I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 450: The Socialist Party

Nanyuan of the capital is located south of Yongdingmen.

It is located in the ancient Yongding River basin, with low terrain and dense springs. Years of river water, rain water and spring water converge to form several large water surfaces.

The water is rippling, the grass is lush, everything is green, and water birds are flying. Being in it makes people feel peaceful and calm.

At that time, the Jishuitan Lake to the north of the Forbidden City was known as Beihaizi, so Nanyuan was called Nanhaizi.

During the Yongle reign, Emperor Chengzu moved the capital to Beiping and built a 120-li wall around Nanhai Zi, with four gates in a circle. He built 24 gardens inside, where he raised animals and grew fruits and vegetables for the hunting and enjoyment of the royal family and officials.

The Autumn Wind in Nanyou, one of the Ten Scenic Spots of Yanjing, refers to the Nanyuan area.

After the Zhengde period, it became increasingly deserted. Towards the end of the Jiajing period, half of Nanyuan was designated as a military training ground, and the other half was gradually opened to the public.

The previous governor of Shuntian Prefecture, Wang Guoguang, built a fully open "municipal park" here - Nanyuan Park, which is more than ten miles in radius and is popular among the people of the capital.

At that time, industry and commerce were booming in the southeast. Some merchants went north with silver bills and bought land in scenic spots near Nanyuan Park from Shuntian Prefecture. They built manors, erected pavilions and terraces, and hired fine wine and singing girls. It soon became a good place for the dignitaries in the capital to have fun in their spare time.

Chunyouqiuyuan is one of the manors with the largest area and the best scenery.

There is a pavilion overlooking the water inside, which has the largest space and the best scenery. Today it is reserved by a group of royal family members.

In the spacious pavilion, there were six tables filled with fine wines, delicacies, rare fruits and delicious food. At a glance, six princes and forty-two dukes were sitting there.

In the next room, through the doors and windows, there were musicians playing stringed instruments and singing girls singing ditties, the sounds were melodious and pleasing to the eye.

These princes and dukes, having eaten and drunk so happily, their faces turned red and their necks swelled, and they began to speak boldly and without restraint.

"Everyone, have you heard?"

"What did you hear?"

"I heard that Xiyuan is undergoing a lot of construction!"

"real or fake?"

"I'm a puppy if you lied to me! I have a relative in the Ministry of Works. I heard that the Construction Department has issued a blueprint, and it was drawn by the former Minister of Works Lei Gong. It is said that it is for the Crown Prince's wife and concubines to live in after the Crown Prince's wedding."

"Yangshi Lei? It's a big building! Wouldn't the money and grain spent on it be like a river or an ocean?"

"I heard that it would cost tens of millions of taels of silver, and they would also have to recruit a million civilians."

This person is just making up stories and doesn't even have a picture.

"One million civilians, hey, our prince is really generous! If it is repaired, it will accommodate so many beauties. This is the life of a god."

This person is envious and jealous.

"Before the wedding, Chonghua Palace was already filled with fifty or sixty beauties. During the day, they pretended not to be interested in women, but at night, they would send people to the West Garden in an endless stream."

This person described it vividly, as if he had seen it with his own eyes.

"Hey, there is an old bee in the Forbidden City, and there is a young bee in the West Garden. Father and son have the same heart!"

Naturally, some people were indignant.

"Bah! What a joke! The royal family's tax and rations are delayed from one year to the next, and from next year to the year after. Every day they complain that the treasury is in trouble and can't pay a penny or a grain of rice. How can they have money to repair the palace?"

"If he embezzles our life-saving money and food, won't he have money to repair it?"

"Alas! It's too unscrupulous to use our money and grain to build a palace. How can he live there and sleep peacefully?"

Everyone shook their heads, but no one spoke again.

There was a moment of silence, and then someone spoke again.

"We are of the same roots, why are you so eager to hurt each other! We are all descendants of Taizu, why is the emperor so mean to the royal family?"

"Alas! The Zhao vassal of Zhangde Prefecture in Henan, the Zheng vassal of Huaiqing Prefecture in Henan, the Chong vassal of Runing Prefecture in Henan, the Hui vassal of Junzhou Prefecture in Henan, the De vassal of Dezhou in Shandong, and the Ji vassal of Changsha Prefecture in Huguang were decreed to abolish their kingdoms and abolish their vassal states. The princes and dukes were sent to Fengyang and imprisoned behind high walls. The rest were exiled to the border, or demoted to commoners, and some were even forced to commit suicide.

It is really sad that the descendants of Taizu have fallen to this point! I wonder what the spirits of our ancestors would think! "

A young prince said angrily: "These six vassals were kind and benevolent in their local areas, but the court found fault with them and abolished their states and vassals. They are so tyrannical to the descendants of Taizu, and they are not afraid that our ancestors will find trouble with them!"

