Emperor Yongli waited for the officials below to sit down safely, then straightened up, smiled, and looked at the crowd below.

The officials of Guanglu Temple stood at the imperial table, and when they saw Yongli sitting upright, they immediately sang loudly: "Kaijue poured wine!" ”

Countless palace people poured out from behind, each in charge of a seat, poured wine into the cup in front of the officials sitting on the embroidered dun, and then the drum music started, and the musicians of the Jiaofang Division played ceremonial music, accompanied by music, Emperor Yongli stood up happily, and the ministers, under the leadership of the officials of Guanglu Temple, parroted together and shouted: "The ministers respect the emperor!" ”

Yongli raised the wine glass and symbolically touched his lips, and the ministers drank it all, Wang Yingxiong's eyes were shining, his face was full of red light, and he drank this cup with great glory, and Wang Huan didn't understand this set, and drank a glass in a daze.

I only feel that this wine is of the highest quality, much better than the rice wine I drank in Kuizhou, and it seems to be the best daughter red.

The wine toast was empty, the music of persuasion stopped drinking, everyone sat down one after another, Wang Huan sat down, thinking that he could eat food, but he didn't want to just pick up the chopsticks, and the music started again.

The official of Guanglu Temple raised his voice and sang again: "Second infusion!" ”

The palace people rushed up again and filled the wine glasses of the ministers with jade pots, and then everyone stood up again and shouted together: "The ministers respect the emperor!" ”

After another toast, nine times in a row, the ministers toasted the emperor nine glasses of wine, and Guanglu Siqing sang with satisfaction: "After the wine, the ministers are grateful!" ”

The ministers knelt down respectfully and kowtowed, thanking the emperor for the grace of the banquet, and the Yongli Emperor kindly said that it was nothing, and the ministers were flat, and everyone was finished. ”

Wang Huan was speechless, there are so many rules for this banquet, it is extremely cumbersome, and it is so troublesome to eat, I really don't know why the ministers are still excited.

With a group of dancing girls swaying into the open space in the center of the banquet, the drum music started again, and all kinds of delicacies were sent to the low table in front of everyone, and the plates were delicious, which opened the eyes of Wang Huan, who had been in the Sichuan ravine for a long time.

He picked up a piece of crystal clear Dongpo meat and looked at it, put it back, and poked up a ball of duck breast with full color and fragrance on the plate, put it in his mouth, the fat but not greasy taste was excellent, swallowed gently, but he was a little incredulous in his heart, Emperor Yongli had only been stable from the flight for a few days, and he actually lived such a good life.

Looking at the group of dancing girls in the empty field, with charming and delicate faces, jade lotus and white lotus roots, the light song and dance neon shirts and feather clothes are intoxicating, the pretty faces are like flowers, and the waist can be held fascinating, accompanied by charming silk music, and the reflection of the bright moon, almost made Wang Huan almost forget that he was in the Nanming ****** in the southeast corner of An'an, not the Imperial Garden of the Forbidden City in Beijing.

Emperor Yongli, who sat south on the high platform, his eyes were blurred, his eyes swirled with the figure of the dancing girl, and all the princes and ministers under the seat, everyone was smiling, or chewing according to the case, or holding a light taste, happy and happy in the peaceful and prosperous times.

"When the emperor reaches this point, he is comparable to the queen of the Southern Tang Dynasty, and he deserves to die." Wang Huan shook his head secretly, played with the white jade porcelain cup in his hand, and sighed in his heart.

Finally, the dance ended, accompanied by the clouds, the music stopped, the dancers retreated, the banquet temporarily restored calm, and everyone's eyes were on Emperor Yongli on the high platform.

"Ladies and gentlemen, on today's good day, I set up a banquet and Shuiyue Palace, and gather with all Aiqing, it is really a great joy." Emperor Yongli rinsed his mouth with the clean water offered by the palace maid, took a white towel to wipe his mouth, and then said with a smile: "There are two happy events, and Qu Aiqing will come for everyone one by one." ”

Qu Shiyun, who was sitting in the first place on the left, stood up, bowed deeply to Emperor Yongli, and said loudly: "Weichen obeys orders!" ”

Qu Shiyun has a thin face, his eyes are bright, a wisp of long beard hangs down his chest, floating with the wind, the fairy wind does not lose the wind of the famous ministers, he smiled and faced the ministers, and said with full of anger: "The first happy event that the emperor said, is the Huiguo Gong Li who is stationed in Guangzhou, has ordered troops in the school field, and will soon have a million male soldiers, attacking Nanxiong, thinking that I have the Ming Lord Zhongxing, the leader of the Zhu State, the northern expedition will be invincible, and wait for the Nanxiong Ganzhou, then Jiangxi and Guangdong will be connected into a piece, half of the country will return to the hands of the Ming Dynasty, and there are not many Tartars. The recovery of Nanjing is also just around the corner, my lords, is this matter gratifying? ”

His speech was subdued and frustrating, passionate and powerful, and his words were full of confidence and contagious, and the banquet was full of joy.

