Chapter 314 In the 21st Year of Chenghua, the Imperial Concubine Recognized Her Son. Does the Emperor Want to Change the Crown Prince?

"Ignore it, try these clothes to see if they fit. In two days, I will ask the female officer from the Clothing Bureau to come over and give each of you a new pair of clothes!"

Zhu Youtang took a piece of brocade clothing from Xu Xin's hand and handed it to Zhu Wuwu. Zhu Wuwu took the new clothes, his eyes were red, he nodded silently, turned around and entered the side hall.

Soon, the tenth prince, wearing new clothes, appeared in front of everyone. Zhu Wuwu's new clothes were made of thick material. According to the prince's etiquette, it was an azure round-neck robe with a snow-white fox fur covering it, so that he could face all the cold winds.

"Ignore it, you have suffered so much over the years. Your palace is simple and it should be filled in. If there is anything missing later, I will tell the emperor tomorrow. The emperor will have someone bring it to you. I also want to give it to you. They will send you some clothes on November 1, so you have to rest today!”

Zhu Youtang looked at the completely different Zhu Wuwu, nodded with satisfaction, said a few more words, and said goodbye to him.

"Thank you, my dear brother!"

Zhu Wulan bowed his head respectfully.

Zhu Youtang nodded and turned around, got on the carriage with Xu Xin, and continued to deliver things to the next prince's residence.

On this day, the news of His Royal Highness caring for the emperors and sending gifts quickly spread throughout the palace, and even the Chinese, civil and military officials heard about it.

Respect between brothers and sisters is a virtue advocated by the world. No one can fault what Zhu Youtang did, and he naturally won a lot of praise. Even Chenghua Emperor Zhu Jianshen rarely went to the East Palace to meet the prince in person and praised him for being sensible, polite and regal.

A seemingly random compliment from the emperor can have a great impact.

The prince was recognized by the emperor, which invisibly increased his influence. In addition, Zhang Min gathered the power of Cao Shaoqin's men, and there was a faint tendency to become the new leader of Dongchang. This also brought the prince's weight and influence in the palace to be greater.

The prince's situation is very good, so naturally some people are in bad shape. For example, Concubine Wan Gui, who was always talking about everything in the harem, was in a very bad mood.

Concubine Wan Gui specializes in pampering the harem, so she will naturally attract a group of people to her side. Over the past twenty years, a huge interest group has been formed. The sudden rise of the prince's power affected Concubine Wan Gui, which naturally made her very dissatisfied.

However, it can be said that Zhu Youtang now has a lot of wings, and he is the prince of the country and has a special status. Even Concubine Wan Gui has no good way to deal with him.

Emperor Chenghua favored her exclusively, but he did not indulge her without any bottom line. The emperor has always had the final say in the harem, the court, and the entire Ming Dynasty.

…

After the day of "brother, friend, brother respect", Xu Xin gained Zhu Youtang's trust. In the following days, Xu Xin nodded, read, went out of the palace, and slept every day... like this day by day, He became more and more familiar with the palace, and he became more and more familiar with the prince and other princes.

Spring passed, autumn came, and winter came again. A year passed quietly, and in the blink of an eye, it was the twenty-first year of Chenghua.

One day in March, Xu Xin entered the imperial city to go to the Wenhua Palace as usual. However, after entering the palace, he felt some strange atmosphere. He realized that something must have happened last night.

"Your Highness the Crown Prince!"

Xu Xin saw Zhu Youtang again. Today, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was wearing a blue silk robe with a unicorn pattern embroidered with gold, silver and light blue threads. He wore a net scarf on his head and a gold crown and jade hairpin.

When he saw Xu Xin, he forced a gentle smile on his face, but because of his poor complexion, he looked very ugly.

Xu Xin followed the prince to the Wenhua Hall to study. After a long time, he finally understood the cause and effect.

During the concubine's birthday banquet last night, Concubine Wan Gui asked for a favor from the emperor and took the emperor's thirteenth son, the youngest illegitimate prince, as her own son.

Although Concubine Wan Gui wants to adopt the prince, this is a bit unexpected, but it doesn't matter just like that. After all, Concubine Wan Gui has never had anything to do. For future plans, it seems normal to adopt a prince.

But something happened immediately, which meant that things seemed not to be simple. Hua En, the eunuch who was in charge of the eunuch and had a good relationship with Zhang Min, was demoted this morning. It is said that he interceded with the prince. There are rumors that the emperor intends to change the throne.

This news made Xu Xin frown. When he left the imperial city after studying with the prince, he tried his best to collect all kinds of information. He finally clarified the cause and effect, the origin of the matter, and an incident that shocked the palace a few days ago. Let’s talk about big things.

In the 21st year of Chenghua, Emperor Zhu Jianshen went to the inner treasury for a leisurely stroll and found that all the money in the inner treasury had been squandered. This was no small matter.

Internal money refers to the private wealth and property of the emperor and the royal family. Prince Zhu Youtang's mother-in-law, Ji, was once a female official in the inner treasury. She probably had a lot of contact with the emperor at that time, so one day she was lucky enough to be married.

The inner treasury was the private property of the emperor and contained ten cellars, each containing ten thousand taels of silver. This money was accumulated by the emperors of each generation for future generations to use for first aid at critical moments, such as... as military expenses.

In the event of a critical border crisis, this silver can be used for emergency purposes and is a reserve silver for military supplies. Precisely because the purpose and use of the reserve is so important, emperors of the Ming Dynasty did not dare to waste this money easily.

However, during the Chenghua period, as he grew older, the once wise and powerful emperor gradually showed signs of being indulged in pleasure. He built palaces and temples, purchased treasures, flowers and stones, etc., and the money stored in the ten cellars contained two taels of silver. Run out.

When Emperor Chenghua found out about this, he was quite upset. He was very angry with the eunuchs who had instigated him to waste the inner treasury. He severely reprimanded them and then tried to find money to replenish the inner treasury.

Originally, this matter was over, but a sentence that Emperor Chenghua said when he was angry scared some eunuchs. The general meaning of that sentence was that if I don't deal with you today, people in the future will naturally deal with you.

This "people in the future" of course refers to the emperor in the future, that is, the most likely successor to the throne, Prince Zhu Youtang.

Many of the eunuchs who were reprimanded were confidants of Concubine Wan. They had a say in Concubine Wan. It was unknown who came up with the idea of ​​connecting the two things of "changing the crown prince" and "recognizing the son".

Over the past year, the power of the crown prince has increased greatly. Concubine Wan has long wanted to target him, so she took advantage of the birthday banquet to make a plan. It seems that she really persuaded the emperor to change the crown prince.

In early March, the news that the emperor wanted to change the crown prince suddenly spread in the capital. The news that the eunuch Huai En of the Imperial Household Department had been demoted to the Fengyang Ancestral Mausoleum was also exposed. It was said that he was demoted because he interceded for the crown prince.

The matter of changing the crown prince was a hot topic in the capital, but Xu Xin went to accompany the prince to study as usual every day, not worrying about these ups and downs at all.