Just when Zhu Changluo was racking his brains and brains to make penicillin with local methods, an incident happened in the previous dynasty that made Emperor Wanli furious!

Emperor Wanli regarded etiquette as the way of heaven, but he would pay special attention to anything that went beyond etiquette! But today something happened that made Emperor Wanli extremely angry.

On the twenty-fourth day of the first lunar month of the fifteenth year of Wanli, the ice and snow on both sides of the streets and alleys inside and outside the capital have not yet thawed. Although spring has arrived, the cold wind of winter still envelopes the city of the emperor. Although the weather at this time is not as good as that of the twelfth lunar month.

It's extremely cold, but the branches on the street haven't sprouted yet, so obviously this is not a good time to hold large-scale events outdoors.

However, at noon that day, the streets in front of the Forbidden City in Beijing were bustling with people. It turned out that news came that His Majesty the Emperor was going to hold a noon ceremony.

The civil and military officials did not dare to neglect and rushed to the imperial city immediately. The senior officials riding in the sedan still had the opportunity to arrange their crowns and ribbons in the sedan; the low-level officials on foot, which was more than a mile and a half from the Liubu Yamen to the imperial city, gasped when they arrived.

If it's still undecided, there's no need to worry about improving the appearance.

The Imperial Guards standing guard in front of the Ming Dynasty Gate had not received relevant orders in advance, but when they saw a large number of officials in costumes arriving, they assumed that a grand ceremony was about to be held, so they did not ask any questions.

Entering the Daming Gate is the Forbidden City. The civil and military officials saw that the atmosphere in front of the Duanmen Meridian Gate was calm, and there were no signs of court meetings up and down the tower. There were not many cases, and the censor and the imperial guard "General Han" who were standing in line for roll call were nowhere to be seen. They couldn't help but feel.

Speculate and ask each other: Is the so-called Wu Dynasty a lie?

At this time, the eunuch Sun Xian, the eunuch Bingbi, who was the closest attendant to the Wanli Emperor, announced the exact news. Sun Xian announced the Wanli Emperor's oral edict to the civil and military ministers who had arrived in front of the Meridian Gate.

Sun Xian's voice was loud and long. He shouted loudly in front of the Meridian Gate: "The emperor's decree!"

When the ministers heard Sun Xian shouting that there was an imperial edict from the emperor, they all immediately knelt down to receive the order.

The ministers knelt down and asked, "Holy greetings."

Sun Xianwei turned around and cupped his hands in the direction of the palace and said, "Good morning."

Then Sun Xian began to dictate the Wanli Oral Oral.

"There is no order from me to hold the Wu Chao ceremony while I am in the palace. I wonder where did all the ministers and ministers hear about the Wu Chao ceremony?"

All the officials looked at each other, not knowing how to answer the imperial edict's questions, and the atmosphere became awkward for a while.

Seeing that none of the officials from the six cabinet ministries and other yamen responded to the order, Sun Xian asked Shen Shixing, the chief minister, "Does Yuan Fu know what is going on?"

Shen Shixing, the chief minister of the cabinet, did not know how to respond for a while. He said: "It is probably because of rumors."

Sun Xian didn't ask any more questions. He was going back to the palace to reply.

All the officials also retreated one after another.

Shocked, this unfounded noon incident inevitably became a topic of discussion, "Where did this rumor come from? How could thousands of officials in Beijing be deceived and deceived? Even the cabinet ministers didn't know how to respond.

This is really strange and strange, and it is really puzzling."

Sun Xian returned to Qianqing Palace to repeat the decree. Emperor Wanli heard Sun Xian say that the ministers didn't know what was going on. When they arrived at the Meridian Gate to attend the Wu Dynasty ceremony, Emperor Wanli's face suddenly showed anger. Emperor Wanli

Qi said: "I don't know? The officials don't know about such a big thing, I don't know, but all the officials gathered at the Meridian Gate to attend the Wuchao Hall. Do they want to force the palace?"

Seeing Emperor Wanli's thunderous fury, the eunuchs and maids in the Qianqing Palace immediately knelt down in fright. Sun Xian, Chen Ju and other eunuchs in charge of rituals immediately said in fear: "Your Majesty, please calm down."

