Brocade clothing as the country

Chapter 162 September of the fifth year of Wanli
"It's nothing more than that our family is Eunuch Zhang's adoptive son. From everyone's point of view, Eunuch Zhang is also an old man of Prince Yu's mansion. He and Eunuch Feng are like siblings. In the palace, Eunuch Feng is in charge of the supervisor of ceremonies and the second secretary. Outside the palace, there is Zhang Pavilion." The old man is in charge of the cabinet and Jin Yiwei, if someone else is in charge of the horse guard, it will be impossible to control, our family is really unlucky!"

The Supervisor of Rituals is the head of the inner court and the higher-level yamen of the East Factory. The two offices are the clerk room and the ceremonial room. In the assessment, if the eunuch who was in charge of the two divisions, the eunuch had to be transferred to the internal supervisor, Feng Bao made an exception and was in charge. In fact, he was already the only one in the inner court.

Zhang Juzheng controls the cabinet, and regards the commander of Jinyiwei as a domestic slave. The six ministries and nine ministers of the outer court seem to be his subordinates. The largest intelligence department outside the palace, Jinyiwei, also reports to him first, and the secrets of all officials are under his control. Among them, his power in the outer court was not much worse than Feng Bao's status in the inner court.

The Four Guards Battalion and the Warriors Battalion under the Yumajian are the strongest armed forces in the entire capital. Feng Bao has already completely controlled the powers of the inner court, ruling, and intelligence, and has the chief assistant of the outer court as an ally. The armed forces of the Yumajian can abolish the emperor.

For the sake of balance and checks and balances, and for the safety of the royal family, it is natural that the Imperial Horse Supervisor can no longer be handed over to the "Feng Bao family".

Zhang Cheng has always been jealous of Feng Bao's status and power, and Wang Tong knows to some extent, but this is not the first-class close person, so he might not know, and if someone knows, he will pretend not to know.

Regarding Zou Yi's complaints after drinking, Wang Tong could only comfort him a few words, then went out to see if anyone was eavesdropping, and when he came back, he smiled wryly and advised him not to drink too much.

Like the little Emperor Wanli who confides with him every day, Zou Yi is also very relieved of Wang Tong, so he will come here to talk about some things he has kept in his stomach.

"Brother Zou, my younger brother heard about the rules in the palace, starting from the bottom, everything is correct. It takes 20 to 30 years to have the opportunity to be a chaperone in the supervisor of ceremonies. Brother Zou is not yet 40 years old. , there are some things that you really don’t need to worry about.”

"Eunuch Feng is only in his early fifties, and his father-in-law and Eunuch Zhang Cheng of the Yumajian are just in their fifties. Now the eunuchs and young eunuchs in all prisons and yamen are young and strong..."

The wines in Zhenxing Building are all good wines, and they are full of energy. Because of the need to be alert all the time when working in the palace, there are not many opportunities to drink. Zou Yi soon became drunk and fell into a deep sleep.

Seeing that the sky was getting dark, and the first bell and drum sounded from the direction of the imperial city, Wang Tong woke up Zou Yi who was sleeping in the bedroom. The little eunuch Cai Nan who had been drinking tea outside hurried in and waited for him to wash up. dressing.

Wang Tong handed in the outside robe, and when Zou Yi took it, he asked:
"Brother Wang, did you say something when we were drinking at lunch?"

"Brother Zou fell asleep after drinking a few glasses of wine, did you say anything else?"

Wang Tong asked Fan in astonishment, Zou Yi rubbed his face with his hands, cupped his fists at Wang Tong as a salute, and left.

*****
On the Mid-Autumn Festival, Wang Tong had to offer mooncakes to his father's coffin, and then went to Tian Bo's house with incense candles.Tian Baihu helped the spirit back to his hometown, and there were still a few servants in the family looking after the house. Wang Tong did a sweeping ceremony, and when he came out, the full moon was already in the sky.

After the Mid-Autumn Festival, Wang Tong's life became even more uneventful. Under Li Wenyuan's suggestion, every morning, if everyone had time, Yu Dayou would come to lecture Wang Tong and Li Hutou on the art of fighting with guns and sticks.

After studying like this for half a month, veteran Yu Dayou commented unceremoniously:
"Wang Tong, you are able to beat Hutou now, it is nothing more than being tall and strong, and you have studied carefully. In terms of spear and stick martial arts, you are far behind Li Hutou."

The words are not very pleasant, but Wang Tong also knows the truth. Li Hutou, who learned the origin from his childhood, practiced hard, and killed people, is indeed much better than himself in this aspect. If he is too far behind, he still has to learn. After all, it is a technology for self-defense and life-saving.

After the second day of September, Yu Dayou was also a little impatient with teaching, so he simply selected a group of talented teenagers to teach the art of martial arts, spear and stick in the morning and evening alone, and planned to open up an open space outside the city after October , Teach everyone how to fight horses.

The courses given by the eunuch Huang Yang, who was supervised by the former imperial horse supervisor, gradually became more and more complicated. The generals of the four major camps and the Beijing camp outside the city were invited to give lectures on the principles of marching and deploying troops, responding to the enemy, and how to manage soldiers in the military camp. , how to lead troops and so on.

