Although Emperor Hongde ascended the throne at a young age, he was a calm-tempered person. No matter how great an event it was, he could handle it without changing his expression.
But now, when he suddenly heard the good news, he was indeed a little overjoyed.
This kind of excitement is much higher than that of Shen Yi.
For Shen Yi, he was already sure of the Northern Expedition after occupying Shandong and Henan, so the surrender of Zhou Yuanlang and his son was a dispensable mentality.
But for the emperor, it was completely different!
As the court's money and food gradually ran out, in Emperor Hongde's view, the Northern Expedition might be terminated at any time. And as a native of this world, in his fourteenth year of Hongde, which was at least twenty-four years old, he had never Even if there is any thought, I have thought that one day, Nanchen will have the opportunity to drive away Zhu Li, completely restore the old territory, and return to its peak!
But now, but now!
But now, if Zhou Yuanlang and his son can successfully surrender, then the Northern Expedition is already 100% certain!
In the situation where the Northern Qi Dynasty was weak on the left and right, the surrender of the Southern Army was a matter of conflict between each other. This was a huge increase in strength, and Emperor Hong De could not tolerate being unhappy.
You can even say something more arbitrary at this moment.
When the news of the surrender of the Southern Army reached Yandu, the emperor of Yandu could already start moving!
This letter, like an unprecedented victory, suddenly appeared in front of the emperor.
He was so happy that he even lost his composure in front of the chief minister of the imperial court!
After a while, Emperor Hongde calmed down a little. At this time, Chen Jing did not leave. Instead, he looked at the letter in the emperor's hand, bowed slightly and said, "Your Majesty, Long Yan is delighted, is there another victory on the front?"
The emperor smiled and said: "I will talk to Mr. Chen about this in a few days, and I will talk to Mr. Chen in a few days."
At this time, although the matter has become a mystery, it is still somewhat risky. If this matter is spread out in advance, it may be spread to the Cangzhou Conquest Army before Shen Yi and Zhou Yuanlang agree on the time to surrender.
As for the tens of thousands of people who conquered the Confederacy, it was absolutely impossible for them to be of the same mind.
When Zhou Yuanlang surrenders with them, they will surrender. If the news reaches Cangzhou in advance, there may be changes.
Chen Jing frowned, but he couldn't help but ask: "Your Majesty, can't even I know?"
He felt a little unhappy.
As the prime minister of Zhongshu and the chief minister of the Central Committee, he should be the most trustworthy person in the entire court and should be the first to know everything.
Seeing the old man's face darken, the emperor smiled dumbly and said, "If you can't tell Xiang Chen, it's because the matter is too important. If the palace officials hear about it, trouble may arise."
His Majesty the Emperor lowered his head and considered it, then said: "The documents Shen Yi gave to Zhongshu should arrive in the next two days. Prime Minister Chen will wait a moment."
"Things come together in a secret way."
The emperor still couldn't hide his excitement. After taking a deep breath, he whispered: "I cannot allow any mistakes in this matter."
Chen Jing sighed slightly, lowered his head and said, "Yes, I understand."
He stood up silently and bowed to leave: "My farewell, veteran."
The emperor asked Eunuch Sun to see him off. After Chen Jing left, the emperor sat in his seat, overjoyed. After a while, he said: "Go, quickly go and call Lu Sheng in."
Come to the palace."
"yes."
More than half an hour later, Commander-in-Chief of the Internal Guard, Lu Sheng, knelt in front of the emperor respectfully, lowered his head and kowtowed: "Your Majesty, Lu Sheng, come to greet your Majesty."
"Get up, get up."
The emperor stretched out his hand to support him, then patted Lu Sheng's shoulder heavily and said, "You internal guards have made great contributions!"
"I will reward you greatly!"
The emperor said solemnly: "I have read the documents of the internal guards of Yandu. This time, all the internal guards who died in Yandu will receive ten times the pension. I will pay for it here!"
"If they have descendants, they will be admitted to official schools first. After the age of fifteen, if they are interested in literature, they will continue to study. If they are interested in martial arts, they will continue to study."
The emperor said solemnly: "Directly add to the inner guard."
"Everyone involved in this matter in Yandu should be heavily rewarded, especially the one who brought the Zhou Qin family out of the city. He should be transferred back to Jiankang and given a thousand households to make up for the internal guards."
The emperor thought for a while and continued: "I will promote you as appropriate."
"In addition to the internal guards of Yandu, you also have Du Yong, and I also have rewards."
Having said this, the emperor paused and said helplessly: "But I estimate that I will not be able to distribute the reward until later. My internal funds this year are not quite sufficient."
Liulichang, one of the emperor's sources of income, all the income in the past two or three years has been invested in the Northern Expedition. Especially this year, the income from the Dazhong Commercial Bank and the Fuzhou Chamber of Commerce has basically been invested by the emperor.
The Northern Expedition was in progress. In the past two years, his internal funds had been much smaller than in previous years. If it weren't for some "savings", he would have been poor long ago.
