My God, I am the emperor, the lord of mankind.

Chapter 25: Changes in the Capital (Newbies, please collect it!)

at the same time.

March of the 16th year of Zhengde

North Zhili, Forbidden City, Qianqing Palace

The majestic and magnificent bedroom of the Emperor of Heaven in the past was now surrounded by white cloth.

The cold wind howled outside the window, hitting the windows and making a creaking sound. There was a huge coffin placed in the palace. After the death of Emperor Zhengde, all the servants were ordered to evacuate by the Queen Mother. The empty hall looked particularly scary and intimidating. fear.

The cold wind blew, lifting the white gauze on the face of Emperor Zhengde, who had been dead for several days and had kept secret his mourning.

His expression looked extremely calm at first, but if you observe it carefully, you will find that there is a hint of indescribable terrifying ferocity in this calmness.

It's as if this calmness was deliberately modified by skilled craftsmen after death.

Behind that calmness was an incomprehensible distortion and pain.

It was as if before he died, he saw something incomprehensible, twisted and terrifying beyond human common sense.

There was a rush of footsteps outside the palace, and the originally quiet and terrifying Qianqing Palace suddenly became a little more lively.

Jiang Bin followed Zhang Yong. Although his pace was still steady, he was full of suspicion. As the most trusted general of Emperor Zhengde, when he heard the news of the emperor's death, his first reaction was disbelief.

Jiang Bin was born in Xuanfu, North Zhili.

A border general of the Ming Dynasty, he was a guerrilla general of Datong before he was appreciated by Emperor Zhengde. He fought in the Tatar frontier for many years and was good at observing people's actions. Later he became the adopted son of Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty. He was given the surname Zhu and was given the titles of Xuanfu, Datong, Liaodong and Yansui. The commander-in-chief of the town.

In the Ming Dynasty, the nine-border town had elite soldiers and strong generals at its disposal.

Later, he was ordered to train the Beijing army and set up a mighty battalion with his own hands, which shows that Emperor Zhengde trusted him.

It was precisely because he was always by his side that Jiang Bin was at a loss when he heard the news of Emperor Zhengde's funeral. He stood there for a long time before he recovered.

There was a time when he often followed Emperor Zhengde on horseback rides in the Houyuan, tested the martial arts of generals and prime ministers, went in and out of the leopard room, and slept with Emperor Wuzong.

In the 12th year of Zhengde's reign, Jiang Bin and Emperor Zhengde led the army north to face Dayan Khan, and achieved a brilliant victory in Yingzhou that was comparable to Hongwu's Yongle Northern Expedition.

Moreover, Emperor Zhengde personally went into battle and beheaded a Mongolian soldier among the rebels.

In the 14th year of Zhengde's reign, he personally helped his majesty mount his horse, and watched with his own eyes as the emperor led the elite soldiers of Beizhen to go south to quell the rebellion of King Ning.

What's more, in January this year, the emperor wore military uniform and attended the annual worship ceremony in the southern suburbs.

As a close minister of Zhu Houzhao, Jiang Bin naturally knew the emperor's physical condition very well.

How could it be possible that on the way back from the Southern Expedition, he accidentally fell into the water while fishing at Qingjiangpo, fell ill, and died suddenly?
Thinking back to the past few months, I have repeatedly requested to send folk miracle doctors to the palace, but have been repeatedly stopped.

Several times he tried to enter the palace but was blocked for various reasons.

The eunuch leading the way held a lantern, but it could not dispel the gloom in Jiang Bin's heart.

What happened in this forbidden palace...

The Queen Mother's decree came so early that when we arrived in front of the Qianqing Palace, the sky was still gray.

"Governor Jiang, Qianqing Palace has arrived!"

Zhang Yong stared with a smile on his face at the former emperor's trusted general who had spent half his life in the military.

When Jiang Bin saw the huge coffin placed in the center of Qianqing Palace, great grief suddenly hit him like a tide.

He walked into the emperor's palace with stiff steps, so much so that he ignored the cold glint in Zhang Yong's eyes under the smile beside him. The expressions of several eunuchs beside him were also too nervous and their movements were stiff.

When he came to the coffin, he was hit by a fishy smell.

It is said that when the First Emperor died of illness, Li Si and others kept the funeral a secret for their own benefit and used pickled fish to cover up the smell of the rotting corpse.

But what about the smell on Emperor Zhengde's body?
But Jiang Bin was too sad. He stumbled to the coffin and looked at the familiar face in the coffin.

So many exceptions were ignored.

Whether it's the fishy smell of the sea or the faint water stains under Emperor Zhengde's body.