In the garrisons around the capital, the generals are often from honorable families. They are of good background, but they are also rough, and they often speak inconsequentially and swear words. The eunuch explained.

However, this is also the most troublesome thing for the teenagers. After this class has been held several times, Huang Yang will ask questions, choose a place at random, fabricate the enemy and us, and then let the teenagers arrange the marching arrangements. If there is no judgement, the last ten will often be fined to run.

Although Li Hutou participated enthusiastically, Emperor Wanli and Wang Tong did not have much talent for this. The generals who give lectures are used as observations for promotion assessment.

Everyone is already familiar with it, and every class break, everyone still mingles together and is very lively, but the differences are gradually distinguished.

Wang Tong and Emperor Wanli chatted together more and more in private, while others talked about martial arts every day.

In this kind of life, time passes quickly, and September of the fifth year of Wanli is about to pass.

*****
September 26, the fifth year of Wanli, Huguang, Jiangling County, Jingzhou Prefecture.

Jiangling County is the first county of Jingzhou Prefecture, and also a hub of water and land transportation. It has always been affluent, and there are many rich merchants and wealthy families in the city, but no matter how rich they are, the biggest family is not them, not even the prefect of Jingzhou.

The largest family is the mansion of old Zhang Juzheng in Dangchao Pavilion. Zhang Juzheng’s parents and brothers all live here. Zhang Juzheng is the top figure in the world. Not to mention the magistrate of Jiangling County, even the magistrate of Jingzhou and the governor of Huguang. Looking up, not even qualified to look up.

Today's Zhang family is the real No. [-] wealthy family in Huguang, and even the King of Chu in Wuchang may not have the prestige of the Zhang family.

Since the second half of the fourth year of Wanli, the famous doctors of the entire Ming Dynasty have been sent here by officials from all over the country, and all kinds of rare medicinal materials have been sent here like water. There is only one reason. The old man is ill, and very ill.

No matter how many famous doctors came, no matter how many rare medicinal materials came, it is said that the king of Chu also invited Li Shizhen, the world's number one genius doctor, but Mrs. Zhang's health was still getting worse day by day.

Almost every three days, a fast horse would take the old man’s condition to the capital and send it to Zhang Ge’s old man. After March of the fifth year of Wanli, the number of people around the Zhang family began to increase. Many people were obviously not from Jiangling. The local area is not like the poor people from Hunan, Jiangxi and Sichuan who came to beg for a living.

Every few days, in addition to the Kuai Ma who sent the letter to Mr. Zhang, the chief assistant, there is also a Kuai Ma urgent letter to the capital, but it is not known who sent it to, and it is not just to a place.

On the night of September 26, even places like Huguang felt a bit chilly, and the famous doctors from all over the world had gradually dispersed, but a longevity material merchant in Wuchang Prefecture often went in and out, and it was said that the best ones he bought from Nanyang Nanmu is about to arrive at Huangzhou Mansion.

The Zhang Mansion was brightly lit, and the relatives of the immediate and collateral lines came to the door in cars and sedan chairs, and then hurried in. The people running around were servants, and they all looked tense.

The main entrance and the back entrance were very deserted, but there were two or three figures swaying in other places outside the walls of the Zhang residence. These people could see each other, but they were silent to each other, as if the other party did not exist.

It was already late at night, and the area around Zhang's mansion became more and more quiet, and the figures outside were all tired from standing, squatting or sitting, when suddenly, there was a vague sound.

The people squatting on the ground jumped up suddenly, and some even shouted in a low voice:

"Is it crying..."

No one answered, and not long after, there was a movement inside the wall, or a ball of paper wrapped in stone flew out, and the people waiting outside picked it up and unfolded it.

The companion next to the person who picked up the paper ball had already lit a candle and came over, and the paper ball was just a cross drawn with charcoal.

After reading the note, he threw it on the ground casually, and the man laughed softly:

"It seems that someone has gone, there is no such thing as the 300 taels of Baihua Laozi, let's go, let's go."

The people around got the news in various ways, and the people who were wandering outside dispersed in a rush. That night, many people slid down the big rope on the city wall of Jiangling County, and rode on the road that had been prepared for a long time. The horses outside the city galloped towards the north.

The next morning, the Zhang Mansion in Jiangling County began to decorate the mourning hall. The family members went to the magistrate to report the funeral, and at the same time sent someone to deliver a letter to Zhang Juzheng, the chief minister of the cabinet in the capital... Mrs. Zhang has gone.

*****
There is a clear law in the Ming Dynasty. If the parents of an official die, no matter what position the official holds, he must go home and observe filial piety for 27 months from the day he learns of the funeral. During this period, he is not allowed to be an official, marry, or take exams. Severe punishment is not negligent, loyalty and filial piety are the great courtesy and righteousness, if anyone violates it, all officials of the court and scholars all over the world will cast aside it.

This is called "Ding worry".

If the imperial court needs this person to serve the country, it can also decree to force him to stay in his original position and continue to be an official, which is called "taking love".

Local scholars and low-level officials encountered this kind of thing, they just went back to their hometown to live for a few years, and then came out to take the scientific examination to become an official, but this time the person involved was Zhang Juzheng, the chief assistant of the dynasty, everything was different up.

(End of this chapter)