Volume 3: Dragon and Snake Movement Chapter 438: Stumbling Blocks Must Be Removed
The queen, who was imprisoned in Kunning Palace, was probably the last person to learn that she had been deposed.
The reason was simple. The edict to depose the empress was drafted by the empress dowager who ordered the cabinet minister Kong Daxueshi. Wu Gelao and Zhang Yu were just symbolically filling in the gaps. The emperor was so angry that he ran away. Therefore, after reading the edict, the empress dowager directly ordered the Tongzhengsi to announce it to the world. However, no one remembered that the edict to depose the empress should be sent to Kunning Palace first and read to the deposed former queen mother.
Therefore, when the emperor found out about this, he had already woken up early the next morning in a room beside the martial arts arena, and hurriedly washed and changed his clothes to rush back to the Palace of Heavenly Purity to prepare for court. When Liu Feng carefully mentioned this matter, he saw the emperor's dull face, and his heart skipped a beat, and he immediately realized that the emperor had simply forgotten!
Sure enough, the emperor's expression returned to normal in a moment, but he asked unhappily, "What did the Queen Mother say?"
The Queen Mother...didn't say anything! Liu Feng secretly complained in his heart, but he still had to bite the bullet and said: "After the Queen Mother sent the three elders away, she returned to Qingning Palace. She didn't say anything, and no one dared to ask. As for Kunning Palace, we have been following the Queen Mother and Your Majesty's previous instructions. As soon as the imperial physician left, someone supervised to close the door of Kunning Palace first..."
"Alright!" Knowing that he had indeed made a big mistake, the emperor could only pat his forehead lightly, and then interrupted Liu Feng's words, trying his best to speak in a nonchalant tone, "Go and tell Chu Kuan to pick a reliable person to go to Kunning Palace to pass on the imperial edict. As for moving the palace, you should first check whether there is a suitable palace in the six palaces in the east and west, and there is no need to rush."
Yes, there is no need to rush. Your Majesty, you don't have many concubines in your harem. The twelve palaces in the six east and west palaces are not even full! It is not difficult to free up a palace that is not in the same room with other concubines to accommodate the deposed queen!
However, Liu Feng was most relieved that the emperor did not ask him to do this, but instead instructed Chu Kuan, the seal holder of the Imperial Household Department, to do it. Therefore, he was not willing to go there in person, and after sending the emperor to the court, he immediately sent a little eunuch to pass on the message to Chu Kuan. However, when the little eunuch came back and reported, he was surprised.
"You mean, Eunuch Chu went to Kunning Palace in person?"
Seeing the 13 or 14-year-old eunuch nodding his head desperately with an expression that said, "I definitely can't remember it wrong," Liu Feng was immediately confused. But this was not a big deal, after all, the queen had become the deposed queen. Even if Chu Kuan had some friendship with the deposed queen in the past and was planning to comfort her, or if Chu Kuan had a grudge against the deposed queen and was planning to show off his power, it was none of his business anyway.
He immediately forgot about it and didn't even bother to send someone to Kunning Palace to find out what was going on there.
Not only him, but all the concubines also stayed in the palace and restricted the palace maids from going out. Even Concubine Yu, who was always straightforward and even dared to use a sword against the queen, was not interested in going to Kunning Palace to see the queen's joke at this time. In her words to Princess Yongping, it was the most boring thing to beat a drowned dog.
So, when the queen suddenly heard the news that she was deposed as Consort Jing, which was like a bolt from the blue, she was lucky to avoid making a fool of herself in front of a group of concubines whom she had always looked down upon. But even so, she would not feel the slightest bit of gratitude, because at this moment, her heart and mind were filled with rage and grief.
"Where is the emperor? Why doesn't he come in person? Why doesn't he dare to read the edict in front of me in person? Instead, he only dares to use the ridiculous excuse of following the Empress Dowager's order and accusing me of being unfilial..."
Seeing people yelling like crazy, Chu Kuan stood there quietly, neither speaking to comfort nor mocking, as if he was just a Buddha statue. It was not until she kept repeating the same words over and over again, and the palace servants around her were either pale or lost, obviously thinking of the miserable end of being the people around the deposed queen, that he coughed lightly.
At this time, the former queen, who was lying on the ground with disheveled hair, had already exhausted all her strength and could no longer make any sound, while the others were all silent. There was complete silence all around. He then said in an extremely steady voice: "The decree to depose the queen was issued to the Ministry of Public Administration yesterday. By this time today, it must have been circulated throughout the country by express horses. The reason why it was not issued in Kunning Palace right away..."
