Chapter 80: Control of the Descent
"What frame-up?
What did you say?

Duke Zhao and Earl Jing'an are both important officials of the imperial court. How can you slander them like this? "

As soon as Fang Xuedao finished speaking, a court official close to Duke Zhao and Earl Jing'an stood up and refuted.

“How could it not be a frame-up?
Everyone present here knows that Duke Zhao and Earl Jing'an have a very good personal relationship with your Zhao family, and they are trying their best to frame you with charges against the crown prince, intending to dethrone him and bring Marquis Fu'an to the throne!
If we send them to Xuzhou Prefecture to investigate, what else could that be but a frame-up?"

Some court officials who were close to Duke Zhao and Earl Jing'an stood up to refute, and naturally there were also court officials who supported Fang Xuedao who stood up to support him.

"The villain is always worried while the gentleman is open and honest!
Only villains like you would think of Duke Zhao and Earl Jing'an in this way with your mean hearts!

I think the worry about being framed is false!

The real reason is that he is afraid that Duke Zhao and Earl Jing'an will find out the truth!

You just want Xibei Hou to clean up your mess so that you can absolve yourself of the crime of assassinating the prince!"

At this time, another minister from the Zhao faction stood up and spoke in a sharp tone.

"I think you're farting!"

"Vulgar, extremely vulgar!"

...

As the arguments between officials from the Zhao family and the prince's family became more and more intense, the entire court looked like a huge vegetable market.

"enough!"

The Ming Wang who was sitting high above finally couldn't bear it anymore.

A loud shout stopped the quarrel among the ministers in the court.

Seeing that King Ming was angry, the quarrels in the court finally subsided gradually.

One word can trigger many voices!

Such a powerful look made Ming Wang not happy at all at this moment.

How could the King Ming, who has been in power for more than thirty years, not know what the phenomenon just now represented!
That phenomenon represented that the court officials were losing their fear of the court and him.

This foreshadowed the weakening of the Ming king's control over the court.

This is the reason why the Ming Wang gradually ages.

This is also because the power directly under the Ming King is insufficient.

It all started with the evil cult decades ago.

Decades ago, the leader of the Demon Cult, Dugu Sheng, was pressing forward step by step.

Although the Grand Sect stepped in and united the forces of all parties to wipe out the evil cult, Dugu Sheng was also killed on the spot.

For a time, no one in the Ming Dynasty dared to challenge the Zhu family!

But that was because of the Zhu family's strict defense. Outsiders had no idea how much the Ming Zhu family paid in order to destroy the Demon Sect and kill Dugu Sheng.

During that period, the three great masters of the Grand Clan Academy came out together, together with the palace's top master, Eunuch Zheng, the chief detective of the Six Gates, the commander-in-chief of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and General Xu of the military.

In order to overthrow the evil cult that was supported by the Yuan Dynasty and had been causing trouble in the Ming Dynasty in one battle, the Ming Dynasty court mobilized all its forces, including seven great masters.

Although the top master Dugu Sheng and the master-level expert - the Great Elder of the Demon Cult were beaten to death, before they died, they also dragged three masters of the Ming Dynasty to be buried with them, namely: a relative of the Zhu family, the Chief Constable of the Six Gates, and General Xu of the military.

After this battle, the Six Gates quickly fell into decline, and the loyal Xu clan of the Zhu royal family also went downhill.

After the death of General Xu, the Xu family has been on a downward spiral, and has now fallen to the point where it is only in name.

More importantly, after that war, for a period of time, a rumor that was very unfriendly to the Zhu family spread among the aristocratic families of the Ming Dynasty.

Rumor has it that the royal Zhu family is intolerant and deliberately harms other masters.

Therefore, among the seven great masters, only one of the three Zhu masters and Eunuch Zheng died, while two of the other three masters died.

The one who survived was the commander-in-chief of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, who was known as the Zhu family dog.

