Wang Chengen took a breath and said: "The Emperor is a sage! Li Zhi's soldiers and horses are powerful, and it will not be easy to suppress him! Why not recruit Li Zhi to the capital and arrest him in the palace?"
When Zhu Youjian heard Wang Chengen's words, he seemed to have heard Meng Tong's childish words, and he closed his eyes helplessly.
After a long time, he opened his eyes and said: "Li Zhi's troops are all old friends of the family, and they share the same sentiment. If Li Zhi is captured, the generals under Li Zhi will be frightened and angry, and they will definitely regard his younger brother Li Xing as their leader."
, to really raise the flag of rebellion. If we don’t say that Tianjin will no longer have the law, the entire Gyeonggi region will be beaten to a pulp!"
"The 90,000 people from Dongnu can plunder the capital without restraint, but no one except Li Zhi dares to come forward to fight. How many soldiers and horses from the nine sides dare to fight against Li Zhi's troops?"
"If Li Zhi is captured, I'm afraid the situation will take a turn for the worse, which is unbearable to watch!"
Wang Chengen pondered for a moment and asked: "Your Majesty, can we just let Li Zhi be so lawless?"
Zhu Youjian took a breath and said with a sigh: "If we don't wipe out the bandits first, our Ming Dynasty really can't send troops to deal with Li Zhi. At this time, we can only stabilize Li Zhi first."
"And this plan to quell the thieves and kill the slaves requires Li Zhi's help."
"This Li Zhi also calculated correctly that I don't dare to attack him now, that's why he is so domineering!"
Wang Chengen looked at the emperor's face and was speechless. He stood beside the emperor and let out a long sigh.
Zhu Youjian stood by the window for a long time before he suddenly remembered something and said to Wang Chengen: "Send a message to Li Zhi and ask him to hand over the four civil servants he arrested and hand them over to the three divisions for trial. How can he, a general soldier, handle it?"
Civil servants? If Li Zhi kills four civil servants, I will not be able to get out of this position."
Wang Chengen was stunned and asked: "What if Li Zhi refuses to hand it over?"
"Wang Cheng'en, this time you go to convey the order, hint to Li Zhi, let him understand that I will not let these four civil servants go, let him let them go."
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Wang Chengen took twelve eunuchs and rushed to Tianjin after a dusty journey.
On September 25, at the gate of Anxi Gate of Tianjin Acropolis, Li Zhi, who actually controlled Tianjin City, led Tianjin civil and military officials to welcome the eunuch Bingbi, the eunuch of the ceremony, and the angel Wang Chengen.
The eunuch Bingbi was the person who helped the emperor "approval of the red". In the Ming Dynasty, the country was governed by the cabinet. When the memorial was sent to the cabinet in the capital, the cabinet minister would write his suggestions on a piece of paper and paste it on the memorial. The eunuch Bingbi would be governed by the cabinet.
The text of the draft was copied once, or changed according to the order, and approved with a red pen, as the emperor's final decision. This work of copying the draft once was called "red approval".
This batch of reds was the final decision on world affairs, and the emperor handed it over to his confidant eunuchs, which shows Wang Chengen's status.
When Li Zhi saw Eunuch Bingbi coming to convey the order in person, he naturally did not dare to neglect and personally greeted him outside the city gate.
Wang Chengen got off the sedan in front of Anxi Gate. When he saw the vast number of Tianjin civil and military officials, his heart skipped a beat. Li Zhi looked more like a governor than a general. Everyone in Tianjin official circles regarded Li Zhi as
Zhi Wei, Li Zhi did not move forward, and everyone did not dare to take a step, just like a prince.
Li Zhi saw Wang Chengen, who was young and thin, with a pale face and no beard, wearing a python suit and a jade belt around his waist, getting out of the sedan chair. He walked up and cupped his hands and said: "Li Zhi has met Wang Eunuch. Wang Eunuch came all the way from the capital. Thank you for your hard work."
Wang Chengen hurriedly returned the gift and said: "My family has met Mr. Taibao. Mr. Taibao took the time out of his busy schedule to greet us. We are very happy!"
