Ming Dynasty: I am truly not the Emperor of Longevity

In fact, apart from the time he saved the emperor from the fire in Weihui, Lu Chen had never been so close to the Jiajing Emperor before.

I've only met him four times in total.

He was granted the title of Prince in Chengtian Prefecture and formally appointed to assist the Crown Prince in overseeing the country in the capital. He was more than ten meters away from the Jiajing Emperor.

I am now standing less than a meter away from Emperor Jiajing's bedside.

According to Xu Kun's statement, Emperor Jiajing has less than a 10% chance of being saved.

But if one is willing, one can extinguish this last chance in an instant.

No one seems to think there's anything wrong with it!

How should I choose?

To be fair, the Jiajing Emperor treated himself very well!

Before transmigrating, Lu Chen had read a lot of historical materials about the treatment of the Ming Dynasty's imperial family. After being enfeoffed as the Prince of Ying, he inquired about the situation of other princes from the officials in the prince's palace.

The treatment he, the King of Ying, received was absolutely unique.

This was back in Chengtian Prefecture!

After he entered the capital to assist the Crown Prince in overseeing the country, the situation became even more different.

Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, there have been several members of the imperial family who served as regents.

The first Prince Xiang, Zhu Zhanshan, and the first Prince Zheng, Zhu Zhanjun, both served as regents for very short periods, merely temporarily overseeing the country when Zhu Zhanji was not in the capital.

There was also Prince Cheng, Zhu Qiyu, who was appointed to oversee the country in a time of crisis after his elder brother, Zhu Qizhen, was captured. He was not appointed by the emperor, but later directly ascended the throne as emperor.

In reality, only Zhu Biao and Zhu Gaochi were members of the imperial clan who were granted the power to oversee the country for an extended period by the reigning emperor.

Of course, now there is a third person: the Crown Prince Zhu Zaihe, who is only seven years old (by Chinese reckoning).

But everyone knew that the real regent was himself, Prince Ying, Zhu Houyu.

It's important to know that Zhu Biao and Zhu Gaochi were both crown princes, and were the heirs to the throne on whom great hopes were placed.

The Jiajing Emperor's trust and favor towards her were comparable to those of others.

Lu Chen might put aside all the power struggles and carefully examine his own heart.

I used to think that I had no feelings for the Jiajing Emperor and that whether he was alive or dead would not affect me.

But when Lu Chen actually saw the Jiajing Emperor lying on his imperial bed, barely breathing and on the verge of death, he was surprised to find that he felt a little sad.

That's true; after all, I am an educated modern person with normal values.

From a purely emotional perspective, although Emperor Jiajing had many problems and could not be considered a good emperor, he was absolutely true to himself.

Let alone secretly sabotaging someone, even just standing by and watching someone die would make you feel terrible.

Lu Chen bit his lip, the slight pain bringing his rationality back.

If we disregard personal feelings, would it have been more advantageous for the Jiajing Emperor to live or to die?

If the emperor dies, the crown prince will naturally succeed him, which is perfectly legitimate.

Empress Fang and the Crown Prince's birth mother, Imperial Noble Consort Wang, will both be honored as Empress Dowagers, with the two palaces standing side by side.

The new emperor is young, and since I have the late emperor's decree, it is perfectly legitimate for me to continue to oversee the country and assist in governing.

Neither the two empress dowagers nor the court officials had any reason to object!

But what are the downsides?

After the Jingnan Campaign, the Ming court officials were extremely wary of the Imperial Uncle, and some were sure to secretly collude with him to oppose them.

In the end, he was just a vassal king, and it was not appropriate for him to hold power for a long time. The two empress dowagers would not be willing to let the young emperor be controlled by them for a long time.

At that time, the forces in the imperial court will inevitably split and take sides.

Some people will choose to support themselves, while others will support the Empress Dowager.

In a few years, when the young emperor grows up to be a teenager, the calls for him to relinquish power and rule in his own right will grow louder and louder.

Although he was confident that he could win, suppress all his opponents, and even ascend the throne, he ultimately lacked a legitimate and justifiable cause.

Just like Zhu Di, who seized the throne from his nephew by force, he was also troubled by the legitimacy of his claim to the throne.

To this end, they went so far as to forcibly deny the existence of the Jianwen reign, changing the years from the first to the fourth year of Jianwen's reign to the thirty-second to the thirty-fifth year of Hongwu's reign.

He "resurrected" his father four years ago!

Even during his lifetime, he designated his temple name as Taizong to indicate that his throne was inherited in the right of succession.

If I were to seize the throne through scheming and force after the death of the Jiajing Emperor, my claim to the throne would ultimately be illegitimate.

Even when Emperor Jiajing's three sons died young, a bunch of scholars would write unofficial histories to smear him, claiming that he had plotted to kill them.

What if the Jiajing Emperor had survived?

In another dimension where he had once lived, the Renyin Palace Coup had a considerable impact on the Jiajing Emperor.

Especially after Xu Kun, who risked his life to administer strong medicine to save him, died suddenly.

After that, the Jiajing Emperor lived in the Western Garden for a long period of time, stopped attending court sessions, and never returned to the palace.

From the 21st year of the Jiajing reign to the 45th year of the Jiajing reign, a period of 24 years, there are only three records of the emperor receiving audiences from his ministers.

Of course, during this period, the Jiajing Emperor still controlled the government through the Grand Secretariat and the Directorate of Ceremonial.

But he devoted most of his energy to "quiet contemplation and spiritual cultivation".

The time spent on administrative affairs each day is far less than the time spent on spiritual practice.

It was around this time that Yan Song gained the trust of the Jiajing Emperor by diligently serving in the Western Garden and being skilled at writing official documents, and began to compete with Xia Yan for the position of Grand Secretary.

It was also because the Jiajing Emperor neglected his duties, only overseeing major matters and delegating the day-to-day affairs of the court to the cabinet, that Yan Song and his son were able to monopolize power for fifteen years.

Guo Shoulu had told himself that Duan Chaoyong had tricked Guo Xun, claiming that the emperor had told him that after leaving the pass, he would continue to assist the crown prince in overseeing the country and handling the daily affairs of the court.

Emperor Jiajing himself would focus on cultivating Taoism.

Although he himself thought Duan Chaoyong was talking nonsense, Emperor Jiajing might not be incapable of doing such a thing!

The Jiajing Emperor trusted him far more than an ordinary elder brother would trust his younger brother. Since he didn't want to handle daily affairs personally, he figured it was better to let the emperor continue to oversee the country than to hand it over to the cabinet.

In the past two years, the court's operating mechanism has actually been quite good. The cabinet ministers, who are good at political affairs, drafted their opinions on how to handle the matter. The Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs would first pass through the gatekeepers, and then the Prince Regent himself would make the final review and approval.

Basically, there shouldn't be any major problems.

As for the throne, he wasn't actually in a hurry.

Although Emperor Jiajing already had three sons, in another dimension of history, neither the Crown Prince nor Prince Jing had any children.

The crown prince died at the age of fourteen, and King Jing had no children until he died at the age of twenty-nine. None of them died young, so he must have been completely infertile.

In reality, only Prince Yu had the opportunity to bear a grandchild for the Jiajing Emperor.

But that opportunity no longer exists.

Li Caifeng, who gave birth to two princes and three princesses for Prince Yu, is now living with her father, Li Wei, in Chengtian Prefecture.

He even arranged for Li Wei to work on the renovation project of Xianling Mausoleum, making him a foreman.

When the Xianling project is completed, Li Wei and his family will continue to work as craftsmen for the Prince of Ying's Palace.

Even if I do nothing, the throne will eventually fall into my hands!