Yongle Emperor's grandson: Zhu Yuanzhang with cheats, Zhu Di went crazy

Chapter 309: The Terror and Oppression Brought by Ji Gang

The king and his minister sighed a few words, and the old man took Zhang Fu to their seats.

This is his general, so naturally he should stand behind him.

"Sir, we meet again."

Zhang Fu did not walk behind the old man immediately, but bowed to Zhu Zhanjun on the throne first.

"Duke of England, I already explained everything when I left. Why did it become like this?"

Zhu Zhanjun first nodded with a smile, and then asked the doubts in his mind.

When he left, he had already made it clear to Zhang Fu and those generals, asking them to assist Zhu Qiyu in ascending the throne.

Although the Ming army suffered a lot of casualties at that time, it still retained nearly 100,000 troops. With such a powerful force and the imperial edict left by Zhu Qizhen, it would be impossible for the situation to turn out like this.

"Alas." Zhang Fu sighed softly and glanced at the civil and military officials who were standing obediently.

The officials did not dare to look at him. They all lowered their heads, fearing that they would be fixed by Lao Zhu's cold gaze.

Although they had not experienced the Hongwu Dynasty, they knew about Zhu Yuanzhang's cruelty from the records.

It is said that officials at that time would leave a suicide note and prepare a coffin before going to court, for fear that they would never return.

"Duke Ying, this is my second uncle, Emperor Shengwu."

Seeing that the Duke of England still called his son "Young Master", he held Zhu Qizhen's hand tightly and did not let go, and whispered a reminder.

"Second uncle?"

Zhu Qizhen did not lower his voice, and the officials present heard it clearly.

As far as they know, Zhu Pangpang's second son seems to be Zhu Zhanjun, and many people have seen him. He is a bastard, so how could he ascend to the throne?
Seeing that many people looked confused, including Zhang Fu, Zhu Qizhen quickly explained: "You don't know, my grandfather once had a second son, who went north around the fifth year of Yongle and has been missing since then."

"In order to prevent grandma from being sad and thinking about the second son, no one mentioned him again, and later many people didn't know about him."

Many veteran officials frowned, wondering if this was possible.
But now, it has been so many years since the 5th year of Yongle, and except for a few old ministers such as Zhang Fu, almost all the others have passed away, and no one has really heard of him.

Zhang Fu frowned. It seemed that this really happened in his memory, but it was very vague and he was a little unsure.

However, when Zhu Qizhen said this, none of the old man's men said anything, which means that this situation is true.

But then another question came to everyone's mind.

Since he disappeared when he went north, how did he become emperor? Moreover, judging from his status, he was the leader of everyone. Even Emperor Taizu sat in the second seat, which shows how high his status in the royal family was.

"Greetings, His Majesty Shengwu!"

Although he still had some doubts in his mind, Zhang Fu didn't think much about it.

Even the royal family themselves thought so, so there was no need for him, a foreign official, to worry too much.

The other officials did not dare to investigate further and immediately bowed to greet him.

Zhu Zhanjun waved his hand and asked everyone to stand up. He then looked at Zhang Fu inquiringly, motioning him to continue.

Zhang Fu organized his words in his mind and narrated slowly:
"When we led the troops back a year ago, the whole court was quite happy. After all, we won the battle and drove Yesen away."

"When they came to greet us, they found that His Majesty was not there. I saw that everyone was present, so I announced His Majesty's edict."

Having said that, Zhang Fu looked at several officials, one of whom was the chief minister of the cabinet, Chen Xun.

Noticing Zhang Fu's gaze, Chen Xun quickly lowered his head.

At that time, he was the first to take the lead in questioning the content of the imperial edict, and suspected Zhang Fu and others for failing to protect Zhu Qizhen, allowing him to die on the battlefield.

In order to avoid being implicated in the case, he fabricated an Arabian Nights edict to get rid of the crime.

"At that time, Prime Minister Zhang was skeptical about this and suspected that we failed to protect His Majesty, causing him to die on the battlefield."

"The Queen Mother and the Empress were furious and directly ordered that our military power be stripped away."

"Although we tried our best to explain, the whole court didn't believe us. We couldn't just start a rebellion, so we wanted to calm everyone down and then slowly explain."

"Later, we were all imprisoned in the Jinyiwei prison. Several of our brothers could not bear the punishment and were beaten to death."

"The Jinyiwei used threats and inducements to ask us to admit that we were not protected, but we knew that once we admitted it, not only would we lose our lives, but our families would also be implicated."

"The Queen Mother and the Empress have approached me many times and asked me to tell them the truth."

"However many times I explained it to them, they just didn't believe me. They even brought up Emperor Taizu. They thought I was crazy."

"I don't know what happened afterwards. We have been detained since we came back. I don't know how they handled it."

Zhu Zhanjun nodded and looked at Yu Qian, who had been silent from beginning to end.

"Minister Yu, you should know the whole story, so tell me."

Yu Qian walked out of the train, clasped his fists and bowed, then stood up without answering Zhu Zhanjun's question.

"I would like to ask the Emperor Shengwu a question."

"Yu Qian, don't ask too many questions about some things. It's not good for you."

Zhu Zhanji, who liked Yu Qian very much, saw that his second brother frowned slightly and quickly scolded him.

Zhu Zhanjun waved his hand and said to Yu Qian: "You can ask, but I may not answer you."

