Chapter 7 Chapter 7 Prosperity and Decline
"How could such a thing happen?"
Nurhachi blurted out subconsciously, "It's really absurd—is there a mistake?"
It's not that he doesn't believe what E Yidu who came to tell him the news said, but that this incident is too absurd, so absurd that it's unbelievable.
However, E also heard what he said, and immediately repeated: "It's true, absolutely right! The Ming Dynasty did send Li Chengliang to serve as Liaodong General Soldier again. Li Chengliang has already set off on the road, and it won't be long before he arrives. Liaodong!"
Nurhachi first smiled slightly, and said to E Yidu: "I'm not saying the news is wrong!"
Then he sighed and said, "I mean, the Ming Dynasty made a mistake—why did they send Li Chengliang here? He is already seventy-six years old, not to mention that he has already made himself notorious in Liaodong—if I were Ming The emperor of the dynasty will never send this person to serve as the commander-in-chief of Liaodong!"
Unexpectedly, what E Yidu returned to him was a laugh: "Why did you turn around and imagine for the emperor of the Ming Dynasty? Don't you always say that when others make mistakes, it is our opportunity to come; The worse the people the Ming Dynasty sent to Liaodong, the more beneficial it was to Jianzhou; now that the Ming Dynasty has sent Li Chengliang, shouldn’t you lead all the people in Jianzhou to shout ‘Thank God’ three times?”
Nurhachi also laughed when he teased him, but then straightened his expression, nodded and said, "You're right!"
Then he said: "I've been thinking about a new thing for the past few days. After I'm ready to think about it, I'll leave it to you guys to do it—how about it? Tomorrow afternoon, I'll call Fei Yingdong and the others, Have a good discussion!"
When he said this, E Yidu understood that this must be an extremely important matter—a matter that required five people, Fei Yingdong, He Heli, An Fei Yanggu, Hu Erhan, and E Yidu to discuss together, of course not It will be a trifle!
Sure enough, on the second day, Nurhachi announced: "The Ming Dynasty has no available generals, and they even sent Li Chengliang to be the commander-in-chief of Liaodong—the opportunity for the expansion and development of Jianzhou has come again. From then on, we must seize the opportunity even more. double the effort--"
Then, he explained to everyone: "I have thought about it carefully for the past few days, and decided to reorganize our Jianzhou army and establish a new system: three hundred people are used as a cow, and each cow is set up. The forehead is really long, so this person is called 'Niu 彔 forehead'! And every few oxen are painted with a flag color—you see!"
With a wave of his hand, several guards standing behind him immediately walked to the front, and opened the cloth bag in their hands, and there were four flags that he had tried to make, which were yellow, white, red, and blue. Color; each flag is two feet long, square, and plain.
The colors of the four flags are very bright, and they are very easy to attract people's attention when they are unfurled.
Er Yidu was the first to clap his hands and applauded: "Even in the dark, it is very easy to identify, very convenient!"
Fei Yingdong pinched his fingers and said: "Based on the total number of troops under our state-building project, they belong to four banners, each with a commander; each banner has about five cows—"
Nurhachi made a conclusion with a smile: "Since you all agree, three days later, we will use these four flags as a sign, divide up the troops, and conduct an exercise in the field—"
Three days later, there was a night of heavy snow, which covered the world with silver; the next morning, the snow stopped, and the surrounding fields were clear, magnificent, and empty, and there seemed to be a hidden force that was eager to burst out.
The troops of the brigade had already assembled and formed the team long before dawn, and when the sky revealed a ray of white light and the order sounded, they immediately galloped forward together and ran to the countryside.
In an instant, the horse's hooves sounded like thunder, and the rider's breath turned into fog——
The scheduled exercise location is dozens of miles outside the city, where there is a mountain forest at the end of a plain - this location was chosen by Nurhachi himself, and he wanted this exercise to include both combat skills training on the flat land and the mountain forest.
The four newly made flags were waving in the air, held by four knights holding the flags respectively, running at the front of the team; all the people participating in the exercise were also divided into four teams, galloping behind each flag ; After arriving, according to the predetermined assignment, two flags are in one group, which are the attacking and defending sides.
In the first round, yellow flags and red flags form a team as the attacking side, while blue and white flags serve as the defending side; in the second round, the attacking and defending sides are reversed; A team with the blue flag, the fourth round, a team with the yellow flag and the blue flag, and a team with the red flag and the white flag-after this cycle, each team and everyone experienced different combinations and tasks, and practiced various Different combat skills.