"Tang vassal Wencheng Prince Zhu Zhoucai, Wenyuan Prince Zhu Zhouyou, Beizheng Prince Zhu Yutan; Liao vassal Guangyuan Prince Zhu Xianhe; Zhou vassal Lincheng Prince Zhu Qinchi; Chu vassal Xing'an Prince Zhu Shanjing; Qing vassal Ningyuan Prince Zhu Guangwen. Twenty-one outstanding members of the imperial clan, some are rich in talent and knowledge, and have a great influence on the country; some are pure and sincere, and have great knowledge and reputation, and have virtues that benefit the people.
But they were accused of various crimes, some were forced to hang themselves, some were imprisoned behind high walls. Alas, how sad! I am deeply distressed! "

One of the princes shouted: "It's easy to find a pretext to accuse someone! Today it's these fellow clansmen, tomorrow it's us! Right now the court is full of treacherous officials who are killing members of the royal family. Are we just going to sit there and wait for death?"

Someone said quietly, "Some lost their families and their lives, while others rose to prominence. Liao Wang Zhu Xian was impeached by Zhang Shuda, investigated by Hai Gangfeng, and finally convicted by the three courts. He was fined for three years, his royal estate was confiscated, and then he was transferred to Zhao Wang.

Zhu Zaiyao, the Prince of Anfu in Xiangfan, passed the review of the Sansi special investigation team and was promoted to Shangzhuo, succeeding the Prince of Xiangfan and later renamed the Prince of Zheng.

An infuriated person shouted angrily: "Bah! I am a descendant of Taizu after all, a member of the royal family. You want me to kneel down and lick the West Garden? I can't do it!"

Some people in the pavilion were concentrating on listening to the music, while others were chatting and talking about everything under the sun, looking very comfortable, such as Zhu Yitan, Prince of Lu, Zhu Yifang, Prince of Qing, and Zhu Tingzai, Prince of Dai.

Some people also gathered together to vent their anger, and in less than two hours, a group of like-minded people gathered.

Among them, led by Zhu Yuntan, the Prince of Baoding of Shen, Zhu Jingrong, the Prince of Longde of Qin, and Zhu Shenjing of Jin, fifteen people found an excuse to move to a secluded pavilion and set up two new tables. Zhu Yuntan was the second legitimate son of Zhu Tianyan, the current Prince of Shen, and had an older brother, Zhu Yunyao, who was the crown prince.

Zhu Jingrong was the son of Zhu Huaizhen, King Xuan of Qin.

Zhu Huaizhen was originally just a lieutenant guarding the country. His great-grandfather Zhu Chengrun was the son of the first King of Lintong, Zhu Gongming, and was granted the title of General Guarding the Country. Qin Jian King Zhu Chengyong had no son, so the third King of Lintong, Zhu Bingxuan, succeeded to the title of King of Qin.

Zhu Bingjun, the cousin of Zhu Bingxu and the son of Zhu Chengrun, was granted the title of General Fuguo, Zhu Bingjun's son Zhu Weitong was granted the title of General Serving the Country, and Zhu Huaizhen, the son of Zhu Weitong, was granted the title of Lieutenant Zhenguo.

With Zhu Huaizhen's identity, he already belongs to a distant branch of the royal family, but he is really lucky.

King Jian of Qin had no son, so King Lintong succeeded him, King Zhao. The Qin vassal state was transferred to the line of King Lintong.

King Zhao of Qin had only one son, Prince Ding Zhu Weizhao, who had no sons. According to the Ming Dynasty's patriarchal inheritance system, the son would inherit the throne after the father's death, the younger brother would inherit the throne after the elder brother's death, and the nephew would inherit the throne after the uncle's death. Zhu Huaizhen was the closest in blood, so he was able to be directly promoted to Prince of Qin in the 1548th year of Jiajing () from lieutenant.

Since Zhu Huaizhen got rich too quickly, he became reckless and indulged in extravagance. Zhu Jingrong also lacked the education that a prince should have since he was young, so he was arrogant and did whatever he wanted.

Zhu Shenjing was even more amazing. Although he was only a general guarding the country in Jin, everyone treated him as a prince.

The contemporary Prince of Jin, Zhu Xin, is the great-great-grandson of Prince of Jinzhuang, Zhu Zhongxuan, grandson of Prince of Xinhua, Zhu Biaogao, and son of Prince of Xinhua, Zhu Zhi.

In the 1533th year of Jiajing (1536), the eldest son of Prince Xinhua was ordered to manage the affairs of the prefecture. In the th year of Jiajing (), because Prince Jinduan Zhu Zhiyang had no son, he was named Prince Jin. Now Zhu Xinmai was ill and had no son, so his younger brother Zhu Shenjing, the son of General Zhenguo Zhu Xinjian, was appointed to manage the affairs of the prefecture.

