Wang Xian's solo presentation of his merits caused a sensation in the court.
On this day, Zhu Youtang still did not resume the court meeting, but he invited the main officials such as the Shangting Department, the Cabinet, and the Six Ministers to come to the inner court of the Qianqing Palace to discuss the matter. Zhang Zhou sent Xiao Jing to invite him.
"Mr. Zhang, Mrs. Changguo entered the palace early this morning. It is expected that she will have left the palace by now."
Xiao Jing specially reminded Zhang Zhou.
Mrs. Jin of Changguo, the mother of Empress Zhang, usually had nothing to do with going in and out of the palace, but after her two sons went off to war one after another, she really rarely entered the palace recently.
Xiao Jing reminded Zhang Zhou that he was actually hinting to Zhang Zhou... Although our family doesn't know what you are planning with His Majesty, we expect that Mrs. Chang Guo's entry into the palace is related to your plan, so it is necessary to let you know.
Zhang Zhou smiled and said, "Really?"
No comment.
Didn't you Xiao Jing say before that there are some things you don't want to know, and even if you know, you will pretend to be confused?
…
…
Jin's entry into the palace was indeed related to Zhu Youtang's desire to have a concubine, but she and her daughter still did not know that Zhu Youtang had a woman outside and was pregnant.
Empress Zhang invited her old mother into the palace because her two younger brothers who used to be able to help her are no longer around.
If it's an ordinary matter, anyone can do it, and any eunuch can get it done... But if it involves royal matters, especially the emperor, Empress Zhang must find someone she can completely trust." "One of our own", it seems that now only her mother in the capital is qualified for this position.
After Jin came out of the palace, she immediately went to the General Affairs Department, asked someone to go in and announced the news, and invited her husband's brother-in-law, Empress Zhang's uncle Shen Lu, to come out.
"Old lady, what are you doing?"
Shen Lu would naturally be surprised when he saw Jin.
The two of them have met in the past, but it was during the New Year and the holidays, and he had to go to see them in person, so he might not be able to meet anyone.
Now Jin actually came on his own initiative, not to his house, but directly to the yamen where he was doing business. This matter was not simple.
"Find a place to talk." Jin said.
Shen Lu said: "There is a tea shop nearby where you can rest, please."
When Shen Lu invited Jin to the government-run tea shop run by a messenger on the roadside, it only had one floor. After they settled down, people from the Duke of Chang's Palace blocked the outside so that the two of them could talk alone inside.
Jin explained that he had met Queen Zhang when he entered the palace.
After hearing this, Shen Lu was shocked and said: "Old madam, what you said is that your Majesty intends to have a concubine?"
Jin said: "Your Majesty did not say anything explicitly, but he hinted many times that he was mentioning this matter to the queen. The queen now wants to know where this girl is."
"this……"
Shen Lu was puzzled.
Where can I find people?
Jin said: "Your Majesty usually comes in and out of the palace, is there no news at all in the court?"
"Well...there is indeed no such rumor. Is it...that the Queen is too worried? In the past, the whole court had repeatedly reported the matter of His Majesty's concubine, but His Majesty sternly rejected it and ordered that no one should mention it again in the future. And, why is it now..."
Shen Lu actually wanted to say.
Is it because the queen is getting older and feels that her beauty is beginning to fade, and she is afraid that she will not be able to win over her husband? Also, because she has not been able to have any children in the past few years, she is not confident and starts to think wildly?
The average minister in the court would never be able to figure out why there was such a huge contrast between the emperor and the emperor.
This was the result of Empress Dowager Zhou and Zhang Zhou working together to attack Zhu Youtang's weaknesses.
For ordinary ministers, if they don't know what's going on, they will naturally not be able to understand the change in the emperor's mentality.
Jin said with a displeased face: "Your Majesty has some excuses for not having concubines, but who of the kings in ancient times could not have concubines for the rest of his life? Now I just want to know where the person is, do you have any idea?"
Don't say that Shen Lu doesn't have it.
Even if he had, he wouldn't try his best to serve the Jin family, just because...
He knew that Empress Zhang secretly investigated the emperor's possible women outside the palace, and most likely it was not out of good intentions. Is Wan Zhen'er awesome enough? But Wan Zhen'er still has to face a group of women competing for favor. No matter how devoted Emperor Chenghua is, he still has other women... What difficulties does this queen have to deal with a woman now?
"Sister, don't be impatient. It's best to consider this matter in the long run. Besides, His Majesty has really been out of the palace and had... the people who may know about it are definitely not these court ministers." Of course, Shen Lu had to take matters into his own hands. Push outward.