E Yidu, He Heli, Fei Yingdong, Anfei Yanggu, Shuerhaqi, Murhazi, Yarhaqi, and Bayara served as the chief and deputy commanders of the four teams respectively. Ying served as Nurhachi's deputy-Nurhachi personally served as the commander-in-chief of the exercise.
He paid special attention to this exercise, because it was a new attempt, a new training for the new army organization he designed, and it was also a test.
"If the results are good, we will formally adopt this system—"
Beforehand, he had clearly announced to his subordinates that this was not an ordinary exercise, and the results of this exercise would affect the future military system of Jianzhou—everything is no small matter!
So, everyone went all out, and didn't relax a little because it was just a "drill"——
The four yellow, red, blue, and white flags whirred in the wind, guiding the troops to move; he also held four yellow, red, blue, and white flags in his hand-the flags used as command were compared to the flags flying in the air. It is much smaller, the flag surface is only the size of a palm, and the flagpole is only a foot and a half. It is light and nimble to hold in the hand, and it dances freely - the first time he uses it, he has great hopes, and there is also a faint sense of nameless excitement. .
The first round of exercises has begun——
The attacking and defending teams formed a team, facing each other at a distance of 200 paces; the leader's flag fluttered brightly, becoming the center of every pair of eyes; he also slowly raised the flag in his hand , is a bright golden yellow, extending from his raised arms up into the air, condensing a high point of view.
Then, with a swift wave of his arm, the yellow flag in his hand danced from the sky to the front, drawing a strong and powerful arc, pointing to the correct direction, and passing on the order.
And tens of thousands of eyes staring at the flag were sensed together, and in an instant, the sound of raging horseshoes sounded on the ground covered with a layer of hard ice, and the yellow flag team that received the instructions sent out the first wave. In the attack, 500 forward cavalry shot forward like arrows, followed by 1,000 left-wing troops belonging to the yellow flag also dispatched under the command of Nurhaci; the blue flag serving as the defender dispatched troops at the same time Set up the formation, prepare for the defense, and line up three fences.
The two armies clashed, fighting each other without giving way——
The same is the earth-shattering shouts of killing, the same is the clanging of gold and iron, and the necks of men and horses, and the same is thrilling to the people on standby. The fighting atmosphere in the field has risen to a turmoil; Ahead, and then, in the stalemate where both sides were fighting hard, a loud shout suddenly came out: "Red flag——"
The small red flag in his hand waved out with the sound, instructing the red flag team to join the battle; thus, a thousand right-wing troops belonging to the red flag immediately charged with their whips to support the yellow flag who was in charge of attacking.
The Yellow Banner Army on the battlefield had actually crossed the first fence, but was blocked by the brave resistance of the Blue Banner Army before the second fence, and kept spinning around in place. However, once the Red Banner Army joined, The situation changed immediately, the second fence was broken through smoothly, and the yellow and red armies joined together to advance towards the third fence.
The shouts of killing became louder and louder——
And another flag in Nurhachi's hand was also waved out at the right time - the white flag also joined the ranks of defense.
The situation changed again. After the defensive side, which was already at a disadvantage, joined in the support, its strength increased greatly-the offensive and defensive sides once again formed an evenly matched battle.
The battle went on until the middle of the day, and the two sides were tied. The third fence was never captured, and the defending blue and white flags failed to repel the invading yellow and red flags.
However, Nurhachi was very satisfied with the fighting power displayed by the two sides; after ordering Ming Jin to withdraw his troops, he couldn't help but nodded to Chu Ying and Hu Erhan standing behind him and praised: "Everyone is working hard! Very good!"
When E Yidu waited for a few people to dismount to meet him, he even pointed out clearly: "I am really pleased with the combat power of our entire Jianzhou army - just based on this half-day exercise, I dare to say, Already the crown of Liaodong!"
As he said that, he smiled again: "The exercise in the afternoon will definitely be more exciting!"
Edu also asked him: "Look, have the four banners been divided into groups, and the results have been good?"
He let out a "huh" and said, "As far as this half day is concerned, it's pretty good—but I still have to look at the situation in the afternoon, and think about it carefully, whether I need to modify something!"
The afternoon arrived soon - but after a meal, the men and horses began to regroup for the second round of exercises.
