Chapter 952 1041 Panic Li Chengliang

The sky in the capital was dark, but stars were already burning in the ancient city, and many people had already gotten up and started to prepare for the new day.

It's not ugly now. For ordinary people, they are still sleeping in warm quilts at this time, but for Ming officials, they have to leave there at this time, get up and start washing up, and prepare for today's court meeting.

Fortunately, starting from the Zhengde period, the emperor seemed to have developed the habit of not going to court in the morning. After that, Emperor Jiajing did not go to court all the year round, and rarely even appeared in front of courtiers.

Emperor Longqing was a little better, but he only lasted for two years. After that, he stopped serving as a regular dynasty and only appeared at the great dynasty meetings.

This habit was maintained until the Wanli Dynasty.

After all, Emperor Wanli was young, so it was already good to show up on the first and fifteenth day of every month.

What's more, although the courtiers could not see the emperor, the cabinet and Hanlin lecturers could still see the emperor in the Wenhua Hall every day. Except for the day of the court meeting, they did not have to lecture, and they had to study with the teacher at other times.

As for the current court meeting system, even if Kedao Yanguan is still quibbling in private, everyone knows in their hearts that now is the best.

There is no need to get up before dawn every day to go to court and complete all the procedures. In fact, nothing is done.

When it was time to go to work in the morning, I was hungry, so I had to find a place to get some food to fill my stomach.

Meeting in court is really hard work.

Soon, cars and sedans appeared on East and West Chang'an Street, and some military attachés rode horses to attend the court.

The family held lanterns in front and behind, and soon they gathered into a long queue.

Not far from the imperial city, the cars and sedans gradually stopped. The officials got off the cars, got off the sedans, and walked to Chengtianmen.

When meeting familiar officials on the road, they inevitably walk together and chat quietly.

After passing through Chengtian Gate, hundreds of officials in Beijing quickly gathered outside the Meridian Gate, waiting for the palace gate to open.

A court room was built at the corner of the palace gate for officials to rest and wait for the court.

Of course, only high-ranking officials can enter the court room. Those of fifth rank and below have no chance to enter and rest.

The court room closest to the palace gate naturally belonged to the cabinet. At this time, Wei Guangde and Lu Tiaoyang were already inside.

The separation time was late, and everyone actually didn't have a good rest that night. It was inevitable that they were all a little sleepy at the moment, and they just took a nap after saying a few words.

After a while, the door opened and Zhang Juzheng walked in.

"Both."

It was customary to be polite, but when he saw both of them dozing off on the back of the chair with squinted eyes, Zhang Juzheng hurriedly shut up.

But after all, it was the court, and the two of them were actually just dozing off, and there was no way they could fall asleep. So they both opened their eyes one after another, and when they saw Zhang Juzheng coming, they both stood up and said hello.

After Zhang Juzheng sat down, he said, "If you two are sleepy, just squint a little longer."

"Close your eyes and rest your mind, who can be here, haha."

Wei Guangde smiled lightly.

"hehe."

Lu Tiaoyang laughed twice, and then heard Zhang Juzheng say: "I came here a little late and saw Li Chengliang waiting outside."

"He did not become the Commander-in-Chief of the Five Armies"

Lu Tiaoyang only said half a sentence before he stopped, remembering that although it had been arranged for him to take charge of the Right Army Governor's Mansion, the news didn't seem to spread widely, so he might not know it yet.

Wei Guangde just glanced at Zhang Juzheng, knowing clearly what Zhang Juzheng meant.

Although he had some objections to Wei Guangde's arrangement for Li Chengliang to return to Beijing, after all, Wei was responsible for the affairs of the Ministry of War, and Zhang Juzheng could not say more.

"I'll talk to him when I get down."

Wei Guangde took advantage of the situation and said.

I originally planned to find an opportunity to have a fight with Li Chengliang, but I just happened to use these words to say it.

Not long after, a chamberlain came in and announced that it was almost time.

The three people left the court room, and other officials also came out one after another and gathered outside the Meridian Gate to stand according to rank.

Today's civil service queue has not changed much, except that there is an additional Li Chengliang in the front row of the military attache queue, and his son Li Rusong is not qualified to go to court because of his low rank.

I don’t know if I am resting at the inn or waiting outside Chengtian Gate.

Not long after, the eunuchs of the Bell and Drum Department rang the bells and drums. When the third drum sounded, they opened the east and west gates first, and the officers and flags were placed first. The officials continued to line up in order in front of the gate, and waited until the bell rang. Open the door again and enter.

After the court bell rang, the doors on the left and right were opened, and all the officials walked through the doors in order of rank.

The officials began to enter the palace, with civilian officials entering through the left Yemen and military attachés entering through the Youyemen. They were first arranged in order according to rank south of the Jinshui Bridge.

After the whip was sounded, they crossed the bridge one by one and arrived at Danqi of Huangjimen. The civilian officials were on the left class and the military officers were on the right class. They faced each other on the imperial road and established marquises.

Outside the neatly arranged team of officials, there are censors in charge of picketing to supervise. Anyone who coughs, spits, is crowded, or behaves poorly will be recorded and awaiting treatment.

