Ming Dynasty: I am truly not the Emperor of Longevity

"To be honest, this Prince Ying's background is indeed quite extraordinary."

Guo Xun pondered for a moment,

Before the fire at the Weihui Imperial Palace last year, no one knew that a few months before Emperor Ruizong Xian died, he had visited a maidservant of "Lady Yousheng".

The maidservant also became pregnant with the emperor's child and gave birth to a boy a few months after the emperor's death.

According to His Majesty's announcement to his ministers, "Lady Yousheng" unknowingly bestowed this maid upon a steward of the Lu family as a concubine.

This woman concealed the fact that she had been favored by Emperor Xian, and no one knew that the boy she gave birth to would be Emperor Xian's son.

When His Majesty entered the capital to inherit the throne, the steward of the Lu family was also brought to the capital by Lu Song, and later obtained the hereditary title of Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

The boy also grew up as the illegitimate son of the Lu family steward and inherited the hereditary position of the head of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

After working as a member of the Embroidered Uniform Guard for more than half a year, he was finally recognized by Lu Bing.

He looks very much like His Majesty when he was young; it's impossible for the steward of the Lu family to have such a son.

The maids who served Lady Yousheng had the opportunity to come into contact with Emperor Xian and were possibly favored by him.

Of course, there must be more to this story than meets the eye, but that's not important.

His Majesty himself acknowledged this younger brother, bestowing upon him the name Zhu Houyu and enfeoffing him as the Prince of Ying.

I did not accompany the emperor on his southern tour last year and did not meet His Highness Prince Ying.

I heard from my colleagues who accompanied the emperor that the Prince of Ying looks exactly like the emperor when he was young. If he weren't twelve years younger, even some of the veteran ministers who had accompanied the emperor for many years would mistake him for someone else.

This is also why, when His Majesty announced that he was the posthumous son of Emperor Xian, none of the imperial relatives, nobles, civil and military officials accompanying the emperor raised any objections.

As the emperor's only younger brother, he naturally attracts the attention of many in the court.

His Majesty originally intended for his younger brother to inherit the title of Prince Xing and be enfeoffed in Chengtian Prefecture.

Later, due to opposition from his ministers, he was instead enfeoffed as the Prince of Ying and placed in Yunyang Prefecture.

Yunyang Prefecture is located deep in the mountains, in a remote and impoverished area, and is completely unsuitable for being a fiefdom.

His Majesty also gave Prince Ying the task of overseeing the expansion project of Xianling Mausoleum and performing sacrificial rites on behalf of his brother for the late Emperor Xian and Empress Dowager Jiang. In reality, it was just a different way of making Prince Ying reside permanently in Chengtianfu.

After the Prince of Ying took up his fief, he went to Yunyang Prefecture but did not stay there for long. He spent the rest of his time in Chengtian Prefecture.

I have learned that the Prince of Ying's mansion sent people to Jingdezhen in Jiangxi and Yanshen Town in Shandong to recruit many craftsmen skilled in firing porcelain and glassware.

He also established a royal workshop on his fiefdom of Yunyang Prefecture to produce glassware and porcelain.

His Highness Prince Ying must be interested in exquisite porcelain and glassware.

But I have never heard of any Taoist priests or sorcerers by Your Highness's side.

"That's right. Prince Ying once served as the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, so he must have seen some charlatans and swindlers in the martial arts world."

Although he is now a prince, he probably does not agree with His Majesty's belief in Taoist immortality.

Trying to approach the King of Ying with the secret of immortality would most likely be useless, and might even provoke his displeasure.

Duan Chao tapped the armrest slowly with his fingers.

"But my 'red lead' elixir is different; its effects are real!"

When the King of Ying entered the capital to assist the five-year-old crown prince, he had the power of regent, though he did not have the title.

Power is the best tonic!

Young people are full of energy and often have less control over matters of the heart.

His Majesty was in his thirties, and after taking the "Red Lead" elixir, he was able to have sex with seven women in one night.

The King of Ying is only twenty-one years old; the effect will only be better!

Once he's tried the "Red Lead" elixir, I don't believe he wouldn't want to take it again!

If His Majesty really goes into seclusion to cultivate, it might not be a bad thing for us!

