When a touch of fish belly white was revealed on the edge of the sky, many officials had already gathered outside the Daming Gate, and they gathered in groups of three or five to discuss in a low voice.

Damingmen made such a big disturbance naturally alarmed the people of the capital, ordinary people stayed at home and did not dare to go out, but the officials in the officialdom were different, after all, they had to enter the yamen of the imperial city after dawn, so many officials went out to Damingmen in advance to inquire about the news.

Li Hongyu was already unfazed in his heart at this time, since there was nothing in the imperial city overnight, it would be impossible for something to happen in the future, which invisibly confirmed his guess, the situation in the imperial city has always been under the control of the Emperor of the Apocalypse.

Therefore, he secretly felt glad in his heart, if it weren't for his clever smell of something strange, I am afraid that he would have forced the defenders of Daming Gate to open the city gate, and then things would have become bad.

"Young master, I don't know what the situation in the city is."

Gu Bingqian, who was chatting with several civil officials, looked up at the morning light in the sky, and came to Li Hongyu and said worriedly, It was too quiet in the imperial city this night, and it was so quiet that it was disturbing.

"Anyway, the door of the Imperial City will open in half an hour, and then we will know what is going on inside." Li Hongyu knew that Gu Bingqian was worried about King Xin's safety, so he replied quietly.

"Young master, if this city gate still doesn't open at the first time, what should we do?" At this time, Zhang Weixian, a British minister who was greeting the nobles nearby, came over and asked expressionlessly, this situation is very likely to happen.

"If that's the case, let's attack the Imperial City!" Li Hongyu didn't hesitate at this time, and said categorically after his eyes flashed coldly.

Regardless of whether the Emperor of the Apocalypse is Bintian or not, if the Daming Gate is still closed when the city gate is opened, and there is no edict from the Emperor of the Apocalypse and Zhang Yan, Li Hongyu will naturally break into the imperial city to save the driver, which is his duty as a courtier.

Zhang Weixian, Gu Bingqian, and others all bowed their heads when they heard this, and agreed with Li Hongyu's approach, and the nature of the situation would change fundamentally at that time, and they would naturally attack the imperial city to save them.

At this moment, the gate of Daming Gate suddenly creaked open, which made Li Hongyu's brows suddenly wrinkle, and it seemed that the hole cards of last night's incident were about to be turned over.

The crowd in front of the city gate was quiet in an instant, and they all looked nervously at the two open gates, wondering what would happen next.

"The emperor Bintian last night, at the behest of the queen's mother, the officials of the court and the middle of the court and above went to Xiyuan to discuss matters." Under the concerned gaze of everyone, a eunuch dressed in heavy filial piety walked out of the city gate and shouted to the officials on the scene with a sharp voice.

"Your Majesty!" Li Hongyu couldn't help but feel a sour nose when he heard this, so it seemed that the Emperor of the Apocalypse had really died, and then slowly knelt down, tears couldn't help but burst out of his eyes, his rise over the years was inseparable from the support of the Emperor of the Apocalypse.

"Your Majesty!" With Li Hongyu's action, the officials and soldiers at the scene knelt down in hulala, and the cry at the scene shook the sky.

"Young master's day mourning, the queen mother is invited, please lead the young master to meet Luanjia." The eunuch saw Li Hongyu burst into tears, so he stepped forward and whispered.

Li Hongyu nodded when he heard this, took a deep breath and wiped the tears on his cheeks, and beckoned Gu Bingqian, Zhang Weixian and other civil and military officials above the third rank of the imperial court to go to Xiyuan to see Zhang Yan.

When the group hurried to Xiyuan, not only the Empress Dowager Zheng and King Fu, but also the Empress Dowager Li, King Xin and Princess Le'an, as well as the concubines of the Emperor of the Apocalypse, were all present.

Li Hongyu led the officials above the second rank in the court to enter the sleeping hall of the Emperor of the Apocalypse, who was lying on the bed with his eyes closed, looking peaceful as if he was asleep.

Zhang Yan sat on the edge of the bed holding the hand of the Emperor of the Apocalypse with some lost souls, her eyes were full of tears, and her beautiful face showed countless sorrows, which made people quite emotional.

"Your Majesty!" Li Hongyu came to the bed and knelt down with his legs bent, and the civil and military officials behind him knelt down one after another, and the room suddenly burst into tears.

Anyway, the ministers on the scene have already sent away three emperors in less than eight years, so this mourning can be regarded as practice makes perfect, one is more heartbreaking than the other, and one is more heartbroken than the other.

