After the vassal kings had a meal in the palace, they thought they would go back to the palace to rest and would come to mourn the late emperor the next morning. However, the little emperor suddenly changed his mind and asked these uncles to go to the mourning hall to guard the late emperor, and set off from the palace to see off the late emperor tomorrow morning.

Many of these vassal kings just arrived in the capital today. They arrived a few days in advance and guarded the spirits in the mourning hall. Everyone was exhausted at this time and could not violate the emperor's imperial edict. At that moment, they had to walk towards the mourning hall dejectedly. With the example of Xiang King before, no one dared to say bad things about Zhu Yunwen in private.

Shortly after the vassal kings arrived at the mourning hall, King Yan Zhu Di was also taken to the mourning hall by the eunuch in the palace. I didn’t see Zhu Di while I was having dinner. Everyone was a little confused about what did King Yan just stayed alone and said to the little emperor?

"Fourth brother, come here..." After seeing Zhu Di enter the mourning hall, King Ning Zhu Quan gave the cushion beside him. After watching King Yan kneel down to the coffin, he continued: "Second brother, you didn't even eat food just now, and your Majesty left you alone in the hall. Are you discussing the matter of reducing the vassal state?"

King Ning was not even polite, and as soon as he opened his mouth, he went straight to the point. After hearing this, several vassal kings around him came over. The little emperor just said that he wanted to cut off the vassal states, and everyone was panicked. They were asking each other during the meal, but no one could tell why.

Now Zhu Di is the biggest here. Seeing that his younger brothers came over, he smiled bitterly and said, "It's not that Your Majesty keeps me, but that I report to Your Majesty if I have something to do.

They are all trivial matters on my fiefdom, and they have nothing to do with the reduction of the vassal states.”

When the king of Yan said this, the kings of the vassals became indifferent. They returned to their respective positions, whispered with each other with familiar brothers around them, guessing how to start the matter of reducing the vassals.

However, no one knows what the little emperor was thinking, and he kept guessing after talking for a long time.

After a while, he suddenly saw the eunuch from the Silijian coming to the mourning hall to pass the imperial edict. Everyone hurriedly turned around and bowed. After hearing the eunuch read the imperial edict, they realized that the imperial edict was just for King Yan Zhu Di. The imperial edict said that King Yan Zhu Di was the most favored son of the late emperor besides the crown prince. After the new king ascended the throne, he also made a good suggestion to the new king. In order to commend the King Yan, he granted the double salary of the King Zhu Di and doubled the ceremonial guards. What made other vassal kings most jealous was to add an Eastern pearl to the crown.

After the eunuch read out the imperial edict, he personally added a thumb-sized east bead to Zhu Di's crown. After seeing this, the other vassal kings sneered in their hearts.

Now that I heard the imperial edict, I understand what your monarch and ministers were discussing just now.

After seeing the eunuch leaving the mourning hall, Zhu Quan, who was sitting next to the King of Yan, lowered his head and laughed, then got up and changed his cushion and knelt down. He said calmly, "No wonder..." I said why the relationship between your king and his subjects is so good. It turned out that Fourth Brother, you reported to the emperor. In the hall just now, my brothers and younger brothers were talking about the matter of reducing the vassals. Someone didn't mention a word, and I was thinking about it at that time..." Reducing the vassals is to cut everyone's vassals, why does it seem that we only cut us and not you?

Now I understand that I really won’t cut off your vassal.

Use your brothers’ fiefs to exchange for your double salary, ceremonial guards and Dongzhu. Can you sleep at night? Are you not afraid that the late emperor will give you a dream and call you an unfilial son..."

With these words from King Ning, the other vassal kings also started to say: "I just said why everyone went to have dinner just now, and you stayed in the palace to talk to the emperor. It turns out that you are asking for merit with the emperor. Is the fiefdom we cut off all the fiefdoms on you? Can you swallow so many fiefdoms with such a big appetite?"

"When I was a child, I saw that he was not authentic. Everyone followed his father to fight the Mongolian Tartars together. We fought hard in front, and you took the men and horses to grab the heads behind. In the end, we tried our best to fight for nothing, but the one who grabbed the heads was the first to be the king in the end... Everyone was surnamed Zhu, why did he do this?"

