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

Chapter 268 Come on Your Own
When Gu saw Zhu Youtang, she immediately stood up and knelt down to greet him: "Your Majesty, I greet you."

Because Zhang Wan'er was pregnant and inconvenient, Zhu Youtang specifically allowed her not to perform the formal ceremony, so she just stood up and nodded to Zhu Youtang: "I greet your majesty."

Zhu Youtang walked towards Zhang Wan'er and sat down beside her: "Stand up, everyone sit down."

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

Zhang Wan'er sat next to Zhu Youtang, while Gu sat opposite him.

"I heard that you are in much better spirits, so I came to see you specially. But now you are one portion of nutrition for two people to absorb, and you don't eat much. This is not good."

Zhang Wan'er didn't expect Zhu Youtang to know about this. After a moment of surprise, she smiled and said, "Thank you for your concern, Your Majesty. Concubine Ning is pregnant. Congratulations to Your Majesty for having another heir."

"So, is this the reason why you can't eat?"

Zhang Wan'er's smile froze. She looked at Zhu Youtang and found that Zhu Youtang was also staring at her.

Jealousy in the harem is a big taboo.

In an instant, Zhang Wan'er broke out in a cold sweat and her heart began to beat rapidly.

"how could be?"

Zhang Wan'er looked at Zhu Youtang with a reproachful look, pretending to be angry: "What are you saying, Your Majesty?"

"You have other concubines who can help Your Majesty expand the royal family. I am so happy. How can I not eat?"

"I just have a reaction to my pregnancy and have a loss of appetite. Your Majesty, you think I am too stingy."

As Zhang Wan'er said this, she turned around and faced Zhu Youtang, looking very angry.

Zhu Youtang only believed three-tenths of Zhang Wan'er's words, but he didn't really want to pursue the matter. He just wanted to give her a warning at the right time.

With so many women in the harem, it is inevitable that there will be occasional jealousy.

As long as they don't do anything too outrageous, Zhu Youtang doesn't want to interfere.

During the Ming Dynasty, with the exception of Emperors Taizu, Taizong, and Shizong and Sizong, the interference of the harem in government affairs was particularly serious.

The harem during the Chenghua period was even more of a mess.

Zhu Youtang had finally cleaned up the harem, but he didn't want to follow the same path as Emperor Xianzong.

Zhu Youtang’s bottom line was that the harem could not interfere in politics. Apart from that, Zhu Youtang did not care about some little tricks to win favor.

"Haha, that's great. I was just being overly concerned."

Zhu Youtang turned Zhang Wan'er around and said with concern: "It's not good to have a poor appetite. Now is the time when you need to take care of your body."

After saying that, Zhu Youtang gave orders to Luo Xiang behind him.

"Luo Xiang, ask Imperial Doctor Tian to come and take a look more often, and ask the people in the Imperial Kitchen to come up with more dishes so that Concubine Shu can eat more."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Luo Xiang bowed in response.

From beginning to end, Gu kept his head down, sitting in his original position, and said nothing.

After Zhu Youtang chatted with Zhang Wan'er for a few more words, Zhang Wan'er took the initiative to turn the topic to Gu.

"Your Majesty, have you turned over the cards today?"

"No."

Zhu Youtang shook his head. He had been busy today and had not thought about sleeping with the emperor.

"In that case, it just so happens that Lady Gu is in the Yangxin Palace..."

Zhang Wan'er chuckled, glanced at Lady Gu who had her head lowered, and changed the subject.

"Your Majesty, today Miss Gu came to me to complain. Your Majesty has never turned over Miss Gu's card since that day."

"I've seen Concubine Ning, Concubine Liu, Concubine Dong, and even Concubine Choros all go through several rounds. Your Majesty is too partial."

"Ms. Gu is looking forward to seeing you, Your Majesty, just like a person looking forward to rain after a long drought..."

The more Mrs. Gu listened, the more confused she became. Her face turned red and she was so shy that she couldn't even raise her head.

Where did she say these words?

She just came to visit Concubine Shu today and show concern for her health.

The empty-mouthed comments of Concubine Shu made it seem as if she missed a man very much.

Zhu Youtang looked at Mrs. Gu and thought to himself that this was the case. Somehow, Mrs. Gu's presence in his heart was so weak.

In terms of charm, beauty, sentiment, and talent and appearance, she is not as good as the three women from the south of the Yangtze River.

The only thing she has to show off is her plump figure and tall stature.

"Your Majesty, the Queen...I..."

Gu's voice was as soft as a mosquito's. She wanted to explain something, but she didn't dare to say that Concubine Shu was talking nonsense. She was so anxious that she was sweating profusely.

Zhu Youtang curled the corners of his mouth, and he knew clearly in his heart that Zhang Wan'er was treating Lady Gu as a maid.

In ancient times, when wealthy families married or married off their daughters, they would bring one or two maids as dowry to the husband's home.

This dowry maid, in addition to serving the young master and young lady well, is also required to take care of the young lady when she is menstruating or pregnant, when it is inconvenient to have sex with her.

She takes the place of the young lady and sleeps with the young master, so that he doesn't go out to look for other girls.

Now that Zhang Wan'er is in poor health, she hopes that Zhu Youtang can favor Gu more and summon the three southern sisters less often.

Zhu Youtang understood Zhang Wan'er's thoughts, and he didn't care about these things.

