Cao Huachun groaned for a while, and finally decided not to participate in this matter, he really knew too well the suspicion and impatience of the young man in front of him, although he was the palm print eunuch of the celebrant eunuch, known as the internal minister, but in the final analysis, he was just the house slave of the Son of Heaven, if he said the wrong thing, the Son of Heaven would be angry with him in the future, and no one would ever say a good word for himself, and his fate would never be stronger than the little eunuch who was carried out just now.

"Emperor, this is a major matter of the court, not a servant who can put his beak!"

"You are the eunuch of the palm seal of the celebrant eunuch, and you are also in charge of secrets, I will say it if you want to say it!"

"Yes, Emperor!" Cao Huachun smiled a little helplessly: "The slave thinks that it involves money and food, and he should talk to Bi Shangshu, he should have some way!" “

"Hmm!" Chongzhen nodded, Cao Huachun's words were in line with his mind, the fruitful work of the household department Shangshu Bi since he took the throne has left a very good impression on Chongzhen, although sometimes he did not accept the other party's suggestions, but Chongzhen's first thought when he encountered financial and tax problems was not the auxiliary ministers of the cabinet, but the household department Shangshu who had not yet entered the cabinet.

"Cao Daban, then ask Lord Bi to deal with it tomorrow morning!"

"Slaves obey!" Cao Huachun bowed and saluted, and then he pointed to the water leak on the side and said to Chongzhen: "Emperor, you see that it is almost three watches, and it will be early in a while, so you should rest!" “

"It's okay, just listen to Cao Daban!" Maybe because of the solution of a difficulty, Chongzhen's mood is a lot better, he stood up, a little eunuch has already stepped forward to lead, he will go to the next room to take a short nap, about five o'clock in the morning, the master of the Ming Empire must get up to freshen up, change into court clothes and go to the Taihe Palace, hold the morning court. This terrible life lasted almost seventeen years in history without interruption, until the city of Beijing was surrounded by a peasant army led by Li Zicheng, and Chongzhen committed suicide on a coal mountain.

The next day, outside the end door.

The civil and military officials gathered in twos and threes, talking about the recent political affairs and waiting for the drum to beat at the entrance. These elites at the pinnacle of imperial power are now the same as the office workers who squeezed the morning subway hundreds of years later, rubbing their sleepy eyes, slapping and talking about the length and shortness of their bosses and colleagues, and they are even far less than the office workers who crowded the subway and bus in later generations - office workers can fill their bellies with hot soy milk fritters, and they can only starve their stomachs - if they don't want to be impeached by the picketing imperial history for losing the minister's body.

With the first drum sound from Wufeng Tower, the civil and military officials quickly lined up according to the size of the official rank, and entered the end gate in order, and they would wait in the court room outside the noon gate. Today is the Chang Dynasty, as early as before the fifth watch, six elephants were moved by the elephant slaves from the elephant house in the west of the city root in the Xuanwu Gate to the Wumen, and these huge beasts will be placed on both sides of the royal road in the Wumen Gate as a guard of honor. As the second drum sounded, these shrewd beasts walked to their positions and stood still with the brocade-clothed generals beside them, without being called by elephant slaves. With the sound of the third drum, the left and right side doors of the noon gate were opened together, and the generals, captains and standard-bearers of the brocade clothes walked into the noon gate, and the royal road was neatly arranged in two rows on the south side of the inner Jinshui Bridge; At the same time, a group of eunuchs also came out of the palace, they were the forerunners of the honor guard of the Son of Heaven, and these eunuchs stood in two lines under the dan qi. At the tail of the procession are two pairs of war horses, followed by harnesses such as golden saddles, golden stirrups, yellow silk bridles, and red gold chew rings. Although the sons of the Great Heavens had long since ceased to ride horses when they were in the court, the four beautiful and docile royal horses were always brought to wait on time before the court and became an important part of the honor guard. In addition, four eunuchs stood beside the royal horses with carved rosewood stools, as if they were an integral part of these noble and beautiful horses. Standing on the left and right of His Majesty were the honor guards known as the "Great Han Generals", who were burly and solemn, with thick beards, wearing iron armor, carrying bows and arrows, swords, and bright red cloaks. In this way, the civil and military officials entered through the door to the sound of drums, and when the last official entered, the three pairs of elephants hooked their trunks to each other, forbidding others to enter.