One of them stood up, raised his glass and shouted, "Joyful, joyful!" Colleagues, please raise a glass, let us pay tribute to our emperor, and congratulate me on having this Ming Lord! ”

Hundreds of officials echoed loudly, the wine bottles swayed, people stood up one after another, and raised their glasses to Yongli Yaoyao on the high platform, Yongli smiled and raised his glass to meet the occasion and took a sip.

Wang Huan took advantage of the opportunity to stand up and asked Wang Yingxiong in front of him, "Who is this chanting person?" ”

Wang Yingxiong didn't seem to like this person very much, and when he heard Wang Huan ask, he touched the wine glass to his lips without drinking, and said to Wang Huan in a low voice: "This person is the first vain minister of the dynasty, and Yong'an Houma is auspicious." This person is cunning, rough and literate, but he was born under the middle official, the best at franchise attached, originally the great eunuch Gao Qiqian under the door of Emperor Chongzhen, served in the division, and later operated in many ways, without half a military merit, he was promoted to the Jinyi Wei Governor and Anton Deputy Chief Military Officer, this time the emperor Wugang avoided danger, he accompanied the escort, not leaving an inch, the emperor loved him and was loyal, promoted him to the commander, Feng Yong'an. The holy family hangs high, and he has a good alliance with the Duke of Huiguo, and the power leans towards the government and the opposition, and he is the first celebrity in this dynasty. ”

Wang Huan suddenly, it turned out that this person was Ma Jixiang, the great traitor of the Yongli Dynasty, with little power and great desire, extremely good at Ami flattery, and loyal to Emperor Yongli, until he later fled into Burma, and did not give up, and finally died in front of Emperor Yongli, which is also loyal.

However, this person is very harmful to the country, almost never done good things, but has done a lot of bad things, his life is full of greed, he doesn't recognize anything except money, and he is bent on contaminating with ministers, Li Chengdong is powerful when he is strong, and Sun Kewang is attached to Sun Kewang when he is powerful, and in the end Li Dingguo becomes the head of the army, and he takes refuge in Li Dingguo.

Seeing Ma Jixiang at this moment, Wang Huan took a closer look, only to feel that this person's facial features were upright, with a high nose bridge and a righteous face, a tall body, and accompanied by him in difficult times, no wonder Emperor Yongli would trust him.

While everyone was laughing loudly while drinking, Wang Yingxiong said again: "This person in the court, Li Chengdong, Meng Zhengfa, Yuan Pengnian and others, have formed an alliance with Qu Shiyun, plus He Tengjiao, and called the Chu Party, rely on each other, win the emperor's trust, call for wind and rain in the court, and control the power of the officials, which is extremely beautiful." ”

He licked his lips, looked left and right cautiously, and said in a low voice: "There is another party in the court, which is Zhu Tianlin, a scholar of the cabinet, Wu Zhenyu, a servant of the ministry, Zhang Xiaoqi, Li Yongji and others in the matter, and the foreign governors and ministers Gu Yinxi, Wang Huacheng, etc., and called the Wu Party, I am not used to the behavior of the Chu Party to cover up the Holy Hearing and control the court, and I want to maintain orthodoxy, help the Son of Heaven, and take Kuang Sheji as my own responsibility. The two parties are incompatible and at odds with each other, causing a lot of trouble. ”

Wang Huan listened, not surprised, the late Ming Dynasty party struggle has been a long time, stretching for hundreds of years, never stopped, a lot of manpower and material resources are consumed, I don't know how much resources have been wasted, and the party struggle to the end, has lost the distinction between political opinions, developed to fight purely for the sake of fighting, regardless of whether the other party's opinion is beneficial to the country or not, regardless of right and wrong, as long as the other party is in favor, he will oppose it, and if the other party opposes it, he must approve it.

Therefore, historians have a theory that the Ming Dynasty died in party struggle, which has a certain truth.

So Wang Huan listened, and just asked, "Then what kind of faction is Governor Wang?" ”

Wang Yingxiong's eyes blinked, and he said awe-inspiringly: "The old man's faction is not either, it is also the source of the left and right, and the chestnut in the fire!" ”

(End of chapter)