If Zhu Ci didn't take action again, he wouldn't be able to resist writing a letter to him.
Previously, he had tried his best not to interfere with Zhu Ci, for fear that the other would think he had not given up on the throne; even if Zhu Ci did not suspect him, he would still have to worry about whether someone would take the opportunity to stir up trouble.
However, the Censorate's influence had been growing more and more recently, relying on their superior numbers, they seemed to have the intention of subtly suppressing the Grand Secretariat.
The Grand Secretariat did indeed seem to be avoiding his sharp edge.
However, regarding Fu, Zhu Ci felt there was no need to worry, as seeing his unshakable demeanor, he was certainly prepared for anything.
But if his cousin still didn't take action to deal with these censors, he would not be able to resist submitting a memorial.
Fortunately, his cousin finally reacted, the timing was also very appropriate.
The Censorate's desire to seize power seemed incredibly urgent, so much so that they had even cast their conscience aside.
Of course, it was also possible that they didn't think there was anything wrong at all.
Anyway, in the end, these people are all going to die.
Zhu Ci was, after all, the Crown Prince raised with great care by Chongzhen; having been taught by famous masters since childhood, he knew best how to deal with these literati.
If it were a matter of arguing in court, people like Huang Chunyao were no match for him at all.
They are merely Jinshi, having never been tempered in the imperial court; how could they have ever witnessed a true court debate?
Moreover, Zhu Ci was adamant that these people were trying to clear the names of the unscrupulous murderers; no matter what Huang Chunyao and the others said, it was useless.
Thus, a strange sight appeared at court: a group of eloquent Censors could not win an argument against a single Minister of Rites.
When the Censor accused Zhu Ci of slander and framing him, Zhu Ci directly brought up the Emperor's reply.
His younger cousin had already expressed this meaning in the imperial decree; if you have the guts, why don't you say the Emperor is also framing him?
In essence, it was because these Censors had been living too smoothly lately and hadn't thought too much when writing their memorials, only to be severely scolded by the Emperor for the loopholes they left behind.
In the end, the imperial court was simply too boisterous; it was only when Grand Secretary Fu stepped forward to intervene that the day's grand assembly finally came to an end.
Huang Chunyao felt somewhat helpless about this; he didn't mean it that way.
But now, many people around the Emperor seemed to no longer believe his words.
He also vaguely sensed that the Emperor might be trying to use this matter to suppress the Censorate.
Forget it, it is nothing more than a trivial matter. The people are already dead; why bother arguing over a few dead men?
Moreover, Huang Chunyao also felt that those people were utterly devoid of conscience, the memorials submitted to the throne were merely using them as an excuse.
If it doesn't work this time, then we'll wait until next time; after all, their Emperor is extremely bloodthirsty and will eventually kill someone.
He reined in his sharpness and stopped responding to the matter, gradually, no one in the imperial court spoke of it anymore.
Just as Huang Chunyao thought this matter had passed, he inadvertently learned from Hou Dongzeng that Hou Xuanyan, the son of Hou Dongzeng, had recently been pelted with stones by some people.
It was originally just a minor dispute between Hou Xuanyan and others that escalated into a scuffle, but a group of youths ended up beating Hou Xuanyan and his brother.
Huang Chunyao was instantly incensed: "This is outrageous! Is there no law left?"
Hou Dongzeng said with a bitter smile, "They are all just youths; it is not a major matter in the first place."
Huang Chunyao frowned. "What of it if they are youths? These young men should have been educated and known how to behave with propriety."
Hou Dongzeng said helplessly, "The reason for the dispute is that those young men were calling the people of the Censorate hypocrites."
Huang Chunyao??
What on earth?
Only after Hou Dongzeng explained did Huang Chunyao realize that the Censorate currently had a very poor reputation among the common people.
The people of Huaian had experienced the massacres by the Qing Army, so they could empathize even more deeply with the suffering in Jiujiang.