He paused, then smiled and said, "The Emperor sympathized with Concubine Jing's weak health yesterday, so he delayed it until today. As for why the Emperor did not come in person at this time, Concubine Jing looked up at the sky. At this time, the Emperor must have gone to court. Besides, even if he did not go to court, the Emperor rarely went to any concubine in the morning. Isn't this what you often nag about?"
Although Chu Kuan spoke in a gentle tone and with a respectful attitude, Concubine Jing was a sensitive and irritable person, and she immediately became furious. However, just as she was trying to support herself and stand up, Chu Kuan moved his feet slightly, and in an instant he had already stepped back five or six steps. She could only shout angrily, "Old eunuch, how dare you bully me!"
"I have always known that I am just a eunuch."
Chu Kuan bowed again, his voice still very respectful, "When I entered the palace, I learned loyalty, righteousness, benevolence and filial piety, and the things passed down from my great grandfather, so I know it's not easy to be a virtuous queen. Even a heroine like the queen mother who was bold and decisive when in power and quick and decisive when giving up power was criticized by others. Concubine Jing, do you know what outsiders said about you when you were the queen?"
Without waiting for Concubine Jing to reply, he suddenly raised his head and said word by word: "You don't know how to appreciate your blessings! Even after ordinary nobles and officials marry their wives, most of them are far less kind to Concubine Jing than the emperor did back then! Of course, if Concubine Jing can teach two virtuous princes, then the emperor will have nothing to say, and the ministers will naturally support them, but what kind of people are the eldest and second princes!"
Concubine Jing had never thought that Chu Kuan would dare to scold her in person, and her once beautiful face was suddenly full of anger. However, she stumbled and took only two steps, and was about to reach out to grab Chu Kuan, but she saw that he had moved flexibly and was seven or eight steps away from her again.
"Please reflect on . You should know that the eldest prince has no sense of justice and cruelty to the people, and has been imprisoned in the Zongzheng Temple, but the second prince has made false accusations against Doctor Zhang of the Imperial Academy, but he has not been punished yet."
"Even for the sake of the Second Prince who still has hope, please don't let your anger get the better of you."
At this point, seeing Concubine Jing suddenly stop, Chu Kuan smiled and said, "Also, let Concubine Jing know that the imperial kitchen has been almost cleared out. The emperor has agreed to Dr. Zhang's request to hold an imperial chef selection competition in Yuexiu Hutong, South of the outer city, to select the imperial chef from all the famous chefs in the capital. This is a rare and lively event."
"The emperor personally named the newly renovated teahouse Xinglong. I heard that this was a name that Dr. Zhang casually said, but the emperor thought it was appealing to both the elite and the masses and highly praised it."
Concubine Jing, with her eyebrows raised, almost pinched her fingernails off. She had heard about this before, but she didn't pay much attention to it. However, she could hardly believe that when she was deposed and in such a miserable state, the emperor would actually focus on another trivial matter that she thought was insignificant, and even thought it was lively and festive!
She glared at Chu Kuan fiercely, and finally cursed viciously: "Isn't the emperor afraid that someone will sneak into these cooks and hide in the palace in the future to poison his food!"
"Jing Fei, you worry too much. If you can't even do this kind of thing, what use does the emperor have for the Silijian?" Chu Kuan looked at Jing Fei calmly, not afraid of the eyes that were looking for someone to devour, and said calmly, "What's more, all food and utensils outside the palace are not allowed to be brought in, and from now on, all the things in the imperial kitchen will be supervised by me personally. Not a single hair will be allowed to sneak in. Who could have poisoned you?"
"As for their origins, I will also start investigating them from the moment they are born. Anyone who is suspicious will not be able to serve in the palace."
Seeing that Concubine Jing's face finally froze, Chu Kuan bowed deeply again and said, "Everything I have done is for the emperor and for the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, if anyone is not good for the emperor, they must step over the body of this servant first!"
Although the eunuch opposite her had a hunched back and looked humble and submissive, Concubine Jing felt as if it was a terrifying monster hiding itself in a layer of human skin. When she saw Chu Kuan withdraw and the Kunning Gate slowly closed in front of her, she, who had just been trying to stand upright, finally felt as if all her strength had been drained.
But at this moment, the palace gate that was slowly closing seemed to suddenly stop, and then she heard Chu Kuan's voice again: "The emperor has instructed the Qianqing Palace's steward Liu Feng to arrange for Concubine Jing to move to the palace. Please take care of yourself, Concubine Jing."
At this moment, Concubine Jing could no longer stand. Her legs went weak and she collapsed to the ground. Even though there were many palace maids behind her, it took a long time before two of them suddenly woke up, rushed forward to support her, but she pushed them away.
"Oh my God, are you blind? Are you blind too? What did I do wrong?"