This time, the venue was moved from the plains to the mountains, and the command of the team became complicated due to the reorganization—the exercise was more difficult and more challenging.
And Nurhachi's heart was also full of high will. He looked up at the flags flying in the air on all sides, and at the same time watched all the troops in the exercise, his eyes shone with divine light.
His attempt has achieved preliminary success——
Excitement arose spontaneously, and his whole face became flushed with heat, his heart was surging, and he was even a little moved; he never fully realized that his new attempt was actually the first in history. The new system, however, the most direct and profound idea is that Jianzhou now has a more suitable system, which is more conducive to organization and easier to command and dispatch on the battlefield-for this reason, his emotions are high.
Riding on the horse, he stretched his back and held his chest out, his vigorous vitality exuded an invisible strong aura, and his life was shining.
However, Emperor Wanli's life became more and more sluggish, shrinking and shrinking, and his breath getting weaker——
Especially after the season entered the middle of winter, he felt unwell every day, and it became more and more serious every day; soon, he really fell ill and couldn't even get up.
It was after the tedious ceremony for the appointment of the Crown Prince—many ministers who didn't know him thought that he was exhausted and ill because he presided over this grand and grand ceremony in person.
Therefore, memorials to please An kept being sent to the palace; the two newly-appointed academicians Shen Li and Zhu Geng, who joined the cabinet in September, were especially nervous. He knows how to call, but dare not leave; moreover, because he is a "new official", he is far less familiar with the movements in the palace than Shen Yiguan and other senior scholars, and he has not met and made friends with as many eunuchs as Shen Yiguan and others. The news came slowly; of course, the uneasiness in my heart doubled.
And Shen Yiguan did not dare to relax in the slightest.
Emperor Wanli seemed to be seriously ill—the eunuchs came to inform him of the news from time to time, and every time the imperial physician came to the palace for a consultation, they would come to inform him once, and even copied a copy of the prescription for him to review; several times a day, more than ten days in a row , The prescriptions sent have accumulated into a stack, and Emperor Wanli's illness still hasn't improved.
He has also carefully reviewed the prescriptions several times. The contents of each prescription are roughly the same, and the prescriptions are all precious medicines for nourishing energy and invigorating Qi. His colleagues came to study together, and also asked the imperial physician who was in charge of examining and prescribing these prescriptions for Emperor Wanli to "ask for advice", but they couldn't get the point.
The imperial physicians were almost unwilling to answer him directly, and they all hummed and said perfunctory words: "Well, ah, the dragon body of Long Live Lord—well, the foundation is good, and in recent days, it is probably working for the country. ——Well, the cooler weather is probably one of the reasons; the dragon's body is not healthy, so you should cultivate more—"
After a few words, he could hear him getting angry, but he knew in his heart that he couldn't ask why he came here!
On the contrary, a few courtiers who were familiar with him and had good knowledge of medical theory agreed with him: "The prescriptions are all supplements!"
In the end, the conclusion is also a question: "Could it be that the imperial physicians can't diagnose what disease Long Live Lord is suffering from?"
However, no one dared to make this conclusion public—the matter was too serious, even as the chief assistant of the cabinet, he could not bear the consequences and responsibilities!
What's more, after the invited colleagues left, he fell silent alone, and a series of voices rose inexplicably in his heart: "What kind of disease does Long Live Lord have? Could it be that there is no disease at all— — but got a 'heart disease'?"
A thought flashed in his mind, but it was quickly covered up by another thought—he pressed his hands on his chest as if he was about to let out an exclamation, and then thought to himself: "Ah! This idea is not good. How can I think so? If I say it carelessly, don’t I want to be charged with unforgivable crimes?”
He broke out in a cold sweat thinking about it, and of course he immediately threw this idea out of the sky—he was not an upright and upright person who aspired to be a martyr, not to mention, after half a lifetime of ups and downs in the officialdom, finally Only made it to the cabinet——
In the past, his official career was not smooth - he was a Jinshi in the second year of Longqing. He was selected as a scholar, a reviewer, and a lecturer for the day. Unexpectedly, he accidentally said something that displeased Zhang Juzheng during the "daily lecture", and he was not promoted until Zhang Juzheng passed away.
However, although the official positions that have been promoted and moved since then include Youshilang of the Ministry of Officials and Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites of Nanjing, which seem to be "big" positions on the surface, in essence he has not played much, and he has not made any achievements. In a state of ups and downs.
