Yongli Ming Dynasty

Chapter 61 Convocation
In the study of the Governor's Mansion, the golden sunlight of autumn shines through the wooden window, illuminating a corner of the room

Zhu Lang changed into his casual clothes and walked to the window. The afternoon sun was warm. Zhu Lang squinted his eyes and stretched in the sun.
The young Regent stretched his body and walked back to the table. He took a sip of the tea on the table. The clear tea fragrance filled his nose. The Regent could not help but sigh.

“Good tea”

After putting down the teacup, His Highness the Regent took some cakes from the table beside him. As he took the cakes, a light sweet-scented osmanthus fragrance filled his lips and teeth. The young prince could not help but praise softly.

“Good pastries too”

Li Guoyong, who was accompanying him, was originally nervous, but when he saw His Highness the Regent's expression relax, his eyes turned and he also spoke softly.
"There are several osmanthus trees planted in the governor's mansion. They are in full bloom now. When the chef saw them, he asked someone to fetch some and made this osmanthus cake. These are the osmanthus flowers that just bloomed this year."

"Really? Then this chef is not bad either."

Upon hearing this, the young Regent's face flashed with surprise, and then he took another piece of cake and started eating.

Li Guoyong looked at the young man leaning on the chair and eating cakes, and a trace of doubt flashed across his face.

He was also in the palace today, how could he not know what was going on in the palace?
Li Yongmao roared at the court in front of many ministers. He originally thought that Zhu Lang would be furious when he returned, so he had been on high alert for fear of angering the angry Regent.
But at this time, he found that his prince was not angry at all, but seemed to be in a good mood.

Li Guo looked at the young man behind the table with a puzzled look, and he really couldn't figure out what was going on with his own prince.
If Li Guoyong was scolded in front of so many people, he would have been furious. He might be thinking about how to deal with that person now.

But look at my own prince, the breeze is blowing on his face, and he is not bothered by it at all. I can only say that my prince is worthy of being the regent. This is really a prime minister with a big heart.
Zhu Lang leaned back in his chair, eating the cake in his hand. He was in a really good mood.
Ever since Wang Kun took out the list of candidates for the imperial lecture that day, he already knew that Wang Kun must want to get rid of someone on the list.

Although the court gave Li Yongmao full authority to be in charge of the imperial lectures, how could this list be drawn up by Li Yongmao alone?
There must be people from all sides of the court in the imperial lecture, and this is not something that Li Yongmao can handle alone.
As long as Wang Kun takes action on this list, he will inevitably conflict with one of the parties in the court.

His original plan was to favor Wang Kun when he came into conflict with a party in the court, so that Wang Kun would believe that he really didn't care about the court affairs, and he had already made him his confidant and decided to entrust the court affairs to him.

Only in this way can Wang Kun be relieved and dare to show his talents in the court.

When Li Yongmao jumped out today, he knew that the person Wang Kun wanted to deal with was Li Yongmao's man.
Therefore, he also planned to dismiss Li Yongmao as planned, and then favor Wang Kun and remove the people Wang Kun wanted to remove from the list.
But Li Yongmao was so crazy that he sacrificed his position as a cabinet minister for the sake of a censor named Liu Xiangke. He even threatened to resign in order to protect Liu Xiangke.

If it was Qu Shisi and Chen Zizhuang who jumped out today, Zhu Lang would still be a little hesitant, but now it is Li Yongmao who jumped out, so what is there for Zhu Lang to worry about?

Zhu Lang doesn't remember this person. Since he has no memory, who is this Li Yongmao?
Zhu Lang appointed Li Yongmao as a Grand Secretary and tried to keep him in the court, not because he knew how capable Li Yongmao was, but because he had reached such a high position and qualifications. In order to show the court's attitude of respecting old officials, he appointed Li Yongmao as a Grand Secretary.

In Zhu Lang's plan, he had already made plans for the candidates for the future cabinet, but Li Yongmao had never been among them.
When Zhu Lang saw Li Yongmao threatening to resign today, he couldn't help but cheer for him secretly.
Just when he was about to fall asleep, Li Yongmao handed him a pillow, so Zhu Lang simply fulfilled his wish and kicked him out of the court.
For Wang Kun's sake, Zhu Lang even kicked a cabinet minister out of the court. Wang Kun should now believe that he really has regarded him as his confidant, and he should be able to handle court affairs with peace of mind.

