Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 1: Death of Emperor Hongzhi

Zhu Houzhao opened his eyes again and looked at the roof. It was still a wooden caisson with carved patterns and gold gilded on it. He felt as if he were in a palace. He couldn't help but wonder, "Did I really travel through time?"

Immediately afterwards, Zhu Houzhao felt a severe headache, and then countless pieces of information poured out of his mind like running water.

Are you the current Crown Prince Zhu Houzhao of the Ming Dynasty?

The current emperor is Ming Hongzhi Emperor Zhu Youtang? Did he suddenly faint after hearing the news of his father's death?
"My Lord, are you awake?"

At this time, a white-faced, beardless eunuch wearing a tile-shaped hat ran over and asked with a look of surprise, but the tears in his eyes could not stop flowing down: "I am so worried. If anything happens to you, the sky of my Ming Dynasty will fall."

"Are you Liu Jin?"

Zhu Houzhao asked according to his memory.

Liu Jin nodded and replied, "I am Liu Jin, my lord. What's wrong with you? You can't even recognize me. Have you lost your soul?"

"No, I was just too sad. My father has passed away, and I, this palace, must go. I must see my father for the last time. Take me to the Qianqing Palace quickly."

Zhu Houzhao did not expect that he could travel back to the Ming Dynasty to be reborn before his death. This was a very lucky thing for him, so he chose to accept his current identity. What's more, he was a prince, not a commoner. It could be said that this was a very good identity for traveling back in time.

Therefore, Zhu Houzhao quickly put himself in the role of Crown Prince Zhu Houzhao and hurriedly ordered Liu Jin to take him to the Qianqing Palace.

Zhu Houzhao changed into plain mourning clothes with the help of palace maids, and was accompanied to the Qianqing Palace by eight personal eunuchs including Liu Jin.

At this time, the Qianqing Palace was shrouded in dark clouds and there were cries everywhere. Even Liu Jin, who was beside Zhu Houzhao, started to cry: "Your Majesty was always kind and tolerant, and he was very compassionate to us servants. Now he has passed away like this. It is really unexpected."

Zhu Houzhao took one look at Liu Jin and knew that Liu Jin would be a powerful eunuch who would later wield great power in the court.

Judging from Liu Jin's current performance, compared with the other eunuchs who did not react, Zhu Houzhao had to admit that Liu Jin was indeed much more cunning and clever. He knew that he, the prince, had a deep relationship with his father, so he acted more sad than himself in order to win his favor.

After all, as the prince's personal eunuch, it stands to reason that if Liu Jin wanted to take charge of the inner court and become the chief eunuch, he could only wait until the emperor died and the prince ascended the throne. Therefore, he should be happy.

Liu Jin could act, and Zhu Houzhao could also act. In order to avoid being recognized as a time traveler, he had to act sad. After all, the emperor who passed away was his father.

Therefore, Zhu Houzhao squeezed a few tears and choked up, "Don't cry, let's go see our father as soon as possible."

When the other seven eunuchs saw Zhu Houzhao praising Liu Jin, they also began to shed tears.

Zhu Houzhao smiled secretly, thinking that the other seven eunuchs were not simple at all and knew how to read people's expressions.

Zhu Houzhao knew that these seven eunuchs plus Liu Jin were called the "Eight Tigers" in later generations. They were denounced by later generations as powerful eunuchs who brought chaos to the court, and Liu Jin was the most slandered among them. But no matter what, they were still the confidants of him, the prince, so Zhu Houzhao never thought of doing anything to them.

As soon as he entered the main hall of the Qianqing Palace, Zhu Houzhao saw that the half-old and half-new hall was already covered with white curtains.

The leader of the Ming Dynasty's revival, Emperor Hongzhi, is gone!

The Zhengde Emperor, that is, his own imperial career, officially began. Of course.

Zhu Houzhao knew that he could not show excitement yet. After all, his father, the crown prince, had just passed away, so he had to act sad.

Emperor Hongzhi was frugal throughout his life. Even though the Qianqing Palace was the emperor's bedroom, it now looked a bit dilapidated and unrepaired. There were not many palace maids and eunuchs in the hall, but most of them had sad faces. Among them, Empress Zhang, who was kneeling on the right side of the coffin, had tears falling from her eyes like pearls, as if they would never stop.

"Mother!"

As soon as Zhu Houzhao appeared, the Queen Zhang hurriedly took him into her arms, holding him tightly as if she were her cub, and sobbed violently with her cold cheek pressed against Zhu Houzhao's face.

Zhu Houzhao could only obediently let Queen Zhang hold him like this, thinking that perhaps Queen Zhang was so excited because she saw that her husband had passed away and her son was now her only support.

But because of this, Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but think of the tragic fate of Empress Zhang in history.

It can be said that Empress Zhang was very happy in the first half of her life. She married the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and this emperor only loved her all his life and never married another concubine. Her son has been the crown prince since he was two years old. Compared with the countless concubines in the palace who fought each other to the death in ancient times, she can be said to be very happy.

But such a happy woman has to experience the tragic fate of losing her husband in middle age and her son in old age from now on.

When Zhu Houzhao thought of Empress Zhang, he couldn't help but think of himself now, and the fact that he, the Zhengde Emperor, died young at the age of over 30. However, as a history lover since he was a child, he remembered that many emperors of the Ming Dynasty died abnormal deaths, and it seemed that he, the Zhengde Emperor, was no exception, as he died of lung disease after falling into the water.

It was the same way Emperor Tianqi died later.

Although Emperor Taichang died of excessive indulgence, it seems a bit far-fetched when you think about it.

Zhu Houzhao had no idea how stupid Emperor Taichang was to accept the woman sent by Concubine Zheng and have fun with her without caring about his life.

And from a physiological point of view, did Emperor Taichang not have a sage moment after his first time with a woman? Where is the feedback regulation of hormones? Did he never touch a woman when he was a prince? Did he have to be so horny after becoming an emperor that he started to indulge in lust before the late emperor was buried? Wasn't he afraid of being criticized by his ministers?

When Zhu Houzhao thought of this, he couldn't help but think of the current Emperor Hongzhi, who also died young.

According to Zhu Houzhao, Emperor Hongzhi had suddenly caught a wind-heat disease, that is, heatstroke, eight days ago, but the imperial physician prescribed hot medicine without examining him. Emperor Hongzhi, who understood medical principles, took the medicine without objection, and died suddenly eight days later.

Heatstroke can potentially lead to death, but it is not a serious illness and the possibility of death is very small. Moreover, Emperor Hongzhi was very healthy throughout his life and did not indulge in lust or seek pleasure. How could he not be able to withstand a heatstroke cold?

Zhu Houzhao had no idea how incompetent the imperial doctors of that era were that they could cause an emperor to die suddenly from heatstroke.

Therefore, Zhu Houzhao had reason to believe that Emperor Hongzhi might have been framed to death!

Although Zhu Houzhao was the crown prince, he lived in the Duanmu Palace and did not participate in the inner court affairs. He had left home to study six years ago. He was also rather idle and not at home every day. It was understandable that he did not know the secrets, especially since he was still young and could not notice these things. However, it was impossible for the eunuchs in the Qianqing Palace and the ministers in the cabinet not to have noticed something, right?
Zhu Houzhao believed that if Emperor Hongzhi was murdered, then several senior eunuchs and senior officials in the inner court and the cabinet were likely involved!

Recommend the author's new book "The Great Disaster of the Ming Dynasty" is absolutely cool
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(End of this chapter)