Daming talker

Chapter 541: Learn from History
At this time, the grand secretaries who were preparing to enter the inner palace together looked at Lin Tailai in silence.

Those who knew Lin Tailai well in the Beijing officialdom all knew that Lin Tailai had a serious mental illness. For example, he was extremely insecure and always imagined that someone was trying to harm him.

Specifically, except for midsummer, he often wears leather armor all year round, as if this is the only way to feel at ease.

Even at such an important moment as the imperial examination, one had to wear a helmet and armor to enter the examination room.

But no one expected that Lin Tailai's mental illness could be so serious that he had to wear armor inside when entering the inner palace to meet the emperor!

We are in the Ming Dynasty, which is a time of peace and prosperity with good public security in the palace. We are not in the Han and Tang Dynasties where the palace was full of murderous intentions!

To put it bluntly, if the emperor really had ill intentions, what was the point of wearing armor?

Fortunately, this place is not under the jurisdiction of their Grand Secretary, so if anyone needs to worry about it, it should be Eunuch Chen.

Chen Ju, the eunuch in charge of leading people into the palace, rubbed his forehead and looked at the sun again.

After a moment's thought, Eunuch Chen said, "It is getting late, and it would be a waste of time to report this matter again.

Please go through Qianqing Gate first and keep a close watch on them. When we get to Yude Palace, we will ask the Emperor for instructions on how to deal with them."

Bringing the person outside the Yude Palace will not affect anything. Let the emperor make the decision!
So everyone passed through the Qianqing Gate, and then there was a small square. At the north end of the small square was the Qianqing Palace, and on the east and west sides were alleys.

The tall and spacious Qianqing Palace is nominally the emperor's bedroom, but its convenience and comfort may be lacking, and many emperors do not like to live in the Qianqing Palace.

The Yude Palace was located to the northwest of the Qianqing Palace, so Chen Ju led the four university secretaries and Lin Tailai to the west.

Suddenly, a whistle sounded, and dozens of eunuchs rushed out from the alleys on the east and west sides of the Qianqing Palace. Some were unarmed, and some were holding wooden sticks. They surrounded this side aggressively!
The university scholars standing in the small square felt like they were ambushed and their faces turned horrified!

Is it possible that there could be palace coups in the physical sense in our Ming Dynasty?
When they were still more than ten feet away, an eunuch shouted, "We are only looking for Lin Tailai, and have nothing to do with anyone else!"

Lin Tailai quickly stood behind Chen Ju and asked, "Will Eunuch Chen take care of it?"

Eunuch Chen shouted at the eunuchs who were rushing over: "Stop!"

However, this group of eunuchs did not obey Eunuch Chen's orders. It was obvious that there must be someone else who instructed them, and this person's status was no lower than Eunuch Chen.

Lin Tailai sneered and said, "It seems that you, Eunuch Chen, are not good enough either."

Although Eunuch Chen had a relatively indifferent personality, he was so angry that he chose the answer "If you can do it, you can do it" between the two sentences "A man can't say no" and "If you can do it, you can do it".

Before he finished speaking, he saw Lin Tailai striding towards him.

Somehow, Lin Tailai grabbed the young eunuch who was rushing in the front and swung him up as if he were a heavy weapon.

After forcing the eunuchs back a little, Lin Tailai took a few hits and snatched a wooden stick.

Fortunately, Lin Tailai was wearing leather armor inside, so he was not seriously hurt by these blows.

With the wooden stick in his hand, Lin Tailai became even more ferocious and used it directly as a spear.

While retreating to the corner under the platform of the Qianqing Palace, he fought back casually.

With his back against the angle of the platform to avoid being attacked from the front and back, and with armor on his body, Lin Tailai was more at ease.

Faced with the siege of dozens of people, he fought back relying on his marksmanship and the tremendous strength of his arms, severely injuring more than a dozen enemies in succession and even breaking three wooden sticks!

It was the first time for everyone else to witness Lin Tailai fighting in person, and their minds were almost confused to the point of shutting down.

After thinking for a while, I realized that Lin Tailai was indeed invincible and as brave as Xiang Yu and Lu Bu.

After a while, he thought, was it a coincidence that Lin Tailai entered the palace wearing armor, or did he receive the news in advance?

After a while, I remembered that this was outside the Qianqing Palace and the consequences of a fight were unpredictable!
All in all, this kind of thing has never been seen or heard of before!

While the grand secretaries and eunuch Chen were in a daze, Lin Tailai, who was outnumbered by dozens of people, began to gain the upper hand!
The eunuchs who had been unable to capture the city for a long time suddenly lost their morale. The eunuch who was pushed to the front row refused to move forward anymore and ran away without looking back!
This triggered a chain reaction. The eunuchs who were still able to walk left a dozen seriously injured people on the ground and fled in a rush!
In the blink of an eye, the situation reversed. Twenty or thirty eunuchs fled in front, while Lin Tailai was chasing and beating them ferociously from behind.

The ignorant eunuch Chen and the grand secretaries were stunned, as if the scene from a vernacular novel had been projected into reality.

