Chapter 212

"Where do you intend to go?"

"To rebel."

A flash of ferocity suddenly appeared in Jiajing's gaze.

It is now this year.

Zhu Houcong, who had reigned for over thirty years, knew.

This was the last thing he would do in his life.

Great Ming.

The weather must be favorable and the rains timely!

132, Xu Jie: The times have changed!

Regarding the situation during the Jiajing reign.

Zhu Yuanzhang also had some understanding of it.

The Wang Shizi of Yu, as the crown prince, was long recognized by all officials as the foundation of the state.

Yet at this critical juncture, he was sent out of the capital by Jiajing.

If anything untoward happened to Jiajing, the Wang Shizi of Yu would be beyond the control of the entire court of officials.

After the Wang Shizi of Yu left the capital.

Within the entire capital, the only person with the right to inherit the throne was Zhu Yijun, the Wang Shizi of Yu's son who had just been born.

That is to say, even if these officials wished to kill Jiajing.

The royal family member they could find fastest would still be the Wang Shizi of Yu's son.

In this way.

it eliminated the possibility of the officials bypassing the Wang Shizi of Yu.

As long as the officials harbored any "unreasonable thoughts" toward Jiajing.

every step the officials took next would be led by the nose by Jiajing!

Whether the Wang Shizi of Yu possessed the ability to deal with these fierce ministers of the court was not important.

What mattered was that the Wang Shizi of Yu was not in the capital.

This would make the officials in court hesitate to act, fearing to harm the heir.

This, is the power of the state's foundation!

As for Lu Bing and Zhu Xizhong, they controlled the military power of the entire capital.

Zhu Xizhong, who seemingly held the greatest power.

was in fact the least important.

Because ordinary matters did not require Zhu Xizhong, and once Zhu Xizhong was needed, a single Zhu Xizhong would not be enough.

Appointing Zhu Xizhong as the Provincial Military Commander of the Twelve Training Camps had only one purpose.

That was to ensure the various departments of the Capital Army remained neutral in this courtly game.

If the Capital Army did nothing, it was helping Jiajing!

Inside the chat group, Zhu Yuanzhang listened to Jiajing's arrangements.

His brows inevitably furrowed tightly into a "chuan" character.

"Has the methods of the civil officials in Jiajing's reign already become this ruthless?"

In the eighteenth year of Jiajing, Jiajing's mother passed away; Jiajing escorted his mother's remains back to be buried in Chengtian Prefecture, and on the way through Weihui, Jiajing nearly burned to death in a great fire.

In the twenty-first year of Jiajing, during the Renyin Palace Incident, Jiajing was nearly strangled to death by palace maids in his sleeping quarters.

Additionally, during the Jiajing reign, countless strange and bizarre fires occurred.

In the twenty-sixth year of Jiajing, a great fire broke out in the Kunning Palace; Empress Fang is said to have died in that fire.

Looking at the Records of Emperor Shizong that Zhu Youjian had sent him, the killing intent on Zhu Yuanzhang's face grew ever more sharp and fierce.

And on the other end.

Jiajing had already changed into a dragon robe; Jiajing, seated on the dragon throne with his eyes closed, asked in a low voice,

"Has the Wang Shizi of Yu left the capital yet?"

Lu Bing clasped his hands and said,

"Reporting to Your Majesty, just now the Embroidered Uniform Guard submitted an urgent report: His Highness the Wang Shizi of Yu has already passed through Zhengyang Gate."

Hearing that his son had already left the capital,

Jiajing, who had been resting with his eyes closed, slowly opened his eyes and, with a blank expression, ordered,

"Strike the Jingyang Bell and summon all officials to court."

"Yes."

As the bell sounds rang loudly throughout the Forbidden City.

Xu Jie, Gao Gong, and Yan Song in the Grand Secretariat duty rooms all sensed that something was amiss.

The Jingyang Bell rang.

That meant the officials were to go to Fengtian Sect for an audience!

But you old rascal, haven't you been to Fengtian Sect in how many years? Don't you have a count in your heart?

These scholar-officials who entered the court in recent years didn't even know where Fengtian Sect was!

The three old foxes looked at each other.

Almost simultaneously, they put down the official documents in their hands and strode briskly toward the outside of the duty rooms to find their respective household slaves.

They needed to know what exactly had happened in Xiyuan.

And when Xu Jie learned that the Wang Shizi of Yu had already left the capital and the Wang Shizi of Yu's heir had moved to Donggong.

His face instantly turned deathly pale.

Although he did not know what Jiajing truly intended to do.

This arrangement conveyed only one message.

— Jiajing was looking for someone to risk his life against!

Under Fengtian Sect, the hundred officials entered court.

In the thirty-sixth year of Jiajing, a great fire broke out in the Forbidden City; Fengtian Hall and Fengtian Sect had already turned to ashes in the fire three years prior.

Although reconstruction was nearly complete, numerous scaffolds still scattered across the vast square.

This time, the Son of Heaven wore no Daoist robe and no fragrant-leaf crown; the old foxes throughout the court and the countryside sensed that something was amiss in the air.

After the hundred officials shouted "Your Majesty" in unison.

Jiajing gazed at the hundred officials before him, slowly rose to his feet, raised Rui's memorial to the throne in his hand, and said in a low voice,

"I have sent Hai Rui to Yu Hang to thoroughly investigate the Wang Zhi case."

"Yet he, Hai Rui, turned around and memorialized to open the seas..."

The moment his words ended.

Xu Jie's face instantly turned gloomy.

Was all this grand spectacle today caused merely by opening the seas?

Before Xu Jie could speak.

The censors and remonstrance officials behind him instantly grew restless.

Patrol Censor Chen Jiude immediately stepped out from among the court officials and spoke loudly,

"I respectfully report to Your Majesty: During the reign of the Taizu, a fixed system was established; not a single plank of our Great Ming is permitted to go to sea, so as to cut off the strength of the Japanese pirates!"

"This ancestral precept has endured through nine generations; all previous emperors have upheld it together. How can the sea blockade be lightly opened!"

Minister of War Weng Wanjian and Vice Minister of War Zhan Rong successively submitted memorials.

Looking at these people before him.

Jiajing could not help but smile with amusement.

These three were all from Min; when Zhu Wan toured the south in earlier years, it was these three who impeached him to death.

Sitting on the dragon throne, Jiajing stared coldly at the three kneeling before him and asked softly,

"Then what if I have made up my mind?"

The moment his words ended.

Fengtian Sect instantly fell into a deathly silence.

No one had expected that Jiajing, who was usually called the non-stick pan, would so easily tear off his mask before the hundred officials today.