You civil officials of the Hongzhi reign are quite arrogant, aren't you!

Zhu Jianshen’s face darkened, and he said in a gloomy tone, “Lady Wang is still not dead yet.”

He was no fool. His father had died at thirty-five, his uncle Zhu Qiyu at twenty-nine, his grandfather Zhu Zhanji at thirty-six, and his great-grandfather Zhu Gaozhi hadn't even lasted a year on the throne.

Yet these empresses and dowagers outlived one another. His own mother, Lady Zhou, had lived to seventy-five. If Lady Wang hadn't seized the exact right moment to tend to her until the end, she could have lived a few more years.

And now his foolish son was on the verge of kicking the bucket at thirty-six. The discrepancy was far too vast for Zhu Jianshen not to spot the fishy business behind it.

Though he had a good temper, that did not mean his methods were soft. His gaze fell upon his fine, grown son, and he gave the order:

“Issue an imperial edict to re-establish the Western Depot.”

Zhu Youcheng gave a bitter smile. “I cannot issue such an edict, Father. Your son has already been poisoned; what real power do I have left? Wang Shu, Ma Wensheng, and Liu Daxia are at the height of their influence. I have no power in my hands.”

“The Emperor has no power?! That is because you are weak and spineless!” Zhu Jianshen hated his lack of resolve.

Zhu Youcheng lowered his head in shame.

It was true that the Ming Dynasty was the family domain of the Zhu clan, but due to the ancestral injunctions of the Ming, emperors were frequently berated to their faces by civil officials without being able to talk back or retaliate. The Ming civil officials were vastly more formidable than the ministers of the Qing Dynasty who demeaned themselves as bondservants.

Yet if an emperor wished to centralize power, he had countless methods at his disposal—such as appointing unranked patronage officials during the Chenghua era or heavily employing eunuchs to drive the civil officials half-mad, inventing endless tricks of the trade.

Zhu Youjian had remained as inconspicuous as a transparent entity until this moment, when he finally made his appearance and shook his head. “Those three are historically known as the Three Gentlemen of Hongzhi. The Hongzhi Restoration is measured in eight dou of achievement, and those three monopolize a full shi, leaving the Emperor two dou in the negative. The era of righteous men flooding the court actually began with the Hongzhi reign.”

“Still, Wuzong’s methods were brilliant. Within four years of ascending the throne, he successively stripped these powerful ministers of their posts and reduced them to commoners—though they were already eighty or ninety years old by the time that happened...”

“Who is this?” Zhu Youcheng asked cautiously. Since his father hadn't introduced him just now, he didn't dare to ask too many questions.

Although he saw him wearing imperial casual attire, he merely assumed he was some netherworld deity like King Chujiang or King Song of the underworld, and didn't dare to strike up a conversation for fear of being hauled away.

Zhu Jianshen exchanged glances with Zhu Youjian, and both realized the other hadn't done their homework on this family tree. He pondered for a moment and said:

“The bloodline connection to you is rather complicated here, and it cannot be explained in a moment. By seniority, he is your sixth-generation descendant, so let's just call him Youjian.”

Zhu Youcheng nodded thoughtfully, then suddenly froze and asked, “Why is it complicated? The sixth generation should simply be a great-great-great-grandson, surely?”

The enigmatic gazes of Zhu Jianshen and Zhu Youjian fell upon Zhu Houzhao, startling him into taking half a step back and shielding his father behind him.

“Zhao'er?” Zhu Youcheng frowned, a bad premonition rising in his chest.

“Your lineage—it broke off with your son. My grandson didn't produce a son, so the direct imperial line shifted to the Prince of Xing,” Zhu Jianshen shook his head and sighed.

???

I have no son?

Zhu Houzhao, a sturdy and muscular young man, froze on the spot. Had this not been his grandfather, he would have flexed his muscles right then and there to demand an explanation. Did they understand what it meant to be bursting with youthful vigor?

Zhu Youcheng was silent for two seconds before flying into a rage. “Zhao'er, fetch my blade! I'm going to go hack those hypocritical bastards to death!!”

Even a clay idol possessed three parts of fire. He had ascended the throne and ruled for eighteen years, giving whatever they asked for. They said the wealthy had it hard—fine, he lowered taxes for the rich and shifted the burden onto the commoners, resulting in a drastic reduction in registered households.

They wanted official posts; he gave Wang Shu and the others ministerial titles along with titles like Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent, and Junior Tutor and Grand Tutor of the Heir Apparent. A single person drew four salaries, and he was practically one step away from placing them on an altar to worship.

They demanded that he stay away from female companionship; to this day, he only had the Empress. Since he had done all this, and yet they still wanted to cut off his bloodline?

Wasn't this simply bullying an honest man!

Zhu Houzhao hurriedly stepped forward to hold his father back, soothing him, “Father, do not be rash. You have just recovered from a severe illness and should not give in to anger. Leave it to your son to reason with those lords. If reasoning fails, your son also happens to be somewhat skilled in martial arts.”

