Chapter 2

Seeing his behavior, Noble Consort Li did not buy it; she knew her son better than anyone.

She kept a cold face, her tone sharp with interrogation: "What? Are you going to be like last time at the Huiji Gate, fearing the civil and military officials like tigers and wolves, shrinking in this Ciqing Palace, not daring to come out!?"

Her words left no face for her own son, simply because this behavior from Zhu Yijun was not the first time.

A few days ago, the civil and military officials had presented a memorial at the Huiji Gate urging him to ascend the throne; according to ritual, Zhu Yijun should have at least declined in person.

Yet Zhu Yijun was so cowardly and fearful that he was scared out of his wits and dared not show his face, eventually finding himself in a dilemma where he could only issue an oral decree to finish the matter hastily.

It had nearly scared Noble Consort Li to death, and she had scolded him thoroughly afterward.

And today at the Wenhua Hall morning court, the military and civilian representatives and the civil and military officials were about to urge him again, yet Zhu Yijun was hiding in the hall again; how could she not be furious?

Zhu Yijun, possessing the memories of this body, naturally knew what was going on.

He sighed inwardly; it was no wonder that after the Wanli Emperor's grand wedding, the Li clan was unwilling to return power; this character was indeed difficult for the Li clan to trust and rely upon.

He composed his words, a solemn expression appearing on his face as he began: "Mother Consort, the late Emperor was only in his prime, his virtue flourishing and his reign prosperous; who could have expected him to pass away suddenly and abandon the world."

"My heart is pierced with pain, as if cast into boiling water and fire; I lost my composure for a moment, leading to my previous indecision. After your instruction, Mother Consort, I have reflected many times over these past two days; there is absolutely no reason for me to commit such a mistake again."

"Today, it truly was not my intention to delay."

Zhu Yijun was not trying to show off by using flowery language; these were simply some of the phrases from the previous declination, cited now to show that he had truly taken her lessons to heart. In daily speech, he really did not talk like this.

The technique was a bit clumsy, but it was perfectly suited to the psychology of a child of this age.

In short, the meaning was: Dad died suddenly, and he, a proper Crown Prince, was suddenly designated to ascend the throne in the blink of an eye; it was normal to be a bit panicked, right? Now that he had regained his senses, he would definitely do it next time! Mother, please stop scolding.

Sure enough, seeing his demeanor and words were proper and respectful, steady and calm, Li's expression cleared up slightly.

Yet she did not let him off easily, frowning as she said: "The military and civil officials are all waiting at the Wenhua Hall; what reason do you have to still be dragging your feet in the hall?"

Noble Consort Li came from a commoner background and later became a palace maid, so her address and words naturally lacked much formality.

Her tone was stern; clearly, without a proper reason, a scolding was inevitable.

The words had just fallen.

She saw Zhu Yijun raise his head to look at her, his eye sockets slightly red.

Seeming to be suppressing his grief, he spoke clearly: "Mother, just now, during the solar eclipse, I seemed to have been possessed by a nightmare."

"I vaguely saw Father in the hall, and he was lovingly reaching for my hand and smiling at me, but when I reached out to touch him, I could never reach him."

Speaking to this point, although his expression was strained, tears flowed directly from his eyes, and his voice carried an irrepressible sob.

This was the strength of an old actor; he wielded it with ease.

Noble Consort Li was also startled to see his state.

Looking at Zhu Yijun's sad face, she suddenly remembered in a daze that this naughty son she had been scolding in every way these days was, after all, only a ten-year-old child who had suddenly lost his father.

She did not know if it was because he hadn't rested well these past few days, but he had actually had a nightmare.

For a moment, her heart softened.

Just as she was about to lean down to comfort him properly, she stopped herself and extinguished the thought.

He was about to ascend the throne as Emperor; he would have to carry the world and all its people on his shoulders; how could he afford to be cowardly?

In extraordinary times, one must be ruthless in raising him so that he can shoulder the great responsibility as soon as possible!

Thinking of this, Noble Consort Li immediately frowned and scolded him in a stern tone: "What kind of behavior is this, looking like this."

Zhu Yijun, of course, was not trying to play the victim; he immediately took a step back and bowed again.

Then, wiping his face messily, he said firmly: "Mother, I am not shedding tears out of self-pity, but because I am thinking of what Father said just now, and my grief is irrepressible."

He answered again, leaving a hook for Li in his words.

Sure enough, hearing his words, Noble Consort Li immediately grasped the point.

She changed her expression belatedly, asking with suspicion: "The late Emperor had words of instruction?"

Noble Consort Li had revered Buddhism since she was young, and regarding tales of ghosts and gods, she had always held the attitude of "better to believe they exist."

In history, there was even the matter of her considering that the death penalty hindered heavenly harmony and wanting to release all the prisoners.

Just now, when Zhu Yijun spoke, she thought he had just had a nightmare and hadn't thought much of it, but now that he said the late Emperor had left words, this was a manifestation!

