"Father, father!" Yang Sichang saw his father like this, and he didn't know how to comfort him, so he could only kneel in front of the prison door, Yang He fell to the ground and cried for a while, and the crying gradually subsided, he raised his head and asked, "What about Da Linghe Fort now?" “

"After the defeat of the Wang Division, the Daling River has been isolated from the inside and outside, and I am afraid that the city is already cannibalism!" Yang Sichang's voice became lower and lower, and by the end it was inaudible. Maybe it was because Fang Cai's bitter crying had released most of his emotions, Yang He was not so excited at this time, he nodded and sighed: "Hey, there is no food and grass inside, and there are no reinforcements outside, even if it is a city of thousands of people, it cannot be defended." What about Inspector Sun? ”

"Sun Chengzong?" Yang Sichang sneered: "I have already resigned from illness and returned to Gaoyang's hometown." ”

"Hey!" Yang He sighed and said: "Sun Gaoyang is dedicated to the country and works hard, but it's a pity that the army is not his strength, and there is a defeat in Da Linghe." ”

"I'm afraid it may not be!" Yang Sichang sneered and said: "This person usually pretends to be a duke and selfless, but how can he not be selfish in the matter of entering the Dalinghe Fort this time?" Obviously, the new army in Denglai has not yet been trained, so they are in a hurry to go to the Daling River to build a fort, and Qiu Hejia, the governor of Liaodong, is a capable minister who is familiar with border affairs, and the book says that the Daling River is a wasteland, if a fort is built here, the captives will be so large, how to resist it, but he forcibly suppressed it. After the Daling River was surrounded, he transferred troops from various provinces, resulting in a mutiny in the new army trained by Denglai, which was caused by his grandson Gaoyang, who was born as the first emperor's teacher, so he gave him a dignity. ”

"Why do you say that Sun Gaoyang is selfish?"

"Father, don't you know?" Yang Sichang said: "You are in Shaanxi to appease the thieves, and the letter to the saint to the eastern captives to temporarily suspend the military affairs, with a little more people to clean up the affairs of the northwest, someone in Beijing wrote to Sun Gaoyang, asking him to build the Daling River, in order to provoke the army, in order to defeat the father's strategy of appeasement!" “

"What?" Yang He's face changed greatly when he heard this. He stood up and paced back and forth in the cell, and finally stopped and sighed: "I also know that there are people in the court and the central government obstructing it, but I didn't expect that ministers like Sun Gaoyang would do such things. “

"Father, it is obvious that these traitors have corrupted the affairs of the country, which caused your strategy to appease the northwest to fail, but the result is that you are in prison, but they have returned to their hometown in peace! Really——! “

"Shut up!" Yang He interrupted Yang Sichang's words sharply, and the last half of the cursed words were rotten in his stomach. Both of them quieted down, and after a while, Yang He said in a deep voice: "Chang'er, what our Wuling Yang family has passed down through the ages is just a word of "filial piety". He who is the son of man. practice filial piety at home and serve parents; He is loyal to his father. Loyalty is filial piety, filial piety is loyalty, and there are parents in the world. Naturally, there is no such thing as a monarch who is not, and there are some thoughts that don't want to be talked about, and you can't even think about them! “

Hearing his father's lesson, Yang Sichang lowered his head and said in a deep voice: "What my father taught is this!" “

"As a father, he is the governor of the Ming Dynasty. Whatever the reason, it is true that the situation in the northwest has deteriorated in the past few years, and it is natural to go to prison and ask for the guilty. As for Sun Gaoyang, he was the first emperor's teacher, and the defeat of Dalinghe also had a reason, and the imperial court should also take into account the decency of the imperial court. If you want to be good for your father, you should devote yourself to national affairs, and do things for your father and the Ming Dynasty, this is the good descendant of our Wuling Yang family! “

"Yes, the teachings of the father must be taken to heart by the child!"

Seeing Yang Sichang like this, Yang He nodded with satisfaction: "You go back first, don't come here in the future, this is good for you and me, if the monarch is gracious, you and my father and son will have a goodbye day in the future!" “

Yang Sichang just wanted to say something, but when he saw Yang He's gaze, his head slowly lowered, he knew very well the deep meaning of his father's words, although this is not the edict of Beizhen Fusi, but there are many eyes and ears of Jinyi guards in the capital, and his every move will inevitably fall into the eyes of people with a heart, and if he is not careful, he will become a handle, which is not a good thing for a scholar who is interested in a career. Fang Cai did this just out of a moment of anger, but he couldn't help but regret it when he calmed down.

