One hundred and forty-eight chapters the emperor summoned
"" Chapter 148 The Emperor Summons
Hearing that the imperial court had actually sent one of Chongzhen's two most trusted eunuchs, Cao Huachun, who also held the power of governor of the East Factory, to come to the military camp in person to declare the order, all the generals in the camp couldn't help but be shocked, and a thought came to their minds involuntarily, "
Could it be that something big happened in the capital?"
Although Lu Xiangsheng was also shocked, he was not as restless as the generals. After being slightly startled, he immediately said solemnly: "Since the emperor has an imperial edict, all the generals should go out with me to greet him!"
Soon, all the generals followed Lu Xiangsheng to the gate of the camp, and welcomed a eunuch and more than a dozen guards wearing brocade robes and embroidered spring knives into the camp. Pang Gang secretly looked at him from behind.
The leader of the eunuch, who was described in opposition history as greedy for money, cunning, shameless, and afraid of death, was the first eunuch to open the city gates and betray Chongzhen when Li Zicheng led the bandits to surround Beijing. One glance revealed that this person in history
The "notorious" eunuch has a kind-hearted face. The good life and stable conditions in the palace make him look like a man in his forties. He has no beard under his chin and his fair and fair appearance can easily make people think of him.
He felt good about it.
Cao Huachun walked side by side with Lu Xiangsheng and said with a smile: "Shilang Lu, you played very well yesterday. Long live the Lord even praised you yesterday."
Lu Xiangsheng held up his hands and said gratefully: "We, as ministers, will never be able to repay the emperor's kindness by knowing you. But I wonder what purpose the emperor wants to announce today when he ordered my father-in-law to come to the camp?"
Cao Huachun squinted his eyes and said with a smile, "Don't be impatient, Mr. Lu, you will know later."
At this time, Da Zhuang, who was following Pang Gang, murmured in a low voice: "It's really strange. Governor Lu is obviously the admiral of the five provinces, so why does this father-in-law call the governor the minister? Could it be that he is the minister?"
Is it bigger than the Superintendent?"
"Gulu!" A guerrilla on the side couldn't help laughing after hearing this sentence, but it made Pang Gang blush. Pang Gang glared at Da Zhuang fiercely and said, "You're so stupid
The idiot is talking nonsense again. If you don't speak, no one will treat you as a mute. Now shut up."
When Da Zhuang saw Pang Gang getting angry, he knew that he had said something wrong again. He quickly lowered his head and followed Pang Gang obediently, not daring to speak nonsense again.
Looking at Da Zhuang's aggrieved face, Pang Gang felt angry and funny at the same time. This boy was indeed a good fighter, but he just didn't want to study. When he was a poor military household in Lingshan Guard, he could still say that
There are no conditions, but now that he has become a hundred households, he can be regarded as a serious sixth-grade military attache. He still has the temperament of dozing off when he sees a book. If Pang Gang hadn't stipulated that officials above one hundred households could read less than eight
There is a rule that you are not allowed to lead troops. This guy may be an illiterate who can't read.
When everyone came to the big tent, the incense table had been set up in the big tent. Lu Xiangsheng led the generals to begin the ceremony and worship. Cao Huachun held an imperial edict made of yellow silk, changing his previous image of a smiling good man, with a solemn expression on his face.
He read: "In accordance with the emperor's edict, the Tartars invaded the border and captured our people, causing great loss of life. Lu Xiangsheng was ordered to defend the enemy and fought fiercely with the Tartars on the outskirts of the capital. In the end, I lived up to the divine grace and severely wounded the Tartars. I am very relieved.
Order Lu Xiangsheng to bring all the generals to the palace immediately to accept the reward!"
After Cao Huachun finished reciting, Lu Xiangsheng and everyone stood there dumbfounded and did not respond for a while. Cao Huachun looked at the generals who were standing dumbfounded and said strangely: "Shilang Lu, why don't you thank me quickly?"
Looking at Cao Huachun who was slowly rolling up the imperial edict, Lu Xiangsheng said in a trembling voice: "Eunuch Cao, the Tatars have just retreated. Shouldn't we immediately pursue the Tatars now to get back my people and property that were kidnapped? Why did the emperor do it instead?
Do you want us to enter the palace?"
"Our family doesn't know about this." Cao Huachun shook his head and said, "We are just running errands, how can we dare to speculate on the holy will?"
"But the Tatars just left last night. How come the emperor knew about it and issued the edict so quickly? Is there any reason for this?" Lu Xiangsheng was so worried. He saw that the Qing soldiers must not have gone far.
They wanted soldiers to chase them, but the emperor called them all into the capital after issuing an imperial edict. What kind of thing is this?
Cao Huachun sighed softly, walked to Lu Xiangsheng and whispered softly: "Earlier today, before dawn, Yang Shangshu, Wen Shoufu and Chen Shilang entered the palace together. Soon after, the emperor sent our family out of the city to announce the decree.
"
"Bastard! Wen Tiren, Yang Sichang is harming the country!" Hearing this, Lu Xiangsheng didn't know what happened, so he was so angry that he cursed in the big tent.
"Hush... Mr. Lu, be careful what you say!"