"You mean?" Jin frowned.
Shen Lu said: "We should ask the officials close to His Majesty, or... people who are close to His Majesty."
Jin nodded and said, "The internal officials are easy to talk to. The Queen will ask questions of her own accord, but who is the person who is close to Your Majesty?"
"Haha, old sister, do you need to say this clearly? Of course it's the Duke of Lai." Shen Lu said, "Don't worry about this. I'll go down and ask for you, or I can find out something in advance."
Jin said: "Zhang Bingkuan? He is not a bad person. He has been very helpful to my Zhang family."
"Yes, they are all members of the family, easy to talk to. Sister, tell me, among these people who are walking around inside and outside the palace, who dares not to give face to the queen and you? What's the benefit of him helping outsiders...?"
Shen Lu felt that even if Zhang Zhou would not betray Zhu Youtang, he would not dare not give Empress Zhang face.
In his opinion, if Zhang Zhouzhen knew about the emperor's affair, why would he need to hide it? Secretly cooperating with the Zhang family to find the person, is it not a simple matter for Zhang Zhou?
Besides, the emperor was probably just on a whim, how much affection could he have with a woman outside the palace? Would Zhang Zhou really offend the Zhang family in order to help someone with no power at all?
Jin nodded with satisfaction and said, "Then I'll trouble you more. I'll go back and wait for the news."
…
…
After Shen Lu sent Jin away, he couldn't help but sigh and walked in the direction of the General Affairs Office, still muttering: "What is this?"
For Shen Lu.
This is not a good job.
Regardless of whether Empress Zhang's suspicion was grounded or not, at least Shen Lu had to face the issue of the integrity of the emperor and his ministers. Helping the Zhang family might betray the emperor.
"Go, invite Xu Shangshu to come over...forget it, I'll go in person." Shen Lu usually wouldn't make his own decision when faced with such a thing.
He will think of another person, and that is his "brother-in-law" Xu Qiong. After Zhang Luan became successful, he married his sister to Xu Qiong as a concubine, which later enabled her daughter to enter the palace and become a queen.
The nepotism of this group of people is also connected because of the aunts of Queen Zhang and the three Zhang brothers.
But after Shen Lu arrived at the Ministry of Rites, he learned that Xu Qiong had been ordered to enter the palace to discuss military merits. He could only stay in the Ministry of Rites and wait for the return of his old friend.
…
…
Imperial Palace, inside the Qianqing Palace.
At this time, the recognition of relevant merits is being carried out.
Ma Wensheng, Minister of the Ministry of War, explained Wang Xian's report to Zhu Youtang one by one and analyzed it.
As for the cabinet and the other six ministries, including Zhang Zhou, they could only listen from the sidelines.
After hearing this, Zhu Youtang said in a very calm tone: "It is good to win, but the matter of merit and reward will have to wait for a detailed survey after the war. The report of Wang Xian and others alone is not enough." Determine merit based on judgment.”
This tone actually told the ministers present.
He, the emperor, already knew the outcome of the battle.
What you are so worried about and being deceived by Zhang Zhou are all unfounded worries.
Besides, since the grassland won the battle, did Zhang Zhou need to hide it from the emperor? It was not necessary for Zhang Zhou to deliberately step on Wang Xian in order to protect Lu Wan... They were all recommended by Zhang Zhou, and no matter how you look at it, the first victory in this battle belongs to Zhang Zhou.
Ma Wensheng said: "Your Majesty, in terms of the merits of the head, Jizhou's soldiers and horses took the highest merit in this battle, and even achieved extraordinary merit. They should be commended."
Zhu Youtang asked: "In the view of the Ministry of War, the officers and soldiers of Liaodong have little merit, or the merits of their nearly 40,000 soldiers and horses are not as good as those 4,000, right?"
After all, Ma Wensheng was not an ordinary stubborn civil servant. He looked at the three cabinet ministers next to him and found that they really had no intention of coming out to argue. It has been established in the past that obtaining the first level means military merit. No matter how many achievements the people in Liao Town have made, the first merit should be discussed first, and then the battle merit."
Ma Wensheng represents the Ministry of War.
His advice was that it was okay to discuss the merits of the Liaodong soldiers, but the merits of the heads should be clearly discussed first.
As for the merits of the Liaodong soldiers, they can be added to the first-level merits, so as not to violate the Ming Dynasty's previous method of recognizing military merits.