When he got the opportunity to join the cabinet, it was after more than twenty years of ups and downs. Therefore, he cherished this opportunity very much and tried his best to grasp it.
Since he had already been in prison in the first half of his life because of offending Zhang Juzheng, which caused his official career to fail, he never forgot it, and reminded himself from time to time to be careful, and never to repeat the same mistakes; therefore, when the opportunity came, he especially spoke In both behavior and demeanor, he was more tactful and courteous, in case he offended any important person again and would be affected.
Even when he was at home, he worked harder to act gentle, courteous and thrifty, so as to cultivate his reputation and make his promotion into the cabinet smoother.
However, even if he manages his official career so meticulously, this road is still very difficult.
Emperor Wanli did not call him into the cabinet when he was elected for the first time—it was in the 22nd year of Wanli. Joining the cabinet; and Emperor Wanli was blaming Wang Jiaping, and none of the candidates on the list were accepted.
This is a disaster, and the person who decides the matter is the emperor, so he can't even appeal.
He can only continue to work hard to create his own reputation, waiting for the next opportunity to come.
After suffering and suffering, it finally came to the end as if "the emperor pays off the painstaking efforts", and Emperor Wanli finally agreed to let him join the cabinet.
However, it was not all smooth sailing for him after he became a minister and a scholar of Dongge University. At that time, there were several cabinet scholars, Zhao Zhigao and Zhang Wei ranked first and second, and Chen Yubi was the third, all ahead of him; Old and sick, Chen Yubi is a capable man, with a good official voice, and is highly respected and supported by scholars, so he has become the de facto chief assistant; It's not even a matter of what to do.
Fortunately, he has already experienced the ups and downs of the officialdom, and has already cultivated a special wisdom of being an official. Not only is he able to adapt to all the strange phenomena in the officialdom, but he is also very good at finding the best for himself under all kinds of strange phenomena. develop.
He set a goal: to be an official with the most "submissive" attitude.
"A submissive person, no matter how unlikable he is, at least he won't offend anyone!"
Therefore, in front of the capable Chen Yubi, he was submissive and cautious in everything; in front of the incompetent Zhao Zhigao, he was also submissive and cautious in everything; in front of the lofty Emperor Wanli, he was even more submissive and cautious in everything!
And this approach is indeed the most brilliant - he finally won the favor of Emperor Wanli.
Chen Yubi died of illness as early as the twenty-fourth year of Wanli. Zhao Zhigao had been sick for many years and finally left. Of course, the position of chief assistant was taken by him who was favored by Emperor Wanli.
"Suppleness" is indeed the correct way to be an official, and he won the throne of chief assistant for him.
Of course he must be firmly regarded as the standard——
"It is absolutely irreversible to change the mind of Long Live Lord! Never, never - if he feels sick, he is sick!"
My heart was pounding, and I muttered to myself repeatedly for a while, but how to face the situation and what my attitude should be, I made up my mind accurately at this moment.
"Long live the dragon's body is not in good condition, and the Tai Hospital is ordered to do its best to treat it!"
In the past few days, just use this sentence to declare to the court, and you must not say anything else-everything is based on the will of Emperor Wanli!
The throne of chief assistant, which he had finally acquired, must be carefully seated; what's more, after taking a step back, he felt that since he became the chief minister of the cabinet, he has received special favor from heaven like "times turn" up.
Just the fact that the important event of "appointment of the crown prince" was completed during his tenure was already remarkable enough to make him feel grateful and kowtow to the heavens—this is such a big event in this dynasty, it has been suspended for fifteen years Well, the chief assistant of the cabinet has changed several people, but it happened to fall into his hands to complete it. Isn't this a great luck?
"It's better to catch up early than to be lucky!"
The grand ceremony for the canonization of the crown prince was scheduled to be held in October, but Zhao Zhigao died of illness in September, leaving him with the important matters of the canonization—now, since he completed the ceremony in office, the public opinion circle who didn't know the inside story was shocked. He was praised a lot, and his official titles were also added as "Prince Taibao, Hubu Shangshu, and Grand Bachelor of Wuyingdian". All these unexpected things should be cherished even more!
He remembered that on the day when the grand ceremony for the establishment of the crown prince was completed, Emperor Wanli personally ordered that the completion of the ceremony be written into two edicts and sent to the former chief assistants Shen Shixing and Wang Xijue, who had already returned to their hometowns, to let them Knowing this, I can let go of my hanging heart—compared to this, he, the "current Chief Assistant", is even more fortunate for himself!
