I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 181 Zhang Siwei's Morning Court Record
At midnight, the trusted servant shouted outside the door.

"Master, the time has come, it's time to get up."

Zhang Siwei woke up suddenly, opened his eyes wide, and found himself lying on the bed with his concubine lying beside him.

She was also awakened. She sat up with her naked upper body, put on her clothes, got out of bed, put on her pants, skirt and shoes, and whispered to the maids outside the door to light the lamp and bring in the basin of water.

The concubine walked to the bedside, hung up the curtains, looked at Zhang Siwei lying on the bed with his eyes wide open, and said softly, "Master, it's time to get up and wash up."

Zhang Siwei coughed twice, slowly sat up, took the tea bowl handed to him by the maid, and drank a sip of ginseng tea to replenish his energy.

He rinsed his mouth and washed his face, and had a bowl of red date millet porridge. Then, with the help of his concubine and maid, Zhang Siwei changed into the third-rank vermilion round-collar official uniform.

The concubine was holding the black gauze hat and was about to put it on, but Zhang Siwei suddenly stretched out his hand to block it, "The master has to go into the palace to report something today, change it for me with a new one."

The concubine was stunned.

new?

Do I need to change into a new official hat when entering the palace?
However, the concubine did not dare to ask, and immediately turned around to get a new black official hat from the cabinet and put it on Zhang Siwei.

The concubine took out a piece of ivory from the box and carefully tied it to Zhang Siwei's belt.

This is an ivory badge for a court official. Made of ivory, the front has "Guanglu Temple Minister, Hanlin Academy Scholar, National History Museum Editor Zhang Siwei" engraved on it, and the back has four lines of words engraved on it, "Court officials wear this badge. Those without it will be punished according to the law. Those who borrow it will be punished the same as those who lend it. It cannot be used when leaving the capital!"

In the Ming system, the rank of Hanlin Academy scholars was not high, only the fifth rank, which made it difficult to show their nobility, so they were generally given the title of Jiusiqing to raise their official rank.

Just like the cabinet ministers who participated in the mechanical work, from the Zhongjidian Grand Secretary to the Dongge Grand Secretary, they were all the same as the Hanlin Academy scholars, only of the fifth rank. Depending on the degree of favor from the emperor, they would be given the titles of assistant minister, minister, three orphans, and three dukes to raise their official ranks.

"What time is it?" Zhang Siwei stood in the backyard and looked up at the dark sky.

"To answer your question, sir, it is two quarters past midnight."

"Two quarters past midnight. It's almost time. Is the sedan ready?"

"In reply to the master, the sedan chair is waiting in the sedan room."

Zhang Siwei touched the memorial in his arms and took a deep breath: "Let's go!"

The sedan chair came out of the side door of Zhang's house. Two attendants were in front holding lanterns to light the way, and eight attendants were guarding the sedan chair in front and behind.

When we arrived at Chang'an Street, four bearers carried the sedan chair, walking lightly and quickly.

In order to facilitate attending court sessions, court officials generally lived in the south city, especially along East and West Chang'an Avenue.

Zhang Siwei was not short of money and bought a house on East Chang'an Street, not far from the Meridian Gate, about a quarter of an hour away.

The sedan chair stopped outside the Meridian Gate. There were hundreds of sedan chairs parked outside the gate, and officials got out one after another.

Dozens of lanterns were hung on the Meridian Gate, illuminating the shadows of people.

Everyone cupped their hands to each other and greeted each other silently, not daring to make a sound to break the silence.

Zhang Siwei looked up at the Meridian Gate.

The Meridian Gate is the main entrance of the Forbidden City. The middle is the imperial road, which is usually not opened. The two gates on the left and right are for the entry and exit of generals on duty and guards with flags and staffs.

There is a door on each of the left and right sides, called the Left and Right Side Gates. These are the gates through which officials enter the court. Civil officials enter through the Left Side Gate, and military officials enter through the Right Side Gate.

Zhang Siwei saw a city wall hidden in the night. The lanterns on it looked like stars, swaying in the darkness.

This is the Wufeng Tower, where there are morning bells and drums, managed by the eunuchs of the Bell and Drum Department. There are evening drums and morning bells, and when the morning bell rings, the morning court will begin.

Looking at this towering city wall in the dark night, Zhang Siwei felt an inexplicable sense of oppression. What a magnificent power of heaven!
He hesitated for a moment.

Do you want to give it a try?
Soon, he made up his mind.

It has come to this!

Of course I have to gamble!

Zhang Siwei and his colleagues were waiting at the Zuoye Gate. According to the regulations, the on-duty generals and the flag-bearing Jinyiwei military officers were the first to have their badges checked and enter.

Next came the attendant officials who had their badges checked in turn, dukes, princes-in-law, and earls, officials from the five ministries and six departments, and finally the officials from Yingtian Prefecture and other miscellaneous positions in the capital.

Zhang Siwei was a bachelor of the Hanlin Academy and a close attendant, and was the second batch to be admitted through card verification.

There are five straight rooms on the left side of the door, which are called "board houses". They are where the officials of the Zhanshi Mansion, Zuoyouchunfang and Sijingju live.

Zhang Siwei crossed the open space behind the Meridian Gate and came to the door on the right.

