Daming, Beijing City.

This is the capital of the Ming Dynasty, and the majestic Forbidden City in the center of the city is also the center of the world.

This capital, which was founded in Dayuan, built a lot of construction after Zhu Di ascended the throne, replacing Lao Zhu's imperial palace in Nanjing, and became the center of the world again.

Since the Beijing division moved from Nanjing to Beijing, more than 200 years have passed in a blink of an eye, from the Yongle Emperor to the present, the Ming Dynasty has eleven emperors in this world, control the splendid rivers and mountains.

Wanli Emperor Zhu Yijun, who has been the emperor for 48 years until today, broke the record of his grandfather Jiajing and became the longest-reigning emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

And now, this Ninth Five-Year Supreme, since last year, his already bad health has deteriorated, he is often dizzy and unable to deal with things, and under the drag of serious illness, the emperor feels even more miserable.

Wanli is obese and has foot diseases, and his health has not been very good. He had been suffering from this disease for a long time, but there was no cure, which caused him great pain.

Later, some medical experts judged that Wanli's condition was most likely atherosclerosis of the lower limbs, and it may also be accompanied by severe hypertension and diabetes.

As a famous otaku among the emperors of the past dynasties, Wanli has not been in court for decades, in addition to the reason why he does not want to see his courtiers, the torture of illness is also one of them, but in the harem, it does not mean that Wanli has no control over the court, on the contrary, for this country, he is still the emperor who holds great power from above.

A few days ago, Wanli's queen Wang suddenly went, although Wanli has always favored Concubine Zheng and didn't have much affection for Queen Wang, but after all, they were also husband and wife for many years, and the death of Queen Wang made Wanli feel sad in his heart.

Ma Rong, the eunuch who held the seal of the celebrant and the eunuch, came to the Hongde Palace, he did not enter the hall immediately, but asked the little eunuch who was waiting next to Wanli in a low voice.

After asking, Ma Rong walked into the hall and came to the inner hall lightly, and saw Wanli lying on the couch with his back to him, his body rising and falling slightly with his breathing, and he didn't know whether he was awake or asleep.

Not daring to disturb Wanli, Ma Rong stood at the door with his hands down, waiting quietly.

I don't know how long it took, Wanli who was lying on the couch coughed suddenly, Ma Rong hurriedly stepped forward, helped Wanli get up, and gently beat the dragon's back a few times.

Wanli spat out a mouthful of thick phlegm, and his cough eased a little. Ma Rong took the ginseng soup from the little eunuch and waited for Wanli to drink two sips.

After the soup was swallowed, Wanli's face changed a lot, and then he noticed Ma Rong who was serving him, and asked, "What's the matter?" ”

"Elder Fang Ge knelt outside the Rende Gate and begged to invite the emperor Sheng'an." Ma Rong reported in a low voice.

"Why is he here again?" Wanli frowned, Fang Congzhe is the first assistant of the cabinet, on the sixth day of the fourth month, Queen Wang died, Fang Congzhe asked to see the holy face, but was sent back directly by Wanli, I didn't think that it was only a few days later, Fang Congzhe came again.

And listening to what Ma Rong said, Fang Congzhe actually knelt outside the Rende Gate and begged, the first assistant of the Ming Cabinet, this behavior made Wanli extremely unhappy, didn't he force himself to see him?

For a while, Wanli subconsciously wanted to say nothing, but when the words came to his mouth, Wanli hesitated again.

Now there is no one in the cabinet, Fang Congzhe is the first assistant but he is alone, the entire cabinet is Fang Congzhe alone, not only the cabinet, but even the officials of the ministries and courts add up to only five people, all the imperial history has no one all year round, there are only a dozen officials in the science and Taoism, and there are countless vacancies for officials in the entire Ming central organ, and one person in each department has to do the work of three or four people, barely able to maintain operation.

Since the former head auxiliary Ye Xianggao, Fang Congzhe was specially selected by Wanli to replace Ye Xianggao, and he was also a mud bodhisattva he placed in the cabinet. Once Fang Congzhe picks a son and doesn't do it, then the Ming court will be completely paralyzed. This is a lesson from the past, last year Fang Congzhe did this, directly lying at home for more than 40 days of strike, strongly asked Wanli to promise him to resign from the post of first assistant, Wanli repeatedly retained and appeased, and spent a lot of effort to let Fang Congzhe return to the cabinet to work.

At present, my body is getting worse day by day, and my condition is much more serious than this time last year. If Fang Congzhe picks up the son again at this time, then the government will be paralyzed. In addition, after the defeat of Liaodong last year, the Ming Dynasty is now in crisis, even if Wanli does not want to see Fang Congzhe, he can only see it at this time.

"Go! Bring him to me. Wanli hesitated, thinking that it was better to see each other, so as not to force Fang Congzhe to strike again.

Ma Rong responded, stepped back and walked out of the Hongde Hall quickly, and after a while, he arrived outside the Rende Gate, and when he saw Ma Rong coming, Fang Congzhe, who had been kneeling outside the door and waiting, was suddenly overjoyed, and hurriedly asked if the emperor was willing to see him?

"The emperor is seeing the elder in the Hongde Palace." Ma Rong said in a low voice, Fang Congzhe hurriedly stood up with a happy face, but just now he almost fell down because he knelt for too long, and Ma Rong helped him on the side, which did not let Fang Congzhe fall directly.

Ma Rong led him into the inner palace, and after a while, he came to the Hongde Hall. Ma Rong let Fang Congzhe go out later, he went in first to report, Fang Congzhe arched his hand to Ma Rong to show his gratitude, Ma Rong went in first, and after a while, Ma Rong came out again and took Fang Congzhe into the hall.

"The old minister knocks on Your Majesty, Your Majesty ......."