After thinking about things clearly, it will be easier for him to be an official of the "chief assistant".
From the second day on, he stopped asking the imperial physicians about the cause of Emperor Wanli's illness, and he no longer asked for prescriptions. Instead, he kept asking for An Shu, counting his words every day, and the content was similar, all of which were "May my emperor The text is extremely respectful and pious-knowing that Emperor Wanli would never read it in person, he still took a photo; the eunuchs who have benefited from him will always find the opportunity to read one or two books for the emperor. Emperor Wanli listens!
The only thing that can be done now is to let Emperor Wanli feel his loyalty!
And Emperor Wanli didn't seem to have a bad attitude towards him, and occasionally he would order the eunuchs to send him an oral order and send him to do some things.
On this day, the eunuchs came to him and said, "Long Live Lord will move to Qixiang Palace to recuperate from his illness. The Qianqing Palace and Kunning Palace must be rebuilt. We will start construction on a certain day and finish within half a year!"
Hearing it on the first day of junior high school, his heart twitched secretly, his expression was unconsciously stunned, and he thought quickly in his mind: "How much money will it cost to rebuild the two palaces? How should I pay for it?"
However, on the surface, he did not reveal this thought at all, but he followed the principle of "promise, respect and prudence", and he promised full of words: "Please submit to the Lord Long Live, and the minister obeys the order—the minister Do your best!"
Moreover, at this moment, there was no doubt in his heart—there was already a way to do things: since it was the will of Emperor Wanli, he only had to deliver it to complete the task, and the repair of the palace was the responsibility of the Ministry of Industry. Money is the responsibility of the Household Department; his own "Shangshu of the Household Department" is just a title, the real Shangshu is Chen Yu, and there are left and right servants below who can share the worries and relieve labor-why should he pretend to be a "black face"? How about making Emperor Wanli "displeased with the dragon's heart" when he was ill?
Of course everyone is happy with this, and the eunuch who came to pass the decree clapped his hands to him and said, "That's great! Our family will now subdue the Long Live Lord, so that the Long Live Lord's dragon heart can be happy—it can't be said that when the Long Live Lord is happy, the illness will be cured." All right!"
The atmosphere was great, and all the people present were all smiles; and a few days later, Qixiang Palace was rearranged and decorated, and Emperor Wanli moved in to "recover his illness" in the crowd of cheers and hugs—this time moving the palace It's not without reason. The reason given by Emperor Wanli is very sufficient: he believes that his unknown illness is caused by the fire in the Qianqing and Kunning Second Palaces and the feng shui is broken, and he must make a big effort to make it work. These two houses are more luxurious and magnificent than ever before, and it is possible to restore your health.
Who dares to refute this statement?
Although, after moving into Qixiang Palace, his health has not changed much, but who dares to say?No one even dared to think about it.
The imperial court was once again busy with his affairs - just his order to rebuild the Qianqing and Kunning Second Palaces had already caused all the officials of the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Households to be overwhelmed.
Immediately afterwards, the new year is coming again, and the New Year's Day ceremony will cost a lot of money, and the Lantern Festival Lantern Festival cannot be frugal. After dealing with these major annual festival celebrations, in February Another large sum of money is needed, which is the wedding fee of Crown Prince Chang Luo.
Chang Luo was twenty years old, and it was already too late to delay the selection of concubine until this time, and now that the ceremony for the registration of the concubine had been completed, there was no longer any delay in choosing a concubine for marriage.
Therefore, no matter what, the wedding fee has to be paid out——
The officials of the household department became the most painful people in the court.
After discussing privately for a while, several middle-level officials finally plucked up the courage to respond to Shang Shu Chen Yu: "The national treasury has been empty for a long time, and the military expenditure in recent years has been levied on land and other taxes; now, it is hard to deal with it. After the crown prince's canonization ceremony is over, the property and manors bestowed by the rest of the entrusted kings can't be collected; there are still so many expenses at the moment, I really can't afford it, can I ask your lord to play, please open the internal funds for emergency ?”
Chen Yu succeeded Yang Junmin as the Minister of the Household Department in May of the 27th year of Wanli. After more than two years, he lived in collecting money for various expenses every day, and his temples turned white with worry; Hearing this fundraising suggestion, he immediately shook his hands again and again, coughing and saying, "No! No!"
