Chapter 456

When Emperor Jiajing asked about Feng Bao, Huang Jin hurriedly replied: "Your Majesty, Feng Bao is staying in the palace for the time being. Due to the palace ban these days, although the Imperial Household Department has issued an order, he cannot leave yet."

"Send someone to send him to Prince Yu's Mansion."

Emperor Jiajing ordered.

Emperor Jiajing had arranged Feng Bao early on, so Huang Jin and Gao Zhong naturally could not forget about it.

But now the palace ban is strict, no matter whether it is Zhu Xizhong or Zhu Xixiao, no eunuch will be allowed to leave the palace without the order of Emperor Jiajing.

"Yes."

Huang Jin agreed.

"Send all the memorials of the past two days. It has been delayed for a long time. Find the memorials that need to be processed as soon as possible first, and deal with those that need to be approved immediately today."

Emperor Jiajing ordered again lightly.

Huang Jin went out to give a few instructions, and soon Gao Zhong, with a few eunuchs, walked into Yuxi Palace with the memorials in his arms.

At this time, a carriage also slowly drove towards the palace gate, but was soon stopped by the imperial guards and Jinyiwei in front of the gate.

"Who's in the car? Why are you leaving the palace?"

The palace gate guard stood in front of the car and shouted.

The young eunuch driving the car glanced at him and said lightly: "The eunuch Feng Baofeng from the Imperial Household Department is in the car. He is going to Prince Yu's Mansion on the emperor's order."

As he spoke, the young eunuch took out a token from the Imperial Household Department from his arms and handed it over.

When he heard that the person in the car was from the Imperial Household Department, the guard's expression became more respectful. He took the token with both hands and looked at it. Then he turned to the clerk next to him and asked: "Is there a record?"

"Sir, wait a moment."

The clerk quickly flipped through a booklet and quickly found a line of records. He confirmed it with the previous conversation between the two people, and then nodded and said: "There is a record, you can let it go."

Soon, the carriage slowly moved forward again, left the palace gate, and drove along Chang'an Street towards Prince Yu's Mansion.

"The Ministry of Rites' memorial to thank the temples and the country, approved."

In Yuxi Palace, a young eunuch read a memorial in his hand and handed it to Gao Zhong, while Emperor Jiajing on the imperial couch just said something lightly and stopped talking.

Then another memorial was opened, and the young eunuch read aloud: "The Minister of War Yang Bo reported that the 12,000 officers and soldiers selected by Yin Bingheng, the lieutenant general of the Five Army Camp, are planned to go to Juyong and Zhenbian to garrison in early spring."

This time, Emperor Jiajing did not give an attitude immediately, as if he was lost in thought. After a moment, he said: "Record, the number of soldiers guarding the border is more than the original plan to reduce the number of border soldiers. Should they be sent back? Let me know."

Gao Zhong took the memorial at this time, quickly recorded Emperor Jiajing's words after the memorial, and then put it aside.

Yang Bo's memorial was not approved and was to be returned to the Ministry of War for further discussion.

"The Imperial Censor of Shandong reported that thieves in Teng County, Shandong, robbed and injured candidates for the imperial examination."

Another young eunuch read a memorial aloud.

"Hmm?"

Hearing this news, Emperor Jiajing's face instantly turned gloomy.

"Yu Bo, I heard that there are many thieves in all directions. Why are the officials sitting and watching without taking care of the urgent situation? I order all the governors to strictly supervise the officials to arrest those who are negligent and must punish them according to the law."

Thieves harming candidates for the imperial examinations is also very rare in history, let alone in the Jiajing Dynasty. Emperor Jiajing always believed that the Ming Dynasty he governed was peaceful and harmonious, and it was only because of the Japanese invasion in the border towns and Jiangnan that there were some problems.

Now Shandong reported that there were thieves and they harmed candidates for the examinations, which he could not tolerate.

One by one, the memorials were processed, and the situations reported by all parties made Emperor Jiajing very unhappy today, and the joy of his body gradually recovering disappeared.

At this time, a palace maid brought today's medicine soup. Emperor Jiajing saw it and frowned slightly.

Long-term practice and taking elixirs made him instinctively reject soup medicine. He couldn't help himself in the first two days, and now he doesn't want to continue taking soup medicine.

"Take it away, I don't need medicine."

Emperor Jiajing said, and then ordered Huang Jin: "Bring the Wanchun Pill I made."

"Your Majesty, this is..."

"Go quickly."

Huang Jin was about to say something else, but was directly rejected by Emperor Jiajing.

"Ding-dong, ding-dong."

A bell sounded, and a carriage slowly drove over at the end of the street where Prince Yu's Mansion was located.

The situation in the capital has been erratic these days, and many people in the capital have avoided mansions like Prince Yu's Mansion, so there are not many people on the street, which seems very deserted, just like the weather now makes people feel cold.

Feng Bao has felt drowsy these days, and he has been like this since that night.

No one would be happy if he was driven out of the Silijian and sent to Prince Yu's Mansion to do work, even if Prince Yu is the de facto prince and can ascend to the throne of the emperor in the future.

