The fifteenth year of the Zhengde Emperor's reign in the Great Ming Dynasty, at the Prince Xian Mansion in Anlu, Hubei.
Fourteen-year-old Prince Xian Zhu Houcong stared blankly at the thick ledger. Last year, his father had passed away, and Zhu Houcong, merely thirteen at the time, inherited the princely title. He now lived in the Prince Xian Mansion with his widowed mother and a younger sister, his tender shoulders prematurely bearing the weight of life's burdens.
"Your Highness, my mother just made scallion pancakes! Eat them while they're hot!"
A handsome youth burst noisily through the door, holding a plate piled high with scallion pancakes. The tantalizing aromas of crispy crust, fresh scallions, and savory oil filled the air.
The youth's legs were slender and long, his gait resembling that of a crane. This was Zhu Houcong's milk-brother Lu Bing.
In Anlu, rice was the staple food, and few households made scallion pancakes. Lu Bing's mother, Lady Fan, was Zhu Houcong's wet nurse. Lu Bing's father, Lu Song, held a hereditary position as Banner Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. The Lu family originally hailed from Beijing but had relocated to Anlu when Lu Song accompanied the previous Prince Xian to his fiefdom. Lady Fan, being from Northern Zhili Province, was skilled at making wheat-based dishes.
Zhu Houcong picked up his chopsticks to eat the scallion pancake, while his milk-brother Lu Bing was less formal, grabbing a pancake with both hands. His fingers grew greasy as he joked, "Your Highness, if you combine our names, they make a scallion pancake! (Note: The characters Zong and Bing share phonetic elements that sound like "cong bing," which resembles "scallion pancake" in Chinese.)
Though younger than Lu Bing, Zhu Houcong was more composed. He merely smiled at the remark, maintaining the dining etiquette of silence, and stopped after eating one pancake.
Lu Bing glanced at the ledger on the table. "Your Highness seems troubled—has the Imperial Clan Court delayed the mansion's stipend again? Those bastards only know how to bully orphans and widows!"
Zhu Houcong nodded. "Don't tell the Dowager Consort. I'll handle this matter. Last year's payment never came, and this year's looks likely to be delayed too. If this continues, the mansion won't even be able to maintain basic appearances. I won't rely on the Imperial Clan Court anymore. I'll submit a memorial to the Emperor directly. If we can't even keep up appearances, the disgrace won't be mine alone."
The Zhengde Emperor was Zhu Houcong's cousin—both were grandsons of the Chenghua Emperor.
Hearing this, Lu Bing set aside his beloved scallion pancake and thumped his chest. "Entrust the memorial to me. I'll deliver it to the Emperor personally. My father knows Zhang Yong, the Supervising Eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs. I'll go through his connections to ensure it reaches the Emperor directly, without being intercepted by the Imperial Clan Court."
Zhu Houcong looked at the greasy handprint left on Lu Bing's chest and thought this approach seemed somewhat unreliable.
But as a feudal prince, he was forbidden from leaving his fiefdom without summons—doing so would be considered rebellion. He had no choice but to trust his milk-brother.
Zhu Houcong drafted the memorial and had several unworn fine garments altered to fit Lu Bing. He believed that fine feathers make fine birds and hoped dressing Lu Bing respectably would help him avoid contemptuous treatment.
The Zhengde Emperor wasn't in Beijing but in Nanjing. Earlier that year, the Prince of Ning had rebelled, and the Emperor had personally led a campaign—only to learn while en route that the renowned minister Wang Shouren had already suppressed the rebellion and captured the Prince of Ning.
By all reasoning, the Zhengde Emperor should have turned back to the capital. However, he was notorious for his absurd and playful nature. His so-called "personal campaign" was essentially an excuse to tour Jiangnan. Upon hearing that Wang Shouren had already captured the rebel prince, the Zhengde Emperor ordered Wang Shouren to release him—so he could capture the prince himself.
Alternatively, he demanded permission to spend several months enjoying Jiangnan, unimpeded.
Faced with two undesirable options, the court officials had no choice but to tacitly allow the Emperor to treat his military expedition as a pleasure trip.However, it was precisely because of the Zhengde Emperor's eccentricity that Lu Bing was able to rush from Anlu, Hubei to Nanjing to deliver Prince Xian Zhu Houcong's memorial to the emperor.
Despite Lu Bing's carefree and seemingly thoughtless demeanor, he had actually nearly depleted the Lu family's entire savings before coming, converting it into one thousand taels of silver to bribe Zhang Yong, the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs, Supervising Eunuch, and request an introduction.
