Chapter 287: Taken from the Lowly Scholars, Used for the Lowly Scholars

Seven hundred heads—is it many? It is not many.

These seven hundred people really don't count as many. If you count the Northern Barbarian spies Wang Chonggu caught, it seems even fewer.

A case with 100,000 believers and over several thousand core members, with only 700 executed in the end, is already very few. When the Commander Luo Bingliang broke through the Southern Garden, he hacked to death over 400 missionaries; that wasn't killed by the Emperor, so the killing karma cannot be pinned on the little Emperor.

It really doesn't count as many, and Zhu Yi cannot be called cruel. He doesn't like beheadings, and he doesn't like seeing bloody scenes, but he has no choice but to watch.

The congratulatory gifts Zhu Yi received for his Grand Wedding were mostly heads. This destined that on this road to personal rule, on this road to Great Ming's reform and greatness, it would be filled with blood and rain. The throne of the Great Ming Emperor was destined to be piled up with corpses.

Wang Xiangu and Su Jing Sanren, Su Quan, looked at the heads around them in terror. Neither of them had a guillotine.

The guillotine had actually become the thing the two of them yearned for most!

Because their destination was the Dissection Institute. When they stretched their claws toward those pregnant women about to give birth, they only felt the pleasure of controlling others' fates and the power of life and death. But now that their fates were controlled by the Emperor, they only felt terror.

Zhu Yi would have liked Wang Xiangu to perform a magic trick on the execution ground and disappear into thin air. Unfortunately, Wang Xiangu and Su Quan were only carbon-based organisms; they didn't have the ability to ascend to heaven in broad daylight, so they were pressed down by the scouts and couldn't move. The Daoist had pursued immortality for a lifetime, but in the end, it was all for nothing; he couldn't even have descendants to burn offerings for him.

"Cannot fulfill filial piety, Daoist, please forgive me."

Zhu Yi also hoped that the financiers behind them would emerge to rob the execution ground. That way, this beheading play would become interesting. Until the heads fell to the ground, there was no movement at all.

Li Shizhen and Chen Shigong, the two great physicians of the Dissection Institute, came before Wang Xiangu and Su Quan, bringing two bowls of soup from the apprentices. Li Shizhen said very gently: "Drink it. Once you drink it, you won't know anything."

"No! No! No! I won't drink it!" Wang Xiangu shook her head continuously, her screaming voice cracking. She just refused to drink it. No matter how you looked at it, this thing looked like Mengpo soup; it was definitely not a good thing!

A scout grabbed Wang Xiangu's head and pinched her cheeks. Another scout inserted a funnel into her mouth and poured the anesthetic in without a drop left. Before long, Wang Xiangu lay softly on the ground, her tongue sticking out, wearing a strange smile.

"Carry them away." Li Shizhen sighed. If they had obediently drunk it, they wouldn't have had to suffer this.

The execution ended here. Zhu Yi stood up and discovered a strange thing: the onlookers didn't take steamed buns to dip in human blood, because the Great Ming had a divine physician named Li Shizhen.

In the early years of the Great Ming, the practice of using human blood as medicine began to gradually stop, especially after Li Shizhen brought out the "Compendium of Materia Medica," that great weapon. Since then, there was no more use of human blood or human organs as medicine, because Li Shizhen explicitly opposed it, and it was universally recognized and followed by all doctors.

But after the Great Ming, by the end of the Qing Dynasty, there were "human blood buns" everywhere. Even Lu Xun's article "Medicine" used a spicy pen to expose the numbness and ignorance of the people, as well as Lu Xun's own confusion.

Where exactly is China's path? This was perhaps the confusion and perplexity of all aspiring people at that time. Having confusion without getting an answer, and dying before finishing what should be done, is dying an unnatural death.

The Great Ming spent over two hundred years of slow medical progress to finally eliminate the bad habit of "human blood buns." Wang Xiangu took umbilical cord blood for heretical purposes, and after two hundred years of Qing rule, "human blood buns" appeared again, and it was even worse than before.