"Then the boy will quit first!" Yang Sichang knelt down and kowtowed to Yang He three times, got up and took a few steps backwards out of the courtyard before turning around and leaving.

Qianqing Palace

As usual, as soon as the sky was bright, Chongzhen got up, got familiar with the service of a group of palace maids, changed into Chang Chao's crown clothes, and left Yangdezhai (Chongzhen's residence) to go to Qianqing Palace. He first burned incense in the front courtyard and prayed silently, and then returned to the westernmost room of the Qianqing Palace, according to the daily arrangement in the palace, at this time it should be the queen, princes, concubines, and princesses to say goodbye, but recently Chongzhen, who was in a depressed mood, sent an order to the eunuch Wang Chengen beside him, asking him to inform him to avoid today's routine.

Changing into a yellow satin robe, Chongzhen started his day's work in front of the imperial case. Because Cao Huachun, the eunuch of the seal of the celebrant supervisor, has left the palace to serve as the supervisor of the army, supervising the generals to quell the Denglai rebellion, and Wang Chengen, who is the eunuch of the celebrant and the eunuch of the pen, has actually become the real prime minister, standing behind Chongzhen with a whisk. Many well-informed people close to the core of the power of the Ming Dynasty have regarded this Tai Jian who was not long ago sent to the cold palace as the future internal minister, believing that he not only won the trust and favor of the Son of Heaven, but also that even the queen respected him very much, often saying that "the prince is a righteous person, and he cannot be treated as a slave!" But Wang Chengen still maintained his old attitude, without the slightest pampering and arrogance, which made those who held a grudge against him behind his back have to express admiration.

Chongzhen corrected the folds for a while, and then felt a heaviness on his wrist. Since his brother Zhu Youxiao died suddenly and was succeeded by him, he has been reviewing the folds of this case for five years. The high spirits and ambitions of the first succession to the throne are long gone, and there is hardly a single good news in the mountains of memorands and newspapers, some of which are reports of famine and requests for tax exemption and relief, some of which are reports of popular revolts and thieves, and some of which report on the war at the front. As the son of heaven, it is his duty to read these documents, but he really doesn't want to read them, and he doesn't want to read them, and Chongzhen's heart often flashes with such a question: Why does his brother work as a carpenter in the harem all day long, and the Wanli Emperor hides in the harem every day and doesn't even see the minister, but the state affairs are far from being corrupted to what it is today. Is it really that he is weak in virtue and can't afford these three hundred years?

Thinking of this, Chongzhen's mood became heavier and heavier, he put down the brush in his hand, stood up, and walked to a bronze incense burner next to him, a wisp of cigarette smoke was flowing out of the mouth of the incense burner in the shape of a beast's mouth, slowly upward, forming a wisp of incense pillar, Chongzhen subconsciously crossed the smoke pillar with his fingers. The wind from the sleeve immediately blew the light blue plume of smoke into a mess, and it did not return to its original state after a while.

"Things in the world are easy to mess up and it's hard to be safe!" Chongzhen sighed and walked back to a few cases, a palace maid held a peony petal-type silver tire pile lacquered red tray made by the orchard factory in the Yongle period, on which was placed a blue and white bowl containing bird's nest soup and a silver spoon, and gently walked into the pavilion, and another palace maid took the bowl and silver spoon from the tray and put them on several cases. Chongzhen picked up the silver spoon and began to eat it slowly.

Chongzhen's move, Wang Chengen saw it. He naturally knew that the Son of Heaven was in a very bad mood, and as the house slave of the Son of Heaven, he had the responsibility to make Chongzhen's mood comfortable. Wang Chengen thought for a while, and took advantage of Chongzhen's inattention to take out a copy of the Tang newspaper from his arms and inserted it into the more superficial copies.

Chongzhen finished eating the bird's nest sullenly. He began to read the newspapers and the papers, and at the top was a list of petitions from the cabinet, with the names of seven or eight people, some of whom were to be conferred on such official positions. Some are to be conferred such official positions, some are elective (initial selection and appointment of official positions), and some are relocated (promoted). According to the usual procedure of Ming Dynasty politics. Unless it is an extremely important high-ranking official such as the six Shangshu, the squire and the cabinet, it is usually confirmed by the cabinet and the ministry, and it is just a symbolic procedure here in Chongzhen, and the Son of Heaven generally only needs to approve a "can" on it, and if Chongzhen thinks that someone's candidate is not suitable, he can check it off. But he picked up the list and read it from beginning to end several times, but he was still unwilling to put it down, and he couldn't make a decision. Some of the names on the list were familiar to him, and some simply had only a vague impression, and some simply had no impression at all, Chongzhen studied the list and had all kinds of questions in his heart: Isn't this person a fellow countryman of an auxiliary minister? Isn't that someone's year? And isn't this a protégé of so-and-so? Also, this person was changed from the imperial history to the Ministry of Officials, Wen Xuanlangzhong, in charge of such a confidential position, is it not out of someone's instruction to form a party for personal gain? The more he thought about it, the more he felt that it was a mess and clueless, and finally he had to put down the red pen in his hand.

