Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 2388: Changes (VII) Deployment
"Oh!"

Gao Fusi slammed the bed frame and said angrily, "After all the planning, I missed the most crucial step!"

Menggu Zhezhe was startled by his sudden anger, and then he realized that his anger was not directed at others, but at himself, and asked hurriedly in surprise: "Master, what do you mean by this?"

Gao Youshi had no time to answer her. Instead, he changed his sickly look and said to Gao Mo decisively, "Uncle Mo, go find Chen Zhangyin immediately and ask him if there is any abnormality in the emperor's body recently. At the same time, ask him to take control of the seals, talismans (jade seals, tiger talismans) and other treasures without hesitation. Even if he doesn't hold them personally, he must let his most trusted subordinates keep strict watch over them!
Also, have him mobilize the most reliable people in his hands to fully control the guards of Kunning and Cining Palaces. If possible, it is best to control Yikun Palace as well! If you are worried about the emperor's questioning, just say... just say that I just received news that some abandoned ministers of the Joseon Dynasty who were dissatisfied with the surrender of Joseon secretly sent out assassins, and they may want to find a way to assassinate important figures of the royal family, so we have to be on guard. "

Gao Mo was not surprised that his master came up with a solution so quickly, but Menggu Zhezhe could not help but be a little surprised. However, Gao Youshi had not yet finished his words. He just paused for a moment and continued, "In addition, after Chen Zhangyin's affairs are settled, you can go to Mingzhaofang again. The new house that Director Tian bought after coming to Beijing is there. Please send an invitation on my behalf and ask Director Tian to come to my house as soon as possible to meet me. Just say that I have something important to discuss with you.

Finally, since you have already arrived at Mingzhaofang, you might as well stop by Rong Government - Xiao Rongzheng should be there at this time. You can explain the current situation to him, without being secretive, just tell him everything.

If he does not ask for the next step, you can just come back and report; if he asks what to do now, you can ask him to call a meeting of the major governors of the Five Military Governors' Office, and together with the governors, send a letter to each guard in the capital, saying that a white disaster is coming, and each guard should stay in the station carefully, not leave the camp without reason, and not make any transfers.

As for the reason... just say that the cabinet has decided that the court will send personnel to examine the preparations of the various guards for the white disaster in the near future to see if they have made preparations according to the cabinet's previous requirements. Also, you can emphasize that this matter was personally taken care of by me, and the cabinet attaches great importance to it. "

Gao Mo silently noted down the tasks, and asked the master again if he had any other instructions. After receiving a negative answer, he hurried to chase Chen Ju. Menggu Zhezhe was speechless at the moment about her master's reaction, and could only sigh: "A woman in the deep palace had hysteria, causing so many people to suffer for nothing, and even implicated the whole family... It's really sad."

Gao Youshi forced himself to meet people and analyze the situation despite his illness. He was especially inspired by the fact that he had almost missed a major hidden danger. He pulled himself together and gave instructions for so many tasks. Now that Menggu Zhezhe was the only one left by his side, he relaxed and immediately felt extremely sleepy. His eyelids drooped and he whispered, "There is nothing to worry about in the world. It is the mediocre who worry about it..."

This was quite strange, and Menggu Zhezhe didn't even know what it meant. Was the mediocre person he was talking about referring to Concubine Zheng, or was he mocking himself? If it was Concubine Zheng, then the word "disturb" should refer to disturbance or disturbance, but if it was self-mockery, did the master think that he had made so many preparations just to be on the safe side, and he felt that it was more likely that no disturbance would occur at all?

Menggu Zhezhe wanted to ask, but found that her master had fallen into a deep sleep with his head tilted to one side, and even snored slightly - according to her experience over the years, her master did not usually snore.

Menggu Zhezhe reached out her hand with concern and carefully straightened Gao Youshi's head, thinking to herself: The master is really exhausted this time... I hope that this matter is just a misunderstanding from beginning to end, and there is "no trouble in the world"!

Several flowers bloom, each showing its own beauty.

The empress and her entourage left the Duke of Jingguo's mansion and headed back to the palace. At this moment, the north wind was howling and it began to snow again. This time, unlike before, the snowflakes had changed from dandelions to goose feathers.

