Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 161 His Majesty has passed away?
boom!
A loud bang sounded near the imperial city!

And there were several explosions in succession.

However, these explosions were precise explosions, rather than the direct ignition of large amounts of gunpowder.

The main explosion point was chosen as the gun test range outside the Ordnance Bureau. Of course, in order to create the effect of an explosion in the Ordnance Bureau, the gate and external buildings of the Ordnance Bureau were blown up, but the internal facilities and important documents were still intact.

In order to make the officials of various central ministries and temples inside the Daming Gate believe that an explosion had occurred, Zhu Houzhao specifically ordered the Jinyiwei to place several boxes of large firecrackers near the Daming Gate.

at this time.

When the explosions sounded one after another, officials from various ministries, institutes and temples of the central court were still working, so they all heard the sounds and even felt as if the earth was shaking.

"What exactly happened?" Minister of Rites Zhang Sheng suddenly asked at this time.

"It seems that the explosion came from the Ordnance Bureau. I heard that His Majesty will go to inspect the Ordnance Bureau today," Du Long, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, suddenly said at this time.

It was this remark by Du Long, the Left Vice Minister of Rites, that made the expressions of Zhang Sheng, the Minister of Rites, and the officials present tense, and they immediately thought that the emperor might be in danger.

Recently, because the court wants to abolish the craftsman registration system, many major cases have occurred one after another. Either court officials were killed or the children of nobles were bombed. The civil servants can guess who are the masterminds behind this, and naturally they also guess that if Your Majesty insists on having his own way, they may take action against Your Majesty.

Although many civil servants guessed this, not many of them were willing to remind Zhu Houzhao. First, it would easily offend the emperor, and second, they actually hoped that the emperor would be blown to death. Although the consequences of assassinating the emperor themselves might be very serious, they would not stop others from doing so.

Now, thinking that the emperor might have been killed, the Minister of Rites Zhang Sheng showed a happy smile, but then he frowned again and said solemnly: "Let's go and take a look!"

Therefore, many civil servants rushed over following the sound of the explosion. Many of them were very excited and wished they could see Zhu Houzhao's body. After all, this emperor who was keen on reform had harmed them so badly. First, he had created the imperial examination system, and now anyone who proposed the imperial lecture had to write a 10,000-word imperial lecture manuscript every day and submit it. This was simply unbearable for these civil servants.

At this time, Zeng Jian, the Minister of Works, came running over holding the dragon robe that had been burned to the point that only half of it was left. When he saw the civil officials coming, he started crying:

"Everyone! There was an accident at the Ordnance Bureau. His Majesty was blown up and disappeared without a trace. Only this half-rolled dragon robe was left. Woo woo!"

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty has passed away? Ahahahahahahahaha..."

Minister of Rites Zhang Sheng asked, then laughed instinctively, but then he realized that he might have lost his composure. He should have been extremely sad and excited at this time, so he hurriedly shouted again:

"Your Majesty! Your Majesty! You died halfway through your career. God is really against our Ming Dynasty! Woohoo! Why did you go?"

"Your Majesty! Woohoo!"

The other civil servants also started crying.

Xia Yan, who was in charge of supervising Zeng Jian's performance, smiled secretly when he saw the civil officials in Dadu crying. Then he followed Zhu Houzhao's instructions and shouted, "Please accept my condolences, and now please make a decision quickly!"

"Now that your majesty has passed away, although we are extremely sad, the country cannot be without a king for a day, so we must first find a way to appoint a new crown prince. But now that your majesty has no son, we can only choose from among the princes. But before choosing a prince, we must first kill the treacherous officials in the court, announce your majesty's will to the world, abolish the laws that cause chaos, and save the people from danger!"

Minister of Rites Zhang Sheng wiped his tears and said something, then shouted loudly: "Everyone, since His Majesty has passed away, now is the time to take this opportunity to abolish the policies that have brought disaster to the country and the people, and punish the treacherous officials in the court before the new emperor is established. Do you agree or not?"

