Ming Dynasty: A mere unruly commoner is rebelling against the heaven?

Chapter 265: Divide one group, win over another group, suppress another group, and eliminate another group!
In Anhe Hall, after the initial excitement between Gu Hengbo and Li Xiangjun, Gu Hengbo suddenly asked Imperial Doctor Xue again.

"But doctor, why did the queen faint?"

Doctor Xue quickly replied: "First, it is a normal pregnancy reaction, and second, it is because the queen is weak and has not eaten for a long time, so she suddenly feels dizzy."

"It's okay. Just drink a bowl of brown sugar water and your Highness will wake up."

Then, the palace maids brought a bowl of brown sugar water as quickly as possible, and Gu Hengbo fed it to Chen Yuanyuan.

Sure enough, not long after Chen Yuanyuan drank the brown sugar water, she woke up slowly.

Chen Yuanyuan blinked and looked around blankly. She covered her forehead with one hand, held the edge of the bed with the other, and slowly sat up.

"What's wrong with me? I feel dizzy..."

"Great, my lady, you're awake!"

Li Xiangjun couldn't hold back her words and shouted with a smile: "Madam, great news! You are pregnant with a baby!"

"what?!"

Chen Yuanyuan's expression suddenly became serious. She first glanced at Li Xiangjun, then turned to look at Gu Hengbo on the side.

Gu Hengbo smiled and nodded to Chen Yuanyuan, saying, "Madam, it's true. The imperial physician has come to check your pulse."

Doctor Xue immediately knelt down and saluted Chen Yuanyuan: "Your humble servant Xue Bo pays respects to Concubine Ning!"

"Congratulations, Madam Queen. Congratulations, Madam Queen. You are indeed two or three months pregnant."

This time, Doctor Xue also told the exact time of Chen Yuanyuan's pregnancy.

Two or three months ago, before Zhu Youtang led the army in person, Chen Yuanyuan was already pregnant with his child.

Chen Yuanyuan's heart was in turmoil.

After knowing that she was finally pregnant with the dragon son she had been thinking about day and night, Chen Yuanyuan could not calm down for a long time.

She put her hands on her belly, lowered her head, and remained silent for a long time.

After a while, everyone noticed that Chen Yuanyuan was trembling and tears were streaming down her face. She was actually crying with joy.

Gu Hengbo said to Chen Yuanyuan, "Madam, shall I go and tell His Majesty the good news now?"

Chen Yuanyuan raised her head, and a bright color appeared on her pretty face, which was covered with traces of tears.

She nodded heavily at Gu Hengbo.

Gu Hengbo's face lit up with joy, and he turned around and ran out of Anhe Hall.

Doctor Xue, who was kneeling on the ground, was horrified and immediately bowed to Chen Yuanyuan: "I will go too, I will go too!"

Chen Yuanyuan smiled and nodded to Doctor Xue.

Only then did Doctor Xue stand up from the ground and chase after Gu Hengbo.

Suddenly, Chen Yuanyuan remembered something and asked, "By the way, Hengbo, where is Eunuch Wang?"

"I remember that before he fainted, he was still in Jingren Palace..."

"Eunuch Wang?"

Gu Hengbo looked around in front of the Anhe Hall, but could not see Wang Zhi.

A palace maid outside the palace reported in a low voice: "Your Majesty, Eunuch Wang has already left Jingren Palace with the people from the Western Factory."

After hearing this, Li Xiangjun stuck out her tongue and said coquettishly, "Humph, I'm sure they didn't dare to check again because the queen is pregnant with the heir to the throne!"

"Xiangjun, stop talking nonsense!"

Chen Yuanyuan reached out and pinched her little face, then waved to Gu Hengbo at the door: "Go quickly."

"Yes, madam!"

So, Gu Hengbo and Doctor Xue trotted all the way to the Yangxin Palace where Zhu Youtang was at the fastest speed.

……

Forbidden City.

The Hall of Nourishing Heart.

Zhu Youtang sat on the dragon throne, flipping through the memorials sent from the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty.

At this moment, Mou Bin suddenly walked quickly into the Palace of Tranquil Longevity and knelt in front of Zhu Youtang.

"Your Majesty, they have confessed. All the arrested civil servants from Jiangnan have confessed!"

"So fast?"

Zhu Youtang put down the question book in his hand and sneered: "I thought they would hold out longer. I have to kill more people before they will confess."

"Tell me, what did they confess?"

Mou Bin immediately replied: "Your Majesty, Ma Chen and others, the military secretary, said that they set fire to Xianfu Palace because of the willful actions of He Qiaoxin, the Minister of Justice."

"He Qiaoxin is from Ganzhou. He sponsored some poor people in Ganzhou and selected some good-looking women to participate in the selection last year."

"Among them, there was a girl named Qiao who was successfully selected and sent to the palace. She eventually became a maid of Concubine Shu, using the pseudonym Yicui."

"This fire was set by Yicui!"

"And the order to set fire was conveyed by a craftsman sent by the Ministry of Works to repair the palace!"

"Originally, He Qiaoxin's order was to burn down the Yangxin Palace where His Majesty was staying, but the Yangxin Palace was heavily guarded, and Yicui couldn't find a chance to set the fire."

"That's why they had to settle for the next best thing and try to murder Concubine Shu and the dragon heir in her belly."

What the Jiangnan civil servants confessed was basically consistent with the results Wang Zhi inferred through investigation.

