The situation continues to stalemate.

The Wanli Emperor increased the pressure again, and before that, he did not go to court every other day, and from mid-March, the emperor changed to not going to court every day. Well, many ministers originally had important things to report, but if they couldn't see the emperor, they could only go to four cabinet ministers. As soon as the four of them looked at it, they couldn't make a decision on most things, and they didn't dare to make a decision, so they could only put it on hold for the time being.

The ministers had no choice but to ask the emperor for instructions, but unexpectedly, these folds were finally "left in the middle" by Zhu Yijun. It was a unique right of ancient emperors to leave their speeches in the palace, and they were neither submitted to the cabinet for deliberation nor answers.

Back and forth, not only did the matter not be resolved smoothly, but on the contrary, it deteriorated sharply, and more and more twists and turns piled up on the desk, which gradually affected the daily operation of the imperial court.

In private, some officials slandered Wang Xijue: they felt that Wang Ge was always trying to achieve his reputation and hope to gain a good reputation in this confrontation, so he would rather be dismissed by the emperor than take the initiative to resign. It's just that the emperor didn't let Wang Ge Lao Ruyi, even if he was pointed at by this old minister, he didn't get angry.

By the end of March, Wang finally relented, as more and more officials blamed him for causing the current paralysis of the imperial court. Wang Xijue had no choice but to write to the emperor, saying that he was too old to be qualified for cabinet work, and hoped that he would be allowed to return to his hometown.

Zhu Yijun's response was crisp and tight, without even saving face, and immediately approved the application.

Not only that, Zhu Yijun also immediately promoted Zhao Zhigao, the former servant of the Ministry of Officials, and conferred the title of Scholar of Wenyuan Pavilion, and at the same time entered the cabinet to replace Wang Xijue, so as to show that the king's resignation had no impact on the imperial court.

Zhao Zhigao's name Rumai, No. Weiyang, a native of Lanxi County, Jinhua Prefecture, Zhejiang, and Tanhualang in the second year of Longqing. At the beginning, he was appointed as an editor, and then he was transferred to Guangdong as a deputy envoy for offending Zhang Juzheng, and then he was reappointed as a servant of Nanjing, and successively served as the secretary of Nanjing Guozijian and sacrificial wine. After Zhang Juzheng's death, he was transferred to the Beijing Division, and he was reappointed as the squire of the Ministry of Officials at the beginning of last year.

Zhao Zhigao once served as a squire in the Ministry of War, and he had a deep understanding of the affairs of the Ministry of War and the border army, and knew that some generals did have the qualifications to serve in the Ministry of War.

Zhao Zhigao's starting point in politics was not low, but he was excluded later because of disagreements with Zhang Juzheng, and most of his time as an official was spent in Yingtianfu. Although Nanjing Yingtianfu is also one of the two capitals, its prosperity is not far behind compared with Beijing's Shuntianfu. However, in the eyes of civil officials, only the officials of Shuntianfu can be regarded as real Beijing officials, and the officials of Yingtianfu are either degraded from Shuntianfu, such as Zhu Yijun's former great eunuch Feng Baozhi and others; Either they are not treated by the emperor or those super ministers, and can only stay away from the political center of the current dynasty, looking forward to the day when the salted fish will turn over.

Zhao Zhigao is already an old man who is almost seventy years old, he has already tasted the ups and downs of life, and has had a long period of troughs, and now he has suddenly reached the peak of his life, but he has not lost his heart. He was originally a practical person, and he also had a deep understanding of the current situation of the Ming Dynasty, and knew that he could not toss around, so he passed the appointment in the Ministry of Officials the next day.

The Ministry of Ministers did not object, and the Cabinet and other ministers were originally neutral, so there was no resistance to Zhong Nan's appointment as a squire in the Ministry of War. With the emperor's seal, Zhong Nan, the freshly baked squire of the military department, can finally take office.

It was the beginning of April when he entered Beijing, but fortunately, Jizhou was not far from Beijing, and Zhong Nan only took one day to reach his destination.

Since Zhong Nan had not yet purchased real estate in Jingshi, he could only temporarily live in an inn arranged by the imperial court. Originally, I planned to live in Xianliang Temple, but Zhongnan had female dependents, and it was not very convenient to live in the temple.

During the Ming Dynasty, when local officials went to Beijing on business, they generally rarely stayed in places such as inns or guild halls, especially those with relatively high ranks. Why?

The first is that, at least on the surface, Ming officials were on the low side. In this case, it is not easy to maintain the life of a family, where is there spare money to live in a guest house? Moreover, the inns of the Ming Dynasty were often mixed with teahouses, wine shops and other leisure and entertainment places, and the dignified court officials came and went in the meantime, and it was inevitable that they would not be pointed at. In addition, the inn is full of people, and it is more likely to cause trouble, and if you don't pay attention to it, you will get into trouble. In addition, the number of officials in the Ming Dynasty was huge, and if it was discovered by any of the imperial historians, there would definitely be no good fruit to eat.