As soon as Lu Xiangsheng said these words, even Cao Huachun was startled. He quickly lowered his voice and warned Lu Xiangsheng, "This matter is the decree of the Holy One himself. As a minister, how can you arbitrarily discuss the Holy Will!"
Lu Xiangsheng cried out sadly and angrily: "But Lu is really unwilling to give in. He could inflict heavy damage on the Tatars right before his eyes, but the emperor wants us to enter the palace immediately to see him. This... This is obviously what he wants."
Let the tiger return to the mountain!"
Cao Huachun also shook his head: "Don't be sad, Mr. Lu. After you wait to attack and meet with the Holy Emperor, things may turn around and we still don't know."
"It's too late, it's too late!" Lu Xiangsheng shook his head helplessly, "Not to mention whether the emperor will allow us to pursue the Tatars when we enter the palace. Even if the emperor gives permission, it will be after noon when we come out of the palace.
The Tatars have been gone for almost a day, how can we catch up with them?"
Seeing Lu Xiangsheng looking up to the sky and sighing, Cao Huachun had no choice but to put the imperial edict into his hand and walked out of the tent.
Pang Gang's follower Lu Xiangsheng and dozens of generals and more than a dozen imperial guards rode into the heavily guarded city. As the capital of the Ming Dynasty, the capital at this time was worthy of being the best city in the world, and could even be said to be the best city in the world.
The largest city, the Forbidden City with a circumference of six miles, there is an imperial city with a circumference of eighteen miles, and the outermost perimeter is surrounded by an inner city of four to fifteen miles. This is not included. During the Jiajing period, due to the population
After expansion, a heavy city was built in the south of the capital, with a circumference of twenty-eight miles.
By the Chongzhen period, the area of the capital had reached nearly 100 square kilometers and the population exceeded one million. In the West during the same period, even at the beginning of the 18th century, the population of London and Paris was less than 500,000. The capital of the Ming Dynasty was once
The most prosperous place in the world has attracted many people to yearn for it, but after a period of prosperity, the capital has already shown signs of decline.
Pang Gang rode on horseback and looked at the quaint and old streets and houses in the capital, as well as the ragged beggars on the streets. Pang Gang thought sadly: "This was the largest and most populous city in the world.
The largest city in the world?”
Looking at the countless homeless beggars on the street and the many corpses lying on the roadside, Pang Gang sighed and said to Liu Zeqing beside him: "Brother Liu, this capital city is not that good, and it is not as good as our Shandong.
At least in the Lingshan Guards where I was under the jurisdiction of my humble position, the refugees still had food to eat, but when they arrived at the important place of the capital, why were they like this at the feet of the emperor?"
"Hush, brother, be careful!" Liu Zeqing secretly looked around and then said quietly: "These things are not something that we generals can criticize. We just need to take care of our own three-acre land. You can handle the affairs of the court."
Stop interrupting and avoid getting into trouble."
"Alas!" Pang Gang let out a long sigh and stopped talking.
Along the way to the inner city, Pang Gang saw some well-dressed powerful merchants and slaves from rich families passing by in the street, shouting and swarming. He looked at their arrogant expressions and the homeless and beggars around them.
It was either numbness or envy, but what Pang Gang saw was more of hatred. Today, Pang Gang finally felt the artistic conception of Zhumen's wine-meat-stinking road with frozen bones. Seeing this, he shook his head secretly, feeling in his heart
He said: "No wonder the Ming Dynasty will perish. The imperial court that has lost the hearts and minds of all the people at the bottom will be damned if it doesn't perish."
In Pang Gang's view, poverty is not scary. What is scary is that the gap between the rich and the poor is too great. When most of the people at the bottom cannot even solve the most basic problems of food and clothing, the people at the top are living a poor life.
A life of singing and dancing, a life of drunkenness and dreams, will inevitably intensify the hatred of most people towards the upper class. As the saying goes, don’t worry about scarcity but inequality. Too great a disparity will definitely aggravate social turmoil and instability. No wonder in a few years
Since Li Zicheng's rogue army, most of the people in the capital have flocked to welcome Li Zicheng as if celebrating the New Year.
After walking for a long time, everyone finally arrived at the Forbidden City. Looking at the towering city and the many soldiers patrolling back and forth, everyone who came to the palace for the first time felt nervous for a while. However, Lu Xiangsheng, who was walking in the front with Cao Huachun, turned around.
He comforted the generals and said: "Don't be nervous, everyone. The emperor and your lords are attending the morning court now. You just need to remember to stand in line with the governor. But don't stand wrong, otherwise the officials will impeach you."
The generals even claimed to be so. Seeing the nervous expressions of the generals, Pang Gang couldn't help but sigh with emotion. Normally, these generals and generals are all second- and third-grade officers, but before they met the emperor, these people
He still looked panic-stricken and did not dare to be disrespectful at all, which shows how important imperial power is in this era.
The generals passed through many palace gates and came to the outside of the Hall of Supreme Harmony. After being inspected inside and out by a group of guards, they finally came to the outside of a large hall. From outside the main hall, Pang Gang saw that starting from outside the palace door,
Countless civil and military officials wearing various official uniforms stood quietly outside the hall. These people lined up all the way to the end of the hall...