Her thoughts immediately turned to the tales of ghosts and gods.

Thinking of this, the look Noble Consort Li gave Zhu Yijun became a bit more serious, waiting for his answer.

And Feng Bao, standing to the side, immediately tensed his body.

He was terrified that the Crown Prince had been incited by treacherous people to say something shocking.

He had been in political struggles for many years and lacked no keen sense of smell; he had seen such methods many times!

One had to know that he had just pulled Meng Chong down from the position of Director of the Ceremonial Secretariat; this person was at least someone who had held power, and seeing that the situation was about to be lost, there was no guarantee he wouldn't come up with some poisonous scheme!

And there was Meng Chong's backer in the Cabinet, Gao Gong; this person also saw him as a thorn in his side.

This was the current Chief Grand Secretary! A veteran official of three reigns!

He had recently grasped a handle on this person and was planning to attack him; it was not impossible that Gao Gong had heard the wind and wanted to strike first!

Feng Bao's thoughts turned a hundred times in an instant, staring straight at Zhu Yijun, only hating that he had no room to interject, feeling only anxious in his heart.

Zhu Yijun felt Feng Bao's gaze but ignored it.

His little face still had tear stains, appearing innocent and pitiful: "Vaguely, I heard Father instructing me, saying... saying... that the three of us, an orphan and a widow, depend on each other for survival, and he asked me to be filial to Mother and the Empress, otherwise, he could not rest easy."

The Empress he spoke of was naturally the late Emperor's Empress, who was also his mother by clan law, which was why there was the saying of the three mother and son.

After hearing this, Feng Bao breathed a sigh of relief inwardly.

These words did not have anything out of line.

Unfortunately, this was only because he was in the middle of it, his vision limited, and he didn't know at all that Zhu Yijun was aiming to compete for Noble Consort Li's favor!

This was the way of "moistening things silently."

One must know that power cannot be grasped in a few words.

Regardless, he was ascending the throne now, and in fact, he was just a child emperor.

Power has no vacuum; since he could not exercise imperial power, this power naturally fell into Li's hands.

Therefore, if he wanted to rule personally, the key lay with this Mother Consort.

If she insisted on entrusting it to the Ceremonial Secretariat and the Cabinet, then Zhu Yijun would have a long wait.

In history, this Li, even after his grand wedding, still did not hand over the great power to him.

How could this be allowed?

Ten years of ascending the throne without governing; how many things could he do?

If he couldn't stretch his limbs and oversee state affairs as soon as possible, what was the use of this knowledge that surpassed the era? How could he make the Great Ming great again?

Since his predecessor was unreliable and made Li so uneasy, he naturally had to learn from the lessons, start from the subtle points, and slowly give Li confidence.

Therefore, all his performance just now was done for Li to see.

From his measured behavior to his wording and speech, as well as the final emotional card, all were to show Li and do ideological work for her.

In short, it was to let her know that her son was naturally intelligent, sensitive to state affairs, and filial and righteous; in short, he was reliable!

For a woman from a commoner background who hadn't been steeped in politics, playing the emotional card was the most effective way.

In history, this Li was slow to return the great power, partly because she viewed the Wanli Emperor as a child.

Secondly, perhaps it was also because she had held power for a long time, the political landscape was stable, and she was unwilling to change it easily.

Therefore, doing the work had to be done early!

How could there be a reason to trust outsiders and not one's own son?

Fortunately, he, Zhu Yijun, was different; these methods of connecting with old women in the unit could be said to be at his fingertips, and with the face of an eight-year-old child, it was naturally extremely deceptive; even Feng Bao, at his most vigilant moment just now, could only think about whether he was being deceived by others, let alone Noble Consort Li?

With an advantage, one naturally had to make good use of it.

Today was just an appetizer.

He would have to perform even better in the future!

For this reason, he had laid the groundwork at the end.

He needed a reason, a reason for a sudden enlightenment.

The Crown Prince mourning the late Emperor, changing his usual state, and striving for achievement—this was a reason that could be taken out anywhere!

What a good story; if it were his previous life, he could write ten different materials for it.

Sure enough, under Zhu Yijun's series of offensives, Noble Consort Li was finally moved.

A trace of sorrow flashed in her eyes.

The late Emperor passed away suddenly, leaving them, an orphan and a widow, with a young ruler and a suspicious country; these words could be said to have hit her soft spot, and she felt a sense of grief.

Her lips moved, and for a moment she couldn't speak.

She only lowered her head to look at Zhu Yijun, slowly reached out her hand, and wiped the tear stains on his face hard.

After a long while.

Noble Consort Li said sternly: "Since this is the case, my son should study and cultivate virtue even more, not be lazy, and not fail the expectations of your father."

"You have been studying in the Pavilion for more than three months, and when I ask about your progress, the lecturers all avoid speaking. If you truly have the heart, then before the Imperial Lectures, read the Four Books and Five Classics thoroughly."

