Rule the Ming Dynasty Alone

At noon the next day, a fleet of salt transport ships came from the west of the Yangtze River and arrived at the wharf outside Wuchang via Hanshui Port.

Since we had already said hello in advance, the huge wharf stopped working at this time, and the empty wharf welcomed the fully loaded salt ship returning from Yangzhou.

Shen Yuanzhen, the left chief of the Chu Palace, was a Jinshi for the eighth year of Chenghua. His official career seemed to have ended the moment he entered the palace, but he has always stayed in this palace.

He was nearly fifty this year and had already lost hope for his future. He was leading the palace officials and eunuchs to watch the salt ship docking.

This batch of salt is the livelihood guarantee of the Chu Palace, and it is also like ships of shining gold.

Princely salt first appeared in the early Taizu period, but Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang soon realized that providing salt to the kings would harm the salt policy, so he abolished the "no salt" policy in the later period.

During the Xuande period, the King of Han petitioned for salt, and the Ministry of Household Affairs drafted a motto: "There is no example of giving salt according to the ancestral instructions. If the kingdom does not produce salt, just send people to trade elsewhere." The opinion of the Ministry of Household was adopted by Xuanzong.

During the Zhengtong period, the King of Zhou requested salt production from the nearby waterway salt field, and this time he finally got permission from Yingzong.

It was through this opening that the feudal kings began to petition for salt in large numbers.

By the 16th year of Chenghua, it became a routine practice for all princes to give 300 yin of Bense salt every year. Some princes with large numbers took the opportunity to ask for 1000 yin.

For example, Yingzong, in gratitude for King Xiang's kindness in interceding for him during the Jingtai period, responded to King Xiang's request and granted him 300 citations per year, which was later increased to 1,000 citations.

The lineage of King Chu is after Zhu Zhen, the sixth son of Zhu Yuanzhang. Although it is getting further and further away from the main lineage, after so many generations of reproduction, the population has become one of the best in the vassal lineage, so it has successfully obtained a thousand citations. .

A full thousand jins, each 400 kilograms, is 400,000 kilograms of salt. This much salt is not something that a small Chu royal family can digest.

In fact, the two generations of Chu kings naturally knew this, but after all, salt came as a reward, so it was not for nothing. In addition, salt now can be said to be a hard currency comparable to silver. If you have salt, you don't have to worry about not being able to exchange it for silver.

Ten salt ships approached the dock one after another. Following the order, workers took advantage of the good weather and hurriedly unloaded the salt on the ships into the granary next to the dock.

Just as people here were sweating like rain and unloading salt, the whole city of Wuchang felt like it was exploding.

"Didn't that old man Wang Yue go to Yangzhou?"

"What is he doing in Wuchang City? Isn't this nonsense?"

"Arrived...at the dock? This...this is really not a way for people to survive!"

…

Everyone originally thought that the imperial envoy Wang Yue had rushed to Yangzhou to rectify the salt administration. However, they learned that Wang Yue's imperial envoy's honor guard suddenly appeared in Wuchang City and headed towards the dock. This was no less than a sudden thunder explosion.

Li Qingzheng, the governor of the left, who was the first to get the news, had a discussion with the concubine he bought from Shixianlou. When he learned that Wang Yue had appeared and headed towards the dock, he was so frightened that he wilted.

The same situation happened in other yamen. After learning that Wang Yue had played such a trick, everyone was angry and angry, but they wanted to eat Wang Yue alive.

This officialdom was originally peaceful, but the new king continued to favor the eunuchs, and now a mad dog like Wang Yue was released, causing another storm in their Huguang officialdom.

After Huguang Inspector Jiang Hong and Huguang Inspector Yang Jizong learned the news, no matter how much they hated Wang Yue at the moment, they had to go to meet the imperial envoy out of emotion and reason.

The sails are swaying in the air, and the clear flow returns to the wind.

