Chapter 115: The value of the legacy, life and death are also great

The title of King of Jing was first conferred on the sixth son of Emperor Renzong. In the fourth year of Xuande's reign, the fiefdom was established. In the tenth year of Zhengtong's reign, the fiefdom was moved to Qizhou. It has been rooted for more than a hundred years.

Not to mention the rural farm, the royal city alone was expanded again and again and built in a grand and majestic manner. It was nine li and thirty-three steps in circumference and one zhang and eighteen feet high. There were many royal palaces in the city and the scenery was superb.

Li Shizhen consulted patients here, and Wu Chengen wrote poems here. It can also be considered a place of controversy.

Anyone who saw this prosperous royal city could not help but praise it, saying "Palaces and towers rise from the ground, majestic and on par with the imperial capital." But now, it suffered a fire without any warning.

This fire burned down the Prince's Palace in the center of the royal city and the adjacent Prince Taining's Palace, turning them into scorched earth!

The fire burned down the prince's residence and killed more than one member of the Taining King's family who were in charge of the Jing domain. The faint flames also burned through Qizhou and spread all the way to Wuchang and Changsha.

Sweeping across Huguang.

Within just half a day, the news of the incident in the Prince of Jing's mansion became widely known, and everyone in Huguang knew about it.

The rumor is certainly not just an accident, otherwise it would not be talked about so much by the people.

Those who talked about this matter all made it very serious - the second son of the King of Jing, now the lord of the Jing vassal state, the King of Taining, Zhu Changxin, most likely saw the brutal massacre at the palace of the King of Lishan of the Min vassal state and the humiliation suffered by the King of Dong'an of the Chu vassal state, and out of fear, he burned himself to death with his entire palace.

As for the source of this statement... Taining King Zhu Changxin left a suicide note and handed it to Jing Prince Zhu Changling.

Prince Jing was filled with grief and told everyone around him what had happened.

The letter was full of fierce anger, saying, "The son of the emperor, the grandson of the emperor, sitting facing south as king, encountering a tyrannical dynasty, encountering the past of Jianwen, rather than humiliating myself by slaves, I would rather commit suicide and live up to my noble bloodline."

Just this one sentence alone shocked and horrified everyone who heard it.

These are almost the exact words of the Prince of Xiang who committed self-immolation during the reign of Emperor Jianwen!
At the beginning, Emperor Jianwen brutally reduced the power of the feudal lords and found an excuse to blame the Prince of Xiang. He sent people to surround his palace and arrest him.

The King of Xiang knew that he could not survive, so he sprinkled the ground with wet clothes, followed by blood, and went to the fire to die in his clothes. "Alas, I have seen ministers in previous dynasties encounter a tyrannical dynasty. When they were about to be imprisoned, they would submit to execution. I was the son of Emperor Taizu and sat facing south as a king... Now I am going to be humiliated by a slave? If I want to live, I can't do it."

Today, the stele of King Xiang’s spirit road that records this event is still standing in Jingzhou Prefecture!
Is this a repeat of the past?!

Especially when I think about what the imperial envoy has done in Huguang recently.

Most of the direct descendants of the Yueyang Palace were executed, and all the property of the palace was confiscated; the relatives of the Lishan Palace were killed by the Jinyiwei in front of the prince; Chu Fan, the head of the Huguang royal family, and his replacement as the Prince of Dong'an in charge of the palace, was imprisoned for several days and his life or death was unknown.

Under such circumstances, it is very telling that King Taining of Jing refused to be humiliated and displayed the dignity of a prince and grandson of an emperor by going to his death with dignity.

It is already talked about by people, and then some people with ulterior motives add fuel to the fire.

It spread throughout Huguang in the shortest time possible!
Most of the common people thought it was a dog-eat-dog death, and considered it a good death. The royal family felt grief-stricken over the death of the rabbit and were indignant. The officials in Huguang Province all unanimously exerted pressure on their superiors tacitly - the imperial envoy had caused such a big mess, wasn't it enough?
In the blink of an eye, the situation in Huguang changed drastically!
……

Prince Min's Palace.

Zhu Dingyao looked with pity at his cousin, Zhu Dingjiong, who had been taken away in front of Zhu Xizhong.