Wang Chengen came to announce the edict, and he should have gone back after reading the edict. But at this time, Li Zhi met Wang Chengen, but Wang Chengen did not mention the edict, leaving Li Zhi wondering what his intention was. Li Zhi thought for a while and changed his mind.
Said: "My father-in-law is tired from traveling, why not follow me to the General Military Mansion to rest for a while. In the evening, I will lead the civil and military officials of Tianjin to greet my father-in-law!"
Wang Chengen said with a smile: "In our family, it is better to obey orders than to be respectful, so we have to work for you."
Li Zhi led the Tianjin civil and military officials to welcome Wang Chengen into the General Military Mansion, and rested in the main room on the third floor. Wang Chengen was indeed a little tired, so he lay on the bed and fell asleep. Li Zhi didn't know what the emperor's imperial edict said to him, so he sat down
Waiting in the second hall for Wang Chengen to wake up.
At dinner time, Tianjin's lieutenants, soldiers from all walks of life, staff generals and guerrilla generals all came to the General Military Mansion. Wang Chengen did not keep everyone waiting, and came to the second hall at the right time to participate in the reception banquet.
Before the banquet, with Li Zhi in charge, all the officials in Tianjin presented Wang Chengen with a gift list.
Wang Chengen was a confidant of the emperor, and he stayed with the emperor all day long. Sometimes a word could determine the future and destiny of civil and military officials. At this time, when they had the opportunity to give gifts to Wang Chengen, everyone was very solid. Li Zhi gave Wang Chengen a thousand taels of silver.
The wealth made Wang Chengen laugh out loud.
After the gift orders were delivered, the banquet began.
After thirty years of drinking, Wang Chengen walked up to Li Zhi and said, "Master Taibao, please take a step to speak."
Li Zhi looked at Wang Chengen and saw the serious expression on his face, so he left the table and walked with Wang Chengen into the yard and to an empty corridor.
After looking around and seeing no one around, Wang Chengen said: "The four governors Zha Dengbei and Bingbei Dao Yu Tao imprisoned by the left governor are to be handed over to the emperor and handed over to the three divisions for trial!"
Li Zhi touched his chin and knew that this was the reason why Wang Chengen had not promulgated the imperial edict. Li Zhi imprisoned four civil servants, which was against the laws and regulations and prevented the emperor from stepping down. If the emperor wanted to issue an edict to forgive Li Zhi,
For all kinds of actions in Tianjin, these four civil servants must first be removed and let the Ministry of Punishment, Dali Temple, and the Metropolitan Procuratorate jointly review them, so that they can have face.
Li Zhi pondered and said: "These four people tried their best to prevent me from collecting commercial taxes, and they often do many evil things. I am prepared to execute them. If the four people are handed over to the emperor and nothing is done, someone else will jump out to obstruct the commercial tax collection."
.”
Wang Chengen's face turned pale when he heard Li Zhi's disrespectful words. After thinking for a long time, Wang Chengen said: "If the four people do evil, the emperor will deal with it himself, and there is no need for eunuchs to review it."
When Li Zhi heard these vague words, he touched his chin and said nothing.
Wang Chengen breathed a sigh of relief and said helplessly: "Previously, the Taibao reported to the Emperor the charges against these four people. If it is true, our family will not be able to escape the death penalty even if they are handed over to the Tribunal for trial!"
Li Zhi touched his chin and frowned.
Wang Chengen was so angry that he stamped his feet and said helplessly: "We feel that the emperor has the same considerations as our family."
Wang Chengen backed down word by word, except for the promise that "the emperor will help you kill these four people" came out. If this promise was made public, the emperor would beg Li Zhi, and it would be too embarrassing if it spread.
.Wang Chengen had made his secret words very clear and eagerly waited for Li Zhi's answer.
Li Zhi thought for a while and then said: "In that case, I will hand over these four people to the emperor."
Wang Chengen breathed a long sigh of relief, looked Li Zhi up and down again, and secretly said that this guy is really hard to get along with. (To be continued.) 8