There is a throne in the middle of the upper corridor of Huangji Gate, which is called the "Golden Platform". On the left and right sides of the steps are the bands of the Bell and Drum Division. Between the pillars of the palace door are "generals of the Han Dynasty", wearing full armor. To the left and right of the royal road and behind the civil and military officials are Each has a captain standing with a sword in hand.

The Bell and Drum Division played music, and the emperor arrived at the imperial gate. Guards in golden robes held five umbrella covers and four groups of fans, climbed up the Danqi from the east and west sides, and stood on the left and right behind the throne.

There are two people inside, one holding an umbrella cover and standing on the seat, the other holding "weapons" and two fans, standing in the middle behind the seat.

Emperor Wanli soon sat on the throne. The whip was blown again under the tower. The Honglu Temple "sang" to enter the class. The civil and military classes on the left and right walked into the imperial road side by side. At this time, the civil officials "faced north and west" and the military officials "faced north and east", performing the ceremony of bowing and knocking three times.

The dukes, the princes-in-law, and the earls formed their own class of honors and relatives, standing in front of the military class and slightly away.

Today's procedure had been informed long ago, so after all the officials saluted, the young emperor Zhu Yijun waved his hand and asked the eunuchs beside him to continue.

"If there is something, stand up and report it. If there is nothing, leave the court."

The sharp voice of the eunuch standing next to the young emperor on the tower echoed in the field.

In the court meeting of the Ming Dynasty, officials did not stand up directly when they really had something to report. In fact, they would report to the Honglu Temple a day in advance, and what they wanted to report would be reported. The officials of the Honglu Temple would sort the reasons reported by the ministers and let them go out one by one to report.

However, the first thing to do at every court meeting is for the officials of the Honglu Temple to report to the emperor the officials who came to Beijing to express their gratitude and leave Beijing to resign.

These people also reported to the Honglu Temple one day in advance. If the emperor wanted to summon them, they would first go to the palace to meet him; if the emperor did not want to see them, they would perform the five bows and three kowtows ceremony from a distance in the courtyard or outside the Meridian Gate, and the ceremony would be considered complete.

Now the emperor is young, and all matters, big and small, are handed over to the cabinet, so the officials of the Honglu Temple just reported the number of people and withdrew.

Then, the Minister of War Tan Lun made a report, which was actually about the ceremony of surrendering prisoners yesterday, and requested that the meritorious soldiers be rewarded.

"I have read the report from the Ministry of War. Rewarding merits and punishing people is the court's custom. Now that the rebel chieftain has been executed, it is natural to reward the meritorious soldiers."

A tender child's voice sounded at the Huangji Gate, "Announce the decree."

"By the grace of Heaven, the Emperor decrees that the rebel chieftain Wang Gao lured and killed our deputy general Pei Chengzu and others. The governor Zhang Xueyan and the general Li Chengliang marched forward and took advantage of the victory to attack directly. Li Chengliang was appointed the left governor of the Right Army Governor's Office and was in charge of the government affairs."

Before the eunuch announced the decree, Li Chengliang, who was in the military ranks, had already stepped out of the ranks and knelt down at the gate. He was very happy, but he was also curious about what reward the court would give him this time.

Originally, according to the decree, it should be Zhang Xueyan, the governor of Liaodong, or Liu Tai, the Liaodong inspector, who escorted Wang Gao to Beijing, but the capital specifically asked him to go to Beijing, so Li Chengliang was very curious.

However, his happy face changed color instantly after hearing that he was allowed to enter the Right Army Governor's Office to take charge of the government affairs.

Although becoming the Left Commander-in-Chief was the highest military position in the Ming Dynasty, it was not a good thing for him to stay in the capital.

It was not that he had a rebellious heart. Rebelling in the Ming Dynasty at this time was no different from an old man eating arsenic. At a very early time, because of the troubles of succession, Li Chengliang had already made up his mind to strive to leave a better few pages for the Li family, that is, to be a marquis and a prime minister.

Of course, because of the different paths of civil and military, it is impossible to be a prime minister now. Only in the previous dynasty did there exist the saying of "getting on the horse to govern the army and getting off the horse to govern the people". What he wanted was nothing more than a marquis.

Only by becoming a member of the nobles can there be a chance to keep the Li family prosperous.

Yes, during the years of succession in the capital, he saw the pomp of the nobles in the capital. Although their power was weakened, they were still a force that could not be ignored in the court.

Especially the emperor, who still trusted the nobles and these nobles who shared the same fate with the country.

Look at the command of the Beijing camp and the palace, they are all in the hands of the nobles. Even if there are civil officials and military officials, the power is actually in the hands of the nobles.

If you can't go to the border town, you can't make merit. Military generals who can't make merit have no chance to be granted a title.

To be granted a title, you must have military merit. Otherwise, even if he becomes the left governor today, what about him later?

After the decree was read, Li Chengliang still knelt there, and there was no movement.

The official of the Honglu Temple on the side carefully reminded him in his ear: "Governor Li, it's time to thank the emperor."

Hearing this, Li Chengliang woke up as if from a dream, sorted out the loss in his heart, and knelt down to thank the emperor Wanli on the top of the city.

