My Portable Ming Dynasty

Chapter 342 The System Takes Effect, Entering the Palace Under the Stars

——[Simulation Start]——

The "Proposal for the Establishment of a New Army in Beijing" was submitted to the Cabinet. The cabinet ministers had little disagreement on the first part, but they expressed different attitudes on the part about forming a new mountain army.

Second Grand Secretary Zhang Juzheng fully supported it, but Third Grand Secretary Zhao Zhenji partially opposed it.

Grand Secretary Gao Gong also held reservations, believing that the formation of a new mountain army did not require the size of a garrison.

The Longqing Emperor then issued another order to the censors for discussion, and the censors also opposed the establishment of mountain battalions.

The Longqing Emperor issued an imperial edict to establish the Ming Dynasty New Army, which included:

The Imperial Guard, consisting of a hundred men, was responsible for the palace's defense along with the Red Helmet General.

The Klub Army was established, consisting of one guard (5000 men), under which were two cavalry garrisons, two infantry garrisons, and one artillery garrison.

After the Khalkha army was trained, it was rotated with the garrison soldiers of Xuanda.

The Zhenbei Army was established, consisting of one guard, one cavalry thousand-household unit, two infantry thousand-household units, and two artillery thousand-household units.

After the Zhenbei Army was trained, it was stationed in rotation with the garrisons in Ji and Liao.

However, the emperor did not agree to the suggestion in the memorial to set up the Annam Army, but only agreed to set up a thousand-household corps.

——[Simulation End]——

[Remaining Prestige: 1210.]

The memorial has been partially approved. To fully approve it, 400 prestige points are required. Would you like to pay?

Only 400 prestige points?

Su Ze thought about it and concluded that this was probably because Shen Shixing had done all the preliminary communication work, which had reduced the resistance from the central government and garnered enough support.

Zhang Juzheng's support was probably due to the fact that this was a memorial submitted by Shen Shixing.

This is the advantage of following others in submitting petitions.

If Su Ze were to push this matter forward, it would not only face opposition from the Ministry of War, but also potentially encounter other obstacles.

Now, by joining Shen Shixing in submitting a joint memorial, only 400 prestige points are needed to fully execute the memorial.

Su Ze decisively chose "yes".

[Prestige points have been deducted, leaving 810 prestige points. The memorial has been submitted in real life; please wait for it to take effect.]

I have given Shen Shixing all the support I need; now it's up to the system to perform.
-
May 11th.

Within the General Affairs Department.

Looking at the piles of memorials on his desk, Li Yiyuan, the Commissioner of the Court of Judicial Review, missed his days in the Ministry of Justice even more.

At that time, his desk was full of drafts of the "Civil Law of the Ming Dynasty," but at least no one was rushing him to revise the law, so if he couldn't finish it today, he could do it tomorrow.

However, the Office of Transmission was different. Those upright officials only had half a day's patience. When there was a major controversy in the court, they wanted someone to come and urge them every half day to see if their memorials had been submitted.

However, delivering memorials was the duty of the Office of Transmission. Now, the political atmosphere in the capital was becoming increasingly tense. If he really suppressed the circulation of memorials, he would be impeached by the censors.

Therefore, Li Yiyuan had no choice but to work overtime.

At this moment, his official clerk, Xu Shuli, walked in.

"Dayintai, Nanjing express delivery."

Express delivery from Nanjing?
What express delivery services are available in Nanjing?
The Six Ministries in Nanjing were a bunch of guys waiting to retire; all they ever sent to the capital were daily greetings and memorials.

In recent days, the censors have been submitting memorials regarding the new garrison in the capital. Upon hearing the urgent report from Nanjing, Li Yiyuan remained unconcerned, saying:

What is the content of the rapid passage?

Xu Shuli said with difficulty:

"Da Yintai, this is a secret report, and I am not qualified to see it."

Secretly?

This made Li Yiyuan even less concerned.

Those who could submit secret reports were just a few old guys in Nanjing, at most a few nobles who remained in Nanjing, and the eunuchs who guarded Nanjing.

