Brocade clothing as the country

Chapter 237

On the second day of March in the sixth year of Wanli, the smell of spring can be felt everywhere in the streets and alleys of the capital.

The national treasury was abundant, and Li Chengliang, the commander-in-chief of Liaodong, defeated Subahai of the Taining Department in the frontier fortress in the first month. These two good news made the capital feel rejoiced from top to bottom.

In the eyes of the ministers, the little emperor Wanli became more and more calm and calm. No matter what he heard at the court meeting, he would not show his expression and reaction, but just said indifferently, "Zhu Zuo", "Revised" and so on.

The weather is getting warmer, and Emperor Wanli always likes to go out of the palace after leaving the court. Neither the inner court nor the outer court have much opinion, because the little emperor just went for a stroll, and it was just that area.

The little emperor just walked around the former site of the martial arts school and the South Street, each time not for a long time, accompanied by Zhang Cheng or Zou Yi.

Today, the little emperor is followed by the eunuch Zhang Cheng, the supervisor of ceremonies and the eunuch Bingbi. The Wanli emperor can no longer be called a small one. He now insists on exercising in the yard in front of the imperial study every night. He didn't leave any behind, his appetite increased, and he was only a little shorter than Zhang Cheng.

I bought some ham and shortbread at the dim sum shop on South Street. The shop assistant looked at Zhang Cheng, who looked like a butler, breaking off a small piece of each shortbread and putting it in his mouth. The lame boy was not surprised either, and the two walked out of the shop together.

The possibility of poisoning was almost zero, but the effort to test the poison was still needed, and Zhang Cheng was left to do the superficial work. The ham shortbread was just out of the oven, and it was very fragrant, so it was not a hard job for Zhang Cheng.

There are always guards in plain clothes guarding the front, back, left, and right sides. Emperor Wanli is very thoughtful now, and he does not require complete private visits in micro-services as before. With this status, there are many things that he has to do.

A group of people strolled silently, and walked back to the imperial city in silence. After entering the imperial city, several eunuchs came running over carrying sedan chairs. Emperor Wanli waved his hand and said:

"The widow and Zhang accompany me for a walk, you are no better than serving!"

After walking quietly for a few steps, Emperor Wanli said in a deep voice:
"Li Chengliang beheaded more than a thousand people in the north, and dealt such a heavy blow to the thieves from the Taining Ministry. How come the cabinet and the Ministry of War have been discussing merits and rewards for so long without a result? How many praises have I heard on the South Street? Song Yang, what exactly are they going to do here?"

Zhang Cheng smiled bitterly behind him and said:

"Long Live Lord doesn't know, the cabinet and the Ministry of War are also in trouble. Li Chengliang has a big victory report every other year. Now that he is an earl, his sons have been rewarding him constantly. How else can he reward him? This is Li Chengliang. After the first successful report, another list came up, asking people to ask for money, and it should be given, but the land on the nine sides, the northern and southern provinces, where there is no money for raising soldiers, so it is not decided.”

It was rare to hear Zhang Cheng speaking for the cabinet. Emperor Wanli looked back in surprise, and found that the second person in the inner court had a wry smile on his face, obviously also worried about this matter.

Emperor Wanli shook his head in surprise, walked forward with his hands behind his back, and said calmly:

"Why is it wrong to win the battle?"

How could Zhang Cheng fail to hear these words, looked left and right, even though the accompanying guards and eunuchs were far away, Zhang Cheng still lowered his voice and said:
"Going back to Lord Long Live, Liaodong has won three times in five years, and each time it was a big victory, but it was all against the Taining Department. Every time tens of thousands of livestock were captured, more than a thousand heads were always beheaded. This time, it happened again and again. "

That being said, Emperor Wanli stopped talking, and walked forward in silence for a while. There was a narrow sky between the vermilion palace walls on both sides. Wanli looked up, and suddenly said as if talking to himself:
"Wang Tong didn't hide anything from me, and he didn't spend a penny more from me. I saw the report from Tianjin that Wang Tong created such a world with his bare hands in that difficult situation, and suppressed it so much. What a mess, it's really embarrassing for him, the money collected by the Department of Public Security will be allocated to him 2 taels, but he can't spend the money he collected by himself. After doing so many things, Beijing can't tolerate him .”

"Long live Lord is thinking too much. Long live Lord, you should be happy about this matter. The better Wang Tong does in Tianjin, the more reason you have to transfer him back to Beijing, Long Live Lord, right?"

Speaking of Wang Tong, Emperor Wanli's mood obviously increased a lot, and a smile appeared on his face, and he said as he walked:

"Wang Tong is really capable. So many people are staring at him, so many people are secretly doing bad things, and he has resolved them one by one, especially the bombing of the camp that night. How good it is for me to be there, and also with Wang Tong and Hutou How enjoyable and refreshing it is for them to fight together."

Speaking of this, Emperor Wanli couldn't help sighing, Zhang Cheng didn't dare to answer, and walked forward silently. After walking a few steps, he saw a red-robed eunuch in front of him holding the hem of his robe, He ran over quickly, and a guard in front looked around for a few moments, then turned around and said loudly:
"It's Zhang Hong, Eunuch Zhang of the Supervisor of Ceremonies!"