"How about two rewards for one merit?" Zhu Youtang asked.
Ma Wensheng was a little embarrassed.
He was still providing Zhu Youtang with a solution, but in fact it was equivalent to giving him two rewards. He would first discuss the contribution of the leader, and then recognize the contribution of the overall strategy after the discussion. In this way, the conflict between Liaodong and Jizhou was basically It can be resolved... Although the result is that Jizhou actually took a big advantage.
Ma Wensheng found that his opinions could not be adopted, so he could only take a step back in frustration.
Tu Fu, the Minister of Civil Affairs, asked: "What does your Majesty mean by this?"
Zhu Youtang said: "Didn't I say it? We have to wait for the survey before deciding. Does a victory have to involve so many twists and turns?"
Tu Yu said: "The whole battle was achieved through the cooperation of the people from Liaodong and Jizhou towns. It is inevitable that there will be disputes over the determination of military merit."
Zhu Youtang asked: "Then who decides this battle? Who should take the primary credit? Also, who has more say in deciding military merit?"
None of them wanted to take Zhang Zhou seriously.
But at this time everyone looked towards Zhang Zhou.
The emperor said the most basic truth in the calmest tone... Are you arguing over this? All of this was accomplished under Bingkuan's planning. He said whoever gets the credit deserves it. Don't you feel ashamed to fight for the soldiers of Jizhou here? Of course I don’t blame you either! Because this was planned by me and Bingkuan from the beginning, and Wang Xian himself deliberately created public opinion for that little credit.
You civil servants are just being led around by the nose.
Zhang Zhou hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, I don't dare to take credit for this battle. It's all due to the bloody battles of the frontline soldiers. However, I heard that Lu Wan, the governor of Liaodong, impeached the Jizhou troops for delaying the military aircraft in order to seize the credit, so that Unable to encircle the three Duoyan guards, most of the three Duoyan guards fled."
The few people around him were not surprised, but instead frowned slightly.
He said he had no position, but Zhang Zhou's position clearly tilted toward Liaodong.
Xie Qian smiled and said: "Mr. Lai Guo, are you a little biased in saying this? The matter of fighter planes is actually more difficult to determine than military merits. How can we be sure that the fighter planes were delayed because Jizhou's troops snatched military merits? Besides, the end of the First World War After that, the soldiers also need to rest and recuperate. Even if they go to fight non-stop, it is hard to say what the outcome will be. Who can say that they will definitely win?"
Zhang Zhou smiled: "Xie Ge always feels that it's thanks to the Jizhou soldiers who are snatching heads and ears, otherwise the three armies could have been completely annihilated, right?"
"Oh, Mr. Lai Guo, you can't say that. I'm just discussing the matter. Let's get back to the topic."
Xie Qian was also a master of sophistry in the court.
But in his heart, he was not consciously afraid of Zhang Zhou.
Because no matter how sophistical he is, he still has to follow some established procedures, like making jokes, but he must abide by the etiquette of the emperor and his ministers... But it was Zhang Zhou... his sophistry was simply unconstrained, and the satire value was full.
Arguing with a person who would not be blamed by the emperor no matter what he said in the court... Xie Qian was still under pressure.
The problem was thrown back to Zhu Youtang.
Zhu Youtang said: "It is difficult to determine the merits and demerits right now, so the imperial court will send the censor to verify, and the Metropolitan Procuratorate will select personnel as appropriate. In addition, the above-mentioned listening office and the Ministry of War will send people to coordinate."
The emperor wants to investigate.
The Metropolitan Procuratorate, the Shangting Office and the Ministry of War all sent people there, but none of them seemed to have anything to do with Zhang Zhou.
But Zhang Zhou is one of the latter two, which means that no matter how you check, there will definitely be someone who represents Zhang Zhou's will.
"Your Majesty, I recommend Tang Yin, the head of the Ministry of War, to teach at the Yanwu Hall." Zhang Zhou seemed to be singing a double act with Zhu Youtang.
As soon as the emperor said that he would send someone to investigate, Zhang Zhou directly recommended the manpower.
Take a hole first.
"Okay!" Zhu Youtang agreed unceremoniously, "Then let Tang Yin be the leader."
What?
Several ministers nearby became anxious upon hearing this.
You just made an internal decision, but now you are taking Tang Yin as the leader to investigate. Isn't this obviously a favor to Liaodong?
No matter how anxious they were, no one said anything, as if they were waiting for others to object.
Liu Jiandao: "With three envoys going there, it would be appropriate for each of them to report their investigation results."