The latter was covered in wounds and lying on the bed, almost dying.

Seeing Prince Min coming in, Zhu Dingjiong forced himself to stand up and greet him.

Min Wang Zhu Dingyao quickly held him down and said, "Don't disturb your vitality. Just lie down quietly."

After Zhu Dingjiong thanked him, he smiled bitterly and said weakly, "The Northern Pacification Office let me go because they saw that I couldn't survive these two days, so they just went with the flow."

The news of what happened in Jing Mansion has spread to Wugang Prefecture.

Naturally, they both knew what had happened.

If it were at this critical moment, Zhu Xizhong probably would not release the man and let him die in another place.

Zhu Dingyao clenched his fists so tightly that his knuckles turned white.

He said angrily: "I will kill Zhu Xizhong! I will not be a human being if I don't avenge you!"

It is easy to find a confidant in the palace, but it is not so easy to find a talented confidant.

Zhu Dingjiong grew up with him and worked for him. No outsider could compare to the friendship and trust he had with him.

Otherwise, the task of raising pirates would not have been handed over to this side branch.

Zhu Dingjiong was a very intelligent person and a top-notch talent in Min Prefecture.

As the second son of a concubine, Zhu Dingyao was able to inherit the Min domain, and his contribution was immeasurable.

When Zhu Dingjiong was young, he began to make suggestions and work with Zhu Dingyao to build a reputation for filial piety.

The former is "cutting off one's own flesh to save one's mother" - "A young husband was filial to his mother, Mrs. Huo, and when his mother was critically ill, he cut off his own flesh."

The latter has a story about "inheriting his father's ambitions, serving his mother and raising his younger brother".

The two are closer than brothers.

Seeing that Zhu Dingjiong would not live long, he immediately became furious.

As expected, Zhu Dingjiong grabbed Prince Min's hand with difficulty, gritted his teeth and shook his head.

He panted quickly, "Your Highness, don't act on impulse!"

"As for the pirates, I have already isolated you in advance. The Jinyiwei can only investigate the Lishan Palace at most. It has nothing to do with you."

"Now that the incident of the King of Xiang happened in Jingfu, the Jinyiwei dare not act rashly."

"The Central Government is now 70% intent on reducing the power of the vassal states. The safety of the Min Prefecture depends on you alone. Do not act rashly!"

Zhu Dingyao didn't care and snorted coldly: "Reduce the power of the vassal states? I'm afraid there will be no such opportunity!"

"Zhu Xizhong has already returned to Wuchang Prefecture overnight. I heard that Wu Jinghe also rushed back. They are busy with their own affairs, so how can they care about us?"

"I am not going to start a fight now. As long as we get through this hurdle, I will settle the accounts of Lishan Palace with Chengguo Mansion sooner or later!"

"Don't worry, as long as we work together to put pressure on Hai Rui and others, we will definitely be able to drive them out of Huguang."

Of course he has this confidence.

After all, when something happened in the Jing Mansion, the imperial envoy could not make the decision on his own.

After all, the story of Prince Xiang hurt the emperor's virtue!
Do these ministers want to put the young boy now in the same situation as Emperor Jianwen?

Only by starting off well but finishing poorly and appeasing the royal family can the emperor be cleared of any involvement.

From now on, he will take revenge on Duke Cheng’s Mansion sooner or later!
As soon as he finished speaking, Zhu Dingyao felt his hand being gripped even tighter.

He looked at Zhu Dingjiong and saw only opposition in his eyes.

Zhu Dingjiong forced himself to sit up and coughed violently twice.

After a pause, he said weakly, "This incident was most likely done by Zhu Xianzhen."

"At first, we were just deceived by this uncle and played a supporting role. Now that the imperial envoy has found him, we have no choice but to resort to such ruthless actions."

"But, it was fine last time, but this time I can't follow his pace anymore."

Those imperial envoys may not be helpless.

Besides... Zhu Xianzhen has dealt such a cruel blow to the Jing Mansion, so there is no reason to believe that the lord of the Chu clan can take into account the interests of their Min clan.

There is no need to take advantage of someone else's situation.

Zhu Dingyao frowned: "What you mean is..."

