Chapter 191

Looking at Zhu Qizhen's expression, Zhu Di couldn't help but curse.

"You really have no brain, do you?"

"Who said we should actually make the Wang Shizi the Crown Prince?"

"That was a Memorial to the throne submitted by Qian Ning; did the Emperor say it?"

"The Emperor merely showed the Memorial to the throne to Yang Tinghe and then declared himself guilty."

"Is there even a shred of making the Wang Shizi the Crown Prince in this?"

"That is all the ministers guessing blindly!"

Hearing this, Zhu Qizhen was even more stunned.

"Then why go through all this trouble? Just reject the Memorial to the throne and be done with it!"

Zhu Yuanzhang snorted coldly.

"In that case, guess who the Ning Wang will hate?"

Hate the Son of Heaven?

No.

It is these hundred officials.

They made the Ning Wang lose the opportunity to legally seize the throne.

They forced it all!

124, Qian Ning: Why would I randomly draw a sword for no reason!

The Zhengde reign, outside the Taimiao, incense smoke curled upward.

Gu Dayong, Zhang Yong, and other eunuchs knelt outside the Taimiao, burning incense and candles.

And Qian Ning, who was usually inconspicuous among these "close attendants of the Son of Heaven."

Was now arranged at the very front of the line.

Although kneeling before the Taimiao like everyone else, urging "Zhu Houzhao."

But at this moment, Qian Ning might as well have carved the word "triumphant" directly onto his face!

Qian Ning, kneeling outside the Taimiao, was very happy.

Zhu Yuanzhang, seeing Qian Ning so happy in the chat group, was also very happy.

"Manipulating power politics, this kid~ has a way."

Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes gradually narrowed as he smiled and surveyed the crowd of ministers kneeling in the main hall.

Only Zhu Youjian spoke with some indignation.

"Great-Grandfather, shouldn't the way of a ruler be to be close to the virtuous ministers and keep the petty men at a distance? Qian Ning's appearance looks exactly like a petty man achieving success."

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Zhu Youjian with a face full of disdain and said.

"It is precisely because you failed to see this point that you ruined the Great Ming to that extent!"

"What we want is for this kid to achieve success as a petty man!"

"Guess what these ministers outside are thinking in their heads right now?"

"It is that this kid Qian Ning is bewitching the holy hearing! It is that Qian Ning has blinded the Son of Heaven!"

"At present, they cannot do anything to Qian Ning, but once this matter passes, these Wenchen Society members will spare no effort to grind this kid Qian Ning to dust!"

"This is called killing with praise!"

Zhu Youjian still asked, not understanding.

"But Great-Grandfather, is there any need for this? Just execute this treacherous villain directly; why go to such great trouble?"

Zhu Yuanzhang sat on the dragon throne with his legs crossed and sighed.

"Yes, there is definitely a great need!"

"But after killing Qian Ning with praise, these close attendants of the Son of Heaven will only feel they lost by a single move; they will think the Son of Heaven was forced by these scholar-officials to kill Qian Ning."

"Then they will still have the spirit to continue fighting these Wenchen Society members!"

"If you directly fulfill the wishes of these scholar-officials, the close attendants around you will immediately turn towards the scholar-officials without hesitation!"

"At that time, even if you want to restrain the scholar-officials again, you will not find anyone willing to take the lead for you!"

"When the two sides are evenly matched, everyone will place their hopes on the Son of Heaven, and only at this time can the Son of Heaven truly become the Son of Heaven."

Hearing this.

Zhu Youjian suddenly snapped back to his senses.

In a daze, he involuntarily recalled the words his elder brother said while holding his hand on his deathbed: "Wei Zhongxian is diligent, cautious, and loyal; he can be entrusted with great matters; he should be appointed."

It was not saying that Wei Zhongxian had great talent to turn the tide in the court.

Nor was it saying that Wei Zhongxian truly had the ability to pacify Liaodong and formulate strategies.

Most importantly, with a character like Wei Zhongxian balancing things in the court, these scholar-officials could not turn the sky upside down!

And without Wei Zhongxian.

This stable triangle would no longer exist.

What followed would be an extreme state of either ruler or subject.

If Zhu Youjian were a fierce man like Zhu Di or Zhu Yuanzhang, the scale would naturally tip towards the Emperor.

In this situation, Wei Zhongxian was nothing more than a castrated dog.

Killing him would be fine.

But was Zhu Youjian?

Obviously not.

For Zhu Youjian, keeping Wei Zhongxian was the best choice!

Zhu Yuanzhang saw through Jiajing's thoughts with just a few words.

But obviously, if Old Zhu were to handle this matter, he might accomplish it just as well, yet he would absolutely not pay such a small price as Jiajing did.

Old Zhu knew this.

At this moment, Yang Tinghe, who led the ministers kneeling outside the Taimiao and shouting "Your Majesty,"

also sensed something was wrong in an instant.

His emotions were clearly no longer as excited as before.

For this Grand Secretary who had entered the cabinet for over a decade had already noticed the change in this "young Son of Heaven."

As a smart man,

Yang Tinghe knew.

The Emperor was absolutely not intending to promote Qian Ning.

Instead, it looked more like a seasoned veteran of the political arena preparing to destroy a political enemy!

Even so,

Yang Tinghe still did not understand two things.

First, Yang Tinghe did not understand what exactly had happened to "Zhu Houzhao." Although this "young Son of Heaven" had previously been naturally intelligent, he had never reached this level.

Second, even if the Son of Heaven truly wanted to kill Qian Ning, what was the Son of Heaven's real objective?

Was Qian Ning alone even worthy of it?

Let alone just Qian Ning.

Even the Prince of Ning, was he worthy?

He was merely a feudal prince; if one truly wanted to strike, it would take nothing more than a single imperial edict, appointing one great general, and it could be destroyed within ten days or a month!

Meanwhile, Zhu Qizhen in the chat group also watched the ministers in the scene with some curiosity and asked,

"But Great-Grandfather, didn't you send this child to the Zhengde era to open the seas?"

"How has this become connected to establishing a Crown Prince? These two matters seem completely unrelated to your son!"

All the Emperors immediately turned their gaze in unison toward Zhu Yuanzhang.

Under the gaze of his descendants,

Zhu Yuanzhang could not help but smile and say,

"I don't know, but I know that this boy has probably already made his calculations long ago."

Zhu Di looked at Zhu Yuanzhang with some disbelief and asked,

"Father, even, even you couldn't see it?"

Hearing Zhu Di's words, Zhu Yuanzhang could not help but snort coldly.