She paused and added: "Do not be like before, working hard for two or three days and then becoming lazy again."

The so-called Crown Prince's Pavilion lectures were considered enlightenment and literacy, just reading was enough; while the Imperial Lectures was for the Emperor to analyze the classics and study political philosophy in depth. There was naturally a difference between the two.

After hearing this, Zhu Yijun felt a lump in his throat.

He sighed inwardly; so intermittent ambition was a criminal record everyone had, right? It was really a pit.

It seemed that Li was not so easy to conquer; although her attitude had softened for the moment, the road was long and difficult.

Well, it had some effect, anyway he still had time, and this was not a matter of a day or two, just dripping water wearing away stone.

He nodded heavily and said in a childish voice: "Mother's instruction is right, I will definitely not fail the expectations of Father, Mother, and the Empress!"

"From now on, I will definitely study and cultivate virtue, and become familiar with the Four Books and Five Classics as soon as possible, so that Mother and the Empress can examine me!"

After speaking, he also bowed to the direction where the Empress, his mother by clan law, lived, to show that he kept the three mother and son mentioned by the late Emperor in mind, not missing a single one.

Noble Consort Li did not commit.

"Let's go, a nine-story terrace starts from a pile of earth; I will send you to the outside of Wenhua Hall, and later in the hall, you must properly display the majesty of the heavenly family before the officials, and you must not be cowardly like last time."

Afterward, she held Zhu Yijun's hand and walked out, and the two were surrounded by palace maids and eunuchs, heading toward Wenhua Hall.

Wenhua Hall was the place for court deliberations, the Emperor's side hall; under the political consensus of many years, the inner palace didn't even have the qualifications to enter, so she could only send him to the outside of the hall.

In those years, Ming Yingzong Zhu Qizhen ascended the throne at nine, and someone asked Yingzong's grandmother, Empress Dowager Zhang, to rule from behind the curtain, which later sparked a great debate, and finally, it was settled by Empress Dowager Zhang's words, "Do not ruin the ancestors' rules."

Now Li was not even the Empress, so naturally, she dared not overstep the ancestral system and established laws.

The group had just left Ciqing Palace.

They hadn't walked many steps.

Suddenly they saw.

A eunuch carrying a lantern running over in a hurry.

Noble Consort Li immediately frowned; she clearly saw that the person coming was from the direction of Wenhua Hall; in this critical moment, being in such a hurry, what had happened?

But naturally, she didn't need to ask herself.

Feng Bao immediately took a step forward, grabbed the little eunuch, and slapped him: "You blind thing, are you trying to collide with the imperial carriage!?"

The little eunuch was suddenly slapped and didn't dare to argue.

He only covered his face, knelt down on the ground with a thud, and panted: "Noble Consort, Crown Prince, there is an urgent matter to report!"

"Chief Grand Secretary Gao Gong has been waiting for the Crown Prince for a long time, and just now in the hall, he said to the slave, 'Sure enough, it's like this again, the Crown Prince definitely won't come again, you go and ask for an oral decree again.'"

"The slave didn't dare to decide on his own, so I hurried to report!"

Zhu Yijun's heart jumped, and he looked at Feng Bao, who had retreated to the side, eyes watching his nose, nose watching his heart, without a trace.

He thought to himself that it was bad.

——

Note 1: The first urging to ascend the throne is seen in, "In the sixth year of Longqing, the fifth month, Jia Yin, the civil and military officials led the military and civilian people to present a memorial at Huiji Gate urging him to ascend, and the decree replied: 'Reading the memorial presented, I fully see the officials' deep concern for the country, but my grief is deep, how can I bear to hear the matter of succession so soon, the request is not granted.'" — "Veritable Records of Ming Shenzong, Volume 1"

Note 2: Zhu Yijun's study in the Pavilion as Crown Prince had many twists and turns. When he was eight, the officials (including Zhang Juzheng, Gao Gong, etc.) presented a memorial asking the Crown Prince to study in the Pavilion, but Muzong kept it and didn't issue it, until the third month of the year when he saw he was about to fail, he let Zhu Yijun start enlightenment in the Pavilion. — "Veritable Records of Ming Muzong", Volume 5

Note 3: Not only Li, the address in the Ming Dynasty was relatively colloquial, and "you" and "I" were very normal, and even often seen in edicts. For example, before Wanli's wedding, Li's imperial decree said, "Tell the Emperor, your wedding is about to be completed, I should return to my palace."

Note 4: (Li) revered Buddhism, built many Buddhist temples inside and outside the capital, costing millions, and the Emperor also helped to donate countless times. When Juzheng was in power, he once spoke about it, but it was not used — "History of Ming, Biographies Volume 2"

Note 5: Asking the Empress Dowager to rule from behind the curtain, the Empress Dowager said: "Do not ruin the ancestors' laws. Just dismiss all urgent matters." — "History of Ming, Biographies Volume 1"

(End of chapter)