Chapter 77 There is an earthquake in the northwest
At Yin o'clock in the early morning, Zhu Qiyu left the palace on time and sat in a sedan to go to the Meridian Gate.
After this period of supervising the country, especially after the emperor came back, he felt more and more that many things were very different from what he imagined. For example, the proposal of the British crowning the king would have been unthinkable in the past.
But now, it has been decided step by step.
The final title agreed upon by the cabinet and the Ministry of Rites was Jing'an County Prince, which was named after Jiaozhi Chief Envoy Si Jing'an Prefecture. It also meant to pacify Annan, and the meaning is self-evident.
Moreover, this title cannot be given casually. The additional requirement is that the vassal must be defeated within one year. In other words, the imperial court will use troops against Annan within one year.
In today's Ming Dynasty, apart from his brother the emperor, the most capable fighter is the British Duke Zhang Fu, who is also going on an expedition. The second most capable Marquis of Ningyang, Chen Mao, is still suppressing the rebellion in Shaxian County, Fujian, and has not returned yet. The second
Jiang Gui, the Marquis of Dingxi who was capable of fighting, had just passed away, and Jingyuan Bo Wang Ji took over his position as general of the Pingman army. He is still fighting the rebellion in Luchuan, southwest China...
This is also the reason why my father decided to give up the Nuergan Dusi and the Chief Envoy of Jiaozhi. Today's Ming Dynasty seems to have unlimited glory, but in fact, it is at the end of its war due to internal and external troubles and cannot afford to use weapons.
It’s hard to imagine what would have happened to Ming Dynasty if Tumubao failed in the battle...
Zhu Qiyu was sitting in the sedan chair with his eyes closed and concentrating. He suddenly felt that he had stopped, so he opened his eyes and asked, "Why did you stop?"
"Your Majesty, there is someone blocking the sedan in front."
"Oh?" Zhu Qiyu was a little surprised and asked, "Who is it?"
"It looks like he is a scholar. His identity is unknown. Should we drive him away..."
"No!" Zhu Qiyu waved his hand and said, "Let him come forward."
The guard came forward to search and then released the person.
"Student Qintian Supervisor Si Chenbeilin meets His Highness King Xi!"
Zhu Qiyu opened the sedan curtain and asked, "What can I do for you?"
Beilin knelt on the ground, holding up a complaint with both hands, and said: "The students impeached Li Shimian, the supervisor of the Qintian Prison, and all the officials of the Qintian Prison. Their corpses were left to eat, and they ignored the lives of thousands of people and the country of the Ming Dynasty.
!"
Upon hearing this, Zhu Qiyu stepped out of the sedan chair, frowned and asked, "What's going on?"
"The student was originally a secretary in Qintian Prison. He recently discovered a strange phenomenon in the northwest and speculated that an earthquake would occur in the near future. So he reported it to Qintian Prison Lingtai Lang, Jian Zheng and other officials, hoping to report to the imperial court to warn in advance.
, to reduce the occurrence of casualties in the disaster area, but all the officials of the Qintian Prison ignored it. In desperation, the student had a quarrel with the prison supervisor Li Shimian, and was dismissed. It was really a helpless move to stop His Highness's sedan chair today. Please also ask
Your Highness, forgive me!"
Hearing this, Zhu Qiyu asked in confusion: "You said there was an earthquake in the northwest, is there any evidence?"
Bai Lin said: "Students observe the celestial phenomena. For three consecutive days, a solar eclipse occurs during the day, and the earth's light appears at night. The dimensional stars disappear and the pivot stars disperse. The effect of the earthquake is clearly visible. This is a sign before the earthquake."
Zhu Qizhen took a few steps and asked again: "How sure are you?"
"Student...student..."
Beilin looked a little hesitant, but thinking of Brother Song's conversation yesterday, she suddenly became firm and said: "Students are sure that there will definitely be an earthquake in the northwest. If the court does not warn in advance, the earth will collapse and the rivers will flow backward.
The land is thousands of miles away, and the people are in dire straits. Please, Your Highness, please be careful for the sake of the thousands of people!"