When the hundred officials arrived outside the Huangji Gate, they were separated according to the rules of Wendong and Wuxi, and stood respectfully on the Danqi, and the four imperial historians who were specially responsible for correcting the rites stood facing the north. When the officials stood still, a eunuch walked out of the Imperial Gate, holding in his hand a long whip wrapped with yellow silk, which was three feet long, three feet long at the tip and three inches wide, specially impregnated with wax, and installed on a foot long

One end of the wooden handle is carved into the shape of a dragon's head and painted with gold lacquer. The eunuch walked to the corner of the Danqi, flicked the long whip with a flick of his wrist, swung it in the air a few times, and whipped it hard, the tough whip tore through the air, making a crisp sound, and the whole square could hear it clearly. The eunuch swung his long whip three times in a row before retreating. The silence in the noon gate was silent, the guard of honor was forested, and the weather was extremely solemn.

A few minutes later, Baiguan heard a sharp voice paging, "The royal car has arrived!" With this majestic shout, Emperor Chongzhen wore a winged crown, wore a round-necked embroidered dragon yellow robe, and his face was tired, and he rode out on the imperial chariot surrounded by the eunuchs in gorgeous costumes of the brigade. They turned their backs to the hundred officials, and guided the imperial chariot to the throne step by step, and behind them, the civil and military officials bowed their heads, and no one dared to look up.

When the royal chariot came to the throne, Chongzhen got down and ascended to the throne, which was commonly known as the "golden platform" at that time, and in front of him was a long case with a yellow satin embroidered dragon curtain. Three feet away from the imperial case is a vermilion-colored railing. When Chongzhen sat down, three young and strong eunuchs came up from the east and west sides with Huang Luo umbrella cover and Huang Luo fan respectively, standing behind Chongzhen, they put Huang Luo umbrella cover on top of Chongzhen's head, and the two eunuchs holding Huang Luo fan crossed behind the Son of Heaven. These two eunuchs with the Yellow Luo Fan actually served as the guardian of Chongzhen, and the Yellow Luo Fan in their hands was a very elaborate weapon, if an official kneeling down to perform an act tried to assassinate the Son of Heaven, as long as they turned the mechanism on the long handle, the feathers on the Luo Fan would fall and pop out of the sharp blade hidden inside.

A dignified Honglu temple official sang in a voice similar to an aria: "Bow to the class!" Immediately, the civil and military officials faced the "Golden Platform", according to the chanting and praise of the officials of the Honglu Temple, and rhythmically performed the regular salute of bowing and bowing three times, and then stood in shifts. At this time, a corrective imperial history knelt down and played: "Today, there is Chi Shude, the director of the Ministry of Works, who will fall to the ground when he salutes. “

Chongzhen only slept in bed in a daze for more than an hour last night, and he was very tired at this time, he cheered up and responded, but the voice was too small, and the ministers could only see his lips move, and they couldn't hear what he said clearly. A handsome eunuch, wearing a round-necked red Luo court dress, a blue parrot complement, and a gold belt around his waist, who was in charge of preaching the upper court, stepped forward a few steps behind Chongzhen and delivered the decree in a feminine voice like a woman: "The Holy Lord's message, read him unintentionally, don't ask questions, and be fined for three months to show light punishment, thank you!" “

A gray-haired old minister staggered out of the class, knelt down towards the throne, and played in a trembling voice: "The old minister lost his honor in front of the emperor, and the crime deserved death, and His Majesty was blessed with great grace, and he was not severely punished, so that the life and death of the minister could not be guaranteed, and I would like to thank the emperor!" Then he burst into tears and shouted, "Hurrah, hooray, hooray!" “

Chongzhen on the throne looked at all this, but he didn't care about all this, his eyes were sweeping the column of civil officials, looking for the figure of the head of the household department Shangshu Bi Ziyan.

According to the political rules of the time, such court meetings only played a procedural role, and specific political deliberations were held in a relatively private place between the Son of Heaven and his auxiliary ministers or important ministers. At this time, another Honglu Temple official knelt down in front of him, and told Chongzhen the number and names of the civil and military officials who thanked him outside the noon gate today, and at the same time a eunuch unfolded the list and put it on the imperial case, Chongzhen just glanced at the list, and nodded, and the Honglu Temple official hurriedly got up and took a few steps back before turning around and shouting outside the noon gate: "Outside the noon gate, thank you for bowing to the officials!" When the officials outside the noon gate were chanting and bowing to him five times and three times according to the praise of the officials of Honglu Temple, Chongzhen looked at the clouds in the sky casually, and secretly thought about how to discuss with Bi Ziyan about the distribution of money and grain in Shaanxi.

Just as Chongzhen was deserting, an old minister in his fifties came out of the civil official's class, walked to the vermilion railing in front of the imperial case and knelt down, and when he saw this person, Chongzhen's eyebrows immediately wrinkled.

"Weichen begged the emperor to remove Yang He, the governor of the three sides, and severely punish him for the crime of tolerating and nurturing adultery and playing with self-respect!"