I don’t know if it’s a coincidence or what, there are many eunuchs surnamed Zhang in Prince Yu’s mansion, including Zhang Cheng, Zhang Jing and Zhang Hong. Ever since Tian An was taken down, Zhang Hong has replaced the chief eunuch In terms of location, his relationship with Feng Bao is much closer than that of Zhang Cheng, so he must have something important to come here like this.

Zhang Hong is also in his 40s. After running for a while, he was sweating profusely. After kowtowing in front of him, he hurriedly said:

"Long Live Lord, the memorial just handed over by Mr. Zhang Ge said that on the [-]th of March, he would go home to pay homage and pay filial piety for his late father. The servants took the memorial and rushed to report to His Majesty."

Last year, in the battle of seizing love and guarding the system, the officialdom all over the world almost stood in line to choose sides, and those who couldn't see clearly and tried to wait and see were washed out.

Now that the court is stable, Zhang Juzheng doesn't have to worry about any changes in the court after he resigns, so he is relieved to ask for permission to return to his hometown.

Wanli's first sentence did not ask this question, but said with a smile:

"Zhang Hong, does Eunuch Feng know about this?"

"Returning to Lord Long Live, I don't know about it. Eunuch Feng is at the Empress Dowager's side in the morning. The matter is urgent, and Eunuch Zhang is with His Majesty outside. After listening to the report that Lord Long Live is back, this servant hurried over to report."

Emperor Wanli nodded, waved his hand and said:
"Go and do your business, first send someone to the two empress dowagers, first tell the two empress dowagers, Feng Daban will also send it to you, I know."

Hearing this sentence, Zhang Hong quickly stood up, bowed and retreated. After this incident, Wanli and Zhang Cheng looked at each other, and they walked forward in silence without making a sound.

Walking forward, it is the place where Wanli usually lives and studies. There are many more eunuchs serving here than on the road just now. You can see lanterns of various colors hanging on the poles on the eaves and walls. The styles are quite delicate and elegant, but It looked like lanterns during the Lantern Festival, and they were a little faded.

An eunuch was about to take it down with a ladder. Seeing this, Emperor Wanli frowned and asked coldly:
"What kind of trick is this!?"

The eunuch hurried down from the ladder, and the surrounding supporters also knelt down together, and the leader of the eunuch reported back:

"Going back to Lord Long Live, this lantern is already old and ugly. The servants are going to take it down and put it in storage."

Emperor Wanli's face was a little ugly for a moment, but he quickly returned to normal, and said lightly:

"Why bother, this is the only place to hang lanterns in the palace during the Lantern Festival. Since you want to save money, let's hang them up. You don't need to buy new ones next year."

Just as the eunuchs below were about to speak, Zhang Cheng glared fiercely behind Wanli and waved his hands violently. Only then did the eunuchs realize that something was wrong, and they kowtowed in fear and trepidation, and hurried away. Emperor Wanli didn't say anything again. The two of them walked to the imperial study with Zhang Cheng. After Wanli entered the courtyard, he raised his hand and waved it. Zhang Cheng immediately raised his voice and said:
"According to the usual rules, leave one person on duty to wait at the gate of the courtyard, and the rest will go out."

The eunuchs in the courtyard immediately bowed out of the courtyard, Zhang Cheng took two quick steps and opened the door of the imperial study room, Emperor Wanli entered the room, suddenly said with a smile:

"According to Zhang Hong's servant girl, Feng Daban and the two empress dowagers must know everything first, and then I will know. It really makes sense!"

Zhang Cheng pulled out the chair and said with a smile:

"Zhang Hong is a bit straightforward. He was afraid of Eunuch Feng when he was in Prince Yu's mansion, and he is even more careful when he is on errands. He still knows the big things clearly. Long live Lord, the servant said something, just change the lantern outside if it can be changed. , with such an appearance, it doesn’t look good hanging there, some people will inevitably think too much when they see it.”

"It's up to them to go, and I want to make it more lively in the palace. Didn't Mr. Zhang advise me to save money? According to the daily report of the Secretary of Public Security, it is said that storytellers outside are also boasting, and scholars are also boasting. What do you say? Zai Fu directly advises, is Daming Jiangshan safe? Keeping these lanterns is to erect a monument for Mr. Zhang Ge!"

Zhang Cheng lowered his head and lowered his hands and dared not answer the words. Emperor Wanli said this harshly. During the Lantern Festival, Wanli wanted to have a festive lantern in the palace, but Zhang Juzheng, the chief minister of the cabinet, said that it would cost too much. Now that the country spends money everywhere, Your Majesty should be frugal. First of all, the two empress dowagers and Feng Bao both agreed with this opinion, Wanli could only obey, and hung some lanterns in his house to finish the calculation.

It is also a daily rule. When Emperor Wanli is sitting here, the regular papers of the Department of Public Security are sorted out and placed next to the desk. The wooden box was placed here, Zhang Cheng took out the key, opened the wooden box, and took out stacks of documents.

Emperor Wanli was in a very relaxed state at this time, holding the papers and casually flipping through them. When he saw a piece of paper, he didn't know what he saw. He browsed carefully several times, and suddenly grabbed the tea bowl at hand and threw it out. .

With a loud bang, the teacup was smashed to pieces——
changed a bit

(End of this chapter)