The backyard of Waidongchang Yamen was extremely noisy. Dozens of Ming army generals gathered together, drinking and laughing. At this time, whether they were from Jin Yiwei, Dongchang or the generals in the army, they seemed to have forgotten their identities and the barriers between each other.
Toast.
Li Yan was hurt and tried to stop. He looked at the scene in the courtyard and found it incredible. Thinking of this, he looked back but there was no one. Then he remembered that Chang Yu had gone to sleep in the inner hall. He hadn't slept for two days and one night, and he had just drank again.
A lot of wine.
"Eunuch Chun, Eunuch Chun" A eunuch hurriedly walked into the backyard, looked around, and then walked towards Chunxiang: "The emperor summoned General Li, General Huang, General Zhou and General Wu to enter the palace to meet the Holy Spirit."
The noise disappeared in an instant, and everyone was filled with envy. You must know that it is a great honor for a general to face the Holy Spirit, and many people will not be able to do it in their lifetime.
Everyone was happy, and Li Yan and the other two hurriedly left the Yamen and headed towards the palace. Wu Zhong couldn't hide his excitement and looked back. He happened to see the smiling face at the Yamen Gate. He couldn't help but chuckle, and Huang Degong caught a glimpse of him: "Commander Wu is so happy.
, could this be your first time entering the palace?"
Wuzhong curled his lips and said: "I have been to the palace many times, but this is the first time I have seen the emperor."
Hey, Huang Degong rolled his eyes: "I have entered the palace many times, and I have met the emperor many times!"
Several people followed the eunuch who led the way into the Imperial City through Dong'an Gate and then into the Palace City through Donghua Gate and hurriedly headed north. Wu Zhong and Li Yan hadn't seen any clues yet, but Zhou Yuji and Huang Degong already knew that this was not a formal meeting.
The summons was because it was not at Huangjimen or Huangji Palace, but at the gate of the emperor’s harem, Qianqingmen!
At the Qianqing Gate, Emperor Chongzhen gently put down his teacup and looked at Wu Mengming with a half-smile but not a smile: "Are you saying that although the one hundred thousand taels of silver accounted for by the abbot has been put into the treasury, in fact the money is still in the East Factory?"
Wu Mengming nodded vigorously: "A month ago, the Tatars besieged the capital. I raised donations in the city in my own name. The people responded endlessly. The emperor was so moved by the bravery of the four battalions under Dongchang's command that he donated 100,000 words of silver to reward Dongchang."
The more than one million taels of silver raised by the officers and subordinates in the factory, in addition to the reward money given to the soldiers, were all counted by the Ministry of Household Affairs and entered into the treasury. However, the one hundred thousand taels collected by the state abbot were kept at the Dongchang Yamen by Eunuch Chang from beginning to end."
Emperor Chongzhen twitched the corner of his mouth and sneered: "I originally raised only a few thousand donations, but I am far inferior to you, a commander of the Royal Guards. It's ridiculous. It's ridiculous." Wu Mengming quickly handed over his hands and said: "The emperor is the most powerful person. There are some things that cannot be done by such unscrupulous means as the minister.
Therefore, I was not acting as the commander of the Imperial Guard at that time, but..."
Emperor Chongzhen waved his hand to interrupt him: "Having said that, it ultimately shows that those people... are extremely hateful. They all ignored the national crisis and would rather die than pluck out a hair if a knife was not placed on their necks. And the abbot..."
As he spoke, he sneered: "He is a real iron cock. How can he be so generous as to reward the soldiers of Dongchang with a hundred thousand taels? If there is nothing fishy in it, you think I am stupid, don't you?"
"This must be because the father-in-law was deceived by Eunuch Chang. You don't know what Eunuch Chang's mouth is. Who among the nobles in the capital has not been fucked by him... Didn't you see that the father-in-law has recently been scolding Eunuch Chang for not doing things for taking money?
Well...if your Majesty wants to know, I will check it for you."