This was probably the reason why Zhu Yi dared not have any slack. The Great Ming could perish, but the world could not perish.

Zhu Yi suddenly revealed a knowing smile. He saw an interesting scene: the onlookers were watching the fun at various execution grounds, but at the two execution grounds for Wang Xiangu and Su Quan, there wasn't a single person.

It wasn't that there was no fun to watch. Wang Xiangu and Su Quan weren't beheaded at the execution ground—how special, how much differentiation, how much fun!

There wasn't a single person at these two execution grounds; the flow of people deliberately avoided them, as if there were something dirty in those places.

After all, places between yin and yang, neither living nor dead, were truly frightening. Rumors in the streets said that it was the Great Ming Emperor's Daoist temple, sucking people's essence. Otherwise, how could the little Emperor be so formidable? The number one master of the youth group under heaven was not a false reputation.

At the same time, the people had many doubts about the Dissection Institute. For example, was Zhang Siwei actually dead or not?

From the perspective of relationships, Zhang Siwei was already dead; his social relationships had been completely severed. But physiologically, he was still alive, yet he had lost his consciousness. Was this dead or not dead?

Approximately, Zhang Siwei was indeed dead.

Zhu Yi flicked his sleeves and left the gate tower of the Meridian Gate. He now had to prepare for the Grand Wedding rituals. These rituals were very, very long, so long that the Great Ming Emperor only felt annoyed. But the Ministry of Rites didn't retreat a single step this time. Even if they beheaded him, Ma Ziqiang, or Wan Shihe, these ritual systems could not be reduced or cut any further.

Wan Shihe was also very persistent in some matters. He wouldn't follow the Emperor's chaotic orders either. This Grand Wedding was the Emperor's business. "The ruler is selfless"—this was the face of the Great Ming. With so many foreign envoys in the capital, if it were handled poorly, the friendly nations would be shocked.

While preparing for the Grand Wedding rituals, Zhu Yi discovered a pattern: since Emperor Xianzong of Ming, Zhu Jianshen, ascended the throne, if the Great Ming Emperor had an eldest son by a concubine, he would definitely not have a legitimate son. This was a compromise method, not violating the ancestral laws of the Imperial Ming, establishing the legitimate heir and the eldest heir, which was better than the court turmoil caused by being unable to determine the succession.

For example, during the Wanli years, the "National Foundation Dispute" lasted for fifteen years.

Zhu Yi was about to have his Grand Wedding, so he had to see this problem. The "National Foundation Dispute" during the Wanli years was actually the process of the Great Ming Emperor's imperial power and the officials' power pulling and fighting. No matter what the Wanli Emperor did, it was of no avail, and in the end, he still chose to compromise.

The Wanli Emperor's Crown Prince, Zhu Changluo, was born to a palace maid favored by the Wanli Emperor. This was also the reason why the Wanli Emperor looked down on this Crown Prince. The Emperor looked down on his eldest son, which immediately formed factions. Afterward, the two "Heretical Book Cases," the "Three Princes Enfeoffment," the "Tingji Case," and the "Red Pill Case" emerged one after another. The political turmoil at the top of the Great Ming was brewing constantly.

Zhu Yi had to say, the Great Ming's life was truly tough!

The Wanli Emperor messed around like this for thirty-eight years, leaving behind a riddled Great Ming in the end, and it wasn't until the seventeenth year of Chongzhen that he finally breathed his last. This blood bar was truly terrifyingly long.

"What were the names of the two secondary consorts again?" Zhu Yi asked with slight confusion.

Zhu Yi clearly wouldn't have the "National Foundation Case." He was simply too diligent. Up to now, the secondary consorts selected by the two Empress Dowagers and the Empress—let alone knowing them, Zhu Yi didn't even know their names. His diligence couldn't be called "forgetting to eat and sleep," but he was definitely attentive.

