Unless the Crown Prince's title was conferred too hastily, though it doesn't seem to be the case at present.
Only two possibilities remain: first, that the Emperor does not wish to make any arrangements; second, that the struggle between the two parties has reached a fever pitch, with neither side yielding, which has resulted in the complete failure to produce any results.
These two possibilities might even exist at the same time.
Tsk, it would truly be against the laws of heaven if the Great Ming did not fall. At a time like this, they are still engaging in internal strife even while clinging to a small corner of the world; it is simply unacceptable.
Zhu Ci's eyes shifted toward Nong Liangping as he asked, "If military officers want to arrange for people to enter the Eastern Palace, what positions would they be placed in?"
Nong Liangping thought for a moment and said, "The Grand Secretary's Office and the Spring Workshops on the left and right are naturally out of the question; at most, it would be a position like a Thousand-man Commander or a Hundred-man Commander."
Hmm? Eastern Palace Guards?
Zhu Ci's eyes lit up. He had no interest in the civil officials of the Grand Secretariat or the Spring Workshops. To put it plainly, the Eastern Palace was like a miniature imperial court; even if he selected the right people, this place would eventually become just another arena for their internal struggles.
As for the guards, if he wanted to make a run for it, these people could greatly increase his chances of survival.
Zhu Ci's eyes shifted as he asked, "How many Eastern Palace Guards are there now?"
Nong Liangping said with a look of difficulty, "As for.. the Jinyi Guard, no one has been sent over yet, so we don't know for certain."
"Jinyi.. Jinyi Guard?" Zhu Ci's scalp went numb instantly.
This organization had a very poor reputation in later generations; whether in time-travel stories or film and television dramas, the Jinyi Guard was essentially something the protagonists avoided at all costs.
Nong Liangping saw him frown and replied softly, "Yes, the Eastern Palace Guards have always been composed of Jinyi Guard members, except for.."
Zhu Ci glanced at him. "Except?"
Nong Liangping said softly, "Besides Huizong."
"Huizong?" Zhu Ci frowned. Where did this name come from?
Nong Liangping responded, "His Majesty just posthumously honored Huizong a few days ago; he is Emperor Jianwen."
Oh, it was him.
Then it's fine.
Who could possibly compare to him?
When he was the Imperial Grandson, he was the apple of Zhu Chongba's eye.
Zhu Ci cast this matter aside; such exceptions did not suit him, for he had plenty of troubles of his own right now.
The Jinyi Guard only answers to the Emperor; this is not an easy path to walk.
However, one must still struggle a bit.
Zhu Ci turned to look at Nong Liangping and asked, "When the Jinyi Guard sends people, do they only follow my father's arrangements, or can I also pick a few?"
Nong Liangping lowered his head in thought for a long while before saying, "If Your Highness is interested, you may indeed select a few."
Zhu Ci asked, "A way?"
Nong Liangping nodded. "There is a way."
Zhu Ci stared at him for a long time before smiling and saying, "Good, then I shall leave this matter to you."
Nong Liangping bowed slightly. "Rest assured, Your Highness, this old servant will certainly see it done."
Zhu Ci leaned back slightly against the chair and said, "Select them once yourself, then bring them to me to look over."
Nong Liangping gave an affirmative response.
Zhu Ci said casually, "That's enough. You've been through a lot today and must be tired. You may dismiss yourself."
Nong Liangping asked before leaving, "Your Highness, where shall dinner be served?"
Just bring it to the study.
Only then did Nong Liangping withdraw, he also ordered two young eunuchs to stand guard at the study door, warning them not to be negligent.
Only after Zhu Ci saw that he had completely left did he sprawl out in a lazy slouch on the large armchair.
Ah, life is so difficult, he really wants to go home.
He felt that he could not find anyone more unfortunate than himself.
Unfortunately, he could only curse the heavens in his heart, he didn't even have the luxury of doing that. His most urgent priority right now was to guard against that old fox Nong Liangping while simultaneously trying to find a way to survive, even if such a way would be difficult to find.
On the surface, however, he continued to enjoy his food and sleep, seeking out Nong Liangping whenever he encountered something he did not know or understand. He fully demonstrated his trust in Nong Liangping, Nong Liangping acted quickly, delivering the list to his hands on the third day.
Not only was there a list, but it also included the family backgrounds of those people.
Zhu Ci looked at it, feeling somewhat surprised; he remembered that the selection standards for the Jinyi Guard had always been very strict, by comparison, the political reviews of later generations were quite lenient.
After all, the political background checks didn't require everyone to be over six feet tall, which is over 1.8 meters.
Of course, all this information was something he had seen in television dramas and novels, but the list he held in his hands now differed greatly from the information he knew. Either those dramas and novels were fabricated, or.. the Great Ming Dynasty was no longer able to maintain such strict standards.
Zhu Ci did not know which was true, but the information in his hands was quite useful.
Among these materials, the only standard the candidates could meet was that their ancestors of the three previous generations had been completely upright and had no criminal records.
Zhu Ci leafed through them seemingly at random, then circled a few names and handed them to Nong Liangping, saying, "Let it be these."
Nong Liangping bowed as he took it and glanced at it, feeling a sudden sense of confusion: Why these people? This was not what he had expected.
The list Nong Liangping presented was indeed carefully selected. The composition of people within it was extremely complex, including members of the Donglin Party, eunuchs, people associated with the Grand Secretary, naturally, people from the four towns of Jiangbei.
Both the inner and outer courts wanted to use such a list to discern the Imperial Grandson's intentions.
Of course, this was only the first step; there would be many more such tests to follow.