Who is to sleep with the emperor depends on the nature of the day. Newcomers also need fresh experiences, so it is fine to let Gu sleep with the emperor today.

Zhu Youtang nodded and said, "Okay, then Miss Gu will stay in the Yangxin Palace tonight."

"Concubine Shu, you should go to bed early. It's time for me to go back." Zhu Youtang got up and left. Gu stayed behind him with a confused look on her face.

"Go quickly."

Zhang Wan'er raised her eyebrows at Gu: "You should also work harder and think more about how to win the heart of His Majesty. Don't always wait for me to find opportunities for you."

"Yes, Madam. Thank you for your help."

Even though Gu didn't have that intention, she could only thank him at this moment, and then followed Zhu Youtang to the main hall of the Hall of Mental Cultivation.

"His Majesty……"

Gu's face turned red with shame and she was at a loss as to what to do. She just stood there stupidly, not knowing how to move.

Gu is a typical "military strategist" type of person, who analyzes things behind the scenes in great detail and seems to know everything.

But when she really got involved, she was completely blinded and her brain was in a mess, not knowing what to do.

"What are you still standing there for? Come here quickly."

Zhu Youtang had already sat on the dragon bed. Seeing Gu still standing there in a daze, he couldn't help but frown.

"Ah...yes..."

Gu took a few quick steps and climbed onto the dragon bed.

Lying on the dragon bed, Gu did not move, allowing Zhu Youtang to take off his extra clothes.

Zhu Youtang was annoyed by this. Except for Mona, the other concubines were not very proactive.

Zhang Wan'er and Chen Yuanyuan are slightly better, but Liu Rushi, Dong Xiaowan and Gu are really uninteresting.

Zhu Youtang was tired today. After peeling for a while, he lay down impatiently: "Do it yourself!"

"Oh...oh oh..."

Gu bit her lip and not only took off her own clothes, but also helped Zhu Youtang take them off.

Thinking about what Concubine Shu had just said to her, asking her to be more motivated and take the initiative to capture Zhu Youtang's heart...

Gu gritted her teeth, made up her mind, and leaned down.

Zhu Youtang's eyes lit up, he first widened his eyes in surprise, then closed them in comfort.

……

In the capital city at night, a team of Western Factory soldiers were moving around the city.

They broke into different houses and arrested all the officials from the Ministry of Rites and the Censorate who had participated in the Yicui selection last year, and put them on standby for execution.

The eunuchs from the Imperial Household Department had already entered the Western Factory prison earlier.

What’s embarrassing is that many officials involved in this case had been executed early by Zhu Youtang for various reasons.

Therefore, the number of officials who were cleared out this time was actually very small.

In addition, another team of Western Factory officials had secretly set off for Suzhou Prefecture.

They wanted to secretly investigate Zhang Wenshao, the governor of Yingtian. This was a major matter involving three concubines including Concubine Ning, so they had to act in secret and not let any news leak out.

Zhuque, the commander of the Jinyiwei in Jiangnan, was also investigating officials involved in smuggling in Jiangnan according to the list provided by Yu Yunzhong.

As for the civil servants in Jiangnan who were arrested by the Embroidered Uniform Guard, Mou Bin had released most of them according to Zhu Youtang's orders.

Only a small number of unlucky people were left, and they were all charged with treason.

In addition, sixteen officials who, like Ma Chen, had taken the initiative to injure others were promoted on the grounds of meritorious reporting, filling the vacancies vacated by others.

As a result, Ma Chen and sixteen other officials suddenly became the target of public criticism from the civil servants in Jiangnan.

They could no longer integrate into the circle of civil servants in Jiangnan, and in order to maintain their current status, they had to cling to Zhu Youtang and were forced to become part of the imperial party.

In general, Zhu Youtang's plan was implemented very successfully. While vigorously cracking down on the civil servants in Jiangnan, he also managed to keep the court running.

After that, after the next spring examination, Zhu Youtang would select a group of new officials and then he could unscrupulously clean out these stubborn elements in the court.

The Jiangnan smuggling case, which affected tens of thousands of Jiangnan rentiers, has come to an end here. It seems, as if, seemingly...

But no one knows when the bomb of going to the West will explode.

Because Li Qian, the assistant minister of the Ministry of Works, and Ji Sheng, the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household, had already headed south to Minzhou with hundreds of officials and craftsmen from the Ministry of Works, as well as a thousand foreign men from the Western Factory.

They are about to restart the Fuqing Shipyard and the Jiangnan Shipyard in preparation for the voyage to the West.

At the same time, the 100,000-strong southern expeditionary army led by Wang Yue had also arrived at the border between Dianzhou and Annan.

Lin'an Mansion.

Jianshui Prefecture.

Because of the high terrain, uneven roads, mountains and rivers on the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, this complex topography took Wang Yue's 100,000-strong army several months to reach the war front.

But at this moment, the war in Jianshui Prefecture had already stopped.

King Li Hao of Annan had already withdrawn his troops before Xu Pu and Liu Daxia were released from prison.

The entire border conflict lasted no more than ten days, and only a few hundred people were killed or injured. It was just a small territorial conflict.

Just like the hundreds of conflicts, big and small, between Annan and the Ming Dynasty in the previous decades, these conflicts were not worth mentioning in the face of such a huge empire as the Ming Dynasty.

But this time, it was very different.

Because this time, Zhu Youtang sent an army of 100,000 to conquer the south, and went to Annan and Jiaozhi counties!

(End of this chapter)