Start with Baihuguan

Chapter 348 Unexpected reward

The melodious morning bell echoes over the ancient city, signaling the arrival of a new day.

Before the palace gate of the imperial city, hundreds of civil and military officials had gathered to participate in the Great Court Meeting.

As we all know, at today's Great Court Meeting, the emperor will award the meritorious soldiers who returned in triumph to reward the three armies.

Originally, this matter must have been the mainstream of the Great Court Assembly, and today's matter must revolve around this huge award.

After all, some well-informed officials now have a general idea of ​​how many marquises and earls the court will reward this time. It can be said that just for this big victory, the Ming court will have more than a dozen newly promoted nobles come out.

This kind of prosperous age is definitely the first time in decades, and the imperial court can't overemphasize it, it can definitely be said to be huge.

It's just that the Grand Court Meeting, which was originally full of expectations for most people, now faintly gives people an inexplicable feeling.

All the reasons are because of the news they got not long ago.

It was precisely because of that appalling news that countless officials stayed up all night, filled with fear and anxiety, and filled their hearts with various emotions.

As a result, when the sky was just dawn, many officials who had just fallen asleep because they were too tired were awakened by their own servants, and rushed to attend the Great Court Meeting with an extremely tired look.

So at this moment, many officials waiting in front of the palace gate looked as if they had not had a good rest for several days and nights. Even when one person yawned, the rest of them all yawned as if they were infected.

Accompanied by a creak, the palace gate opened, and a group of imperial city guards could be seen standing there tall and straight, and a group of officials were familiar with entering the palace to participate in the Great Court Meeting, so they kept sinking and moved forward. Enter the imperial city according to the past.

On the huge square in front of the Qianqing Palace, a group of civil and military officials who came to participate in the Great Court Gathering soon gathered. The civil and military officials lined up on both sides, waiting respectfully for the arrival of the emperor.

Without making all the officials wait any longer, with the sound of footsteps, they saw the emperor Luan driving from far to near, and soon came to the front.

It's just that someone with sharp eyes saw Li Huan who was following Luanjia at a glance.

When all the officials saw Li Huan, they were all taken aback for a moment, with a look of surprise on their faces.

Li Huan actually accompanied the emperor from the deep palace. Doesn't this mean that Li Huan most likely spent the night in the imperial city last night?After all, when they were waiting in front of the palace gate for the opening of the imperial city, they did not see Li Huan.

That being the case, Li Huan followed the emperor again, so there is only one possibility, that is, Li Huan may have entered the imperial city last night and spent the night in the imperial city.

Thinking that Li Huan, a foreign minister, was able to spend the night in the imperial city, many people couldn't help showing envy in the eyes of Li Huan.

As we all know, the imperial palace is a forbidden place for the emperor, and even if foreign ministers have something to do, they will not be allowed to stay in the imperial city.

But Li Huan was able to stay in the imperial city because he was favored by the emperor. This is a manifestation of Li Huan's status in the eyes of the emperor.

This made the officials who were already extremely jealous of Li Huan because of Li Huan's military achievements even more jealous and hostile to Li Huan.

The figure of Zhu Houzhao came down from the Luanjia, strode towards the dragon chair in front of Qianqing Palace, and at the same time Li Huan also walked towards the ranks of Wu Xun.

Among the Wu Xuns, the British Duke Zhang Lun and Cheng Guogong Zhu Fu were naturally the leaders. Li Huan walked into the ranks of Wu Xun and naturally stood beside Zhang Lun and Zhu Fu.

However, Li Huan did not stand at the head of the two, not to mention that the two are hereditary dukes who retired with the country, but also the in-law relationship between Zhang Lun and Zhu Fu and Li Huan, Li Huan would not force himself to stand out. Don't overpower the two.

Zhu Fu glanced at Li Huan, and said to Li Huan in a low voice, "Ziyu, what is going on with the Jinyiwei yamen in Yangzhou?"

As Li Huan's father-in-law, Zhu Fu naturally called Li Huan's Biaozi. Not many people are qualified to call Li Huan Biaozi, even Zhang Lun, who is a British Duke, would call Li Huan's uncle.

Li Huan took a deep breath, nodded slightly at Zhu Fu and said in a low voice, "I'll talk about this later."

Hearing what Li Huan said, Zhu Fu nodded slightly towards Li Huan.

While speaking, the emperor was already sitting on the dragon chair, and this matter Qiu Ju stood on the imperial steps below the emperor's head, and said sharply: "If there is something to do, let's play, and if there is nothing to do, we will retreat."