However, the first step had already failed. The companions the Crown Prince had selected were merely decoys brought in to confuse people's vision; most were between fourteen and twenty years old, had no significant family background, many did not even have any family members left.
Nong Liangping glanced at the Crown Prince; over these past few days, he had been unable to discern the man's origins, he could not even see clearly what kind of person this was.
His strongest impression was likely the other party's decisive and ruthless demeanor on the first day. Nong Liangping had always felt that, given such a temperament, the man would eventually kill him, yet after waiting for several days, no such action had come. Instead, the man acted in every matter just like the former Prince of Huai, showing no difference at all.
Nong Liangping was thinking about this when he was about to withdraw, only to suddenly hear the Crown Prince ask, "Does the Eastern Palace have maps?"
Nong Liangping asked, "What does Your Highness require the maps for?"
Zhu Ci said languidly, "I'm just bored, just looking around. I can't understand those books anyway."
The Crown Prince's study was, naturally, filled to capacity; even books that would be hard-won treasures for an ordinary family were merely common items on his bookshelves.
Zhu Ci had indeed looked at them out of curiosity, but after only a few glances, he felt dizzy and closed them. From the paper to the printing, they could not be compared to books from later generations, but most importantly, he truly could not stand the vertical layout.
Nong Liangping immediately walked to the innermost bookshelf, took out a roll of brocade, placed it on the table, said, "Your Highness, this is the map."
Zhu Ci reached out and spread it open, clicking his tongue in surprise. This wasn't just a map; it was clearly a work of art.
The entire map was estimated to be about one and a half meters long and over a meter wide. It featured a gold-thread brocade base, decorated with gold powder and other pigments. The mountain ranges were shaded in blue and green, the rivers were outlined with blue lines, the administrative boundaries were marked in red.
At the very top, a row of characters was written: "Imperial Ming Defense Map," followed by two smaller characters: General Map.
A general map? Could there be sub-maps?
Zhu Ci took a glance; the General Map could only show the approximate territory and important cities; there was nothing more to be learned from it.
But what he wanted to see most right now was the geographical situation of the Jiangnan area, if he thought a bit further ahead, it would be best to also look at the Fujian and Guangdong areas.
As for the north.. Zhu Ci looked toward the area north of the Yangtze River and sighed in his heart; such magnificent mountains and rivers had already fallen into enemy hands.
He turned to Nong Liangping and asked, "Where are the remaining maps? Why is there only the General Map?"
Nong Liangping immediately bowed. "It was this old servant's negligence."
He immediately went back to fetch several more maps, all of which were drawn on the same gold-thread brocade.
This time, there were many more maps. There were fifteen sub-maps for the thirteen provinces of the two Zhili regions, eleven maps for the Nine Border Maps, five maps for the River Transport Map and Sea Transport Map, with a few other miscellaneous ones remaining, such as specially drawn Yellow River Maps and Yangtze River Maps.
Zhu Ci stared fixedly at the Nine Border Maps and the Canal and Sea Transport Maps, letting out a silent smile.
Author's Note:
----------------------
Zhu Ci: At this rate, I might become a useless Crown Prince in a month. *Cat gets annoyed and flicks its tail. jpg*
Today's update is complete. The next update will be tomorrow at 12:00 PM~
Chapter 5
No matter the time, the Nine Border Maps as well as the Sea Transport and Canal Transport Maps are extremely sensitive and cannot be easily accessed.
Of course, this judgment was based on his own common sense; he also did not know whether the Crown Prince was suitable to have contact with them, as Zhu Ci had never been the Crown Prince before.
He sorted through them, setting aside the maps of the Beizhili area, the Nine Border Maps, the Canal and Sea Transport Maps, before saying, "Put them all away."
Nong Liangping put the maps away, somewhat unable to understand what the Imperial Grandson was planning to do.
Zhu Ci looked at the maps for two days, many ideas swirled in his mind, but in the end, he felt as though none of them were quite reliable.
It wasn't that they were unreliable, but rather that the resources in his hands were too few, while there were too many people watching him.
Based on his observations over the past two days, let alone leaving the palace, even moving within the Eastern Palace, there were many people staring at him. This kind of tailing was definitely surveillance rather than protection, they were likely waiting for any slip-up to catch him.
Sigh, the dignified Crown Prince lives his life like a prisoner.
He may currently seem to be above ten thousand people and below only one, but the resources he can mobilize might not even compare to those of an ordinary middle-class family.
Aside from everything else, the staff of the Eastern Palace has still not been fully appointed to their positions.
It has been seven days since the investiture ceremony, which meant he had been officially serving as the Crown Prince for seven days. During these seven days, besides familiarizing himself with the maps, he had been exercising his body.
This body was truly too weak. He didn't do something as attention-grabbing as running, he lacked the conditions to do pull-ups; even if he did have the conditions, he probably wouldn't be able to do them, because after doing twenty push-ups, he felt his core muscles beginning to go weak and sore.
Thinking back to the day he first transmigrated, he was only able to suppress Nong Liangping because the other man was afraid of making a mistake!
Aside from training, he spent his time chatting and playing with the Eastern Palace Guards, gleaning bits of information from them, especially regarding weapons and equipment.
Just as Zhu Ci was wondering if the Eastern Palace was about to become synonymous with the Cold Palace, a group of riders suddenly burst into the study.
Zhu Ci turned his head to take a look. Hmm? They looked somewhat familiar.
The leader saluted with a cold face and said, "Jinyi Guard Commander Sun Hongji pays his respects to the Crown Prince. We request Your Highness to accompany us on a trip."
Oh, the Flying Fish Robe.
The Jinyi Guard, how novel. To think that this Crown Prince would actually have a day where the Jinyi Guard comes knocking at his door.