On the second day of the third month of the sixth year of Wanli, the taste of spring can be felt everywhere in the streets and alleys of Jingshi.

The treasury was abundant, and in the first month of the year, Li Chengliang, the chief military officer of Liaodong, broke the Taining Department in the border fortress, and these two good news made the Beijing division have a jubilant atmosphere from top to bottom.

The little emperor of Wanli became more and more calm in the eyes of the ministers, no matter what he heard at the court meeting, he would not show his reaction, but indifferently said "quasi-play", "re-discussion" and so on.

The weather is a little warmer, and the Wanli Emperor always likes to go to the outside of the palace after the dispersal of the court, which neither the inner court nor the outer court has too many opinions, because the little emperor just goes to visit, and it is just that area.

The little emperor just walked around the old site of the martial arts hall and the circle of South Street, and each time it was not long, accompanied by Zhang Cheng or Zou Yi.

Today, next to the little emperor is the eunuch Zhang Cheng, the eunuch of the ceremonial eunuch Bingbi, the Wanli Emperor can no longer be called small, he now insists on exercising in the courtyard in front of the imperial study every night, the things learned in the martial arts hall have not been dropped, the amount of food has also increased, and he is a little shorter than Zhang Cheng.

I bought a few ham shortbreads at the dim sum shop on South Street, and the guy at the dim sum shop looked very strangely at Zhang Cheng, who looked like a housekeeper, broke a small piece of each shortbread and put it in his mouth, and the lame young man who looked like a young master was not surprised, and the two walked out of the store together.

The possible surname of this poisoning is almost equal to zero, but the kung fu of testing the poison still has to be done, and this surface work is let Zhang Cheng do it, the ham shortbread has just been baked, and it is very fragrant, which is not a chore for Zhang Cheng.

There are always guards in civilian clothes guarding the front and back, and the Wanli Emperor is now very thoughtful, and he is not as required for a complete private visit as before, and there are many things that have to be done in this identity.

The group wandered silently, and walked back to the imperial city silently, and when they entered the imperial city, several small eunuchs immediately ran over with a sedan chair, and Emperor Wanli waved his hand and said:

"The widow and Zhang accompany you to go, you are not as good as serving!"

After walking a few steps quietly, Emperor Wanli said in a deep voice:

"Li Chengliang beheaded more than 1,000 people in the north, and dealt such a heavy blow to the thieves of the Taining Department, why did the cabinet and the military department discuss the merits and rewards for so long without coming up with a result, how many praises and praises did the widows hear on the South Street side, what are they going to do here?"

Zhang Cheng smiled bitterly behind him and said:

"Long live Lord I don't know, the cabinet and the Ministry of War are also in a dilemma, Li Chengliang has a big victory every other year, and now he is an earl, several sons are constantly rewarded, how else can he be rewarded, this Li Chengliang after the victory, and opened a list to come up, asking people to ask for silver, should be given, but this nine-sided land, the northern and southern provinces, where there is no silver to raise soldiers, this is not decided."

It was rare to hear Zhang Cheng speak for the cabinet, and Emperor Wanli looked back in surprise, and found that the second person in the inner court had a wry smile on his face, obviously worried about this matter.

Emperor Wanli shook his head in some surprise, walked forward with his hands behind his back, and said indifferently:

"Why is it not right to win the battle?"

Zhang Cheng couldn't hear this, he looked left and right, although the accompanying guards and eunuchs were far away, Zhang Cheng still lowered his voice and said:

"If you go back to the Long Live Lord, Liaodong has won three times in five years, and each time it is a big victory, but it is all a fight against the Taining Department, every time 10,000 livestock are captured, but there are always more than 1,000 beheadings, this time and again."

Saying this, Emperor Wanli didn't say anything, and walked forward in silence for a while, there was a narrow sky between the vermilion palace walls on both sides, Wanli looked up, and suddenly said as if talking to himself:

"Wang Tong didn't hide anything from me, and he didn't spend a penny more from me, I saw the report from Tianjin, Wang Tong hit such a world with his bare hands in that difficult situation, and suppressed so many chaos, it's really embarrassing for him, the money collected by the Department of Public Security was allocated to him another 20,000 taels, and he managed to collect the money, but he couldn't spend it, and he did so many things, but the capital couldn't tolerate him."

"Long live Lord thinks too much, Long Live Lord you should be happy about this, the better Wang Tong does in Tianjin, the more reason you have when you transfer him back to Beijing, right?"

Speaking of Wang Tong, Emperor Wanli's mood was obviously a lot higher, and he also saw a smile on his face, and said as he walked:

"Wang Tong is really capable, so many people are staring at him, so many people are secretly making trouble, he actually resolves them one by one, especially the night when the camp was bombed, how good I want to be over there, and I also fight with Wang Tong and Hutou, how enjoyable and refreshing it is."

Speaking of this, Emperor Wanli couldn't help but sigh, Zhang Cheng didn't dare to answer, and walked forward silently, and after walking a few steps, he saw a red-robed eunuch in front of him carrying the hem of his robe, and ran over quickly, and a guard in front looked at it a few times, turned around and said loudly:

"It's Zhang Hong and Father-in-law Zhang of the celebrant supervisor!"