Especially after the commander-in-chief of the Embroidered Uniform Guard was injured, attacked by Yuan assassins and died at home, all kinds of suspicions became rampant.

This led to a period of time when the masters and masters' seeds of other large families refused to be dispatched or even appointed to official positions by the Zhu royal family for various reasons.

At first, he just refused secretly. Later, when he found that the Zhu royal family did not hold him accountable too much, he even developed to the point where he was perfunctory in giving excuses.

It’s not that the Zhu family didn’t want to hold accountable the major clans that were perfunctory in their dealings, it’s just that the Zhu family was particularly weak during that period.

Behind the great reputation of destroying the Demon Sect and besieging and killing the top master Dugu Sheng is the fact that the Zhu family can no longer use absolute strength to suppress the various aristocratic families under their command.

No one knew that although the two relatives of the Zhu family and the palace's top master, Eunuch Zheng, came back alive from the battle to encircle and suppress the Demon Sect, they were all seriously injured.

Not long after, one of the Zhu clan's masters died because he used a forbidden technique that reduced his lifespan during a battle.

Not long afterwards, Eunuch Zheng also died of his injuries.

Zhu kept all of this a secret, and no one in the outside world knew about it.

Because at that time, the Zhu family only had one grandmaster left.

It has no suppressive power at all on some aristocratic families!

Zhu could only swallow the bitterness in silence!

The previous Ming King did not dare to disclose the heavy price paid by the Zhu family in the campaign to encircle and suppress the Demon Sect, and could only allow the outside world to suspect that the Zhu family was intolerant.

After all, the outside world's suspicion is just dissatisfaction with the Zhu family.

And once the outside world knew that the Zhu family only had one grandmaster left, perhaps the Zhu family's kingdom would be overthrown.

The contemporary Ming King took over the Zhu clan and the Ming Dynasty, which were facing internal and external troubles.

It was in this context that Xuzhou Hou Zhu Xingyun dared to compete for the throne with the contemporary Ming King who had long been established as the crown prince.

Otherwise, with the power of the central court, how could the Marquis of Xuzhou dare to act so recklessly with only one master?

Of course, military strength is also an aspect!
It was precisely because of this background that the contemporary Ming king spent so much money to ask Zhao Yuguang and the Zhao family to quell the rebellion. Not only did he give them official titles and promotions, but he even offered them the position of queen.

It was also because of that time that the rumors were still there.

Therefore, only after Zhao Yugang successfully suppressed the rebellion did King Ming marry Zhao Yushan obediently and even continued to treat Zhao well.

The King must change the outside world's impression of the Zhu family as being mean and ungrateful, otherwise no one will listen to the orders of the royal Zhu family in the future.

Rule and power, after all, are the way to gather the people.

If no one obeys the orders, then the so-called royal family or wise king is a joke.

But, not bad!
After more than 30 years of continuous efforts by the contemporary Ming king, the outside world's impression of the Ming Zhu family as mean and ungrateful has been basically eliminated.

The number of grandmasters among the Zhu clan and the grandmasters that the Ming court could mobilize had almost returned to the state before the encirclement and suppression of the Demon Cult.

It was precisely because he had lived in fear without a master that, after seeing that Zhu Chengwu liked to practice martial arts and worked hard enough, King Ming did not care about the possibility that Zhu Chengwu might compete with the prince for the throne with the support of the Zhao family!
He tried every possible means to obtain rare treasures and magical books for Zhu Chengwu.

The intention was to increase the master level of the Zhu royal family after Zhu Chengwu became a master.

However, Ming Wang also had a plan in mind, and the magical skill book he chose for Zhu Chengwu was the "Tian Gang Tong Zi Gong".

When Zhu Chengwu was 16 years old, he refused Zhao's arrangement for him to refuse the title and chose to go to Xuzhou Prefecture to accept the title as he wished, which made King Ming very happy.

