Chapter 162 The Empress Dowager’s Determination

The words of the imperial physician can only be listened to with a discount.

The Queen Mother's body and bones survived the winter, but after spring, it did not feel better, and her body felt like it was getting worse.

Especially in late spring, the old man is lying on the bed, unable to move easily, and the strange smell permeates the air. This does not mean that there are too many people.

After all, no matter how many maids there are, they will not dare to work too hard for the Queen Mother.

Zhu Qizhen now lives next door to the Empress Dowager. While the Empress Dowager is sleeping, she reviews memorials, skips morning court meetings, and meets with ministers many fewer times.

That is to say, within half a month, Yang Pu was summoned several times to report various matters.

Overall, it's still a severe drought.

Spring drought strikes again in Hebei Province.

However, under the strong support of Zhu Qizhen, more than 10 million taels of silver were spent in Hebei. Yu Qian spent several years of hard work to build the Hebei water conservancy system. It has not yet been completed, but overall, it has been able to exert great effects.

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At least even during the spring drought, due to the influence of various rivers and wells, a considerable number of fields only reduced production, not to the point of no harvest.

Although he was exempted from taxes as usual, Zhu Qizhen was also very happy.

Thanks to Zhou Chen's efforts, the salt tax in the first quarter of the seventh year of Orthodoxy exceeded that of last year, reaching nearly two million taels.

It seems that the salt tax will meet Zhu Qizhen’s expectations within this year and next. In addition, there is still more than 10 million taels of inventory in the internal transportation warehouse.

As for other things, it's not a big deal.

It even made Zhu Qizhen feel that if he actually did nothing, the Ming court would still operate according to its own inertia.

King Wenxiang also arrived at the capital after a long journey.

When Zhu Qizhen saw King Xiang, he felt a little sad.

King Xiang, the uncle of the king, was regarded as a political opponent by Zhu Qizhen from the beginning. King Xiang also met this condition, and he had always been personable and outstanding in temperament.

But now I feel like I am weak. My whole body is dusty and I have lost weight. My eyes are bloodshot and full of worry.

Seeing this, Zhu Qizhen said: "Uncle Wang, let's go see the empress."

Prince Xiang didn't care about being rude and walked into the room of the Empress Dowager with a bit of stumble.

But they saw the Empress Dowager lying on the bed, with only a brocade quilt. Her whole body seemed to be sinking into cotton. Compared to Prince Xiang, the Empress Dowager was even thinner and out of shape.

I can't eat a lot of food.

They could only use some liquid food such as minced meat. Even though Zhu Qizhen asked the imperial chef to change the method of making soup for the Empress Dowager, the Empress Dowager's appetite became weaker and weaker day by day.

Concubine Hu Xian has secretly cried several times.

No matter how heroic you are, before the time comes, other

In fact, there is no dignity at all.

This is the case with the Queen Mother.

When King Xiang saw this, he tried not to say anything. But he couldn't help but shed tears. Zhu Qizhen had never seen the Empress Dowager when she was young.

But King Xiang has seen it before.

During the Yongle period, the power of the Han Dynasty increased. Emperor Taizong was hesitant about establishing a prince. He looked down upon others in all kinds of personnel matters, and his father, Emperor Renzong, had a gentle temperament. In many cases, the Empress Dowager came forward, even several times.

Make a fuss in front of Emperor Taizong.

This is also the reason why Emperor Taizong liked his daughter-in-law more than his son. The Queen Mother's cheerful temperament was more like Emperor Taizong than Emperor Renzong.

Therefore, in the eyes of King Xiang, his mother has always had a strong aura. No matter when, as long as his mother is there, no one can overpower her except Emperor Taizong.

I have never seen my mother look so weak. She was even more sad and couldn't help crying.

The Queen Mother seemed to hear something, opened her eyes, and said in a weak voice: "Is it the third child?"

King Xiang knelt in front of the Queen Mother's bed, grabbed the Queen Mother's hand that was like a dry firewood, put it on his face, and said, "The child is here."

The Queen Mother's eyes burst out with bright eyes and she said: "Okay, okay, okay."

For a while, the Queen Mother seemed to have lost her ability to organize language and could only speak one good word.