Even the bearers of the sedan chair knew that the court's recent events were all about preventing white disasters, and this heavy snow seemed to justify the foresight of the prime minister. However, looking at the court's previous all-out efforts, I'm afraid that this winter's white disaster... will be difficult!
Because of the sudden heavy snow, the clouds in the sky blocked the sky, and the Queen and her entourage could only move forward slowly in the wind and snow. The swaying palace lanterns reflected the flying snowflakes, which seemed particularly lonely. In the phoenix chariot, Queen Wang held the little prince tightly in her arms. The little prince seemed to feel the warmth of his mother, uttered a mumbling, and fell asleep again.

Concubine Zheng sat in her sedan with a complicated expression. She looked through the gap in the curtains at the heavy snow falling outside, her heart was in turmoil.

Kneeling in the Jingguo Mansion today was a humiliation she had never imagined, but for the future of her son, she had to do it. She knew deeply that Gao Youshi's influence was everywhere in the court, and even the emperor had to rely on him. If she could get Gao Youshi to relax a little by kneeling this time, perhaps she could win a glimmer of hope for her son.

Since the Prince of Fu was canonized last year, he should have been in Luoyang. However, after Zhu Yijun completed the canonization of the crown prince, he kept the Prince of Fu in Beijing to study on the grounds that he was young. For this purpose, he specially granted him a palace in Beijing, spending a full 400,000 taels of imperial treasury. Fortunately, it was the imperial treasury that was spent, so although the outer court was dissatisfied, it was difficult to say much.

This year, the emperor went south and returned north, but he fell ill and became bedridden. So, under the guidance of Concubine Zheng, Prince Fu returned to the palace to personally serve medicine to the emperor in the name of filial piety.

In theory, although Prince Fu was "young", he was already seventeen years old (in lunar years), so it was not appropriate for him to live in the palace. However, the emperor's prestige was extremely high, and the outer court did not want to quarrel with the emperor over this matter. The bad thing was that Zhu Yijun not only asked Zhu Changxun to return to the palace to "fulfill his filial piety", but also asked him to live in Zhongcui Palace, which inevitably caused criticism from the outer court.

There was nothing special about Zhongcui Palace itself, except for one thing: Zhu Yijun lived there when he was the crown prince, so it could be considered a hidden residence. As a result, some court officials who valued "ritual sense" could not sit still, and they submitted petitions one after another, arguing that Zhongcui Palace had its own special features, and even if someone was to be arranged to live there, it could only be for His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to move in, and how could a vassal prince like Prince Fu be allowed to live there?

Zhu Yijun had seldom taken care of affairs since returning to the palace. In the past few months, as for memorials from the outer court, he had basically just written "yes" on the cabinet's draft and then used his seal directly. However, he was very annoyed about this matter and wrote a murderous remark in red with his own hand.

The general meaning of that paragraph is: I have already appointed the crown prince, why are you guys with nothing to do talking so much nonsense? Who the hell stipulated that Zhongcui Palace can only be occupied by the crown prince? The crown prince is only two years old, can't he be raised by the queen herself? If he lives alone in Zhongcui Palace, who will be responsible if something happens? Those who dare to take responsibility, stand up and let me see!
The "idle" officials in the outer court probably didn't expect the emperor to be so irritable this time. After weighing the pros and cons, they felt that they really couldn't bear the responsibility, so they could only stop arguing and no longer entangled whether Prince Fu should live in Zhongcui Palace. However, some civil servants in the Ming Dynasty were stubborn. Even if they didn't entangle the Zhongcui Palace, some still insisted that since Prince Fu had been crowned as a king, he shouldn't live in the palace.

However, Gao Youshi had no interest in dealing with these matters. He was too busy with the White Disaster and related affairs in the northern territories to express his opinion from beginning to end. Even for these memorials, his draft was so simple that he only wrote two words: keep it in the court.

Zhu Yijun probably saw that Gao Youshi didn't want to cause trouble, so he finally decided to put a stop to the arrogance of some people, so more than a dozen fifth- and sixth-rank officials were given the gift package of "demotion by three levels and transfer to other places". Although Gao Youshi petitioned for these people according to the rules, he only managed to save the "demotion by three levels" and the "transfer to other places" was still resolutely carried out.