As soon as Qiu Ju finished speaking, a white-haired old man suddenly stood up, bowed to Zhu Houzhao, and said, "Your Majesty, the old minister supervised the censor Chen Shou and impeached Li Huan to stay overnight in the imperial city. It is suspected of causing trouble for the palace. ..."

Good guy, when the old censor opened his mouth, many people opened their eyes wide and looked at Chen Shou with strange and admiring eyes.

This old censor is really courageous enough to impeach Li Huan for causing chaos in the palace. To put it bluntly, it means that Li Huan, a big man, had an affair with the emperor and concubine.

Many people even looked at Chen Shou with unbelievable eyes, as if they didn't expect that there would be such a strong man who dared to impeach Li Huan on this matter in front of Li Huan and the emperor.

Not to mention a group of officials, even Zhu Houzhao couldn't help being stunned for a moment when he heard the words, and then his face became quite ugly.

He did indeed keep Li Huan overnight in the imperial city, but that was just a normal overnight stay, and when the old censor said it, it didn't sound right.

It's just that as a supervisory censor, he has the duty of monitoring lawlessness and impeaching officials, and even some mistakes in words and deeds of the emperor are within the scope of his supervision and impeachment.

Therefore, Chen Fang, as the supervisory censor, could not find any problems in impeaching Li Huan, and everything was his responsibility.

Zhu Houzhao took a deep breath, took a look at Chen Fang and slowly explained: "Li Qing asked me to see you yesterday because the matter was very important, but I left him to discuss the matter for a long time, so that the palace gate was closed, so I So I left Li Qing in the imperial city and ordered him to stay overnight in the imperial city."

Many officials couldn't help but thump in their hearts after hearing Zhu Houzhao's words.

Reminiscent of the shocking news they received last night, then there is no need to guess why Li Huan entered the palace to meet the emperor, it must be related to Jin Yiwei.

It's just that I don't know what attitude Li Huan and the emperor, the emperor and his ministers, had on such a matter, and what they discussed, so that they all forgot the time, which caused Li Huan to fail to leave the palace.

After explaining a little bit, Zhu Houzhao waved his hand at Chen Shou and said, "If the Qing family is fine, let's stop this matter. If the Qing family is really energetic, they might as well supervise the officials for the imperial court, or An illegal act of impeaching some officials for the court."

Obviously the emperor said this to beat Chen Shou. After all, although the emperor has a good temper, it doesn't mean he has no temper.

This great court has just started and was impeached for trivial matters. Doesn't he want to lose face as the emperor?

At this time Li Huan also walked out from the ranks of Wu Xun, cupped his hands towards Chen Shou and said: "Thank you, Master Chen, for correcting me in person, this matter is indeed Li's fault."

Chen Shou bowed to the emperor, ignored Li Huan's intentions, and retreated to the ranks of officials.

After Chen Shou made such a fuss, the original tense mood of the officials improved a lot.

At this time, Zhu Houzhao's eyes were on Yang Tinghe, the old man standing in the ranks of civil servants.

With Li Dongyang's official appointment and the appointment of the chief assistant of the cabinet, the cabinet was suddenly in a state of leaderless.

Under such circumstances, Yang Tinghe has faintly become the candidate for the cabinet chief assistant by virtue of his qualifications. At least neither Wang Jia nor Liu Yu's ability and qualifications can compete with Yang Tinghe.

At this time, Yang Tinghe noticed that the emperor's gaze fell on him, and naturally understood Zhu Houzhao's meaning. This was to remind him that the cabinet minister who was acting as the chief assistant of the cabinet should stand up and promote the most important thing in the next Great Court Conference.

Taking a deep breath, Yang Tinghe walked out slowly from the ranks of courtiers, kowtowed to Zhu Houzhao, and said, "Your Majesty, in the previous battle, our dynasty won an unprecedented victory, and now the meritorious soldiers have returned triumphantly. The Governor's Mansion and the cabinet have drawn up rewards for the soldiers for their meritorious service, and I implore Your Majesty to Xiaoyu and pass it on to all the officials, so that the imperial court and Your Majesty will reward the soldiers for their military merits."

Speaking of which, Yang Tinghe bowed to Zhu Houzhao Changji.

All of a sudden, all eyes fell on Zhu Houzhao's body.