Or maybe it was the eunuchs looking at each other behind him, or the palace door being quietly locked.

"His Majesty……"

Outside the coffin, the warrior wept.

A pair of hands rested on his shoulders.

Zhang Yong looked at him indifferently.

The eunuchs gathered around him, and Maung Ruo unintentionally blocked all Jiang Bin's escape routes.

During his military life, Jiang Bin felt an unpleasant atmosphere.

"If nothing happens, I will retire first." "The Queen Mother has a decree to keep the admiral, and she also asks the general to take over the decree."

"An Zuo got the decree today, that is, in the forbidden palace. If the Queen Mother has a decree, why doesn't she see me!"

Jiang Bin asked back. He found the right moment and rushed out of the palace. His long military career gave him great skills, and he actually broke through the blockade with brute force.

But the doors and windows were locked at some point. With a look from Zhang Yong, the eunuchs around him swarmed over Jiang Bin and pushed him to the ground.

Looking at Jiang Bin struggling on the ground.

Zhang Yong said coldly.

"Jiang Bin ignored the emperor's favor and did not want to be loyal to the emperor and serve the country. He actually plotted rebellion. Now that the Queen Mother's decree has been passed on, Jiang Bin and his associates will be killed. The nine-sided list will be passed down to the world. The youngest son, his wife, and his daughter will all become meritorious officials. slave!"

After saying that, Zhang Yong walked out of the palace without looking back.

In the Qianqing Palace, in front of the mausoleum of Emperor Zhengde, Danjiang Bin roared at the traitors.

I don't know when it began to rain lightly outside Qianqing Palace, hitting Zhang Yong's face with a chill.

At some point, he walked to Wumen without knowing it.

Looking at the familiar palace in front of him, but everything was different, this situation reminded him of that afternoon in the fifth year of Zhengde, when the emperor personally held a banquet to see off Zhang Yong.

That year, as one of the "Eight Tigers" most trusted by Emperor Wu, he and Yang Yiqing were ordered by the emperor to lead the army westward to Ningxia to attack King Anhua who openly rebelled against the imperial court.

In a daze, he seemed to see the young king of the past standing in front of him, ambitious and full of ambitions to restore the prosperous age of Hongwu and Yongle.

He opened his mouth and wanted to defend himself, saying that he did this for the sake of the Ming Dynasty.

I don't know if the tears or rain left in the corners of my eyes are broken. The dream is broken, leaving nothing but desolation in front of me.

and a heavy sigh.

……

At the same time, ten miles out of Beijing, Fenwei camp.

Jiang's mother's second brother, Jiang Ding, who was the commander of the Fenwei Camp at the time, was hosting a banquet to reward his colleagues in the Weiwei Camp next door.

All of them were elite soldiers and generals drawn from border towns such as Xuanfu, Datong, and Liaodong because Emperor Zhengde reorganized the Beijing army.

If you have a good relationship, you will naturally be more relaxed at the wine table.

Amidst the drinking, playing and fighting, the place was peaceful.

At this time, a soldier suddenly walked out of the tent, hurried to Jiang Ding's side, leaned down and whispered.

Jiang Ding's face was expressionless, but his hand holding the wine glass tightened.

Seeing Jiang Ding stand up, a general with slightly white hair on the temples laughed.

"Where are my parents going?"

This person is Zhou Cong, a military general in Datong. He once followed Jiang Bin, who was still a guerrilla in Datong, and has been married to the Jiang Ding family for generations.

The two just decided to get married last month.

Zhou Cong's eldest son will marry Jiang Ding's second daughter in half a month.

The two families are naturally close to each other.

"The Ministry of War has issued an order and asked me to come over. Please don't say I'm negligent!"

"How dare! How dare! Commander Jiang, just go and come back quickly!"

The crowd booed.

Jiang Ding smiled and turned away.

After walking out of the tent, all the smiles disappeared, leaving only a helpless sigh.

He took out the secret decree he had just obtained in his arms.

But on the surface it was the order of the Ministry of War.

In fact, there are many seals from the Queen Mother, the Supervisor of Ceremonies, the Cabinet, and the Governor-General of the Five Armies.

'Jiang Bin and the Weiwu Camp conspired to rebel, and ordered the Fenwu Camp to command Jiang Ding, and Liu Xu, the military commander of the five cities, immediately eradicated his comrades, leaving no room for error. '

"Go ahead!"

He stuffed the secret decree back into his arms and whispered to the soldiers on his left and right who had been preparing for a long time.

(End of this chapter)