"As the Grand Master of the Imperial Clan said, before the new dynasty is established, the bad policies of the previous dynasty should be exposed. We will go to the palace now and ask the ministers to draft the late emperor's will!" At this time, Ai Sheng, the Imperial Censor, echoed loudly, and the other civil servants immediately followed suit and rushed to the palace.

Minister of Rites Zhang Sheng looked at what Minister of Works Zeng Jian said and said with a smile: "If the new emperor is established, Zeng Gong will be the first to be credited!"

Zeng Jian just smiled awkwardly and looked at Xia Yan beside him. He didn't dare to tell the truth.

At this time, Zhang Sheng instructed Du Long, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, "Tell Eunuch Zhang and Duke of Chengguo Zhu Feng that His Majesty has unfortunately passed away, and have them come to the Qianqing Palace Cabinet and the Silijian Duty Room to discuss the situation!"

At that moment, the civil officials rushed to the palace as if they had been injected with chicken blood. Gao Feng, who was in charge of the palace guards, asked: "What are you doing?"

"Eunuch Gao, His Majesty has passed away. We are going to report this to the elders. Please let us in!" When Minister of Rites Zhang Sheng said this, Gao Feng was dumbfounded and murmured, "His Majesty has passed away? This... This, His Majesty!"

Gao Feng really started crying. She was so sad that she almost lost her mind and forgot to stop these civil servants, so these civil servants just barged in.

Not long after, this group of civil servants came to the duty room of the Cabinet and the Imperial Household Department, and informed the news to the Cabinet Chief Ma Wensheng, the Second Chief Jiao Fang, the Third Chief Xu Jin, and the Imperial Household Department's Seal Holder Liu Jin and others.

Cabinet Chief Minister Ma Wensheng and others were shocked when they heard the news of Zhu Houzhao's death. Ma Wensheng almost fainted, but fortunately he had nitroglycerin to keep him alive. Jiao Fang and Xu Jin were also very frightened and almost fell down. Even Jiao Fang had to be supported by Liu Jin, and Liu Jin himself was so frightened that he dropped his brush on the ground.

But what these people did not expect was that after learning of the emperor's death, these civil servants impatiently swarmed into the cabinet and the Silijian duty room so quickly. It was obvious that they were trying to seize power!

The Minister of Rites Zhang Sheng first stepped forward and said, "Your Excellency the Prime Minister! Now that His Majesty has passed away, the late Emperor's will has not yet been established. Please write the will!

Abolish the performance evaluation system!
Abolish the military system of the Imperial Guards and the four ministries, one office and one court, and return to the Beijing Camp and the Imperial Guard system!

Withdraw the decree to abolish the craftsman registration system!
Abolish the Constitution!

Destroy the Imperial University of Peking!

Remove the post of the governor of Nanzhili, and abolish the Treaty of Shouyi and Nanzhili! "

"That's right! Please ask the Prime Minister to quickly issue a will and promulgate it to the whole country, abolish the new policy, and give preferential treatment to scholars and officials!"

"Please, Prime Minister, quickly issue a will to redress the injustice and release the officials arrested by the East Factory!"

One by one, the civil servants stood up and spoke aggressively to Ma Wensheng and others.

Ma Wensheng's face turned red with anxiety when he saw this: "You! You are too impatient! His Majesty has just passed away, and his body is still warm, yet you are so anxious to force me. I will never listen to you! It's against His Majesty's last wish!"

"How outrageous! We are cabinet ministers, and we have received orders from His Majesty to govern the country. How can we allow you to be so rampant! I advise you to withdraw immediately! Otherwise, you will be treasoning!" Jiao Fang also scolded.

"Ma Wensheng! Jiao Fang! Now that His Majesty has passed away! It's the end of you too! Do you think that officials and gentry in the world are really willing to follow your reform? You have already caused criticism from the gentry in the world, why don't you take this opportunity to prove your innocence while making a will? Do you really want to be infamous forever?"

Minister of Rites Zhang Sheng shouted.

(End of this chapter)