Red Mansion: Picking up a Lin Daiyu

Chapter 99 Entering the DPRK
Early the next morning,

Under Xuanwu Gate,

Yue Ling was wearing a scarlet official robe with wide sleeves and a hem that reached the imperial court. The front of his robe was right-side-up, with a picture of clouds and geese on the chest.

First-grade crane, second-grade golden pheasant, third-grade peacock, fourth-grade cloud goose, and fifth-grade white pheasant.

Just the patch pattern on the chest clearly distinguishes the ranks of the ministers under the city gate.

At that moment, an official with a picture of a white pheasant on his chest stepped forward and saluted Yue Ling, saying, "Master Yue, I haven't seen you for a few days. I should address you as Master."

Yue Ling looked in the direction of the voice and found it was Wang Ziteng. He had never expected that he was a civilian official despite his military background. He probably got the position because of his ancestors' meritorious service.

Yue Ling thought about it and tried hard to suppress his smile.

As a person who came from the military and was favored by the civil servants, he was filled with negative things. No wonder Wang Ziteng was in a hurry to move up. I'm afraid he was tortured by the civil servants every day.

Yue Ling said politely, "Hello, Lord Wang."

Wang Ziteng waved his hands quickly, "How can I still be worthy of being called Master Yue? Master Yue laughed at me a few days ago. The younger generation in the mansion really has no vision. Please don't worry about it."

Yue Ling also smiled and said, "You are too polite. We are both from the military, how can we care about such a small matter? If you hadn't mentioned it, I would have forgotten it."

Wang Ziteng smiled awkwardly and whispered to Yue Ling, "There have been many impeachments against you in the court these days, but they were all suppressed by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. You are here for the morning court today and will probably have to report for duty soon, so you'd better be careful."

"These literati..." Wang Ziteng sighed, "Ah, it's hard to describe them in a few words."

Yue Ling patted Wang Ziteng on the shoulder and nodded, "Okay, I'll keep an eye on it. Thank you very much."

Two teams of eunuchs walked out of the city gate, and all the officials gradually lined up to their seats for the court session.

When Yue Ling followed, a man came up to him and said, "Is this Yue Tongqian? I am Lu Yuan, the assistant to the Privy Council."

According to the establishment of the Dachang Privy Council, the first-rank Privy Councilor position was mostly vacant, and the second-rank Privy Councilor Deputy was in charge of the actual job, followed by the third-rank Assistant Privy Councilor, and then the fourth-rank Assistant Privy Councilor Yue Ling, who jointly assisted their superiors in handling government affairs.

Seeing that it was his superior, Yue Ling bowed politely and said, "Greetings, Lord Lu."

Lu Yuan nodded in return and said, "I will be attending the court soon. Please follow me and take your place."

"Yes."

……

After passing through Xuanwu Gate again, we arrived at the Hall of Supreme Harmony. The scene in the hall was much better now. The outer gate had been repaired, and the palace was no longer in a mess. It seemed that the previous coup had long been lost in time.

Not long after, the King of Qin walked out from the back of the hall, with Dai Quan behind him holding a brocade box that looked familiar to Yue Ling and placing it on the large table in the hall.

When all the officials saw this, they had no idea what kind of trick the King of Qin was playing, so they all lowered their heads and said nothing, pretending they had not seen anything.

Dai Quan returned to his seat, shook his whisk beside King Qin again, and said sharply, "Go to court."

"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is a thousand years old."

Seeing all the ministers bowing their heads, all of them had come today without asking for leave, and seeing Yue Ling among them, the King of Qin suppressed his smile and said, "My dear ministers, please stand up."

After all the officials stood up, the King of Qin spoke first, "Today, before the court meeting, I want to say something."

After scanning all the officials below, the King of Qin said, "Please take a look at this brocade box on the table. Not long ago, this brocade box was found in the secret compartment of the inner room of the Prince Kang's mansion. According to the eunuchs in the Prince Kang's mansion, it contains letters from some people in front of the palace who are now communicating with the Prince Kang, and of course there are many high-ranking officials and ministers among them."

After hearing this, some people in front of the palace could not hold on any longer. Unexpectedly, half a month later, the King of Qin brought up the old account again.

As soon as he said this, some of the nobles knelt down and kowtowed.

Seeing this, the King of Qin said in a relaxed tone, "Hey, Shi Rui, I don't mean to embarrass you. No need to kneel, stand up first."

The sons of the four kings and eight dukes pulled Shi Rui up from the ground with a look of contempt on their faces.

The King of Qin smiled and said, "I haven't actually read the letter in the brocade box yet. If you look carefully, you will find that the brocade box has not been opened. I think this must be a handle that King Kang left behind to threaten certain ministers after he ascends the throne. Now it has become a handle for certain ministers and me."

"Of course, the court is now facing internal and external troubles. I have already made it clear that I do not want to start a large-scale prison disaster, and I cannot break my promise by punishing the whole family."

