As soon as Zhu Cihong's words were finished, Wu Xiang, the secretary of the Ministry of War, suddenly remembered a big matter.

Wu Xiang said: "His Royal Highness the Prince, the emperor is looking forward to it day and night, and he is looking forward to being able to meditate as soon as possible and live in his old age." Last time, when you went to Huguang, you promised to do Inner Zen after playing Kai. Now most of Li Zicheng has been killed by the official army, and only Xiangyang, Nanzhang, Gucheng, Guanghua, and Junzhou in Xiangyang Prefecture are left in Huguang, as well as Yilingzhou, Guizhou, Changyang, Yidu, Xingshan, and Yunyang Prefecture in Jingzhou Prefecture have not yet been recovered, but the overall situation of victory has been decided......"

That's right!

Today is the second day of the seventh month of the nineteenth year of Chongzhen, and Emperor Chongzhen has been waiting impatiently. Zhu Cihong, a prince who is so filial, has repeatedly disappointed his father on the issue of early succession, and he can't say it in conscience!

But the problem of food is not small, and now at least one or two million refugees from the North are hungry, many of whom are military dependents.

If you don't feed them, can Zhu Cihong's throne sit safely?

Wu Xiang also knew Zhu Cihong's difficulties, but he hoped that his son-in-law could get the throne right as soon as possible.

Only when Zhu Cihong ascends the throne can his daughter Wu Sanmei go further!

By the way, Wu Sanmei was pregnant again recently. And Zheng Chagu also gave birth to a daughter for Zhu Cihong more than a month ago...... Thank God that the Wu and Zheng families are tied again.

But Wu Xiang didn't want to fight for the next round, because he had already heard the rumors, and Zheng Zhilong was ready to send two more nieces into the palace - the Zheng family was so powerful! Zheng Zhilong himself has several younger brothers, and the Zheng brothers all have a bunch of wives and concubines, and the daughters of the family are in groups, and if they send a few more to the palace, they can always give birth to sons.

And the Wu family is the only one on the Wu family's side, Wu Sanmei, who is fighting alone!

Therefore, Wu Xiang wanted to arch Zhu Cihong to the throne as soon as possible, and then took advantage of Wu Sanfu's meritorious service and Wu Sanmei's pregnancy to arch the third sister to the queen's throne.

As long as Wu Sanmei becomes the queen, there is no hurry, the son may be born slowly, there will always be!

"Protector of the country, inner meditation is a big thing, and it must be handled well." Qian Qianyi, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, reminded, "But so many people in the north are still hungry in the southeast!" Recently, Yangzhou, Huai'an, Suzhou, and Shanghai have all reported rice grabbing riots. ”

Of course, Qian Qianyi is the daughter of the Zheng family - he is Zheng Sen's teacher! Moreover, Zheng Zhilong is a native of Fujian and a "southerner", although he did not participate much in the party struggle of the imperial court, he was still regarded as his own by the southerners.

Of course, he understood Wu Xiang's little abacus, so he sang against Wu Xiang...... He had already received news that Zheng Sen had reached several important agreements with the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, and that he would return to the Ming Dynasty in the near future, and that he would also bring back the Japanese mission.

Japan's "coming to Korea" is a prosperous weather, and after making friends with Japan, it will be able to open up the shipping route to New Spain - this is a great achievement!

Therefore, as long as it is delayed until Zheng Sen returns to China, the competition between Zheng and Wu around the queen's throne should be able to continue.

"Shoufu," Zhu Cihong looked at Wei Zaode, "what do you think?" ”

Wei Zaode said: "His Royal Highness the Prince, there are also big households in Jiangnan to eat....... It's better to eat in Jiangnan first, wait for the Chitose Lord to ascend the throne, and then go to Huguang. ”

Zhu Cihong said in his heart: In this case, the Nanren Party is afraid that it will be even more dissatisfied! And it hit them too hard.

What Zhu wanted to deprive was the privileges of the southeastern scholars—such as tax exemption, exemption from forced labor, and the expansion of the privileges through the system of treachery.

But it is not to eliminate them economically, because the southeastern gentry, who have lost their privileges, are the "fat sheep" who pay taxes according to the law. If they are really destroyed, who will eat a lot of money? The benefits all go to the state? Is it possible? 1. Can a feudal state have such executive power? In the end, didn't most of the oil and water go to the leaders of the northerner group like Wu Xiang and Wei Zaode?

These people were originally the privileged landlords of the Northland, and they were also very slippery in tax evasion. really let them swallow the family business of the landlord in the southeast, and Zhu Cihong will become the second in Chongzhen!