Despite this, Concubine Zheng did not think that Gao Youshi had relaxed his "persecution" of her and her son. She believed that Gao Youshi was only pretending to avoid angering the emperor, and that the overall situation had already been decided.

Ignoring is often more offensive than hostility. This is the case with Concubine Zheng. She doesn't care how busy Gao Youshi is. She just thinks that his ignoring her and her son is a silent mockery - are you two such useless people worthy of fighting with our own prince?

The more you dig into a dead end, the harder it is to get out. Concubine Zheng's hatred for Gao Youshi became even more acute because of Gao Youshi's indifference, to the point that she surpassed the courage of all the concubines in the history of the Ming Dynasty and began to turn a deaf ear to all the ancestral teachings.

She is determined to take control of her own destiny!
"My son... they say that you are neither the eldest nor the legitimate son, so you cannot be the crown prince. Well, well, well said! If that is the case, then if neither the eldest nor the legitimate son is the crown prince, it should be your turn, right?" Concubine Zheng looked out the window with a cold look, colder than the wind and snow. Chen Ju rode his horse beside the queen's sedan chair, frowning. Due to the sudden heavy snow, he could not help but subconsciously tighten his fox fur coat to keep himself warm.

However, his mind was not on the cold and warmth. Chen Ju was still pondering the various anomalies of today: first of all, Gao Youshi's illness came strangely, and it seemed that it was the first time he could remember being sick. Concubine Zheng's sudden visit and proposal were also unusual. Her shocking kneeling in Gao Youshi's ward was even more bizarre.

Even though Chen Ju had served the emperor for more than 30 years and had seen many ups and downs, he was still very nervous at this moment. As the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department, he kept reminding himself that he must always be vigilant to prevent any unexpected events. But the question now was, what should he be vigilant about? Where exactly would the danger appear?
The carriage passed through Di'an Gate and headed south, passing Wansui Mountain and arriving outside Xuanwu Gate. After entering the gate, it was the entrance from the imperial city to the palace city. Logically, the empress and Concubine Zheng should go to Yikun Palace together because they had to report to the emperor, and he did the same. However, just as Chen Ju was about to pass through Xuanwu Gate, he was stopped by a young eunuch, who whispered that the prime minister had something urgent to tell him.

Chen Ju was startled and followed the eunuch to the last seat of the carriage. Chen Ju heaved a sigh of relief when he saw the person coming - it was not Gao Youshi himself, but his old acquaintance Gao Mo.

Chen Ju felt relieved. After all, if Gao Youshi had come to chase him personally, what a big deal that would be. Chen Ju even wondered if he would faint in shock if he saw Gao Youshi at this moment. Fortunately, things were not as bad as he had imagined. The person who came was Gao Mo, Gao Youshi's old butler. The latter had a solemn expression and conveyed Gao Youshi's concerns and orders to Chen Ju one by one.

After hearing this, Chen Ju's face changed drastically. He knew of course that this matter was very serious. After all, he was too familiar with Gao Youshi's style of doing things - Gao Youshi would not speak to him in such an almost commanding tone unless it was absolutely necessary.

The Prime Minister of the Cabinet and the Chief of the Imperial Household Department were not officials of the same system. According to the outside world, one of them was the Foreign Minister and the other was the Internal Minister, so they should have their own merits. However, Chen Ju knew that this was not the case. It might be true in other dynasties, but in the Wanli Dynasty...

However, in terms of power, Chen Ju certainly did not dare to compare with Gao Youshi, but Gao Youshi directly ordered him to obey orders in inner court affairs, so Chen Ju still had to consider the consequences.

He did not doubt Gao Yuanfu's loyalty to the emperor, but who doesn't have his own position? Although I believe in Yuanfu, I am the emperor's man after all, and the first thing to consider is the emperor's attitude towards this matter!

However, although Yuan Fu's order was suspected of being an attempt to control the palace through his own hands, he finally gave a reason worthy of "special treatment" - someone intended to assassinate him.

6◇9◇Book◇Bar

In this case, it does seem to make sense for our family to handle special matters. Even if the emperor questions us later, the person responsible is the prime minister. What has our family done wrong?
After realizing this, Chen Ju took action immediately. After thanking Gao Mo, he immediately sent people to closely monitor the seals, talismans and other treasures, and then mobilized his confidants to replace the guards of Kunning and Cining Palaces - in fact, the guards of Kunning Palace were originally his people.

