The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 592 Jinwu Guards
"Long live my emperor."

At around noon, as the sun was rising, a deafening roar suddenly erupted in front of the Huangji Palace.

Is Wanli going to resume the morning court?

Actually not.

He has no plans to reopen the morning court yet.

The morning court session is not at the hour of Chen.

Those who knelt and cheered in front of the Huangji Palace were not the civil and military officials from the major government offices in the capital.

These are the personal guards selected and trained by Duke Dingguo, Duke Chengguo, and Duke Yingguo.

Wanli carried little Zhu Changxun and slowly walked to the steps in front of the Huangji Hall. He sat on the dragon throne and then raised his hand and said loudly, "No need to be polite. Stand up."

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

Another round of cheers rang out, and hundreds of guards stood up in unison.

Wanli took a closer look and couldn't help but nodded slightly.

Each of these people was very strong, with golden light in their eyes. It was obvious that they had practiced hard and were not playboys.

At this time, Xu Xigao, the prince of Duke Dingguo, Zhu Dingchen, the prince of Duke Chengguo, Zhang Weixian, the prince of Duke Yingguo, and Xu Weizi, the prince of Duke Weiguo, each with thirty princes, dukes, marquises, and eldest sons, lined up neatly on both sides of the imperial road, just like a train for the morning court.

The reason why these princes were the leaders was not because Xu Wenbi, Zhang Yuangong and Zhu Yingzhen were partial to each other or corrupt, nor was it because of their high martial arts skills.

The key is that they understand best the relationship of shared destiny among dukes and nobles. Only when they lead the team and take charge can Xu Wenbi, Zhang Yuangong and Zhu Yingzhen feel at ease.

Wanli looked at it carefully, then nodded slightly and said, "Let's start."

They came for the inspection, and the square in front of the Huangji Palace was decorated almost like a military examination training ground, with stone locks, targets, arenas, and war horses.

These princes, nobles, and eldest sons of the legitimate wives were all displayed just like the military examination candidates.

The first item is to lift the stone lock.

These guys are indeed the sons of dukes and nobles with outstanding military achievements. Each of them is very strong. They can lift a stone lock weighing at least 300 kilograms, and some can lift 500 or 600 kilograms.

Next came horse riding, archery, and martial arts competitions. Each of these guys was stronger than the ordinary military scholars, at least in terms of martial arts, they were much stronger than the ordinary military scholars.

Little Zhu Changxun was so excited watching the performance that his little hands turned red from clapping.

Wanli was wondering why these people didn't take part in the military examination?

He thought about it carefully and understood.

Most of these people are not very good at learning military strategies and tactics.

After all, they are all princes and eldest sons of noble families, and they will definitely inherit a huge family business in the future. It doesn’t matter whether they are military scholars or not. The key is to be able to protect the huge family business.

For example, the princes of Duke Dingguo, Chengguo, Yingguo and Weiguo never took part in the military examinations. Those who did were all illegitimate sons, side branches or even in-laws of the Duke's Mansion.

This is a good thing. If a few dukes always control the military power, they will become too powerful to be controlled. The generals who lead the troops to fight must have passed the military examination based on their abilities to be easily controlled.

He pondered for an unknown amount of time before these guys finished their demonstration.

Little Zhu Changxun couldn't help but say excitedly, "Father, they are all so amazing. Now I don't have to worry about safety issues."

Are they all great?
Upon hearing this, Wanli turned around and asked, "Uncle, what do you think of them?"

These guys really have some skills.

Li Xuancheng was quite eager to try and said, "I might not be able to defeat them all together. How about I give it a try?"

You may not be able to do it?

That's not a big problem.

Just try it.

Wanli shook his head slightly and said, "You will have plenty of opportunities to discipline them in the future. Let's forget about it today and get down to business."

At this time, under the orders of Xu Xigao, the prince of Duke Dingguo, Zhu Dingchen, the prince of Duke Chengguo, Zhang Weixian, the prince of Duke Yingguo, and Xu Weizi, the prince of Duke Weiguo, hundreds of princes, dukes, nobles, and eldest sons lined up neatly on both sides of the imperial road.

Wanli nodded slightly, then raised his hand and said majestically: "Well, they are all very good. I will give them golden armor and gold medals."

As soon as he finished speaking, four teams of eunuchs holding trays filed out from the corridors on both sides of the Huangji Palace and walked neatly towards the two sides of the imperial road.

The tray was covered with glittering golden armor and gold medals.

This so-called golden armor is not pure gold armor. The hardness of pure gold is too poor and it is not suitable for making armor at all. These are all tempered steel armor plates with a thin layer of gold plated using the gilding process.

This layer of gold is not only beautiful, but also can prevent the armor plates inside from oxidizing. As long as it is well maintained, this kind of golden armor will keep shining for several years.

As for the gold medal, it was not awarded because of their good performance.

