Xiyuan Wanshou Palace.

A row of bigwigs waited respectfully outside the palace gate, and a chubby old man stood at the door and walked back and forth a few steps from time to time, he was Huang Jin, who was promoted to the eunuch of the master of ceremonies last year.

"Monkey cubs, get away!" Huang Jin scolded a young eunuch in a low voice, and glanced at the big people out of the corner of his eye.

Yan Song, the first assistant of the cabinet, looked like he was about to die, and there was no expression on his slender face.

Xu Jie, the second assistant of the cabinet, lowered his head and didn't know what he was thinking, he was already short, and he was almost shrinking now.

Cabinet Auxiliary Lu Ben had a serious face, but his eyes were sloppy, and it was obvious that he didn't care about anything, and he couldn't carry anything with narrow shoulders anyway.

Li Mo, the secretary of the ministry, looked angry, staring at the palace door from time to time, and his toes twisted from side to side.

And Nie Bao, the secretary of the military department, had a calm face, standing there without moving, with a trace of sadness in his eyes.

Huang Jin sighed in his heart, except for Li Mo, who had not been in power for a long time, and Lu Ben, who was full, the relationship between the remaining three people was really complicated.

Yan Song and Xu Jie are rivals, but on the face, they are hello, I am good, everyone.

Xu Jie and Nie Bao are nominal teachers and students, but it is no secret that the former rejects the latter.

And Yan Song and Nie Bao are fellow villagers, the latter wrote to the former after being imprisoned a few years ago, but unfortunately Yan Song and Xia Yan fought to the death at that time and ignored it.

The door of the hall opened, and a middle-aged man with a Chinese face went out and bowed, "Gonggong Huang, Your Majesty summons." ”

"Commander Lu walks slowly." Huang Jingong gave up, although he was also in charge of the East Factory, but the name of the East Factory of this dynasty did not match the truth, and it was far less powerful than Jinyiwei, but he had a good relationship with Lu Bing, after all, they were both born in Xingwangfu.

Seeing Lu Bing leave in a hurry, Li Mo pricked up his ears with some impatience and listened carefully, and there seemed to be bursts of scolding from inside.

In terms of personal qualifications and scheming, the Ming Dynasty had a total of sixteen emperors, including the disappeared Zhu Yunwen and the abolished Zhu Qiyu, and Jiajing was superb.

But except for Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di, who only believed in the barrel of a gun to snatch the throne, Emperor Jiajing was the only emperor who did not receive orthodox royal education and inheritance.

Although Emperor Jingtai and Emperor Chongzhen were also brothers, they stayed in Beijing after being crowned king and did not leave the domain, the former was once in charge of the country, and the latter's brother has no heirs.

These two diametrically opposed situations directly led to the Jiajing Dynasty becoming the most bizarre time in the history of the Ming Dynasty, because Emperor Jiajing was a wild man and never took the usual path.

The major affairs of the country should be asked to the first assistant, and the military affairs should be asked to the great Sima, but Jiajing chose Xu Jie, which is not the usual way.

But it's a pity that Jiajing chose the wrong one this time.

The earthy scolding finally stopped, and Huang Jin, whose face was like earth, pushed open the door, but he didn't dare to make a sound, and only recruited five people to enter the hall.

The appearance of Emperor Jiajing, who was wearing a Taoist robe, was very in line with his character, his eyes were narrow, his face was thin and his nose was high, his eyebrows were high and his temples were raised, and he had a cold taste all over his body.

Looking at the five most powerful, scheming, and famous courtiers in the court below, Emperor Jiajing asked a surprising question.

"Who is the chief examiner of the second year of Jiajing?"

Yan Song looked dazed, he really couldn't remember how old he was, and he was still in Nanjing at that time.

Xu Jie's hanging head hung lower.