It was probably some sycophantic memorial to the emperor, or a secret memorial offering some treasure to him.

Li Yiyuan said:

"Put it on the table. How many more memorials are there?"

Xu Shuli quickly said:
"Back to the Grand Silver Terrace, there are still more than thirty memorials being copied. They will be sent to the palace after you have reviewed them."

Hearing that there were still more than thirty copies left, Li Yiyuan felt his blood pressure rise even higher. He stood up and said:
"We can't wait any longer! You come with me to the palace and deliver these memorials there, otherwise those censors will be coming to urge us again!"

After another busy day, Li Yiyuan finally managed to send out all the backlogged memorials and returned to his office.

He picked up the urgent report from Nanjing that had been sent from the table.

Li Yiyuan removed the seal on the secret memorial box and inspected the secret memorials. This was one of the rights of the Commissioner of the Court of State Affairs, which was also an important reason why the Commissioner of the Court of State Affairs could be ranked among the Nine Ministers.

The Office of Transmission was originally just an agency for transmitting official documents, but the Commissioner of Transmission could inspect secret memorials that even the Cabinet could not see.

After his predecessor Yang Sizhong expanded the powers of the Office of Transmission, the Office of Transmission had offices in various places and overseas offices, making it the most well-informed person in the entire capital.

After reading the secret report, Li Yiyuan shouted:
"Xu Shuli has ruined me!"

"Quickly! I need to enter the palace!"

In the palace, Emperor Longqing, after reading the urgent memorial sent by Li Yiyuan, also had a splitting headache.

This is a secret report from Wang Bengu, the eunuch in charge of Nanjing.

Wang Bengu's secret memorial was delivered as quickly as possible.

After the Spring Festival this year, Li, the mother of Mu Chaobi, the former Duke of Qian, and also the old lady of the Duke of Qian's mansion, passed away.

In the Ming Dynasty, noble families intermarried, and Mu Chaobi's mother, Lady Li, was also from a lineage of meritorious officials.

This lineage is also quite illustrious. The ancestor of the Li family was Li Wenzhong, the Duke of Cao, who helped Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, conquer the country.

After Li Wenzhong's death, the title passed to his eldest son, Li Jinglong.

Li Jinglong chose the wrong side during the Jingnan Campaign, and his title of Duke of Cao was revoked. Li Jinglong was taken back to the capital and imprisoned.

Emperor Yongle (Zhu Di) did not pursue Li Jinglong's descendants further. After Li Jinglong's death, the Li family returned to Nanjing and were appointed as hereditary commanders of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

During the Jiajing reign, the Jiajing Emperor re-enfeoffed the Li family as Marquis of Linhuai.

Li's greatest wish before her death was to be buried in the Li family ancestral cemetery in Nanjing.

It's unclear what went wrong with Mu Chaobi. He wasn't usually very filial to his mother. Perhaps he was depressed after being stripped of his title as Duke of Qian and wanted to travel. After several unsuccessful petitions to the court, Mu Chaobi took his mother Li's coffin directly to Nanjing.

Mu Chaobi also brought a thousand personal guards from the Duke of Qian's mansion. He was dressed in mourning clothes, and all the soldiers were also dressed in mourning attire. In this grand procession, they rushed from Yunnan to Nanjing. Mu Chaobi's funeral procession, which could be described as a performance art, was not stopped by the local governments along the way. They could only offer him wine and food and send the former Duke of Qian out of the country as quickly as possible.

In April, Mu Chaobi brought his mother's coffin to Nanjing.

Mu Chaobi arrived in Nanjing by canal boat. After arriving in Nanjing, Mu Chaobi’s personal guards seized the docks, drove away merchant ships along the way, and even whipped the people under the pretext of “clearing the way”.

For officials in Nanjing, this was already a huge deal, but the real trouble was yet to come.

Mu Chaobi's arrogant behavior ran into Hai Rui, the governor of Yingtian.