The regent is the "reserve" prince.

Zhu Yun said angrily: "Xiyuan abuses his power and harms the royal family. We are in danger. We can't just sit there and wait for death!"

Zhu Jingrong narrowed his eyes and said, "Now the West Garden is unjust and treats us, the descendants of Taizu, as dogs and pigs. This is intolerable! Prince Baoding is right. We can't just sit there and wait for death!"

Zhu Shenjing gritted his teeth and said, "Prince Baoding and Prince Longde are right. As the Art of War says, you should attack others instead of being attacked by others. We must find a way."

Zhu Jingrong looked around at the crowd and felt that after several tests, these people were all like-minded people. He said grimly: "Xiyuan abuses power, bullies the emperor and bullies the people, favors treacherous people, alienates virtuous people, misleads the country and disrupts politics, and the people are living in misery!

Why don't we obey the will of heaven, punish the criminals, perform righteous deeds, eliminate tyranny, clarify the way of heaven, and return power to the emperor. We can live up to the noble descendants of Taizu, live up to the expectations of the people, and achieve unprecedented achievements! "

When everyone heard this, they were so excited that they wanted to rush into the Western Garden immediately and die together with Zhu Yijun, who was abusing his power and harming the country.

Some sober people reminded him: "Xiyuan has full control of the military power, and his minions are everywhere in the court and the country. How can we punish the people and put an end to tyranny?"

When everyone heard this, they immediately came to their senses and nodded in agreement, yes, yes!

Zhu Shenjing received the look from Zhu Yuntan and Zhu Jingrong and said, "If the people are angry, two people will be dead, blood will flow for five steps, and the whole country will be in mourning. This is today."

Xiyuan is young and frivolous, and he acts recklessly. He always travels around in casual clothes and lightly travels. Why don't we bribe the people who are close to him first, understand his movements, and then wait for an opportunity to ambush him. As long as the opportunity and location are right, we only need three or five brave warriors to accomplish this unprecedented feat. "

Everyone couldn't help but be delighted.

Bribing the inner guards means bribing the eunuchs, those cowards who love money the most. Everyone pools together their money and pays a large sum of money to buy information, which is equivalent to temporarily keeping the money in their hands.

We all have three or five brave warriors.

There are only a few ways for royal family members to live in local areas. One is to indulge in culture and art and associate with literati and actors; the second is to indulge in wine and sex and enjoy themselves to the fullest; the third is to take charge of lawsuits, secretly keep thugs, and become the boss of the local black society.

Others still need an umbrella of protection, but they themselves are the umbrella of protection.

Therefore, many royal family members have a group of desperate criminals in their hands, and now they have quietly followed them to the capital, which is just right for them to be used!

Seeing that everyone was excited, Zhu Jingrong quickly encouraged everyone.

"In the past, we were detained in various places, watching Xiyuan causing chaos in the country, and we had the will but not the power to change the situation. Now Xiyuan has brought disaster upon itself, and has summoned us to the capital, so that people like us can gather in one place and discuss major plans together.

Today, the time, the place and the people are favorable! Thanks to the blessing of our ancestors, we will definitely restore order and get back to the basics!"

"it is good!"

A dozen people responded loudly and excitedly.

Zhu Yuntan was the most respected person, he stood up and said loudly: "Why don't we learn from Wenlin's style and form a society to make it easier to act."

Everyone shouted, "Brother, please make the decision!"

"How about we call ourselves the Zongshe Party?"

"Well, we are loyal and righteous, and we are doing the right thing to support the royal family, so we should be called the Royal Society Party!"

After the name was decided, the fifteen excited people pushed aside the tables and chairs, wrote on yellow paper, killed chicken blood, knelt together, swore an oath to the sky, and became half brothers to perform loyal and righteous deeds.

After the oath of the association was formed, Zhu Yuntan, who was the oldest and had the highest status, was regarded as the head of the association, and Zhu Jingrong and Zhu Shenjing were regarded as directors. Everyone began to discuss who would bribe the eunuchs, who would gather the "death warriors" of the group, who would buy weapons and armor, and who would raise money and food.
The division of labor is clear and the organization is clear.

These princes and royal family members who usually live a life of luxury all feel that they have integrated into the tide of the times and are doing something earth-shaking and groundbreaking, which can be compared with the great achievements of their ancestors.

They were all extremely proud, and when they left Nanyuan they were all in high spirits, as if they were the trendsetters standing at the forefront of this era.

Prince of Lu Zhu Yitan, Prince of Qing Zhu Yifang, Prince of Dai Zhu Tingzhai and other royal family princes and dukes looked at the backs of these fifteen people, as if they were thinking about something.

(End of this chapter)