The eldest son of the red mansion

Chapter 210 Jingyang Bell

Don't talk about the fierce battle in Miyun, just talk about the eight hundred miles of emergency troops that Gu Xu sent to the capital earlier.

The messenger who delivered the letter knew that the matter was of great importance, so he drove fast along the way, without drinking or eating.When you encounter a post station, you can change your horse and go without any delay.

He set off at noon and arrived in the capital at dusk. There were people coming and going at the gate of the capital at this time, and this was the busiest time under the walls of the capital.The flow of people almost blocked the city gate.

Seeing this appearance, the messenger jumped up in a hurry, but he couldn't enter the city. After hesitating for a moment, he raised his whip and lashed at the people around him, and shouted: "There is an urgent military situation at eight hundred miles, but there are people blocking the way!" Make a decision."

The people around were stunned by him. At this time, the soldiers guarding the city gate had already noticed the chaos here, and came over immediately to check the situation.The messenger couldn't help being overjoyed when he saw the officers and soldiers coming, and immediately shouted to the officers and soldiers: "I have urgent military information to report to the emperor, you drive these people away quickly."

The officers and soldiers guarding the city have seen more than eight hundred miles of urgent military situations in the past few years, so they naturally know what to do.Immediately they raised their sticks and drove the people aside to make way for the messenger.

Seeing that the road was clear, the messenger immediately urged his horse into the city. When he came to the city, he urged the horse to hurry and shouted: "There is an urgent military situation at eight hundred miles. The people get out of the way, or they will be trampled to death."

In this way, the messenger came all the way to the palace. Originally, the military situation of eight hundred miles should be reported to the Ministry of War first, then the Ministry of War reported to the cabinet, and finally the cabinet reported to the emperor.But this time the messenger didn't care about that, because he knew clearly that the Tatars had arrived at the city of Miyun, and if they didn't report to the emperor as soon as possible, it would be dangerous to delay the capital.So instead of going to the Ministry of War, he came directly to the palace.

When he arrived at the gate of the palace, the imperial guards guarding the palace gate immediately stopped him.Seeing that the messenger was stopped, the messenger hurriedly shouted to the imperial army: "There is an urgent military situation at [-] miles away, and it is too late to report to the Ministry of War, so report it directly to the emperor. Go in and report it."

Seeing that he didn't look like he was joking, the imperial guards hurriedly reported to the city gate officer who guarded the city. After hearing the report, the gate officer who guarded the palace gate immediately came out to check the situation.

As soon as the city gate officer came out of the palace gate, he saw a man with the appearance of an officer and a soldier with an order flag on his back, covered in dust and dust, with sweat marks on his face one after another.Hurry up and ask him: "Where are you reporting? Why didn't you report to the Ministry of War first according to the rules?"

The messenger hurriedly explained at this time: "The urgent military situation is too late to report to the Ministry of War, and it must be reported directly to the emperor. Please report to Li as soon as possible."

The city gate officer was very anxious to see him, but as a city gate officer, he had to follow the rules, so he hurriedly informed the eunuch inside, and the eunuch was sending the letter to the palace.After all, an officer like him cannot enter the inner palace.

Unfortunately today, the eunuch guarding the gate of the palace got angry and was scolded by their supervisor for a trivial matter. Play the report and ask him to go and send a message to the inner palace.

But the eunuch didn't care about these at all. After all, according to the rules, this has never happened. The only time it was the last time Jia Ke sent someone to send jade seals across the country.

Therefore, he doesn't take this kind of thing seriously. The 800-mile emergency military situation has not been several times in the past few years. If it is delivered directly to the emperor every time, then there is no rule, and he is now Thinking about how to get back all the anger he had received, he thought of a way to make his immediate boss unable to bear it.

So now he said impatiently: "Go back and tell him that no matter how important he is, he must follow the rules. Let him report to the Ministry of War first, and then the Ministry of War will handle the specific matters. It has nothing to do with him. "

The little soldier who informed him had no choice but to come out and report this matter to the city gate officer.

The city gate officer also felt very helpless when he heard such a reply, so he could only turn around and say to the messenger: "It's not that I won't help you, brother, it's just that there is nothing I can do. You should report to the Ministry of War as soon as possible."

When the messenger saw this situation, his teeth itch with anger.I came here to report the letter desperately, and I didn't drink or eat on the way, so I almost lost my life, but was blocked at the gate of the palace.If this delays the major event, the capital will be in danger.Not to mention the people around the capital, even the emperor was deeply involved.

The messenger was also very careful, seeing that no one came inside to report to him, he thought of finding a way to deliver the message to the palace.Messengers often heard people say that there are Jingyang bells and driving drums outside the palace, which are used to communicate with the emperor in emergency situations.

So the messenger looked around, and sure enough, he saw a small bell tower next to it with a big iron bell hanging on it. He guessed that this was the famous Jingyang Bell, so he took three steps and two steps to the bell tower regardless of others.The soldiers guarding the clock tower came to stop when they saw someone trying to rush upwards.

The city gate officer knew what the messenger was going to do when he saw the messenger's movements. He himself was afraid of delaying the emergency military situation, so he hurriedly waved his hands to the blocking soldiers.When the soldiers saw his gesture, they retreated to the sides.

Seeing that there was no one to stop him from going up to the bell tower, the messenger came to the side of the big clock, shook the bumper next to him, and slammed into the big clock with all his strength. Dang, dang, dang, as the bell kept ringing, the whole capital trembled in an instant. up.

