Chapter Twenty-Four: The Retaliation of the Nobility Against Chongzhen!

"Do you have any idea what this rebellious son is trying to do? He is going to get himself killed!"

"The issues with the Capital Garrison and the nobility are not so easily resolved!"

"You..."

"Sigh!"

As he reached the end of his sentence, the Chongzhen Emperor suddenly stopped, followed by a helpless sigh. He realized that such matters were impossible to explain to Empress Zhou, as she understood nothing of these complexities.

"Father, your worries are truly unnecessary!"

Suddenly, a voice rang out from a distance. It was unmistakably the voice of Zhu Cilang. The eunuchs and the guards on duty, seeing that it was the Crown Prince, hurriedly made way. Before long, Zhu Cilang appeared before the Emperor.

Hmph!

Seeing his rebellious son approach, the Chongzhen Emperor snorted coldly once more and turned to walk back into the Kunning Palace. Zhu Cilang followed him inside. Once within, he saw a table of food and wine set out, yet there were no signs that it had been touched. It was clear that the Emperor had indeed not eaten.

Zhu Cilang had not been hungry, but looking at the full table, his appetite was piqued. He sat down without ceremony, picked up a bowl of rice, and began to eat. Empress Zhou, seeing this, sat down beside him and kept placing food into his bowl.

"Lang'er, you must be starving, aren't you?"

"State affairs are important, of course, but your health is just as vital. You must remember to eat on time!"

Watching this scene of maternal affection and filial piety, the Chongzhen Emperor was once again overcome with rage. He strode over to his son and accused him, "You rebellious son, how can you still stomach a meal at a time like this?"

"And what else should I do?" Zhu Cilang gave him a sidelong glance. "Since I am still alive, I must eat. If I starve to death, what would that solve? Besides, the Great Ming has not fallen yet, has it?"

"You..."

The Emperor was once again choked with anger. How could this stubborn son constantly keep the fall of the empire on his lips?

He managed to suppress his fury, however, and asked, "You said yesterday that you would reorganize the Capital Garrison and the Five Chief Military Commissions today. What was the result?"

Zhu Cilang popped a piece of fish into his mouth and spoke vaguely while chewing, "There was a minor accident. I didn't get around to the reorganization today; I suppose it will have to wait a couple of days."

Upon hearing this, the Chongzhen Emperor breathed a sigh of relief. In his view, Zhu Cilang’s attempt to reorganize those two institutions was nothing short of digging his own grave. Both places were riddled with the corruption of the nobility, and anyone who laid a hand on them would surely face their retaliation. It was a form of vengeance the Emperor himself had experienced before.

In the eleventh year of his reign, taxes could not be collected, and between internal uprisings and external invasions, the treasury was on the verge of collapse. The Minister of Revenue at the time, Xue Guoguan, was equally anxious. After deep contemplation, he devised a brilliant, if desperate, plan: borrowing money from the nobles. Of course, calling it "borrowing" sounded unrefined and beneath the dignity of the Imperial house, so it was dubbed "donating to aid the military."

Xue Guoguan knew one thing clearly: while the national treasury was destitute, the civil and military officials and the noble families were overflowing with wealth. Any one of them could have solved the empire's financial woes single-handedly.

The Emperor had initially found the idea shameful and refused, but having no other options, he decided to give it a try. After vetting, he chose to make an example of the Marquis of Wuqing, Li Guorui, a relative by marriage who possessed a vast fortune. Yet, when faced with the "donation" request, Li Guorui refused to part with a single copper. Not only that, he began selling off his own household possessions in the streets, claiming he had to sell his belongings to afford the donation.

Though the Emperor was pedantic, he was no fool; he knew Li Guorui was trying to humiliate him. In a fit of rage, he ordered Li Guorui stripped of his title and thrown into the imperial prison, vowing he would not be released until he paid. Whether it was the shock or some other cause, the man died in prison after only a few days.

Then, terror struck the other nobles and officials. They feared the Emperor wanted to kill them all to seize their silver. And so, a sinister event occurred. The Emperor's son, Zhu Cihuan, who was suffering from a fever that had seemed under control, suddenly took a turn for the worse. The Emperor rushed to his bedside, only to hear his dying son whisper:

"The Nine-Lotus Bodhisattva says: The Emperor treats his relatives poorly; he will lose all his sons."

After saying this, Zhu Cihuan breathed his last.

When the news reached outside the palace, everyone claimed the Emperor was cruel and ungrateful, and that the "manifestation of the Nine-Lotus Bodhisattva" had taken his son as punishment. If the Emperor continued, his other sons would follow. The Emperor was never a superstitious man; he knew someone was warning him to back down, but he could never find the culprit. In the end, he merely executed a few eunuchs and maids around his son to settle the matter.

The Emperor had been terrified. He feared for his sons, and he feared for his own life. From that day on, he dared not strike at the nobility, fearing he might die in some inexplicable way. This was why he was so desperate to stop Zhu Cilang. He might not have been a great emperor, but he was certainly a loving father.

As the Emperor was lost in these painful memories, Zhu Cilang’s voice broke the silence.

"Father, the 'manifestation of the Nine-Lotus Bodhisattva' is what you are worried about, isn't it?"

The Emperor’s face turned deathly pale. He looked at Zhu Cilang in horror. "How do you know about that?"

Even Empress Zhou’s expression turned grim.

Zhu Cilang finished his last mouthful of rice and said calmly, "You need not concern yourself with how I know. You only need to know that I have already handled it."

"The affair was orchestrated by the Duke of Cheng, Zhu Chunchen, in collusion with a few nobles and some palace eunuchs and maids. Those servants were all executed last night. The Duke of Cheng and those other nobles were executed this morning."

Since arriving in this world, Zhu Cilang knew that not only were Ming emperors prone to "dissolving in water," but Ming princes were also prone to all sorts of "accidental" deaths. He had investigated many things, including the "Nine-Lotus Bodhisattva" incident. As a transmigrator, he viewed the world differently. With his status as Crown Prince and the help of the Imperial Guard, he had uncovered the entire truth.

He had taken advantage of the rebellion and the payroll-padding scandal to clear them all out at once. It was a joke to think he would let such people live; he wouldn't have been able to sleep at night! That was why he had insisted on killing the Duke of Cheng, Zhu Chunchen—the man truly deserved to die. He had initially only intended to kill Zhu Chunchen, but when he discovered the man had been hoarding armor, he had no choice but to wipe out the entire line of the Duke of Cheng.

He figured this served as a fitting revenge for his deceased younger brother.