Li Hongyu was just crying there, neither howling nor beating his chest, but his tears were more sincere than others, because he had the deepest and closest relationship with the Emperor of the Apocalypse.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the emperor has been in the sky, you are mourning, and you are still in charge of the affairs of the court."

After everyone cried bitterly for a while, Zhang Yan wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes and said, "The emperor has left an edict before his death, so please accept it." ”

"Fengtian carries the emperor, and the edict says ......"

As she spoke, Zhang Yan waved her hand, and the eunuch standing aside with a holy decree in her hand opened it and read it out in a frustrated manner.

Due to the young age of King Xin, the Emperor of the Apocalypse naturally wanted to leave him a group of auxiliary ministers, just like Emperor Taichang left for him, these auxiliary ministers will become the help of King Xin to take charge of the government, and at the same time, they will also attract those auxiliary ministers.

In the edict, the Emperor of the Apocalypse left a total of thirteen auxiliary ministers to King Xin, including seven Chinese officials and six honorable ministers, and the auxiliary ministers were Li Hongyu, a scholar of Zuo Chunfang University.

Among the seven civil officials, there are two officials of the Donglin Party, namely the former cabinet assistant Han Yi and the former secretary of the Ministry of Rites Sun Shenxing, and one centrist official, Cui Jingrong, the former secretary of the Ministry of Officials, which shows that the Emperor of the Apocalypse hopes that the factional forces in the court will be balanced, and he does not want the Donglin Party to suffer a catastrophe after his death.

In order to make Li Hongyu superior to the rest of the auxiliary ministers in terms of official rank, the Emperor of the Apocalypse promoted Li Hongyu to the rank of young master, which can be described as infinitely glorious.

In fact, the promotion of the Emperor of the Apocalypse has pushed Li Hongyu to the position of "Taibao", and according to the custom, after King Xin ascends the throne, he will definitely add officials to the thirteen auxiliary ministers selected by the Emperor of the Apocalypse to show his favor, so that Li Hongyu will be promoted to one of the three princes of the Taibao.

"Alas!" After the eunuch finished reading the edict, Li Hongyu couldn't help but sigh secretly in his heart.

He naturally knew that the intention of the Emperor of the Apocalypse to set up the auxiliary ministers was to maintain the balance of power of the various factions in the court, but it was a pity that Emperor Chongzhen's ears were too soft, and he did not have the mind and courage of the Emperor of the Apocalypse.

"Young Master, go and announce the emperor's succession edict to the ministers!" Zhang Yan glanced around at Li Hongyu and the others who were kneeling there, and said with a sad expression, she just wanted to stay with the Emperor of the Apocalypse for a while now.

"Obey." Li Hongyu kowtowed to Zhang Yan and led Gu Bingqian and Zhang Weixian to retreat.

"His Royal Highness King Xin, please follow this official to the courtyard to receive the order." Zhu Youzhen was comforting Zhu Huiyuan, who was crying in the hall outside, and Li Hongyu stepped forward and said in a deep voice.

Those three-rank officials were waiting in the courtyard, and Li Hongyu read out the succession edict of the Emperor of the Apocalypse, so naturally he had to announce it in front of all the ministers.

Zhu Youzhen frowned slightly when he heard this, he had already guessed that the Emperor of the Apocalypse was going to pass on to him, so he wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes and followed Li Hongyu to the courtyard.

Seeing this, King Fu's expression suddenly darkened, and his eyes looked at Zhu Youzhen's back with complicated eyes, Zhu Youzhen must have received the holy decree of succession at this time, and he was gradually moving away from the throne.

In August, Ding Si Day, the enthronement ceremony of Zhu Youzhen, the king of letters, was held in the capital, and the yuan was changed to "Chongzhen", becoming the famous Chongzhen Emperor in history.

After Emperor Chongzhen succeeded to the throne, the first holy decree he issued was naturally to grant amnesty to the world and reduce taxes, which is what all new emperors will do after they ascend the throne, and enjoy themselves with the people.

As for the second edict, it was usually an important personnel appointment, and all the thirteen auxiliary ministers selected by Emperor Xianqi were promoted to official ranks, and Li Hongyu jumped from a junior master to a taibao to demonstrate the favor of Emperor Chongzhen.

At the same time, Li Hongyu officially handed over the military and political power given to him by the Emperor of the Apocalypse, and major affairs were reported by the auxiliary ministers after consultation and decided by Emperor Chongzhen.