"No, I don't want to know how he deceived the father-in-law." Chongzhen's psychology was actually as clear as a mirror. Zhou Kui was just asking Chang Yu to see the queen.
"Then the emperor wants to check the money?" Wu Mengming asked with a sideways glance.
"That money was donated to Dongchang, so why should I come back? Besides, Dongchang's recent expansion has cost money everywhere. Chang Yu didn't even ask me for it. Could it be that I would ask him for it again?"
"That's it, that's it." Wu Mengming chuckled and said, "Eunuch Chang is self-sufficient in his management..."
"Don't make such sour insinuations. I know what you are thinking." Emperor Chongzhen raised the corner of his mouth: "You stare at him every day and think he doesn't know. I also have a lot of dirty information about you here!"
"Your Majesty, Eunuch Chang must have discovered that I was checking on him...Your Majesty, I am not afraid of the shadows when I am upright..." Wu Mengming was frightened.
"Okay." Emperor Chongzhen waved his hand impatiently: "I'm not not letting you fish it out, but you have to be more leisurely. It's enough and it's not illegal. At least you can't let the censors from the Metropolitan Procuratorate target you. I don't want to.
So much time spent wiping your butts every day!"
Wu Mengming secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Emperor Chongzhen said not to bend the law but did not mention not to embezzle. The meaning was very clear. Corruption and bribery were not allowed, but the stolen money could be touched. However, his heart was still sour. You kept wiping Chang Yu's butt with pleasure.
, why am I...why am I so partial?
"Your Majesty, you just said that Dongchang has been expanding recently. Eunuch Chang has great ambitions to make Dongchang bigger, but he has poached people as far as Jin Yiwei, one after another..." Wu Mengming shouted again, he remembered Chang Yu
If so, you must bite him hard in front of Emperor Chongzhen. No matter how big or small it is, if you keep applying eye drops, the happier Emperor Chongzhen will be.
"But Dongchang has the power and responsibility to call the Jin Yiwei." Emperor Chongzhen raised his eyebrows slightly, but he was happy in his heart. Chang Yu acted forcefully, and Wu Mengming was indeed suppressed by him so much that he couldn't bear it.
"If he recruits me, I will have no objection. But now he is poaching him, and he actually picked the big ones, Wang Guoxing, Li Ruogui, Gao Wencai... If this continues, my Jinyiwei will become an empty shell." Wu Mengming is just one step away
My nose turned to tears.
However, Emperor Chongzhen did not accept this trick and was very partial: "Chang Yu has the knowledge of people and the ability to use them. Those who can be favored by him are those who have the ability and can do things. Since he has the ability, he must be there."
Use everything in the right place to make the most of it, or else leave it idle and wait to die..."
"Your Majesty..." Wu Mengming was dissatisfied and wanted to yell again. At this time Wang Chengen came in and said, "Your Majesty, General Zhou and the others are waiting below when they arrive."
Emperor Chongzhen raised his hand to stop Wu Mengming: "You should go back and do your work first." He did not forget to comfort him thoughtfully: "Don't go against Chang Yu everywhere. His methods, hey, go ahead, go ahead."
Since the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, there have been endless wars in the north of the Ming Dynasty. First, the bandits launched an eastward expedition to the capital, and then the Qing army besieged Ningyuan and raided the pass. At the critical moment, Chang Yu was ordered to supervise the army to turn the tide and defeat the bandits and then defeat the Qing army. Of course, this
The credit is not due to him alone, but to the bloody battles of thousands of soldiers behind him. Among them, Zhou Yuji and Li Yanhuang deserved the most credit!
As soon as he returned to the capital in triumph, Emperor Chongzhen summoned him to the palace to show off his merits. The reason why Wuzhong Yidongchang's personal servant could stand side by side with the three big men was because he had one sword per man during the defense of the capital.
He guarded the city gate against hundreds of enemies and was respected by both the government and the public.
