Author: Pei Xuanhuang

He Xuan and Zhao Xu were sent to the imperial city by Zhu Yuan in the afternoon, and returned again less than an hour later. They did not bring the official, but a copy of the imperial edict and a series of news from Lao Zhu.

The edict is about Lao Zhu’s decision to cancel tomorrow’s longevity ceremony: “The Emperor of Heaven carries the edict and says: Every time I am born, I remember the kindness of my parents who worked so hard and wanted to support me, but I feel sad. Today, the army is fighting outside, and the Central Plains is full of waste.

, and since I am in my prime of life, I do not want to neglect national affairs for my own selfish purposes, so I will not receive congratulations on my birthday this time, and all officials will attend the meeting as before. I admire this."

Still expected.

There is no need to write a letter of thanks, and there is no need to get up early tomorrow morning and rush to the palace to salute Lao Zhu. Including the usual banquets and similar activities, it is often a full day. However, Lao Zhu ordered that he should not pay attention to his birthday.

As a descendant of the twenty-third generation, if you really ignore someone, that would be called low emotional intelligence.

I will definitely go to the palace tomorrow.

Moreover, a few days in advance, Zhu Yuan had quietly prepared gifts.

In addition to birthdays, there are all kinds of news.

Regarding Zhu Yuan, His Majesty the Emperor issued an order in public this morning to kill six Zhongshu or local censors for unprovoked accusations of slandering important officials of the imperial court. Then, he ordered the Ministry of Rites to discuss and prepare Zhu Yuan's ancestor recognition and adoption ceremony.

Before this was over, Zhu Yuan was publicly promoted to the rank of Zhongshu Province Pingzhang Zhengshi.

Because of Lao Zhu's statement at Longwan Pier yesterday, all the officials were mentally prepared, but this series... was still a bit confusing.

In response to the first incident, Yushi Zhongcheng Zhangyi retorted in public, believing that His Majesty the Emperor should not sin for his words.

Being repulsed.

Zhang Yi insisted on resisting, and even knelt down outside the Fengtian Gate after the meeting, demanding that His Majesty the Emperor take back his order.

Finally, it was Empress Ma who came forward, and the ministers also advised her, believing that it was unlucky for the emperor to kill someone close to his own birthday. Finally, Lao Zhu took a step back, and all six of them were inspected by Zhongshu or the local censors, and they were all sent to prison.

In Qiongzhou, no one will be pardoned.

After such a fuss, there were not many objections to the other two matters, Zhu Yuan's recognition of his ancestor and adoption, and Zhongshu Pingzhang's acceptance of his fate.

Perhaps, on the one hand, this was a family matter of the emperor, on the other hand, Zhu Yuan's abilities and achievements were also well known to the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty.

Besides these, there is another one.

The imperial court officially determined that this year's imperial examination would be held on September 28th. At the same time, Lao Zhu appointed newly promoted Zhongshu Pingzhang Zhu Yuan, Hanlin scholar Tao An, and Minister of Rites Qian Yongren to jointly serve as examiners.

This is something Zhu Yuan knew before.

When he first felt that Lao Zhu wanted to take on the responsibility of the examiner alone, Zhu Yuan was under great pressure. On the way back, he had a discussion with Lao Zhu and even confessed the principle of checks and balances. In order to avoid being too big, the country cannot recruit all the scholars.

Go out the door.

Lao Zhu accepted this suggestion.

However, originally there were three senior and third-level officials who kept pace with each other, but because Zhu Yuan was suddenly promoted from the first-level Zhongshu Pingzhang, it was obvious that this time, he was basically the leader.

Zhu Yuan mentioned that Li Shanchang could take the lead in hosting.

There is no doubt about Lao Li's loyalty to Lao Zhu, and Zhu Yuan does not approve of Lao Zhu leaving Li Shanchang idle. On the one hand, he wants to keep a good reputation and avoid being said to be unloading the mill and killing the donkey. On the other hand, he is still the same person before he disembarked yesterday.

The truth is, since it is not suitable to be completely idle, then only by making the best use of people can we avoid all kinds of troubles.

Lao Zhu did not agree.

Zhu Yuan could also understand that perhaps his ancestors felt that there were already enough Huaixi people in the imperial court and Li Shanchang could not be allowed to use the imperial examination to develop a group of disciples.

After thinking about this, Zhu Yuan didn't mention it any more.

In addition to matters related to themselves, Zhao Xu also inquired about one thing. It was also at today's court meeting. Left Prime Minister Li Shanchang personally submitted a letter proposing to follow the ancient system and set up six departments.

Less than a year after the founding of the People's Republic of China, many departments of the Ming Dynasty were still imperfect.

Let’s talk about the traditional six departments of the imperial court. Before the Western Wu Dynasty, there were only three departments: the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Rites, and the Ministry of Household Affairs. In addition, the generals, agriculture departments, and Dali departments, who were also at the third-grade level, were in charge of the six departments.

This is actually very irregular.

For example, yamen with the title of "Si" are traditionally of the fifth rank and belong to the sixth department. Earlier, in order to show the importance to related fields, Lao Zhu set them to the third rank, including the "Ying Haisi" proposed by Zhu Yuan.

'.

If Zhu Yuan had not appeared, I think Lao Zhu would have been happy to carry out standardization.

This time, Lao Zhu’s answer was, “Let’s discuss it again.”

Having said that, this matter is still related to Zhu Yuan.

At that time, the officials could probably imagine that His Majesty the Emperor's further discussion would not be with them, but with a certain young favorite.

Think about it again, Li Shanchang proposed to set up the Sixth Department, maybe he also had the intention of bringing the wandering Yinghaisi into the authority of Zhongshu. Unfortunately, stealing the chicken will lose the rice. The Sixth Department has not yet disappeared, but he has recruited a deputy from the first rank.