The upper position here is the court room of Hou Chao, an official of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and the lower three rooms are the court rooms of the Hanlin Academy Hanlin scholars. Zhang Siwei cupped his hands, greeted his colleagues, and found a seat to sit down.

The rest of the cabinet, the six ministries, and the five military offices each had their own Houchaochao room. At the hour of Mao, the bell rang and the sky was getting light.

The big Han general was standing on the Jinshui Bridge, waving his whip, which made crisp snapping sounds.

Hearing the sound of whips, everyone came out of their rooms, crossed the Jinshui Bridge, and arrived at the Danchi of Fengtian Gate. The Grand Secretary sat in the front on the north side, followed by the scholars in the middle, and the rest on the south side.

Civil officials were on the left and military officials were on the right, standing opposite each other on both sides of the Imperial Road.

When the bell rang twice, everyone stood in silence, not daring to move.

The censors in charge of inspection would supervise the situation and any officials who coughed, spit, crowded or behaved in an untidy manner would be recorded and dealt with accordingly.

On the left and right of the steps were the bell and drum bands, and between the steps of the palace stood Han generals in full armor.

On the left and right sides of the imperial road and behind the civil and military officials, there were captains of the Embroidered Uniform Guard holding swords.

The band played music, and Emperor Longqing, wearing court robes, arrived at the imperial gate in a sedan chair, walked up to the steps, and sat on the throne. The Jinyiwei strongmen held five umbrellas and four round fans, climbed up the steps from the east and west sides, and stood behind the throne.

Zhu Yijun, dressed in court robes, stood with his hands down on the steps below the imperial throne.
After the emperor and the crown prince took their seats, the Han general waved his whip again. After the whip sounded, the officials from the Honglu Temple began to "sing" and enter the class.

As the singing sounded, the civil and military groups on the left and right walked into the Imperial Road side by side. The civil officials went north to the west, and the military officials went north to the east, and they performed the ceremony of bowing once and kowtowed three times. This is called the "big class".

Dukes, marquises, princes-in-law and earls formed their own "honorary relatives class" and sat a little in front of the military officers class, and they saluted at the same time.

After the ceremony, the morning court began.

The officials of the Honglu Temple came out first and reported to Emperor Longqing the number and names of officials who came to the capital to express their gratitude or left the capital to resign.

These people had all reported to the Honglu Temple the day before.

Those whom the emperor wanted to summon had already been arranged to meet him in the imperial palace.

Emperor Longqing wanted to strike during the morning court session, so naturally he would not arrange for an audience with the emperor in the imperial palace. This heavy burden fell on Zhu Yijun.

However, he usually summoned these officials who came to Beijing to report on their work or left Beijing to take up their new posts in Xiyuan.

Therefore, officials who wanted to express gratitude or resign would perform the ritual of five bows and three kowtows in the courtyard or outside the Meridian Gate, and that was the end of the matter.

Next should be the report from the border, but there is none today.

Those reports from the border checkpoints had already been decreed by Emperor Longqing, and they could be handed over directly to the Supervisory Office for handling.

The next step is a very important one, where each official will report on his or her own affairs.

After a few months, all the civil and military officials in the court knew what kind of temper the current emperor had. They knew that military and national affairs were handled in the West Garden, and this was just surface work. Apart from important ceremonial matters, the real important matters would not be reported here.

After Zhang Siwei and the other two officials from the Ministry of Rites finished their performance, they coughed violently.

This is called "cleaning", telling other colleagues that I am about to start speaking, so you guys wait a bit to avoid any conflicts.

Zhang Siwei lifted his collar, walked to the emperor and knelt down, took out the memorial from his arms and read it from it.

It was not yet dawn and the light was not very good. If a minister with poor eyesight wanted to make a memorial, he would have to memorize the memorial at home first.

Zhang Siwei's voice was loud and clear, and everyone around him could hear it clearly. The expressions of the cabinet ministers such as Xu Jie changed slightly.

In the memorial, Zhang Siwei strongly suggested that the emperor improve the Eastern Palace's Zhanshi Mansion and the Zuoyou Chunfang, select imperial lecturers, and set up a lecture for the prince in the Wenhua Hall to explain the meaning of the scriptures.

After Zhang Siwei finished reading, he handed the memorial to the eunuch, stood up, bent down, and returned to his standing position.

When reporting to the emperor in the morning, the emperor would generally not make a decision on the spot. He would take the report back and then approve it or keep it in his possession.

Emperor Longqing sat far away on the throne, his body swaying slightly, and it seemed that he might have fallen asleep. Anyway, the censors who were in charge of the court meeting discipline would not find fault with him.

Zhang Siwei glanced at the prince from a distance and found that he was calm and stood there quietly, like a stone statue, with his eyes sparkling.

Several officials came to report some things later. The censors and officials from the Honglu Temple came out one after another and reported on the misconduct of officials during the morning court.

All is well, everyone is behaving well.

Wanfu, who was standing next to him, reminded him. Emperor Longqing shuddered, finally sat up straight, and nodded in time.

The officials of the Honglu Temple who received the reminder began to sing again, "The report is over, and the emperor is about to start his journey!"

Then Emperor Longqing and the Crown Prince left on a sedan chair. After the two gentlemen left, all civil and military officials left the palace in order and returned to their offices to attend to their duties.

Ten thousand horses were galloping through Zhang Siwei's mind. Gao Da Hu Zi, where is your support and your reinforcements?

(End of this chapter)