The Ming Dynasty's Five Hundred Years

Chapter 137 The Crown Prince is in grave danger!

The magistrate of Kuaiji County, being well-versed in literature, naturally did not believe these sorcerous tales. He simply gave Old Man Wang a few lashes and then released him.

Wu the stonemason left the county government office satisfied, and the matter should have ended there.

But to everyone's surprise, the news spread rapidly, not only in Kuaiji County, but also in other counties of Shaoxing Prefecture, and even to neighboring prefectures. Rumors circulated that a stonemason in Kuaiji County needed many souls to drive the life-sustaining piles for building a bridge.

As the story spread to other counties, something terrible happened: the protagonist of the incident changed from a stonemason into a wandering beggar monk!
In ancient times, monks and Taoist priests were often deeply involved in the supernatural funeral industry, and most folk tales are related to these two professions. When the protagonist becomes a monk, the sorcery becomes more believable.

Contrary to the imagination of most modern people, while ancient people did have great respect for highly accomplished monks, most monks and Taoist priests were no different from beggars in the eyes of ordinary people.

Zhu Yuanzhang's image as a beggar was the common impression people had of monks at the time.

Even those born in the 90s and 80s probably experienced monks coming to their door to beg for alms when they were young, especially those living in rural areas. At that time, there was a general fear of monks, who were thought to be kidnappers who came to kidnap children.

In ancient society, ordinary people had more fear of monks than fear of monks.

This inescapable fear quickly spread to many people, creating a climate of panic throughout Zhejiang. This panic soon reached the ears of provincial officials, including the Zhejiang Provincial Governor.

These well-read scholars and officials naturally despised sorcery, but often they had to conform to popular belief and use superstitious methods to combat superstition.

The Zhejiang Provincial Judicial Commissioner, responsible for judicial matters, quickly investigated the matter and proved that the sorcery was completely fabricated. He then closed the case and did not pursue it further.

However, he did not report it to the imperial court, because if he did, the matter would implicate officials throughout the province.

Why is this so?

This inevitably brings to mind the connection between the establishment of the Ming Dynasty and religious forces. Therefore, after the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, religious matters were strictly controlled. Especially at the end of the Hongwu reign, the late emperor implemented a new round of control over monks and Taoist priests, and sorcery was considered to be within the sphere of influence of religion.

In particular, religions such as the Ming Cult and the White Lotus Sect, which were not recognized by the imperial court, were widely distributed across the land of the Ming Dynasty. These religions all stirred up trouble through sorcery. Therefore, if the imperial court found out about them, the officials of the entire province could only get a mediocre grade at most.

Neither the Zhejiang Provincial Administration Commissioner nor the Provincial Judicial Commissioner dared to report such an absurd matter to the imperial court, lest they displease the court, which would think that such a trivial matter was not worth reporting, and also displease the provincial officials, jeopardizing their future prospects.

But soon the Zhejiang Provincial Surveillance Commissioner would have to pay a heavy price for his choice!
The explanation given by the provincial governor's office deeply dissatisfied the people, who even besieged the office, believing that the officials and the sorcerers who called out souls were colluding for a larger conspiracy.

It seems ridiculous on the surface, but in reality it is a manifestation of extreme distrust between officials and the people.

This behavior is, to some extent, a lingering influence from the Hongwu era. During the Hongwu era, Zhu Yuanzhang launched numerous political movements using his immense political authority, leading to a widespread culture of mutual accusations and attacks among the people, which has persisted to this day.

The power of sorcery quickly spread throughout the Jiangnan region and even further afield to Fujian, Hubei, and Hunan, as well as to Shandong and Henan in the north.

Without any collusion between them, officials in each province took almost identical actions. Their investigations revealed that the allegations were completely fabricated.

Afterwards, they all suppressed the matter at the provincial level and did not report it to higher levels. It is really hard to say whether this was a success of the Ming Dynasty's error correction system or a failure of the Ming Dynasty's central-local decentralization.

In short, even though the matter of sorcery had been brewing for two months in many parts of the south and north, the imperial court was completely unaware of it.

At this crucial moment, Crown Prince Zhu Gaochi unexpectedly arrived in Nanjing, where the sorcery scandal was at its worst!