It just added some details that the Western Factory had not yet investigated clearly.

Zhu Youtang was not very satisfied with the result: "Is He Qiaoxin the only one involved in this case?"

"Yes, Your Majesty. The civil officials in Jiangnan have always insisted that only He Qiaoxin is so cruel and daring." As Mou Bin said this, he told Zhu Youtang about the fights and insults among Jiangnan officials that had taken place in Fengtian Gate Square.

After hearing this, Zhu Youtang smiled coldly: "I don't believe that He Qiaoxin was the only one involved in this case."

"It's just because He Qiaoxin is dead, they want to push all the things onto a dead person so as to clear themselves from the blame."

"Then your majesty... do you need the Royal Guards to continue the investigation?"

Mou Bin asked tentatively.

Zhu Youtang shook his head: "No need to check..."

When Mou Bin heard these four words, his head buzzed and cold sweat instantly broke out on his head.

Every time Zhu Youtang said these four words, there was a scene of bloody storm and devastating suffering.

The first time these four words were spoken, all the Manchus of the Zhou family in Tongzhou were beheaded.

The second time these four words were said, the Jin merchants of Puzhou were reduced to ashes.

The third time these four words were spoken, "Xuanfu Yang family, blood flowed like a river."

This time, more than a thousand officials in the capital were involved. If they were all killed, there would be no one left in the Ming court to do the work!

But fortunately, Zhu Youtang did not go to extremes this time.

"Pick out and kill a few high-ranking officials above the fourth rank, such as the Shaoqing of Yuanma Temple."

"Let people like Ma Chen, who took the initiative to fight against Jiangnan officials, fill the vacant positions."

"Then we randomly kill 40 to 50 Jiangnan officials and spread the word that they were the officials who were exposed by Ma Chen and his people and were involved in the arson case."

After hearing Zhu Youtang's words, Mou Bin felt relieved, but at the same time he had to admire Zhu Youtang's imperial methods.

Although a lot of officials have to be killed, it is better than killing all the officials in Jiangnan.

Moreover, this will definitely cause a split among Jiangnan officials again.

When they were no longer united, officials acting alone posed no threat to Zhu Youtang.

This is also the reason why the Ming Dynasty fell due to factional strife. When a group of people are connected by some kind of bond, the destructive power they cause is really too shocking.

During the Wanli period, there were many political parties, including the Donglin Party, the Zhejiang Party, the Chu Party, the Eunuch Party, etc.

They unite and fight against each other because of geography, teacher-student relationship, or interests.

When they discuss state affairs, they do not base their discussions on actual content, but rather on the party they belong to.

We oppose everything that the opposing party supports!

We support everything that the opposing party opposes!

Such endless infighting among Ming officials greatly consumed the national strength of the Ming Dynasty.

Emperor Shenzong, due to his limited ability and the exhaustion caused by Zhang Juzheng, became discouraged and began to be lazy and negligent in his work.

The seeds of the Ming Dynasty's demise were sown here.

The Ming Dynasty actually ended during the Wanli reign.

In all dynasties, forming cliques for personal gain has been a serious crime.

Every emperor tried his best to suppress his ministers and prevent them from uniting.

In order to divide powerful factional groups, most emperors tacitly used a kind of imperial power tactics.

To put it simply, it means to divide one group within a party group, win over another group, suppress another group, and eliminate another group.

This method is very useful and is still commonly used today.

Zhu Youtang also used this kind of political tactics. He first used high pressure and random killings to cause the civil servants in Jiangnan to automatically split internally.

Later, he tried to win over Ma Chen, suppressed the Shaoqing of Yuanma Temple, and eliminated the unfortunate civil servants in Jiangnan.

In this way, the Jiangnan civil service group will no longer be as united as before.

This time, Zhu Youtang did not simply and brutally kill them all, but used political tactics to divide the Jiangnan civil service group.

This is not because Zhu Youtang has become merciful, but because there are really no officials in the court in the capital.

In the short period of less than two years since Zhu Youtang ascended the throne, he has killed too many officials.

Although it was said that the Ming Dynasty had no shortage of officials, the main problem was that Zhu Youtang had never held an imperial examination to recruit officials.

This year's autumn examination will not start for another two months.

The Spring Examination would have to wait until the beginning of next spring, but Zhu Youtang needed an official now and could not afford to wait.

In order to prevent the court from coming to a standstill, Zhu Youtang could only use the current officials for the time being.

After the imperial examination is held next year, when there are enough reserve officials, we won’t have to worry so much.

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

Mou Bin breathed a sigh of relief and accepted the order.

At this moment, Xiao Jing suddenly walked into the Yangxin Palace and reported to Zhu Youtang in a low voice: "Your Majesty, Miss Hengbo from Jingren Palace and Doctor Xue from the Imperial Hospital are both asking for an audience."

"From Jingren Palace?"

Zhu Youtang frowned, somewhat unhappy.

He had no impression of Gu Hengbo, but he knew that Jingren Palace was the bedroom of Concubine Ning Chen Yuanyuan.

He had just asked the Western Factory to investigate the concubines in the harem, but now the palace maids from the Jingren Palace dared to come to the Yangxin Palace to find him.

Isn't Concubine Ning too arrogant because of her favor?

Zhu Youtang picked up the notebook on the dragon case again and said calmly, "No."

(End of this chapter)