Upon hearing the news, Hai Rui immediately led the yamen runners of the Yingtian governor to the dock and personally reprimanded Mu Chaobi:

"They used weapons and armor to escort the coffin, overstepping the bounds of the ceremonial system for dukes and marquises, destroying gates and breaching passes along the way, and treating the laws and regulations of the imperial court as nothing!"

Although Hai Rui only brought yamen runners, they were all equipped with firearms, and Mu Chaobi was not really there to rebel, as his personal guards were not wearing armor.

Mu Chaobi didn't dare to actually attack the imperial governor of Yingtian, but Hai Rui's small force couldn't even get into the dock.

So the two groups stood facing off around the dock.

Therefore, the eunuch in charge of Nanjing immediately wrote this secret memorial and rushed to report the matter to the emperor before the memorials from the six ministries in Nanjing were delivered to the capital.

The Longqing Emperor was dumbfounded after reading it.

He knew that Mu Chaobi was arrogant, otherwise he wouldn't have stripped Mu Chaobi of his title of Duke of Qian.

But I never expected him to be so arrogant as to go all the way to Nanjing and cause such a big commotion!

How to deal with Mu Chaobi had escalated into a political issue, and the Longqing Emperor could only turn to Feng Baodao, the Grand Eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial, for answers:
"Quickly, summon the cabinet ministers to the palace!"

Feng Bao hurriedly left, at which point Zhang Cheng, the newly appointed Grand Secretary of the Directorate of Ceremonial, spoke up again:
"Your Majesty, the Duke of Qian's mansion is related to military affairs in the southwest, so we need to invite more important officials who are knowledgeable about military affairs in the southwest to the palace."

The Longqing Emperor realized that, unlike other meritorious officials who had no real power, the Duke of Qian was a hereditary governor of Yunnan, and if not handled properly, it could cause turmoil.

"Yes, yes, summon Cao Bangfu, the Minister of War, to the palace."

"Wait, Su Zilin, and Shen Shixing, who drafted the 'Proposal for the Construction of the New Beijing Garrison,' should also be summoned to the palace for discussion!"

"According to the order."

Another official from the Directorate of Ceremonial, Chen Hong, volunteered to inform Cao Bangfu, the Minister of War, while Zhang Cheng went to summon Su Ze and Shen Shixing.
-
"Brother Zilin, it's already dark. What does His Majesty want with us in the palace?"

This was Shen Shixing's first time being summoned to the palace, and he was so nervous that his palms were sweating.

Su Ze glanced at his friend, the Grand Secretary of the Wanli Emperor in the original timeline, who was now so utterly useless.

However, considering that Shen Shixing was only a fifth-rank official, he was given the opportunity to be summoned to the palace by the emperor for discussions, so perhaps his excitement was just a facade.

It's just that it can't compare to that certain cheater.

After the two stepped into the palace gate, Su Ze pulled Shen Shixing along for a few more steps.

Shen Shixing was somewhat puzzled. He then realized that Zhang Cheng, the Grand Eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial who had just come to inform them to enter the palace, had fallen behind by half a step, widening the distance between himself and the young eunuch leading the way.

Su Ze took out an exquisite sachet and placed it in Zhang Cheng's arms. The newly appointed Director of Ceremonial Affairs remained expressionless, then whispered:

"Su Hanlin, His Majesty summoned the cabinet ministers and the two of you to the palace this time because of the Nanjing incident."

Zhang Cheng briefly recounted what had happened in Nanjing, which shocked Shen Shixing.

Su Ze thought for a moment, then said to Zhang Cheng:

"Thank you, Eunuch Zhang."

"Don't mention it, Hanlin Su. Eunuch Feng is taking the Grand Secretaries and the Grand Marshal into the palace, so he will be a little slower than me. You two can walk a bit slower."

Su Ze understood, and in a few words, Zhang Cheng told him the reason for the urgent summons to the palace and the information of the attendees. He also reminded Su Ze to go to the Imperial Study slowly and think carefully about the countermeasures when he was in front of the Emperor.

