Chapter 29: The Mountain Rain is Coming

  The deep and solemn palace, the jumping candlelight, this is the Chongde Hall where the tomb of Emperor Taichang is located. The black night makes the palace less dignified and more ferocious, like a fierce beast opening its huge mouth to devour people.

  With the sound of footsteps, a figure slowly walked into the grand hall and came to the center of it.

  A huge coffin is placed here, in front of the coffin is a large fire basin, a young man sits on the edge of the fire basin, putting the paper money in his hand into the fire basin one by one. As the paper money is put in, the flames in the fire basin keep jumping, reflecting on the boy's expressionless face.

  "Your Highness, the memorial has already been delivered to the other side during the day." The newcomer bowed and spoke in a low voice. As for the young man in front of him, Wang An had thought he understood him well, but now he didn't dare say that, as this person's thoughts were really not something he could guess.

  He put the last paper money in his hand into the fire pit, and the young man slowly stood up. He didn't respond to Wang An's words, but instead ordered: "Light the lamp."

  When the lights in the great hall were lit again, the entire hall was suddenly bright and the hall seemed to have returned from the underworld to the world of the living, letting out a breath for the eunuchs and palace maids standing here.

  He slowly walked to the back of the desk, and Prince Zhu Youxiao sat down gently. On the table in front of him, he picked up a copy of Zuo Guangdou's memorial. He nodded at Wang An and handed it over to him.

  "Understood." The crown prince said softly as he took over the memorial.

  As for the classical Chinese, Crown Prince Zhu Youxiao could still understand it, but this kind of traditional character classical Chinese was not very clear. During this period, Zhu Youxiao had already gotten used to having people read out memorials, and Wang An didn't think it was strange either, so he took the memorial and started reading it.

  As Wang An's voice faded away, Zhu Youjian gradually fell into deep thought. This memorial was indeed written by a master of eloquence, and the first general of the Donglin Party was truly not to be underestimated. The power, the writing style, the argumentation - all were truly unmatched!

  This memorial is very straightforward and can be said to have no evasions at all. From the first sentence, it is full of hidden implications and every step is well-planned.

  The first sentence of this memorial says that the Qianqing Palace in the inner court is like the Huangji Temple in the outer court, which seems to be nothing, but actually sets up a foreshadowing for the second sentence. Here, Zuo Guangdou only wants to explain one thing, that is, the status of Qianqing Palace and the imperial temple where the court discusses state affairs are the same, which is the place where the country handles government affairs.

  With such a beginning, the next sentence is: "Only the Son of Heaven can occupy the heavenly throne and reside in it, only the Empress can match heaven and share residence with him. Other consorts proceed to serve in order, but are not allowed to permanently reside, not only to avoid suspicion, but also to distinguish between honor and humility."

  Here, Zuo Guangdou thought that since the status of Qianqing Palace is so important, who can live there? The first one is naturally the Emperor, as he controls the world and can naturally reside in Qianqing Palace. Then who else can live there? The second person is the Empress, because she is the Emperor's wife and has the qualifications to live here. Next comes the sentence that Zuo Guangdou considers most important, which is also what he wants to express: other concubines are not qualified to live here, not only to avoid suspicion but also due to differences in status.

  With the above groundwork, the following words finally enter the main topic. Zuo Guangdou wrote: "The selection of servants is neither the birth mother nor the biological mother, but they live in the main palace with dignity. The prince retreats to Ciqing and cannot guard the threshold, perform grand ceremonies, what is the name? The selection of servants has no virtue of removing hairpins for the former emperor, and no kindness of nurturing for the prince. Can this person be entrusted with the sacred body?"

  Zuo Guangdou said bluntly, "You are neither the birth mother of the crown prince nor the empress. What qualifications do you have to live in the Qianqing Palace? You live here with a name that doesn't match your status and words that don't match your actions, yet you still cling to this place and refuse to leave. How can such an ignorant woman who doesn't understand hierarchy be entrusted with raising the crown prince?" This was simply a slap in the face, extremely impolite.

  The memorials to the throne written by officials in the morning often do not take into account too much, even if they are written for the emperor, they are usually very rude. Many people became famous by scolding the emperor, using words like "tyrannical ruler" and "incompetent", which frequently appear in memorials. Such a passage would not be able to provoke Li Xuan's anger, this woman who has experienced countless storms and rains is not one to be easily knocked down, what was truly deadly was the last paragraph of the memorial.

  The last paragraph of the memorial reads: "Moreover, Your Highness is already 16 years old. With loyal and honest old ministers assisting you from within, and public opinion supporting you from without, what worry is there about lacking people? Must you still be nursed and carried on your back? Now that wise and enlightened rule has just begun, it is only right that nothing should be done to attract criticism; why must you rely on the hand of a woman? If this is not quickly decided, then under the pretext of nurturing will be practiced the reality of despotism. The disaster of Wu Zetian will reappear today, and in the future there will be things that cannot be spoken."

  What does this passage mean? It roughly says: "The crown prince is already 16 years old and has become an adult. Outside, there are fair and strict ministers, and inside, there are stable eunuchs." Here, it's necessary to insert a sentence. In the Ming Dynasty, civil officials were a separate system, they looked down on military generals, and even more so on the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Eastern Depot. Due to the emperor's restrictions on military generals, these military officers had long since become no match for civil officials. However, the Chengzu Emperor of the Ming established new opponents for civil officials - the Eastern Depot and the Embroidered Uniform Guard. This may be another form of checks and balances. Why did Zuo Guangdou say this? Perhaps it was to unite all possible forces, temporarily unite them, overthrow Li Xuan's servant first, and then talk about other things.

  "So, since the crown prince is already 16 years old and has so many capable people assisting him, what else do you need to do? Does the crown prince still need to be coaxed like a child?" In fact, all of this was just an appetizer, the real main course was actually the last sentence.

  Here is the translation:

  All Zuo Guangdou wants to say here is that the Crown Prince has already reached the age of awakening, so how can he be entrusted to a woman for nurturing? On the surface, it seems that Zuo Guangdou is afraid that Li Xuan will become like Wu Zetian and seize power. However, there is actually another deeper meaning behind this.

  Now that the prince has fallen in love, there will inevitably be a woman he likes. What are you doing here? Are you going to be Wu Zetian? As everyone knows, Wu Zetian was the concubine of Li Shimin and later married Li Zhi, who was Li Shimin's son. Here, Zu Guangdou is saying that if you want to stay here, is it to seduce the prince? Seduce this nominal son?

  You should know that the Ming dynasty was not comparable to the Han and Tang dynasties, which still had a relatively open atmosphere. Remarriage of widows was not unheard of. Cases of princesses committing adultery also occurred from time to time. But in the Ming dynasty, you'd be waiting to be drowned in a pig cage!

  It's finally back to normal, thank you everyone for your support and votes!