"Princess Consort?"
Zhu Mo suddenly recalled.
The current acting prince was named Zhu Tingqi. He remembered reading online that this prince had petitioned for a small concubine's title no less than ten times. If not for his otherwise good reputation, the Jiajing Emperor would have confined him. Now, with their discussion, could there be something fishy going on?
Indeed,
Li Wenjin replied:
"Brother Ma and Brother Wang and I have pondered this repeatedly and found that the acting prince's consort, Xiao Yuan Shi, still has issues…
About ten years ago, this woman suddenly appeared in the Datong area, claiming to be the daughter of a border military household. However, there were many doubts. We investigated… the family she mentioned had all been brutally murdered, leaving only her. Furthermore, as she was a female, official records could not be found. For some reason, the acting prince became infatuated with her, and step by step, she became the de facto ruler of the prince's mansion…
Alas, sir, you may not know, but the prince is nearly fifty years old and is completely smitten with her! Big Brother Yu back then, oh no, General Yu, who was friendly with him, tried to persuade him several times to intervene in the affairs of Prince Rao Yang and those arrogant soldiers. But the prince instead severed ties with General Yu… We surmise that it must have been that woman's influence…"
Liang Menglong, being experienced in official circles, had heard of this matter, but his account differed from Li Wenjin's. He couldn't help but ask in surprise:
"Exactly! Young Master Zhu, that prince was a virtuous prince. He had a beloved concubine named Xiao Yuan Shi. Previously, the Prince of Jin Duan also had a beloved concubine named Yuan Shi, known locally as Da Yuan Shi. This world truly has everything… This Xiao Yuan Shi was also a famously virtuous woman, beautiful and talented. She worked in the fields with the prince, lived frugally, and often helped the common people… She was renowned throughout the land! The prince petitioned for her title no less than ten times… The local populace also submitted a joint petition, and only then did the Emperor grant it… If memory serves, this was about five or six years ago?" https:/
Oh?
Zhu Mo's heart skipped a beat—
Worked in the fields?
Virtuous?
Lived frugally?
Virtuous prince?
The more he heard, the more it sounded wrong!
Could she be—
A white lotus?
For some reason, the first impression that flashed into his mind was 'white lotus'! What if this woman was just a bitch? If she weren't a bitch, why would she pretend? After marrying a prince, she should be enjoying a life of luxury. Why all these schemes?
In his impression, the princes of the Zhu family were truly useless. Where did such a virtuous prince come from? He was clearly just a sycophant who made a spectacle of himself! Moreover, he had never heard of such a thing in Ming Dynasty historical texts.
It would be strange if there wasn't something sinister!
At that moment,
Zhu Mo had already guessed seven or eight parts of the truth. He said, "This virtuous woman often spoke ill of you to the prince, yet she was very close to Prince Rao Yang and the Yan family… Isn't that right?"
Li Wenjin and Ma Fang were stunned—
This,
You know this?
Li Wenjin couldn't help but sigh:
"Yes, that is indeed the case. We haven't been idle. Several times we tried to discipline the unruly soldiers, but the consort intervened to stop us. Later, she went directly to the Governor's Yamen to complain about us… Thinking back, the several of us still find it extremely bizarre…"
Zhu Mo didn't find it bizarre. The enfeoffed princes of the Great Ming were indeed forbidden from meddling in military and political affairs, which is why later generations often referred to them as pampered royal pigs. However, the actual situation was somewhat different. For instance, the enfeoffed princes in the Nine Garrisons held a special status due to their contributions during the Jingnan campaign. By the Zhengjia period, as Tatar invasions intensified, the princes' special status became more prominent. Some even emulated Emperor Yongle's actions.
None of this was strange. What was strange was: where did these arrogant and unruly soldiers in Datong come from? How could they be so brazen?
In his memory, Datong in the Jiajing era had indeed experienced several mutinies, forcing the prince to flee to Xuanfu, and sometimes the governor and governor-general could not suppress them. He had never understood this. At this point, he asked earnestly:
"Elder Brother Li, Elder Brother Ma, what exactly is the deal with these arrogant and unruly soldiers? Where did they come from?"
Li Wenjin pondered for a moment and said:
"Young Master Zhu, it was after the Gengxu Incident, wasn't it? I've also thought about it. It should be Yang Bo and Yang Shun who recruited volunteers to start this. In the beginning, they were all volunteers, but later their quality became mixed. After Prince Rao Yang came of age, he inexplicably recruited many villains from who knows where and courted a group of veteran soldiers, making them even more chaotic…"
Hmm, hmm,
Zhu Mo couldn't help but nod—
Indeed,
Yang Bo was considered one of the "Three Prodigies of the Realm" by Yan Shifan. He had been resisting the Tatars in XuanDa, recruiting volunteers many times, which is why he managed to stabilize the situation. He also built many tun堡s, forming a defensive network of inner and outer fortifications. One could say that the XuanDa defense was established by this man. What was unexpected was that this Yang Bo was actually the Li Chengliang of later generations, and the bad precedent had already been set at this time…
According to Li Wenjin, Yang Bo's actions were also overly praised by civil officials. Among the volunteers he recruited, there were likely many convicts and vagrants from the start. These individuals did not have military establishment status, served as soldiers for years, and received no fixed military pay, thus becoming veteran soldiers… Coupled with their disdain for the prince and the collusion of the Yan family's faction, the situation had probably completely deteriorated in the last five or six years…
And unexpectedly,
This consort of the acting prince played a crucial role in this?
Her special status indeed allowed her to navigate smoothly between the governor, the governor-general, the garrison, and the Yan family. Various parties, due to royal status, found it difficult to take action against her. In this light, this woman might be connected to Prince Rao Yang?
Thinking of this,
He had guessed around seventy to eighty percent and couldn't help but become angry. He spat and cursed, "This acting prince is a complete lickspittle! And this consort is fucking a white lotus!"
When the curse words burst out, the three of them were stunned—
Lickspittle?
They probably understood, but they didn't grasp the meaning of "white lotus"?
It didn't sound like a good word, but they didn't know its meaning…
Liang Menglong, being a Jinshi scholar, suddenly had a flash of inspiration and said, "Oh, oh, so Young Master Zhu is referring to the White Lotus Society…? I don't think so?"
Li Wenjin and Ma Fang also nodded simultaneously.
The White Lotus Society was indeed a cancerous growth in XuanDa. For some reason, it had been repeatedly suppressed for decades without being eradicated. It wasn't strange for this woman to be a member of the White Lotus Society.
The three of them looked at Zhu Mo together.
Unexpectedly,
Zhu Mo shook his head and said with a serious expression, "I mean 'white lotus,' not the White Lotus Society. You don't understand 'white lotus,' and you'll suffer losses in the future…"
Liang Menglong and Li Wenjin were instantly bewildered—
This?
What is this?
What is 'white lotus' and 'suffering losses'?
Liang Menglong was a Jinshi, and Li Wenjin was also a scholar-general. They naturally couldn't grasp these things at first. But Ma Fang was different; he immediately guessed it and couldn't help but scold:
"Pah! Master Zhu is right, how would you scholars understand this? Master Zhu is talking about a whore who erects a memorial archway, right?"
With a "snap,"
Zhu Mo slammed the stone table and burst into laughter, "Hahaha… Right! Exactly! Brother Ma is truly a man!"
But in his heart, he thought—
Here, only Ma Fang and I are true men. These two are probably also lickspittles…?
At this time,
His expression was a mixture of regret and negation, making the three feel an anomaly…