Only Li Mo thought for a moment and stepped forward and replied: "It's Gu Dingchen of the left waiter of the Ministry of Rites." ”

"Gu Dingchen is from Kunshan, I remember that it was he who suggested building a city in Kunshan to fight against the Japanese." Emperor Jiajing slapped the table in front of him fiercely, "But why did he take a group of bullshit protégés, so that now Kunshan is broken, and the Japanese are rampant!" ”

In the second year of Jiajing's reign, there were Ding Zhan, who colluded with Wang Zhi to acquiesce in his trade in Ligang, Peng Di, the former governor of Zhejiang, who was still in prison and did not know what would happen, and Tu Dashan, the current governor of Zhejiang, who was now being escorted to Beijing.

Of course, there is also Xu Huating standing there with his head hanging down.

There was a death-like silence in the hall, and after a while, Yan Song looked up at Jiajing, whose eyes were round, and persuaded: "Your Majesty, the southeast is urgent, can other matters be postponed?" ”

After a while, I heard Emperor Jiajing sneering, "But what I said is extremely true." ”

Xu Jie below didn't react, Nie Bao's face was calm, but Lu Ben quietly glanced at Xu Jie...... Postponing this sentence sounds common, but it's not that simple.

In the final analysis, the candidates recommended by your Xu Jie's successive defeats have been defeated in successive battles, and the responsibility is not to be said for the time being, so you will not be silent about today's affairs.

"The old minister is not good at military affairs, Your Majesty can consult the military department." Yan Song looked at Nie Bao with kindness.

Jiajing's eyes also turned to Nie Bao, "I have already seen yesterday's performance, and Li Tianzhong, the deputy envoy of Xuzhou Military Preparation Road, was transferred to the governor of Zhejiang...... But Jiangnan, Jiangbei, Zhejiang, Shandong, Fujian, Huguang ...... Can Zhang Jing be up to the task? ”

"Zhang Tingyi was the governor of the military affairs of Guangxi and Guangzhou, pacified the Yao Rebellion in Guangxi, pacified Annan, and Ding Qiongzhou Li Rebellion, and was really the governor's first choice." Nie Bao replied calmly: "Now Zhejiang, Fujian, and Nanzhili are everywhere in the north and south, and the troops are scattered. ”

It was a risky decision to put most of the country's army in the hands of one person, Emperor Jiajing closed his eyes, and after a long time, he said lightly: "Xu." ”

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Nie Bao fell to the ground.

"Ahem." Yan Song coughed slightly twice and was about to speak, when suddenly Nie Bao continued: "Now that the Japanese are attacking Yangzhou and threatening Nanjing, please allow Your Majesty to go to Songjiang and Suzhou to supervise the war. ”

"In person?" Emperor Jiajing was surprised: "Why do you have to do this? ”

It is common for the military department to patrol the borders, but it is often to go to the nine sides of Jimen and Datong, and there is no precedent before going to the land south of the Yangtze River.

Lu Ben glanced at Nie Bao, and then at Yan Song, whose face was a little ugly, and couldn't help but smile at the corner of his mouth.

This is obvious, there are these forces in the DPRK and China, although Li Mo is eager to try, but the foundation is still shallow, and Xu Jie's defeat in the southeast has already been defeated.

Yan Song and Nie Bao are naturally outstanding, but Yan Song is a guy who is unwilling to take advantage of things, and after pushing Nie Bao out to preside over the war, he tried to stuff a nail into it, in case of an accident, the loss is not big, and if he succeeds, he can still be wiped out.

But obviously, Nie Bao also thought of this, so he would rather go down to Jiangnan in person, unless Yan Song, who was seventy or eighty years old, followed, otherwise no one could suppress him.

Emperor Jiajing also quickly understood, and turned his head to look at Yan Song, "Weizhong, go to Jiangnan to supervise the battle, is there a candidate?" ”

"The old minister recommends Zhao Wenhua, the right attendant of the Ministry of Industry."

"It's a virtuous person who doesn't shy away from relatives." Emperor Jiajing snorted.

The Ministry of Industry is almost Yan Song's family, Shangshu is his brother-in-law, the left waiter is his son, and the right waiter is his godson.

After pondering for a while, Emperor Jiajing nodded, "All of you, it just so happens that Nie Bao has served in Songjiang and Suzhou, so let Zhao Wenhua go to Zhejiang to supervise the war." ”

Nie Bao smiled bitterly in his heart, forget it, it's already good, at least let yourself go to Jiangnan.