Chapter 78: The Ministers Have Misled Me! You Have Truly Brought Me Great Suffering!

So noisy!

Emperor Xuande, Zhu Zhanji, furrowed his brows and waved his sleeve, issuing an order: "Drag the mother and son away at once! Lady Sun is to be banished to the Cold Palace, and Zhu Qizhen returned to the Southern Palace!"

"Your Majesty's command shall be obeyed!" Xu Youzhen, Cao Jixiang, and others immediately received the imperial order, solemnly dragging the imperial prince and his mother away, leaving the civil and military officials in astonished confusion.

Could it be that these few did not participate in the coup, but merely arrived a little earlier? How solemn and dignified they appear! They surely seem like loyal ministers.

"Xu Youzhen, Cao Jixiang, Zhang Ai!" Yu Qian suddenly shouted. Others might not know the situation, but as Minister of War and the actual controller of Ming's military forces, he understood everything clearly. Before the coup, he had already received detailed intelligence about the conspiracy—who, when, almost to the minute.

"Present!" Xu Youzhen and the others kept their heads down in silence, but Cao Jixiang, accustomed to responding as a servant, answered instinctively.

His already pale face turned ghostly white.

"These three, together with the recently executed Left Commander Shi Heng, are the masterminds who deceived the Emperor Yingzong," Zhu Youjian timely reminded.

Poor imperial prince, toyed with in the hands of others.

"Arrest them!" Emperor Xuande, Zhu Zhanji, commanded coldly.

"Yes!"

Xu Youzhen and the others, knowing resistance was futile, gave themselves up without a fight, faces ashen.

"Deceived me?" The imperial prince, who had been comforting his mother, realized after listening for so long that Emperor Yingzong was referring to himself, and was stunned.

He began to mumble:

"Shi Heng, Xu Youzhen, Zhang Ai, Cao Jixiang, Wang Ji, Yang Shan... these men are clearly loyal subjects! Though I failed in the coup, I accept that, but none of these ministers have wronged me!"

"My own faults are mine, but the ministers' faults in the coup are not against me!"

With clear and stubborn eyes, the prince looked towards the ancestors of the Ming emperors, sniffling deeply, speaking with utmost sincerity.

What a foolish child!

At that moment, Scholar Wang Wen silently produced a memorial, saying, "I and my fellow ministers were preparing to submit a petition at this morning's court to establish the Prince of Yi as Crown Prince, to stabilize the state and bring peace to the realm."

The memorial was passed around for the Ming emperors to read, finally landing in Emperor Xuande's hands. The more he read, the more amused he became.

Suddenly, he tossed the memorial at the feet of Lady Sun and the prince, cursing quietly—

Two utter fools!

Lady Sun hurriedly picked it up and read it word by word, her sorrow flooding uncontrollably. Supporting the coup now seemed a most ironic act, leading herself to such a wretched state.

Her spirit gradually collapsed, head bowed, sobbing and whimpering.

"This can't be, this can't be!" Though Zhu Qizhen was naïve, he was not mentally deficient. Reading it, he too was dumbfounded.

Establish his own son, Zhu Jianshen, as Crown Prince?

He glanced back at the sickly Zhu Qiyu, who looked as though he might be buried within a year or two.

That means, even without today's coup, in a year or two, his own son Zhu Jianshen would ascend the throne!?

Even if Prince Yi were only eleven or twelve then, as a child, what could he accomplish? The Ming dynasty would naturally fall into the hands of this retired emperor!

"No, he won't agree, he definitely won't agree!" Zhu Qizhen grew agitated, pointing at Zhu Qiyu and shouting.

Zhu Qiyu mercilessly retorted, "Do you think I drag myself to court, despite my grave illness, for nothing?"

For what?

Certainly, to establish the Crown Prince!

If he had obediently stayed in the Southern Palace and endured for two more years, he would naturally have the imperial power in his grasp!

But staging a coup was utterly pointless for him, the risk immense, and the only gain was ascending the throne a year or two earlier.

The greatest beneficiaries were ministers like Xu Youzhen, Shi Heng, Cao Jixiang, and Zhang Ai—once successful, they would be founding heroes of the new dynasty!

He, on the other hand, was merely a pawn in their rise!

"Ah, ah, ah!"

Zhu Qizhen let out a miserable cry, feeling darkness before his eyes, ears ringing, short of breath, and a wave of chest tightness more painful than any beating.

After a long while,

Barely recovering, the prince glared fiercely at Xu Youzhen and the others, growling low: "The ministers have misled me, the ministers have misled me!"

"I am without fault, the fault lies with the ministers! I was peacefully resting in the Southern Palace, and had it not been for these traitors breaking in and coercing me onto the throne, how could things be as they are!"

By the end, he was both crying and raging: "I never wanted that position! Why must you force me to ascend? You, you truly have ruined me!"

Xu Youzhen remained silent: It seems the one who smiled most arrogantly just now was you.

"Take them away!"

Emperor Xuande, Zhu Zhanji, grew irritated.

The fault is not yours, but your father’s, for failing to see that a weak, timid, and useless child would be born!

Zhu Youjian quietly handed over two pills: "Emperor Jing, quickly take these two pills."

"What are these..." Zhu Qiyu inhaled the fragrant aroma, and his parched, exhausted body revived a little just from the scent. He was utterly amazed.

Could it be a celestial elixir!

Gulp!

He took them and swallowed them in one go.

Zhu Qiyu drew a deep breath, feeling almost immortal, his whole body surging with newfound vitality. With tears of gratitude, he bowed: "Zhu Qiyu, thanks the immortal for your medicine!"

"I dare not, I dare not. In truth, you are my ancestor. How could Zhu Youjian accept such a gesture!" Zhu Youjian turned aside, shaking his head.

Emperor Xuande patted his second son's shoulder and added, "Strictly speaking, you are his seventh-generation nephew, but outside you should call him Emperor Chongzhen."

The implication: Though your father cherishes you, don't be so bold as to call him seventh-generation nephew; neither your father nor your fat grandfather would dare.

Only then did Zhu Qiyu understand—the man before him was an emperor who became immortal in later generations, and surprised to learn he was from Zhu Qizhen’s line.

Not his direct descendant, yet so filial—it was truly rare.

He secretly sighed: Why is it that I never had a descendant like this in later generations?

Let alone future generations, he couldn’t even produce a second son.

Zhu Youjian thought for a moment, finally handed him another pill, and advised: "This pill is called 'Many Sons, Many Blessings.' Take it and you will be vigorous as a dragon, brave as a tiger, exactly as the name says."

Vigorous as a dragon, with countless descendants as fierce as tigers.

Zhu Qiyu was transfixed for a long time before tremblingly accepting the pill, solemnly declaring: "Youjian, say no more, I know what I must do!"

Over the years, his expectations had lowered again and again, like a stock market—first wishing for a clever and valiant Crown Prince, then merely hoping for a male heir, finally even settling for any son who could inherit, willing to grant him a fiefdom.

His only obsession was to have a descendant.

Especially now that Zhu Qizhen's line would produce a divine grandson in later generations, he dared not claim sole imperial lineage.

'It seems it is time to bring Jianshen closer, and truly nurture him.'

...