Anqing?
Xu Jiu examined him closely, thinking that while the Prince of Jing was not awake, his words were not mad. To test his lucidity, he asked again, "Your Highness, is it faster to go to the capital from Nanyang?"
The Prince of Jing seemed fully awake then. He turned his head and smiled at Xu Jiu, saying, "Land at Anqing."
With that, he turned back into the cabin, sat on the couch, and closed his eyes.
At this moment, the eunuchs and guards had gathered together, cheering in low voices: "The Prince of Jing is well!"
"He's not mad anymore!"
"The Emperor will be so pleased!"
"Heaven truly protects him!"
"This mission of ours is truly miraculous."
Xu Jiu also seemed to understand. The Emperor had sent him to Anlu no less than five or six times, and each time he came, the Prince of Jing was mad... This time, he was still mad on the journey, but why did he suddenly recover upon reaching here? Could it be...
A thought flashed through his mind – had he been feigning madness all along?
Did the Emperor know?
Thinking of this, his lifelong professional alertness returned instinctively. The Prince of Jing was incredibly intelligent; could he have foreseen some danger?
Yes!
It must be!
Either he feigned madness the entire journey, only to suddenly recover now?
With this thought, Xu Jiu, with a sudden realization, shouted, "Sail! To Anqing!"
A little later, Mu Chaobi's large ship also landed at Longtan. However, no matter how he inquired or how much money he spent, he could not find out the whereabouts of the imperial retinue.
Even though Mu Chaobi was experienced in battle, he was now at a crossroads, hesitating. Gritting his teeth, he could only gamble. An hour later, he led a group of men north along the waterway in pursuit.
In the capital that night, the atmosphere was unusually quiet.
The curfew had been announced, and as soon as darkness fell, the nine gates were closed. Imperial guards were patrolling the streets, and all households in the alleys and lanes were tightly shut.
In the Ming Dynasty, the Grand Governor of the Nine Gates was jointly managed by the Directorate of Ceremonial and the Shun天 Prefecture. The Imperial Guards under his command were not numerous, only about two thousand. The main military force was in the Capital Garrisons, but mobilizing troops from the Capital Garrisons into the city was a monumental matter, which the Crown Prince naturally did not need to do.
At this moment, within the Yuxi Palace, it remained desolate.
For many days, the Crown Prince had also rarely come to pay his respects. Most palace affairs were handled in the West Garden office, and few people came to report.
Lü Fang was wiping a ritual implement, feeling that he had suddenly aged too much. For decades, he had polished countless golden and jade artifacts like this. As he polished, he was nearing seventy.
At this moment, he couldn't help but chuckle at himself, recalling the incident of the Crown Prince being forced to abdicate. This Great Ming Dynasty truly had this problem; in forty years, how many times had such coercion occurred? Prince Yu didn't understand and thought all the officials were docile. Now, besieged by over a thousand people, his temperament was actually ignited. He was thinking, when he didn't know when, Jiajing had walked up beside him, looking at him coldly.
Lü Fang flinched and blurted out, "Your Majesty, forgive me!"
Jiajing snorted and said, "What are you smiling about? Smiling at Prince Yu being forced to abdicate?"
Lü Fang knew he wasn't angry. He bowed and said, "Your servant feels that the Crown Prince is too pitiful... He never has anyone to support him... Now that such a major incident has occurred, he is naturally flustered."
Jiajing nodded but said nothing, only staring blankly at the dark night outside the hall. His thoughts drifted, recalling his own days many years ago. Lü Fang, worried about the court situation, wanted to say a few good words for the Crown Prince and said gently, "Your Majesty, this... what should be done about the current situation?"
Jiajing said indifferently, "Why doesn't he believe me? He never comes to Yuxi Palace and tries to handle everything alone."
Lü Fang understood this point and couldn't help but sigh, thinking: If anyone else were in his position and faced a rebellion case, they would have come! He shook his head, wanting to say something, but found no words.
After an unknown period of silence, Jiajing had returned to the Eight Trigrams Terrace and sat down. He then said leisurely, "Lü Fang, tell me, will Zhu Mo really rebel?"
Lü Fang was stunned: How could he ask this?
Based on his understanding of Jiajing, if everyone in the world rebelled, Zhu Mo certainly wouldn't; even if everyone in the world suspected Zhu Mo of rebellion, the Emperor certainly wouldn't. Therefore, him asking this likely meant he was thinking of that young man. Lü Fang smiled and said, "That young man, even if everyone in the world rebels, he won't."