Shen Shixing was shocked. Was Brother Zilin so adept at even being summoned to the palace so urgently?
Su Ze was also frantically thinking of countermeasures.

Clearly, this is where the system's full power comes in.

This is clearly a good opportunity. Given the arrogance of the Duke of Qian's mansion, if I were to propose setting up the Annam Army now, the emperor would surely approve it.

Shen Shixing's political acumen was also top-notch; he immediately said:

"Brother Zilin, our memorial is complete!"

Su Ze nodded and said:

“This matter will surely strengthen His Majesty’s determination to establish more Annam troops. Brother Rumo, you were the first to propose this memorial. When His Majesty asks about it, you should reiterate the importance of the Annam troops, and I will agree with you.”

Shen Shixing nodded gratefully. This was a good opportunity to make his presence known to the emperor, and Su Ze had given it to him.

Su Ze naturally didn't care about this small contribution.

With this incident, there is no doubt about the Annamese army's actions. Even the most opposed cabinet ministers will now be silenced, and for the sake of stability in Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan, the emperor will inevitably approve the memorial.

The most important issue at this imperial conference was how to settle Mu Chaobi.

Mu Chaobi was the former Duke of Qian and the current Duke of Qian's biological father. During his tenure, he quelled many rebellions and was deeply respected by the Duke of Qian's personal guards.

If Mu Chaobi didn't have such high prestige, his personal guards would have run away long ago if he had done so many abstract things.

The higher his prestige in Yunnan, the more difficult it was to deal with him.

What if Yunnan rebels if Mu Chaobi is really arrested?
Perhaps the current Duke of Qian, Mu Changzuo, won't rebel for this abstract father, but what about the other personal guards of the Duke of Qian's mansion?
Even if they don't rebel, what if the Duke of Qian's family harbors resentment towards the imperial court, and another rebellion by local chieftains breaks out in Yunnan?
But if we condone Mu Chaobi's actions, where is the dignity of the court when he causes such trouble in the Southern Capital of the Ming Dynasty?
What should Hai Rui, who upholds justice, do?
How would the agitated people of Nanjing view the imperial court?
This is why the emperor urgently summoned his important officials to the palace; the matter was simply too thorny!
Whoever can solve this problem for the emperor will gain the most from this nighttime summons to the palace, as it will greatly increase their standing in the emperor's eyes.

Shen Shixing dared not hope to solve such a difficult problem; he was preoccupied with taking the opportunity to push forward his memorial to the throne.

Su Ze walked slowly, and Zhang Cheng instructed the eunuch leading the way to slow down, giving him ample time to think. Just before stepping into the imperial study, Su Ze finally had a flash of inspiration!
Seeing that Su Ze's entire demeanor had changed, Shen Shixing quickly asked:

"Brother Zilin, have you made up your mind?"

Su Ze nodded slightly. Just then, the important officials' entourage arrived, and Su Ze and Shen Shixing quickly made way for them.

Gao Gong was not surprised to see Su Ze; he simply nodded slightly.

Zhang Juzheng, standing behind Gao Gong, was somewhat surprised to see Shen Shixing beside Su Ze, but he quickly regained his composure.

Zhao Zhenji, Lei Li, and Yin Shidan were shocked when they saw the two.

Immediately afterwards, Chen Hong led Cao Bangfu into the imperial study, his expression much calmer.

Su Ze understood.

As the Grand Secretary, Gao Gong should have received the news in advance.

Zhang Juzheng and Feng Bao's relationship naturally led them to understand why the emperor had summoned them.

However, there has been no news about the other three cabinet ministers, which shows that their status in the cabinet was actually much lower.

Minister of War Cao Bangfu was notified by Chen Hong alone, so Chen Hong must have done him a favor.

Does this mean Cao Bangfu and Chen Hong had a good relationship?
I never expected that you, Grand Marshal, with your thick eyebrows and big eyes, would also befriend the inner court?
Once everyone had arrived, they all stepped into the Imperial Study.

(End of this chapter)