Chapter 168: Emperor Chongzhen wants to observe internal exercises
On March 22, the 14th year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty, Zhang Cheng joined Lin Fangping's Tiger Guard and galloped through Juyong Pass. Looking at the tall pass tower, he couldn't help but think of the time when he led troops to guard King Qin in the 11th year of Chongzhen's reign. All the scenes seemed like yesterday.
He whipped his whip on his black horse and shouted loudly: "Go home!"
A group of female soldiers and a group of male soldiers escorted two carriages and followed closely behind, followed by the Tiger Guards and the knights from the Boy Camp riding their horses to accompany them. They accelerated their horses and headed straight for Yongning.
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At this time, in the Dongnuan Pavilion of the Qianqing Palace in the Forbidden City, the capital of the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Chongzhen was reading the documents that had been submitted in the past few days.
But there was nothing happy about it. The more he looked at it, the more upset he became, so he called Wang Dehua, the eunuch in charge of the ceremony, and asked him about the recent internal affairs in the palace. How was it done now? The ministers are here Can we make more progress in camp training?
This so-called internal training first started in the eleventh year of Zhengde. Emperor Zhengde at that time saw that border troops from various places often went to the official hall in the west of Beijing for training, so he suddenly had the idea to train an internal army composed of 3,000 young eunuchs.
This internal army was composed entirely of eunuchs and was led by eunuchs. It became the "emperor's personal army" that only obeyed the orders of the emperor. This is where the term internal military affairs comes from.
Since then, internal affairs have been abolished and revived repeatedly, with differences in each dynasty. Since Emperor Chongzhen came to the throne, he has been bent on strengthening himself and wanting to boost the country's prestige. He first killed Wei Zhongxian and his party members, and then dismissed his internal ministers. For a time, internal affairs were eliminated.
Later, due to the long-standing malpractices in the imperial court, he was stubborn and suspicious by nature, and gradually lost trust in foreign ministers. In December of the second year of Chongzhen, he reopened the internal affairs and ordered Li Fengxiang, the Superintendent of Ceremonies, to oversee the matter.
But in the twelfth year of Chongzhen, the courtiers fiercely opposed this matter because of the disaster of the eunuchs controlling military power in the Tang Dynasty, and Chongzhen had to stop the internal affairs again.
Recently, due to the fall of Luoyang and Xiangyang, and the two feudal lords, he couldn't help but feel that most of the officers and soldiers were useless, and in times of emergency, they might defect to the enemy, so he thought of personally training a group of internal troops around him.
It was only half a month ago that Wang Dehua, the eunuch of the secret edict, temporarily concealed the matter from the ministers of the outer court and resumed internal affairs. Du Xun and several other trusted eunuchs who had been sent to serve as military supervisors were under the auspices of Wang Dehua. Do your best.
In order to avoid further fierce opposition from the courtiers, only a thousand young eunuchs were selected to practice in a leisure courtyard in Meishan for the time being, and the number would be gradually increased in the future.
Now, when Wang Dehua asked Emperor Chongzhen about it, he was startled.
Because he knew that the internal affairs presided over by Du Xun and others were in name only, but he did not dare to tell the truth at this moment, and hurriedly bowed and echoed: "Du Xun and others were once sent by the emperor to supervise the army and experienced the army personally. He is also quite familiar with military training.
This time, the internal training was carried out in compliance with the order. Although the time was short, because they were able to faithfully work for the emperor and the training was quite serious, the martial arts of the internal ministers have improved a lot."
Emperor Chongzhen smiled happily and said: "Du Xun and the others have been favored by my upbringing. It would be great if they can work seriously for me. How about I go and see the method of internal control in person tomorrow?"
When Wang Dehua heard this, he couldn't help but feel secretly shocked, "The emperor will go to watch the exercises tomorrow. Wouldn't it be a bad thing? Not only would Du Xun and others not be able to bear the blame, but he himself would also be blamed."