Wang Chengen at the Qianqing Gate gently closed the hall door, turned around and waved to the eunuchs nearby to keep them away. What the Emperor Chongzhen and Zhou Yuji said in the hall were unknown to outsiders.
At the same time, a group of people gathered in the Wenyuan Pavilion near Donghua Gate to discuss matters. To be precise, the cabinet ministers headed by Wu Di were accusing Li Yuzhi, the Minister of Rites.
"Li Shangshu, you are a veteran of the four dynasties. In the past years, you were incompatible with that Wei Dynasty. How can you ignore the evening and end up with that eunuch?" Wu Di had a look of regret. Tea splashed in his hands as he spoke, and he was very excited. Fang Fang was next to him.
Yu and others all agreed.
In the early days of the court, Emperor Chongzhen was uncharacteristically arguing with his ministers, and even appointed and dismissed dozens of officials without the consent of the cabinet, which caused a shock in the court. The ministers were talking about it, but they did not expect that Li Yuzhi, the Minister of Civil Affairs, actually teamed up with Emperor Chongzhen and his ministers.
His eloquent debate made all the ministers in the cabinet extremely elegant.
Faced with Wu Xuan's accusation, Li Yuzhi calmly took a sip from his tea cup and said, "I am old, and I just want to do my last bit for the Ming Dynasty before I die."
"We, as ministers, are supposed to serve the imperial court and the emperor. What does Mr. Li's words have to do with being in league with that eunuch? Is it possible that only that eunuch is the one who serves the imperial court, and we are all in a vegetarian position?"
Fang Yuegong.
Li Yuzhi raised his head and glanced at him with a sneer: "Whether or not we eat vegetarian corpses will be judged by others, but that little eunuch turned the tide with his own efforts. I dare you to ask who dares to say that he eats vegetarian corpses? Is there anyone in the world who can compare with him?
Do your best to the court and the emperor."
"You can't..." Fang Yu was about to speak but was interrupted by Li Yuzhi: "What is an eunuch? Just because he is a eunuch, he is an eunuch. Even if he is, I dare to ask you if he has violated laws and disciplines.
Wei Ni has harmed Zhongliang and harmed the country and the people like that. There are various memorials to impeach him, but one thing is certain!"
"Why does Mr. Li have such special regard for that little eunuch?" Wu Zong and others were about to become impatient when they were stopped by Chief Assistant Li Banghua and asked softly. He was very curious about how charming the little eunuch was.
He and his sworn enemy turned eunuch.
Li Yuzhi sighed softly: "People are different. Although Dongchang is still the same Dongchang, it is not the same Dongchang." This sentence is a bit convoluted, but it made everyone think deeply. What dirty things the Dongchang did in the past was
, and today's Dongchang... can be said to be a model of loyalty and defense of the country!
"Last night the young eunuch came to talk to the old man." Li Yuzhi did not conceal the night party with Chang Yu: "I wanted to see how different this young man is."
"What's the result?" Li Banghua asked.
"Hearing a hundred things is better than seeing him. It's really different. When he came to Lao Chan's house, he didn't say any nonsense, and he didn't use coercion or inducement to win over him. He only told Lao Chan what he was thinking."
"What are you thinking?" everyone asked curiously.
Li Yuzhi smiled bitterly and shook his head: "We are not as old as children."
Everyone was even more curious.
"He said to the old man that he had the honor to serve the country and live up to his youth! Everyone, this comes from the mouth of a weakling, which makes the old man extremely ashamed. You all, ask yourselves if you can live up to him!" Li Yuzhi put down his tea cup and shouted: "He is leading the troops in a bloody battle outside.
What were we doing while we were fighting? The whole court ignored the government, but it was this stumbling block that made us stand up and leave.
Everyone was astonished and silent, and stood there stunned.
"I am honored to serve the country and live up to my youth." Li Banghua smiled bitterly and shook his head: "He not only said it, but he is also doing it. He is not as good as an old man!" He waved his sleeves and left.