The melodious morning bell echoed over the ancient city, signaling the arrival of a new day.
At this moment, hundreds of civil and military officials who came to attend the imperial meeting had gathered in front of the palace gate of the imperial city.
As we all know, at today's court meeting, the emperor will reward the meritorious soldiers who have returned triumphantly to reward the three armies.
Originally, this matter must have been the mainstream at the Great Court Meeting, and today's events must revolve around this massive reward.
After all, some well-informed officials have roughly known that the court will award several marquises, counts, and other titles. It can be said that with this victory alone, the Ming court will have more than a dozen new nobles.
come out.
This kind of prosperity is definitely the first time in decades. The imperial court cannot overemphasize it. It can definitely be said that it is huge.
It's just that the Great Court Meeting, which originally filled most people with great expectations, now gives people a vague and inexplicable feeling.
All the reasons were due to the piece of news they received not long ago.
It was precisely because of that shocking news that countless officials could not sleep all night, feeling terrified and filled with all kinds of emotions.
So at dawn, many officials who had just fallen asleep because they were too tired were awakened by their servants and hurried to attend the court meeting looking extremely tired.
Therefore, many of the officials waiting in front of the palace gate looked as if they had not had a good rest for several days and nights. Even when one person yawned, the others all yawned as if they were infected.
With a creaking sound, the palace door opened, and a group of imperial guards could be seen standing tall and solemn. The officials were also familiar with entering the palace to attend the court meeting, so they kept sinking.
Enter the imperial city as usual.
In the huge square in front of the Qianqing Palace, a group of civil and military officials who came to attend the imperial meeting soon gathered. Civil and military officials were lined up on both sides, respectfully waiting for the arrival of the emperor.
Without letting the officials wait any longer, the sound of footsteps came and they saw Emperor Luan driving from a distance and approaching very quickly.
But someone with sharp eyes saw Li Huan following Luan Jia at a glance.
When all the officials saw Li Huan, they were all slightly startled, with a bit of surprise on their faces.
Li Huan actually accompanied the emperor from the deep palace. Doesn't this mean that Li Huan most likely stayed in the imperial city last night? After all, when they were waiting in front of the palace gate for the imperial city to open,
But there was no sign of Li Huan.
In this case, Li Huan is with the emperor again, so there is only one possibility, that is, Li Huan may have entered the imperial city last night and spent the night in the imperial city.
Thinking that Li Huan, a foreign minister, could spend the night in the imperial city, many people couldn't help but look at Li Huan with a look of envy.
As we all know, the imperial palace is a forbidden area for the emperor. Even if foreign ministers have something to do, they will not be allowed to stay in the imperial city.
But Li Huan was able to stay in the imperial city because he had the emperor's favor. This was a reflection of Li Huan's status in the emperor's mind.
This made the officials who were already extremely fearful of Li Huan because of his military exploits became even more fearful and hostile towards Li Huan.
Zhu Houzhao's figure walked down from Luan Jia and strode towards the dragon chair in front of Qianqing Palace. At the same time, Li Huan also walked towards the ranks of Wu Xun.
Among the military honors, the British Duke Zhang Lun and the Chengguo Duke Zhu Fu were naturally headed. Li Huan walked into the ranks of the military honors and naturally stood beside Zhang Lun and Zhu Fu.
However, Li Huan did not stand at the head of the two of them. Not to mention that the two were hereditary princes who had retired from the country. As for the marriage relationship between Zhang Lun, Zhu Fu and Li Huan, Li Huan would not force himself to stand out. You have to suppress both sides.
Zhu Fu glanced at Li Huan and whispered to Li Huan: "Ziyu, what is going on with the Jinyiwei Yamen in Yangzhou?"
As Li Huan's father-in-law, Zhu Fu naturally called Li Huan his cousin. Not many people were qualified to call Li Huan his cousin. Even Zhang Lun, a British prince, had to call Li Huan uncle.
Li Huan took a deep breath, nodded slightly towards Zhu Fu and whispered: "We will talk about this later."
After hearing what Li Huan said, Zhu Fu nodded slightly towards Li Huan.
While he was speaking, the emperor was already sitting on the dragon chair. At this moment, Qiu Ju stood on the imperial steps below the emperor and said in a sharp voice: "If there is something to do, we will go to court. If there is nothing, we will retreat."