After a pause, he bit the bullet and explained, "Long Live Lord won't play correctly!"
Simply add another sentence: "It's useless to play!"
In this way, he evaded the suggestions of his subordinates; but the problem was pressing in front of him after all, and he couldn't let him not face it - he had no choice but to bite the bullet and go to Shen Yiguan to discuss it.
Shen Yiguan also has no way to raise money to cope with these many celebrations, but since he has been in the officialdom longer than him, he is also more sophisticated than him. After frowning and thinking hard for a long time, he still came up with an idea .
Although it wasn't a good idea, it was an emergency—he narrowed his eyes, frowned, and said slowly, "Well, let's do as many things as you have money!"
As he spoke, he lowered his voice, and said to Chen Yu in an almost faint voice: "Long live the dragon is not in good health, and I probably won't accept the greetings on New Year's Day, so let's do it frugally! Lantern Festival, anyway, folks It's very lively, the palace is just an excuse to clean up, and the two palaces of Kunming and Ningxia are being renovated, so it's better not to make too many decorations - the crown prince's wedding, it doesn't matter if you save a little, Long Live Lord won't care!"
Although he didn't say it clearly, the meaning was very clear: Emperor Wanli never loved the crown prince Chang Luo, so it doesn't matter if the wedding is shabby——Chen Que heard it, of course he was clear-eyed, and there was a plan for what to do; so he said: " The Ministry of Households should try its best to gather money, if you collect one cent of silver, divide it into three shares, each share must be saved—"
When he was speaking, his expression was full of helplessness, and his heart was full of powerlessness——the only strength he could manage was to clearly say to himself: "Be patient, bear with me until the crown prince's wedding is over, and I will say goodbye." Come back!"
He also finally realized why the previous Minister of the Household Department, Yang Junmin, who became a famous family, returned home early-the treasury was empty, but the royal family was intensifying their profligacy. Who can do such a minister of the Household Department? Woolen cloth?
Fortunately, I am not young anymore, so I can use "old age" as an excuse to "beg for bones" and go back to my hometown and go home.
After making up his mind, he became calm, and when he looked back at Shen Yiguan, he felt more pity in his heart—he put himself in Shen Yiguan's shoes and thought: "The current situation is like this. As the chief assistant, he is in a difficult situation. It’s even more difficult than me, thanks to him still being able to support like this—"
After all, he is not someone who really understands Shen Yiguan. He only sees Shen Yiguan's surface, but fails to enter Shen Yiguan's inner world. Sympathized with Shen Yiguan, and even thought sadly: "If he wears the crown and leaves, he can claim his reputation, roam the forest carefree, write books and talk about it, and entertain his grandchildren—but , he is still willing to take on the heavy burden of the cabinet, which is really remarkable!"
Now that he has made up his mind to become an official, all his thoughts are different—but Shen's consistent thoughts are completely different from what he thought.
Of course, Shen Yiguan is also devoting his wisdom and loyalty to find ways to collect the silver taels that will be used for several celebrations at the moment, so as to deal with the matter smoothly. He has already "refined and refined" his own set of ideas to adapt to the current political environment.
He thought: "Fortunately, Long Live is ill, and things will be much easier!"
If Emperor Wanli is not ill and wants to preside over the ceremony in person, then the ceremony cannot be shabby, and the expenses cannot be frugal—or even, if the registered crown prince is Chang Xun, who is favored by Emperor Wanli, then the wedding expenses will be enormous— ——These things that were originally "regrets" turned out to be something to be thankful for in the end—and all these things helped him to firmly hold on to the throne of the Chief Assistant!
In fact, he was secretly happy - even when an emergency happened in the palace, he was summoned alone by Emperor Wanli in the middle of the night.
It was in February, after Crown Prince Chang Luo's frugal wedding - on February 13th, Chang Luo married Guo as the crown princess; on February 16th, in Yili, Chang Luo went to Wenhua Gate Accept the congratulations of all the officials; the atmosphere has been full of joy these days; although the budget of Yiying has been reduced again and again, making the ceremony unable to hold the royal atmosphere that it should have, but the hearts of the people attending the meeting are indeed true. It was indeed full of joy and jubilation; especially those who had fought for Chang Luo's registration for many years, felt more touched and excited in their hearts than in ordinary celebrations, and many people trembled and shed tears with joy, In the chilly spring with thin snow flying, beads of sweat broke out all over his body because of his blood boiling.