"Manager Dai, come here."

"The slaves obey."

Dai Quan stepped forward, picked up the brocade box, slowly walked out of the hall, threw it into the big cauldron outside the palace gate, and ordered someone to set it on fire.

Looking at the billowing black smoke outside, many people felt relieved and their faces gradually relaxed.

Seeing the different looks on the faces of the officials, the King of Qin thought it was funny and said, "Well, let's just put an end to this matter today. You don't have to worry about it anymore. Do your job well and do more good things for the country and the people. It won't be a waste of your salary or a disappointment to me."

All the officials bowed again and said, "Your Highness is wise and wise."

……

Yue Ling's first morning court session went much more smoothly than he had expected.

I thought it would be a war of words between the parties, with saliva spraying on people's faces. Or, the King of Qin would throw out a policy and the ministers would refute it.

In the finale, the censors came on stage and spoke at the top of their voices, impeaching this official for his recent misconduct and marrying multiple concubines, and impeaching that official's son for gambling in a gambling house and having a bad family tradition. Even the most trivial things could be included in their impeachment memorials.

In their eyes, anyone who goes against the words of the saints must be impeached. And to maintain the integrity of the court, these people are really indispensable.

Today, Yue Ling, who had been prepared, saw nothing. The morning court ended much earlier than usual.

Just as he was about to leave the palace with the main force, he was stopped by a eunuch.

"Master Yue, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince wants to discuss matters with you in the side hall."

Yue Ling nodded, followed the eunuch and turned to the side hall.

After entering the hall, the eunuch retreated. In the hall, only the King of Qin was sitting behind the desk, looking very smug.

Yue Ling stepped forward and bowed, "Your Highness."

Seeing Yue Ling, King Qin could no longer suppress the corners of his mouth that curled up, and laughed out loud, "Hahaha, Yue Ling, what do you think of my acting skills?"

"How's your acting?"

Yue Ling didn't understand what he meant.

The King of Qin smiled and squatted down, then took out another brocade box from under the table, which was exactly the same as the one just now.

Yue Ling was startled, "Your Highness, what is this?" The King of Qin curled his lips, "Of course it is a real letter."

"The one that burned?"

The King of Qin said, "What was burned was forged by my men. Warfare is all about deception. When it is false, it is real, and when it is real, it is false. I only said that I had not opened it, and I really had not opened it. Now open it again and take a look."

The King of Qin pulled out the jade dagger from the table, pierced the brocade box, tore open the seal, and casually pulled out a letter from it.

"Well, Minister of War, I had expected this."

"Ministry of Rites, what does the mutiny have to do with your Ministry of Rites?"

"Censorate, no wonder the censors are so quiet today."

"..."

The King of Qin frowned more and more, and his expression became more and more unsightly. Yue Ling advised: "Your Highness just said that he would not build a large prison."

The King of Qin threw the letter onto the table and snorted, "Yes, I will not break my promise. Keep them for now. After we get through this difficult time, I will have time to deal with them in other ways."

"Yue Ling, come and take a look. The most hateful Governor of Liaodong, Geng Jiwen, has also sent a letter to King Kang. A few days ago, the spies reported that the Jianzhou Jurchens are ambitious and have bribed the wild Jurchens with a large sum of money to attack the Haixi Jurchens with him. When he unifies the areas outside the Great Wall, the hinterland of Liaodong will definitely be their next target. At present, the towns in Liaodong are in a more tense situation than those with the barbarians."

"If Liaodong is lost, Shanhaiguan will be in danger, and the Jurchens will become a sword hanging over the head of our Dachang Dynasty, ready to come down and stab us at any time."

Yue Ling scanned the letter and realized the crisis, so he asked, "Changing generals at the last minute is really unwise. What do you plan, Your Highness?"

The King of Qin sighed, "Not long ago I sent a letter to appease him, and ordered the Liaodong garrisons to train their troops and horses. I will also mobilize troops and food to go out of Shanhaiguan by land to support the front, and go to Jinzhou Port by sea as a transit point."

"Yes, and the memorial you gave me yesterday. What you said does make sense, and we have to be on guard. I have already sent people to contact the remaining tribes of the Northern Barbarians and the Haixi Jurchens. We have to give them some trouble."

Yue Ling nodded, "It would be better to wait until Your Highness has completed the planning before taking up arms."

The King of Qin continued, "It's not that there haven't been good things lately. The cannons you and I suggested are on their way back to Beijing. It's still hard to make deals for weapons like cannons, not to mention skilled craftsmen. However, God helps Dachang. A group of foreigners encountered a storm at sea and drifted to a fishing village on the coast of Tianjin."

"The local fishermen reported to the authorities that the foreigners' ships were severely damaged, many of their cannons sank, and all their property was lost. If they want to return to their hometown, they naturally need the support of our dynasty, so they use this as a deal and work for our dynasty first."