As soon as Qiu Ju finished speaking, a white-haired old man suddenly stood up, bowed to Zhu Houzhao and said, "Your Majesty, I am supervising the censor Chen Shou to impeach Li Huan for staying in the imperial city at night, suspected of causing trouble in the palace." …”
Good guy, as soon as the old censor opened his mouth, many people opened their eyes wide and looked at Chen Shou with strange and admiring eyes.
This old censor was really brave enough to open his mouth to impeach Li Huan for causing trouble in the palace. To put it bluntly, it meant that Li Huan, a grown man, had an affair with the emperor's concubine.
Many people even looked at Chen Shou with disbelief, as if they didn't expect that someone would be so hard-headed as to dare to impeach Li Huan on this matter in front of Li Huan and the emperor.
Not to mention all the officials, even Zhu Houzhao couldn't help being stunned when he heard this, and then his face became quite ugly.
He did keep Li Huan overnight in the imperial city, but it was just a normal stay, but when it came to the old censor's words, it didn't sound right.
It's just that as a supervisory censor, he has the responsibility to supervise lawlessness and impeach officials. Even some mistakes in the emperor's words and deeds are within the scope of his supervision and impeachment.
Therefore, as a supervisory censor, Chen Fang could not find any problems in impeaching Li Huan. Everything was within his responsibilities.
Zhu Houzhao took a deep breath, glanced at Chen Fang and slowly explained: "Li Qing had something important to see me yesterday. Because the matter was so important, I kept him here for a long time to discuss the matter, and the palace door was closed, so I So he left Li Qing in the imperial city and ordered him to stay overnight in the imperial city."
Many officials couldn't help but feel a thump in their hearts after hearing Zhu Houzhao's words.
Thinking of the shocking news they got last night, there is no need to guess why Li Huan came to the palace to meet the emperor. It must be related to Jin Yiwei.
It's just that I don't know what the attitude of Li Huan and the emperor was towards such a matter, and what they discussed, so that they lost track of time, causing Li Huan to fail to leave the palace.
After just explaining a little, Zhu Houzhao waved his hand towards Chen Shou and said: "If the Qing family is fine, let this matter end here. If the Qing family really has the energy, they might as well supervise the officials for the court, or To impeach some officials for their illegal actions."
Obviously the emperor said this to knock Chen Shou. After all, although the emperor was kind-hearted, it did not mean that he had no temper.
This great court meeting has just begun and he was impeached over minor and major matters. Doesn’t he, the emperor, have no respect for himself?
At this time, Li Huan also walked out of the ranks of martial artists, bowed his hands to Chen Shou and said, "Thank you, Mr. Chen, for correcting me in person. This matter is indeed Li's fault."
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Chen Shou bowed to the emperor, ignored Li Huan's intention, and retreated to the ranks of officials.
After Chen Shou made such a fuss, the originally nervous and anxious mood of the officials became much better.
At this time, Zhu Houzhao's eyes turned to the elder Yang Tinghe who was standing among the ranks of civil servants.
With the appointment of Li Dongyang and the appointment of the first assistant to the cabinet, the cabinet was suddenly leaderless.
Under this circumstance, Yang Tinghe became the candidate for the first minister of the cabinet by virtue of his qualifications. At least neither Wang Hao nor Liu Yu could compete with Yang Tinghe in terms of ability and qualifications.
At this time, Yang Tinghe noticed that the emperor's eyes were on him, and Yang Tinghe naturally understood what Zhu Houzhao meant. This was to remind him that the minister who was acting as the temporary chief minister of the cabinet should stand up and promote the most important thing in the next dynasty meeting.
Taking a deep breath, Yang Tinghe slowly walked out from the ranks of courtiers, kowtowed to Zhu Houzhao and said: "Your Majesty, in the previous battle, our court achieved an unprecedented victory. Now the meritorious soldiers have returned in triumph, and the Ministry of War and the Fifth Army
The Governor's Office and the Cabinet have already drawn up rewards for the meritorious officers and soldiers for their meritorious service, and I sincerely ask Your Majesty to inform all the officials and spread the word to the world, so as to show the imperial court and Your Majesty's intention to reward all the officers and soldiers for their military merits."
As he spoke, Yang Tinghe bowed to Zhu Houzhao.
Suddenly all eyes fell on Zhu Houzhao.
Even though they were low on energy, even though they knew that a storm was likely brewing at this great meeting, all the officials were still full of expectations for the next reward session.