Lu Bing knew all too well that out of sight meant out of mind. The Lu family had followed Prince Xian's household to Anlu, Hubei for over thirty years—who would still remember the Lu family now? His claim that "my father knows the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs, Supervising Eunuch Zhang Yong" was merely to comfort Zhu Houcong. Even if they had known each other in the past, Zhang Yong surely had no idea who his father was now. Only money could pave the way.
Not only did the bribed Zhang Yong deliver the memorial to the emperor, but the Zhengde Emperor actually ordered an audience with Lu Bing!
This was Lu Bing's first time meeting the emperor, and he was extremely nervous. As soon as he entered the room, he caught a strong whiff of medicine. The Zhengde Emperor had fallen into the water while fishing and seemed gravely ill, lying on the dragon bed. He asked Lu Bing about Prince Xian Zhu Houcong's health and what books he had been reading.
Lu Bing naturally praised his milk-brother to the skies, "...He rises at dawn every day to practice martial arts with me. He is in excellent health and never even coughs throughout the year. After training, he pays respects to the Grand Concubine, showing great filial piety. Then he goes to the study to read—he has already finished the Four Books. The tutors in the princely residence all praise Prince Xian for his diligence and eagerness to learn, calling him a fine young man."
The Zhengde Emperor instructed Zhang Yong to hand Lu Bing a secret letter, saying, "You must deliver this to my cousin Prince Xian. Tell him to open and read it alone, with no one else present."
Though bewildered, Lu Bing had to obey the emperor's oral decree. He hurried back from Nanjing to Anlu and delivered the Zhengde Emperor's secret letter to Prince Xian Zhu Houcong.
Following the decree, Lu Bing turned to leave, but Zhu Houcong stopped him, "Milk-brother, you are the person I trust most—you are not an outsider. Since you brought this letter, let's read it together."
Only after Lu Bing left did Zhu Houcong learn that he had secretly sold off his family's property. Suddenly, he understood the depth of his milk-brother's sacrifice—almost burning his bridges—to help the Prince Xian residence overcome its difficulties.
Zhu Houcong broke the seal, unfolded the letter, and was instantly stunned. It was a succession edict, which read:
"Our illness is critical, and the heir has not been designated. Zhu Houcong, the eldest son of Our Imperial Father's younger brother Prince Xingxian, has come of age and is virtuous, wise, benevolent, and filial. By order of succession, he should ascend. We have followed the Ancestral Instruction of 'the elder brother's end leading to the younger brother's succession'... to inherit the imperial throne."
I... The emperor is about to pass away? I am to become emperor? Zhu Houcong felt as if his heart had stopped. He read the succession edict over and over, finally asking Lu Bing to read it aloud softly, "...Milk-brother, I'm afraid I might be misreading this. How can a minor prince from a poor region, who dares not even step beyond his fief, possibly stabilize the Great Ming Empire? Is the emperor joking? He has always been like this, capable of any prank."
A throne falling from the sky completely overwhelmed Zhu Houcong, a minor prince still struggling to make ends meet.
"The edict clearly states that the emperor is critically ill. He has no heirs, and according to ancestral rules, Your Highness is the imperial successor," Lu Bing, being three years older than Zhu Houcong, comforted him like an elder brother, patting his shoulder. "Your Highness, rest assured. No matter how rugged the road ahead, I will accompany you every step of the way."From that day on, Lu Bing completely abandoned his former lazy and idle ways, suddenly becoming diligent. He rose at cockcrow to drill with the mansion guards, studied military texts whenever possible, and prepared at all times to enter the capital.
Less than five months later, news indeed arrived from the capital—the Zhengde Emperor had passed away!
Thirty-eight days later, Zhu Houcong hurried to the capital. When his ship docked at Tongzhou Port, the Ministry of Rites delivered the accession ceremony protocol, requesting Zhu Houcong to review it and practice the rituals.
The accession protocol stated: Zhu Houcong should follow the ceremony for a crown prince's succession. Upon reaching the Forbidden City, he should enter through the Dong'an Gate and hold the enthronement ceremony at the Wenhua Hall.
After reading it once, Zhu Houcong set the protocol aside and ordered Lu Bing to bring out the late Zhengde Emperor's edict of succession. He declared, "The late emperor's decree calls for me to inherit the throne, not to become a crown prince. According to protocol, the emperor must enter and exit through the Daming Gate of the Forbidden City."
Initially, no one took this fifteen-year-old minor prince from a poor region seriously, assuming he would be easy to manipulate.
