With Huang Mengyu, the admiral of the Dongchang, entering the city is definitely not a problem, but if he just goes into the city, with his high pragmatic status and reputation, he can do it himself. The real trouble now is entering the palace.
According to the system of the Ming Dynasty, after the palace city was closed, it was difficult for even the emperor to leave the palace. That is to say, secret service leaders like Huang Mengyu were able to come and go freely. But unless he dared to use his head as a chamber pot, he would never dare to take the emperor with him. Such a pragmatic foreign minister enters the palace.
When entering the palace city in the middle of the night, you cannot take the Meridian Gate due south, because after the Meridian Gate is the Jinshui Bridge, which is directly opposite the Huangji Gate. Behind the Huangji Gate is the Huangji Hall, which symbolizes imperial power. [These two places were named "Fengtian" in the early Ming Dynasty, namely Fengtianmen and Fengtian Hall. After Jiajing, they were renamed "Huangji", Huangjimen and Huangji Hall. During the Shunzhi period of the Tatar and Qing Dynasties, they were both renamed "Taihe", that is Taihe Gate and Taihe Hall. ]
And similarly, you can't go through the Xuanwu Gate in the north - the moment you enter from here is the harem. What do you want to do when you break into the harem in the middle of the night?
Theoretically, you can walk through Xihua Gate, but over there is Taiye Pool, also known as Sanhai, which cannot be entered at night.
Therefore, there is only one feasible way to enter the palace, which is Donghua Gate in the southeast of the palace city.
Since the capital of the Ming Dynasty has three levels, inside and outside, Gao Pragmatic's route tonight actually involves entering the city through three gates: first entering the city through Desheng Gate, walking all the way to the southeast, relying on Huang Mengyu's favor to enter the imperial city through Dong'an Gate, and then continue Go west and find a way to enter the Donghua Gate. This is when you enter the palace city.
Deshengmen is the simplest, and the rotating garrison here is the most discerning. For a person like Gao Pragmatic, they will definitely not admit their mistakes, not to mention that no one in Gao's family in the capital dares to impersonate, so when entering the city Not difficult.
Gao Pragmatic chose to ride a horse, and Huang Mengyu had no choice but to abandon his sedan chair and ride with him on horseback. When these two appeared outside Deshengmen, how could the mere Qian General, the guard of Deshengmen, dare to stop them? In addition, when Gao Jingshi sent someone to call the door, he said, "I have something important to report to the emperor urgently." Then even the last bit of trouble would be gone. Even if the censors wanted to cause trouble, they could only go to Gao Shizhong, who was only a thousand-year-old. In short, I guess it doesn’t even deserve to be mentioned.
After entering Deshengmen, walk southeast, turn left when you reach the Drum Tower, then turn right when you reach Kaiyuan Temple, then go all the way south, pass Yulin Youwei and turn right again to reach Dong'anmen.
Although Huang Mengyu did not dare to bring Gao Jingshi into the palace city, it was still possible to enter the imperial city. He showed off his authority as the chief eunuch of the Bureau of Ceremony and the governor of the East Factory, and took Gao Jingshi and his entourage without even giving a reason. Go in.
After entering Dong'an Gate, Huang Mengyu became more cautious, and even said to Gao Pingshi with some worry: "Shidu, things are not as good as they used to be. It's not easy for you to enter the palace in the middle of the night..."
Of course Gao Jingshi knew it would not be easy. Although in theory, both Huang Mengyu and Chen Ju had the ability to bring him into the palace, it would be a suicidal move for them. Gao Jingshi could not possibly ask for this.
So Gao Pragmatic just asked: "Old Huang, who is more convenient for you or Lao Chen to see the emperor? I mean, at this time."
Huang Mengyu said: "Everyone can meet him, but after all, Lao Chen has been working with the emperor for many years. It is more convenient for him to go to the meeting than for us to go to the meeting."
Gao pragmatic nodded and asked: "It should be convenient for you to go to Ciqing Palace to see the Queen Mother Rensheng, right?"
Long before Gao Pragmatic overthrew Feng Bao, he had arranged for Huang Mengyu to join Empress Dowager Chen. Now that Huang Mengyu was in the harem and nominally a confidant of Empress Dowager Chen, there was no problem for him to go to Ciqing Palace to find Empress Dowager Chen.