King Xiang rambled on about many things, such as the situation in Luchan, how Fang Ying was good at fighting, and his son, how he led the army to suppress the bandits and defeated Meng Yang.

King Xiang's words are full of the tradition of reporting good things but not bad things.

If you just listen to what King Xiang said, it seems that he has traveled thousands of miles and conquered countless lands.

Normally, the Empress Dowager could see through such lies at a glance, but now she was looking at her son with a smile, the only son still alive in this world.

Just watching.

In other words, she can no longer do anything else.

King Xiang stayed in front of the Queen Mother for a whole day. Everything around the Queen Mother was handled by King Xiang. Although King Xiang has been a man of wealth from birth to now, he has never served anyone else. For this kind of

Things are not familiar to me, but I still keep doing it.

But in the evening, the Empress Dowager suddenly said: "Let's go and go back to Luchuan."

Prince Xiang said: "Mother, I want to accompany you again, and your Majesty is willing to do so."

The Empress Dowager said: "Whether your Majesty approves it is your Majesty's business, and whether I approve it or not is my business. It has always been a rule for vassal kings to come to the capital. There has never been a mother who was seriously ill and could return to the capital to take care of her illness. You are

The vassal king is his uncle, and he should set an example for the world, so how can he do this?"

King Xiang heard this and said, "Mother."

The Queen Mother was lying on the bed, with two lines of clear tears left in the corners of her eyes.

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How can a mother not love her son, and the Empress Dowager also knew that his body was weak and could not last much longer. Because of this, the Empress Dowager made all her efforts to make King Xiang leave immediately.

What the Empress Dowager said is also correct.

After the Jingnan, the Ming Dynasty's restrictions on the vassal kings became more and more severe. Not to mention that the mother was ill, even if the father died, the vassal kings who were away could not come to attend the funeral.

Of course, the political prestige of the Empress Dowager is nothing if she is willful once before her death.

But the Empress Dowager knew even more that everything would end if a person died, but the living would suffer.

Not to mention, the Empress Dowager was still worried about Prince Xiang's golden book. A single thought back then had laid a deep-seated crisis for her youngest son.

Although Zhu Qizhen showed no concern in front of the Empress Dowager, the Empress Dowager did not believe a word he said.

Because he understands very well what an emperor is. The cunning and cunning of any emperor are deeply rooted in his bones. Although Zhu Qizhen is still too immature now, he has already got into it.

For such an emperor, the Empress Dowager could rest assured to entrust the country to her, but the more this happened, the more worried she was that the emperor would take action against Prince Xiang. She didn't even need to take action, just a hint.

I don’t know how many people are willing to work for the emperor.

Therefore, Prince Xiang must not be in the capital. The farther away the better. Placing Prince Xiang in Luchuan may not be the way for this mother to protect her son.

The Queen Mother said: "There is one more thing, I want you to swear."

King Xiang said: "Mother, tell me."

"I want you to swear that after you go back, you will never step into the Ming Dynasty in this life. From now on, you will be born in Luchuan and you will be buried in Luchuan when you die."

What the Empress Dowager meant was that he didn't even need to come to her funeral.

When King Xiang heard this, he was like a thunderbolt from the blue. He choked up and said, "Mother, do you hate your son so much?"

The Empress Dowager closed her eyes and said, "Do you swear?"

King Xiang knelt on the ground, bent his head to the sky, and said, "I, Zhu Zhanchang, will never come back to my country again after I return to Luchuan."

Even if the Empress Dowager closed her eyes, she couldn't help but shed tears. Strings of tears slipped from the corners of her eyes to her ears. She secretly said in her heart: "Third brother, don't blame mother, you are better off alive than anything else."

The Empress Dowager asked King Xiang to take this oath not because she disliked King Xiang, but to protect King Xiang.

With this oath, after the Empress Dowager left, Zhu Qizhen had no reason to summon King Xiang to the capital. However, if he did not summon King Xiang to the capital and killed King Xiang in Luchan, it might cause a rebellion.

The Empress Dowager knew that Zhu Qizhen would not do such a thing after weighing the pros and cons. This was the Empress Dowager's last effort to allow King Xiang to survive after his death.
Chapter completed!