This Jingyang bell was set up by Emperor Taizu according to the rules of the previous dynasty.It was specially designed to allow the people to sue the imperial court, so that the people had a chance to face the emperor directly at the last moment, and Emperor Taizu stipulated that once the Jingyang bell rang, no matter what the emperor did, he must go to court immediately.After the Jingyang bell rang, the civil and military officials would cut off those who did not arrive within three quarters.

And this was the little eunuch who was angry at the palace gate just now, when he heard the Jingyang bell ringing, he immediately got smart.Thinking that this might be the messenger who just wanted to announce the ring.If it was really this person, then he would lose his life this time.So regardless of other things, he ran out of the palace gate like crazy and came to Jingyang Bell.

He saw a ragged and disheveled sergeant on top, ringing the Jingyang bell constantly.

Seeing this situation, the little eunuch sat down on the ground, and had no strength to stand up again.He knew that this time he was doomed. Since this sergeant dared to ring the Jingyang bell, he must have something urgent to report to the emperor.But I refused to send it to the inner court, this is a great crime, the emperor will never forgive myself.

At this moment, the officers and soldiers around couldn't help showing gloating expressions when they saw the little eunuch lying limp on the ground.These eunuchs in the inner court are usually arrogant and domineering towards the imperial guards, and everyone feels very relieved to see him now.

At this time, the emperor was reviewing the memorials in the East Nuan Pavilion, and he was watching it with fascination. This year, some places in Shaanxi were hit by drought again. It is necessary to provide relief early, otherwise there will be future troubles.

There is drought in Shaanxi every year, but the severity of the drought varies, so the emperor didn't pay much attention to it. He just approved some food for them according to the severity of the drought in the memorial, which can be regarded as this year's disaster relief.

He was about to write Zhu Zhu on the memorial when suddenly a loud bell rang outside.This frightened him so much that he even dropped his pen on the table, and his heart was pounding, the emperor calmed down and listened carefully.When he found out that the Jingyang bell was ringing, he calmed down a bit. At this time, if someone rang the Jingyang bell, he might have some serious grievances and wanted to face the emperor directly. This was to sue himself.

Although I was very angry in my heart, my ancestors had a rule that when the Jingyang bell rang, the emperor must receive him.This is because the founding emperor knew well that the people sometimes had no place to complain. In order to leave the people with the last way out, he specially stipulated the Jingyang bell to remind the drum. As long as one of the two places rings, all civil and military officials and The emperor had to go to the palace. Although the bells and drums were rung and he would be exiled for three thousand miles in the end, it still left a way for the people to fight to the death.

However, since the Jingyang bell was erected outside the palace gate, it has been nearly a hundred years since the founding of the country, and it has never been rung by ordinary people. Today is the first time.

The Jingyang bell is usually used when the emperor dies, and it is used when the new emperor ascends the throne, but it never rings at other times.Now someone is ringing the Jingyang Bell, so I have to see this person no matter what.

The emperor glanced angrily at Dai Quan next to him, and said, "What are you still doing in a daze? Why don't you go and see what happened?"

Dai Quan was also taken aback by what happened just now. He never expected that someone would have the courage to ring the Jingyang Bell. He always thought that the Jingyang Bell was just a decoration, fooled by Emperor Taizu. Those ignorant people, I didn't expect someone to have such courage.

Now hear the emperor's scolding.He hurried out of Dongnuan Pavilion, and recruited a young eunuch outside to let him go and see what happened.

After waiting for a cup of tea, the little eunuch ran back with disheveled clothes and panting, shouting as he ran, "Get out of the way, get out of the way."

When Dai Quan saw the rudeness of the little eunuch, he didn't blame him, because he knew how difficult the etiquette training in the palace was. For a well-trained little eunuch to become like this, something big might happen.Now he feels that his heart is about to jump out, and he can't help but pray to the gods and Buddhas in the sky that nothing serious will happen, but now he can't wait to ring the Jingyang bell, because he is a person who goes to Beijing to sue.

The little eunuch ran to Dai Quan's side, panting and said: "Grandpa Dai, something is wrong. The person who rang the Jingyang bell outside was the messenger who reported the military situation from eight hundred miles away. He was helpless because he couldn't enter the palace gate." Only then did the Jingyang bell ring."

Dai Quan's face turned black when he heard this, kicked him over, and shouted loudly: "Nonsense, the palace has its own rules, if there is something urgent to report, the eunuch guarding the palace gate should have reported it long ago." Come on. Now no one comes up to report, he rings the Jingyang bell privately, even if there is military intelligence, he should be beheaded."

The eunuchs, big and small, crawled on the ground and said with a mournful face: "The imperial guards guarding the gate of the palace have already reported to the eunuch guarding the gate, but they were stopped by that man. The messenger had no choice but to ring the Jingyang Bell."

Dai Quan was so frightened that he was sweating all over when he heard this, he scolded the eunuch who was watching the door like a dog, and said in his heart that you are sick, you can't hit the knife like this if you want to die, it doesn't matter if you die, Don't get your grandpa Dai involved.

Dai Quan was furious now, and immediately ordered the little eunuch, "Go and imprison that thing who doesn't know the law of the king to the Punishment Department, and wait for the emperor to deal with it later."

Just as Dai Quan was about to turn around and enter the East Nuan Pavilion to report to the emperor, he heard a roar from inside the East Nuan Pavilion: "Why do you keep such a slave? I beat him to death to feed the dogs."

Dai Quan turned around to look, and was so frightened that he hurriedly fell to his knees. It turned out that the emperor was standing in front of the door of Dongnuan Pavilion at some time, had heard what he said just now, and now his face was flushed with anger.

(End of this chapter)