"No matter what, the Prince of Ying is just a young, inexperienced boy, much easier to fool than the cunning and shrewd emperor!"

. . .

The grand procession passed through Dong'an Gate and proceeded westward along the wide street.

Lu Chen opened the car window, and the red walls of the Forbidden City and the Donghua Gate Tower were already close at hand.

Separated by two different planes and more than four hundred years, I have finally arrived here once again.

I remember the last time I came here, this place was called the Palace Museum, and the ticket cost 60 yuan.

This time, no one asked me to buy a ticket!

"Your Highness, that palace is the main hall of the Southern Palace, Chonghua Palace."

Yang Bingzhong pointed to a palace in the distance to the south and whispered to Lu Chen,

"His Majesty ordered the Chonghua Palace to be rearranged half a month ago. During His Highness's stay in the capital to assist the Crown Prince in overseeing the country, he resided in the Southern Palace and Chonghua Palace."

Lu Chen looked in the direction Yang Bingzhong pointed.

I had been to that place before I traveled through time, but it was no longer what it is now. After several changes, it finally became a temple, Pudu Temple.

This place was originally the palace of the grandson of Emperor Yongle (Zhu Di) and later Emperor Xuanzong (Zhu Zhanji). It was built at the same time as the Forbidden City and was also known as the Southern Palace. Chonghua Palace was its core hall.

After the Tumu Crisis, Zhu Qizhen was released by the Oirat Mongols and returned to China. Emperor Jingtai, Zhu Qiyu, honored him as the Retired Emperor and placed him under house arrest in the Southern Palace.

The palace gates were locked and blocked with trees and walls, and food was only passed through a small hole, which is the so-called "imprisonment in the Southern Palace".

It was from here that Zhu Qizhen launched the "Tumu Crisis" and regained the throne.

Emperor Yingzong himself did not mind this place. After his restoration, he even renovated the Southern Palace and held banquets for his officials there.

However, the three emperors who followed, Emperor Xianzong, Emperor Xiaozong, and Emperor Wuzong, rarely visited the Southern Palace, and there is no record of them staying overnight.

During the Jiajing reign, this place became an even more taboo "place where dragons are trapped".

In the fortieth year of the Jiajing reign, the Yongshou Palace, the emperor's residence in the Western Garden, was burned down again, leaving only a white ruin.

Emperor Jiajing resolutely refused to move back to the Forbidden City, claiming that there were ghosts in the palace.

Yan Song suggested temporarily residing in Chonghua Palace in the Southern Palace, but was severely reprimanded by the Jiajing Emperor.

In the end, Emperor Jiajing preferred to live for several months in the cramped and damp Yuxi Palace in the Western Garden, waiting for the completion of the Wanshou Palace, which was rebuilt on the original site of Yongshou Palace.

When Li Zicheng entered Beijing at the end of the Ming Dynasty, Chonghua Palace was destroyed by fire.

After the Manchus entered the Central Plains, Dorgon built the Prince Rui's Mansion on the high platform of Chonghua Palace, which became the actual political center in the early Qing Dynasty.

During the Kangxi era, it was converted into a Tibetan Buddhist temple to worship Mahakala. During the Qianlong era, it was renamed Pudu Temple.

At this moment, the Chonghua Palace in the Southern Inner Palace that Lu Chen saw was still the one that Zhu Qizhen had imprisoned for seven years and then ordered to be repaired after his restoration.

This place was considered an ominous "trapped dragon's lair" by the Jiajing Emperor!

Lu Chen smiled gently.

As expected of the Jiajing Emperor, a master of political maneuvering, even though he summoned himself to the capital to assist the Crown Prince in overseeing the country, he still did not forget to set limits for himself in every way.

Of course, Lu Chen wasn't surprised at all by this.

In another dimension of history, the Jiajing Emperor was also wary of the grown-up Prince Yu and Prince Jing in his later years.

He never established a crown prince, allowing his ministers to bet on Prince Yu and Prince Jing, leading to a power struggle between them.

Even when only Prince Yu remained as his son, Emperor Jiajing did not relinquish power to him.

Unfortunately, I am neither Prince Yu nor Prince Jing!

Now that I have stepped into the center of power in the Ming Dynasty, I will never leave!