.

Not counting Zhu Yuan, the imperial court already had four Zhongshu Pingzhang, namely Chang Yuchun, Hu Tingrui, Liao Yongzhong and Li Boxheng. However, everyone knows that these four people are basically part-timers who are not able to do practical work, similar to many generals.

The various provincial seals on his body are more inclined to casual official titles.

This time, Zhu Yuan's Cong Yipin must have real power.

I just don’t know whether Li Shanchang submitted the letter before Lao Zhu mentioned him or after. Anyway, with the little conspicuousness of the left prime minister, it is inevitable to be heart-warming no matter before or after.

Then, Zhao Xu mentioned that the prisoner presentation ceremony this morning was very lively.

Most of them are crowded together, how can it not be lively?

Moreover, he also said that he saw the mark of the imperial seal in the Ministry of Rites.

I met Zhu Yuan two days ago.

The famous Imperial Seal was rumored to have been lost in the grasslands in another time and space after Emperor Yuan Shun fled north and was never found again. Therefore, it became one of Lao Zhu's three major regrets in life. This time, it was praised by Emperor Zheng.

It was then delivered to the Ming Dynasty officials and troops, and quickly transported to the Bianliang camp at that time.

Zhu Yuan had played with Lao Zhu's building boat before and felt that it was of great historical significance.

This is a symbol of China's continuous inheritance for thousands of years.

Having said that, Lao Zhu's three major regrets were that Prince Yuan refused to submit, the jade seal passed down to the country was lost, and Wang Baobao failed to conquer. This time, there was only one left in the blink of an eye. Moreover, without the orthodoxy of the Yuan Dynasty, the grassland was scattered, Zhu Yuan felt

, it will be difficult for Wang Baobao to cause too much trouble in the future.

Anyway, there's no rush.

In a blink of an eye, it was the next day, September 18th.

Zhu Yuan got up a little earlier, at around eight o'clock. After dinner, before he had time to go to the palace, he met Tao An who was delivering the order.

The matter of recognizing ancestors and returning to the clan will come later, this time it is about Zhu Yuan's writing of Pingzhang from Yipinzhong.

I received imperial edicts, seals, official uniforms and other things, as well as a lot of documents that Lao Zhu asked Tao An to bring, such as a list of candidates who came to Jinling and recorded their files this time. There were more than 13,000 people in total, and the list was sufficient.

It's a foot thick.

The two discussed some of the issues of the two days' court meeting, and what His Majesty the Emperor ordered was more comprehensive than what He Xuan and the others brought back yesterday.

The first one is aimed at the Mingxia regime in Shu.

Today at the court meeting, Lao Zhu summoned the Ming Xia envoys and said that Bashu has been the old land of China since the Qin and Han Dynasties. He asked them to return to Sichuan and tell the Xia Lord Ming Sheng to obey the destiny and voluntarily submit to the Ming Dynasty. This can ensure the wealth of the family.

Lao Zhu also promised that if Ming Xia voluntarily surrenders, he will avoid a fight between the two sides and will promote Feng Ming to the title of Duke of Shu. This is one level higher than the Gui Minghou of the Zheng Emperor and the Gui Dehou of Chen Youliang's son Chen Li, which can be said to be sincerity. Full.

Next to the sweet dates is the big stick.

In front of the Ming Xia envoys, Lao Zhu ordered Chang Yuchun, the deputy general who was currently in Shaanxi, to reorganize his army and open a road to prepare for the southward march to Shu. He also ordered Liao Yongzhong, the general who was in Guangxi at the time, and Yang Jing, the commander of Pingzhang in Huguang and other provinces, marched northward and stationed himself in Wuchang.

The final deadline is March next summer.

If Ming Xia refuses to voluntarily surrender after March, Ming Dynasty will have one more general to conquer the west.

Zhu Yuan also knew about this in advance.

It was still a plan discussed by the grandfather and grandson when they returned, relying on knowing the outcome in advance. In history, when the army came to the city, Ming Xia also took the initiative to surrender.

Moreover, the results of the Ming clan were very good. After surrendering, they were moved to Tamluo by Lao Zhu. From then on, they spread out on the Korean Peninsula. Hundreds of years later, they became a common surname with a population of tens of thousands on the peninsula.

This time, although a three-month deadline was given, Zhu Yuan and Lao Zhu's previous discussion attitude was that after a year of intense fighting, all armies must take a rest. Even if March is up, there will be no tomorrow Submission and the actual dispatch of troops will have to wait until next year.

Furthermore, mentioning Shaanxi's Chang Yuchun is just a strategic intimidation.

God of Death, are you afraid?

The actual candidate for the general to conquer the west is Liao Yongzhong. When the army is launched next year, only two people, Liao Yongzhong and Yang Jing, will be used, plus some troops from Jinling. If something different from the past happens, Chang Yuchun will not It will go south from Shaanxi.

Zhu Yuan's suggestion was that it would be best to recall Chang Yuchun at the end of the year when Shaanxi becomes more stable.

next year……

Just take a year off.

Grandfather and grandson also have the same attitude towards this, Chang Shiwan cannot die.

In addition to the affairs in Shuzhong, there was another one. Lao Zhu ordered the establishment of the Yingtian Division with the same rank of third grade. He also sent a decree to recall Tongzhi Kang Maocai, the governor of the Dadu Dufu in Henan, and appointed him as the Yingtian Envoy.

Zhu Yuan also knew in advance.

It was Zhu Yuan who originally proposed the plan for large-scale farming to Lao Zhu, and it was also Zhu Yuan who suggested Kang Maocai.

Zhu Yuan's Yinghai envoy was inspired by Kang Maocai, who once served as Yingtian envoy.
To be continued...