Zhu Dingjiong tightly grasped the hand of Prince Min, and his tone became more earnest: "Your Highness, if the central government reduces the power of the vassal states, there will be two more."

"You and I don't know whether it is the Emperor's intention or the Cabinet's idea. If it is the latter, it's fine. But if it is the former... who knows how many years he can live?"

"Take this opportunity to withdraw!"

Zhu Dingyao remained silent.

Zhu Dingjiong knew that his cousin was stubborn and wanted to persuade him again, but his body could not bear it and he could only talk about the most important things.

He was seriously injured and his voice was hoarse. He said, "Your Highness, take this opportunity to report directly to the emperor and expose the Lishan County Prince for raising pirates and colluding with the Miao soldiers!"

"Your Highness was deceived by him and knew nothing about it, but you are guilty of negligence. I request that you strip me of my title and exempt me from salary!"

Zhu Dingyao was shocked!
His face was full of confusion, and he asked in astonishment: "Why!?"

Zhu Dingjiong felt increasingly dizzy and could only make his remarks short: "Your Highness, based on what Wu Jinghe did in the Yueyang Palace, you should be able to see where he is going."

"From now on, the salary will definitely not be paid out as before, so it's better to exempt it."

"As for stripping the title of prince, it is just a statement and may not be a real demotion."

At the end of his speech, he raised his head in some pain and rubbed his eyebrows: "Besides, as long as the position of feudal lord is preserved, the same goes for the prince!"

Now that the Yueyang Palace has lifted the ban on business and started to be responsible for its own profits and losses, the privileges of the title may not be so important anymore.

As I thought about it, my brain became more and more confused.

He forced his eyes open and saw King Min frowning and thinking with a hesitant look on his face.

Zhu Dingjiong finally couldn't hold back any longer, and almost threw himself on King Min, making a gesture of kowtow: "Second brother! I have exhausted my efforts for King Min and have given him advice for decades. Second brother and I are of one mind, and you will follow my will in everything!"

"Now that I am broken into pieces and exhausted, for this last matter, do you think you want me to be disloyal? "

He was in tears and his tone was shrill.

He looked like he would not give up until she agreed.

Zhu Dingyao finally couldn't stand it anymore and quickly comforted him: "I'll obey you! I'll obey you!"

He helped the man back to the bed and whispered softly, "I'll listen to you and stop making trouble. Brother Jiong, take good care of yourself and get better slowly. There will be plenty of time to give you advice in the future."

His Royal Highness Prince Min comforted Zhu Dingjiong for a long time and finally made him feel at ease. He fell asleep in the blink of an eye.

Zhu Dingyao slowly retreated when the only sound in the room was Zhu Dingjiong's rag-sack-like breathing.

As he walked out of the room, the calmness on his face immediately changed color, and in an instant it was intertwined with grief and anger.

He murmured to himself, "I can obey you in other matters, but your revenge... it's fine if I don't have this opportunity. Now if I don't avenge you, wouldn't it be a waste for you to help me sit on the throne?"

Having made up his mind, he strode away with great strides.

…The incident happened in the Jingwang Mansion in Qizhou, but the vortex of political events is never at the place where the incident occurred, but at the place where power is concentrated.

The biggest whirlpool in Huguang is naturally in Wuchang Prefecture, where the Sansi Yamen is located, the Chu Fan, the head of the royal family, and the imperial envoy is located.

Almost immediately after the news reached Wuchang Prefecture, the governor's office was hit by the incident.

On that day, hundreds of evil sects roamed the city, holding swords and shouting outside the governor's office, demanding an explanation for the matter of the King of Jing.

After nightfall, they became even more rampant—"each armed with a weapon, they broke into the governor's house and tied up the officials."

Fortunately, the Jinyiwei in the governor's office were already on high alert and immediately arrested the evil gang.

Although the situation did not escalate, it became increasingly critical and had obviously reached a critical juncture.

It was also at this time that the new Huguang Governor, Liang Menglong, took office.

He tightened his coarse linen shirt - he had put it on purpose, otherwise he would have been afraid of being attacked outside the governor's office.

Before this, when he just arrived outside the governor's office, he saw a mess!
The gate of the government office was in tatters, showing signs of having been attacked by bandits.

The mean-looking people outside the government office almost looked at and killed everyone who entered and left the governor's office.