But after all, he had been in front of the emperor for a long time, and his face did not show any uneasiness. It was more like he was overjoyed. He bowed and said with a smile: "Du Xuns know that the emperor is worried about state affairs and has many things to do, so they did not dare to ask the emperor to come in person.
Watch the exercise.
Now that the emperor has come to watch the exercise in person, this is really a great favor to the slaves. If the slaves pass on the decree, all the slaves will cheer and be encouraged.
But when the Holy Spirit arrives, it will take three days before we can be ready."
Chongzhen said with some confusion: "I went to Meishan to watch the exercises, not far from Xuanwu Gate. It's not outside the imperial city, so why make special preparations!"
Wang Dehua replied without thinking: "Although Meishan is not far from Xuanwu Gate, there are a few things that need to be prepared before the Holy Driver goes to observe the exercises.
First, because the Holy Emperor has been eating and sleeping all day long and never going out, this time to observe the exercise, he might as well climb the Long Live Mountain to have a panoramic view of the scenery. The road from the bottom of the mountain to the top of the mountain is probably in disrepair for a long time. Even if there is no major damage, it still needs to be repaired.
Clean carefully and remove the weeds on the roadside.
Secondly, although there is no damage to the Shouhuang Hall and the Guandeok Hall where you can watch archery, since the emperor has not been there for several years, dust, bird droppings and other unclean things will inevitably accumulate on the caissons and painting beams.
Everything must be carefully cleaned, and the throne for watching archery in Guande Hall must be taken out of the treasury and installed properly.
Thirdly, it is the first time that the Emperor comes to watch the exercises in person this year. He cannot do without rewards. He must also allow his servants to discuss with Du Xun and others about how to divide the rewards. The decorations are abbreviated. Please respectfully ask the Emperor to make a decision in person, so that you can prepare in advance.
And fourthly, the holy chariot going to Long Live Mountain to watch the exercise is a big deal in the palace. It is necessary to choose an auspicious day and a good time, and it is also necessary to decide where to leave the palace. There is no need to send an order to Qin Tianjian to handle this matter.
In order to avoid alarming the outer court, the Yamen of the Servants and Ceremony Supervisors can take care of it.
Your Majesty, please don't be impatient. It will be appropriate to wait for your slaves and maids to send instructions and prepare, and then choose an auspicious day and have your ministers escort you there."
After listening to his response, Chongzhen felt that there seemed to be some truth in it. He secretly praised Wang Dehua in his heart as the eunuch in charge of the ceremony, and he was really careful in handling things.
He didn't say another word at that moment, but with a gentle smile in his eyes, he nodded slightly to express his approval, and then gently moved his chin to indicate that Wang Dehua could withdraw.
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After Wang Dehua exited the Qianqing Palace, he didn't even have time to take a second look at the duty room. He simply wiped the sweat on his forehead and hurried out of the Xuanwu Gate. He rode back to the Li Jian's Yamen in Bei'an Gate while sending orders.
People quickly went to the courtyard of Long Live Mountain to ask Du Xun to come see him quickly.
After just one meal, a tall, energetic man in his thirties dismounted from his horse outside the gate of the Ceremony Supervisor. A closer look revealed that there was no trace of beard on his chin.
He casually handed over the whip and reins to a young boy who was following him, and hurriedly walked into the Lijian Yamen.
There was no obstruction at all when he entered the gate. He seemed to be quite familiar with it. He walked through the courtyard three times and arrived outside the hall where Wang Dehua usually sat.
A young eunuch who was always with him was waiting for him in the corridor. He bowed to him and gave him a look to stop him there. He turned around and opened the curtain and went inside. After a while, the little eunuch with him lifted the curtain again and came out and said to him: "Du
Sir, please go in quickly, the sect master has something to say to you."
The tall eunuch felt that the atmosphere was a little heavy, but he didn't know what was going on. He hurriedly bowed and entered, knelt down on the ground with a "pop" and kowtowed, and said: "My disciple Du Xun kowtows to the sect master!"