Chongzhen's forcible pressure on the irritability in his heart, and said in a deep voice: "I've already read your excerpts, is there anything else to play?" “

That Zhang Xianke didn't get up, and protested: "Your Majesty, this Yang He, as the governor of the three sides, holds a heavy army, not only does not kill the thieves, but harasses the locality, sells salt privately, and harms the good people. If you delay for time, the Shaanxi incident will only be empty and regretful! “

Chongzhen's hands and feet trembled by Zhang Xianke's behavior, and said loudly: "The widow hears that the king regards the family in the sea, and the feudal domain is all my child, and the people of Shaanxi are trapped in hunger and cold to steal the widow's soldiers in the Huang Pond. I take Yang He as a virtuous minister, and I want to be at peace, and now everything in Shaanxi is peaceful, why did Qing repeatedly impeach Yang Aiqing, is it not because of the views of friends? ”

Zhang Xianke knelt on the ground, listening to Chongzhen's reproach to the party, a chrysanthemum-like wrinkled old face suddenly flushed, since the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the court above the friends of the party crushed each other, the scholar doctor whether it was right or wrong, only about intimacy, has become a big harm in the court, from the emperor's mouth to say the word friend, the general minister is afraid that he has been scared to faint. But Zhang Xianke's character is extremely stubborn, and he has always prided himself as a lonely minister, and he was only angry and fearless after listening to Chongzhen's reproach, he puffed up his chest and replied loudly: "Your Majesty, the minister was sparse in the clouds the day before yesterday" Yang He advocated for the purpose of appeasement, poisoned the northwest, and the people's grievances were boiling', it was really for the sake of my Daming Society, for the sake of the people of the world, not for the sake of the portal, attacking each other. The minister has been cultivating acres for 20 years, and he is middle-aged to get a master, and today he is more than 50. Fortunately, by His Majesty's grace and leniency, the pardon of ministers will not die, and he will be in the position he has today, and he can see the face of the sky. If you are silent and know what to do, how can you repay Your Majesty and fulfill your duties? That Yang He is a traitorous villain, he claims to have pacified the Shaanxi thieves, but the thief head god is a kui, not mud and other first evils not only have not been killed, but won the court officials, and the subordinates have not been separated, but have been given the champion waist card, exempted from the previous sin, extorted places everywhere, and oppressed the good. Is there such a method of appeasement in the world? This is just a delay, once the thief head has finished resting and the crowd has recovered, I am afraid that the west of Tongguan will no longer be owned by the imperial court! ”

Chongzhen sat on the throne, and saw Zhang Xianke kneeling on the ground with white hair, and spoke bluntly, but the anger in his heart was accumulating more and more, and he couldn't help shouting: "Okay, if you don't need to be appeased according to what you said, what should I do?" Soldiers? Where does the money come from? Where does the food come from? You say that Yang He's method is not good, so what method do you say to use? ”

Seeing Chongzhen's anger, the ministers of civil and military affairs were all frightened, and they all pinched a cold sweat for Zhang Xianke, who was kneeling on the ground, but Zhang Xianke has always boasted of "Wen Death Advice, Military Death Battle", and now thinking that it is the time for him to die as a minister, he has no worries about life and death in his heart, and stubbornly looked at Chongzhen on the golden platform, and replied loudly: "Your Majesty, most of the soldiers designated by the imperial court have the original rated salary." Today's soldiers are full of vain, and their salaries are full. But if you want to clean it up, practice it seriously, and pay the real soldiers, why worry about the thieves without soldiers? Daming is not without money and no salary, but there is no innocent and serious person who does things, if he gets it, the profit will go to the public; If there is no one else, then the profit will go to the private room, even if the people are searched for the fat, it will not be of any benefit. Yang He wrote that there were no soldiers and no salary, and he even bought salt privately to reward the soldiers, which was clearly to fill his own pockets. Your Majesty, you are in the middle of the ninefold, how do you know? Left and right close ministers, who dares to tell the truth? Today, Weichen does not avoid the punishment of the axe, and he risks death to speak out, and I hope that Your Majesty will think twice! ”

When Chongzhen heard this, he couldn't hold back the anger in his chest, but he thought that Zhang Xianke was a famous Confucian in the world, and he had always been valued by the Qing Dynasty. Yang He can pacify the thieves without wasting a soldier and a single arrow, and he is a courtier who has made great contributions to me and the Ming Dynasty, how can you be attacked in every way? Now is the autumn of many difficulties, and the ministers should work together to live up to the high expectations of the court and me. You attacked Yang He like this, isn't it that you have too deep a view of the portal and lose the dignity of a minister! ”