King Ming felt that Zhu Chengwu was following his arrangements!
Therefore, the King of Ming has been preventing the Prince's Party from interfering in Xuzhou Prefecture!
Give Zhu Chengwu time to develop.

However, the current situation is...

Zhao Yuguang's efforts made King Ming understand that as long as Zhu Chengwu still had a chance of succeeding to the throne, the Zhao family would never give up.

...

Also, Ming Wang was wrong about one thing!

Ming Wang, you are too anxious!

In his haste to train a sufficient number of grandmasters, he often failed to adequately test their loyalty or consider the future.

He did train quite a few Zhu family masters and masters from other families.

Those masters do have good personalities!

They were all grateful and respectful to the Ming King. But what those masters were grateful and respectful to was him as a person, not the position of the Ming King and the Zhu royal family.

This led to the fact that these masters, while remaining loyal to him as the wise king, began to have their own positions and factions.

Some even began to think about the future and place bets on the next Ming King as his health became increasingly weak over the years.

For example, Earl Jing'an was a master who achieved his success with the magical books and rare treasures from heaven and earth bestowed by the Ming King.

However, he had conflicts with the Chang family in the northwest. In the past few years, under the olive branches constantly thrown by the Zhao family, he gradually leaned towards the Zhao family.

In this world, there is very little loyalty that lasts forever!

As he grew older and his physical strength declined, King Ming looked at the courtiers in the court and began to feel that he was unable to control the court.

"Lord You, who do you think should be sent to Xuzhou Prefecture to investigate?"

After taking a deep breath and relaxing his pent-up anger, Prince Ming turned his head to the chief minister of the cabinet, Lord You.

Although he felt that the court was out of control, King Ming did not become discouraged or give up at all.

Because as long as he is alive, as long as he is still in the position of King Ming, he will stand guard for the Ming Dynasty and the Zhu clan for the last time.

This is the goal and meaning of Ming Wang’s life.

“Your Majesty, since both parties involved are members of the Zhu clan, why not let someone from the Grand Clan’s Office go there?

I think the Duke of Qi, the Left Clan Chief, the Duke of Yan, and the Right Clan Chief, the Duke of Zhao are all good choices!"

Lord You stepped out and bowed to report.

It can be seen that Lord You had been thinking about this issue before.

That's why he was able to hit the target and come up with several candidates at once who were acceptable to both the Zhao family and the prince's party.

Moreover, these few candidates also give King Ming enough room for choice.

The Duke of Qi concurrently holds the position of Chief of Clan. The Duke of Qi's family is already extremely wealthy and powerful, and there is no more title they can be given. It is simply impossible for them, and they are unwilling to participate in the fight for the throne.

The Duke of Qi is a master himself and has sufficient neutral strength.

He is no less capable than Lord Zhao.

Except for the absolutely neutral Duke of Qi, the other two dukes each have their own biases.

Duke Zhao and old Marquis Zhao have a very good personal relationship!
The Duke of Yan seemed neutral, but his attitude was actually in favor of the Crown Prince.

"You Gelao is right! Since both parties are descendants of the Zhu family, it would be most appropriate for the Grand Clan to investigate!
However, the clan leader Duke Qi has to stay in the capital and the Grand Clan Court, and cannot move lightly!

Let Zuo Zongzheng, Duke of Yan, go there!"

Ming Wang thought for a while and said so.

"Your Majesty is wise!"

Seeing that King Ming had made a decision, Lord You immediately bowed and responded.

"Sure enough, the king still prefers the eldest son to the crown prince."

Lord You bowed and thought to himself.

"Your Majesty is wise!"

With Lord You taking the lead, many court officials who had not participated in the quarrel between the Prince's Party and the Zhao Party stepped forward and bowed in response.

Among them were disciples of Lord You, those who supported Lord You's rites and laws, those who supported the neutral faction who did not want to get involved in the dispute between the Zhao family and the prince, and those who supported the country and the people who did not want the Zhao party and the prince's party to continue arguing.

