Chapter 39

She has already been a widow for a full year now.

You're telling me you don't want to be the Crown Prince anymore?!

"You, you..."

Huang Zicheng and Qi Tai stared at Zhu Yunwen, their mouths agape.

What would it mean for the two of them if Zhu Yunwen ceased to be the Crown Prince?

It meant their ten years of bitter study would vanish into thin air in an instant!

"Your Highness, speak cautiously, speak cautiously!"

Zhu Yunwen looked firmly at the few people before him and said,

"Yunwen has already thought it over; Yunwen truly is unsuited to be a ruler..."

Before the words finished, a sharp "Slap!" rang out.

Lady Lu struck Zhu Yunwen across the face with a single slap.

This slap hurt more than the dozens Su Qiao had delivered in the prison cell that day.

The mother consort who was usually gentle, elegant, and of noble mind.

Had actually struck him like a common shrew!

"Yunwen! If you speak thus, how can you face your mother?!"

Huang Zicheng looked at Lady Lu and urged,

"Your Highness, calm your anger, calm your anger! This is all our fault!"

Zhu Yunwen looked at Huang Zicheng beside him in disbelief.

"Mr. Huang, even, even you think Yunwen has done wrong?"

Huang Zicheng looked at Zhu Yunwen in disbelief.

He could not comprehend it.

The Zhu Yunwen who had just been willing to abandon everything for the throne.

How had he suddenly become like this?

What Lady Lu, Huang Zicheng, and Qi Tai did not know was.

That all their various actions.

Instead confirmed what Su Qiao had just told him.

What "Chosen One," what "Blessing for the People."

It's all nonsense!

They were, just as Su Qiao said, using him!

Looking at his birth mother and the two masters he had once revered beyond measure.

Zhu Yunwen felt as if a jar of five flavors had been overturned in his heart.

"Mother, Yunwen has disappointed you!"

Having spoken, Zhu Yunwen solemnly knelt before Lady Lu, kowtowed once, then rose and left the Ciqing Hall.

Lady Lu stared blankly at Zhu Yunwen, her chest heaving constantly, her speech incoherent.

"You, you!"

Before the following words could leave her lips, Lady Lu felt the world spin; her legs instantly gave way and she collapsed into a sitting position.

"Your Highness!"

The Eunuchs and maids around her immediately rushed over.

Lady Lu pointed at Zhu Yunwen's retreating back and shouted,

"Yunwen! Where are you going?!"

"Why are you stopping me! We must absolutely prevent Yunwen from seeing the Son of Heaven!"

The moment Lady Lu spoke these words, Huang Zicheng and the others around her suddenly came to their senses.

"Your Highness, rest assured; I will go immediately and bring the Crown Prince back!"

"Lord Qi, stop staring, let's go quickly!"

Qi Tai and Huang Zicheng paid no mind to the decorum of ruler and subject.

They tucked the front of their official robes into their belts and immediately ran after Zhu Yunwen's retreating back.

Their hearts pounded like ten thousand people charging.

Crown Prince Yunwen.

The throne is not something one should yield!

If you truly yield the throne to the Yan Wang.

That would be more painful than killing us!

The entire Donggong was thrown into chaos, yet the waves stirred by Su Qiao were not confined to this single space and time.

In another space and time.

The entire Great Ming of the fifth year of Chongzhen exploded.

The first to receive the news were the Jin Wang Fu, Dai Wang Fu, and Shen Wang Fu in Shanxi where their fiefs lay, and these three Wang Fu happened to be the three with the largest clan populations.

The moment the news was received.

The entire Wang Fu exploded.

Jin Wang Fu

The newly enfeoffed Prince of Jin, Zhu Shenxuan, knelt solemnly and shouted loudly.

"The Jin Wang Fu obeys the imperial decree!"

Zhu Shenxuan held the imperial decree in one hand and stared fiercely at the group of Commandery Princes behind him, shouting loudly.

"Your Majesty has issued an edict: Go back and tell the children of every branch that the time to serve the nation has arrived!"

"This world belongs to our Zhu family; if we Zhu family members do not go, do we expect these outsiders to do it?!"

"Big Brother, what exactly is going on?"

Zhu Shenxuan snorted coldly and said.

"The court officials are weak and have forced the Son of Heaven to this point; is there any need to ask?"

"This Prince has long been displeased with those few rotten Confucians in the Ministry of Rites. Our Wang Fu has over three thousand children, all over ten years old this year, yet they are not even allowed to have names! This trip to the capital, I must absolutely impeach them severely!"

"To the capital, then! Since the time of the Taizu Emperor, we have not seen our own family members; this is the perfect chance to recognize all our clan relatives!"

"Anyway, the court has stated that all expenses for this trip to the capital will be reimbursed by the Ministry of Rites. Those lacking silver, go to the treasury, write a note to draw silver, and report for reimbursement upon return!"

"Call all the children in the Wang Fu who have no names; I simply do not believe that after the Son of Heaven sees our children, he will still refuse to give them names!"

"Yes!"

During the Ming Dynasty, the Jin Wang Fu had the largest population.

Just the lineage of the Commandery Prince of Qingcheng alone had over a hundred descendants across two consecutive generations.

Furthermore, since Chongzhen ascended the throne, the court's revenues have failed to cover expenditures, and salaries have been in arrears for many years.

As soon as the edict was issued, the Fude Sect members of the entire Jin Wang Fu immediately treated this trip to the capital as Chongzhen's hundred-billion-silver subsidy.

Everyone prepared to go to the capital and fleece the sheep thoroughly.

At the very least, they would fleece back the salaries owed for so many years first!

When the vast procession of the Jin Wang Fu galloped out of the city, it took a full hour before everyone had finally cleared the city gates.

Upon counting after exiting the city, there were over eight thousand people!

The situation at the Dai Wang Fu and the Shen Wang Fu was not much different from the Jin Wang Fu; all were first-generation vassal kings of Zhu Yuanzhang, and the Fude Sect members in Shanxi Province alone numbered nearly thirty thousand!

38, the Fude Sect could recruit a new army of one hundred thousand!

Meanwhile, the vassal kings in Shandong, Shaan-Gan, the Central Plains, and other regions also gradually received the message sent by Chongzhen.

Normally, these vassal kings were all kept confined within their Wang Fu.

Even the common people in the same city did not know that there were so many "Long Zilongsun" within their city walls.

In an instant, banners of the Fude Sect could be seen almost everywhere from north to south across the great river.

The vast majority of these Fude Sect members were leaving their Wang Fu for the first time in their lives.

Seeing the outside world for the first time.