The Ming Dynasty took an unconventional approach

Chapter 446: Duke of Qian

Zhu Qizhen was indeed very unhappy tonight and even ate less.

Queen Qian helped him lie down, and the couple leaned against the head of the bed and talked.

"Yunnan reported that Mu Xi might only be alive in the next few days."

Queen Qian asked softly, "Can the Duke of Qian be allowed to return to Yunnan to attend the funeral?"

"That's not necessary. I just feel that the lineage of the Duke of Qian still has too few descendants," Zhu Qizhen sighed. "The Prince of Qianning is the adopted son of Emperor Taizu Gao and Empress Xiaoci Gao. He has always been loyal, but it is difficult to have children. With the death of Mu Xi, Mu Ang is also in poor health, and Mu Lin is only thirteen years old."

Queen Qian comforted her gently, "There is also the Duke of Qian. He is in his prime."

Zhu Qizhen: "...but he still doesn't have a son."

Just like Zhu Qizhen, the one who couldn't sleep and was very sad was the Duke of Qian, who lived not far from the palace.

After receiving the letter, he sat in the yard holding a jar of wine, and his eyes became redder the more he drank.

The butler took away his wine jar and whispered, "Duke, please don't be too sad. Take care of yourself."

"When I came to Beijing in the past, I made an agreement with Brother Xi that when His Majesty lets me go back to Yunnan, we brothers will work together to protect the Yunnan border and will never change our minds," Duke Qian's eyes were red. "Later, he was afraid that I would be alone in Beijing without my family and miss them too much, so he sent Lin'er, who was only five years old, to keep me company. He wrote to me years ago, saying that he could no longer remember what Lin'er looked like. Now that he has just seen her, he wants to..."

The Duke of Qian shed tears drop by drop, choking with sobs, "Every time I think of this, I feel regretful. I shouldn't have been so attached to my family and should have sent Lin'er back earlier."

The housekeeper hurriedly whispered to comfort him, "The young master often goes in and out of the palace. Whether he returns to Yunnan or not depends on the will of His Majesty. The Second Old Master and the Second Master must know this, so they have never blamed the Duke. Why should the Duke worry about it?"

He whispered, "This time, the young master almost caused a disaster by leaving the capital without permission. Fortunately, His Majesty was merciful and agreed to the Duke's request, otherwise..."

The Duke of Qian raised his hand to stop him from speaking, and wiped away the tears on his face with a slap. "This matter has been turned over and it should not be mentioned again. By the way, has Lin'er found the Taoist priest he was looking for?"

"Found it, but..."

Duke Qian frowned and turned to look at him, "Just what?"

"The guards we sent found that people from the Southern Pacification Office were also investigating her, and there seemed to be something wrong with her identity," the housekeeper whispered, "It seems that she is the daughter of a criminal."

The Duke of Qian frowned and asked, "Which criminal? What crime did he commit?"

The housekeeper hurriedly said, "I asked someone to check and found out that she is the daughter of Pan Hong, the censor in the Xue Xuan case. Of course, the confession is so false and it is not certain, but judging from the attitude of the Southern Pacification Office, it is possible that she is not the real one."

"Xue Xuan~~" Duke Qian relaxed his brows and snorted, "That case back then was originally an injustice. Don't say that she might not be wrong. Even if she is, so what? Prepare the gift list as usual. You deliver it in person tomorrow. I will go to the palace to ask His Majesty for help."

The housekeeper quickly advised: "Duke, the letter said that all means are useless, and it is useless to ask her..."

The Duke of Qian was so angry that he smashed the wine jar in his hand and glared at him, "What do you mean by useless? Didn't you read what Lin'er said in the letter? Brother Xi was in great pain and could only sleep peacefully by taking Pan Yun's talisman water and wearing her talismans. Do you know how painful it is to have those corpse worms gnawing at your internal organs?"

"Even if I can't save his life, I can still make him feel comfortable before he dies. I'm willing to spend all my money on this. You actually said that asking her for help is useless!"

