Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 701 Banquet
Zhu Shenzhui didn't even look at the officials from the Ministry of Rites, and directly took Wang Jinwu and his subordinates into the palace.

After they entered the Meridian Gate, the guards waiting outside the gate withdrew and returned to the palace. After Du Xun also entered the palace gate, the heavy palace gate slowly closed, leaving the Ministry of Rites officials outside the gate looking at each other in bewilderment.

"So domineering, really...really..." An old official from the Ministry of Rites was so angry that he trembled all over. He never thought it would turn out like this. According to etiquette, they escorted Wang Jinwu to the palace. After Wang Jinwu kowtowed outside the Meridian Gate, all the procedures were completed. If Zhu Shenzhu wanted to see Wang Jinwu and others, he should enter through other gates.

This is the rule, just like the army must go through Anding Gate when going out and Desheng Gate when coming back. But who would have thought that Zhu Shenzhui would not follow the rules. When Wang Jinwu and others just arrived at the Meridian Gate, salutes were fired and the Meridian Gate was opened. Zhu Shenzhui, the regent, actually came out of the Meridian Gate to personally welcome Wang Jinwu into the palace. Such an honor is almost the same as the emperor personally leading the army back to Beijing.

The sudden change directly disrupted the subsequent arrangements of the Ministry of Rites. At this moment, Wang Jinwu and his subordinates had been taken to the palace, while these officials of the Ministry of Rites were locked outside the palace gates. How could these officials of the Ministry of Rites, who had originally thought that they could control Zhu Shenzhui in this matter, endure this? They were so angry that they started cursing.

However, compared to the old guys, there were a few young officials from the Ministry of Rites who secretly moved aside and kept a distance from them. Everyone in the Ministry of Rites knew what was going on this time. They just wanted to take this opportunity to give the Regent and even Wang Jinwu a warning and suppress the impact of this triumphant return.

But who would have thought that Zhu Shenzhui agreed on the surface, but in the end he secretly made such an arrangement, which was both surprising and frightening. Several young officials from the Ministry of Rites suddenly remembered how Zhu Shenzhui entered the capital and how he became the regent. Zhu Shenzhui was not Emperor Chongzhen, who could be in charge of the government as a mere member of the royal family. How could he be dealt with so easily?

This time it was obvious that Zhu Shenzui was deliberately trying to show the Ministry of Rites a bad attitude, and he also secretly set a trap for the Ministry of Rites. Moreover, what Du Xun said just now was clear that the Ministry of Rites' regulations ended at the Meridian Gate, and what followed was the Inner Court's own business, and the Outer Court had no control over it at all.

Zhu Shenzhui could do this, and he would not be afraid of the Ministry of Rites causing trouble. He might have been waiting for the Ministry of Rites for a long time. If he continued to jump up and down with a few old guys, he might have to take the blame for no reason. Besides, the minister and the vice minister of the Ministry of Rites were not present and did not say anything. How could they, the middle-level officials, be anxious?
Putting aside what the officials of the Ministry of Rites would do next and how the upright officials in the court would deal with this matter, Wang Jinwu and his party followed Zhu Shenzhu into the Meridian Gate, walked along the Imperial Road, passed the Fengtian Gate, crossed the Jinshui Bridge, and came directly to the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

The Hall of Supreme Harmony is one of the three major halls, but it is not convenient to hold a banquet here to entertain Wang Jinwu and others, so they continued to move forward and came to the Wenhua Hall where Zhu Shenzhui currently lived. He wanted to host a banquet in the Wenhua Hall for the victorious soldiers returning from the battle and reward everyone well.

The banquet had already been set up, waiting for everyone to arrive.