Zhu Youcheng was quite obedient, sitting back down on the dragon couch without wrestling with his strapping son—he wouldn't have won that contest anyway. He asked eagerly, “Father, how long did Zhao'er live?”

I didn't even outlive you, how would I know how long my grandson lived?

Zhu Jianshen shook his head. “Youjian, you tell him.”

“In the sixteenth year of Zhengde, Wuzong dissolved into the water.”

Zhu Youjian mused, “Wuzong had no heirs because there was no one from the Cabinet in the inner palace.”

There was one thing he left unsaid: it was because Xiaozong’s Empress Zhang was a candidate carefully selected by the Cabinet...

“Wuzong was wary of the Cabinet to the extreme. Not a single imperial concubine in the inner palace was arranged by the Cabinet, so it was impossible for Wuzong to have offspring.”

“Because the Cabinet did not allow it.”

“In the fifteenth year of Zhengde, he fell into the water at Qingjiangpu. By the time he returned to the palace, Wuzong’s confidants like Jiang Bin had already been transferred away from the capital, and civil officials surrounded him on all sides. Wuzong stood isolated and unsupported, and died of illness a year later.”

Zhu Youcheng flew into a rage. “Arrogant!”

“The Cabinet did not allow it? What a fine ‘the Cabinet does not allow it’!”

After a bout of impotent rage, Zhu Youcheng pleaded, “I beg Father to instruct me!”

“It is very simple. I shall just restore myself to the throne,” Zhu Jianshen said with a beaming smile, his hands clasped behind his back, his gentle words conveying an incomparably formidable majesty.

“Good! Zhao'er, go pass the imperial edict summoning the Three Ducal Ministers and Nine Ministers to the Wenhua Hall for a council!” Zhu Youcheng ordered. Since state affairs began to be handled in the Wenhua Hall, they should naturally end there as well!

Though his throne had been inexplicably snatched away by his long-dead grandfather, Zhu Houzhao harbored no grievances. Instead, fearing no chaos in the world, he excitedly responded, “Son is on his way!”

Then, under the gaze of the three emperors, he agilely vaulted out through the window in a smooth and fluid sequence of movements.

“Does this child always ignore conventional paths?” Zhu Jianshen asked in astonishment.

Zhu Youcheng massaged his temples. “This boy is as cunning as a monkey. Normally I can't keep him in line, and I don't know if it's innate divine strength or what, but his grip is terrifyingly strong.”

He then put on the appearance of a diligent student, asking sincerely, “Father, how do you plan to discipline the Cabinet and seize control of the government?”

Zhu Jianshen revealed a confident smile and spoke softly, “Youjian, summon the reinforcements. Let's give them a little taste of ancestral shock treatment.”

“Hold on, let me check!”

Zhu Youjian did not summon the firearm guards; he knew the Emperor of Chenghua was referring to calling upon the imperial ancestors and sages.

After pondering for a moment, he snapped back to attention and said, “The Founding Emperor is unavailable today. His Second Imperial Sister's son, Li Wuzhong, was appointed Grand Commander in charge of the realm's military forces while also holding a post at the Imperial Academy. He was poisoned not long ago, and the Founding Emperor flew into a rage and is currently on a killing spree in the Hongwu era.”

Zhu Jianshen nodded in understanding. After all, the Founding Emperor's second elder sister only had one son, Li Wuzhong, and had directly put him in charge of the realm's military forces to participate in military and state affairs. This showed how heavily he weighed in his heart.

Although the Prince of Qiyang had an unpromising son named Li Jinglong, it did not diminish Li Wuzhong's importance in the Founding Emperor's eyes.

After all, whose family didn't have an unpromising son... or an unpromising father?

As for being poisoned, there was no doubt about it. For a military general in charge of the realm's armed forces to also hold a post at the civilian Imperial Academy was something the civil officials could never tolerate.

Not daring to cross the Founding Emperor, if they didn't finish off Li Wuzhong, who else would they target?

It was just that the historical trajectory had changed. In their wildest dreams, they would never have guessed that the Founding Emperor possessed tens of thousands of miraculous pills with astonishing efficacy and zero side effects.

Dozens of pills thrown down his throat, and the man recovered on the spot.

What more was there to say? The nephew shed tears of grievance, and uncle Zhu Yuanwang directly went on a killing spree!

Zhu Youjian added, “However, the Yongle Emperor is very interested in this matter. His condition is that once it's done, you seven—cough, once it's done, you must make a trip to the Zhengde era to give little Zhu Houcong, also known as the Jiajing Emperor, a good beating to vent some frustration.”

“I still have those two thousand firearm guards from the Chenghua era at our disposal; that should be enough...”

Zhu Jianshen nodded.

“The two Yongle Emperors are a bit excited. They've brought two hundred thousand troops; let me go persuade them first...”

Zhu Youjian said hastily.

What two thousand firearm guards?

What Founding and Yongle Emperors?

How on earth is there a twenty-thousand-strong army?!

Zhu Youcheng remained in a state of utter bewilderment throughout the entire ordeal. He had originally wanted to learn some of his father's imperial arts of governance, but why did the plot seem to have veered off by a billion miles!