Zhu Yi was mainly not interested in "bean sprouts." They had nothing to offer. What was the point of sleeping with a matchstick that didn't know anything?

Zhu Yi didn't know at all that Wang Yaozhuo had even prepared shark oil. That wasn't "not knowing anything." The mouths of the old palace nannies could pop out anything.

Zhang Juzheng often worried: how long could such diligence and attentiveness be maintained?

History repeatedly told Zhang Juzheng that ending well is extremely difficult. Before, there was Emperor Xuanzong of Tang; after, there was Emperor Shizong of Ming. They were similar. Wanting everything is not advisable. Zhang Juzheng regretted exhorting frugality every day; he regretted it right here. If the Emperor had any hobbies and entrusted his feelings to objects, that would also be excellent.

It wasn't that Zhu Yi had no hobbies. The Emperor was very attentive to mathematics and ingenious objects. More than half of the hand-made figures in the side hall of the Zhao Wenhua Hall were made by the little Emperor himself. Therefore, Zhang Juzheng never exhorted him for being "unprofessional."

"The two secondary consorts, one comes from the family of a Company Commander of the Capital Battalion, named Li Jin; the other comes from the family of a Battalion Commander of the Southern Yamen Navy, named Liu Mengshu. Would you like to see them now?" Zhang Hong answered immediately. His Majesty finally remembered to ask for the names of the people on his pillow!

When the portraits were drawn for the Emperor before, the Emperor had actually seen them. Now that the Grand Wedding was imminent, he finally remembered to ask. As the "second ancestor" in the palace, Zhang Hong's pressure was also very great. These two secondary consorts had been in the palace for a long time, but the Emperor hadn't even summoned them. The secondary consorts often sent people to ask when they would be summoned, but they never got a reply.

This wasn't that Zhang Hong didn't try; he really tried to talk to the two secondary consorts and ask when they would be received. It was just that the Emperor was truly busy.

"No need. I'm going to the Northern Camp to inspect the troops in a while, and it will be late when I return. Tomorrow is the Grand Wedding; it won't be too late to see them tomorrow." Zhu Yi waved his hand. Preparing for the wedding procession and inspecting the troops—Zhu Yi was indeed very busy. Zhu Yi could testify; he just watched his imperial brother work so hard that he became disgusted with the throne.

If you do the job, you get scolded; if you do it well, you get scolded even more. The whole day was arranged fully, without a moment to catch his breath. He rested for five days during the New Year, and only on the first day of the New Year did he not inspect the troops. Other times, he hadn't stopped for a single day, regardless of wind or rain.

He couldn't take it, he really couldn't take it.

Being a muddled emperor and doing whatever he wanted would become an excuse for court officials to do evil. The world of the Zhu family—the people of the Zhu family didn't care about the lives of the Great Ming people!

Zhu Yi had no great ambitions; he just wanted to enjoy himself. He didn't want to become a sinner in history; that was too heavy, and he couldn't bear it.

The Great Ming Emperor went to inspect the troops again the day before his Grand Wedding. Wang Yaozhuo stood on the Zhao Wenhua Tower, looking into the distance at her husband's cloak fluttering in the spring breeze on his horse. She gripped the railing, her eyes full of love. She knew very certainly that she loved His Majesty.

Because her husband was a man who stood tall and upright, the monarch and father who protected thousands of common people!

"Sisters, you have seen it too. We will need to work together in the future." Wang Yaozhuo watched until she couldn't see His Majesty's figure anymore before speaking to the two women beside her.

Wang Yaozhuo was older than these two women, and much older. The "older" naturally referred to age, and the "much older" naturally referred to the "bountiful fruits."

A gourd-shaped figure is invincible.

"Sister is right." Li Jin and Liu Mengshu hurriedly agreed. Originally, after entering the palace, the two of them were restless. Rumor had it that the palace was a Shura field where women fought, and before entering the palace, their mothers had repeatedly told them about palace fighting—things like "if your heart isn't ruthless, you can't stand firm," or "how to get the Emperor's exclusive favor."