It is worth mentioning that in addition to the change of positions in the court, Emperor Chongzhen also ordered the recall of Cao Huachun, a eunuch who guarded the imperial mausoleum in Nanjing, and was promoted to eunuch Bingbi together with Wang Chengen, the attendant next to him.

Cao Huachun was the person of the eunuch Wang An, who was the former celebrant and the eunuch Wang An, and it is rumored that he was excellent in poetry, calligraphy and painting, and served Emperor Taichang very early, and Wang Chengen was his subordinate.

After Wang An's death, Cao Huachun was implicated and was assigned to the Imperial Mausoleum in Nanjing, and even he himself could not imagine that he would have a day when the salted fish would turn over, and he was able to return to the capital after Emperor Chongzhen ascended the throne.

This made Wei Zhongxian nervous about this, and the reason why Cao Huachun wanted to go to Nanjing to guard the emperor's mausoleum was because of his instructions, and his purpose was naturally to attack Wang An's forces.

But now Cao Huachun actually took advantage of the fact that Emperor Chongzhen ascended the throne and "killed" back to the capital, how could Wei Zhongxian feel at ease?

Although Wei Zhongxian is a sharp blade specially left by Emperor Chongzhen to deal with courtiers and consolidate imperial power, as the saying goes, once a son of heaven is a courtier, Emperor Chongzhen must believe in the people around him more and use his own team.

Among the three major positions in the inner court, Wei Zhongxian's position as the eunuch of Xi Bingbi was the most dangerous, because Cao Huachun's role in Emperor Chongzhen's side was similar to Wei Zhongxian's, so Emperor Chongzhen needed Cao Huachun to take charge of Dongchang and Jinyiwei.

What is especially important is that Cao Huachun and Wei Zhongxian have a personal grudge because of Wang An, if Cao Huachun deliberately makes trouble with Wei Zhongxian, then Wei Zhongxian's life will be very sad.

Therefore, the day after Cao Huachun arrived in the capital, Zhang Yan summoned him and Wei Zhongxian to the dormitory and personally came forward to resolve the grievances between the two, hoping that the two could focus on the overall situation and work together to assist Emperor Chongzhen.

Although Zhang Yan is no longer the queen, her sister-in-law has a very important position in the heart of Emperor Chongzhen, and she is in awe of it, and she has a very special status in the Forbidden City.

Cao Huachun is a smart person, so he naturally knows Zhang Yan's intentions, so he agreed in one bite, saying that he would laugh at the grudge, after all, now that he has the upper hand, he must be generous.

In fact, Cao Huachun is not the kind of person who will repay him, on the contrary, he admires Wei Zhongxian's skill in dealing with the civil official clique very much, and wants Wei Zhongxian to assist him in dealing with the civil official clique in the court.

Broadly speaking, Cao Huachun and Wei Zhongxian are both people from the inner court, and their opponents are officials in the court, and now Wei Zhongxian has lost power and can no longer stir up any big waves, so in Cao Huachun's opinion, the best choice is to take it for use.

Li Hongyu was no longer interested in paying attention to the affairs of the capital, and in the second month of Emperor Chongzhen's accession to the throne, he officially went to the court and asked to return to the south to deal with the affairs of the Customs Department, after all, his own position was the secretary of the Customs Department.

Not only that, Li Hongyu also requested that Zhao Xin, a scholar from Chunfang University, be transferred to the Customs Department on the grounds that the customs department was busy, and anyway, there was nothing important about Zhan Shifu now.

Li Hongyu's Shangshu immediately alarmed the officialdom of the capital, and no one thought that he, who was a high and powerful person and was relied on by Emperor Chongzhen, would retreat from the capital in a hurry.

Emperor Chongzhen naturally didn't want Li Hongyu to leave, and now was the time to rely on Li Hongyu to consolidate his foundation, but Li Hongyu had already made up his mind, not only explaining to Emperor Chongzhen the importance of the affairs of the Customs Department, but also that it was enough for the capital to have twelve auxiliary ministers to assist him.

Perhaps he was moved by Li Hongyu's words, or he saw that Li Hongyu had made up his mind, so Emperor Chongzhen finally approved Li Hongyu's performance and asked him and Zhao Xin to go to Jiangnan to run the Customs Department.

After all, Li Hongyu is different from other officials in the Ming Dynasty, he is a handsome person who can stand alone, and it is better to leave him in the capital to serve in the local area and create a new world.

(End of chapter)