……

Originally, the garrison officials in Nanjing did not intend to inform the Crown Prince about this matter, as it was not a big deal.

However, because of Li Xianmu's reminder before his departure, Crown Prince Zhu Gaochi became suspicious of everything. Under this deliberate observation, he clearly noticed the panic and abnormality of the Nanjing officials.

He immediately realized that something had indeed happened in Nanjing. Under his repeated questioning, the Nanjing garrison officials, who would normally prefer to avoid trouble, decided that since the Crown Prince had already noticed, reporting the matter would at most result in a reprimand.

So he told the prince the whole story of the sorcery.

When Zhu Gaochi first heard about this, he was quite surprised. He quickly realized why the Nanjing officials had concealed it. Although he was angry, he was relieved because the matter did not concern him much. However, since he had arrived in Nanjing and discovered such a thing, he could not allow such evil influences to continue to spread in the birthplace of the Ming Dynasty. It was also one of his duties to appease the people.

"Now that I have come to Nanjing and learned of this matter, I certainly cannot allow such evil forces to disturb the people any longer. I must quickly bring the key criminals in this case to Nanjing so that I may personally try them and then spread them far and wide, so that the land of my Great Ming, where the dragon rose, may be restored to a bright and clear world!"

Zhu Gaochi had no idea that the matter of sorcery was not limited to Jiangnan, but had spread to half of the Ming Dynasty. If he had known about this, he probably would have reported it to the court long ago and would not have dared to handle it alone. However, it was this slight information gap that almost led him to his doom.

He desperately wanted to do something for the world!

He cared too much about the people, and this became his fatal flaw at this moment.

If he were merely a minister heading south, there might still be room for maneuver in this matter. But he is the crown prince. Everyone in the world can love the people like their own children, but he alone can only think about it and cannot actually do it, otherwise he would be usurping the emperor's authority!

……

In the capital city, the first light of dawn broke in the east.

Li Xianmu hurried towards the palace. Although it was already broad daylight, not a single ray of sunlight shone down. In the distant sky, a hazy gray mist shrouded the palace, beneath which lay the once majestic imperial palace. Today, though the palace buildings still stood scattered about, they seemed to conceal a sense of oppression.

The emperor suddenly summoned him and a few others into the Huagai Hall, and he immediately realized that something terrible had happened and that the emperor was in a very bad mood.

Stepping into the Huagai Hall, the icy and solemn atmosphere made his heart sink even further.

As the eunuchs entered the hall, the first thing that caught their eye was the high-hanging plaque, followed by the emperor, who sat high on the throne with a gloomy expression. In the past, he was imposing even without anger, but today his eyes were filled with extreme rage.

The saying "When a king is angry, millions will die" is not an exaggeration.

The terrifying atmosphere in this magnificent palace, as still as a deep abyss, all emanated from the emperor at the head of the table, who was on the verge of exploding in rage.

Several people were already kneeling on the ground, including the Prince of Han. After Li Xianmu walked in, he turned around and glanced back. From the angle from which Li Xianmu entered, one could just see the suppressed smile on the Prince of Han's lips.

Li Xianmu felt alarm bells ringing in his heart. What on earth had happened?
The others in the hall looked at Li Xianmu with deep despair and a glimmer of hope in their eyes.

Li Xianmu collected all his thoughts, stepped forward and respectfully bowed, then looked into the hall and solemnly said, "Your Majesty, what has happened? Why have you summoned us to the palace in such a hurry?"

Zhu Di glanced at Li Xianmu with a gloomy look. Li Xianmu had never seen such a strange expression in the emperor's eyes before. He shivered. The Prince of Han turned to face Li Xianmu, a slight smile playing on his lips. He spoke in a calm tone, but his voice was filled with deep indignation: "Let my cousin know that the Crown Prince was in Nanjing looking for a monk who knew sorcery, intending to curse His Majesty's health. The Embroidered Uniform Guard reported this, and His Majesty was furious, which led to today's events."

Sorcery, curses!
The Crown Prince still fell for the King of Han's treacherous scheme!
Li Xianmu's vision went black, and he frowned.

Upon hearing what the Prince of Han said, Li Xianmu immediately realized that the Prince of Han had indeed planned for the Crown Prince's trip to Nanjing, and that this was probably a trap that had been set up long ago!
Li Xianmu forcibly controlled his thoughts and calmed himself down, which disappointed the Prince of Han. He did not expect that Li Xianmu would not shout that he was wronged.