Especially Empress Dowager Zhang, who wanted to force Zhu Houcong to become her adopted son. By having him succeed as crown prince, she could establish a mother-son relationship rather than an aunt-nephew one, thus controlling the young emperor through filial piety.
The Grand Secretariat believed that if the young emperor compromised on this first matter, he would be easier to manipulate in the future, so they all intended to intimidate Zhu Houcong.
A minister from the Ministry of Rites said, "This is the decision of Empress Dowager Zhang, the Grand Secretariat, and the Directorate of Ceremonial. We hope Your Highness will recognize the greater good and quickly learn the accession rituals with your humble official."
This was meant to force Zhu Houcong to compromise.
Restrained by propriety, Zhu Houcong refrained from outburst. Lu Bing stepped forward and angrily rebuked the minister, "How dare you! The imperial edict of succession is here! How dare you alter its contents!"
The minister anxiously replied, "This truly is the decision of the Empress Dowager and the Grand Secretariat! Your humble official would not dare act independently!"
Lu Bing stated, "We will only follow what the succession edict commands. The emperor's decree is supreme—the Empress Dowager and Grand Secretariat must have made an error. They must correct it."
When the minister refused and insisted Zhu Houcong learn the crown prince accession rituals, Lu Bing physically pushed the officials aside.
As the stalemate continued, the previously silent Zhu Houcong slowly stood. The officials thought he was about to compromise, but Lu Bing urgently cried out, "Your Highness! Prince Xianxian only has Your Highness as his sole surviving son—all others died young. The Prince Xianxian consort also has only Your Highness as her son. If Your Highness is adopted into Empress Dowager Zhang's line, the Prince Xianxian bloodline will be extinguished!"
"If Your Highness ascends as crown prince, people will scorn you, saying you abandoned your own parents for the throne! This is unfilial—a lifelong vulnerability!"
"I know," Zhu Houcong said calmly. "I came to be emperor, not crown prince. Since Empress Dowager Zhang and the Grand Secretariat do not recognize the late emperor's decree, a minor prince like me can do nothing. Lu Bing, we shall return whence we came."
With these words, Zhu Houcong actually prepared to leave!
The officials were stunned: Who would refuse a throne handed to them? This crown required no struggle—it could be obtained effortlessly—yet this youth treated it like worthless debris!The ministers crowded around to dissuade them, but Lu Bing, relying on his long legs and martial skills, grasped the hand of the still-slender Zhu Houcong and forcefully carved a path through the crowd. He then seized a horse, and the two rode together, breaking out of the encampment!
They rode to the Tongzhou Port dock, where the ship they had arrived on was just beginning to unload luggage. Lu Bing said, "No need to unload. We're returning to Anlu now."
The two boarded the ship and set sail. Lu Bing asked, "Does Your Highness regret it?"
Zhu Houcong shook his head, instead exuding the relieved spirit of a youth, "If I don't become emperor, I won't. But if I do, I will be a majestic ruler whom all subjects obey. I refuse to be a puppet emperor controlled by the empress dowager and the ministers—too cowardly to even acknowledge my own parents. That would be worse than an animal."
As the ship traveled along the canal, it was intercepted by a fast vessel from the Ministry of Rites, which once again presented the enthronement ceremony protocols. This time, it was finally revised to have him enter the Forbidden City through the Great Ming Gate and ascend the throne at the Fengtian Hall.
Holding the new succession ceremony, Zhu Houcong was filled with emotion. "Fortunately, with the help of my foster brother, I learned how to be an emperor: never compromise, never show weakness."
After the enthronement ceremony, the accession edict was to be read. Zhu Houcong saw that the Grand Secretariat had proposed the era name "Shaozhi" for him on the edict. He disliked it and directly crossed it out with a vermilion brush, changing it to "Jiajing."
It wasn't that Zhu Houcong found the era name "Shaozhi" unpleasant; he was merely retaliating, showing that although he was young and born from a collateral branch of the royal family, he was not a soft persimmon to be manipulated. He intended to learn to control the court, starting with mastering his own era name.
On his first night as emperor, Zhu Houcong was too excited to sleep. He sat on the dragon throne, with Lu Bing standing by his side in attendance.
"You are the only one I trust. You must stay with me forever." Zhu Houcong waved his dragon robe gracefully and said, "I will share the empire with you. Speak, what do you desire? I can grant you anything."
Lu Bing patted his stomach. "Your Majesty, this humble servant has been busy all day. Fearing that Your Majesty might need something and find no attentive person, I didn't even drink a sip of water. Now I'm both thirsty and hungry. All I want right now is a plate of scallion pancakes."
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