I saw a huge crowd of people in the hall, almost two-thirds of the court officials came out.

The other court officials looked at each other, then stepped out and bowed in response.

"Your Majesty is wise!"

Although the princelings were not very satisfied, they could accept it reluctantly.

After all, many people could sense that the Duke of Yan seemed to be leaning towards the Crown Prince.

"Your Majesty is wise!"

Although Zhao Jinyu was unwilling, considering that Zhao Yugang was in Xuzhou Prefecture, it would be difficult for the king to send another court official close to the Zhao family to investigate.

In addition, the Duke of Yan is at least neutral on the surface.

Therefore, we can only accept it with a pinch of our nose.

With Zhao Jinyu taking the lead, the court officials of the Zhao faction in the hall also bowed in response.

For a moment, the entire hall was filled with a not-so-common scene of a wise king giving an order and all his ministers echoing his words.

This world is a world of martial arts, and the court officials' fear of the king is not as great as in the ancient times in Zhu Chengwu's previous life.

After all, when a warrior gets angry, blood splatters every three steps!
In this world, courtiers do not need to kneel when they meet the king; they only need to bow.

This world values ​​a man's knees as being made of gold.

What is important is that warriors should not be insulted lightly.

The court officials are also much more courageous than Zhu Chengwu’s ancient counterparts in his previous life!
Therefore, there are actually not many scenarios where a wise king's words are accepted by all officials!

...

"Sister, it seems that the King of Ming still favors the Crown Prince!"

In the Queen's Palace in the Ming Palace, Zhao Jinyu and Zhao Yushan sat opposite each other.

"Don't we already know his attitude?"

Zhao Yushan didn't seem to take Zhao Jinyu's words seriously. She spoke nonchalantly while cutting and stirring the sandalwood in the small jar on the table.

"But, this is really too disrespectful to our Zhao family!
Don't forget who was the one who helped him quell the Xuzhou Marquis Rebellion, regardless of the casualties among his own clan members!

Because of whom can he secure the throne of the Ming King!"

Zhao Jinyu's face was full of resentment.

"Brother, please don't talk about some things anymore!

The Zhao family has enjoyed the benefits for decades because of their initial contributions.

If you say this again now, you would be being ungrateful!
Moreover, in history, powerful officials who were so proud of their achievements all had a bad ending!"

Queen Zhao could not deny Zhao Jinyu's complaints, but instead warned Zhao Jinyu not to be complacent and not to bring up the past.

“I just can’t accept it!
You married him at the prime of your youth. The Zhao family has fought for him through life and death over the years. Many of the Zhao family members died in the wars with the Yuan and Qing dynasties.

Now, he is unwilling to even give the position of crown prince to Wu Ge'er!"

Zhao Jinyu continued to express his reluctance.

At the same time, he was also feeling indignant for Zhao Yushan.

"I have never felt wronged. I have enjoyed the wealth and honor of the Zhao family, so I should do my best for them. Moreover, I entered the palace as an empress, which is a life of wealth and honor that many people can't even dream of.

Moreover, I am already satisfied that I have the good fortune to give birth to Wu Ge'er, Min Jie'er and Lan Jie'er in this life!
As for the position of Crown Prince, then don't give it to me!"

Zhao Yushan was still fiddling with her rich sandalwood.

"Sister, why are you..."

Zhao Jinyu was stunned by Zhao Yushan's sudden change.

Zhao Jinyu was not used to Zhao Yushan's attitude of not caring about the position of crown prince.

You have to know that in the past Zhao Yushan and their Zhao family were wholeheartedly trying to push Zhu Chengwu to the position of crown prince!

Why does Zhao Yushan suddenly not care about the position of crown prince?

You have to know that the position of crown prince is related to the future wealth and prosperity of their Zhao family!

It also concerns Zhao Yushan's future destiny!
　Jingzhe extra update!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)