The emperor clearly believed in this reward. The people in the hall must have spoken to the emperor earlier, but it was obvious that nothing had worked, hence their expressions of despair.

Li Xianmu took two deep breaths. He knew that revealing his support for the Crown Prince at this moment would only worsen the already enraged emperor's situation. He had to find another way.

First, he wanted to see what was written in the report.

"Your Majesty, may I first see what rebellious thing the Crown Prince has done to anger the Emperor so much!"

He had barely finished speaking when Zhu Di threw out a memorial in his hand, which flew in a beautiful arc and landed right in front of him.

Li Xianmu calmly picked up the memorial from the ground. His composed demeanor made the Prince of Han frown.

Over the years, the Prince of Han had been actively trying to win over the officials around the Crown Prince, but he had never tried to win over Li Xianmu. This was because the words Li Qi had said before his death made him realize that they were not on the same side, and Li Xianmu's admiration for his father was known to all.

Although everyone said that Li Xianmu was not a member of the Crown Prince's faction, the Prince of Han's keen intuition realized that Li Xianmu had always stood on the Crown Prince's side and helped him.

Li Xianmu opened the memorial in his hand and saw its contents. Although he did not show it on his face, his heart was already in turmoil.

He wondered why a matter of sorcery could enrage the emperor so much. After all, although Zhu Di was not the kind of emperor who completely disbelieved in ghosts and gods, he shouldn't have been so affected by such a piece of news. It turned out that there were other inside stories involved!
This sorcery, which circulated in Jiangnan and much of the Ming Dynasty, simultaneously touched three of the emperor's bottom lines.

One issue was that provincial officials failed to report the matter, which made the emperor feel deeply threatened. The crown prince also failed to report the matter to the emperor, which led the emperor to directly classify the crown prince as one of his own subjects, believing that this was a collusion between the crown prince and the civil officials.

In particular, Zhu Di had always known that the Crown Prince had a high prestige among civil officials, and this matter touched a raw nerve in his heart, causing his already slightly diminished suspicion of the Crown Prince to rise to a level even more serious than when he returned from the first northern expedition!
In this matter, there were even officials whom the Crown Prince should not have been in contact with who took the initiative to ask the Crown Prince to uphold justice!
This is an extremely terrifying thing in politics, because only the emperor has unlimited power and unlimited responsibilities in the world!

No one else is allowed to overstep their authority. For the Crown Prince to privately meet with officials he shouldn't be in is a true usurpation of imperial power, and such an act is the most serious political incident!

Secondly, is the matter of sorcery really false?
Does sorcery really exist?
Did the Crown Prince use these sorcerers to curse his father, the sovereign, while investigating these monks who possessed sorcery?

The emperor was uncertain about this, after all, if something really happened to him, the crown prince would be the only beneficiary. Deep down, Zhu Di did not believe that there would be a crown prince who did not want to ascend the throne, and he always placed the emperor and the crown prince in opposing positions.

In his heart, Zhu Di was unwilling to believe in sorcery, but it was impossible for him to completely disbelieve it, as people in that era generally believed in the existence of spirits.

Thirdly, the monks involved in the sorcery incident aroused extremely bad associations in Zhu Di. In recent years, traces of followers of underground cults such as the White Lotus Sect have frequently appeared in various places. Could these people be behind the sorcery incident?
Did the Crown Prince deliberately participate in or even condone this?

After all, such an incident would severely damage his reputation as emperor.

Zhu Di expressed deep doubt.

These three reasons, coupled with the emperor's suspicious nature, have led to his current state.

These three reasons almost form a complete network; if one link is untied, there are nested links within links, and any one of them alone would be enough to make the Crown Prince unable to escape this storm.

Even Li Xianmu felt deeply troubled.

He glanced at the King of Han again, and he deeply doubted whether such a flawless plan was really conceived by the King of Han.
If the King of Han truly possessed such a powerful political mind, what would be the point of the struggle for the throne?