Don't forget that Prince Yu has Li Fang who has been with him for many years. If Feng Bao goes to Prince Yu's mansion now, he can only be inferior to Li Fang, and he may not be able to gain Prince Yu's trust.

"Godfather, we have arrived at Prince Yu's mansion."

At this time, the carriage suddenly stopped, and then Feng Bao heard the eunuch driving the carriage calling softly.

Not only Feng Bao was hit hard, but even Feng Bao's godson was naturally hit hard.

Many people didn't say anything on the surface, but they had already started looking for backers behind the scenes.

Feng Bao is no longer trustworthy and can't be relied on.

Despite this environment, there are still eunuchs who will never leave Feng Bao, such as this one, who is willing to follow Feng Bao out of the palace and come to Prince Yu's mansion.

The toughness at the palace gate at that time was just his last pride. After all, he was once a member of the Silijian.

However, after he called out the first time, he did not get a response from the carriage for a long time. After a long time, he called out twice again, and finally Feng Bao in the carriage came back to his senses.

"We're here, good."

Feng Bao agreed, got off the carriage a little slowly, and glanced at the closed door.

This is the side door of Prince Yu's Mansion. He is not here to pass on the imperial edict. He was exiled here, so he naturally cannot enter the palace through the main door.

"Knock on the door."

Feng Bao ordered, and the little eunuch immediately stepped forward and knocked on the door knocker, "Ding Ding Ding"

"What? Someone is coming from the palace?"

An eunuch entered the yard and reported the situation outside to Yin Shizhan and others. Knowing that there was a eunuch from the palace who was going to enter the palace, Tang Ruji said with some surprise.

After being suppressed in Prince Yu's Mansion for a few days, the palace finally remembered this place.

Yin Shizhen, Wei Guangde and Zhang Juzheng frowned. They knew that the visitor came to the side door of the palace instead of the main door, which meant that the so-called visitor from the palace was not here to convey an imperial decree or other official business, which was a bit puzzling.

Although the tense atmosphere in Prince Yu's Mansion had eased in a few days, it still did not relax.

"Go and invite him."

Although he didn't understand it, Yin Shizhen knew that it was impossible to leave him outside the mansion, and he still had to invite him in to talk, so he asked someone to invite him into the palace and sent someone to notify Prince Yu and Li Fang in the inner courtyard.

Not long after, Wei Guangde met Feng Bao. In a few words, they also knew the purpose of Feng Bao's visit.

The eunuch of the Imperial Household Department went to Prince Yu's Mansion to do errands.

Wei Guangde felt that there was something wrong with his ears, but when he saw the official document with the seal of the Imperial Household Department that Feng Bao took out, he believed it.

Feng Bao was really sent to Prince Yu's Mansion to do errands.

When he first saw Feng Bao, he was still talking to Chen Ju. At that time, he knew that Feng Bao was actually the chief eunuch of the Imperial Household. He was still wondering, because he vaguely remembered that this eunuch and Zhang Juzheng were in an alliance. It was because the two of them controlled the power of the inner and outer courts that they could dominate the court.

However, Feng Bao had already been in the position of chief eunuch of the Imperial Household during the Jiajing Dynasty. How did he hook up with Zhang Juzheng?

I remember what I saw before, Feng Bao seemed to be working in the Prince Yu's Mansion.

At that time, Wei Guangde once thought that there were two Feng Baos, one in the palace, and one in the Prince Yu's Mansion, and that one was the one who contacted Zhang Juzheng.

However, after entering the Prince Yu's Mansion for so long, he had already found out that there was no eunuch named Feng Bao in the Prince Yu's Mansion.

Seeing Feng Bao, Wei Guangde suddenly thought again, since Feng Bao had arrived here, did it mean that the little Emperor Wanli would be born soon?

At this time, Prince Yu finally arrived late.

Feng Bao immediately knelt down and saluted Prince Yu. Eunuchs are only slaves of the royal family at all times. Moreover, Feng Bao has been sent to the palace, and Prince Yu will be his master in the future.

Feng Bao's arrival did not bring much change to Prince Yu's Palace, although the atmosphere became more relaxed.

Feng Bao has left the Imperial Household Department these days. After Emperor Jiajing decided to exile him, Feng Bao has never entered the Imperial Household Department again.

Although he did not know the situation in the prison recently, he brought positive news that Emperor Jiajing was in good health, but he had a cold occasionally. He was a little dangerous in the past two days, but he is fine now.

Therefore, the people in Prince Yu's Palace also restored the situation at that time.

Emperor Jiajing suddenly fainted due to the cold, and made emergency arrangements before fainting, which caused panic in the court, such as the closure of the Forbidden City and the entry of the Beijing Camp Army into the city to control the gates of the capital.

"Li Fang, take Eunuch Feng down to rest."

Although he did not suspect that Feng Bao was the person sent by the palace to Prince Yu's Palace to spy on the news, Prince Yu would not trust him immediately.

After Li Fang took Feng Bao away, Prince Yu smiled and said to everyone in the room: "It seems that the alarm a few days ago was a false alarm."