But these warnings were all useless. They coincidentally discovered that the first enemy they had to face was actually "State Affairs." How to compete for favor with State Affairs? Where could they learn this experience?

"Is His Majesty always this busy?" Li Jin asked tentatively. Liu Mengshu was also very curious.

Wang Yaozhuo nodded heavily and said: "It has been like this for five years, every single day. Being a wise monarch is not that easy."

Her husband was a good monarch, which destined that it would be very difficult for him to be a good husband. Loyalty and filial piety cannot both be achieved. This is true for officials, and it is also true for monarchs. Loyalty is loyalty to the state, and filial piety is the filial piety of family joy.

Wan Shihe was arranging the "reputation destruction" of Wang Shizhen at the Ministry of Rites. He had a very useful knife-pen official.

Wang Menglin, a student of the Imperial Academy, a Juren, and a lawsuit-monger, the eldest son of the former Minister of Justice Wang Zhi, was Wan Shihe's number one knife-pen official. He was that "informed person who wished to remain anonymous." Wan Shihe was teaching Wang Menglin how to guide public opinion.

"Have you heard of the story of 'Two Peaches Killing Three Warriors'?" Wan Shihe asked calmly.

Wang Menglin smiled and said: "I am a Juren; I have read quite a few books, so naturally I have heard of it. Minister, please drink tea."

"Today I will teach you the method of 'Three Peaches Killing Two Warriors'." Wan Shihe took a sip of tea and whispered two sentences into Wang Menglin's ear. Wang Menglin's face changed back and forth, looking at Wan Shihe in astonishment.

Wan Shihe smiled and said: "A person has two hands; two people have four hands and can grab four peaches. If you want to take away these four peaches, you can't just take them away, or both people will beat you."

"You take one away first, and only three are left. These two people won't be able to divide them evenly, and they will start fighting."

"At this time, you take out a fresh peach, and these two people will fight again over who gets to eat the fresh peach."

"At this time, you take away three peaches, and they will still fight over one peach."

"You take away the last peach, and they will still fight endlessly, because they have already forgotten why they were fighting in the first place."

"Can you understand?"

Wan Shihe asked uncertainly. Wang Menglin shook his head very certainly and said: "I don't understand."

"Let me give you an example. Take Wang Shizhen. In the eyes of literati, he possesses the talent of a generation, is well-versed in history, and is proficient in books, paintings, poetry, music, gambling, and chess. There is nothing he doesn't know. Right? We immediately want to completely label Wang Shizhen as a heretic. Is it very difficult?" Wan Shihe asked Wang Menglin.

Completely labeling Wang Shizhen as a heretic was truly too difficult. This guy had a reputation for talent, wasn't very good at being an official, and participated in heretical matters. In the eyes of scholars, this wasn't even a shortcoming; it was just that his official career wasn't going well, so he appealed to gods and Buddhas, but he was disliked by His Majesty, which is why he was executed.

How could such a person be labeled a heretic?

To make a person socially dead, you need the method of "Three Peaches Killing Two Warriors." Taking everything away at once would inevitably cause fierce resistance from scholars. This was not the situation Wan Shihe wanted to see. He took one away first.

"What do you take away first?" Wang Menglin asked with furrowed brows.

Wan Shihe said very certainly: "Private morality."

"Private morality?" Wang Menglin suddenly widened his eyes. Starting from private morality was indeed a good angle.

"Wang Xiangu had an affair with Wang Shizhen, and Wang Xiangu had an affair with Su Jing Sanren, and Wang Xiangu and Su Jing Sanren are half-siblings. Bring this matter out, turn it into storybooks, storytelling scripts, and theatrical segments. Sing it, tell it! This is the first step." Wan Shihe was very dirty; as soon as he opened his mouth, he went straight for the lower three paths. As soon as he made a move, it was despicable. This kind of arrangement is the most destructive to a person's reputation.

