The next day, the sun rose early, spreading a ray of warmth to the earth, driving away the cold brought by the north wind last night.
On the streets of the capital, small groups of rich children began to appear. Under the care of servants, they used short bamboo poles to carry red lanterns without candles, playing and playing with each other to welcome the arrival of the Lantern Festival.
The morning court had dispersed. Ming Chengzu, who was wearing a black mink velvet cloak, slowly walked towards the imperial study with the support of Wang Xiaosi.
Behind Ming Chengzu, there were two eunuchs, each holding a thick stack of memorials and taking small steps.
"Your Majesty, be careful." Wang Xiaosi greeted softly, stretched out his hand to push open the door of the imperial study, then withdrew his right hand, supported Ming Chengzu's arm, watched him cross the threshold of the imperial study, and then relaxed slightly.
.
In the imperial study room, sandalwood scent lingered. A row of stoves against the wall made the room as warm as spring without any chill.
After taking off Ming Chengzu's cloak and hanging it on the large rosewood chair behind the desk, Wang Xiaosi helped Ming Chengzu sit down and then slowly said: "Your Majesty, today's memorials should be placed here
On the case, it’s still..."
For several days in a row, the emperor did not review or even read the memorials of the ministers in the court. Every time he came back from court in the morning, the emperor would not allow those memorials to be placed on the desk, but only on the big table in the corner.
On top, piled up randomly.
So today, Wang Xiaosi asked again as usual.
Ming Chengzu glanced at the eunuch holding two piles of memorials at the door, crossed his hands and placed them on his lower abdomen, and said: "How many officials have arrived at the court this morning?"
"Back to the Emperor, civil and military ministers, there are a total of one hundred and twenty-eight in attendance." Wang Xiaosi hunched over and replied hastily.
"How many folds do you hand over?" Ming Chengzu closed his eyes slightly and threw his head back, leaning on the back of the chair.
"The memorials are one hundred and twenty-one in total."
"So, there are still seven people who have not received the discounts? For now, you can put the discounts on the table and sort them out to see who are the ones who have not received the discounts." Ming Chengzu raised his right hand and pinched the forehead of his eyebrows.
He still closed his eyes and said slowly.
For three days in a row, there were only two topics of conversation during the morning meeting.
One is that Xiao Chen killed Cang Cheng outside Wumen and held him accountable. The other is that under the leadership of the prince, they unanimously opposed Zheng He's voyage again.
Ming Chengzu did not express his opinion on the petition from the officials. He was observing and waiting.
"Yes." Wang Xiaosi bowed and responded.
He turned around and motioned to the two eunuchs behind him, placed the memorial on the table against the wall, took out the list of officials attending court today, and checked them one by one.
Wang Xiaosi saw clearly the content of today's morning meeting.
The spearhead of the officials in the court seemed to be to blame Xiao Chen for killing Cang Cheng, but in fact they were targeting Dongchang and the eunuchs around the emperor.
Originally, Wang Xiaosi's mission was to serve the emperor well. He had never participated in government affairs. No matter how jealous the civil servants and military generals were and fought among themselves, it had nothing to do with him, the eunuch who was in charge of rituals.
Now, for some unknown reason, these civil servants unexpectedly united and unanimously targeted Xiao Chen in Dongchang. They also vaguely pointed out that Dongchang's management was lax and they were unable to restrain their subordinates, which led to the Cangcheng case.
This group of civil servants were really overfed. They were targeting no one, the Dongchang that had just been established under the imperial edict, and their own boss, who was the Supervisor of Ceremonies. Seeing the indignation of all the officials, Wang Xiaosi was also filled with anger.
fire.
This is also the reason why Wang Xiaosi immediately spread the news to Lin Shangli.
The three eunuchs worked at the same time and quickly found the seven officials who had not made mistakes.
After arranging the memorials on the table neatly, Wang Xiaosi slowly turned around and walked gently to Ming Chengzu's side.
"Your Majesty." Looking at Ming Chengzu with his eyes closed, Wang Xiaosi lowered his voice and called softly.
"Well, I'm not asleep. Tell me." Ming Chengzu said with his eyes still closed.
Perhaps age really is not forgiving, Ming Chengzu has always felt very tired since he did not have a morning court last time.
Both physically and mentally, I feel very tired.
However, in the face of a petition signed by hundreds of officials to accuse Xiao Chen of whom he had just bestowed purple robes, no matter how exhausted he was, how could Ming Chengzu be able to sleep.
These people seemed to be holding Xiao Chen accountable, but in fact they were risking their lives to challenge the imperial power. They were able to do this because they felt the terror of Dongchang and wanted to strangle Dongchang at the beginning of its development.
This shows that the establishment of Dongchang was extremely correct. Being able to shock hundreds of officials in the court was the biggest purpose of Ming Chengzu's establishment of Dongchang.
"Back to the emperor, six of the seven people who have not been admitted are from the Ducha Yuan. They are Jiang Qianxiao, the censor of the left capital, Wanqing, the censor of the right capital, and the left and right deputy censors of the Du Cha Yuan, and the left and right censors.
Censor of the capital." Wang Xiaosi bowed his body and whispered, for fear of disturbing Ming Chengzu's state of concentration with his eyes closed.
"The Metropolitan Procuratorate? This Jiang Qianxiao is still very insightful, and his position is even more firm. He is unwilling to follow the crowd. Not only does he not participate in this matter, but he also asks the entire Metropolitan Procuratorate not to participate in this matter. I will hand over the Metropolitan Procuratorate to him.
You really didn’t misjudge the person.”
With his eyes closed, Ming Chengzu spoke slowly. Although his words were unhurried, a little bit of relief could still be heard in them.
Wang Xiaosi basically didn't have much impression on the Metropolitan Procuratorate. The only one who had a profound impression was that Jiang Qianxiao, the censor of Zuodu, was the only person in the court with white beard and hair.
Moreover, Wang Xiaosi kept in mind Lin Shangli's teachings to him: when you are around the emperor, you should not easily judge the ministers in the court. Even if the emperor specifically asks about it, you should give an ambiguous answer and never tell your true opinion.
Even now, with the emperor's tone filled with relief, Wang Xiaosi still closed his mouth tightly, bowed his body, and chose to listen.
After going through the personnel of the Metropolitan Procuratorate one by one in his mind, Ming Chengzu put his arms on the armrests of the red sandalwood chair and said slowly: "Didn't you say that there were seven people in total who didn't make mistakes? Ducha
There are only six people in the hospital, and there is one more person, who is it?"
Wang Xiaosi took a step forward and whispered: "Back to the emperor, this is Li An, the Minister of Punishment."
"Li An, Minister of the Ministry of Justice?" Ming Chengzu's closed eyes slowly opened, and a faint smile appeared on his face.
"Account Xiao Chen. The Ministry of Punishment has always been in the lead. What happened to Li An? He suddenly changed his mind and didn't even bother to give up? Let's just say that this morning, he almost didn't speak. I thought he was
I'm feeling sick."
"Your Majesty, could it be that Xiao Chen is back and went to Li An's house?" Wang Xiaosi whispered in Ming Chengzu's ear.
Ming Chengzu was stunned for a moment, then laughed loudly: "It's very possible."