This gold medallion was actually their waist badge, engraved with the words "Jinwu Left and Right Front Guard Thousand Households, Holders of this can enter and leave the Forbidden Palace, All Forbidden Army and Jinyiwei Hundred Households must obey orders" etc. The waist badge was to prove their identity. Without this waist badge, they could not enter or leave the palace or even the imperial city alone.

Their position is the Captain of the Imperial Guards. It is not an empty title. Their position is equivalent to the Captain of the Imperial Guards plus the Captain of the Embroidered Uniform Guards.

As for the issue of overlapping positions with the Jinwu Guards stationed at the Nanjing Palace, that doesn't matter much. They can manage the Imperial Guards and the Embroidered Uniform Guards, so naturally they can also manage the Jinwu Guards stationed at Nanjing.

The authority of these Jinwu Guard captains is obviously greater than that of those Jinwu Guard captains who stayed in Jinling.

The princes Xu Xigao of Duke Dingguo, Zhu Dingchen of Duke Chengguo, Zhang Weixian of Duke Yingguo and Xu Weizi of Duke Weiguo had greater powers.

They are respectively the commander of the Jinwu Left Guard, the commander of the Jinwu Right Guard, the commander of the Jinwu Vanguard and the commander of the Jinwu Rear Guard. All the imperial guards and the Jinyiwei thousand households have to obey them.

This authority is almost equivalent to that of Lu Yi and Shan Sinan, just slightly smaller than that of Li Xuancheng.

As for their duties, there is only one, and that is to protect the safety of the royal family at all costs.

This swearing to defend to the death is not just a slogan, but a real swearing to defend to the death.

If the emperor or the crown prince were in danger, they would rush forward to protect them without fear of death.

If they really died to protect the emperor or the prince, the whole family would benefit greatly.

This is the core of what Duke Dingguo, Duke Chengguo and Duke Yingguo taught them.

At this point, this special guard was formed.

In order to make it easier for them to provide close protection, Wanli specially let them live in the houses around Ciqing Palace.

However, this is only their temporary residence.

If little Zhu Changxun is canonized as the crown prince, the Ciqing Palace cannot be filled with only guards.

He also had to build a formal duty room for the Jinwu Guards.

The next morning, he actually came to the steps in front of the Huangji Palace again, carrying little Zhu Changxun.

However, there were no cheers of "Long live the emperor" this time, and there were few people in the square in front of the Huangji Palace.

The Jinwu Guards were all dressed in glittering golden armor and lined up neatly in the corridors on both sides of them.

Wanli looked at the huge square and couldn't help but sigh, "Xun'er, it's been a long time since the emperor attended the morning court.

This morning court actually has certain benefits. At least it can make officials more diligent and reflect the emperor's majesty.

The reason why my father hasn't attended the morning court in recent years is that there are too many officials with ulterior motives in the court. It's useless to meet them or not.

However, we must be more diligent in the future. We should not only attend the morning court every day, but we should also attend the morning court on the third, sixth, and ninth days of the lunar calendar."

Uh, didn’t you say we were here to pick a place to build a duty station for the Jinwu Guards?
Why are we talking about morning court again?

However, he had never attended the morning court, and he still found it quite novel.

Little Zhu Changxun asked with considerable interest, "Father, when do we start the morning court session?"

It’s hard to say.

Wanli pondered, "We still have to annihilate the Jiannu, compete with Spain for maritime supremacy, deal with the three great families of Puzhou, resolve the problems of the princes and royal families, solve the problems of the three vassal states and six pacification states in the southeast, and solve the problem of the Oirat Mongols, and so on.

These issues require too much energy to deal with, and some even have to be handled personally, so the emperor is unable to hold regular court sessions without interruption.

We have to deal with these issues before we can hold regular meetings. Otherwise, it would be bad if we fish for three days and dry the net for two days and then have no meetings at all."

There are still so many problems to deal with?

I don’t know how long I’ll have to wait.

Little Zhu Changxun looked at the Jinwu Guards on both sides and couldn't help asking, "Father, where should we build the Jinwu Guards' duty station?"

The emperor has already had this idea, and today he just wants to confirm it.

Wanli pointed to the walls on both sides and said, "Inside the palace, there is only enough open space at the corners below the steps around the Huangji Hall. The duty rooms of the Jinwu Guards are built at the four corners of the Huangji Hall.

This way, it will be convenient for them to provide guards during the morning court session. They can just get up and arrive. The square in front of the Huangji Palace can also be used for them to practice at other times.

We need to make sure their martial arts skills are constantly improving. We can’t let them just be guards for a few years and then become nothing more than a squad.”

Oh, so it’s built on these four corners.

Little Zhu Changxun asked curiously, "Father, what does their duty room look like?"

This is not something we designed and built.

Wanli pondered and said, "Of course it must be built in a magnificent and grand manner, so that it can be worthy of the grandeur of the Huangji Palace.

As for the specific construction, let your grandfather do it; he knows the most about this."

(End of this chapter)