Yu Qian bowed and said with some anticipation: "Your Majesty Shengwu meets another minister." When Zhu Zhanjun heard this question, his frown relaxed.

He figured it out, but Yu Qian still wanted to confirm where they came from.

"Yu Qian, nicknamed Yu Xiaobao, was a student of the first batch of the Command Department of the Imperial Army Officers Academy of the Ming Dynasty. He was rated as the best student by the academy. He is currently serving as the Sima of the Right Army of the Divine Power Battalion. I heard that his mother found him a wife some time ago. I even went to present the gift, but unfortunately I don't have time to attend the banquet."

Yu Qian lifted his robe, knelt on the ground and bowed respectfully.

He didn't stand up, but knelt on the ground and answered loudly.

"After the Duke of England was thrown into prison, chaos broke out within the court."

"Although I always feel that the edict is fake, the emperor is gone after all, and we need to choose a new one."

"At that time, the court officials were divided into three factions, with officials led by Prime Minister Zhang supporting the young prince to ascend the throne."

"But another group of people refused. They felt that although Yesen was defeated, the border defenses were still broken. We don't have that much time to wait for a child to grow up."

"This group of people decided to follow the fake will and support King Qing to ascend the throne."

"However, another group of people rejected this. They felt that the imperial edict was suspicious in the first place and it might have been done by King Qing. If they did this, wouldn't it satisfy King Qing?"

"But the prince is still young, and the country is in turmoil. If he ascends the throne at this time, it may be difficult to stabilize the world. So they support the well-known and virtuous Prince Xiang, Zhu Zhanji, to ascend the throne."

"In the end, he was rejected, and later the King of Xiang chose to support the King of Qing."

"It is precisely because of the support of King Xiang that the two sides have been fighting non-stop, and neither side can overwhelm the other."

"Half a month ago, if Yesen hadn't suddenly invaded, a war for the throne would have nearly broken out, leading to internal strife and bloodshed within the royal family."

"Hehehe..., it's great!"

After learning the reason, Lao Zhu's expression became even colder.

He looked at the ministers below with cold eyes, "I just want to ask, have you never seen the imperial edict? It has the imperial seal of the whole country, my personal signature and Zhu Qizhen's imperial seal on it."

"You guys flatly deny it. What on earth are you up to?"

Although Lao Zhu's voice was not loud, it was full of naked murderous intent. The officials below lowered their heads to their chests, fearing that they would be pointed at by Lao Zhu.

"Ji Gang!"

Zhu Zhanjun shouted to the person outside, and Ji Gang, who had changed out of his military uniform and was now wearing a Feiyu suit, ran in quickly and knelt on one knee.

"Your Majesty, I, the commander of the Imperial Guard, Ji Gang, respectfully listen to your Majesty's words."

"Ji Gang!"

Upon hearing this name, almost everyone present felt their scalp tingling.

The commanders of the Embroidered Uniform Guard were very scary, but there were only a few whose names alone could make people's hair stand on end, and among them was Ji Gang, the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard during the Yongle period.

Everyone was shocked. Didn’t Ji Gang die during the Yongle period?
The other party had the intention of rebelling at that time, how could he survive until now?
But then they realized that even Emperor Taizu Gao was still alive, so Ji Gang seemed to be nothing.

Zhu Zhanjun tapped the armrest of the throne with his fingers and asked slowly, "Have the Jinyiwei been withdrawn?"

Ji Gang said loudly without looking up: "It has been cleared out. The remaining people will strictly follow any orders from your majesty."

Zhu Zhanjun nodded.

As soon as he entered the city, he asked Ji Gang, who was responsible for protecting his safety, to take over the Jinyiwei.

Some things still need to be handled by professionals like this.

They can't stay here for long. If they want to grasp all the information and the course of events in a short period of time, it is most appropriate to control the intelligence department Jinyiwei.

Although the current Jinyiwei is not as powerful as it was during the Hongwu and Yongle periods, a lot of seeds have been sown after so many years of accumulation.

There are many members of the Jinyiwei who may not have moved in their entire lives since they went into hiding.

However, once the Jinyiwei issues a notice, you will find that the old housekeeper in your house, the cook who has worked for you for many years, the wet nurse who takes care of you, or the wives and concubines who sleep with you are all personnel arranged by the Jinyiwei.

Especially in the capital, the Jinyiwei are stationed almost everywhere. If they really start to take action, those who feel uneasy will have to keep one eye open when they sleep at night, for fear that they will be arrested by people close to them and taken back to the Jinyiwei prison.

Zhu Zhanjun stood up, and everyone's heart was shocked.

They knew that the Emperor Shengwu, who was in power, was planning to start a purge.

Although no one knows whether it is for himself or for the new emperor, the court will definitely be hit by a bloody storm.

I'm afraid only they themselves know how many people present can escape this disaster, and some people are not even sure whether they will die.

"Before tomorrow morning, I will be included in the list of people who block the inheritance of imperial power."

Zhu Zhanjun was referring to those who violated his edict.

Zhu Zhanjun also understood that if it were him, he would also question this edict.

However, this is how the imperial court is. Some things cannot be judged as right or wrong. It only depends on whether it is beneficial to those in power.

"My lord, take the order!"

Ji Gang responded loudly, and under the gaze of many people with cold sweat on their foreheads, he stood up and strode away.

(End of this chapter)