"How should such a shameless person be punished according to the laws of Great Ming?”Zhu Hou asked Cao Zhengchun.
"Reporting to Your Majesty, we should follow the example in the ancestral system's 'Da Gao', skin the daylilies, and exterminate the nine families!”
Zhu Houjin shouted angrily,"
"In the future, all officials who commit crimes will use the Da Gao. I want them to always remember to understand the hierarchy. I will be their greatest venerable! Cao Zhengchun."
"Yes!"
"Throw Yang Jianxian into the imperial prison and interrogate him under torture. Who was the audacious person who bribed the censor of the Left Capital and attacked the reform collectively?”
"This lowly one obeys the decree!"
Yang Jian was utterly disheartened, knowing that he would not be able to escape death.
Death wasn't scary. What was scary was the torture tools in the East Chamber. They were ten thousand times scarier than death!
Seeing Cao Zhengchun escorting Yang Jianxian out of Yangxin Palace Hall to Zhao Prison, Zhu Houxin wondered who was behind this.
Was it from the imperial court or the martial world?
What was his purpose?
The East Military Department had not found out about this yet. They could only get the information from Yang Jianxun.
Seeing that it was still early, Zhu Houjian drank a bowl of lotus seed soup and continued to read the memorials.
In the memorial, the Minister of Rites, Wang Yongqi, reported that starting from the first year of Jiajing, according to the convention, they had to go to the Temple of Heaven to hold a sacrificial ceremony.
Zhu Houzhi read: "The Ministry of Rites will choose a good time and auspicious time. I will personally lead the civil and military officials to worship.”
Then, the content of the memorial from Xu Jie was:
"Your Majesty, ever since Your Majesty defeated the Tartars of the East Ocean, the four seas have submitted to you. There are fifty more vassal states that have applied to join the Ming Empire. There are small countries in the Western Regions and also small countries in the Southeast. They are willing to pay annual silver and tributes to the Ming Empire.”
After reading Xu Jie's memorial, Zhu Houzhen recalled the scene at the court meeting today. Xu Jie was afraid of those censors, so he could remove the suspicion that he was the mastermind behind the censor.
Rascal Xu was very good at reading the wind, but he was indeed capable of doing things. Otherwise, Zhu Houjin would have kicked him out of the cabinet long ago!
——
The next day.
After the imperial edict of the Ming Empire was announced to the world.
Gaochang was shocked!
The countries of the Western Regions were shocked!
When the King of Gaochang received the news, he took the initiative to send 50,000 dan of grain back to Gan Su. He also prepared gifts and sent an envoy to bow to the Ming Empire. He lowered his status to ask the Ming Empire not to send troops to attack Gaochang.
The Gao Chang King knew that if the Great Ming Empire attacked, the Gao Chang Country would definitely be destroyed…
When Zhu Houjin decided to go west, the Ming Empire's internal affairs were not affected too much. Only the Ministry of War was busy preparing food and grass, sending civilian workers to fill the roads. Li Chengliang had already returned to the capital to train cavalry to fight with artillery.
——
In early spring, the weather was neither hot nor cold.
Fighting in the royal court to teach the censors a lesson was not something that ordinary people could play with.
At the same time that Zhu Houzhen went to the imperial garden, he asked the eunuch to call Beauty Mo over. Zhu Houzhen wanted to visit the imperial garden with Beauty Mo to admire the flowers.
Other than flowers and trees, there were also many fruits and melons in the imperial garden.
The palace maids and eunuchs were not allowed to pick these fruits at will. Most of them were for ornamental purposes. Just like the goldfish in the Imperial Lake Garden, it was forbidden to catch or fish them. Violators would be severely punished!
In Longyu Pavilion, Zhu Houzhen fed the goldfish with the bait in his hand.
Not long after, Beauty Mo rushed over excitedly and nervously. After seeing Zhu Houjie, her originally fair and porcelain cheeks suddenly became rosy…
Last night, the Emperor had called for her to serve him, which made her feel flattered. Now that the Emperor did not have many concubines, and even fewer were conferred titles, perhaps she would be favored for a period of time.
As time passed, more and more women would enter the palace, and it would be difficult for him to hide from old age…
But so what?
The emperor was the man that all women wanted the most. A woman should be satisfied if she could be pampered for a while. There were only a handful of women who could be pampered for a lifetime, and that was the empress of Emperor Hongzhi.
"Your Majesty, ChenQie greets Your Majesty." Beauty Mo entered the Longyu Pavilion alone and came to Zhu Houjin's side.
Zhu Houzhen turned around and looked at Li Moruo.
Last night, the two of them chatted very late.
Only when the two of them were together in the dead of the night would Zhu Houjin not have so many worries.
Being able to chat with her without any political schemes and without being wary of each other like how he treated his ministers, Zhu Houzhen felt extremely relaxed.
"Go get the fishing rod. Zhen wants to fish with Beauty Mo.”
"Yes!"
The eunuch brought over a gold-inlaid fishing rod not long after. Zhu Houzhen handed a bag of bait to Beauty Mo and then hung the bait on the hook himself.
