In the fourth year of Longqing, on October 19, the quarrel in Beijing came to an end with the sudden demotion of Rao Renkan, Wu Shangxian and others, the backbone of the main battle faction.

Of course, the victory of the Lord and the faction was mainly due to the insistence of the cabinet and the emperor Jiana, but there was another important reason, which was that yesterday the crown prince's companion Yu Gao was pragmatic and sent to inspect the defense of Xuanda and to observe the government on behalf of the crown prince.

This time, in addition to repeating the benefits of accepting tribute, Gao Pragmatic brought a good news: through his negotiations with Huang Mengyu, the eunuch of Datong Town, and I answered, I have decided that as long as Daming accepts his request for tribute, he will return all the remnants of the White Lotus led by Zhao Quan to Daming, and let Daming dispose of them.

And, in order to show sincerity, these people have been captured by Alta from Dabansheng City, and now they are all escorted to the Alta Zhongjun and Desheng Fort, and the Desheng Fort has sent people to the Alta Army Lieutenant General to verify the identity of these anti-thieves, just wait for the court to say a word, and I will hand over the people.

The importance that the Ming Dynasty attaches to the remnants of the White Lotus has been described in detail above, and there is no need to repeat it here, so after the news of Gao Shishi reached the Beijing Division, the main battle faction knew from top to bottom that it was impossible and irreversible to block this tribute.

Sure enough, early the next morning, Longqing's Zhu Pi came down, and not only reprimanded the main battle opinions in a stern tone, but also demoted and transferred the most fierce people from the main battle faction to foreign posts. At the same time, Longqing ordered the cabinet to immediately discuss the details of the tribute.

In addition, in view of the excellent performance of the deputy envoy of the Qin Mission, the prince accompanied Gao Pragmatic, Longqing issued another decree and ordered Gao Pragmatic to return to Beijing immediately to report the details of my request for tribute.

This hand was a little unexpected, he originally thought that Long Qing could wait for him to finish the matter of answering the tribute and then return to Beijing to report on his work, but now under the holy decree, he can only return to Beijing by order.

Because the first holy decree and the prince's decree he had received before required him to return to the palace immediately after returning to Beijing, Gao Shishi did not even return to the Gao Mansion after returning to Beijing, and went directly to the palace to make a statement.

The emperor and the crown prince came forward together and listened to Gao Shishi's report in the Wenhua Palace.

However, neither the emperor nor the crown prince said on the spot whether they would accept it or not, but only said that they would forward the contents of the report to the cabinet for detailed deliberation. But Gao Pragmatic didn't run in vain, he was rewarded-not only twenty or thirty taels of silver like Qi Jiguang, but a big red silk bullfighting suit.

Bullfighting costumes and python costumes and flying fish suits, because of the ornamentation of the costumes, are similar to the dragon gon costumes worn by the emperor, which are not in the official uniform system, but the Ming Dynasty to make eunuchs or ministers of the Ming Dynasty receive special rewards. Among them, the bullfighting suit is a kind of grand costume second to the python suit and the flying fish suit, and according to common sense, the high and pragmatic grade should never be given a bullfighting suit - even if the word "fake" of his "fake bachelor" should not be removed. Generally speaking, the number one Hanlin bachelor of the Hanlin Academy is barely qualified.

However, due to the Zhengde and Jiajing dynasties indiscriminately giving python clothes and flying fish suits, these systems are now somewhat collapsed, and Gao Pragmatic has played a big role in the court's determination to pay tribute to me this time, so this bullfighting suit was given, and the outside world did not react much to this reward - Gao Pragmatic is a civil official no matter how he says it, and civil officials must be rewarded for their merits, but Gao Pragmatic itself is a special case in the imperial court official system, and it is impossible to add him to the official rank, so give him a bullfighting uniform, and everyone thinks it's okay.

"I worked so a business trip, and I only mixed up a piece of clothes!" This is Gao pragmatic muttering with a roll of his eyes.

However, when he got the bullfighting suit that had been given to him, his mood changed again, because he found that the bullfighting suit was not embroidered with a cow, but a dragon.

It was a big red dragon robe, to be exact—except that the dragon had a pair of large, curved horns.

The ancients divided dragons into four types: those with scales were called dragons; Those with wings are called Ying Long; The horned one is called the dragon; The hornless one is called a dragon.

Bullfighting is a dragon.

As for the python suit, it is also a dragon, which is different from the emperor's dragon only in its claws, but it is four claws, not the emperor's five claws; The Flying Fish is a dragon with wings and a tail.

Gao Pragmatic is still a very contented person on the whole, and he feels that he has mixed up a "dragon robe", and it will be easier to see people when he goes out in the future - before that, he was a small official in a green robe among the people who went in and out of the palace all day long, which was worse than some eunuchs in the palace, because many eunuchs wore flying fish suits, and his green robe was mixed in every day, which was indeed a bit cold.

Now that he has been given a bullfighting suit, in front of these people in the future, he feels completely different. Although theoretically speaking, the flying fish suit is a little more advanced than the bullfighting suit, but in fact, the reward of the flying fish suit is the most indiscriminate, needless to say, the various flying fish suits in the Jinyi Wei Yamen are needless to say, and the flying fish suit in the inner court is also indiscriminate to the point of speechlessness, so in fact, it is difficult to reflect the so-called dignity. After all, in this period, "there are as many unicorns as dogs, and flying fish are all over the street" - of course, if this unicorn and flying fish are worn on civilian officials, it is still worth mentioning.

On the contrary, bullfighting clothes are relatively rare, and in Gao Pragmatic's view, in addition to the python robe, it is more face-saving to wear the bullfighting suit......

When he returned home, Gao Pragmatic hurriedly changed out of the green robe of the white pheasant, put on the big red silk bullfighting costume to show off, and the two little girls who admired the moon and listened to the piano also made fun of praising him for becoming more and more handsome in this body, and made a high attendant so beautiful that his face was full of smiles.

It's a pity that Stinky Beauty didn't have enough time, and it didn't take long for Gao Gong to return home, and immediately sent someone to call Gao Shishi over. As a result, Gao Pragmatic looked at the big red python robe on Gao Gong's body, and suddenly wilted.

Gao Gong didn't notice Gao Shi's pragmatic look, but said with a serious face: "This time you intervened in this matter, and some people in the capital are afraid that they have some ideas......"

Gao Pragmatic was stunned for a moment, frowned, and said: "Third Uncle, I just happened to meet this time, and I was just needed to go to Desheng Fort to lure the enemy with the title of Qincha at that time." ”

Gao Gong glanced at him and snorted lightly: "Then you have to go?" Are you a messenger? ”

"Well, Senior Brother Huazhang went with Jianchuan Gong at that time." Gao pragmatic explained a little weakly.

Gao Gong glared at him: "You volunteered to go to Desheng Fort, don't I know?" Then he waved his hand again: "Now is not the time to say this, no matter why you go, in short, you have mixed too much in this matter, and there will always be people who are not happy...... I mean, you will go back to Xinzheng in February next year for reference, and now it will be November anyway, so you just go back to your hometown in advance to prepare. ”

Gao Shi was slightly stunned, and subconsciously said: "Go back now, isn't it a little early?" ”

Gao Gong shook his head and said, "It's not too early, because you still have to go to Anyang on the way." ”

"Anyang?" Gao Shi thought for a moment, and said a little suddenly: "Oh, what does Sanbo mean ......"