serious man in the red chamber

Chapter 22 Angry Emperor
Qianqing Palace.

The sky was gray, so dull, it was overwhelming.

In the distance, Zhang Shangwen, the second assistant to the cabinet, came with a memorial box.

Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks.

An officer in an old military uniform with a haggard face after a long journey came from the direction of the upper study. The two passed by. Zhang Shangwen frowned. This is a strange general, he has never seen it before.

Could it be that someone from Datong Town came?
Holding the booklet in his hand, Zhang Shangwen crossed the threshold and walked into the side hall of Qianqing Palace.

As a close minister of Emperor Jianwu, he has a special right. There is no need to notify the emperor when he sees the emperor. When he walks outside the veil of the main hall leading to the upper study room, Zhang Shangwen knows that there is a new situation, and the door of the upper study room is closed tightly. , the on-duty eunuch led two small yellow gates to guard there.

Zhang Shangwen hesitated for a moment, but still walked over.

The chief eunuch on duty saluted him silently.

Zhang Shangwen lowered his voice: "Who is here?"

The chief eunuch on duty half covered his mouth with his hands, and said in a low voice, "Ning Yuanhou is here."

Zhang Shangwen was startled, with a complicated expression on his face, looking at the Gongzhe in his hand, and sighed silently.

A chair was moved by the two small yellow gates, and the chief eunuch said: "Your Majesty has an order, no one will be allowed to enter, the second assistant should sit here first."

Zhang Shangwen sat down silently in the hall.

Ning Rong Street.

All the officials: "Madam Tai, please put the country and the country of the Great Zhou as the most important thing!"

Members of all sentient beings: "Madam Tai, please put the country and the country of the Great Zhou as the most important thing!"

In front of the gate of Ningguo Mansion, there were a lot of people kneeling in darkness.

The onlookers were all commotion.

Someone followed suit.

Someone shook his head and sighed.

Some people showed a look of indignation!
Fire came out of Qiu Liang's eyes.

He couldn't hold back any longer, and walked towards Xu Yao with a livid face, "Xu, you are court officials, but they are not. Believe it or not, I killed them!"

Xu Yao looked like he was going all out: "What is the purpose of studying hard for ten years? It's not for the world! It is their honor to die for the people of the world."

"Good! Good!"

Qiu Liang panted, with a fierce look in his eyes: "Since you civil servants are aggressive, we are not easy to bully. Come on!"

The officers and soldiers guarding both sides of the street shouted: "Here!"

Suddenly, the ground shook slightly, and countless armored soldiers emerged from both ends of Ningrong Street.

That is - infantry barracks!

The onlookers dispersed in all directions.

Hundreds of infantry and battalion soldiers in full armor rushed over and stood on the periphery of those soldiers and horse officers.

Under the escort of a group of royal soldiers, King Zhongshun and Ma Maocheng, the right servant of the Ministry of War, came to the gate of Ningguo Mansion and looked at Qiu Liang with a half-smile.

Qiu Liang's face turned livid: "Prince Zhongshun, what do you mean?!"

King Zhongshun didn't speak, so Ma Maocheng got off his horse, took a step forward, and took out a document from his sleeve: "Ma Maocheng, the right servant of the Ministry of War, will take over the position of the commander of Qiu Liang's army! Jing Tianhou, this is the military order of the Ministry of War. Stamp the relevant defense seal!" He said and handed over the military order.

Qiu Liang glanced at the military order, and Ma Maocheng stretched out his hand: "Jing Tianhou, hand in the seal!"

Qiu Liang didn't say anything, but looked at him for a long time, then turned to King Zhongshun: "Lord Zhongshun, I was ordered by the Supreme Emperor to be in charge of Bingmasi!"

Ma Maocheng: "The Army and Horse Division is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of War. The Lord Hou is not trying to disobey the military order!"

Qiu Liang laughed: "How could it be!" As he spoke, his eyes flashed coldly, starting from King Zhongshun, and shot at the faces of all the civil servants one by one.Then, he untied a copper seal from his waist and handed it over.

Ma Maocheng's eyes brightened. Bingmasi is one of the three major garrisons in the capital, and the only one who can walk freely in the city.Ever since the civilian officials took control of the Ministry of War, they have been trying to find a way to seize it from the honorable military, and more than ten years of planning have finally succeeded.

After receiving the seal, Ma Maocheng strode to the street and said to the deputy commander, "Go back to the yamen!"

The deputy commander: "Master Hou?"

Ma Maocheng's face sank, then he took out his big seal and held it up high, shouting loudly: "Don't get out!"

The deputy commander was surprised, and replied: "Yes." With a gesture of his hand, he led the soldiers and horses out of Ningrong Street.