Emperor Wanli snorted and said: "I have sent an order to the Ministry of Rites of the Cabinet to investigate who spread the rumor. In addition, I have sent an order to the Ministry of Rites and Honglu Temple. What happened at noon today is all related to the Ministry of Rites and Honglu Temple." The responsibilities of the temple are very important. The head of the Rites Department prepares the ritual notes, and the head of Honglu Temple supervises the exercises. The two yamen know clearly that the Wu Dynasty ceremony has not been held for many years, and there is no reason to rush to summon the officials without preparing the ritual notes. Therefore, since the other yamen have spread false information, the two yamen should stop it immediately. If they fail to stop it, it is due to neglect of duty, and officials below the minister, minister and minister will be fined two months' salary."

Sun Xian immediately accepted the order, and then Emperor Wanli said to Sun Xian again: "You are in charge of Dongchang. You have to investigate this matter for me. I want to see who is so bold!"

Sun Xian knelt down and said: "This slave accepts the order."

After Shen Li, the Minister of Rites, received the order, he immediately summoned the Minister of Rites and other subordinate officials to start an internal investigation into the matter. However, after a day of investigation, there was no result. All the officials of the Ministry of Rites did not know what was going on.

Shen Li could only respond like this. Shen Li went to the palace to see the emperor and replied, "I have thoroughly investigated the entire Ministry of Rites and the Honglu Temple. Officials in both yamen did not know what was going on. At that time, word of mouth spread, and the first person to spread the rumor was false. I cannot find out, so I ask the emperor to punish me."

Emperor Wanli was very angry when he heard that Shen Li, the Minister of Rites, responded with such rhetoric. He thought this was a challenge to the emperor's authority!

So Emperor Wanli felt that this matter must be punished!

Emperor Wanli directly issued an order, "You have been deprived of the emperor's salary for a long time, but you are in a daze and don't know why. The Honglu Temple of the Ministry of Rites and all officials in Beijing have been fined for two months as a warning."

This moment shocked Shen Li, but Shen Li did not dare to dissuade him, because this matter was really the minister's fault, and the emperor was not at fault.

So Shen Li had no choice but to accept the order to thank him and brought the bad news to all the officials in Beijing.

However, this penalty of two months' salary is nothing to senior officials, because the gifts they usually receive from local officials are far higher than the salary given by the court, although Zhu Yuanzhang, a coward, originally set official salary The annual salary of an official at the level of minister is only one hundred and fifty-two taels of silver, and the salary has not been increased for two hundred years. You can imagine how stingy this is. Compared with the salary of officials in the Song Dynasty, it is simply It's just like the sky and the earth! But this senior official really doesn't care, after all, there is no shortage of money.

But the low-level officials were miserable. No one was willing to give gifts. Their salary was much lower than the minister's one hundred and fifty-two taels of silver. Now they were fined for another two months. This life must be difficult. pass.

Zhu Changluo didn't know about such a big thing until the next day, because the next day he saw the stern Liu Wenzhen coming over with a dark face.

Zhu Changluo asked curiously: "What's wrong with Dr. Liu? Who made you angry?"

Liu Wenzhen glanced at Zhu Changluo, sighed first, and then stopped talking, "It's okay not to talk about it."

Zhu Changluo was even more curious now. What could have happened that could make it so difficult for Liu Wenzhen, a well-mannered imperial doctor who did not take pleasure in things or feel sorrow in himself, to be like this?

Zhu Changluo asked: "Tell me about it. I want to hear it."

Liu Wenzhen looked at Zhu Changluo's curious eyes, and he finally couldn't help but complain. After all, he had never received any red envelopes as an imperial physician. Now that he was fined by His Majesty the Emperor, it would be difficult for his wife and children to live.

Liu Wenzhen said: "Yesterday, someone rumored that the emperor was going to hold a noon ceremony, but the emperor knew nothing about it, so he ordered the Ministry of Rites to verify it. As a result, the Ministry of Rites checked for a whole day and there was no news, so the emperor fined him in Beijing.

All officials receive two months' salary. I am still struggling with the rice money for the next two months."

When Zhu Changluo heard about this, he seemed to have some impression of it. He had read a book called "The Fifteenth Year of Wanli". The first thing mentioned in the opening chapter was the time of the noon salary penalty. At that time, Zhu Changluo

He couldn't help but maliciously speculate that this matter might have been done by Emperor Wanli himself. After all, there was no one in the old Zhu family who was good at it, and each one was more troublesome than the other. So Zhu Changluo thought that this matter might be Emperor Wanli's attempt to give a blow to all civil and military officials.
Chapter completed!