Ping Liaohou conquered the Japanese country in the east, opened up territory and established Andong Province. He formed an alliance with Mongolia, quelled the chaos of She'an, and won the victory of Jingnan. Due to his outstanding military achievements, he was awarded the title of Protector of the Country.
All the generals under his command were rewarded.
Sun Chuanting became the new Liaodong manager, and Qiao Yiqi entered the cabinet, replacing Zhao Shizhen and becoming the new Minister of Household Affairs.
The officials who stayed in Kaiyuan entered the customs in batches and were added to Dali Temple, Zhenfusi, Hubu and other government offices.
Wang Huazhen, Yuan Keli, Wang Zaijin and other big figures were also urgently transferred to the capital, either reinstated to their original posts, or promoted under unusual circumstances. Almost all of them entered the cabinet and took control of the six yamen.
In this way, Ping Liaohou quickly controlled the power center of the Ming Dynasty in his own way.
The internal and external defense of Beijing was also fully taken over by the Kaiyuan Army. The generals in the Military and Horse Division and the Beijing Camp were replaced. All generals who participated in Zhu Youjian's rebellion were exiled to the border areas.
When things have developed to this point, even Xu Xiake, who is not familiar with world affairs, can see that the Duke Protector's usurpation of power is getting faster and faster.
The emperor controls the rank and salary, and the princes, princes, and sons of all princes are of the fifth rank.
A duke is a duke, second only to a prince.
However, the title of Lord Protector is not an ordinary title.
From the Qin and Han Dynasties to the Manchu and Qing Dynasties, no one in China's two thousand years of history had ever been named Protector of the Country.
The only person in the world who was named Lord Protector was Oliver Cromwell, who sent King Charles I to the guillotine. This Lord Protector was the son of Captain Oreo Cromwell, a prisoner of the British army. Brother.
By the way, Captain Oreo Cromwell, who has now surrendered to the Lord Protector, is undergoing two months of labor reform at the Wonsan Iron Mine in North Korea.
In short, after being granted the title of Lord Protector, Liu Zhaosun had consolidated military and political power.
As the Protector of the Ming Dynasty, the Governor of Korea, the Chief Secretary of Japan, and the Archbishop of Asia, he controls Liaodong, Shandong, Mongolia, and Northern Zhili. He is only one step away from ascending the throne and proclaiming himself emperor.
Unknowingly, he had become the most powerful man in the Ming Dynasty and even in Asia.
"I have never been interested in power or women."
This is what I often say to people around me on the Day of Protecting the Country, just like a certain richest man in later generations often said that he is not interested in money, which makes people feel a bit hypocritical.
However, if you say some words countless times, even you will eventually believe them.
~~~~~~~
The eunuch Wang Chengen, the eunuch Bingbi, the Superintendent of Ceremonies, was not only a confidant of the Tianqi Emperor Zhu Youjian, but also an agent placed in the palace by the Protector Liu Zhaosun. He was a standard double agent.
Wang Chengen is only sixteen years old this year, and he doesn't know many words, but his eye for the limelight is better than many Beijing officials.
The emperor ordered Wang Chengen to arrest Yang Hao and his daughter, but Wang Gonggong just secretly placed them under house arrest.
It is estimated that even if the father and daughter were sent to prison, no one would dare to accept them.
It should be noted that Ping Liaohou, in a rage, destroyed the ancestral family in Western Liao for the sake of his Korean concubine, and almost wiped out the family of Wu Sangui, the original owner of the concubine.
If the marquis Pingliao's wife and father-in-law were touched, the warrior would get angry and kill the ceremonial supervisor and the governor.
Moreover, people outside don't know how much Emperor Tianqi weighs. These eunuchs and father-in-laws are all well-connected, so from the very beginning they have been doing it in secret, and only left the dirty work to the officials and nobles in the capital.
Emperor Tianqi was older than the women in the palace and was no longer young. He had no idea what his subordinates were doing. It was not until the Kaiyuan army came to the city and the capital was once again controlled by Liu Zhaosun that he realized that the people around him had long been defeated. The Marquis of Liao bribed and controlled.
On the day the Kaiyuan Army returned to the capital, Wang Chengen sent someone to send Yang Hao and his daughter back to Zhang's old residence.
The so-called Zhang Mansion refers to the mansion that Zhang Juzheng, the chief minister of Wanli, stayed in the capital.
Shortly after the Battle of Jingnan in the first year of Tianqi, this most famous mansion in the capital was given to Marquis Ping Liao and his family by Zhu Youjian, who had just ascended the throne at that time.