When they arrived at the place, Zhu Shenzhui smiled and asked everyone to take their seats, and he pulled Wang Jinwu to sit directly at the top. After sitting down nervously, Wang Jinwu could not help but whisper to Zhu Shenzhui that it was not appropriate for him to sit in this place, after all, Zhu Shenzhui was now the regent, so how could he sit on an equal footing with the regent?
"It would be fine on normal days, but you deserve this position today!" Zhu Shenzui smiled and told Wang Jinwu to sit down and relax, then he turned his gaze to the crowd. Zhu Shenzui knew some of these people, including Li You, Wang Gui, Lu Yishen, Hu Lin and others, but he didn't know nearly half of them, so he immediately asked Wang Jinwu to introduce them to him.

The first person Wang Jinwu introduced to Zhu Shenzhui was Lu Xiangsheng, who was sitting in the first seat on the left. If Wang Jinwu hadn't said he was Lu Xiangsheng, Zhu Shenzhui would have thought he was some general.

Lu Xiangsheng was not wearing official uniform but armor. He had a dark face, a tall stature and a big beard. He did not look like a civil servant at all, but more like a military general.

"Are you Lu Jiandou?" Zhu Shenzhui looked Lu Xiangsheng up and down. He had heard of Lu Xiangsheng's name a long time ago, and he knew that his Tianxiong Army was good at fighting. Moreover, Lu Xiangsheng himself was extremely powerful and was one of the best even among the military generals of the Ming Dynasty.

Lu Xiangsheng had complicated feelings towards Zhu Shencui. As a genuine Jinshi, Lu Xiangsheng's background was impeccable, and his original official position was not low either. He was the governor of Henan Province, and was considered a local official.

After hearing the news that Zhu Shenzhui had led his troops to purge the court and quell the national crisis, although Lu Xiangsheng was not close to the capital, he still immediately gathered his troops to the north to serve the king and repay the country's kindness.

But he did not expect that the capital fell into the hands of Zhu Shenzhui when he was halfway through his journey. Zhu Shenzhui was then made King of Jiaocheng and became regent. After the imperial edict was issued, although Lu Xiangsheng knew in his heart that this was just the same tactic as Cao Cao's use of the emperor to control the princes in the late Han Dynasty, as a minister of the Ming Dynasty, he had to obey the orders of the court.

While stationed there, Lu Xiangsheng was in a dilemma and deeply worried about the future, especially since the Ming Dynasty had undergone such great changes. Where would the future go?

Lu Xiangsheng was a true scholar, with his country and ambitions in his heart. Faced with such a huge change, he was at a loss during that period and was very worried about the Ming Dynasty. But he never expected that just when Lu Xiangsheng thought he was about to be marginalized and even demoted and returned home, the court suddenly issued an order for him to lead the Tianxiong Army to fight northward. When the order was issued, Lu Xiangsheng learned that Huang Taiji was going to repeat the same trick and attack the Ming Dynasty again. He instantly threw everything behind his head and led his troops north to fight without hesitation. This alone shows Lu Xiangsheng's loyalty and selflessness.

In the Battle of Xifengkou, Lu Xiangsheng's Tianxiong Army played a significant role. Even Lu Xiangsheng himself went to the battlefield several times and fought with a sword.

This battle was extremely hard, and Lu Xiangsheng personally experienced the strong fighting power of Huang Taiji's Eight Banners. There were even several times when Lu Xiangsheng almost thought that the defense line could not be held, but under the command of Wang Jinwu, the entire defense line was still firmly controlled by the Ming army, and Huang Taiji did not take a step south.

Later, because Wu Sangui's mobile warfare in the northern grasslands disrupted Huang Taiji's rear, and the Tumed tribes' troops threatened Huang Taiji's retreat. In order to avoid being attacked from both north and south, Huang Taiji decisively withdrew his troops. This war that lasted for more than half a month finally came to an end. The Ming army not only defended the defense line, but also inflicted great casualties on the enemy, which was a great victory that had never been seen in decades.

