Ming Empire

Chapter 192 Cao Yue's Plan

On the way the warship left Beijing and headed for Tianjin Wei, it was intercepted by rogues, but the rogues with thousands of troops did not pose any threat to the fleet at all. Except for those, the rest were all scared away, and the fleet was able to leave the border of Beijing smoothly.

During a short break on the way, Cao Yue changed the warship and boarded the warship carrying the remains of Emperor Chongzhen, Empress Zhou, Princess Zhaoren, Prince Zhu Cizhao, and Prince Ding Zhu Cijiong.

Because Emperor Chongzhen was dead, Cao Yue and Sun Chuanting took it for granted that Empress Zhou stayed with the rest of the royal family.

But when Cao Yue rushed over, another unexpected thing happened.

During the process of the two team members meeting the prince Zhu Cizhao and Dingwang Zhu Cijiong, the prince Zhu Cizhao was unfortunately hit by a arrow. Although the medical soldiers on the warship rescued him immediately, they missed the best chance for treatment due to the injury for too long. Zhu Cizhao One hour after he fled Beijing, Ci swallowed his last breath in the arms of his mother, Queen Zhou.

Lost her husband and son in one day, Daming's palace was captured by bandits again, and they became "homeless". Empress Zhou almost collapsed. After crying a lot, she finally couldn't hold on Passed out.

The crown prince Zhu Cizhao was seriously injured and died. This was something Sun Chuanting and Cao Yue didn't expect. They originally thought that being able to successfully rescue these princes was already a great fortune among misfortunes.Unexpectedly, the prince's fate was unlucky, and he died on the warship after fleeing Beijing.Fortunately, Empress Zhou and other members of the royal family, as well as some palace officials who were lucky enough to escape with them, witnessed the whole process. Otherwise, Cao Yue and Sun Chuanting would not be able to argue with each other, and they would be mistaken for murdering His Highness the Crown Prince.

Even the death of Emperor Chongzhen, they couldn't escape the responsibility. Some people said that they took the opportunity to murder the emperor, and it is possible to establish a new emperor.

Empress Zhou and other members of the royal family, as well as the accompanying palace people must not have any accidents, otherwise they may be stained. Cao Yue strictly ordered the accompanying personnel to absolutely guarantee the safety of these rescued people.

When Emperor Chongzhen hanged himself, he had only one shoe on his foot and his body was disheveled.Sun Chuanting asked Emperor Chongzhen to restrain himself, put on clean clothes, and remove the dirt.There is no dragon robe on board, so everything can only be done first, and a grand funeral for Emperor Chongzhen will be held after returning to Nanjing.Just as the palace people were wiping Emperor Chongzhen's body and changing his clothes, the suicide note written by Emperor Chongzhen before his death fell out.Seeing this suicide note, Cao Yue heaved a sigh of relief, don't worry about being suspected anymore, this blood letter written by Emperor Chongzhen before his death can prove many things.

After the fleet arrived in Tianjinwei, they took a short rest and immediately set sail, heading south by sea, preparing to rush back to Nanjing.

When the Tianjin Guards were resting, Cao Yue notified Cao Jie, who was leading the army northward, in several ways to stop advancing immediately, retreat to the front line of Xuzhou, and make defensive preparations to guard against possible pursuit by the rogues.

Now Cao Yue doesn't want to attack the rogues right away, everything needs to be settled down a bit.Emperor Chongzhen is dead, and the most important thing is to establish a new emperor, and there are arrangements for officials in the new court.Only when these things are done well can other things be considered.

After thinking about it carefully, Cao Yue was pleasantly surprised to find that the death of Emperor Chongzhen and Prince Zhu Cizhao, and the rescue of Queen Zhou made things "perfect".Ding Wang Zhu Cijiong is the only candidate for the throne, and he and Zhu Cijiong are very familiar and have a good relationship.Zhu Cijiong is young, not yet 11 years old.He can take the opportunity of supporting Zhu Cijiong to take the throne, and control the major affairs of the government in his own hands.Cao Yue thinks so, if he controls Zhu Cijiong, and let Queen Zhou fully support him, can other people have more say than him in the important affairs of the court?
And the army is still in his hands.Originally, Cao Yue was worried that the 10,000+ Nanjing new army he had recruited could not be justifiably in his hands, but now that he is fine, all worries are gone, and he can use various excuses to expand the size of the Nanjing new army.

As long as the army is completely in his own hands, shouldn't he be in charge of the affairs of the court?
On the way back to Nanjing, Cao Yue was thinking about these things, who should be employed in the court, who should be the chief assistant, and so on.Sun Chuanting is now the best candidate for the first assistant. Shi Kefa, an upright minister, can continue to be employed. As long as Gao Hongtu is obedient, he can also be allowed to stay in the court. The family enjoys the happiness.

However, Cao Yue has not yet come up with a name for other available people. He is going to find an opportunity to have a good chat with Sun Chuanting.

However, after the fleet left Tianjin Wei and sailed on the sea, he did not stay on the same warship as Sun Chuanting, so there was no way to communicate on the way.The two did not stay on the same warship because of safety considerations.If two people were on the same boat and both of them lost their lives in an accident, then there would be no one commanding the team, and everything would be messed up.

Both of the warships they were on had problems, and both of them lost their lives. It is possible for such a thing to happen, but the probability is always much smaller.

Zhu Cijiong and the other princes did not let them stay on the same boat, also for safety reasons.

The warship Cao Yue stayed on was to transport the remains of Emperor Chongzhen. Empress Zhou, Zhu Cijiong, and Princess Zhaoren Zhu Xiong all stayed on this boat.The father died, and the mother fell into a coma due to excessive grief. Zhu Cijiong and Zhu Xiong were very sad. They surrounded the mother crying, not daring to leave.Fortunately, not long after the warship left Tianjin Wei, Queen Zhou woke up.

After hearing the news that Queen Zhou had woken up, Cao Yue also went to visit immediately.

Seeing Empress Zhou's sad and desperate look, Cao Yue immediately persuaded: "Empress, the matter is already like this, you don't have to be so sad. What we have to do now is to avenge the Lord Long Live, repeat Daming Rivers and Mountains, and kill the bandits. Eliminate, drive Jiannu out of the land of Daming, and rebuild Daming into a strong one."

Queen Zhou listened and remained silent.

Cao Yue continued: "Empress, now you are the most honorable person in Ming Dynasty. Your Majesty was forced to death by bandits, and we must avenge him. I feel that if Empress Empress wants to avenge Your Majesty, she must cheer up no matter what. Get up. Now the world is in chaos, only Nanjing and Nanzhili are in a better situation. We are rushing to Nanjing now, Nanjing is the old capital, and we can support a new monarch in Nanjing. But no matter which new monarch we support, it will be difficult There is no way to entrust the court affairs to him, after all, no matter which prince is too young. So, Empress, you have to worry about it, and you have to ask more about state affairs!"

After listening to Cao Yue's words, Empress Zhou was touched, she couldn't help raising her eyes, and looked at Cao Yue, as if hesitant to speak...

(End of this chapter)