Chu Kuan, who had already left Kunning Palace, heard this heart-wrenching shout and couldn't help but sneer. What did he do wrong? Not being able to recognize his own position, not being able to recognize his own temperament, and not being able to teach his son to be the most capable, this was his biggest mistake.
Based on his understanding of the emperor, if the empress could raise a son who is outstanding enough - such as Zhu Tingfang, then no matter how cold or disgusted the emperor was with the empress, given the emperor's character, he might have appointed a prince long ago.
Over the years, the emperor had expressed his envy of Duke Zhao Zhu Jing countless times, envying him for having a son like Zhu Tingfang who was both talented in literature and martial arts.
"Finally, I've removed a stumbling block that's getting in the way..." Chu Kuan laughed in his heart, and his steps suddenly became lighter. As for the first and second princes, who were already completely set and hopeless, he no longer had to worry about their threats. Of course, there are always uncertainties in life, but he knew very well that the emperor would not kill his sons or his wife.
Even if it goes through someone else's hands, it won't work. In that case, the person who would be most angry would probably be the emperor.
Zhang Shou certainly didn't know that the emperor would suddenly send someone to Kunning Palace to read out the decree of the empress's abolition after it was announced to the world. In fact, after such a big incident yesterday, he had repeatedly warned Zhu Ying not to enter the palace again in the next few days. He was really afraid of this young lady who was so bold when she disagreed with him.
After stopping Zhu Ying and handing the eldest daughter over to the lady and forbidding her to go out, Zhang Shou felt relieved and stayed in the Imperial College. Because everyone in Jiuzhang Hall had been transferred to other places, there were only two or three puppies and kittens in the daytime class, so the class was temporarily stopped, leaving everyone to study on their own in their spare time, so he naturally had free time during the day.
However, after he came back, the class was already sporadic, and the homework review was also done very quickly. In addition, various tasks had been handed in, so he simply sat in Jiuzhang Hall that day to work out the examination questions for the second round of admissions.
As for the few remaining students who had not yet been assigned a lot of tasks, they were just doing exercises resignedly... For them who were majoring in mathematics, there was really no end to the exercises. Because Zhang Shou came up with an idea that made them complain bitterly, that is, students could make up their own questions based on what they had learned, five questions per unit, and use them to test their classmates!
When Ji Jiu poked his head out of the door, he saw a few students sitting there sparsely, sometimes frowning in deep thought, sometimes writing furiously. Zhang Shou, who had directly occupied Lu Sanlang's desk, was also concentrating on writing something.
Seeing this scene, he hesitated for a moment, then tiptoed in, but made a circle and stood behind Zhang Shou to look around.
As soon as he looked at it, he found that Zhang Shou's words and drawings were all written by him. He could understand every word at first glance, but when he put them together, he was a little confused. Especially the question of setting pi as π and the radius as r to find the length of the arc on a complex figure, he looked at it with his eyes wide open. He calculated for a long time in his mind, but still felt unsure.
He had already taught himself Ge's New Mathematics! Once again realizing that he was not a genius like Lu Sanlang, but that his learning and acceptance abilities were slightly higher than those of ordinary people, he could not help but feel a little discouraged, but then he heard Zhang Shou's voice in front of him: "Have you seen enough?"
"Teacher!" Ji Jiu stood up straight in a hurry, then smiled apologetically, "I was afraid of disturbing you, so I didn't dare to speak."
"It's okay to disturb me, but disturbing others... look at those who are solving the questions and are glaring at you." Zhang Shou put the test paper on the desk nonchalantly, and then pointed outside the door. Sure enough, when he stood up and walked out, Ji Jiu followed him out in three minutes.
Before he could ask, he saw Ji Jiu hesitated as if he was trying to organize his words. After a long while, he finally made up his mind and whispered, "Teacher, did you know that the emperor has summoned several famous scholars to the capital?"
Zhang Shou couldn't help but feel puzzled, and then he thought of a question thoughtfully. Could it be that a competitor had arrived?
Ji Jiu knew Zhang Shou had no idea when he saw his expression, so he emphasized his tone and said, "I heard that the emperor specially ordered people to inquire about the precedents of the eldest and second princes, and then recruited four people from four academies. They came to Beijing to be teachers for the princes. One advocates agriculture as the foundation, one claims that miscellaneous studies should also be learned, and one is proficient in many Western languages..."
Before Ji Jiu finished speaking, Zhang Shou couldn't help but laugh. Does the emperor think that the princes are not good enough at studying the classics, so he plans to train them to be proficient in all subjects? The third and fourth princes are two elementary school bullies, but the first and second princes should just forget about it!