Today I spent another 200,000 yuan in one go, which was indeed a bit overspending.
Lu Sheng bowed his head deeply to the emperor: "This is a matter within the scope of the internal guards. Your Majesty is too complimentary. Furthermore, the affairs of Yandu were handled jointly by the internal guards of Yandu and Deputy Commander Du. It is natural for your majesty to reward them.
There is no need to reward ministers..."
The emperor said with a smile: "All rewards, all rewards, I still have to think about the specific regulations."
"By the way, you can send a document for me to Brother Jin Wang in Jinan. Tell him to go north immediately to meet Shen Qing. I will send an imperial edict to you in two days for specific follow-up arrangements."
Lu Sheng took a deep breath: "Yes, I will send someone to deliver the letter right now."
The emperor patted Lu Sheng on the shoulder and said with a smile: "You have done a good job these years. When this thing is completed, your family will be rewarded again."
Lu Sheng knelt down, thanked the emperor for his kindness, and then went down to do his business.
But the emperor, alone in the Manna Palace, felt comfortable all over his body. Looking at the sky outside, it was unusually blue.
He sat for a while and then stood up again. He didn't know what to do for a while. After a while, he calmed down again and said, "Sun Jin, send someone to call Gao Ming."
"yes."
At this time, although Eunuch Gao was no longer in charge, he was still in the palace, so he was quickly invited to the Manlu Palace. Eunuch Gao had taken off his purple clothes and put on ordinary clothes. He kowtowed to the emperor respectfully.
"Old slave, please pay homage to Your Majesty."
The emperor first raised his hand to let him stand up. When Gao Ming stood up, he looked evasive. The emperor frowned, walked to Gao Ming, looked at his slightly bruised forehead, and frowned: "Someone hit you?"
Gao Ming quickly shook his head: "No, no, the slave threw it himself."
Emperor Hong De's face turned cold: "Did Sun Jin let someone beat you?"
Gao Ming was silent for a while, then shook his head: "Your Majesty, Eunuch Sun is not of this temper. He will not send people to beat slaves."
The emperor sneered: "But the people under him saw that he was gaining power, and in order to curry favor with him, they bullied you, right?"
Gao Ming lowered his head and said: "Your Majesty, there is nothing wrong with me, and this matter has nothing to do with Eunuch Sun."
Emperor Hong De looked at Gao Ming. After a long time, he sighed silently: "Shen Qing told me many times before that Xu Fu wanted to take you out of the imperial city to support you, but I have never agreed to this. "
"But now it seems that we need to consider it."
There was no expression on Eunuch Gao's face, he just lowered his head and said: "I am willing to serve your Majesty for the rest of my life..."
"Sun Jin!"
Emperor Hong De shouted loudly, with anger in his tone, and Eunuch Sun hurriedly ran in. He was so frightened that he knelt down and kowtowed: "Master, my godfather is definitely not a slave who wants to be beaten..."
"Go find out."
Emperor Hong De said angrily: "I have never beaten my great companion who has been with me for twenty years. Who can beat him?!"
"Yes Yes…"
Sun Jin lowered his head and kowtowed: "I will go check it out right now."
Gao Ming knelt down and kowtowed again, but felt relieved in his heart.
Because of the emperor's anger, the palace could no longer tolerate Eunuch Gao and Eunuch Sun at the same time.
And next, if Sun Jin continues to be in charge of the inner court, then Gao Ming will have no choice but to leave.
In other words, there is a chance to leave.
Leave this imperial city.
If we think about things from this perspective, it's really hard to say who caused the injuries on his face.
Eunuch Gao knelt down and kowtowed: "I beg your Majesty, please make this matter a trivial matter..."
The emperor helped him up and said in a low voice: "I am not a heartless person, so you don't need to worry about this matter."
Eunuch Gao couldn't help lowering his head and wiping his tears: "I wonder what your Majesty's instructions were when he called the slave here..."
The emperor turned sideways and pointed at the table of wine and food behind him, and said with a dull tone: "I was originally happy today, but no one in the palace could talk, so I wanted you to come over and have a drink with me."
"Now…"
The emperor shook his head and said, "I'm not in the mood anymore."
Gao Ming lowered his head and shed tears: "Slave, please drink two drinks with your master, drink two drinks with your master..."
After the emperor sighed, he sat down and looked at Gao Ming: "Come, let us master and servant have a drink and talk."
Eunuch Gao burst into tears and kept saying yes.
…………
On the other side, as the emperor's documents were delivered to Jinan, King Li Mu of Jin also set off to go north to find Shen Yi.
A few days later, under the guidance of the internal guards, Li Mulai met Shen Yi among Zhou Huai's troops outside Cangzhou City.
He was a little surprised: "Why is Ziheng here?"
Shen Yi pulled him into the Chinese army's tent and sat down. He smiled and said, "The prince has finally arrived. I have prepared wine and food."