Ming Dynasty: I am truly not the Emperor of Longevity

"Where is Chen Furong now? Has she returned?"

Lu Chen asked.

"Your Highness, Chen Furong is in the rear hall of Renshou Palace. Her Majesty the Empress has sent her to serve Your Majesty by the imperial bed."

Tang Zhe understood that Lu Chen wanted to investigate Chen Furong, and he had already inquired about her before coming.

"I have also learned about another matter."

This morning, Her Majesty the Empress sent Granny Wei to find the eunuch in the Imperial Archives and the female official in charge of the Imperial History, and asked them to record an event in the Imperial History and the Imperial History.

The night before the palace coup, after summoning Consort Cao for a sexual encounter, His Majesty, still not satisfied, pulled Chen Furong to his bed and slept with her.

"Seriously?!"

Lu Chen was genuinely taken aback.

"When and where His Majesty slept with a woman, and which woman he favored, must all be recorded on the same day, right?"

Even when I was in Chonghua Palace, it was the same.

Can something like this be recorded afterwards?

"I inquired with the eunuchs in the Imperial Secretariat and learned that His Majesty sometimes suddenly takes a fancy to a certain palace maid, and there are instances where this is recorded the following day."

Tang Zhe quickly replied,

"But Chen Furong's situation is a bit special. According to that old nanny Wei, besides His Majesty himself, only Consort Cao and a few palace maids were present at the time."

His Majesty is currently unconscious and unable to confirm this matter.

All other witnesses who could testify that she had been favored by His Majesty have been executed.

"So, in reality, Chen Furong was just making things up without any evidence?"

Lu Chen frowned slightly.

"Is this how the eunuchs in the document room and the female officials in charge of the imperial archives recorded things?"

"I've got it."

Tang Zhe nodded.

"I have also asked this question. The eunuch in charge of the Imperial Secretariat replied that, on the one hand, it was the Empress's will, and on the other hand, no one would dare to lie about such a thing."

His Majesty is indeed unconscious now, but once he wakes up, he will be able to immediately distinguish the truth from the falsehood. If Chen Furong dares to lie, that would be a crime of deceiving the emperor.

Moreover, many palace maids who have been favored by His Majesty are usually only given a slight promotion, such as becoming a concubine.

They were only slightly higher in status than ordinary palace maids, and received a slightly higher monthly salary, but they were still still palace maids.

His Majesty wouldn't simply bestow the title of concubine upon a palace maid he had favored.

Chen Furong was already a senior palace maid, which was higher than the rank of a concubine. Her status would not be elevated just because she had been favored by the Emperor.

A palace maid who has been favored by the Emperor can only rise to the rank of concubine by becoming pregnant with his child.

So that's what she was planning all along!

Lu Chen suddenly realized.

If it were an ordinary palace maid, she certainly wouldn't dare to lie about being favored by the emperor.

But Chen Furong is different. This woman is the time traveler from "Blackwood Cliff" who was sent to the palace as an undercover agent!

If she wanted to have an affair in the West Garden, she had a way!

The management of the Western Garden was not as strict as that of the inner palace. It was indeed difficult for men from outside the palace to enter Renshou Palace, but it was not so taboo for palace maids to go to other areas of the Western Garden.

Especially for a palace maid like her, who was nearly thirty years old and in charge of the household affairs.

Duan Chaoyong and his apprentice Wang Ziyan were her accomplices, and they lived near Leitan, which was only three or four hundred meters away from Renshou Palace.

They were all plotting rebellion, and if their crimes were exposed, it would be a grave offense punishable by death for nine generations of their families.

Even if their identities were fabricated and the imperial court couldn't find their families, they themselves would still face severe punishment.

Under such immense pressure, having an affair in secret becomes a natural progression. They would never betray each other in such a matter, as their level of trust is at its peak.

Could Chen Furong already be pregnant?

Now that both assassination attempts have failed, Duan Chaoyong and his apprentice are dead, and she has no way to escape from the palace.

The sixteen palace maids who murdered the emperor were all her subordinates, and the imperial guards probably already suspected her in secret.

Only by staying in the palace and under the Empress's protection could no one dare to touch her.

Staying in the palace is safe for the time being, but if my belly starts to show, it will be a big problem.

The only way was to take advantage of the fact that there was no way to prove anything now and pin the blame on the emperor, the only man who could legally have sex with the palace maids.

As for how she plans to deal with the emperor after he wakes up, Lu Chen can't think of a solution yet.

But one thing is certain: since she dared to say that, she must have a way to deceive the emperor after he wakes up.

However, that doesn't matter anymore.

Now that I've guessed her plan, I'm not going to let her succeed!

The bag of "ice" that Duan Chao and his apprentice had hidden had already been used to catch Chen Furong, this little fish.

Now, it's Chen Furong's turn to be the bait and catch an even bigger fish!

The battle in Pingding Prefecture was a probing encounter between myself and that mysterious time traveler, using the Ming army in Shanxi.

After all, the other party was a time traveler who had built a mountain city that was easy to defend and difficult to attack, and had also infiltrated the Taiyuan military.

Among the known accomplices was Zhang Yin, the commander of the Taiyuan Left Guard.

This person has been operating in Shanxi for at least a decade; who knows which other Ming troops have been infiltrated in Shanxi?

The fact that the other side sent six masters of internal martial arts to assassinate him, rather than assassins carrying advanced modern weapons, left Lu Chen completely baffled.

The only current speculation is that the other party is someone with a passion for martial arts who wants to create a "Sun Moon Cult" in this world.

Not only did they name their base Blackwood Cliff, but they also searched for masters of internal martial arts in the martial arts world.

But this does not mean that the other side will give up manufacturing advanced weapons that are ahead of their time.

If there are indeed a large number of modern firearms such as flintlock muskets on Blackwood Cliff, this battle will be very difficult.

Although Fan Jizu was the governor-general of Xuanfu, Datong and Shanxi, and could mobilize more than 100,000 Ming troops, the outcome of the battle was still uncertain!

For Lu Chen, the most important goal was to understand the opponent's strength through this battle and then deal with them calmly.

They never expected to wipe out the enemy in one fell swoop.

The two sides are likely to engage in a protracted war that could last for years.

If, during this time, the mysterious time traveler who sent Chen Furong to infiltrate the palace were to learn that Chen Furong had become a concubine, he would surely see her as a rare find.

I can use her to give the other person a big surprise!

But before that, there are two things to do.

"You go out of the palace now and buy me a packet of alum."

Lu Chen gave the instructions.

"The appearance and weight must be exactly as described by the people from the Imperial Horse Administration; it should be difficult to tell the difference with the naked eye."

Although I don't know what Chen Furong is planning to do by secretly taking back that bag of "ice," such a dangerous thing should not be left in this woman's hands!

Empress Fang's decision to send her to serve Emperor Jiajing by his bedside was most likely her own idea, as she could use taking care of the emperor to improve her own standing.

Once her pregnancy becomes visible, she can give Empress Fang a reason to secure a higher status for herself.

That's fine, but I'm afraid she has other ideas!

If the Jiajing Emperor survived the most difficult withdrawal period while in a coma, but then relapsed after waking up, that would be very bad!

Since the people at the Imperial Stables believe that what's missing is a packet of alum, then let it really be a packet of alum!