"Haha, yes, in fact, we also guessed this on the second day when Zhu Xizhong and his brother were locked in the confinement, otherwise it would be impossible to drag on for so long without any movement."

Yin Shizhan smiled and continued.

As time passed, the tense atmosphere in Prince Yu's mansion had already relaxed, no longer the same as before.

"Shandai, what do you think, can we completely relax our guard today?"

Zhang Juzheng looked at Wei Guangde and asked.

"It should be that we are too cautious."

Wei Guangde also smiled at this time, "If there is nothing, everyone can go home today."

Feng Bao was exiled from the palace to Prince Yu's mansion as a punishment for his mistakes. It can be seen that Emperor Jiajing is still in control of the situation, so it is useless for everyone to continue to guard here, so it is better to return early.

"In this case, I will ask someone to set up a banquet to comfort you all for your hard work and great contributions in the past few days."

Prince Yu said loudly with a smile at this time.

He was worried in the past few days, so although everyone stayed in Prince Yu's mansion, Prince Yu had no intention of setting up a banquet.

Today he finally relaxed and Prince Yu could enjoy himself again.

Xiyuan, Yuxi Palace.

After reviewing a batch of memorials, Emperor Jiajing stopped his official duties because of a headache.

After taking the elixir and resting for a while, he regained his spirit.

However, he did not continue to ask Gao Zhong to send memorials. There is no end to official duties. After finishing today's, there will still be a pile tomorrow, with no end.

Picking up the book he had read in the past two days from the bookshelf, Emperor Jiajing leaned on the imperial couch and read it carefully.

This is a Taoist classic included in the Yongle Encyclopedia. It is a rare copy that can no longer be found on the market. It was included in the Encyclopedia more than a hundred years ago and has been preserved.

Emperor Jiajing really likes the Yongle Encyclopedia. Since he ascended the throne, he has directly used it as a necessary reference classic and often quoted it in the court. Later, he discovered many lost Taoist classics and cherished it even more.

"Your Majesty, Duke Chengguo Zhu Xizhong is asking for an audience outside the palace?"

At this time, Huang Jin suddenly reported in a low voice.

"What's the matter?"

Emperor Jiajing put down the book in his hand and asked.

"There are many objections from the court officials to the closure of the Forbidden City. The three cabinet ministers have come to the West Garden to ask for an audience in turn. Duke Cheng wants to..."

"I know."

Emperor Jiajing interrupted Huang Jin before he could speak, "The capital and the Forbidden City can return to normal. The three cabinet ministers. Let them concentrate on handling official business. Just say that I still need to recuperate and will summon them in a few days."

"As ordered."

Huang Jin agreed in a low voice and left the side hall to convey the Emperor Jiajing's order.

As the Emperor Jiajing's order was conveyed, the Beijing camp led by Ge Jin withdrew from the Deshengmen to the barracks. Duke Cheng Zhu Xizhong and the Left Commander Zhu Xixiao also led their troops to withdraw from the Forbidden City respectively. The Imperial Horse Administration resumed its vigilance against the imperial city. Everything returned to normal, and all the officials in the court breathed a sigh of relief.

"Brother Chen, you didn't inform me about the last incident in advance, which made me worried for several days in Prince Yu's Mansion."

After the capital returned to prosperity, Wei Guangde invited Chen Ju to drink that day, and naturally complained about Chen Ju for not notifying Prince Yu's Mansion in advance.

"Hey, that day, Eunuch Huang gave me the most distant errand to do, so how could I have time to contact you."

Chen Ju shook his head and smiled bitterly.

Just kidding, Huang Jin took out the golden sword for mobilizing troops, and he really didn't dare to delay for a moment, let alone notify others.

"Has your majesty recovered in the past few days? Why didn't you summon the cabinet ministers?"

Wei Guangde finally asked the question in his heart.

The capital returned to normal, but the West Garden had not summoned the cabinet ministers, and the officials of the outer court had not been seen since Emperor Jiajing fell ill, so they were naturally concerned.

Although Prince Yu's Mansion knew a lot of the situation, it also asked Wei Guangde to contact Chen Ju, hoping to understand more deeply.

"The emperor's body is still the same these two days. He feels cold from time to time. He takes pills to practice."

"Your Majesty didn't take soup medicine?"

Chen Ju just said that Emperor Jiajing took pills, and was interrupted by Wei Guangde.

"He took soup medicine for two days at first, and then took pills. We dare not say this."

Chen Ju still smiled bitterly. Can you expect a servant to tell the master to eat?

Wei Guangde shook his head and felt a little incredible. He heard Chen Ju's words.

"The emperor spends some time every day to handle official business, and he picks urgent ones to deal with. He also reads the "Yongle Encyclopedia" to pass the time."

"Your Majesty reads the "Yongle Encyclopedia"?"

Wei Guangde asked in surprise.

"Yes, Your Majesty likes to read it very much."

Wei Guangde didn't know that Emperor Jiajing liked to read the "Yongle Encyclopedia", but he also knew that the set in the palace was a unique copy. The original copy in Nanjing had been destroyed, and even the manuscript was burned.

Thinking of this, Wei Guangde suddenly had an idea.