When Wang Daokun first arrived in Songjiang Prefecture, he got the bad reputation of "sleeping with a good family's woman at night," and had no choice but to take a concubine to end this matter.

This kind of method of the lower three paths spreads extremely fast. It doesn't even need arrangement; the story itself is explosive enough and has enough topics.

"And then?" Wang Menglin asked thoughtfully.

"Wang Xiangu didn't have children but tricked Wang Shizhen into thinking she did. Arrange this part, and return Wang Shizhen's private morality to him. Wang Shizhen is the victim; arrange this part well." Wan Shihe spoke again: "If you want to clear someone's name, you can stop at this step."

Wan Shihe, who was skilled at cleaning up messes, was indeed very skilled at rituals and laws. In fact, splashing dirty water and cleaning up messes are two sides of the same coin. Cleaning up messes only uses the first two steps, while splashing dirty water requires doing everything.

Wang Menglin asked in confusion: "Ah? After taking it out with such difficulty, you want to give it back?"

"Right. You return the private morality to Wang Shizhen, but these supporters of Wang Shizhen, these lowly scholars, will fight among themselves, naturally dividing into two factions—one faction thinks Wang Shizhen is innocent, the other thinks he is wrong—and they will fight to the death. Scholars, aren't they just like this? It's simpler than fighting crickets. Fighting crickets still requires a grass stick; to tease these dog-scholars, you only need one topic." Wan Shihe didn't have a high opinion of lowly scholars, because he was originally one of them. He understood them very well, so he could control public opinion.

The Emperor didn't actually know much about lowly scholars. Literati despise each other; if you press them hard, you can press them down, but making them fight is actually very, very simple. They don't even need any benefits, and they will bite each other until they are covered in blood.

"Scholars rebelling won't succeed in ten years" because of the weakness and compromise of scholars, as well as their infighting, which is determined by their selfishness. It is much more intense than pulling hair in the harem; for the sake of a single annotation, they can fight to the death.

Literati love fighting more than crickets.

"So that's it. To create topics and let public opinion tear each other apart." Wang Menglin understood.

"If it were just to stir up trouble and incite infighting, you could stop at this step. Use a massive sea of rumors to drown people's vision, making them unable to distinguish right from wrong, and even less able to see the truth, blurring the facts. To incite, going this far is enough." Wan Shihe's expression changed, and he said: "If you want to completely ruin a person's reputation, just take away all their peaches."

"His articles were plagiarized, his private life was decadent, he claimed to be pure but was rotten to the core, his business was a great evil in the world. Walk step by step like this, and infamy is inevitable. That faction that determines Wang Shizhen is wrong will immediately spread it."

Wang Menglin swallowed hard and looked left and right, secretly relieved. The sky was clear; he wouldn't be struck by lightning. Who exactly was this Wan Shihe? Where did he learn this set of methods for dealing with people?

Wang Menglin suddenly realized. He said blankly: "It's just like dealing with Xu Jie?!"

"Right, just like dealing with Xu Jie! A child can be taught! A child can be taught!" Wan Shihe's eyes lit up. This Wang Menglin had talent in controlling public opinion.

The Emperor dealing with Xu Jie fit this process. First, he used Hai Rui's mouth to speak of Xu Jie's corruption—this was taking away one peach. Then, he treated Xu Fan with great courtesy, as if Xu Jie had already awakened—this was returning the reputation. Then, those powerful and wealthy families who opposed Xu Jie would wonder if Xu Jie had betrayed their collective of Southern Yamen gentry, while those gentry who supported Xu Jie would become even more determined.

When Xu Jie arrived in the capital, the Great Ming Emperor directly made all of Xu Jie's evil deeds public, taking away all of Xu Jie's peaches. But no one cared about Xu Jie as a specific person anymore; they fought to the death over whether Xu Jie was guilty or not.