For safety reasons, he changed into this attire. When he arrived at the gate of the governor's office, he displayed his seal and entered the government office.

The moment he stepped into the governor's office, he actually smelled a hint of blood, which really surprised him.

Liang Menglong tugged at his beard anxiously, accidentally pulling out two strands, but he didn't care.

Governor Liang was appointed to Huguang at a critical moment and was prepared to take over the mess.

Previously, when he was the governor of Henan, he also took over the mess in this way.

In the fifth year of Longqing's reign, Henan suffered from many natural disasters and heavy taxes. "The collection of taxes was urgent, farmers lost their jobs, and bullets were everywhere."

The people rebelled on a small scale every year, but the officials did not think about governing the country. Instead, they were happy to arrest "rebels" and take credit for it.

In addition, the White Lotus Sect also interfered, making Henan even more of a mess.

Liang Menglong managed to put out the fire despite facing that situation.

The fire in Huguang will surely not get any bigger...

As a result, as soon as he arrived in Huguang, he heard about the prince's self-immolation and the evil clan's siege of the government office. The mess and disgrace he saw was beyond his expectations.

The situation in Huguang was much more complicated than he had imagined!
How could this be handled by the Right Deputy Censor-in-Chief and Governor?
If there was no Assistant Minister of War, the hundreds of royal family members at the door might just rush in and hack him to death!
Fortunately, I don’t have to handle this alone like I did in Henan.

Those imperial envoys should be more anxious than him.

He kicked away the sawdust under his feet and took a deep breath, hoping that these imperial envoys would not slip away and leave the mess to him, the governor.

……

The moon is bright and the stars are sparse. It is time to go to bed.

Unfortunately, under this situation, falling asleep on time is a luxury.

Liang Menglong naturally had no time to rest when faced with such a problem. Almost as soon as he arrived, he was summoned by several imperial envoys.

It was already midnight, but the lights in the lobby of the governor's office were still brightly lit.

Liang Menglong felt a little uncomfortable sitting in the governor's seat.

He glanced at the four imperial envoys in the hall whose expressions were unclear, and seemed to be hesitant to speak.

He felt a little uneasy - if he gave up the main position to him now, he would be afraid that he would really be used to take over the post and the imperial envoy would run away.

Liang Menglong was thinking about it, and he became more and more nervous. Finally, he couldn't help but speak out and test: "Angels, the Chu people are frivolous and chaotic, and it is difficult to pacify them."

"Moreover, the Chu clan and the Jing clan have multiplied, and there are more than 5,000 people in Wuchang City and the surrounding areas. Although most of them are kind, they are actually very violent."

"These people have neither the governor nor the imperial envoy in their eyes, so what are they afraid of?"

"The governor was not originally a military officer, and had no soldiers to rely on. When the expedition was launched, a general was temporarily appointed at Pianqiao. Since the situation has been peaceful, people are no longer afraid of being intimidated, and there have been many people who have claimed to be in turmoil!"

"The Fu Ya is in danger now, and the son of an angel's daughter might as well stay away from it carefully."

The royal family of Huguang was in an uproar, and his governor's office had no real soldiers, so he could only rely on the Jinyiwei to hold off the enemy.

If the imperial envoys want to slip away, they'd better let them know in advance. If they leave without saying anything, it would be like harming their neighbors and intentionally harming others.

To be honest, when Liang Menglong was transferred from Henan to Huguang, he was not quite clear about the current situation in Huguang and how it had developed to this point.

Is it that the imperial envoys were so eager to gain merit that they implicated innocent people, or is it that some people were desperate and resorted to such brutal actions?

You can only speak in a subtle way.

Everyone present is smart, so they will naturally understand.

Among the imperial envoys, Li Zaiting is a little younger in age and seniority, so he should be the one to explain and appease them.

Li Zaiting shook his head: "If this matter cannot be cleared up, the holy virtue will be covered up by the treacherous people. How can the world ever know about it?"

"You and I are so insignificant, why should we care about it? As a minister, if we are labeled as greedy, ignorant and tolerant, how can we participate in the punishment of heaven?"

These words were extremely serious - if anyone slipped away at this time, he would be considered a disloyal minister and a sellout to the emperor.