"How much surplus grain can the landlord's family in Jiangnan have?" Zhu Cihong shook his head, "Jiangnan is full of cotton fields and mulberry fields, and there is not much rice. Moreover, the landlords in the south of the Yangtze River do not collect much rice, they all collect cash, or collect cotton and silkworm cocoons. ”

How could the landlord's family have no surplus food? The landlord's family has no surplus grain, where is the sky-high price of rice for five dollars a bucket in the Jiangnan market? This year, Huguang rice has at least seven or eight million stone less, how can there be so much inventory of grain merchants? It is not all dependent on the inventory of the landlords in Jiangnan to be slowly released, and there is rice to sell on the market.

"The two governments should arrange for the food in Huguang, Jiangxi, and Guangdong as soon as possible!" Zhu Cihong paused, "Father, the palace will explain." ”

......

Since Zhu Cihong returned to the court, Emperor Chongzhen has been ill, Xu is absurd and unscrupulous and has suffered retribution, these days are not good anywhere, and he is especially afraid of seeing his son - oh, other sons are not afraid, they are afraid of seeing Zhu Cihong.

Unlike Zhu Cihong, who got the "father-in-law's life" of his two daughters, Emperor Chongzhen had five more sons in the days when Zhu Cihong went on the expedition, plus Zhu Cihong and Xiaochunge, a total of seven sons by his side.

In addition, Emperor Chongzhen has a large number of daughters around him, the eldest of which is almost eighteen years old, and it is time to get married.

Long before the fall of Beijing, Emperor Chongzhen chose a fiancé for her, named Zhou Shixian, but this guy disappeared during the fall of Beijing, most of them died.

So Chongzhen and Zhou Hou wanted to arrange another good family for their daughter, but this matter can't get around Zhu Cihong now, so it has been delayed until now.

Today, when the filial son Zhu Cihong went to the Wuying Hall to ask for a meeting, Emperor Chongzhen was discussing his daughter's marriage with Empress Zhou, and when he heard that the filial son was coming, Emperor Chongzhen, who was fine just now, immediately coughed.

While coughing, he said to Zhou Hou: "I seem to have a cold, no, it seems to be seriously ill, it must be the root of the disease that fell into the water last time again, quickly announce that Imperial Doctor Zeng is coming......"

Zhou Hou looked at Chongzhen, who suddenly fell ill, and was also a little speechless - isn't it just to be the emperor? You've been in power for so long, what's the difference between you and the Emperor?

Zhou Hou said: "Your Majesty, let's see Brother Chun first, set the date, and then see the imperial doctor." ”

Emperor Chongzhen pretended to be confused, "Days? What day? Is it the day of marriage? ”

"Your Majesty!" Zhou Hou frowned, "I haven't decided who the colt is, how can I get married?" Now it's time to set the day of the Inner Zen Ceremony! ”

"Neizen ......." Emperor Chongzhen's heart was about to break when he heard these two words, and he even forgot to cough for a while.

He originally thought that there would be rebellious ministers and thieves to give him a head, but he didn't expect that the rebellious ministers and thieves would all learn to be obedient when they saw Zuo Menggeng's fate. Even the three major warlords in Shandong, Shi Kefa, Gao Hongtu, and Zuo Maodi, were silent.

At this moment, the great filial son Zhu Cihong has come.

"Father, the sons and daughters knock to see the father, and the queen mother is also here! The son asked the queen mother to say goodbye. ”

After saluting his father and mother, Prince Zhu didn't wait for the other party to speak, he stood up, and then looked at Emperor Chongzhen, who was slumped in the chair, and said distressedly: "Father, are you sick again?" Ouch, your face is sallow, your breath is not allowed, you must have overworked for state affairs! ”

Zhou Hou turned her head to look at her husband, obviously his face was ruddy, his breathing was even, where did he look a little sick?

Emperor Chongzhen has been more promiscuous recently, but he is not excessive. And in order to sustain sexual immorality, he listened to the advice of Dr. Zeng, paid attention to his diet and strengthened exercise. Every day in the palace, I draw a hard bow, throw stone locks, and row in the lake of the Imperial Garden, and my body is so good now!

Zhu Cihong looked at Emperor Chongzhen, who was getting stronger and stronger, and smiled very apologetically: "Father, my son is sorry for you!" ”

Chongzhen chuckled in his heart, "It's over, I'm going to usurp the throne......"

Zhu Cihong sighed: "Recently, there has been a shortage of food in the southeast, and the refugees have no food...... The people take food as the sky, and if there is no food, it will be chaotic! ”

Chongzhen looked at his son and was a little strange: "Brother Dachun, do you want me to buy rice from my inner money?" ”

Chongzhen is reflexive, because the civil officials of the Ming Dynasty generally have the idea of spending money on what financial difficulties they encounter, as if they can't spend all the money.

"No, it's not ......" Zhu Cihong shook his head again and again, "The son is a filial son, how can he use his father's pension money." So Erchen was going to take the refugees to beg for food...... I'm afraid that the matter of inner meditation is going backwards again! ”

What the?

Chongzhen and Zhou Hou were stunned at this time!

The first prince wants to take the refugees to beg for food...... What's wrong with the Ming Dynasty?