One, two, three, four—it's not a rigid, mechanical application; that's the nature of lowly scholars. You have to apply these steps flexibly, repeating when necessary.

In fact, it's just playing with human hearts.

"Won't we be struck by lightning?" Wang Menglin said with concern.

Wan Shihe said calmly: "If it strikes, it will strike... His Majesty is the monarch of the world. If the Thunder God and Lightning Mother want to strike us both, they have to get His Majesty's permission, right? Of course, when it rains and thunders, don't stand under trees or eaves."

"The student remembers!" Wang Menglin shouted loudly.

In fact, this set of Zhu Yi's was also learned. He learned it bit by bit by watching how the Southern Yamen's pen-pushers slandered Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di. Taken from the lowly scholars, used for the lowly scholars.

Using their own way to treat them is the core theory of the "Qi Ren Jing." The specific process of "Three Peaches Killing Two Warriors" was learned by Zhu Yi from the lowly scholars, and now he was returning it to them.

For example, the Southern Yamen students said that Zhu Di sent Qi Tai's sister and daughter-in-law to the military camp to be rotated and raped, with twenty-some men watching every day. They said Tie Xuan's wife, Yang, at thirty-five, was sent to the Jiaofang Division, and Mao Dafang's wife, Zhang, at fifty-six, was sent to the Jiaofang Division, unable to bear the humiliation, and died in the Jiaofang Division. Zhu Di personally issued a decree to have her sent to Shangyuan County to be fed to dogs.

Zhu Di started his rebellion with 800 Iron Forest troops, becoming the monarch of the world through the first successful rebellion of a feudal prince in ancient and modern times. He had extremely strict requirements for military discipline. Sending people to the military camp to be rotated and raped—how to make up for the broken military discipline? Zhu Gaochi had a leg ailment and was obese. As Zhu Di's eldest legitimate son, he had to go to the military camp every day to inspect the troops. Before Zhu Di's northern expedition, he specifically issued an imperial decree to exhort him.

These rumors spread in the Southern Yamen for over two hundred years and eventually became Zhu Di's infamy.

Zhu Yi was now using this move to deal with the lowly scholars. Wan Shihe knew this move, and it couldn't be said whether he learned it from the Emperor or knew it himself. Anyway, Wan Shihe mastered this move and taught it to Wang Menglin, letting Wang Menglin do this thing.

"Public opinion is a vanity fair. Peaches are the places you want to occupy. Learn slowly." Wan Shihe looked at Wang Menglin's blushing face, full of smiles.

"The most important thing right now is the Emperor's Grand Wedding." Wan Shihe didn't show how he guided public opinion. He wanted to handle the Emperor's Grand Wedding well first. Ma Ziqiang supervised, and Wan Shihe assisted, all to ensure the Grand Wedding proceeded smoothly.

Wang Menglin asked in a low voice: "Will anything strange happen tomorrow?"

"I hope no one is looking for death." Wan Shihe answered somewhat desolately.

Only those who have been beaten know how much it hurts; those who haven't been beaten only think it's lively.

Those who have been beaten find it hard to describe specifically how much it hurts, just like Wang Xiangu and Su Quan, who no longer had the opportunity to describe their inner journey to outsiders. From today on, they were living dead people.

Zhu Yi rode his horse back to the palace and saw the eunuchs of the Cixi Palace waiting at the Baoqi Division. It turned out that the Empress Dowager wanted to see the Emperor. After the Grand Wedding, the Emperor would officially pass the "probation period" and take personal rule.

After Empress Dowager Li moved out of the Qianqing Palace, she returned the government to the Emperor. At that time, Empress Dowager Li could no longer out-argue the little Emperor. The questions the little Emperor asked, Empress Dowager Li was completely unable to answer, and could only give her greatest support. Zhang Juzheng's resignation for mourning also counted as returning the government regardless of anything else. It was the Emperor who insisted on keeping Zhang Juzheng at the Western Mountain to be the "Old Ancestor."