"Among them, there are more than ten Portuguese cannons and four red cannons, all of which were sold to us at a low price. The craftsmen are here, and they can make more muskets to equip the army in a short time. I will send you a message after they enter the capital."

After he finished speaking, the King of Qin couldn't help but sigh.

"Yin Taihe doesn't pay much attention to firearms, and doesn't know how to use them. It would be the best choice for you to train the army, but you really can't move out of the Privy Council right now."

Half jokingly, the King of Qin added: "If I had more of you, I would have less worries."

Yue Ling also smiled.

"Well, I'll send you a message if there's anything else. You're going to appear in court today, and you also have to go to the Privy Council."

Yue Ling bowed and said, "As you wish."

After Yue Ling left, Xia Shouzhong walked in with a smile on his face.

The King of Qin sat back in his original seat. Seeing this, he raised his eyebrows and asked, "What good news has happened to you? Could it be that you have a son?"

Xia Shouzhong's smile froze for a moment, and he said awkwardly, "Your Highness, you are joking. I just heard an interesting story outside the door."

"Oh? What's interesting?"

The King of Qin was in a bad mood, so he put the letters back into the brocade box and threw it aside.

"Your Highness, do you still remember that I told you about the grand wedding at Ningguo Mansion a few days ago?"

The King of Qin nodded and said, "I remember. What's the matter?"

Xia Shouzhong smiled and said, "I heard that the girl ran away from the marriage and married a maid to him. Now the Ningguo Mansion is looking for her all over the city."

The King of Qin couldn't help laughing after hearing this.

"It's really interesting. Look at this girl. She is so smart that she doesn't want to go to Ningguo Mansion and get unlucky. She would rather live on the streets than visit the mansion. If she can't be found in Ningguo Mansion, she must have been taken in by a family in the capital. She is lucky. It's really funny. If there is a story behind it, remember to tell me which family took her in."

……

The Privy Council, as one of the two ministries, was located in the imperial city, west of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, and echoed the Secretariat to the east. It was the only two ministries that performed duties in the palace.

There was another guard in front of the Privy Council gate. Yue Ling was not allowed to pass until he revealed his identity.

Led by the servants, they came to the main hall of the courtyard, which could be considered as a porch, and was Yue Ling's office area.

There were two other people in the room at the moment. One of them was someone I had met in the morning court. He was Lord Lu, the assistant to the Privy Council. Judging from his appearance, he was a typical middle-aged Confucian scholar, and he exuded a kind and tolerant aura.

The man behind the desk leaning against the wall looked rather plain compared to Lu Yuan. He was also very contemptuous of Yue Ling. He only glanced at him and then remained indifferent, continuing to write documents.

Lu Yuan came forward and introduced Yue Ling, "This is Feng Yu, another member of the Privy Council."

Taking a step forward, Lu Yuan led Yue Ling out of a cave door, into the main hall connected to the porch, where a person was handling government affairs.

"This is the Deputy Envoy of the Privy Council, Lord Chai."

Yue Ling then bowed and said, "Greetings, Master Chai."

Deputy Privy Councillor Chai Pu stopped writing, looked at Yue Ling, and said with a warm smile: "His Highness said that a capable person was sent to our Privy Council. We have been waiting for a long time, and finally you are here."

"To be honest, the situation at the border is getting more serious, and the Privy Council is quite busy. The Ministry of War just took over the new Firearms Battalion, and they are complaining all the time. We are not only in charge of the troops of the whole country, but the Beijing Battalion is also completely under the jurisdiction of the Privy Council, so there is a lot more work to do. Qianyi (Lu Yuan's name) should share some tasks with Yue Tongqian."

"it is good."

Lu Yuan brought Yue Ling back to the porch and pointed to the table by the window and said, "Tongchen Yue, this is your seat. As for the errands, the most important thing now is the review of documents near Datong Prefecture and the deployment of defense at Zijing Pass, the southern gate of the capital. You and Tongchen Feng will be jointly responsible for this."

As colleagues, Yue Ling came to Feng Yu and said, "Mr. Feng, I look forward to your guidance in the future."

Feng Yu said with a fake smile, "Advice? Not really. I got this rank of fourth-rank official after passing the imperial examination, being posted in the local area for nearly ten years, and then working as an official in Beijing for another three years. I would like to ask you for advice on the speed of General Yue's promotion."

Feng Yu pursed his lips and said, "All the documents for the mission are here. You can take them. General Yue, I have to remind you that documents are not like fighting on the battlefield. It takes careful consideration to coordinate the overall situation. I hope General Yue can understand the documents."

Yue Ling nodded. This was indeed the attitude of civil officials towards military officials. Lu Yuan and Chai Pu were both too gentle, which made him feel at a loss.

If getting along with others were so easy, how could it be fun?

　The fourth day has reached 10,000! It's been four days, please give me some votes to encourage me~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)