"Concubine Mo, zhen heard you say that you've also fished at home. Today, let's go fishing and see if there are many fish in the Imperial Lake.”
Zhu Houjin threw the hook into the lake. Soon, the fishing line straightened. A large Crucian Carp was struggling with the hook. Zhu Houjin lifted the fishing rod and the Crucian Carp was in his hand.
"Your Majesty, you're really good at fishing, but isn't this fish a little too small?" Beauty Mo smiled. Why don't you let it grow some more meat?"
"Beloved consort, fishing is not about eating, but the process of fishing. When the fish bites the hook, it is extremely beautiful.”
While Zhu Houjin was fishing with Beauty Mo, Imperial Consort Li heard about this matter in Ci Ning Palace. She immediately beamed and said," It's rare for His Majesty to be in a good mood. Now, he's handling the country's affairs in an orderly manner. In the past, he didn't even spare a glance at those beautiful women who could topple a country. He focused on the country's affairs every day. Now, he's finally in a good mood. He's starting to pay attention to the harem..."
The old palace maid, Ah Zhu, echoed,"Yes, congratulations, Consort Dowager. Consort Dowager, just wait to hug your imperial grandson!"”
"It's not necessarily necessary for Mo Ruo to be pregnant. It's also extremely good for the other concubines to be pregnant with the imperial grandson. This is the foundation of the Ming Dynasty. However, I'm a little worried about the concubines that the vassal countries are paying tribute to. Those Tibetan women are all seductive. If they get close to the emperor, I'm afraid the harem will be in turmoil.”Imperial Consort Li said worriedly.
In the first year of Jiajing, the new emperor officially used the new year title. The vassal countries sent silver and tributes, including princesses and local beauties.
Not only did Tubo send beauties, but also Goryeo, Jiaozhi, Java, Siam, Ili…
However, in the eyes of Imperial Consort Li, the women of Koryo were the most at ease. They abided by etiquette, knew their seniority, and would not fight with other concubines.
However, the Tibetan women were different. They had never been influenced by the etiquette of the Central Plains and brazenly tried to charm the emperor.
The current emperor was still in his youth, how could he resist such charm?
————
Zhu Houzhen was enjoying the fun of fishing with Beauty Mo in the imperial garden.
Beside the lake was a hundred flowers garden. Many flowers had already begun to bloom, swaying in the mighty spring breeze.
Behind the Hundred Flower Garden was a fake mountain. These fake mountains were all made of Taihu Lake stone, imitating all the famous mountains and rivers in the empire.
Just as Zhu Houjiu was about to pull back the pole, Cao Zhengchun bowed and arrived. Zhu Houjiu asked Cao Zhengchun as he pulled back the pole,"" Any news from Hai Rui?"
" Your Majesty, Hai Rui is already on their way back to the capital. This time, it was a close call. Five of the six experts I sent to protect him have died... The northwest is a complicated place.”
Zhu Houjin pondered for a moment and said,""Send out the imperial court's experts. Don't let Hai Rui get killed before they return to the capital.”
"Yes, Your Majesty."
After Cao Zhengchun finished speaking, he took out a secret copy of the East Chamber and handed it to Zhu Houjin.
After Zhu Houjian opened the secret scroll, he saw the detailed records of the movements of the officials after the court session.
After the court session, ten of Yang Yiqing's disciples went to his residence to check on Yang Yiqing's illness. At the same time, they gave him gifts and silver. The amount of silver was not much, most of it was within a few dozen taels.
Yang Yiqing was still lying on the sickbed. The famous doctor Li Yanwen was treating him.
Zhu Houzhen suddenly remembered that Li Yanwen was Li Shizhen's father.
Zhu Hou Xi continued to read the secret letter. The head eunuch Huang Jin entered Xu Jie's mansion and came out after more than two hours. Xu Jie personally sent Huang Jin out of the mansion's door. The two of them chatted and laughed…
The Minister of Works, Yu Li Chao, went to the residence of the Minister of War, Wang Yang Ming. Together with him was the Minister of Revenue, Lu Hua Cheng, to discuss the western expedition.
Zhu Houjian did not continue watching. Instead, he put the secret scroll into his sleeve and waved his hand. Cao Zhengchun bowed and turned to leave.
With Beauty Mo around, Cao Zhengchun didn't say much. Although Zhu Houjin didn't tell him what to do, Cao Zhengchun was very cautious. He didn't dare to reveal too many secrets of the empire in front of a third person.
Zhu Houyan looked at Cao Zhengchun's back and thought,"
"What happened to Hai Rui in the Northwest? Five of the six imperial guards had died. How dare King Gan Su Zhu Haoju send someone to assassinate the imperial envoy? What did Zhu Haoju want to do? Rebellion?"
"Also, Huang Jin went to Xu Jie's mansion and the two of them talked for more than two hours. What did they talk about?”
This book is provided by FunNovel Novel Book | Fan Fiction Novel [Beautiful Free Novel Book]