After returning to the ranks of military generals, he noticed that many people in the noble class in front of him were looking at him sideways.

After all, Li Chengliang served as the left governor of the Five Military Governor's Office. Although there is not much to do in the Governor's Office now, it occupies a position after all, and it is still a very important position. This means that their group of nobles have lost an official position, so naturally they will not give him a good face.

At the beginning, many nobles wanted to compete for this position. Who would have thought that it would fall into the hands of this border general in the end.

He was still a frontier general with no support in the capital.

The nobles looked at Li Chengliang unkindly, and the military officers behind Li Chengliang subconsciously moved away from him.

Before entering the palace, these people were still brothers with him and had a very pleasant chat.

In just a moment, there was a huge change.

It can be seen that the official position given to him by the court seemed to have stirred up a hornet's nest and was a big trouble.

It also made Li Chengliang more convinced that the influence of the nobles in the military generals group in the court was greater than he imagined.

Zhang Juzheng and Wei Guangde in front were just coldly paying attention to this side, and no one spoke.

There was nothing to do in the court meeting today. The top priority of today was to announce the decree to reward Li Chengliang and a group of Liaodong generals.

After the decree was read, there was naturally no need to continue, and the court meeting soon dispersed.

The officials walked out in twos and threes to return to their respective yamen.

Li Chengliang followed the military officers and walked out.

Although the decree had been issued, he knew it was difficult to change anything.

"Alas."

With a long sigh in his heart, Li Chengliang looked around, trying to find the Minister of War, Tan Lun.

Now the imperial decree was to let him stay in Beijing and take charge of the Right Army Commander's Office, but before that he had to go to the Ministry of War again to receive the official uniform and imperial edict before he could take office. This was the rule.

Just when he saw Tan Lun and was about to walk over, several eunuchs in front of him had already come over here, stopped in front of Tan Lun, Wang Guoguang and Zhu Heng, and whispered a few words.

Among the three, Zhu Heng and Tan Lun were together, talking and laughing as they walked out, while Wang Guoguang was on the other side, talking to other officials.

After the eunuch summoned them, the three said goodbye to their colleagues around them, and then looked at Zhang Juzheng, Wei Guangde and Lu Diaoyang who were walking behind them.

Although they didn't know what the cabinet was summoning, they also knew that it must be a big deal.

The three ministers of the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Works couldn't help but look at each other.

"Gentlemen, there is an important matter to discuss today, let's all go to the cabinet to talk."

Wei Guangde stretched out his hand and clasped his fists, saying to the three of them.

The three immediately returned the greeting, and then the six of them walked towards the cabinet together.

This made Li Chengliang, who had been waiting on the side and was about to go up to greet Tan Lun, still depressed.

Seeing that all the officials around him had left Huangji Gate and went out of Wumen, he had no choice but to follow them out quickly.

When he left Wumen, Li Chengliang found that something seemed wrong outside.

Because many officials who should have dispersed were still gathering in groups of three or five outside Wumen, their eyes kept glancing inside Wumen.

Li Chengliang looked back in surprise and saw that Tan Lun, Zhu Heng and Wang Guoguang, who were supposed to leave Wumen, followed Zhang Juzheng and Wei Guangde, three cabinet ministers, to Huiji Gate in the east and went to the cabinet.

It was the first time for Li Chengliang to enter the Forbidden City, but he also took care of the officials and eunuchs sent by the Ministry of Rites and the inner court to teach etiquette, so he was not clear about the situation in the harem, but he still understood the situation in the front.

Obviously, Tan Lun was called to the cabinet to discuss important matters, and the officials outside Wumen were actually observing the six adults and judging the situation in the court.

Cabinet ministers.

Li Chengliang felt a headache just thinking about it. They were all high-ranking adults, but he could not get in touch with them.

Thinking of this, Li Chengliang couldn't help but feel a little jealous of Qi Jiguang who stayed in Liaodong, and contacted him through Tan Lun and Wei Guangde, the second assistant of the cabinet.

This time he was left in the capital, and Qi Jiguang, the general of Jizhen, might be the one who took over Liaodong.

This is not just a matter of official position change, but also a proof that he is not trusted by the cabinet ministers.

The importance of Jizhen is the head of the nine frontiers. Such an important position was vacated and went to Liaodong. Thinking about it, Li Chengliang couldn't help but feel a chill in his heart.

Many of the things he did in Liaodong were not up to the standard.

In fact, what he feared most was that the court would move the tiger away from the mountain and settle accounts with him.

Li Chengliang left Chengtian Gate with a nervous mood and soon met with his son Li Rusong.

"Dad, what reward did the court give you? Why are you so depressed?"

Li Chengliang's mood was fully reflected on his face, without the slightest joy of being conferred.

Li Chengliang told him about the imperial reward. When he heard that his father would stay in the capital to take charge of the Right Army Commandery, Li Rusong smiled and said, "Dad, this is good news. We can finally leave the bitter cold land of Liaodong."

Li Chengliang just looked back at his son and said with regret, "Without Liaodong, how can you achieve success and be crowned as a noble or a prime minister? You are so foolish."