Poetry is inspired by advocacy, and wine is inspired by swordsmanship and singing.

Dancing brothel prostitutes, two servant girls white jade.

Don't go when you are traveling in the clouds. You will stay drunk in the palace of the King of Chu.

…

The most noble person in Wuchang City is not the governor or the Zuobu envoy, but the king of Chu who has lived here for many generations, Zhu Zhen, the sixth son of Zhu Yuanzhang.

The current fifth generation King of Chu, Zhu Junyan, is a very lucky King of Chu, and can even be said to be the chosen King of Chu.

In the sixth year of Tianshun, the fourth generation Chu King Zhu Jicheng passed away, leaving only an eight-month-old bastard behind him.

After careful consideration, Yingzong decided to let Zhu Jiqi's younger brother Zhu Jihuan, King of Dong'an, preside over the funeral of the King of Chu, and asked him to educate and protect his nephew carefully, and then he would be crowned king after his nephew came of age.

However, God's will played a trick on people, and Zhu Jihuan, the king of Dong'an, passed away not long after, and the king of Zhun Chu also died in the same year.

The second generation Chuzhuang King Zhu Mengran has four sons, the eldest son Chu Xian Wang Zhu Jiyu (the third generation Chu King has no queen), the second son Chu Kang King Zhu Jicheng (the fourth generation Chu King has no queen), the third son Dong'an Gongding King Zhu Jihuan, The fourth son of Daye mourned the death of King Xi Zhu Jiyi (who had no descendants).

According to the normal "older brother eventually succeeds younger brother", but the fourth son, King Zhu Jijuan of Daye, has passed away and has no heirs, so the king of Chu can only choose from the lineage of King Zhu Jijuan of Dong'an.

Since King Zhu Jihuan of Dong'an had no legitimate son, the eldest son of the concubine Zhu Junhui was naturally the king of Chu. However, at that time, he was also faced with the problem of how to determine the status of King Zhu Jihuan of Dong'an.

In April of the first year of Chenghua, the imperial court finally came up with a plan. Zhu Junxi, the eldest son of the concubine of King Gongding of Dong'an, would be granted the title of King of Chu, and Zhu Junbu, the second son of the concubine of Prince Dong'an, would be granted the title of King of Dong'an.

This was the first special situation in the Ming Dynasty when a small sect succeeded a large sect. However, the court did not force Zhu Junhui to recognize Zhu Jiyu or Zhu Jiqi as his father. It also did not canonize Zhu Jiyuan, the king of Dong'an, as the king of Chu. This can be regarded as a relatively proper solution to the problem of the successor of the king of Chu.

The scale of the Chu Palace was built during the reign of Emperor Taizu, and its scale is naturally much larger than today's custom-made ones. The palace here looks magnificent.

Zhu Junhui always felt that he was the chosen one. His eldest uncle had no descendants, his second uncle had no descendants, his fourth uncle died early, and his father had no legitimate son. As a result, the throne of Chu fell on his head in such a bizarre way.

Since the first year of Chenghua, he has been the high-ranking King of Chu at a young age.

Zhu Junyi, like many princes, drank and had fun in the palace every day. He was enjoying the singing and dancing performances in the palace. He just thought that he could raise enough silver to buy the most beautiful woman in Jingchu, and the corners of his mouth could not help but raise slightly.

Now that he no longer has any plans for the Ming Dynasty, now that he can inherit the throne of Chu and be a happy prince, and he can also get the most beautiful woman in Jingchu, this life will be well worth it.

Unlike his uncle, Zhu Junyi wanted to build a large harem, and he must not let his own line die and give up the best throne of Chu to others.

"Your Majesty, it's not good, it's not good!" At this moment, a eunuch ran in in a panic.

Seeing that the song and dance performance in the palace was disrupted, Zhu Junyi suddenly looked unhappy and said: "Li An, what are you doing in such a panic? Is it possible that the sky will collapse?"