Zhu Qiyu hesitated for a moment, and then said: "Follow the sedan and follow me to the palace!"
The sky was already dark, and all the ministers gathered in front of the Meridian Gate, just waiting for the palace gate to open at Mao hour.
Everyone gathered in small groups and chatted together. King Xi arrived early on weekdays, but he didn’t know why he came so late today...
"His Royal Highness is here!"
Someone shouted, and everyone looked over and saw that it was indeed King Tan's sedan, and they all stepped forward to salute.
Zhu Qiyu got off the sedan, clasped his fists in return, then walked to the front of the crowd, waiting to enter the palace.
At this time, someone noticed that there was a young man accompanying King Tan, who looked very unfamiliar, and couldn't help but talk in a low voice.
Among the crowd, there was a person with a strange look on his face, who quietly came to a sedan chair.
Qintian Supervisor Li Shimian is seventy-five years old this year. He has already reached the age of retirement. He has submitted letters to resign three times recently, but King Tan has never approved it. He is old and afraid of the cold, so he stayed in the sedan chair and waited for the palace door to open.
It’s time to go out.
"Mr. Li, Gong Li!"
Li Shimian opened his eyes and asked, "What's the matter?"
The people outside whispered: "The person next to His Royal Highness King Xi seems to be Bei Lin from Qin Tian Prison!"
After hearing this, Li Shimian couldn't help but frown, then stepped out of the sedan and asked: "Where is it?"
"That's the one standing behind King Tan."
Li Shimian slowly walked forward and took a closer look, and it turned out to be Beilin.
Now he was so angry that his beard stood up. This boy dared to quarrel with him in front of everyone in Qintian Prison. He had lost all his face and dared to come here?
"Veteran Li Shimian has met His Royal Highness King Tan!"
Zhu Qiyu smiled and said: "Supervisor Li, please excuse me."
"Thank you, Your Highness!" Li Shimian raised his head, looked at Beilin, and asked, "Your Highness, why is this person here?"
Beilin was young and energetic, and when she was about to speak, she was pulled back by Zhu Qiyu.
"Li Jianzheng, I am about to ask you, is this person from Qin Tianjian?"
"Not now!" Li Shimian shook his head and said, "This person has no superiors and does not abide by the rules. He has been dismissed from his post and has nothing to do with the Qintian Prison now."
"That means he was originally from Qintian Prison?"
"Your Highness, I am just a Si Chen, with no rank."
"What is Si Chen's responsibility?"
"In Qintian Prison, Si Chen is responsible for telling the time."
Zhu Qiyu asked again: "How is this person doing his job?"
"Ha!" Li Shimian said with a smile, "No damage, no reputation, pretty good."
Zhu Qiyu nodded and said: "This person claimed to have discovered a strange phenomenon in the sky, indicating that there was an earthquake in the northwest. What does Li Jianzheng think?"
"Your Highness, don't listen to this person's nonsense!"
Li Shimian shook his head vigorously and said: "I'm just a Si Chen, how can I know anything about the stars? I observe the stars at night and there is no disaster in the world. This person is exaggerating and trying to flatter the world. He just wants to gain fame. This way
The old minister has seen many of these people, your Highness, don’t be deceived by him!”
Bei Lin couldn't bear it anymore, pointed at Li Shimian's nose and cursed: "Old man, you are in a high position but do nothing, you are sitting on a corpse with nothing to eat, you are living like a dog, you are shameless!"
Li Shimian turned pale with anger and almost had a heart attack.
"Ignorant boy, yellow mouth and white teeth, alarmist, come here, capture this bold maniac, and punish him for the crime of disrespecting the superior!"
Beilin came up with a bad temper, jumped on her feet and shouted: "Anyone who refuses will be hated by God, God will be hated by him!"
At this time, Mao Shi has arrived and the palace gate is wide open.
"Okay!"
Zhu Qiyu interrupted the quarrel between the two and said solemnly: "Let's go to the palace and tell you what happened!"