Even if they lack energy, even if they know that a storm is likely to be brewing in this great dynasty, at this time all the officials are still full of expectations for the next awarding session.

This is a knighthood, the most important military merits of the Ming Dynasty, once the military merits are knighted, the name will definitely be recorded in the annals of history and passed down through the ages.

This is a supreme honor. It should be known that even if these people work hard for a lifetime, they may not be able to leave a trace in the history books after death.

However, the generals who received the emperor's award at this grand meeting today will definitely leave a strong mark in the history books.

Zhu Houzhao nodded slightly, and said to Qiuju beside him, "Come here, read the imperial decree."

Qiu Ju received a bright yellow silk silk that had already been drawn up from the hand of Xiao Huangmen who had already prepared it, which was the imperial decree to reward the three armies and confer meritorious officials.

Holding the imperial decree in both hands, Qiu Ju first bowed to the emperor, then slowly turned around with a serious look on his face, and then slowly unfolded the imperial decree under the gaze of the crowd.

"Fengtian Chengyun Emperor, the imperial edict said: There are enemies of the Tatars, and they violated our Ming Dynasty... The merits of the generals can be shown to the sun and the moon. I am very relieved. Today, a grand court meeting will be held to reward the meritorious soldiers..."

After a paragraph of words that were not considered gorgeous, he briefly explained why there is today's award, and all the officials in the field listened quietly, but everyone knew very well that the most anticipated award was coming soon.

Even though some officials have already known the rewards of some of them, what they know is only the result of discussions between the cabinet, the Ministry of War, and the Governor's Office of the Five Armies. As for the final reward, it is still up to the emperor to decide. If there is no reading for a day, then the rewards for everyone can be said to be a suspense.

Seeing that Qiu Ju's tone paused, his eyes swept away, and he said slowly: "There is Li Huan, the governor of the Chinese army's governor's office, who put down the rebellion of King Anhua, led the army to fight against the Tatars, led the army deep into the grassland, and raised our army's prestige. In addition, he has killed countless enemies and made great military achievements. Today, Li Huan is conferred the title of Marquis of Champion..."

With a bang, all the officials were shocked, and all eyes full of astonishment looked at Li Huan, and then looked at the emperor sitting there.

Although everyone had already been mentally prepared for Li Huan to be named a Marquis, after all, Li Huan's meritorious service was definitely enough to be named a Marquis.

On this point, no matter how nitpicking the officials are, they can't obliterate Li Huan's military achievements, so the result of the discussions between the cabinet, the Ministry of War, and the Governor's Office of the Five Armies is to give Li Huan the title of Marquis.

But the cabinet played the Son of Heaven, and the title of Marquis granted to Li Huan was not a champion.

The title of Marquis of Champion has special significance to generals, not only warriors but also literati know it well.

It can be said that the supreme glory represented by the champion is even greater than that of the duke, so when the emperor heard that Li Huan was conferred the special title of champion, the reaction of all the officials Only that big.

Some officials even couldn't help but stepped forward to bow to the emperor and said, "Your Majesty..."

It's just that those few officials felt an inexplicable power enveloping them before they had time to open their mouths. When they looked up, they saw the emperor sitting there staring at them expressionlessly, his gaze was full of brilliance. Powerful, I don't know why, facing the eyes of the emperor, several officials actually lowered their heads one by one, not daring to speak again.

Not to mention the astonishment of all the officials, even Li Huan couldn't help being stunned for a moment. He also didn't expect that Zhu Houzhao would grant him the special title of Marquis of Champion.

Baiguan's reaction was also seen in Li Huan's eyes. Li Huan didn't know what Baiguan thought, but as far as Li Huan himself was concerned, Li Huan felt a lot of pressure from being the champion.

Compared with the champion Marquis, his contribution is indeed not small, but it is also much worse. Therefore, in Li Huan's opinion, if it is said that he is granted the title of other Marquis, he is definitely worthy of it. But he couldn't bear the title of the champion marquis.

Qiu Ju's eyes fell on Li Huan, and he winked at Li Huan, as if he was waiting for Li Huan to come forward to give an order to thank him. After all, this is also a normal process.

But what Qiu Ju didn't expect was that Li Huan stood there motionless, obviously a little distracted, which made Qiu Ju a little anxious.

When is it not good to be distracted, why is it just at this time?

On the other hand, Zhu Fu who was at the side said to Li Huan in a soft voice, "Ziyu, don't hesitate to accept the decree to thank you!"

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(End of this chapter)