The only question is, what to do with Queen Mother Chen?
Although Queen Mother Chen has a high status, because she is not the emperor's biological mother, she rarely interferes with court affairs. She even rarely interferes with matters in the harem. Most of the time, Queen Mother Li takes the initiative to send people to inquire. Only then will she take a stand.
But what Gao pragmatically wants is her status.
Empress Dowager Chen and Empress Dowager Li, the empress dowager Rensheng and the empress dowager Cisheng. Because of Gao Pragmatic's suggestion at that time, Gao Gong promoted the two of them as "two palaces with equal respect". In theory, they are equal.
However, no matter how you say it, before the "two palaces were honored together", Empress Dowager Chen was Empress Chen, and Empress Dowager Li was just Concubine Li. There was a clear difference in status.
If we compare it to the folk analogy, only Queen Mother Chen is the legitimate royal wife!
The current status of Queen Mother Li actually comes from Zhu Yijun, the emperor's son.
Therefore, since Queen Mother Li's decision is to be overturned tonight, there is only one person in the entire Ming Dynasty who has this title and status, and that is Queen Mother Chen.
Apart from her, even the emperor Zhu Yijun is not easy to talk to - after all, the country is governed by filial piety, and a son's stubbornness in front of his mother will not go anywhere. Just like a young and successful son like Gao Jingshi, when talking about Huang Zhiting in front of his mother Zhang, he can only rely on persuasion. In some dramas, running away from home and starting his own business is completely child's play and can only be done by persuasion. Become a stain in life.
As soon as Gao Pragmatic mentioned the Queen Mother Chen, Huang Mengyu understood the elegant meaning of Xian Ge and nodded: "Don't worry, Shidu, our family understands, but... I don't know what Shidu wants our family to tell the Queen Mother Chen?"
Gao pragmatic listened and said "such and such", and Huang Mengyu nodded repeatedly.
Then Gao Jingshi said: "In addition, you go to the palace and send someone to inform Lao Chen and ask him to talk to the emperor. Just say that I have an urgent matter to meet the emperor."
Although Huang Mengyu was stunned for a moment, he immediately agreed.
Generally speaking, few ministers regard the palace confinement system as nothing and come to see the emperor in the middle of the night. Even the cabinet ministers will not meet the emperor overnight unless there is a huge crisis in the country. On the one hand, it is inconvenient and against the rules. , on the other hand, it was also because the emperor did not necessarily agree.
Gao Jingshi was not too worried about Zhu Yijun refusing to see him. He felt that this possibility basically did not exist. The only trouble was the issue of violation of regulations. The palace ban system of Lao Zhu's family was quite strict. At that time, Gao Jingshi was because he was young, and Emperor Longqing was against His high-arched nephew received special care again, but it was different now. Today he was a serious man.
He explained to Huang Mengyu how to send a message to Chen Ju, and Huang Mengyu felt relieved after hearing this.
Although entering the palace itself is against the rules, the trouble can always be kept to a minimum by following a highly pragmatic approach. Presumably, when the princess case breaks out, the points of controversy among the court officials will also shift, and firepower is unlikely to be directed at them. .
Arriving outside the Donghua Gate, Huang Mengyu entered the palace with several eunuchs, leaving Gao Jingshi and more than a dozen servants waiting outside. After a while, the Donghua Gate actually opened. Gao Jingshi was a little surprised, but Seeing the general commanding the guards inside, he ran out with a Taishi chair, nodded and bowed and said: "Shizhong Gao, please forgive me, we don't dare to violate the imperial system... but we don't dare to watch you standing outside the door, please." Please sit down, please sit down."
It was too dark at night, and it wasn't until he spoke that Gao Pingshi noticed that it was Jingjun who was responsible for guarding Donghua Gate today.
The Jing Army is under the leadership of the Royal Horse Supervisor, and its immediate boss is Chen Ju. No wonder he is so flattering.
Gao Pragmatic's expression relaxed slightly, and he nodded and said: "Okay, you both have rules and flexibility in doing things, yes, yes, I will mention it in front of Chen Yuma if I have time another day, go ahead. .”
The guard general couldn't help being happy and thanked him repeatedly, but he didn't dare to disturb him too much. When he saw Gao pragmatic sitting down by the moat bridge, he nodded and bowed back.
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