As the chief assistant of the cabinet, he was in such a peculiar atmosphere, and of course his emotions fluctuated a little more than others. On the surface, he suppressed it and maintained a peaceful appearance, but in reality he was overworked; Especially after several days in a row, with a heart hanging every day, and being in an abnormal mood, he couldn't sleep well; he was not a young man, and his mental and physical strength was weak. After finally enduring the day, he secretly relaxed. After taking a breath, he exited the palace gate, boarded the car and went back to the residence, and went into the room to rest without even having dinner.
The grand ceremony was over, and he could finally fall asleep peacefully; but unexpectedly, just as he closed his eyes, a galloping gallop had already set off from the palace. He was riding a panic-looking eunuch, guarded by a team of brocade-clothed guards, and hurried away with his whip. , rushed into the streets of Beijing city.
The sound of horseshoes broke through the originally quiet and peaceful spring night——
Then, the men and horses moved forward in groups, shuttled through different alleys, and knocked on the doors of several different houses.
The door of Shen's residence was the first to be knocked open.
However, the sleepy Shen Yiguan was neither awakened by the sound of horseshoes nor the knock on the door—his mansion is extremely large, no matter how loud the sound of horseshoes on the street, or the sound of eunuchs knocking on the door, It was also impossible to hear about his bedroom behind the hall—what really woke him up was the panicked running, pushing the door open, and calling his housekeeper across the tent in front of his bed.
"My lord, wake up quickly—the Lord Long Live has sent an urgent message!"
After repeating it several times, he was finally woken up, but he didn't know why, and he was somewhat displeased at being woken up, so he asked hoarsely, "What's the matter?"
The butler told him: "The palace sent the father-in-law to say, Long Live Lord has summoned him, and wants the master to enter the palace immediately to meet him!"
"what!"
Immediately, he uttered another cry—but this one was not a question, but terror; after the utterance, his heart was beating violently, and he gasped and asked, "What time is it?"
This is the real question, of course the butler didn't need to, and immediately answered him, "It's a quarter of a hour."
He didn't say anything else, and only ordered in a calm voice: "Go and tell the father-in-laws, I will immediately enter the palace to see you!"
Then he got up, and the servants and servant girls had already been waiting under the bed, and they came up to help him wash and put on his official uniform——his heart was beating violently, thinking all the way: "Long live God's urgent call in the middle of the night must not be a trivial matter—— —”
Emperor Wanli was not a diligent king at all. Even if he was not in court on bright and sunny days, he had never summoned ministers at night. Therefore, he became more and more determined: "It must be very important and urgent—"
Moreover, he couldn't hold back his thoughts from rushing in one direction: "The dragon's body has been ill for a long time, could it be—"
When I think about it this way, my heart beats faster, and my thoughts become more complicated and messy; when I board the carriage, because of the bumps on the carriage, my heartbeat becomes more abnormal and my emotions become more out of control. Thoughts kept flickering: "If a new king is supported, wouldn't he be the hero of the new dynasty?"
But this thought was a "decapitation" thought - of course he saved a lot of money. After flashing it a few times, he immediately tried all his strength to restrain it, telling himself: "I can only say something when I see the Lord Long Live. The words of Saint Ann are respected!"
Especially when the palace was far away, he subconsciously straightened his back, straightened his expression, coughed dryly, and forced himself to show a solemn and solemn appearance.
But when he got out of the car in front of the palace, his tense mood relaxed a little—it turned out that Emperor Wanli summoned not only himself, but also Shen Li, Zhu Geng and others under Cifu and the six ministers. are here.
Now, he is more confident that he can behave more appropriately——
The few people he arrived at first, because they were waiting for him, were idle anyway, and simply gathered together to whisper, their voices were low and their faces were serious; when they saw him coming, of course, they naturally stopped discussing, and bowed their hands together to salute him. There was a look of anticipation in his eyes, but he just pretended not to see him, returned the salute, took the lead without saying a word, and went straight to Qixiang Palace.
Why didn't he know that these people wanted to exchange opinions with him, and wanted to know what was in his heart; but, in such a situation, what could be said?
No matter what he said, it was not something he, the "Cabinet chief assistant", could bear; although, the thoughts hidden in his heart were basically the same as those of other people——
In the middle of the night, all the cabinet ministers and six ministers were urgently summoned. I am afraid that Emperor Wanli is not only seriously ill, but critically ill!
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