For a moment, none of the vassal kings were chanting scriptures and guarding the spirits, and everyone went to the King of Yan. They talked endlessly, and Zhu Di seemed to have not heard it, still kneeling in front of the coffin, playing with the jade ring in his hand.

It was late at night when the little emperor Zhu Yunwen arrived at the mourning hall and the Minister of Rites began to preside over the funeral ceremony. Everyone changed into new mourning clothes. When they were getting up, Zhu Yunwen, who was walking in the front, turned around and waved to Zhu Di, saying, "Uncle Fourth, you have the greatest seniority here now.

Come and accompany me, our uncle and nephew are walking in front.”

The emperor's words were imperial edicts. Although Zhu Di knew that this was a plan to alienate himself and other vassal kings, he did not have the courage to resist the edict openly. He immediately lowered his head and walked beside the little emperor. After half a step away from Zhu Yunwen, he walked towards the position of the imperial tomb outside the city.

When he was in power, Zhu Di could already hear the discussions of the vassal kings behind him. He was ridiculing himself for harming other vassal kings and making his own fiefdom rich. What Zhu Di could hear, so naturally the little emperor could also hear it. However, both uncle and nephew seemed to have not heard it, and with sadness on their faces, he walked step by step towards the imperial tomb.

After burying the coffin of the late emperor Zhu Yuanzhang, the whole funeral ended. It was already evening again. According to the rules at that time, the emperor and the vassal kings and officials had to walk back to the palace. At that time, Zhu Yunwen pulled Zhu Di to the front, and the vassal kings followed closely behind.

When he walked to the gate of the imperial city and looked at the people kneeling on both sides of the street, Zhu Yunwen sighed softly and said to Zhu Di: "King Yan, I originally only wanted to be a free vassal prince, but unfortunately the prince left early. The late emperor pushed me to this position. In fact, I still feel happier when the crown prince was the first to be."

"Your Majesty was destined to be the lord of the world when he was born. Otherwise, the late emperor had twenty-six sons, so why did he only make Your Majesty the crown prince?" Zhu Di smiled slightly and continued, "Your Majesty is rich now and commands the people. Although it is a good time for the crown prince, it is already a thing of the past.

Now Your Majesty should still be the emperor, expand the territory for the Ming Dynasty, and be the king of all ages..."

Zhu Yunwen glanced at Zhu Di, then chuckled, and said, "The King of Yan has come to my heart. After returning to the palace, I still have major national affairs to ask the King of Yan for advice."

Zhu Di dared not take this sentence in a head-on manner. He hurriedly staggered his position and the emperor. He bowed and said, "Your Majesty cannot say the word "Ask" in your mouth. Your Majesty is the lord of the world. How can others say too much under the dictatorship of the saint? If your Majesty has any orders, the ministers will do their best..."

The vassal kings behind were separated by the guards, and they could not hear what the emperor and the king of Yan were saying. However, looking at the appearance of their king and his ministers, it seemed that the king of Yan was expressing his merits to the little emperor.

With the previous right and wrong, the vassal kings inevitably thought of the matter of reducing the vassal states. If this matter was not done well, Zhu Laosi advised the young emperor. Everyone was surnamed Zhu, so it would be a bit too much for you to do this... After returning to the palace, Zhu Yunwen asked the officials who came to the funeral to go back to the house to rest. The vassal kings followed him into the palace, and the vassal kings followed Zhu Yunwen to the Xihua Palace. The emperor ordered people to set up the vegetarian banquet that had been prepared, and then said to the vassal kings: "Today is our family banquet. You can't use meat wine on the day of filial piety. After this meal, the uncles also returned to the house to rest. Thank you today."

After the emperor was polite, the princes of the vassals hurriedly got up to thank him. After seeing Zhu Yunwen being the first to pick up the chopsticks, the princes of the vassals started to eat. Today, the whole day these princes of the vassals just drank some water, and they were all very hungry. Even if they were the only vegetables and tofu in front of them, they still ate with relish.
Chapter completed!