After the battle, Lu Xiangsheng could not help but sigh at the difficulty of the battle and admire Wang Jinwu's command and planning. If Wang Jinwu had not made arrangements in advance, and Wu Sangui had not used cavalry to harass the enemy's rear, coupled with the help of the Mongols, it would have been difficult for the Ming army in the Xifengkou area to stop Huang Taiji's southward advance.

Moreover, in this battle, Lu Xiangsheng gradually changed his mind from his initial disapproval and even vigilance towards Wang Jinwu and others. He had to admit that Wang Jinwu, as a general under Zhu Shenzhui, was an excellent general. Moreover, in this battle, Zhu Shenzhui also mobilized his most elite troops, including not only the new army but also the cavalry. Logically speaking, as a member of the royal family who came to Beijing to supervise the country, Zhu Shenzhui should preserve his strength and firmly control these troops to consolidate his power.

However, when facing foreign invasion, Zhu Shencui not only did not preserve his strength, but instead sent his generals and ace troops to fight this battle. This was enough to change Lu Xiangsheng's opinion of Zhu Shencui.

As they developed a friendship through fighting together, Lu Xiangsheng gradually let go of his prejudice against Wang Jinwu and others, and the more time passed, the better his impression of Wang Jinwu became. In addition, Wang Jinwu occasionally communicated with Lu Xiangsheng and told him some things about Zhu Shenzhui, so Lu Xiangsheng also had other impressions about Zhu Shenzhui. He no longer thought that Zhu Shenzhui was just a daring, greedy, good at seizing opportunities and a bit lucky member of the royal family, and he became more curious about Zhu Shenzhui.

This return to Beijing was a request from the imperial court. As a guest soldier, Lu Xiangsheng naturally had to follow the Beijing camp back to the capital and meet Zhu Shencui at the same time.

On the way back, Lu Xiangsheng thought many times about how he would meet Zhu Shenzhu formally, but he never expected that they would meet in this way. It was really unexpected.

When Zhu Shenzhui was looking at Lu Xiangsheng, Lu Xiangsheng was also secretly looking at Zhu Shenzhui. After meeting Zhu Shenzhui, Lu Xiangsheng had to admit that compared with Emperor Chongzhen, Zhu Shenzhui looked more like a monarch in both appearance and demeanor.

"I am Lu Xiangsheng." Lu Xiangsheng stood up and bowed.

"I've heard of Jiandou's name for a long time, but have never met him. Today I saw that Jiandou is indeed worthy of his reputation!" Zhu Shenzhui stood up, stretched out his hand to ask the waiter behind him for the wine jug, and walked towards Lu Xiangsheng.

"I was in the capital and saw the military report from the front. It said that Jiandou was in the battlefield, and he was invincible with his sword, and he won countless victories. I have been thinking that my Ming Dynasty actually has such a man of both civil and military talents. It is a blessing for the Ming Dynasty and the people of the world! Seeing Jiandou today, I am even happier. This triumphant return has been a great achievement for Jiandou. On behalf of the people of the world, I would like to toast Jiandou."

As he spoke, Zhu Shenzhui picked up the wine glass in front of Lu Xiangsheng and poured it full, then handed it to Lu Xiangsheng.

Lu Xiangsheng took it subconsciously and didn't know what to say for a moment.

Zhu Shenzhui smiled and filled his own glass with wine, raised it with both hands and saluted Lu Xiangsheng, then raised his hands and drank the wine.

Seeing this, Lu Xiangsheng came back to his senses, and even said he dared not, and raised his hand to drink the glass of wine. Seeing that Lu Xiangsheng drank happily, Zhu Shenzhu was very happy. He took Lu Xiangsheng's hand and said a lot. He not only praised Lu Xiangsheng's political achievements and military achievements since he became an official, but also highly recognized Lu Xiangsheng's character. He also said that with a minister like Lu Xiangsheng in the court, how could the Ming Dynasty not eliminate foreign enemies and quell civil strife? And how could it not revive the Ming Dynasty?
(End of this chapter)