To go even further, those who slaughtered Huaian were at least outsiders; they were not a land of rites and was not even considered human, but those who burned Jiujiang were the Han army.
Anyone who speaks for such people can't be anyone good.
This kind of reputation was not only circulating among the common people, but was also gradually affecting some of the scholars.
The reputation of the Censorate plummeted to rock bottom in an instant.
After Hou Dongzeng finished speaking, he asked, "Whom have you offended lately?"
The rumors spread so quickly that they clearly weren't the result of normal fermentation.
Moreover, even when the Censorate submits memorials to the Emperor regarding major state affairs, the lower-ranking officials and petty officials might not necessarily find out this quickly. How could the common people possibly know?
Huang Chunyao sat there for a long while before finally realizing and sighing, "It is His Majesty."
Hou Dongzeng froze for a moment. "The Emperor? This.. how could the Emperor control public opinion in such a short time? This is far too much."
Huang Chunyao sat there, rubbing the armrest of his chair as he said, "Although this Emperor ascended to the throne from the position of Crown Prince, he had a unique experience before that. If you were to investigate, you might discover the source of these rumors."
The Little Emperor had never stopped listening to the voices of the people; he must certainly have his channels.
In the past, neither Huang Chunyao nor anyone else had taken this channel seriously.
They are just ignorant commoners; what could they possibly understand? Facing a chaotic era, they drift like duckweed with the current; what use could they possibly be?
Now the Little Emperor had given him a lesson that these commoners were very useful.
Scholars are such a massive group; so many scholars emerge from among the common people, their voices can still influence a portion of the scholar class.
The common people did not know about the matters within the imperial court, nor did they understand that Huang Chunyao felt the Emperor was acting impulsively from a broader perspective; they only saw that the Censorate was speaking on behalf of the heinous criminals. If so, were they not monsters in human form?
Hou Dongzeng was extremely worried after hearing this: "Is His Majesty dissatisfied with the Censorate? What should be done next?"
“There is nothing to do.” Huang Chunyao shook his head and said, “The more you do, the more mistakes you make. Right now, the best solution is to do nothing at all.”
The Emperor was merely warning them; while public reputation was certainly important, no one would remember it after a long time, as long as he remained the Left Censor, there would be no major problems.
He has underestimated the Emperor.
However, Huang Chunyao also reflected on why such a major incident had occurred.
He just couldn't quite figure it out after thinking it over. However, there was a Censor in the Censorate who had been a Censor during the Chongzhen Era, remained a Censor during the Hongguang Era, was still working his old profession in the current Guanglie Era; he was truly a permanent fixture of the Censorate.
Although he had served through three dynasties, this Censor was not yet very old; he had even passed the imperial examinations in the same year as Huang Chunyao.
After knowing this, he let out a huff and said, "His Majesty is warning you that you're overstepping your bounds. If you ask me, Censor Huang shouldn't meddle in everything; our Emperor is already a rare, sensible man."
He said nothing more after that, but Huang Chunyao caught the key point in his words: not to meddle in everything.
Even if His Majesty the Emperor once joked that he was merely a mascot, he could not truly treat the other as a mascot.
The Emperor still held a certain amount of power, his usual memorials hadn't caused such a strong reaction from him, so why had something gone wrong this time?
And after Grand Secretary Fu, the mastermind behind all this, learned what had happened, he wiped the grey residue from his hands while smiling and saying, "Beautiful."
This series of warnings was grand in scale yet lacked any real impact; it was nowhere near enough to shake the recently stabilized imperial court, while simultaneously causing Huang Chunyao to restrain himself significantly.
Their Little Emperor used to act solely on his impulses and emotions, so this move should come as a surprise to many.
Zhu Ci was growing rapidly, gradually adapting to this identity.
It was just unknown what the Little Emperor would do next.
The Little Emperor was preparing to receive Li Zicheng.
To be honest, he was still quite curious.