~~~~~
On April 12, the second year of Tianqi, Liu Zhaosun strolled through Zhang Juzheng's old residence, which would soon be renamed the Protector's Mansion.
Sun Chuanting, Qiao Yiqi, Wang Huazhen, Yuan Keli and others accompanied him.
Pei Dahu and Shen Lian were guarding the surroundings with their guards. Among the rockeries in the corridor were Chinese guardsmen holding sharp swords.
Over the years, Liu Zhaosun destroyed the Hou Jin Dynasty, destroyed Liaoxi, pacified Bailian, conquered Japan, and fought against the Red Mao Yi. They captured cities and territories along the way and caused heavy slaughter.
According to incomplete statistics, the number of people who died at the hands of Liu Zhaosun exceeded one hundred thousand.
Therefore, the assassins of the Protector have been arranged from Paris, France to New Netherland (New York) in the New World.
Everyone surrounded the Duke of Guo as he walked through the deep corridor of the mansion. Liu Zhaosun had been walking for a long time, but he still had not arrived at his destination - the wing where Yang Qing'er was.
The architectural design of the Zhang Mansion is a typical Jiangnan garden-style mansion in the late Ming Dynasty, which is magnificent and extremely luxurious.
The wood materials used in the carved-beam pavilions are all precious rosewood, nanmu, rosewood, Araucaria and Chinese beech.
Walking in the corridor, there is a faint scent of rosewood surrounding you.
Everyone finally reached the end of the corridor, turned left, and walked to a pavilion.
"Love Wan Ting."
Liu Zhaosun raised his head and saw three big red lacquer characters on the pavilion plaque. They were leaning against each other, opening and closing, and had a unique character.
Under the Aiwan Pavilion is a square of clear water, with a piece of Taihu stone standing in the water. It has different shapes, various postures, and is clear and transparent. The exquisiteness of the stacking and the vast scale are rare even in Jiangnan.
"Lord Protector, do you know who inscribed this plaque?"
While everyone was walking and admiring the garden, they heard Qiao Yiqi ask in a cadence.
Liu Zhaosun blurted out without thinking:
"Besides Zhang Jiangling, who else is there?"
Qiao Yiqi had traveled extensively, and when he saw that no one knew about it, he looked proud, shook his head and said with a smile:
"After Zhang Juzheng's death, Emperor Shenzong wished he could crush his bones into ashes. How could he leave his legacy behind? This house was taken back by the emperor ten years after Wanli."
Liu Zhaosun was in a hurry to see his wife, Yang Qing'er, and had no time to talk nonsense with Qiao, so he could only say perfunctorily:
"It wasn't written by Zhang Juzheng, was it his son?"
Qiao Yiqi laughed, no longer pretending, and quickly revealed the answer:
"It is Emperor Shenzong himself. In the tenth year of Wanli, Zhang Taiyue was fifty-eighth birthday. He was mentally and physically exhausted. He appealed to the emperor many times and asked to go into seclusion. Wanli refused and gave him this plaque. It is taken from the Tang poem "Stop and sit in love in the maple forest at night, frost. "The leaves are red and the flowers are in February", which means to make him brave..."
Ma Shiying stood up and interjected:
"Haha, before the red paint on this plaque was dry, in July of that year, Grand Master Zhang passed away to bliss. The Zhang family was so extravagant that dozens of people starved to death in the end."
Sun Chuanting sighed loudly: "I heard that Emperor Shenzong promoted his age and practiced Zuo, and Zhang Taiyue reformed state affairs and served as the emperor's tutor. He often assisted the young emperor in his homework. Once he checked and recited "Shang Shu", the young emperor mispronounced a word. Zhang Juzheng was furious and frightened the palace. No one dared to speak out."
Liu Zhaosun's heart skipped a beat. Only now did he know that Zhang Juzheng died at the age of fifty-eight.
If this reformer had been allowed to die a few more years later, if the Kao Cheng Law and the One Whip Law had been allowed to continue to be implemented, and Qi Jiguang had continued to stay in Jizhen to lead the army, I don’t know what would have happened to the history of the late Ming Dynasty. Change.
At least, the results of the Wanli War to Aid Korea and the subsequent Battle of Saarhu will be very different.
Looking at the magnificent mansion in front of him, with everything changing and people changing, the traveler was filled with emotions for a moment.
What Liu Zhaosun did to Emperor Tianqi these days was getting harder and harder. Compared to Zhang Juzheng, Ping Liaohou was a hundred times more tyrannical.
Looking at history, only the likes of Huo Guang, Gaocheng and Sima, and only the actions of these people, can rival him.
