Under night, in the Forbidden City, Emperor Chongzhen looked down from his throne, watching Lan Tianbao and three chamberlains "accompanying" the old fritters who had finished writing confessions and exited the palace to wait for the order. Then he lowered his head and looked at the submission. Eight anonymous confessions came up.
Outside the main hall, the cold wind was whistling, and inside the main hall, there was a "crackling" sound, and occasionally there was the sound of burning wicks. Other than that, there was basically no sound.
Chen Baoting and four other chamberlains stood with their hands down, waiting in the palace, quietly waiting for the emperor's orders.
They have learned a lot today!
Normally, for them, the superior eunuchs would freeze outside for an hour, and then the emperor would tell them to do whatever they wanted. At least on the surface, they were as obedient as sheep.
At this moment, they deeply realized that there was only one real tiger in this palace, and the others were just paper tigers!
Being appreciated by the emperor and accompanying him directly from the inner study hall is his great opportunity. No matter what, he must firmly seize this opportunity given by God!
While they were thinking about it, they suddenly heard Emperor Chongzhen sneer and murmur to himself: "Haha, they are indeed a bunch of old fools!"
Upon vaguely hearing these words, Chen Baoting and others immediately held their voices and held their breath, not daring to make any sound that would distract the emperor's attention.
After finishing speaking, Emperor Chongzhen on the throne threw away the confession book in his hand and shook his head. He could be regarded as suddenly isolating them and not giving them a chance to discuss, but the papers each of them confessed were all about evading the important and trivial matters.
Speaking of which, I am still fooling myself. A very simple thing is enough to show that these palm print eunuchs have not written down all the illegal things they know about in the palace.
For example, Emperor Chongzhen didn't believe that Xue Guoguan, the assistant minister of the cabinet, knew about the problems in the East Factory. Wouldn't these eunuchs who were in charge of the palace know? However, none of the eight palm eunuchs mentioned this matter. Obviously, if this matter is revealed, it is likely to involve them in serious matters!
The officialdom in the late Ming Dynasty was rotten! At the same time, the officialdom in the palace was actually rotten. They cover each other up, and they can all work together to deceive the emperor with just one look, without even looking at each other.
Thinking of this, Emperor Chongzhen couldn't help but sneer.
If the original Emperor Chongzhen had no way to break this situation, the current Emperor Chongzhen has many ways to break the situation.
For example, today's anonymous reporting method can be used to extend it to the eunuchs at the next level, or even the eunuchs and chamberlains at the bottom. With so many people in the palace, someone would definitely reveal the matter to the emperor anonymously.
However, Emperor Chongzhen's experience in his previous life told him that if he really wanted to do this, people in the palace would be panicked. The implications were too wide, and unexpected things might happen and an unmanageable situation would arise.
There is a certain truth to the saying that the law does not punish everyone. The impact area must be narrowed within a controllable range so as not to cause a full rebound.
Anyway, this time, let’s take advantage of this matter to deal with Cao Huachun’s matter first.
Emperor Chongzhen thought of this and ordered: "Come on, burn these fire dishes!"
The sound was a bit loud and could be heard faintly outside the palace. The eight palm print eunuchs waiting at the palace gate looked at each other and seemed a little surprised. They were surprised that the emperor went to such great lengths to make them write a confession and then burned it so easily? Shouldn't we deal with these confessions?
Under the doubts in his heart, and because the four chamberlains who had just come out of the inner study hall were watching, it was difficult to ask each other about the situation, so they could only wait quietly.
After a while, the emperor walked out of the palace, obviously going to have a meal.
Seeing the eight palm print eunuchs at the door, Emperor Chongzhen smiled and said: "You are indeed my confidant who can report such an important situation. As long as the situation is indeed the case, I don't know who reported it, and I will pardon all eight of you." Don’t worry that I will pursue it.”
After saying that, he turned around and left.
When the eight palm print eunuchs heard this, they realized that they were also smart people, but they didn't know whether to thank them or deny it.
By thanking him, wouldn't it mean to others that he was the one who reported the important situation mentioned by the emperor? Then who was it that the emperor asked to write anonymously and burned the confession book to find out what could not be investigated at once?
If someone is punished later, as long as they don't die, there is still a chance to turn around, or they get grace, it's just a verbal punishment, then the ensuing revenge must be very severe. This is not what any of them want to see.
But if he denies what he wrote instead of thanking him, wouldn't he be telling the emperor that he did not report that important situation? Looking back, I found out that if it had something to do with me and I concealed it, it would not be as simple as losing the favor!
Faced with a dilemma, the eight of them, worthy of being palace veterans, unexpectedly bowed together to express their gratitude. This way, everything remains anonymous.
Emperor Chongzhen, who had already left, heard the neat voice of thanks coming from behind him, and the corner of his mouth curled up slightly, showing a trace of disdain. Even if all of you are monkey spirits, then I am the Tathagata Buddha. Let’s see how you can uncover my Five Fingers Mountain!
Putting this matter behind him and looking up at the half moon in the sky, Emperor Chongzhen couldn't help but think of Lu Xiangsheng again. In the past half day, he sorted out his memories about Lu Xiangsheng and found that some of the suggestions Lu Xiangsheng had made before were very good suggestions. It is a pity that it offended the interests of vested interests and ended up being left undisturbed. It was not promoted and adhered to by the original Emperor Chongzhen. Otherwise, at least Emperor Chongzhen would not have hanged himself!
Thinking like this, he even more desperately hoped that Lu Xiangsheng would be fine. Looking up at the moon, I thought to myself: I wonder if my previous efforts could have saved him? I hope God bless me and don’t let me lose a truly useful talent!
Emperor Chongzhen naturally didn't know that at this time, there were people anxiously working to save Lu Xiangsheng!
The rapid sound of horse hooves did not slow down at all even when they arrived in Jize City. At the gate of the former county government office, now the superintendent's office, the captain on duty frowned when he saw that the speed of the three cavalrymen was not slowing down, and waved his hand to get someone to stop him.
However, the speed of these three riders was so fast that they arrived in an instant.
The neighing sound of "咴咴咴" sounded, and the war horse stopped suddenly in pain and stood up with its front hooves.
The knight on the horse rolled off the saddle almost at the same time and fell to the ground. When the other two knights behind him saw him, they quickly dismounted and tried to grab a hand.
But the man had already gotten up from the ground. Without standing firm, he stumbled towards the door. At the same time, he puffed out white air and said loudly: "The lower official is Yang Tinglin, the staff director of the Ministry of War. I have urgent military information and I want to see the director!"
Hearing this and seeing the embarrassed look of this civil servant, the colonel at the gate couldn't help but be startled. Then he came back to his senses and without any hesitation, he stepped forward and stopped him: "The director has taken a break and will not see any guests!"
When Yang Tinglin heard this, he stopped and took a closer look, and found that he was not the captain from the daytime. But at this time, he didn't care about this and shouted loudly: "There is an urgent military situation. The subordinate must meet with the director. Please pass on the message!"
Recalling that his colleague who was on duty during the day was scolded by the director, the captain immediately shook his head and replied: "It is already dark at this time, so there are no guests! Otherwise, it will affect the director's handling of military affairs tomorrow, and no one can bear this responsibility!"
The fact is that Gao Qiqian has already told him that all matters related to Lu Xiangsheng will be blocked. Since Yang Tinglin had been here during the day, they naturally knew why he came, so they naturally blocked him from seeing him.
Yang Tinglin had made up his mind to come here, but when he heard this, he was willing to give up, his eyes widened with anger, and he was ready to fight.