I don't know if it's a coincidence or what, there are many chief eunuchs surnamed Zhang in Yuwang's mansion, Zhang Cheng, Zhang Whale and this Zhang Hong, since Tian An was taken down, Zhang Hong has replaced the position of the chief eunuch of Suitang, and his relationship with Feng Bao is much closer than with Zhang Cheng, so he must have something important.

Zhang Hong is also a man in his forties, and after running for a while, he was sweating profusely, and after kowtowing to him, he hurriedly said:

"Long live the master, Zhang Ge Lao handed over the fold, saying that he was going home on March 13 to pay tribute to his deceased father, and the slave maid took the fold and hurriedly came to tell His Majesty."

In last year's battle to seize love and defend the system, almost all the officialdom in the world had to stand in line and choose sides, and those who couldn't see clearly and tried to wait and see were washed down.

Now that the situation is stable, Zhang Juzheng doesn't have to worry about any changes in the bureau after he leaves office, so he is relieved to ask for permission to return to his hometown.

Wanli's first sentence was not to ask this, but said with a smile:

"Zhang Hong, does Father-in-law Feng know about this?"

"If you go back to the Long Live Lord, the slave maid doesn't know, Grandpa Feng was on the side of the Empress Dowager Cisheng in the morning, the matter is urgent, Grandpa Zhang is outside with His Majesty again, and I heard the report from below that the Long Live Lord is back, so the slave and maid hurried over to report."

Emperor Wanli nodded, waved his hand and said:

"You go and do your errand, first send someone to the two queen mothers, tell the two queen mothers first, Feng Daban's side will also give it, I know here."

Hearing this, Zhang Hong hurriedly stood up, bent down and retreated, after this incident, Wanli and Zhang Cheng glanced at each other, did not make a sound, and walked forward in silence.

Walking forward, it is the place where Wanli Ping lives and reads, there are many more eunuchs waiting here than on the road, you can see that the eaves and the poles on the wall are hung with lanterns of various colors, the style is quite delicate and elegant, but it looks like the lanterns of the Lantern Festival, and they are a little faded.

There was a eunuch who set up a ladder to take it down, and when he saw this, Emperor Wanli's brows furrowed, and he asked in a cold voice:

"What is this going on!?"

On the ladder, the eunuch hurried down, and several of the people around him who were helping him also knelt down together, and the first one replied:

"If you go back to the Lord Banzai, this lantern is already old, it looks ugly, and the slaves and maids are ready to take it down and put it in storage."

Emperor Wanli's face was a little ugly for a moment, but he quickly returned to normal, and said lightly:

"Why bother touching it, there are lanterns hanging here in the palace on the Shangyuan Festival, since you want to save it, then you still have to hang it, and you don't have to buy a new one next year."

The eunuchs below were just about to speak, Zhang Cheng glared viciously behind Wanli a few times, and waved his hand violently, those eunuchs knew that something was wrong, and they kowtowed in fear, and hurriedly left, Emperor Wanli didn't make a sound again, and Zhang Cheng walked to the side of the imperial study, after Wanli entered the courtyard, he raised his hand and waved, Zhang Cheng immediately raised his voice and said:

"Do it according to the rules, leave one on duty to wait at the gate of the courtyard, and the rest go out."

The eunuchs in the courtyard immediately bowed down and walked out of the courtyard, Zhang Cheng took two quick steps to open the door of the imperial study, and Emperor Wanli entered the house, and suddenly said with a smile:

"Listen to Zhang Hong's slave maid, everything must be known by Feng Daban and the two queen mothers first, and then I can know, it really makes sense!"

Zhang Cheng pulled out the chair and said with a smile:

"Zhang Hong is a little straightforward, he was afraid of Gonggong Feng when he was in Yuwang's Mansion, and now he is very careful when he is on errands, he still knows the big things clearly, long live the lord, the slave maid said a word, the lantern outside can be changed, it is not good-looking, some people see it, it is inevitable to think more in their hearts"

"They want to go, I want to make a lot of noise in the palace, didn't Mr. Zhang advise me to save, look at the report of the Department of Public Security, saying that the outside storytellers also praise, and the scholars also praise, what do you say Zaifu direct advice, to ensure the safety of the Ming Dynasty? Keep these lanterns, but also set up a monument for Zhang Ge Lao! ”

Zhang Cheng lowered his head and didn't dare to answer, Emperor Wanli said mean words, during the Lantern Festival, Wanli wanted to make lanterns in the palace lively, but the first assistant of the cabinet Zhang Juzheng said that the cost was too big, now the country uses money everywhere, Your Majesty should be thrifty first, the two queen mother and Feng Bao are in favor of this opinion, Wanli can only listen, and hang some lanterns in his own house.

In order to prevent the eunuchs from peeking at it, Zou Yi locked a wooden box and placed it here, Zhang Cheng took out the key and opened the wooden box, and moved the stacks of documents out.

Emperor Wanli was in a relaxed state at this time, holding the scroll and flipping through it casually, when he saw one, he didn't know what he saw, he browsed it carefully a few times, and suddenly grabbed the tea bowl at hand and smashed it out.

There was a loud bang, and the tea bowl was smashed

(To be continued)