This is a knighthood. Military merit is the most important thing in the Ming Dynasty. Once you are awarded a knighthood for military merit, your name will definitely be remembered in the annals of history and passed down through the ages.
This is a supreme honor. You must know that even if they work hard all their lives, they may not be able to leave a trace in the history books after their death.
But today, the generals who received awards from the emperor at this great meeting will definitely leave a mark in the history books.
Zhu Houzhao nodded slightly and said to Qiu Ju beside him: "Come here, read out the imperial edict."
Qiu Ju took a piece of bright yellow silk from the small yellow gate that had been prepared long ago. It was an imperial edict to reward the three armies and bestow honors on meritorious ministers.
Qiu Ju held the imperial edict in his hands, first bowed to the emperor, then slowly turned around, with a solemn look on his face, and then slowly unfolded the imperial edict under the gaze of everyone.
"The emperor is entrusted with the destiny of heaven and issued an edict: There are enemy Tatars who are attacking our Ming Dynasty... The merits of all the generals can be seen in the sun and the moon. I am very pleased. I am holding a great meeting today to reward the meritorious generals..."
After a paragraph of words that were not very gorgeous, he briefly explained the reason for today's reward. The officials in the audience listened quietly, but everyone knew very well that the most anticipated reward was about to come.
Even though some officials already knew about the rewards for some of them, what they knew was only what they had negotiated between the Cabinet, the Ministry of War, and the Fifth Military Governor's Office. As for the final rewards, to be honest, it was still up to the emperor to decide. As long as the imperial decree
If there is no announcement for one day, it can be said that the reward for everyone is a matter of suspense.
Qiu Ju paused in his tone, glanced at him, and slowly said: "Li Huan, the Commander-in-Chief of the Chinese Army, put down the rebellion of King Anhua, unified the army to fight against the Tatars, led the army deep into the grassland, and demonstrated the power of our army in the
Outside, he has killed countless enemies and made great military achievements. I now confer Li Huan the title of Champion Marquis..."
With the bang, all the officials were shocked, and all of them looked at Li Huan with astonished eyes, and then looked at the emperor who was sitting there.
Although everyone had already been psychologically prepared for Li Huan to be granted the title of Marquis, after all, based on Li Huan's achievements, he was definitely enough to be granted the title of Marquis.
No matter how much the officials tried to find faults, they could not erase Li Huan's military achievements. Therefore, the cabinet, the Ministry of War, and the Fifth Army Governor's Office decided to confer the title of marquis on Li Huan.
However, the cabinet reported that the title of marquis given to Li Huan by the Emperor of Heaven was not that of a champion.
Not only the military people know how special the title of Champion Marquis is to the generals, but also the literati.
It can be said that the supreme honor represented by the title of Champion Marquis is greater than that of Duke. Therefore, when the emperor actually decreed that Li Huan was awarded the special position of Marquis of Champion, the reaction of all officials was
Only that big.
Some officials could not help but step forward and bow to the emperor: "Your Majesty..."
But before those officials had time to speak, they felt an inexplicable power enveloped them. When they looked up, they saw the emperor sitting there staring at them expressionlessly, and his eyes were full of aura.
The power, for some reason, made several officials lower their heads one by one when they met the emperor's gaze, not daring to speak again.
Not to mention that all the officials were shocked, even Li Huan could not help but be stunned for a moment. He also did not expect that Zhu Houzhao would confer the special title of Marquis of Champion to him.
The reaction of the officials was also seen in Li Huan's eyes. He didn't know what the officials thought of Li Huan, but for Li Huan himself, the position of the champion made Li Huan feel a lot of pressure.
Compared with the champion marquis, his contribution is indeed not small, but it is still far behind. Therefore, in Li Huan's view, if he is awarded the title of other marquis, he definitely deserves it.
But he couldn't bear the title of Champion.
Qiu Ju's eyes fell on Li Huan and he winked at Li Huan, as if he was waiting for Li Huan to come forward to accept the order and thank him. After all, this was a normal process.
What Qiu Ju didn't expect was that Li Huan stood there motionless, obviously distracted, which made Qiu Ju a little anxious.
When is it not good to be distracted? Why did it happen at this time?
On the other hand, Zhu Fu on the side saw this and said softly to Li Huan: "Ziyu, why don't you accept the order and thank me!"
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