The Emperor had been ruling personally since the fifth year of Wanli, and it had been almost a year. The Grand Wedding was the sign of official personal rule. This was the last opportunity for a mother to lecture her son.

From now on, the little Emperor could no longer be called the "little Emperor," and he was no longer the child hidden under the wings of Empress Dowager Li, Zhang Juzheng, and Feng Bao, but the Son of Heaven of the Great Ming, who had to face those storms himself. The national destiny of the Great Ming would be officially grasped in the hands of the Emperor.

Zhu Yi rushed to the Cixi Palace, where the two Empress Dowagers had long since assumed their posture as Empress Dowagers.

"Emperor, tomorrow is the Grand Wedding. I called the Emperor here for one thing: the imperial succession is a matter of great importance. Emperor Renzong of Song spent his whole life with only the word 'benevolence,' and his life's ambitions were never realized. Emperor Jingtai had no descendants, and those treacherous officials in the court began to stir up trouble. Wu Xun had no descendants, and Yang Tinghe could even suppress the Emperor. No matter how busy state affairs are, you must pay attention to the foundation of the state." Empress Dowager Li went straight to the point, directly stating her concerns.

If it weren't for the fact that the Emperor and Wang Yaozhuo were childhood sweethearts with a close relationship, Empress Dowager Li would even have thought that the Emperor didn't like women. If he didn't like women but liked men, then Empress Dowager Li would truly have no face to see her husband.

The Daoist had dismissed all the military officials who were enfeoffed due to the "Duo Men" incident in the eighth year of Jingtai, because the Daoist felt that the officials of the "Duo Men" incident were all treacherous officials. Empress Dowager Li's statement was no problem, and Zhu Yi also felt that the Daoist's handling had no problem.

"Emperor, don't blame us for being too broad. Your mother is also worried that because of these things, the Emperor will be made difficult by the court officials. The court officials of our Great Ming are all tigers down the mountain and dragons crossing the river. As long as there is any mistake, they can brew a catastrophe." Empress Dowager Chen smoothed things over. Empress Dowager Li also had good intentions. If the Emperor felt that the Empress Dowager was too broad, then the loss would outweigh the gain.

In Empress Dowager Chen's eyes, the mother-son relationship between the Emperor and Empress Dowager Li was actually not very good. Empress Dowager Li kept all her severity for Zhu Yi and all her doting for the Prince of Lu.

Zhu Yi smiled and said: "Mother, don't worry. I know the severity of this. Next year, I will definitely let you hold a grandson or granddaughter."

Having no descendants is a huge weakness for a monarch. Even if Wu Xun was formidable, he had no descendants, which destined that no one would follow him. The Crown Prince is the foundation of the state. The importance of the Crown Prince is for the Emperor. Even if he could only have a princess, that represents the ability to reproduce. Just stuff a few more people into the harem.

The precedent of the Daoist entering the capital is right before us.

"That's good, that's good." Empress Dowager Li beamed with joy. The Emperor didn't make promises easily, but once he made a promise, he would definitely fulfill it. His credibility was extremely high.

The conflict between the Tax Inspection Institute and the officials was about the mathematics examination. This was because the Master was not in the court; it was all Zhang Juzheng's fault.

Who let Zhang Juzheng be so ruthless, throwing such a vast empire directly into the Emperor's arms like this?

The reason why Zhu Yi didn't let Wang Yaozhuo taste the "clouds and rain" was that he disliked that Wang Yaozhuo was a "bean sprout." But Zhu Yi had no idea what kind of test he was about to face.

The next morning, just after the fifth watch, the sound of drums, horns, and cannons began to ring out, awakening the Great Ming capital under the sunlight.

Everyone knew that the Great Ming Emperor's Grand Wedding had begun.

Hearing the obituary of July yesterday, my heart is filled with mixed feelings. It is truly Heaven's jealousy of talent. Sigh, wish you a safe journey.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 288 =====