Entering the inner hall, Fang Congzhe saw Emperor Wanli who was already half-lying on the couch at a glance, and hurriedly stepped forward to salute.

"Sir, don't be polite, get up. Ma Rong, take a seat for Mr. Wanli raised his hand, his voice was not high but majestic.

Ma Rong hurriedly moved a brocade stool and invited Fang Congzhe to sit, Fang Congzhe thanked the emperor again, and then sat down carefully.

Sitting down and looking at the emperor not far away, Fang Congzhe really felt in his heart that it was not easy to see the emperor. It has been eight years since he entered the cabinet, and in these eight years, he actually saw the emperor for the second time today.

At that time, Emperor Jiajing also did not go to court all the year round and hid in the harem to cultivate. But at that time, at least the cabinet was operating normally, and it was not difficult for the cabinet elders to see the emperor. Where is like himself, the entire cabinet is just a single commander, and it is more difficult to see the emperor than to ascend to the sky, if it weren't for the fact that this time he gave up his face and knelt in front of the door with the dignity of the first assistant and cried, maybe he still wouldn't be able to see the emperor's face.

"The Eucharist is not in harmony, and the outside world cannot know everything. Yesterday, when I heard the imperial doctor's message, the minister was terrified. It was also the time when the queen of the middle palace collapsed, and the Sacred Heart mourned. I hope that the emperor will comfort the holy arms and make good adjustments to comfort the hopes of Chinese and foreign subjects. Facing the emperor, Fang Congzhe said earnestly.

Wanli slowly spoke: "I know, now that the country is troublesome, Mr. can do his best to assist." ”

Fang Congzhe arched his hand: "The minister has received the emperor's kindness, if you can repay it, dare not do your best!" ”

Wanli sighed, and the other party said from the philosopher: "Since last year and March, I have often been on fire, and my head is dizzy. Abdominal irregularities, vomiting several times, spleen and stomach injuries. So far, I have diarrhea from time to time, and my body is weak. Due to diarrhea, the lower part is swollen and painful and difficult to sit. He also has wet phlegm and injection, pain in the right foot, and unfavorable movement. I read all the daily documents, but I was in a trance, my eyes were dizzy, and it was difficult to read the ....... ”

"Ma Rong!"

"The slave is here!"

"Take the case file of the Tai Hospital and give it to Mr. to see."

Ma Rong hurriedly responded, walked to the side, took out the case of the emperor's treatment in the Tai Hospital, and handed it to Fang Congzhe, Fang Congzhe took it and looked at it carefully, and sure enough, the condition written on it was the same as what the emperor described just now.

"Sir!" Wanli continued to speak.

"Your Majesty ......."

"Sir, please come forward." Wanli beckoned to Fang Congzhe, Fang Congzhe got up and came to Wanli's side, Wanli rolled up his sleeves to show Fang Congzhe his wrist, pointed to the swelling on his wrist and sighed: "If I don't see Mr., I am really sick, and I need to ask Mr. for more assistance in national affairs." ”

Fang Congzhe sighed secretly in his heart, he originally thought that Wanli was pretending to be sick and not seeing him, but he didn't expect Wanli to be really sick. And when I saw Wanli this time, I obviously felt that the emperor's illness was not light, and he had lost a lot of weight, which could not be faked.

Fang Congzhe comforted the emperor a few words first, nothing more than saying that the emperor was cared for by a hundred gods, but with the intention of conditioning, naturally Wan'an's words, after speaking, taking advantage of this rare opportunity, Fang Congzhe once again brought up the old matter, complained to Wanli, and told Wanli that there was a serious shortage of personnel in all departments of the Wanli court, and the cabinet was the only one, and he was old and frail and not in good spirits, so it was really difficult to support himself. In addition, the major military situation in Liaodong has not yet been resolved, and now the queen has a big gift, and two more people are invited to join the cabinet to help him deal with affairs.

As for who these two people were, Fang Congzhe had written to the emperor before, namely Shi Jikai and Shen Hong, Wanli closed his eyes slightly, and after Fang Congzhe finished speaking, he shook his head noncommittally.

"The matter of Liaodong is only because of the civil and military discord, so that it is so, the cabinet minister has already approved it, because of the birthday festival, there are many documents, I don't know where it is, and it will be sent when it is found."

Fang Congzhe was stunned for a moment, and hurriedly said: "Please ask the emperor to investigate the matter of increasing the cabinet ministers." ”

"Got it, I'll do it when I'm a little better."

Fang Congzhe was bitter when he saw that Wanli had adopted a delaying policy again, and continued: "Seeing that today's great bureaucrats are extremely lacking, when this is a lot of things, I hope the emperor will give it a supplement." ”

"I know, I'm better together. Mr. can go back to the cabinet to do things, do his best to assist, and don't shirk ....... ”

Fang Congzhe never thought that at this time, Wanli would continue to delay, and when he was about to continue to mention it again, he saw Wanli muttering in his mouth: "Got it...... I know ....... His voice grew softer, his eyelids drooped, and he fell asleep in front of him.

Seeing this scene, Fang Congzhe didn't know what to say, at this time, Ma Rong came to Fang Congzhe's side, and whispered that the emperor was seriously ill, and now he had seen Fang Ge Lao, and what he wanted to say was also told to the emperor, for the emperor's dragon health, please also ask Fang Ge Lao to go back first, since the emperor already knows, those things will be patiently waited for the emperor to get better.

Seeing this, Fang Congzhe was also helpless, so he could only get up and kowtow to Wanli, and then left the Hongde Palace.

Fang Congzhe had just left the Hongde Hall with his front feet, and Wanli, who was still groggy a moment ago, opened his eyes the next moment, looking at the direction outside the hall, Wanli frowned slightly, with a thoughtful expression.