Shandong back then. Now these people are preaching everywhere—what do you think they're after?"

"Even if they do rebel, what does that have to do with us? You don't actually think they can succeed, do you?" Chen He said with a mocking tone. "His Majesty is right here in Shandong. If they rebel, they're walking to their deaths."

"We'd be walking to our deaths too." Zhou Yi said irritably.

"What you just said was right—if they rebel, they're dead for sure. But His Majesty is in Shandong, and we're right here in Jining city. If His Majesty dies here, what do you think will happen?"

"His Majesty is still young—he has no heirs. If His Majesty dies at the hands of rebels, the whole realm will descend into chaos. When that happens, we can elevate the Prince of Lu to the throne, and we'll be founding ministers of a new dynasty! And at that point, given how much the Prince of Lu trusts us, what will we be?"

Listening to Zhou Yi's words and watching his excited expression, Chen He grew excited as well.

That vision was simply too thrilling—if they could truly pull it off, he would wield power over the entire court!

Chen He turned to look at Zhou Yi and said, "Are you confident?"

"How could there be any real confidence in something like this? It's just a gamble." Zhou Yi said through gritted teeth. "I'll send someone right away to make contact with them, get them to come here, lure them into the city, kill His Majesty right inside the city, and then we bring people in to suppress the rebellion."

"We don't have any men of our own either—we might end up getting burned by our own fire." Chen He said helplessly.

"Are you stupid or am I stupid? As long as His Majesty is dead, this place will descend into chaos. At that point, all we have to do is protect the Prince of Lu and escape—the loyal troops coming to the emperor's aid from all directions will arrive."

"By then, all those people we do business with will support us. They know what a great merit it is to elevate a new ruler—that's the merit of founding a dynasty! Once we're all pulling together, there's no great deed we can't accomplish."

"Can you actually get in touch with them?" Chen He said excitedly.

A brilliant future lay ahead—his great era was finally coming!

"I can." Zhou Yi nodded. "I've done business with them before—sold them grain. That's also why I think they're planning to rebel—they've been stockpiling food."

"As long as we find them and propose cooperation, they're sure to agree. I'll send capable people over—once we make contact, the rest will be easy to handle." Zhou Yi said with certainty.

While Chen He and Zhou Yi were conspiring in secret, Zhu Youxiao was listening to Chen Hong's report.

"Your Majesty, word from the Prince of Lu's residence has come back. Among those who accompanied the Prince of Lu this time, there are men from our Embroidered Uniform Guard. They've already given us definite information." Chen Hong said without changing his expression.

"Then go ahead and tell me." Zhu Youxiao picked up his teacup, took a sip, and said casually.

"According to their reports, the Prince of Lu is a man who enjoys romance and poetry in his daily life—fond of composing verses—and he basically never concerns himself with the affairs of his household."

"As for the Princess Consort, she doesn't bother with those matters either—she spends her days fasting and chanting sutras. The Prince of Lu is fond of beautiful women. Ever since he inherited the title of Prince of Lu, he's taken several concubines every day, and the Princess Consort can't manage him, so she simply stopped trying."

Hearing this, Zhu Youxiao recalled his own newlywed days of being so "blissful" he could barely walk, and felt his scalp go numb. He was deeply exasperated and truly didn't know what to say.

Some princes had a hundred children, while others like the Prince of Lu nearly played themselves into extinction—the Ming imperial clan really was full of odd characters.

Zhu Youxiao truly had nothing to say.

"Keep going—why did you stop?" Zhu Youxiao looked up at Chen Hong, puzzled to see him pause.

"Yes, Your Majesty." Chen Hong acknowledged, then continued: "According to the reports from our men below, most of the affairs of the residence are handled by the chief steward of the household, Chen He. As for matters outside, those are handled by the residence's Administrator, Zhou Yi."

The Administrator of a princely residence managed the residence's decrees and ordinances, assisted the prince with counsel and admonition, and oversaw all residence affairs. Whenever requests were made for titles, enfeoffments, marriages, imperial favors, expressions of gratitude, or the presentation of memorials and letters, these were all submitted by the residence Administrator. If the prince committed any fault, the Administrator was called to account.

This was a very peculiar class of officials—if no one came to succeed them, they might spend their entire lives growing old in that post. With no way to be promoted, their prospects were naturally bleak.

If they couldn't rise in rank, then they'd grow rich instead. Because they were sent by the court to supervise the princes, they wielded considerable power—using that power and acting under the name of the princely residence, they lined their own pockets.

The rest needed no further thought—it could all be guessed easily enough. He'd basically been involved in swallowing up farmland too, and a large portion of it went into his own pockets, with a small share given to the Prince of Lu, since they had to operate under the prince's banner.

Given the way the Prince of Lu was, he probably didn't even know about this disaster relief grain case at all.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youxiao looked up at Chen Hong and asked with considerable interest: "That Chen He and the Prince of Lu's Administrator Zhou Yi—did they both come along?"