Looking at Yang Shiqi, Yang Rong, and the others kneeling on the ground, almost all of them were pale-faced. They had clearly grasped some of the implications, though perhaps not as deeply or as safely as Li Xianmu had. But even just one or two points were enough to terrify them; the Crown Prince might truly be in trouble this time!

"finish watching?"

The emperor's cold voice came down from above, as if it contained the power of knives and blood. Even though he was dressed in plain clothes, he seemed to be wearing armor and holding a sword, still the general who had just walked out of a pile of corpses.

"This is the benevolent and filial crown prince that you, Li Xianmu, have always spoken of!"
No son in the world is as rebellious as him!

The emperor's words were too harsh. The Prince of Han could barely suppress the smile on his lips and could only lower his head deeply. "Your Majesty, I believe that His Highness the Crown Prince's actions are far too rebellious. Please summon him back to the capital immediately for punishment!"

Li Xianmu had no idea how long the King of Han had been preparing for this matter; the King of Han probably already knew about this sorcery.

After all, it had been circulating in the Ming Dynasty for so long, yet the court was completely unaware of it. In just a short time after the Crown Prince went south to Nanjing, it suddenly reached the emperor's ears. He would never believe that this was not something the Prince of Han had planned all along.

wrong!

The matter of sorcery came about by chance, and no one could have imagined that it would develop to this point. It couldn't have been a premeditated scheme.

At the time, the King of Han probably only wanted to transfer the Crown Prince to Nanjing and then have the Crown Prince privately meet with court officials, which was quite taboo. He did not think that far ahead.

Yang Shiqi, Yang Rong, and the others in the hall were always quick-witted; if it were just this one matter, they wouldn't have let the situation escalate to this point.

With heroes everywhere, Li Xianmu never believed that the Crown Prince would be utterly defeated without him by his side.

But who would have thought that a sorcery incident would break out in the Jiangnan region, making the Prince of Han's plan so perfect and complete, like adding wings to a tiger, almost turning it into a deadly move that could truly put the Crown Prince to his death!
Now, relying solely on Yang Shiqi and his men, it's impossible to pull the Crown Prince out of the mire.

Li Xianmu knew that he absolutely could not allow the Crown Prince to return to the capital as a criminal, otherwise, if the Crown Prince were to commit suicide out of fear of punishment on the way, then everything would be over.

The Crown Prince's health was already poor, and after experiencing such an event, it was quite normal for him to suffer an accident due to exhaustion. Even if the Emperor was furious afterward and investigated the hidden matters involved, what use would it be?
Upon realizing this, Li Xianmu immediately knelt on the ground and kowtowed deeply, saying, "Your Majesty, I have something to report regarding this matter!"

But Zhu Di didn't give him that chance. Instead, he angrily said, "You, Li Xianmu, have always been eloquent and clever, but today I don't want to hear any of your sophistry. Right now, I'm only asking you, were you involved in this matter?"

Li Xianmu was greatly shocked. The seriousness of the matter far exceeded anyone's imagination. Without time to think, he immediately kowtowed and said, "Your subject only knows to serve the sovereign with loyalty, and would never participate in any rebellious act!"

"Alright, since you don't know either, then we'll just have to wait and see!"

Zhu Di then angrily shouted at Ji Gang, who was standing in the hall, "Immediately imprison all the officials of the Eastern Palace!"

No one can escape before the Crown Prince returns!

Immediately order officials in all provinces to thoroughly investigate the matter of sorcery!

The emperor's furious voice echoed eerily in the Hall of Literary Glory, making Li Xianmu and the others feel as if they had fallen into an ice cellar.

The Crown Prince is truly in grave danger this time!
------

In the eighth year of the Yongle reign, rumors of sorcery spread in Jiangnan. Within a month, they reached all corners of the land. Scholars were quick to refute the claims, and some even expressed concern about the emperor's fate, but they did not report it to the emperor. At that time, the emperor was the crown prince. He visited Jiangnan to investigate the matter and clarify the truth. Jiangnan was thus restored to peace. The Prince of Han, who frequently committed treason, used this as a pretext to make false accusations, which the emperor believed. This led to widespread implication and the imprisonment of many officials in the Eastern Palace. Many were imprisoned, many died, and the rest rebelled. The emperor's position as heir apparent was now in grave danger! — *History of Ming Dynasty, Annals of Emperor Renzong*

(End of this chapter)