Because of the previous incident, he had been personally arranging the guards of Kunning Palace. However, the current situation was special, and he had to worry whether these people had been bribed. After all, assassination did not require bribing all the guards. It was enough to bribe one or two key figures who were close to the queen and the prince.

Now that the Yuan Fu had given the warning, Chen Ju made a temporary adjustment to replace another group of people to take shifts in advance. After that, he felt that there should be no problem.

At the same time, Gao Mo went to Mingzhaofang without stopping and invited the new East Factory Admiral Tian Yi to meet his master at the Duke of Jingguo's Mansion.

It was Gao Youshi's personal operation that allowed Tian Yi to be transferred from the eunuch guarding Nanjing back to the capital and take up this important position. However, Gao Youshi's operation took some time, and it took him some time to rush back to the capital from Nanjing, so in fact he had only been in Beijing for less than half a month. In general, he had only just met the main subordinates in the East Factory, and had not yet taken over the job, so he did not dare to guarantee his "business ability".

Today, it was heard that Yuan Fu was ill and fainted on the spot. Tian Yi was a little unprepared and even extremely nervous. If nothing else, he could sit in the position of the governor of the East Factory because of Gao Youshi. If Gao Youshi suddenly fell, wouldn't he become a rootless floating duckweed?

Therefore, upon hearing Gao Mo's words, Tian Yi was relieved and repeatedly said that he would not delay and would go to the Jingguo Mansion with Gao Zhishi to pay a visit. When he heard that Gao Mo was going to the military government to meet Xiao Liangyou, the then left assistant minister of the Ministry of War and assistant military affairs manager of the Beijing Camp, he quickly said that Gao Zhishi should just go and do his work, and he would go there in person. Anyway, it didn't matter if he was not familiar with other roads in Beijing, but he would not dare to go wrong at the Jingguo Mansion even if he closed his eyes.

So Tian Yi quickly changed into casual clothes, took only two trusted servants and quietly went to the Duke of Jingguo's Mansion, while Gao Mo continued to go to the Rong government to convey Gao Youshi's intention to Xiao Liangyou.

Xiao Liangyou was Gao Youshi's classmate in the Gengchen year of the eighth year of the Wanli reign. He was the second in the first class of the Jinshi exam, second only to Gao Youshi. In the original history, his career was neither good nor bad. In the twenty-fourth year of the Wanli reign, he had become the chief priest of the Imperial Academy. Unfortunately, because he could not stand the party struggles at that time, he chose to resign after fifteen years of officialdom and returned to his hometown without being involved in government affairs.

In this life, because of Gao Youshi, he did not resign and return home. After serving in many positions, he was recently transferred to the position of Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of War and assisting in military affairs.

Gao Youshi had also held this position in previous years, so people inside and outside the court privately believed that Gao Yuanfu was paving the way for Xiao Liang to enter the cabinet in the future. Therefore, even though the current Minister of Military Affairs did not have as much power as before due to the restructuring of the Imperial Guard, no one underestimated him.

After listening to Gao Mo's retelling, Xiao Liangyou couldn't help but frown. He knew that Gao Fushi was always cautious and would never make such a big move if the situation was not serious.

As expected, he didn't play it safe and immediately asked what he should do. So Gao Mo didn't hesitate and told him everything Gao Fushi said.

Xiao Liang did not hesitate and immediately notified all the commanders of the Five Military Governors' Office to hold a meeting at the Five Military Governors' Office. He also sent a joint letter to all the guards in the capital, strictly ordering them not to leave the camp without reason and not to make any transfers in accordance with Gao Youshi's requirements in order to prepare for the so-called examination.

In fact, Xiao Liang knew very well that the "examination" was mostly just to scare these Beijing guards. The real purpose was definitely to avoid instability in the Imperial Stables. In the name of rotation, another group of Beijing guards were transferred into the city to further strengthen the strength of the Tengxiang Four Guards and other clean troops.

It was late at night, the snow was still blowing, the lights were on in the Jingguo Mansion, and the capital was tense because of this sudden order. The whole Ming Dynasty seemed to be waiting for the coming storm.
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