"My lord, look!" a royal soldier pointed to the sky and shouted.

King Zhongshun looked up and saw two homing pigeons circling in the sky, flying to the southwest, a sneer appeared in his eyes.

Ma Maocheng was secretly happy that as long as Wang Ziteng acted according to the agreement, today's matter would be settled.

"Come on!" King Zhongshun said.

There was a rush of running, and an infantry battalion officer led a group of armored soldiers running quickly, each with their sabers straddling their waists, and surrounded the gate of Ningguo Mansion.

Qiu Liang: "My surname is Wu, what is your intention in doing this?"

"Of course it is to share your worries." King Zhongshun replied, and said to Qiu Liang: "There is an approval document from the clan's mansion, please listen carefully to Marquis Jingtian."

Qiu Liang was stunned, and stared at him with wide eyes.

King Zhongshun took out a document from his sleeve and read it aloud: "The son of Qin Ye, the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, reported that the Ningguo Mansion violated the rules of heaven. Watch it." After finishing speaking, he glanced at Qiu Liang who was stunned there, and waved his hand: "Get someone!"

"Yes!"

A group of soldiers climbed over the wall and entered Ningguo Mansion, and there were screams inside, and then, the small door on the left of Ningguo Mansion opened.

Groups of infantry and battalion soldiers stepped in densely through the open house door, and rushed into the front yard, all the soldiers rushed all the way to Ning'an Hall.

Go to the study.

The thick official booklet was unfolded on the imperial case, Emperor Jianwu had obviously read it, and obviously did not express anything about the booklet, he sat there leaning forward, motionless.

Li Chengyang sat on the chair on the side of the case.

Zhang Shangwen bowed his head and stood on the other side of the case, nervously waiting for Emperor Jianwu to speak.

"Can't you really keep it?" Emperor Jianwu was obviously asking Li Chengyang.

Li Chengyang stood up immediately: "There are various tribes of Mongolia in the north, and the Zhenglan Banner of the Manchu Qing Dynasty in the east. It only increases casualties."

After a while, Emperor Jianwu made up his mind: "Then deal with Mongolia first."

"Yes."

A complex expression immediately appeared on Li Chengyang's face.

Zhang Shangwen's face was also uncomfortable.

Emperor Jianwu slowly closed the official book and said: "You all heard just now that the majestic officials of the court bullied the widows, the elderly and the weak. This time I will not pursue it. I know that those students may It is dedicated to the public. The Jia family is after all meritorious service. After all, they made great contributions to the Great Zhou Dynasty. I am not the kind of mean and ungrateful person who would not trade the lives of loyal ministers. What do you think, Cisuke?"

Zhang Shangwen: "Your Majesty is sage. If the minister speaks to the Emperor, will the cabinet immediately stop peace talks with the Manchus?"

Emperor Jianwu: "We can talk about it first, there are still some things I haven't figured out."

Zhang Shangwen: "Follow the order."

Emperor Jianwu looked at him, as if he wanted to say something. Suddenly, Dai Quan hurried in and whispered something in his ear.

Emperor Jianwu's face immediately flushed red: "Wow! The internal court and the external court teamed up to hide it from me!"

Zhang Shangwen, Li Chengyang, and Dai Quan seemed to have a tacit understanding and knelt down together.

Emperor Jianwu: "Preach the decree."

Dai Quan looked at the emperor.

Emperor Jianwu: "Ma Maocheng, Xu Yao, Chen Lin, and Wang Hetang, inciting officials, cliques, and even persecuting Zhongliang are heinous! The three of them will be escorted to Caishikou for questioning! Send Wang Hetang back to his own home Let's go and arrest him. Also... tell King Zhongshun to come back and mess with something."

"The servant is going to deliver the decree." Dai Quan swallowed, stood up quickly, and ran out.

Why is there such a big change!
Under the gate of Yongding, many people were bustling and bustling, waiting to enter the city.

The city gate officer was standing outside the gate, with his hands in his sleeves, stomping his feet to keep out of the cold, and murmured, "God, it's not snowing yet, and it's still really cold."

Suddenly, the eyes of the city gate officer showed surprise. He saw a group of cavalry on the official road galloping towards the city gate. The red flag flew backwards while galloping.

"It's six hundred miles to hurry up!" A soldier in the army shouted.

The city gate officer shivered: "Get out of the way! Get out of the way!"

The people scattered to both sides in surprise.

The messenger kept lashing his fast horse with his whip, galloped through the hole in the city gate, and galloped towards the imperial city.

Someone with sharp eyes noticed that the last two fast horses had turned towards the west city, and the two seemed to still be wearing white cloth around their waists.
(End of this chapter)