"Your Majesty, the imperial envoy went to the dock to check for salt!" Li An knew that the matter was extremely urgent, so he reported the matter with a sad face.

Zhu Junyi looked confused and said: "Imperial envoy? Where did the imperial envoy come from?"

"Wang Yue, the king is here to behead him!" Li An shouted anxiously when he saw that Zhu Junyi didn't seem to have reacted yet.

Just as the whole city of Wuchang was in a state of uproar, Wang Yue's imperial guard of honor had already arrived at the wharf, which was very busy.

Ten ships of salt were working at the same time, and almost all of them have been unloaded. They were temporarily stored in a nearby granary because they were worried that they would be caught in the rain.

Seeing the imperial envoy appear, the busy workers stopped what they were doing and knelt down respectfully to welcome the beheading of the imperial envoy who could make a three-year-old child afraid to cry.

It’s over!

When they saw Wang Yue's appearance, Shen Yuanzhen, the chief minister of Zuo of the King of Chu, and other officials knew immediately that a disaster was coming.

It's just that this matter can no longer be stopped. Not to mention that they are just small royal officials, even the governor of Huguang can't stop Wang Yue here.

"I respectfully welcome the imperial envoy!" Shen Yuanzhen, the chief minister of Zuo of the King of Chu, knew that he was coming with bad intentions, but he still knelt down to greet him in a polite manner.

Wang Yue got down from the sedan chair, pointed directly at the mountains of granaries over there and ordered: "Come here, take a look. I'm afraid there are more than three hundred salts here!"

Shen Yuanzhen, the chief minister of Zuo of the King of Chu, was about to stop him, but when he saw the stern look cast by Wang Yue, he immediately swallowed back the words that came to his lips.

At this moment, a rapid sound of horse hooves came from the direction of the city gate.

When the people around saw that the leader turned out to be the King of Chu, a look of surprise flashed across their faces. They would be held accountable by the court for leaving the city for no reason. Even if you go out of the city to worship your ancestors, you still have to report to the court in advance.

At this time, Zhu Junyi could no longer care about so much. He came with his prince's guard to stop him and said: "This is the palace salt that your majesty gave to me. Do you dare to touch it and try it? Don't you want to live?"

"Your Highness, King of Chu, if this is a regular practice of the imperial court giving salt, why should you be so nervous? It's just that you collected the salt four times this year, and at the end of the year there were only 200 salt left the last time, but there are far more than 200 salt here, right?" Wang Yue also didn't expect that King Chu would dare to come in person, so he asked with a smile on his face.

Zhu Junyi knew he was in the wrong, so he said with a cold face: "Whoever dares to touch my salt will be taken directly by me. If anything happens, I will bear the responsibility!"

"King of Chu, can you afford it? I am your Majesty's imperial envoy. I am responsible for rectifying the salt administration. All illegal salt matters will be known and verified!" Wang Yue did not expect that the King of Chu would be so domineering, so he emphasized his status.

"King Chu, please think twice!" Zuo Changshi Shen Yuanzhen knew that the matter had been exposed, so he also stood up to dissuade him.

Zhu Junyi always felt that he was the destined emperor. He did not put the world-famous Wang Yue in his hands at all. He waved his hand and said: "This person wants to seize my king's salt. Get it for me, and I will ask for it." Your Majesty, please explain!”

"Please Shang Fang's sword! Anyone who dares to stop this imperial envoy from carrying out an inspection will be executed without mercy!" Wang Yue immediately ordered his grandson Wang Yu when he saw that the situation had developed to this point.

puff!

At this moment, a cold arrow shot from a distance and flew straight to Wang Yue's heart.

this……

Huguang Chief Envoy Li Qing, Huguang Inspector Yang Jizong and Huguang Inspector Jiang Hong, who had just heard the news, got off the sedan chair. When they saw this scene, they were completely stunned.

When the King of Chu shot and killed the imperial envoy, wasn't this an act of rebellion?