Emperor Chengzu built this palace for one hundred and fifty years, and no one has ever fought in front of the Qianqing Palace!

At most, the battle took place in front of Fengtian Gate, which is now Huangji Gate.

The defeated eunuchs fled to the alley on the west side of the Qianqing Palace, on the other side of the alley was the Hall of Mental Cultivation.

It was unknown who led the group, but these defeated eunuchs rushed into the courtyard of the Palace of Tranquil Longevity.

The main function of the Hall of Mental Cultivation during this era was to serve as the direct residence of the chief eunuch and to store some sundries commonly used by the emperor.

Perhaps it was because many senior eunuchs stayed here, and the defeated eunuchs subconsciously felt that they could get shelter in the Hall of Mental Cultivation, so they fled in.

Lin Tailai, who had extensive experience in group fights, felt that it would be very dangerous to rush into an unfamiliar courtyard rashly.

So he stood at the main gate of the Yangxin Palace, also known as the Yangxin Gate, blocking the door and cursing loudly.

The noise immediately alarmed the eunuchs and deputy eunuchs on duty in the Hall of Mental Cultivation, and they all came out to see what was happening.

Among them were eunuchs wearing robes decorated with flying fish and bullfighting patterns. They were all at a loss and had no idea what was going on.

I have never encountered such an incredible scene in my career. Is it possible that in such a clear and bright world, bandits could break into the inner palace?

Chen Ju and four university scholars also rushed over and saw Lin Tailai holding a stick, blocking the Yangxin Gate like a god from heaven.

Eunuch Chen was afraid that Lin Tailai would kill all the senior eunuchs in the Yangxin Palace, so he shouted from a distance: "Lin Jiuyuan, stop!"

Then he observed carefully again to make sure that Lin Tailai was conscious before walking closer to Lin Tailai.

Lin Tailai's image was also in disarray, his official hat had fallen somewhere and his hair was loose.

The official robe he was wearing had several large holes in it, revealing the leather armor underneath.

But this kind of image makes people feel even more frightened.

Lin Tailai put away his stick and muttered, "The palace's ability to respond is really poor. No wonder the assassination case happened."

Through today's actual combat, Lin Tailai can conclude that if he were to do the assassination himself, the Crown Prince would at least be seriously injured.

Eunuch Chen was a little confused. What was the story behind the case of the stick being hit?
At this time, the eunuchs in the Yangxin Palace also saw Chen Ju and asked loudly, "Mr. Chen! What's going on?"

Chen Ju finally showed off his power as the fourth most important person in the Imperial Household Department and shouted:

"Capture all the eunuchs who just escaped into the Yangxin Palace! No one is allowed to be released without the emperor's order!"

Then he said to the Grand Secretaries and Lin Tai: "Since something unexpected has happened in the palace, please ask those of you outside the palace to temporarily retreat outside the Qianqing Gate while I report this to the Emperor first!"

Prime Minister Shen nodded on behalf of the ministers and said, "It should be so." Lin Tailai interrupted and said, "Dozens of eunuchs ambushed and beat up the ministers who were summoned to the palace. This is truly appalling! Your Majesty, please make the decision for us!"

Chen Ju responded: "I will report this to the emperor. You guys should leave Qianqing Gate first!"

Whenever Eunuch Chen saw Lin Tailai still in the inner palace, he would feel scared and had to let Lin Tailai out before he could feel at ease.

Then the four grand secretaries and Lin Tailai retreated outside the Qianqing Gate, where a group of imperial guards kept a close eye on Lin Tailai.

These imperial guards can only guard outside the palace gate and are not allowed to enter the inner palace without special orders.

So when Lin Tailai was fighting with the eunuchs just now, these imperial guards were unable to go in to stop them.

No one spoke, everyone was waiting silently.

Prime Minister Shen thought that if this audience failed, it would be even better. He didn't think that this audience would be a good thing.

While waiting, Lin Tailai was silently reviewing various historical materials in his mind. This is called learning from history.

According to historical records, after Emperor Wanli became corrupt, he only summoned ministers to the palace for an audience with him twice.

The first time was this time. If it weren't for Lin Tailai's butterfly effect, the four grand secretaries would have already had a heart-to-heart talk with His Majesty in the Yude Palace, but of course the result would have been useless.

The second time was 25 years later, in the 43rd year of the Wanli reign, which was after the assassination incident.

When such a strange thing happened in the Prince's Palace, people both at home and abroad were shocked and puzzled, and all kinds of speculation pointed directly to Concubine Zheng.

In order to appease the people, Emperor Wanli summoned Grand Secretaries Fang Congzhe, Wu Daonan and some ministers to the Cining Palace.

This Wu Daonan was Lin Tailai's fellow third place in the imperial examination, and the honest man who helped Lin Tailai copy the "Records of Training of Different Dynasties".

During the meeting, Fang Congzhe was submissive and Wu Daonan was speechless, but an imperial censor named Liu Guangfu spoke fiercely.

