In the face of Shen Yicheng's unruly methods, many families banded together and came up with a way to deal with Shen Yicheng.
Everyone agreed that they would first send their daughter to a place to hide, and then they would all go together — —
Hold a funeral!
Their daughters had died!
Forced by you, Shen Yicheng!
Thus, on the seventh and eighth of the twelfth month, more than a thousand families in the capital hung up white banners at the same time and began to wail.
They wailed that their daughters had died, that their daughters had been forced to die, and that their families couldn't live on anymore …
In the end, it caused a storm in the city.
Because of the emergency in Tianjin Wei, the whole city was under martial law again, and everyone was living a tight life. Every day, they could only go out to buy food, and the rest of the time, they had to stay indoors. It was difficult to quell the resentment in their hearts, and now, it caused even more resentment in the city.
The eunuchs came out with the eunuchs to arrest people. When they saw that every family had hung up white banners and were holding a funeral, they were immediately dumbfounded. They didn't know whether to go in or not.
There were also many old fathers dressed in white who grabbed the collars of those eunuchs, wanting to fight them to the death. The surrounding neighbors couldn't stand it anymore, so they surrounded these eunuchs and stared at them, scaring many eunuchs away.
Shen Yicheng also didn't expect these people to be so resistant. If he had known earlier, he wouldn't have notified them in advance and could have directly gone to their homes to arrest them. That way, he could have caught a little more. Now, he had caught more than a hundred girls who were still in a state of shock, but after a careful look, only two or three were pleasing to his eyes. The rest were all ugly melons and bad dates …
Daming, are there no more beauties in the imperial court?
"Grand Secretary, this time the whole city is in an uproar, and the people are furious. We can't continue, otherwise, before there's chaos outside, there'll be chaos inside first! Let's use these to cover for now, and think of a way later! "
Xiao Daheng helplessly tried to persuade Shen Yicheng.
Shen Yicheng took a deep breath and thought about it again and again. He really had no choice, it was difficult to anger the public, so he could only give up. He kept the three prettiest girls among the hundred or so girls and sent the rest away with some money. Only then did the people's anger be quelled.
Of course, no one cared about the three families who were even more unfortunate.
As long as I'm safe, who cares about you?
Therefore, without Zhu Changluo's confirmation, the three girls were given titles by the Ministry of Rites. The prettiest one was surnamed Zhang, and she was given the title of Empress at the age of fifteen. The remaining two were surnamed Sun and Ma, and they were given the titles of Consort Gong and Consort Kang respectively at the age of fourteen and fifteen.
Before the three pitiful little girls could figure out what was going on, they had become the Empress and Concubine of the Daming Emperor. They had made a huge leap in their lives.
Of course, if the Emperor was a normal Emperor, then it would be a good thing. It would be a good thing that could not be obtained even if one begged for it. His family would burn incense to repay the wish, but this Emperor …
Good luck to them!
Zhu Changluo himself had not seen his Empress and concubines before he was informed by Shen Yicheng that the Empress and concubines had already been chosen for him.
In fact, according to the usual practice, the Emperor should be the one to choose the three most pleasing to the eye as the Empress and the Imperial Concubine respectively. Otherwise, he would be given gold coins to return to the people. However, Zhu Changluo did not manage to do so. The Empress and the Imperial Concubine were all chosen by Shen Yicheng.
But it was enough. Now that he had chosen three, he could finally enjoy the pleasures of the bed openly!
Zhu Changluo's impression of Shen Yicheng was very good now. He regarded him as his protector and gave him all the authority. Shen Yicheng also reciprocated by letting Zhu Geng teach in the morning and letting Zhu Changluo have free time in the afternoon. Zhu Changluo only cared about reading and enjoying himself. He did not care about anything else.
With three women, it was enough for him to be happy for a while.
The ninth day of the twelfth month was the wedding date set by Shen Yicheng. The decorations in the palace had already begun a few days ago. Zhu Changluo looked at the festive palace and was very happy. He was completely unaware of what was happening inside and outside the capital.
Of course, it did not matter if he knew or not.
On the ninth day of the twelfth month, the surviving civil and military officials in the capital forced themselves to wear beautiful clothes and brought their families to attend the Emperor's wedding. The wedding was very grand, and all kinds of equipment were within the norms of the royal family. Although it was a little short, there were no benefits given to everyone.
Moreover, everyone noticed that Shen Yicheng, as the host of the wedding, had left early.
The people did not have much of a personality. They forced a smile on their faces and went through the motions. The wedding ended very dismally.
But Zhu Changluo did not care. He just wanted to quickly go live with the beautiful woman he was going to marry and release the long-suppressed desire.
Shen Yicheng had no interest in this. He was old and did not have that kind of desire. More importantly, he did not have the mood at all. The letter from the Kong family in Qufu had ruined his mood for the whole day.
Kong Shangxian, who had just sent a congratulatory note to the Taichang Emperor not long ago, was now warning Shen Yicheng in the name of Duke Yan not to continue to make mistakes. He should quickly recognize his mistakes, surrender, hand over the capital, and not hurt the Emperor. In this way, Xiao Ruxun could consider not hurting his family. If he insisted on doing things his own way, it would be a serious crime that would result in the execution of nine generations of his family.
Shen Yicheng responded with a sneer.
Execution of nine generations of my family?
Would I be afraid?
At this point, would I be afraid of your execution of nine generations of my family?
Would you really dare to execute nine generations of my family?
But from the looks of it, Xiao Ruxun had already taken Qufu, and the Kong family had once again carried out the fine tradition of the family to the extreme. Now, Xiao Ruxun had the upper hand, not only in military affairs, but also in orthodoxy and morality. Now, it was Shen Yicheng who was at a complete disadvantage.
This was very strange, and Shen Yicheng could not figure out why he had lost.
They had only lost once, and only Li Hualong had failed. Shen Yicheng had not. How did it come to this point now?
Shen Yicheng held his head in his hands as he racked his brains in his room.
He could not get the answer he wanted.
The Imperial Palace was quiet at night, and this silence allowed Shen Yicheng to think carefully. The people in the duty room did not dare to make any noise for fear of affecting Shen Yicheng's thoughts.
To the east of the capital, Tianjin, was occupied by the Xiao clan's soldiers who had crossed the sea. To the south was Xiao Ruxun, who had already reached Qufu. To the west were the ruined cities of Shanxi, Datong, and Guanzhong. He did not even know where he could get help.
If this was the case …
It seemed like he was really going to lose, lose everything.
Half a year, it had only been half a year!
How could he have lost?
How could he have lost in such a straightforward and comprehensive manner?
Just why was this so?
Shen Yicheng could not understand.
But now, it seemed that even if he understood, it would be too late.
This letter was more like a letter of persuasion than a letter of admonition. Xiao Ruxun held the absolute advantage in both military and political affairs, and the Kong family's defection was a fatal blow to Shen Yicheng. This meant that even Shi Lin was about to abandon him.
Had Xiao Ruxun already reached an agreement with those fellows in Jiangnan?
What kind of price did he offer?
What guarantee had those fellows given to Xiao Ruxun?
Shen Yicheng did not know, not a single thing.
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