"Emperor!" Wang Chengen, who was standing behind him, saw Chongzhen's appearance, so he asked in a low voice: "Do you want to invite Mr. Zhou from the cabinet to come over and ask about this list?" “

"No need!" Chongzhen shook his head, at this time, he had a lot less trust in this handsome appearance and the first assistant minister who had made him quite a lot of hopes, not only because of the repeated frustrations during this time, but also from other ministers and other channels Chongzhen heard many rumors that were unfavorable to Zhou Yanru, saying that he formed a party for personal gain, and every time there was a political matter, he would return his favor to himself, and he was too wrong, some of these rumors were attacks on Zhou Yanru by political enemies, but many of them were facts. Although this young Yixing man is very smart, his hands and feet are not clean in many things, leaving a handle for many people with ulterior motives. So Chongzhen decided to rely on himself to find flaws in this list.

"Wang Daban, what year is this Lu Boqi, the prefect of Yanzhou, a jinshi? Who is the Master? Chongzhen asked, pointing to a name on the list that he didn't remember much.

"Lu Boqi, the prefect of Dunzhou?" Wang Chengen looked at the list, this official will be promoted to the same state military preparation road, military preparation is a kind of official position in the Ming and Qing dynasties, the full name is the rectification of the military preparation road, its main responsibility is to deal with military affairs, supervise officers and soldiers, but later its scope of power continues to expand, including the management of guards and horses, handling military money and food, accepting lawsuits within the army, training local officers and militia, patrolling defense, arresting homeless people and criminals, etc., in fact, he has become the governor or governor of the next level of commander. As one of the three divisions, the Provincial Judicial Department also holds the "Department of Discipline and Discipline", which in today's words is the Discipline Inspection Commission and the Procuratorate, not only the local army in the same prefecture must be controlled by him, but also the surrounding armies and prefectures and counties must obey his orders (he has the right to supervise, and if he does not obey orders, he can be impeached, and if necessary, he can even be temporarily disposed of). Lu Boqi's promotion from a prefect to a military reserve can be described as a qualitative leap, and it is no wonder that Chongzhen wants to figure out the details behind this appointment.

Wang Chengen thought for a while and replied: "Emperor, if the slave is not mistaken, this Lu Boqi has not been admitted to the Jinshi, and he should be from a high background. “

"Origin?" Chongzhen was stunned when he heard this, he still has great trust in Wang Chengen's memory, but according to the unspoken political rules of the Ming Dynasty, background is extremely important for a scholar. But if a person is not particularly good, the prefect will almost come to an end. The speed of promotion from the prefect to the military preparation road at once, there are many precedents in this dynasty when it is put on the jinshi, and it is very strange to raise people.

Seeing the suspicious look on Chongzhen's face, Wang Chengen also saw the master's intentions, and said with a smile: "Emperor, this Lu Boqi slave also knows, two days ago, a Tang newspaper said that he guarded the lonely city with 300 militiamen for three days, resisted the siege of more than 10,000 thieves, and joined forces with the outside to break the thieves, beheaded more than 1,000 levels, captured thousands, and accumulated a mountain, so the governor of the three sides, Hong Dacai, wrote to ask him to prepare for the soldiers of the same state!" ”

"Is there such a thing? Why don't I know! Chongzhen was surprised and delighted when he heard this.

"It's all to blame for the stupidity of the minions, and the Tang Bao is placed in the normal order, there are too many Tang Bao in the past few days, and you haven't seen it yet, the emperor!" Wang Chengen knelt down to confess, he took two steps on his knees, stretched out his hand and took out a copy from the fold, presented it with both hands: "It should be this, please see, Emperor!" ”

Chongzhen snatched the Tang Newspaper and opened it, his pale face was immediately full of smiles, and he read it carefully, as if he wanted to chew it and taste it. Suddenly, he stood up suddenly: "Hong Chengchou is really a capable minister, and it is really right for the widow to let him replace Yang He!" (To be continued.) )