Then a large group of eunuchs rushed up and beat up Liu Guangfu. The situation was out of control for a while, and Wu Daonan was scared to the point of wetting his pants.

Later, some people commented that Wu Daonan and his gang of grand secretaries were not even as good as Wan'an, who was ridiculed as the three paper-made cabinet ministers.

It was precisely because Lin Tailai had reviewed this historical material before that he wore armor under his official robe today.

A careful study will reveal whose influence the eunuchs relied on to dare to beat up the ministers in the palace when they were summoned after the assassination case.

To be honest, even Wei Zhongxian could not do such a rude, vulgar, and shrewish thing.

The mastermind is now even more favored, so how can we be sure that something similar won’t happen to us?

Unexpectedly, I actually met him.
On the other side, after Chen Ju had temporarily escorted the foreign ministers out of the palace, he hurriedly trotted towards the Yude Palace where the emperor was at the moment.

On the way, Eunuch Chen met Sun Xian, the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department and the commander-in-chief of the Eastern Depot.

"I just heard some noise and commotion in Yude Palace. What happened?" Mr. Sun asked directly.

The Yude Palace is just to the north of the Yangxin Palace. If there is a loud noise from the Qianqing Palace to the Yangxin Palace, it is possible that it can be heard in the Yude Palace.

Chen Ju didn't know how to describe it accurately, so he said as he walked: "Just now, after those foreign officials entered the Qianqing Gate, dozens of internal officials suddenly surrounded Lin Tailai, the editor of the Hanlin Academy.

Then they were defeated by Lin Tailai, more than a dozen of them were seriously injured, and the rest fled all the way into the Yangxin Palace. "

Sun Changgong was shocked. "How could such a thing happen? Who ordered those dozens of eunuchs to do this?"

Chen Ju sighed and said, "Don't make wild guesses. Let's talk about it after we meet the Emperor!"

Sun Changgong was very puzzled and asked, "Isn't it forbidden for outsiders to bring servants and guards with them when entering the palace? How dare Lin Tailai break the ban?"

Chen Ju shook his head and sighed, "There are no servants to protect us. Only Lin Tailai is participating in the battle alone."

Mr. Sun: “.”

The East Factory really needs such talents!
After the two of them said these few words, they arrived at Yude Palace.

At this time, Emperor Wanli was half lying on the couch in the west room of Yude Palace, waiting for an audience with ministers, and several eunuchs from the Imperial Household Department were beside him talking to him.

After Chen Ju went in, he recounted what had just happened truthfully, without any subjectivity or exaggeration.

Emperor Wanli was extremely shocked. In the emperor's eyes, this matter was also unbelievable!
Dozens of eunuchs and ministers had a fight outside the Qianqing Palace, and they lost the fight. What the hell is going on?

After coming to his senses, Emperor Wanli glanced at the eunuchs in the room and asked in an unclear tone: "Is it you?"

All the eunuchs looked at each other, and no one came forward to admit it.

Zhang Cheng, the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department, asked Chen Ju, "This is absolutely ridiculous. Why didn't you stop it?"

Chen Ju replied: "I tried to stop them at that time, but they didn't listen."

Although this question and answer did not mention anyone by name, the people in the room were all smart and they immediately guessed the truth after hearing it.

Chen Ju was the fourth most important person in the Imperial Household Department and one of the top few people in the entire eunuch system. His status was equivalent to that of a civil official, the Grand Secretary.

The fact that those eunuchs dared to completely ignore Chen Ju's orders speaks volumes.

There should be no more than four people with such power in the palace - the emperor himself, Concubine Zheng, the eunuch Zhang Cheng who holds the seal of the Imperial Household Department, and Gongsun Xian, the eunuch in charge of the factory.

If we use the process of elimination, the emperor, Zhang Cheng, and Sun Xian were not so boring, so who else could have ordered dozens of eunuchs to beat up the ministers?

The eunuchs were silent. They really couldn't do anything about this matter. The best they could do was to clear themselves of it!
Emperor Wanli took a few deep breaths and suddenly felt a toothache again.

My little imperial concubine, you should just act like a little spoiled girl in front of me, but you actually act spoiled in front of the grand secretaries.

Originally I wanted to "lobby" the Grand Secretaries today, but you did this in front of them. How will the Grand Secretaries view you and your son?

Zhang Cheng, the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department, saw that Emperor Wanli was in a state of mental exhaustion and could not extricate himself, so he asked Chen Ju, "Where are the foreign officials now?"

Chen Ju replied: "Temporarily retreat outside Qianqing Gate and wait for the emperor's judgment."

Zhang Cheng's question meant that the emperor should make a decision first, whether to meet him today or not, and then we can talk about other things.

"Let's meet him." Emperor Wanli sighed.

Sun Xian quickly reminded, "The emperor said at the beginning that the factory guards needed talents like Lin Tailai. This is the right time."

Chen Ju said with lingering fear: "I am worried that Lin Tailai will disturb the emperor. If the emperor wants to see a foreign minister, I suggest that the emperor go up to the Qianqing Gate and talk to him from a high position."

Everyone: "."

(End of this chapter)