Today's results are much better than what he originally planned.

If possible, Zhu Lang really wants to give him a medal weighing one ton, so that he can go home and retire peacefully.

As for what he said later that he would invite Li Yongmao back in the future, it was not a lie. After all, today he demoted a cabinet minister because of a minister who violated the rules.

If he didn't make this promise, and if something really happened to Wang Kun in the future, then Li Yongmao would be justly admonishing him today, and Zhu Lang would become a bad guy, right?
Therefore, for the sake of his own reputation, he had to give this promise to Li Yongmao, so that when it was investigated in the future, he, Zhu Lang, would still be the good emperor who was respectful to the wise and humble and treated his old ministers well.
Zhu Lang's reputation as a little Mengchang who can tell the difference between loyalty and treachery and respects the virtuous and humble cannot be ruined by Li Yongmao.

Besides, he only said that he would invite Li Yongmao back to the court, but he did not say that he would invite Li Yongmao back to the cabinet.
What position Li Yongmao will get when he returns to the court in the future is none of Zhu Lang's business.

I've let you come back, what else do you want?
In addition to this matter, what made Zhu Lang even more excited was that he had successfully obtained the Zhaoqing garrison rights that he had been planning for so long.
This matter was so simple that he still couldn't recover from it. He still couldn't believe it. He said this in the court, Wang Kun responded, Ding Kuichu answered, and then the city defense rights were obtained just like that!
If Ding Kuichu wants to object to this matter, the best time is today.
Today he agreed in public in the court. If he finds other reasons to shirk his responsibility in the future, it will be extremely troublesome. He may even be attacked for his incompetence as the Prime Minister.

You promised it that day, but now you are making excuses to shirk your responsibilities. You can't even send the imperial guards into the city. Is there something wrong with your ability as the Prime Minister?
If you can't even handle this little thing, how can you handle military and national affairs? Since you are not capable enough, shouldn't you stop occupying the position and bring trouble to the Ming Dynasty? Shouldn't you let me take over the position of Prime Minister?
Therefore, if Ding Kuichu is ready to oppose this matter, then today is his best opportunity to oppose it. If he does not oppose it today, it means that he has tacitly accepted this matter and is ready to hand over the right to garrison Zhaoqing.

To be honest, he really couldn't understand the train of thought of Wang Kun, Ding Kuichu and others. For a so-called lecturer position, the two sides were fighting fiercely and almost came to a fight in the court.

But such an important right to defend the city was handed over so lightly, as if it were a trivial matter not worth mentioning.

This is the right to defend the city. Once Zhu Lang gains control of the city defense, the life and death of the civil and military officials of Zhaoqing will depend on Zhu Lang's thoughts.

Once Zhu Lang rises to power, he can immediately slaughter all the ministers in the court. This is a matter of life and death.
Zhu Lang spent a lot of effort and prepared many methods to gain the right to defend Zhaoqing.
And now, he actually got the power of city defense by just using the quota of a lecturer in the imperial lectures. It really made him feel a little unreal.

If he had known that these people valued the quota of lecturers so much, he would have given all fifteen quotas to Ding Kuichu and the others. As long as they were willing to hand over the power of city defense to Zhu Lang, Zhu Lang would have given them thirty quotas immediately without blinking an eye.

Thinking of this, Zhu Lang couldn't help but stand up and clenched his fists. Thinking of the good days in the future when Jiao Lian took control of the city's defense, a hint of excitement flashed across Zhu Lang's face.

"Now that we have the city's defense rights, the next step should be..."

Zhu Lang paced back and forth in front of the table, his face excited, and his eyes flashed with a fierce light from time to time.

After an unknown amount of time, Zhu Lang suddenly stopped, exhaled a long breath, and whispered to himself:

"Not yet, no rush"

Zhu Lang sat back at the table, the fierceness in his eyes slowly faded away, and he became the harmless and smiling Regent again.