Zhu Youtang asked: "Don't they need to reach a consensus first?"
Liu Jian also felt very anxious at this time. In fact, he also understood that the contribution of Wang Xian's Jizhou branch was actually not denied by the Liaodong branch represented by Lu Wan... There was a high probability that there was no need to check the result. In terms of the first-level credit, it was Jizhou. In terms of overall strategy, the Liaodong side contributes more... This back and forth investigation is more of a waste of time.
However, there is a high probability that there will be no need to fight in the winter, and it is okay for the court to deal with some nonsense about merit.
Seeing that Liu Jian didn't answer, Zhu Youtang waved his hand and said: "That's it. The matter has been settled. The Metropolitan Procuratorate and the Ministry of War will discuss the candidates as soon as possible. They will send people to Liaodong in the past two days... Ahem! Everyone, please come back. Bar."
In the end, the emperor coughed twice on purpose, perhaps specifically to show that he was still ill.
It turned out that someone wanted to remind the emperor whether we should resume the court discussions earlier, but looking at this posture... there was still a rift between the emperor and his ministers, so naturally they suppressed it first.
…
…
The ministers of the court left the palace, while Zhang Zhou went to Kunning Palace.
A group of people went outward, and he alone went inward.
Zhang Zhou went to "diagnose" Zhang Zhou at the invitation of Queen Zhang. Queen Zhang invited Zhang Zhou through her husband.
Inside Kunning Palace.
Zhu Youtang was away, so Empress Zhang left a personal maid this time. She probably had something important to discuss with Zhang Zhou.
Zhang Zhou seems to have nothing to avoid... Anyway, it was Zhu Youtang who asked him to come, and it was a scene where the husband fooled his wife with his friends. Zhang Zhou is still a very dedicated actor.
"The queen's health is fine." Zhang Zhouda looked around and asked about it before commenting.
Queen Zhang said: "Your Majesty has been saying recently that he has been restless, that he has nightmares all night long, and that there may be a risk of branch line severing in the future. He also said that these are all warnings given by the late emperor. Bingkuan, what do you think?"
Zhang Zhou thought to himself, is this what the late emperor said? This is clearly what I said.
And I didn’t scare the emperor. According to the development of history, it is indeed because your husband’s heirs are so few that they will be cut off in your next generation.
Even if your husband is fatuous and your son is mischievous, your lineage will not be cut off.
All this...isn't it because of you?
Zhang Zhou said: "I have few heirs. Your Majesty is thinking about you day by day, so naturally you will have dreams at night. As for entrusting dreams and other things, I don't believe it."
Empress Zhang was puzzled: "Aren't you very good at interpreting dreams? You don't believe in such things? But you..."
"My calculations about world affairs are all based on the Book of Changes and so on, which are not beyond the scope of human power. As for the interpretation of dreams, it is mysterious and mysterious. In the past, whether it was the Empress Dowager who asked me to interpret dreams, or Your Majesty, I They all said clearly that I’m not good at this.”
Zhang Zhou seemed to be an honest and reliable young gentleman in front of Queen Zhang.
Queen Zhang nodded and said, "But your Majesty may have someone outside the palace."
Zhang Zhou said: "It's not possible, it should be... there must be someone."
"you……"
Empress Zhang did not expect Zhang Zhou to be so direct. Although she felt it was inappropriate, she still waved her hand and dismissed the last palace maid beside her.
In this way, it became a separate relationship between Zhang Zhou and Queen Zhang.
"Queen, isn't this bad?" Zhang Zhou couldn't help but remind him when he saw this posture.
Empress Zhang said: "I know that the person your Majesty is looking for has nothing to do with you. It should be the Empress Dowager who is looking for your Majesty. And since your Majesty trusts you so much, he will definitely inform you of this matter. That's it. Bar?"
Zhang Zhouxin said, you are the one who is the most intelligent.
"Yes." Zhang Zhou admitted simply.
Actually... Queen Zhang was not wrong either.
The man was found by the old lady, and Zhang Zhou was just an embellishment. When it comes to big issues, Queen Zhang can be said to be a "discerning person".
Queen Zhang said angrily: "Where are they?"
Zhang Zhou sighed: "Queen, it doesn't matter where you are. The important thing is that this woman is already pregnant with Liujia."
"What?"
Queen Zhang suddenly stood up.
From what Zhang Zhou could see with his naked eyes, Queen Zhang was nervous. This was probably the first major crisis in her life.
(End of chapter)
