Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 578
While the empire's war in Monan and the Northeast region outside the pass continued, discussions within the imperial court about the new chief minister of the cabinet became more and more heated.

In fact, the officials of the empire are no longer very concerned about the war outside the pass, but who the new chief minister of the cabinet will be is what keeps their nerves tense.

Zhu Youjian also knew that the officials of the empire were all staring at him at this time, wishing to see from his words and deeds who he really wanted to be the new chief minister of the cabinet.

As the emperor, Zhu Youjian actually did not have a clear candidate for the chief minister of the cabinet.

He knew that the imperial court of Ming Dynasty today was mainly divided into two parties, the Emperor's Eldest Son Party and the Emperor's Second Son Party, and the rest were officials who were affiliated with these two factions or maintained neutrality on the surface.

Among them, the eldest son of the emperor mainly included Gao Hongtu, the chief assistant of the cabinet, Hua Yuncheng, the secretary of the Ministry of officials, etc. In addition, Zhu Cihuan, the third son of the emperor, also gathered a group of officials to run behind his eldest brother.

As for the second son of the emperor, there are Ma Shiying, the deputy envoy of the Grand Marshal's Office and the director of the General Political Department, and Ruan Dayue, Minister of the Ministry of War.

But Zhu Youjian doesn't mind whether the next new chief minister is a member of the eldest son of the emperor, the second son of the emperor, or a neutral official.

Because these so-called princely parties are not very powerful now, and they are all political forces whose political purpose is to please the emperor.

What Zhu Youjian hopes is that one or two of these officials who are secretly forming cliques can understand their political intentions, have the heart to work for the future of Ming Dynasty, and have a clear political philosophy of their own.

It doesn't matter what party he is as long as it makes the empire better.

For this reason, Zhu Youjian did not prevent them from secretly communicating and even used various means to increase his bargaining chips for himself to win the cabinet chief assistant.

In fact, Zhu Youjian's favorite in his heart is Li Mingrui.

Although Li Mingrui and the second son of the emperor have some intersections, but he chose Li Mingrui more because his political purpose of running for the cabinet chief assistant is the clearest, and his political views are more in line with his own political views, although it is just picking up his own Yahui, there is no political opinion that Zhu Youjian was shocked by.

But it is more than enough to be the next chief minister of the cabinet, at least it will allow the empire to move forward steadily at the current rhythm.

But Zhu Youjian did not show a clear signal of his preference for Li Mingrui. He has to continue to observe and wait for someone more suitable than Li Mingrui to appear.

Therefore, these days, Zhu Youjian can be said to be reclusive, and he has shown the same attitude towards almost every minister, neither too important nor too indifferent.

As a result, the officials of the empire couldn't calm down more and more, and they were nervously waiting for the result to appear or intervening in the result.

This day is the day when the Empress Zhou, the eldest son of the emperor, the third son of the emperor, and Princess Changping returned to the capital from the north of Nanjing.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian suddenly made a decree, and Gao Hongtu, the chief assistant of the cabinet, took all the civil and military officials to Tongzhou to pick up the queen and return to the palace immediately.

"You follow along, remember to tell me what you saw when you come back."

Zhu Youjian said this to Xu Zhaohua.

Although Xu Zhaohua is an eunuch accompanying the Supervisor of Ceremonies, her status in the inner court is only behind the four great eunuchs Wang Chengen, Han Shoujing, Lu Jiude, and He Xin. In addition, she is the righteous daughter of the emperor's empress, and her status seems to be higher. .

"Follow the order", Xu Zhaohua knew that Zhu Youjian was asking her and the cabinet chief assistant Gao Hongtu to pick up the queen in name, but in fact he wanted her to supervise whether the queen would secretly collude with the cabinet chief assistant Gao Hongtu for the emperor's eldest son, or let She went to avoid this kind of thing from happening, and it was also a test of whether the eldest son of the emperor would secretly use the queen and the cabinet.

The queen is in a good mood during this period. After all, the northern capital regained the reunification of Daming, which is also a happy thing for her, not to mention that there are many sweet memories of her and Zhu Youjian in the Forbidden City in Beijing.

During the time when Zhu Youjian was not around, her imperial sons Zhu Cihong and Zhu Cihuan were very cheerful and filial, especially when she was sick and stood by her side almost every day, which moved her very much.

Empress Zhou now feels that everything is returning to the good old days. She misses her majesty Zhu Youjian very much now, and really wants this kind of harmony to last, but when she sees that the docile emperor Zhu Cihong beside her is no longer the old She still feels heartache when she still cannot hide the loss of not being a prince anymore.

"My lord, what are you worried about?"

Empress Zhou saw that Zhu Cihong's brows were furrowed the closer she got to Beijing, so she couldn't help asking.

"After returning to my mother, Erchen was very happy that our family could be reunited, but when he thought of his second brother who was still fighting bloody battles with the Tartars in the bitter cold outside the customs, not to mention being away from his family and having his life in danger from time to time, Erchen was a little worried about him. "

What Zhu Cihong said moved Queen Zhou very much. What she was most worried about was that when her majesty deliberately provoked the prince to compete for the throne, her sons would turn against each other, but she did not expect that her eldest son was still so kind. At this time, I still don't forget to think about my younger brother who is fighting outside.

If such a big brother is not a prince, who else is suitable?
My husband is a good emperor, but he is not a good father. He always doubts his son like a minister. Don't you know the truth that blood is thicker than water?

Empress Zhou patted Zhu Cihong very touched: "My dear son, it's hard for you to still miss your younger brother. The empress really hopes that you will always be like this and remember that you are brothers forever."

"Don't worry, queen mother, we brothers are in harmony. Those people outside say that our brothers fight openly and secretly for the sake of sensationalism. The eldest brother has always been the eldest brother respected by our brothers. Even the second brother said that the prince is still the eldest brother." It is most appropriate, even the second brother said that he is fighting the world not only for the father, but also for the future elder brother!"

Zhu Cihuan, the third son of the emperor, took the words and said this, and the empress Zhou was even more happy. Although Zhu Cihong was happy in his heart, he was also worried that his father's people would hear these words, so he hurriedly reprimanded Zhu Cihuan:
"Third brother, don't speak nonsense! Father has already said that the position of crown prince should be occupied by those who are capable. Eldest brother knows that his talents are insufficient, so how dare he have any unreasonable thoughts. Everything is decided by father."

"Your third brother is right. Zhu Cijiong's thinking like this is naturally the best. He is also worthy of being my own son. The elder and younger are orderly. You can be headed by the eldest brother. I am very happy to be a mother. Your Majesty, he will one day I understand, is it possible that he wants Concubine Yuan Gui to be the emperor? Somebody, go and fetch the crystal pendants from the two Korean kingdoms in my palace and give them to the two princes. I'm going to rest first, and you are busy with your own business go."

Queen Zhou's gift was naturally a clear expression of her hope that their brothers would continue to live in harmony like this.

"Thank you, Empress, and send off to Empress!"

Queen Zhou went back to the cabin to rest after saying this, and Zhu Cihuan and Zhu Cihong couldn't help but smile at each other after sending Zhou away respectfully.

Zhu Cihuan even said: "Brother, what is my plan? What the queen mother wants to see most is the harmony between our brothers. The more incompatible you and the second brother are, the more benevolent you have to be. You will be moved, and the queen mother will definitely like you more and more."

"It's better to be the third brother! Don't worry, when I ascend the throne, half of the country will be yours!"

Zhu Cilang said with a smile.

(End of this chapter)