Liu Zhaosun suddenly thought that if the current development continues, after his death, either like Zhang Juzheng and Huo Guang, the whole family will be liquidated and no one will be left alive, or like the Western Jin Dynasty and Northern Qi Dynasty, the power will be stolen and the country will be destroyed and the family will be destroyed. .
Liu Zhaosun waved his hand and stopped thinking about these troublesome things.
The road still has to be walked step by step. The most important thing is that he has accepted his new position:
A power-hungry and lustful tycoon.
"I heard that Zhang Jiangling was greedy for women, and Qi Shaobao also offered him a beautiful concubine. I heard it from my adoptive father before, but I don't know whether it is true or not."
Liu Zhaosun asked casually, but everyone immediately showed great enthusiasm.
The topic of women is always indispensable in chats between men.
"The Lord Protector doesn't know that when Zhang Taishi was in the capital, he searched for all kinds of beauties. He took eleven concubines in succession, all of them as beautiful as heavenly beings. Including his goddaughter, there were exactly twelve. They were known as the "Twelve Beauties of the East Gate" "."
Qiao Yiqi boasted that he had traveled all over the mountains and rivers and was well-informed, so he immediately enthusiastically informed the travelers about the romantic affairs of Grand Master Zhang back then.
Ma Shiying smiled coldly, with a look of disdain on his face, and immediately corrected Qiao Yiqi:
"Stop, stop, Supervisor Qiao, don't confuse things. This is just hearsay and cannot be believed. There is no such thing as the Twelve Hairpins of the East Gate, but the Thirteen Hairpins of Jinling! The wing to the east of Zhang's Mansion was called Jinling Tower back then. Ten The three beauties are all hidden in the Jinling Tower. The thirteenth concubine is a thin horse from Yangzhou, but she is the oiran of Qinhuai. Qi Jiguang spent 8,000 taels of silver to redeem her..."
Of course Liu Zhaosun didn't know these inside stories. He was dumbfounded and couldn't help saying:
"Is this true? How can an old man in his fifties have such energy?"
Everyone burst into laughter. At this time, Wang Huazhen, who was sixty-one years old, took out a colorful small bottle from his sleeve and said mysteriously:
"Didn't Lord Protector know that King Kong San is gone? It's a pity that Lao Kang is not here. Back then, his father relied on this little bottle to fill the vacancy of the magistrate of Taizhou."
Ma Shiying, Wang Huazhen, and Wang Zaijin all came from official families, and there were many former subordinates of Zhang Juzheng in their families, so talking about this sexy news is obviously more credible.
At this time, the gray-bearded Wang Zaijin was in high spirits, spitting like stars, and said vividly in front of the Lord Protector:
"Back then, my uncle was the censor on duty in the imperial city, and he once entered the Zhang Mansion with the eunuch who announced the decree. According to his old man, the thirteen beauties were divided into each building in the long lane of the hospital, and each occupied a room in order. It is said that when they arrived, In the evening, the maid brought a silver plate with various concubines' teeth cards on them. Master Zhang turned over one at random, and the maid called the concubine by the name on the card to serve her, just like the emperor turning over the cards..."
This group of elite bureaucrats of the Ming Dynasty had nothing to do with Zhang Juzheng's love affair.
Even Yuan Keli and Sun Chuanting, who were usually serious about words, stroked their beards, closed their eyes slightly, and recalled the distant past events of their childhood.
When Shen Lian was in Dongchang, he often took Fanzi out to raid homes. He had long been tired of looking at mansions like the one in front of him.
Shen Lian brought Zuo Miaoqing back to the capital and took good care of her. The woman's madness gradually improved a lot.
Every time he sees Zuo Miaoqing, Shen Lian will think of many past events.
Looking at the group of civil servants in front of him who were still chatting about the scenery of Qinhuai, Shen Lian looked calm and said nothing.
Liu Zhaosun listened to Qiao Yiqi talking about his encounter with a beautiful woman at Qinhuai Confucius Temple for the twenty-second time. Finally he couldn't bear it anymore and said goodbye to several subordinates, letting them continue to indulge in the passionate years of youth scientific examination. He took Shen Lian and Pei Dahu with him and walked towards Madam Gaoming's wing.
"Wu Xiaolin Yu and the others are back?"
Shen Lian said quickly: "Yes, sir, they have just arrived at Tianjin Guard and will be able to return to Beijing in the next two days."
The scene of the battle between the Chinese Guards and the Shiranui Demon Monk appeared in front of my eyes.
The three of them walked a few steps. Pei Dahu looked around and said in a low voice:
"Master Liu Hou, Lin Yu beheaded the demon monk and brought the head back. General Jin heard a Japanese girl say that as long as he eats the flesh and blood of the demon monk, he can live forever."