In this period of history at the end of the Ming Dynasty, he didn't truly know many figures; the ones he remembered before were all characters from novels. He had forgotten almost everything from his high school history classes, so he couldn't judge whether those were actually real historical figures or not.
However, he knew Li Zicheng—the Chuangwang.
Oh, along with Li Zicheng came the love, hatred, grievances between him, Wu Sangui, Chen Yuanyuan; of course, his understanding of these matters came purely from the wuxia novels of later generations.
In many television series or animations of later generations, Li Zicheng's image is always tall and mighty, often with a full beard and dark skin, looking very much like someone from a peasant background.
However, when Zhu Ci met Li Zicheng, he unexpectedly found that the man was vastly different from his image in film and television.
Unlike the tall and imposing Chuangwang he had imagined, the Li Zicheng Zhu Ci saw was not very tall, appearing perhaps even a bit shorter than him; however, he was very sturdy, or rather, his first impression was that he was quite burly.
That face stood in stark contrast to his body; it was surprisingly fair and delicate. One couldn't say he was exceptionally handsome, but it was certainly unexpected.
Zhu Ci was surprised to see Li Zicheng, Li Zicheng was also surprised to see Zhu Ci.
He had always known that the Emperor of Great Ming was a youth who had not yet reached adulthood, but when he truly met him, he could not help but be surprised by his youth and.. beauty.
Li Zicheng had seen Zhu Ci before; back then, this Crown Prince was greatly loved by Chongzhen because of his beauty. The person before him bore some resemblance to Zhu Ci, though his features and gaze appeared far more aggressive and striking than those of Zhu Ci.
Especially since the other's temperament was more mature than Zhu Ci's, which, paired with his still somewhat youthful face, created a sense of contradiction.
Zhu Ci summoned Li Zicheng at the Huangzhou Prefecture Office.
After Li Zicheng entered, he observed the surroundings for a long while; he did not speak, Zhu Ci did not speak either.
Jiang Xueyan stepped forward, intending to scold him, but Zhu Ci held her back.
After a long time, Li Zicheng cupped his hands and said, "Your servant, Li Zicheng, pays respects to Your Majesty. Long live the Emperor, long live, long live!"
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Author's Note: Zhu Ci: Encircling the cities from the countryside—you'll know when you try it. An evil kitty sneers and licks its paws. jpg
Next update tomorrow morning at six o'clock~
Chapter 126
The moment Li Zicheng lowered his head, the atmosphere within the prefectural office relaxed considerably.
Zhu Ci personally stood up, walked over to help Li Zicheng up, said, "The Chuangwang need not be so formal."
One of the conditions he had previously set for Li Zicheng's surrender was that he would still be granted a princedom, his title as Chuangwang would remain unchanged.
It was merely a kingship, besides, the current national policy of Great Ming was to grant territory without governing the people; furthermore, since Great Ming did not possess much territory at present, Li Zicheng's fiefdom was located in Wuchang.
After Zhu Ci and Li Zicheng met, they began a private discussion. The discussion lasted a very long time, so long that Li Zicheng's subordinates and He Gang, who were waiting outside, were feeling extremely anxious, fearing that the two of them might start fighting inside.
One side feared that an outburst from his direct superior would ruin their future, while the other side worried that his Emperor would be unable to defeat Li Zicheng.
Fortunately, when they came out, both Zhu Ci and Li Zicheng had genuine smiles on their faces, they even seemed to hold each other in high regard.
Zhu Ci even planned to dine with Li Zicheng, saying as he walked, "It's a pity the world is not peaceful enough right now; otherwise, it would be wonderful for the Chuangwang to govern a territory. Hmm, but if that were the case, he wouldn't be able to take charge of military defense. Sigh, if only the imperial court had more talents like the Chuangwang."
Zhu Ci had no choice but to call Li Zicheng the Chuangwang. Li Zicheng had both a courtesy name and a childhood name; his childhood name was Huang La'er and his courtesy name was Zao'er. It felt as though calling him by either would seem somewhat frivolous.