Zhu Lang thought for a moment, then called Li Guoyong over and said

"You ask someone to draft an imperial decree. I want to invite all the generals in the army, from the guerrilla commander to the general, to a banquet. I will say that the chrysanthemums in the palace are in full bloom, and I want to enjoy the flowers and feast with my Ming military officials to reward the hard work of the generals in the army."

"Yes"

Li Guoyong responded respectfully, but after a moment's thought, a hint of hesitation flashed across his face.

Now that the new dynasty has been established, he is a trusted eunuch who holds the seal beside Zhu Lang, and also holds the title of the eunuch of the Imperial Household Department. He is no longer the same as before.
As Zhu Lang's confidant, he naturally knew that his Highness seemed to be very enthusiastic about military affairs, so he also found time to find someone to learn about the situation of the army in the court, and also heard about the two major factions in the army.
Li Guoyong thought about this and asked

"In addition to the personal troops of Marquis Li and Marquis Jiao, should we also invite the generals of the Guangdong Provincial Governor's Army?"

Yes, there are two major factions in the army inside and outside Zhaoqing. One is the army of Guangxi Province headed by Li Mingzhong and Jiao Lian. Because these two people are directly under Zhu Lang, they are also called the pro-army by outsiders. The other faction is the Guangdong Army under the Guangdong and Guangxi Governor's Office.
Zhu Lang looked at Li Guoyong below with some surprise. He originally thought that he would give another suggestion, but he didn't expect that Li Guoyong would answer the question immediately.
Zhu Lang looked at Li Guoyong who was hesitant below, and a trace of satisfaction flashed in his eyes, and then he said

"Of course I will. I want to invite generals from the Ming Dynasty. The troops from Guangdong Province are also part of the Ming Dynasty."

"In that case, why not invite?"

"Yes, I will do it right away."

Li Guoyong responded, bowed, and then hurried out of the door. The room soon became quiet again.
He had already made most of the preparations for the court. The only thing he had to worry about now was the Guangdong Army under Ding Kuichu's command.

This is also what Zhu Lang is most afraid of now. Ding Kuichu has been in charge of the Guangdong Army for several years and led the army to Guiping to rebel. It is hard to guarantee that there will be people in the army who are loyal to him.

If something unexpected happens, even if a few thousand people follow Ding Kuichu to cause chaos, Zhu Lang will find it hard to accept.
He had not reached out to the Guangdong Army before because he was just a vassal king, but now that he had a high position, he could naturally start to contact the generals in the army.

This is the advantage of being in power. Even if Ding Kuichu is dissatisfied, he can no longer stop him from contacting the generals of the Guangdong Army, because in name, all the troops in the court belong to him, Zhu Lang, the emperor of the Zhu family.

This time, he held a grand banquet for all the generals to create a rift between Ding Kuichu and the Guangdong Army.

This was a time of turmoil, and the most important thing at this time was military power. The prestige of the imperial court had greatly decreased, and the days when a transfer order could make all the troops bow down were gone forever.

If he still cannot establish direct contact with the generals at this time, then no one can guarantee whether these troops are surnamed Zhu or something else at the critical moment.
He had been planning this banquet for a long time. He wanted to use this banquet to establish initial contact with the Guangdong Army, the Guangxi Army, and all the middle and low-ranking generals in the court.
Li Mingzhong and Jiao Lian are indeed loyal now, but if the Gui army's imperial guards could be directly loyal to him, wouldn't it be better?

Of course, it is impossible to change the current situation of soldiers being generals just by holding a banquet. It is even more wishful thinking to let the Guangdong Army betray Ding Kuichu, but this is what must be done.

Zhu Lang's banquet was to let the generals know that when the time comes, in addition to being loyal to their own commander, they also have the option of being loyal to him, the Regent of the Ming Dynasty.
This banquet started when Su Guansheng entered the court and found out that Ding Kuichu could secretly transfer the Guangdong Army. Putting aside his other thoughts about this banquet, this was the real reason why he valued this banquet so much.

"It's almost there. As long as we complete this step, we can close the net."

The young man in dragon robe stood by the window, looking at the blue sky in the distance, with a sharp light flashing in his eyes and whispering to himself
(End of this chapter)