The housekeeper was so frightened that he immediately knelt down and kowtowed, saying, "It was my fault for speaking out of turn. Please forgive me, Duke!"

He kowtowed twice before carefully raising his head and said, "But, but, Duke, it seems that the Southern Pacification Office is following Wang Zhen's orders. If we offend Wang Zhen because of this, I'm afraid..."

"I will protect this man!" The Duke of Qian sneered, "Wang Zhen is just a eunuch, how can he be compared with Brother Xi?"

The Duke of Qian looked at the housekeeper coldly and said, "If you cannot go to Yin's house to present the gift respectfully tomorrow, then you don't have to go." The housekeeper immediately kowtowed and said, "I will definitely send the generous gift. Please move Taoist Pan."

The Duke of Qian stood up, looked down at him, and said expressionlessly: "I know what you are thinking. I will warn you for the last time. My uncle and I are very close. My uncle trusts me, and I also trust my uncle!
Brother Xi and I are as close as brothers, and his son is like my own son. If I really have no fate of having children in this life, the next Duke of Qian will be Mu Lin!"

The butler lay on the ground trembling.

Duke Qian snorted coldly, flicked his sleeves and left.

Mu Mansion in Yunnan has always been a special existence.

Mu Ying's original name was Zhu Ying. He was the adopted son of Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma. He changed his surname back to Mu after the country was pacified.

The Zhu family had so many royal relatives, and many of them were conferred the title of princes and dukes. However, after several dynasties of emperors, those princes and dukes basically only had honorary titles, without actual titles, let alone military power.

There is only Mu Mansion in Yunnan.

Although he only had the title of Duke, his rank was higher than that of a prince, and Yunnan had always been guarded by the Mu family.

There have been no exceptions over the generations.

Read the error-free version at 69shuba! 6=9+shu_ba is the first to publish this novel.

It can be said that the power of the Yunnan Mu Mansion is no weaker than that of any prince.

But they are also more feared.

When the Duke of Qian inherited the title, he was still young and could not convince the public, so the court made his uncle Mu Ang the general of Yunnan, and he went to Beijing as a hostage;

When his uncle dies and he can succeed as the general of Yunnan, he can return to Yunnan, but by then, the Mu family must send another person as a hostage.

The Duke of Qian had no children so far, so Mu Lin was sent to the capital. One reason was to keep the Duke of Qian company and ease his homesickness; the other was to allow the two uncles and nephews to develop a relationship. In the future, when the Duke of Qian returned to Yunnan, it would most likely be Mu Lin who would stay in the capital in his place.

It is also because of the special situation of the Mu family that the brothers in the Mu family have always had a good relationship and there has never been any case of fratricide.

As a result, emperors of successive dynasties had more trust in the Mu family, and felt that the descendants of the Mu family had inherited Mu Ying’s good character and good genes, such as loving siblings and being loyal.

There have been constant fights among the Zhu clan members, but they have always trusted the Mu family.

It can be said that Zhu Qizhen might doubt his half-brother Zhu Qiuyu one day, but he would not doubt the loyalty of the Yunnan Mu family.

However, this is also related to the cautiousness and carefulness that has been passed down from the Duke of Qian's Mansion.

But no matter how cautious he was, the Duke of Qian was determined to offend Wang Zhen and save Pan Yun. Not only did he want her to draw talismans for his brother, he also wanted to send her to Yunnan.

Alas, Mu Lin was too young. For such a capable person, he would have been begged to go to Yunnan even if he had to hug his legs and beg. How could he let him go?

If you can’t get it, you can just kidnap it.

Duke Qian turned around and went back to his room, deciding to go to the palace to beg the emperor early tomorrow morning.

Yin Song, who had a good night's sleep, also changed into a newer official robe. While eating breakfast, he said, "I see that you have all been dazzled by the prosperity of the capital city these days. After breakfast, Cong'er, pack your things and take your fellow apprentices to Baiyun Temple to register. You are not allowed to leave the temple before you have performed 100 acts of charity."

(End of this chapter)