It was almost like swearing.

Liang Menglong felt relieved after hearing this.

Since the general direction was correct, he stopped probing and finally got down to business.

Liang Menglong opened the case file and mentioned something he had been concerned about before: "During the fire in Jing Mansion, Prince Taining spilled his blood on the ground and died in the fire with all his clothes and hats. The whole palace followed his example. The first person to control the palace was the prince of Jing, Zhu Changling."

Zhu Changling sealed off the scene and did not allow outsiders to enter.

Even the palace servants who came to put out the fire were delayed for quite some time.

Fortunately, he was unpopular among the people, and after the princes arrived one after another, he left in disgrace.

But, following closely behind, many princes rescued two people from the fire!
Although the person was not awake, this made Prince Jing look suspicious.

Zhu Xizhong sat in a wheelchair, looked up at Liang Menglong, and shook his head expressionlessly: "We have already sent people to the Jing Mansion. The survivor is unconscious and Zhu Changling has disappeared without a trace. However... no matter what, the key is not here."

"Even if there is irrefutable evidence that it was done by this Prince Jing, and not by King Taining himself, it will be of no use."

These words were a bit obscure, and Liang Menglong frowned in confusion after hearing them.

After thinking for a while, suddenly an idea flashed in my mind and I understood.

This was a major case of national importance, not the local criminal case he had handled before!

The latter presents facts and reasons for the common people and gentry.

The former does not look at the matter, but only looks at the impact!
Even if they catch the real murderer, outsiders will still suspect whether they did it on purpose to calm the situation.

Worse still, they might even say: "Look, as expected, he forced the lord of the vassal to death and then put the blame on the prince, just to make the Jing vassal state extinct! The emperor has such a cruel heart!"
All parties involved in major political cases have long since formed their positions and believe only what they want to believe.

In other words, as soon as this incident happened, the emperor's virtue would inevitably be questioned!

No wonder these four imperial envoys looked so troubled.

At this moment, Wu Jinghe suddenly looked at Hai Rui and Li Zaiting: "Hai Yushi, Li Jishizhong."

The latter two met his gaze.

Wu Jinghe paused and said slowly: "This is a serious matter. Why don't you two return to the capital first and present it to His Majesty before making any further arrangements?"

Hai Rui and Li Zaiting looked at each other.

They certainly didn't understand what Wu Jinghe meant.

They were not asked to return to Beijing to report - it had already been two months since the trip, and the opportunity was already gone.

This prince consort wanted to protect the two of them, and wanted to deal with the matter on his own with Zhu Xizhong!

Hai Rui said without hesitation: "This is a matter of great importance. I cannot fail to live up to the emperor's grace and damage his virtue."

Li Zaiting was silent for a moment, then shook his head: "Prince Consort, there is no need to mention this matter anymore, let's get down to business."

"The most urgent task now is not to damage your majesty's virtue and be accused of bullying your relatives."

"I will go to the Jing Mansion in person tomorrow to pay my respects to King Taining."

Even if the results are minimal, it is necessary to express a stance. We cannot be timid and play the game of "as long as we don't do it, we won't be wrong."

Wu Jinghe's good intentions were rejected, so he naturally stopped nagging. He nodded and said, "I will go with you and show my kindness to Jing Sect."

Although they were not forced to do this, but considering Wu Jinghe's mission alone, now that all the princes and heirs in the palace are absent, it is a good time to do the job.

It is a good opportunity to "show some favor" to the majority of the lower-level royal family members and restore some of their reputation.

Of course, this is not enough.

In major political cases, the impact of the event itself is far smaller than the aftermath.

The aftermath today is the restless royal family outside the governor's office, the heroes with swords in hand in the prison, the signs that the royal family of Huguang is gradually beginning to stick together, and the small moves by the Huguang officials to take advantage of the situation and expel them.

If it is not handled properly, all the efforts made this time will be wasted.

Several people came and went, discussing countermeasures.

Zhu Xizhong seemed to be in a trance and said nothing.

After a long time, he finally came to his senses, raised his head and looked around the hall, and said, "It's not enough."

As soon as he opened his mouth, he attracted the attention of several people.

Zhu Xizhong said calmly: "You still need to borrow my head for a while."

(End of this chapter)