Emperor Taizu had a clear rule that if a local official went to Beijing to do business, he would be punished if he lived in a place that exceeded the standard. "Da Ming Law, Military Law V, Post Station" stipulates: All tolerance personnel, go out to do office work, occupy the main hall of the post house, 50 lashes. In order to covet the comfort of living at that moment, there will be a risk of being beaten fifty boards, which is naturally quite not cost-effective.

As for the clans, the risk is even greater. During the Ming Dynasty, most of the guilds were friendship and friendship associations, and local officials lived in Beijing on business, which was easy for the imperial historians to tell the truth, after all, from the old man Taizu, he tried his best to prevent officials from forming gangs in private. I finally had the opportunity to enter Beijing, so why should I live in the guild hall and be afraid and find myself guilty?

You can't live in an inn, you can't live in a guild hall, so where can these officials live?

The answer may come as a surprise to everyone, as most of them will be living in temples.

During the Ming Dynasty, there were temples of all sizes and sizes everywhere in Jingshi, more than the number of inns. Different from the bleak scene of the "Green Lantern Ancient Buddha" in everyone's imagination, the vast majority of temples are not only considerable in scale, elegant and comfortable in environment, but also very delicious in their food. In addition, the temple is a public place, anyone can enter it at will, and foreign officials live in it, so the rights and wrongs of inns and guild halls are exempted, and they are also refused to be sent to usher. Even if a good colleague comes to visit, you can give back a cup of tea to show your openness. In this way, it not only calmed the emperor's heart, but also made the imperial history unable to grasp any handles, so why not!

It's just that the temple also has good and bad, like Xianliang Temple, which is not ordinary, it can be regarded as a luxury in the temple. Its predecessor was the famous "Ten Princes' Mansion", which was the collective dormitory where the princes of the Ming Dynasty lived before entering the domain, and the geographical location was superior, and it was close to the imperial palace, so it naturally became the preferred place of residence for officials from all over the world when they entered Beijing to do business.

Xianliang Temple is of a very high grade, and the decoration inside is not worse than the good inn in Beijing, nor is it a place where any local official can live if he wants to live in Beijing, at least most foreign officials cannot enjoy such treatment. Those who can live in it must be court officials above the third or fourth grade, or other heavyweights. Many years later, Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang, Zuo Zongtang, Zhang Zhidong and other late Qing feudal officials lived in Xianliang Temple when they entered Beijing.

The inn where Zhong Nan lives is not too far from Xianliang Temple, although the scale is not large, it is better than the quiet environment, and at the same time, it is not afraid of exceeding the standard, he and Qiu Xiang are very satisfied. The inn is called "Qingxin", and the furnishings inside are just like its name, and each room is not large in size, which is very suitable for students from other places.

Although the owner and his wife also provide simple meals, they are not as good as the restaurant in terms of taste and convenience. Zhong Nan had no choice but to take Qiu Xiang to walk to the bustling area and find another restaurant for dinner.

Zhong Nan didn't come to Beijing many times, and vaguely remembered that there were many wine shops and restaurants from Yongding Gate to the Bell and Drum Tower. He walked slowly with his memory and Qiu Xiang, and he wasn't in a hurry anyway, just enough to talk along the way.

Qiu Xiang felt that her father-in-law's behavior was a little strange, and she had to walk if she didn't sit in a sedan chair, but fortunately she was not small-footed, otherwise she would inevitably be tired. The two talked as they walked, and slowly, she enjoyed the taste more and more.

"Qiu Xiang, do you like Kyoshi?" Zhong Nan does not call his wife a lady like others, but calls her by her first name, although he was not used to it at first, but over time, he felt that this was more intimate.

"Brother Zhong, are you looking forward to being in Beijing in the future?"

"If nothing else, it should be like this."

"For me, it doesn't make much difference whether it's Suzhou or Jingshi. As long as there is Brother Zhong in that place, I will like it! Qiu Xiang has a typical ancient female thinking of "marrying a chicken with a chicken, marrying a dog with a dog", and does not care too much about the quality of the city itself.

"I'm afraid you're not used to it, although Jingshi is more prosperous than Suzhou, but the north is not as good as the south, no matter the climate or food, it is not as comfortable as Suzhou and Hangzhou."

"It's okay, Brother Zhong. There is everything in the capital, and we are not short of silver now, so it's a big deal to buy more things from the south! "Akika is always optimistic.

"That's right, you don't have to spend too much money in the future. In Beijing, you must make yourself happy and comfortable, no matter what you eat and drink or how you use it daily, don't give you a lot of money! Zhong Nanle scraped the bridge of Qiu Xiang's nose, which is a daily amusing action between the young couple.

"Brother Zhong, why don't you let the little sweet potato come to Beijing with us?"

"It's just a matter of letting the little sweet potato come back a few days later, so that we can spend a few more days alone together, otherwise when I officially take office, I may be busy, and it is estimated that it will be difficult to accompany you more."

"Brother Zhong, you don't have to feel guilty, you are good enough for me. I often wonder if I must have done too many good things in my last life, otherwise how would I have met you in this life. ”

"I should thank God, thank her for letting you come to my side, 'If you have a wife like you, what more can you ask for', it's really so!" Zhong Nan sighed from the bottom of his heart.

"Okay, okay, Brother Zhong, let's stop boasting to each other, I'm hungry!"