Jiajing couldn't help but smile wryly, "But how do you know he won't? Hearts are inscrutable; are you his intestinal worm?"
Lü Fang slowly said, "Wu Ming and Wu Liang are also watching from below, and the secret reports haven't stopped. These past few days, I've also looked at the case files sent from Jiangyou, which were forwarded by the Ministry of Justice... Your servant feels that the case is muddled and unclear. It talks about 'Qinu supporting the Wu King' and fabricating prophecies, saying, 'The White King's lineage, the Yan high flight, swallows the sky in one gulp, water is red and earth is black.' Heh, it's quite amusing to say, the prophecy is crafted very convincingly, but your servant speculates that it's too far-fetched, what's connected to what? How did it even bring up matters from those years? It also says Zhu Mo is the fifth-generation descendant of Jianwen, and this uprising is to correct those wrongs... " He paused, unsure what else to say. Because the case had indeed escalated to an unmanageable point, the Yan family had also acted ruthlessly, even kicking the Crown Prince towards death.
Thinking of this, he couldn't help but sigh softly.
Jiajing's face also turned grim. He said calmly, "Have preparations been made in the capital and the palace?"
Lü Fang had already made preparations and said, "No major incidents can occur anymore. Wu Dui of the Capital Garrisons has been notified and can come to the emperor's aid at any time... As for the Nine Gates Imperial Guards, Huang Jin is personally in charge. It's the Yan family, however, that has gone too far. What exactly are they relying on? Why are they so reckless?"
Jiajing's heart trembled, for he understood clearly – Yan Song held the Prince of Jing, and that was why he dared to depose the Crown Prince. With this thought, a surge of resentment rose in his heart: If Yan Song were allowed to die a good death this time, he would be letting down his two sons... But he was extremely reserved, showing nothing on his face.
At this moment, Lü Fang added, "This morning, over a thousand capital officials went to Jianji Palace to cause trouble. Prince Yu was quite ruthless; he had Wang Tingxiu arrest seventeen or eighteen of them, saying they would be publicly caned tomorrow morning... Before dark, news also came from the West Garden, saying that the capital officials intended to cause more trouble tomorrow, and they had also gathered scholars residing in the capital to join the disturbance."
Speaking of this, Lü Fang was very indignant and continued, "At this critical juncture, they are all causing useless trouble!"
Jiajing had already calmed down and said faintly, "Where is Yan Song?"
Lü Fang coughed dryly and said, "The father and son have been holed up at home. The day before yesterday, Yan Shifan personally stated at Jianji Palace that the case was fine, but the next day the trouble erupted. I don't know what scheme they are plotting!"
Jiajing scoffed and answered with an unrelated remark, "Prince Yu's temperament has also changed; it's quite rare."
"Mm-hmm, that's right... Prince Yu scolded Yan Shifan to death in Jianji Palace, saying he would be flayed alive!"
Lü Fang truly felt that Prince Yu was being wronged.
Jiajing closed his eyes, his expression transcendent and indifferent, saying, "Let them riot, let them riot more."
This?
Lü Fang had said so much just to get an explanation, but the Emperor was back to his old ways. He immediately became anxious and said, "But, Your Majesty, some of them, some of them have already said they want to depose the Crown Prince."
As he said this, his eyes were fixed on Jiajing.
Jiajing, however, was like an impassive clay Buddha; not even an eyebrow moved. Lü Fang sighed deeply in his heart, thinking: The situation is critical, yet he remains so composed! He looked at the water clock. It was already the hour of Chou. He immediately went to the side hall and lay down on the wooden bed, his mind a whirlwind, never ceasing for a moment.
In this situation, who could sleep? The Yan family was clearly making their move. The first step was to restore the Grand Secretariat, and the second step was to threaten a thorough investigation into the Jiangyou rebellion case, bringing down both Prince Yu and Zhu Mo, and then, naturally, to usurp the throne... Lü Fang had been in the palace for forty years. Even if Jiajing kept secrets, he had heard rumors – in the past few months, the Embroidered Uniform Guard had frequently traveled between Anlu and the capital. It was conceivable that the crux of the matter lay with the Prince of Jing! Now, rumors were spreading everywhere that the Prince of Jing might replace Prince Yu. But he truly felt it was unfair to Prince Yu. Clearly, others were harming him. Even if he had made some mistakes, his crime was not so great! As he thought, in his daze, he remembered Zhu Mo again and suddenly understood why Jiajing treated him so specially. His initial guess when he first met that young man was not wrong.