Chapter Thirty-Four: Ascension to the Throne

  On the afternoon of September 5, Li Xuanji moved out of the Qianqing Palace, and Crown Prince Zhu Youjian officially took over the Qianqing Palace. At this time, no one knew what this really meant. The Donglin Party was celebrating, the Qi Zhe Chu Party was worried, and the palace was eerily quiet.

  On the morning of September 6, Crown Prince Zhu Youjian ascended to the throne as Emperor Tianqi, and proclaimed Empress Zhang, the wife of the late emperor, as Empress Dowager. She took up residence in the Cining Palace, marking the beginning of a new era in the history of the Ming dynasty.

  The Qianqing Palace, the Huangji Temple, all civil and military officials stood outside the gate, quietly waiting, no one making a sound, no one making any other movements, standing still.

  The sun slowly rose, the bells and drums sounded in unison. A eunuch walked slowly to the gate of the grand hall, facing the outside officials, shouted: "Proclaim". After finishing, he turned around and went back.

  The civil and military officials slowly walked into the Huangji Temple, with Fang Congzhe, the chief assistant of the Grand Secretariat, at the forefront of the civil officials, and Xu Hongji, the Duke of Wei, a first-rank official, at the forefront of the military officials. As everyone arrived in the grand hall and stood still, the eunuch who held the pen for the Imperial Censorate loudly announced: "The Emperor has arrived."

  The Tianqi Emperor walked out slowly, wearing the formal imperial attire, including the famous flat-topped crown and dragon robe. Although he wanted to lift the beaded curtain in front of him, the Tianqi Emperor also knew that this was not allowed, so he could only endure the swaying beaded curtain.

  "Long live the Emperor, long live, long live!" Seeing the emperor arrive, these officials naturally did not dare to slack off and hurriedly knelt down to pay their respects. This set of rituals was already very familiar to these people, so they performed it with utmost uniformity, their voices also in unison.

  Without noticing the officials below, the Tianqi Emperor sat on the huge dragon throne, gently stroking the golden giant dragon head, his heart was more at ease than ever before. He had finally waited until today, although it was only a month, but it was still too long.

  The Emperor of Heaven was self-satisfied there, and the entire hall fell silent. It wasn't until much later that this new emperor realized it wasn't the time for this, and he lightly cleared his throat, solemnly saying: "All beloved officials, at ease."

  When everyone stood up, Tianqi Emperor gave a wink to Wang An beside him and said in a low voice: "Begin!"

  At this time, Wang An held a yellow imperial edict in both hands and walked slowly to the bottom of the great hall. He unfolded it gently and read aloud: "By the mandate of heaven, the emperor decrees: Now I, with my weak crown, have inherited the heavenly mandate and first ascended to the throne. I am truly afraid and fearful that there may be things that are not well thought out, words that are not cautious, and actions that are not prudent, which would harm the foundation of the country and affect the ministers and people. How can my heart be at peace? And how can I comfort our ancestors? Therefore, from today on, I will personally reflect on myself, work diligently to discipline myself, respect heaven and earth, and provide for the gods and spirits. I will worry about the state and protect the people, in order to pray for the prosperity of our great Ming dynasty, forever flourishing."

  When Wang An slowly walked back, the Tianqi Emperor slowly opened his mouth and said: "I initially ascended to the throne, and later I will rely more on all of you as ministers. All of you are the pillars of my great Ming dynasty, and I will certainly assign people according to their abilities."

  "Our Emperor is wise and enlightened."

  The morning meeting was extremely simple and the time was very short, basically nothing was discussed. No one would bring up something on the first day of a new emperor's accession unless they didn't want to be an official anymore.

  When all the matters were over, Emperor Tianqi dismissed all his ministers and brought two people to the Warming Pavilion. These two men were eunuchs, because Emperor Tianqi knew that although things outside had temporarily come to an end, things inside had not been resolved yet.

  At this time, the two eunuchs kneeling in front of Emperor Tianqi were Wang An, the chief eunuch of the Imperial Household Department, and Wei Chao, the chief eunuch who supervised the Eastern Depot.

  The Tianqi Emperor paced slowly back and forth in the great hall, thinking about what to do. After a moment of contemplation, he slowly spoke: "Wei Chao, I entrust you with a task. Take some men and tidy up the palace. I give you three days' time. During these three days, Zhen will be accompanying the Empress Dowager in Cining Palace. After the morning court session three days later, I hope to receive your news." The emperors of the Ming dynasty were generally lazy. In the early years of Wanli's reign, Zhang Juzheng reformed the system of morning court sessions, which took place only on the 3rd, 6th and 9th days of each month.

  After a slight pause, Emperor Tianqi continued: "What should be kept and what shouldn't be kept in the imperial palace, I think you should know. Go and take care of it!"

  "I have received the imperial edict." Wei Chao was extremely excited at this moment, if he could handle this matter well, he would definitely be reused. The East Factory is the emperor's family slave, and only with the emperor's trust can they be the source of their power.

  When Wei Chao left, the Tianqi Emperor said to Wang An: "Wang Gonggong, you are a person by my father's side. I am very considerate of old people. From today on, you don't have to be the pen-holding eunuch anymore. The position of the seal-holding eunuch of the Department of Ceremonial Affairs will be handed over to you!" Only this old man can make me feel at ease in this palace where power is the heaviest.

  "The old slave thanks Your Majesty." Wang An was very pleased in his heart, as a eunuch, he had reached the pinnacle of his life. He had not misjudged His Majesty, nor had he failed to live up to the trust placed in him by the previous emperor.

  "There's one more thing, you're the closest eunuch to me, and I'm not quite sure about Wei Chao. If he were to win over the eunuchs and palace maids during this purge, cultivating his own loyal followers, I would be at a disadvantage. So I hope you can keep an eye on him in secret, and if anything suspicious happens, come tell me." The Tianqi Emperor looked at Wang An with full trust, his eyes also filled with a hint of expectation.

  "Your Majesty can rest assured, I know what to do." Wang An naturally understood the meaning of Emperor Tianqi and replied respectfully after making a bow.

  "King Gong, I know you are a talented person. If you hadn't entered the palace, perhaps you could have become an imperial scholar in the cabinet. I ask you, what is the current state of the Great Ming Empire?" Tianqi Emperor said with a smile, looking at Wang An, his tone gentle and relaxed.

  "The eunuch does not dare to accept the emperor's praise, and as for the emperor's question, the eunuch cannot answer it either. The eunuch is just a eunuch, how can he have any ideas about such important military and national affairs?" Wang An's heart was racing at this time, he found that the person in front of him was very unfamiliar and no longer the weak crown prince. This person reminded him of another emperor of the Ming Dynasty, namely the former King of Yan, later Emperor Yongle Zhu Di."

  "You don't say, I'll say it. At this time, the borders of our great Ming dynasty are threatened by the Wala and Tartars to the north, and the newly risen Jurchen to the northeast. These powers have tens of thousands of armored soldiers. What about us? Our military is weak and corrupt, with officers embezzling funds, being greedy and lawless, and afraid to fight. It's a crisis all around. And look at our internal situation: the national treasury is empty, officials are divided into factions, and the fate of the country is not on their minds. Do they care about the future of our great Ming? Local officials are corrupt and oppressive, with countless taxes and levies, local bullies run amok in the countryside, and the people are suffering. And then there are the frequent natural disasters... what do these things mean to you?" At this time, Emperor Tianqi's emotions were stirred up, his eyes fixed intently on Wang An.

  Thank you for Scanian wolf's reward, this is today's third update.