Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 68 The people closest to us are our king and father!

From then on, Yang Tinghe and Yang Shen kept a relatively low profile, and seemed no longer in a hurry to arrange the wedding gift.

Yang Tinghe only submitted an edict to the emperor to gently advise him to stop asking the nobles and officials in the world to find doctors for him, and also thanked the emperor for his great grace.

Zhu Houcong naturally disapproved of Yang Tinghe's treatment of this manuscript, and gave Yang Tinghe a piece of calligraphy that read "If you want to make a soup, you should use salt and plums".

After seeing this calligraphy, Yang Tinghe naturally knew that this sentence came from "Shang Shu. Shang Shu. Shu Shu. Shuo Ming Xia", which was the words of Shang Gaozong Wu Ding praising Prime Minister Fu Yue.

Wu Ding compared Fu Yue's role in regulating state affairs to the indispensable seasoning for soup in life.

thus.

Yang Tinghe then understood that this was the emperor praising him.

Although Yang Tinghe was proud and demanding of the emperor, the Confucian education of loyalty to the emperor left a strong imprint on his mind, making it difficult for him to resist the emperor's praise even though he was not sensitive to high positions and generous salaries.

Therefore, after holding this calligraphy, Yang Tinghe found it difficult to calm down. His arms trembled slightly and tears fell from his eyes.

"Your Majesty's kindness to me is as deep as the sea."

"I will do my best to recover from my illness, and in the future I will serve Your Majesty as a boatman. Only by doing my best can I repay the emperor's grace!"

Yang Tinghe couldn't help but say so.

The so-called boat and oar also comes from the words "You make a boat and oar" in "The Book of Documents".

Now, when Yang Tinghe used this, he naturally expressed his willingness to continue to assist Zhu Houcong in governing the empire.

After Zhu Houcong knew Yang Tinghe's reaction, he was naturally delighted. He wanted to paralyze Yang Tinghe while destroying him.

In fact.

When Zhu Houcong continued to show great courtesy to Yang Tinghe on the surface, the conservatives did not feel disappointed or resentful towards Zhu Houcong at all. Instead, they were very disappointed and resentful towards Yang Tinghe.

"What does Yang Tinghe want to do?!"

"What do those Qingliu who keep asking for protection want to do?!"

Therefore, when the chief eunuch Qiu Ju found out that Yang Tinghe claimed to be seriously ill again, while he was sitting and chatting with a group of dignitaries with whom he had close ties in the other courtyard, he slammed the teacup heavily, as if the word "disappointment" was written all over his face.

At this time, Anbian Bo Xu Tai said with a sullen face: "The civil officials are really unreliable now. They always want others to take the lead in everything, and they are the ones who benefit from it. No wonder Liu Jin was able to suppress them on behalf of the late emperor, and no wonder Wei Bin and Zhang Yong from the inner court had to take action to deal with Jiang Bin."

After that.

Xu Tai asked Qiu Ju: "Why don't we also obey the emperor like Wei Bin and Zhang Yong?"

Qiu Ju sneered, and said with his hands on his hips: "I am not like Wei Bin and Zhang Yong. Although people like us have no roots, I still have backbone! I will not accept just any master!"

"Don't mention it. I just learned the news not long ago. The Queen Mother has issued an imperial decree, forbidding us to see her. If we have urgent matters to discuss with her, we can only report to the Queen."

At this time, eunuch Zhang Zhong also said something with a frustrated look on his face.

After hearing this, Qiu Ju couldn't help but stand up and asked Zhang Zhong sternly: "What's going on?"

"How do I know?"

Zhang Zhong chuckled and replied, "Anyway, as far as I know, the Empress Dowager issued this order after the new emperor went to Renshou Palace."

"There must have been something wrong!"

Qiu Ju couldn't help but frown after hearing this.

Then, he looked at everyone and said, "Also, I don't know what our new emperor said to the Queen Mother that made her unwilling to see us eunuchs directly anymore."

……

"Your Majesty, these orphans have grown strong now. Moreover, even though they have no parents, they are more sensible than those children with parents."

"But the more sensible the child is, the more distressing it is."

"Fortunately, I have already told them according to your wishes, Your Majesty. The emperor is like a father and the empress is like a mother. Their father is the emperor and their mother is the empress. From now on, they will be the adopted children of the Ming royal family, and the palace will be their home."

On this day, Zhu Houcong came to the orphan camp that he had placed in the imperial city.

The person who had been taking care of these orphans for Zhu Houcong was Huang Jin.

Huang Jin's current job is to inquire about information and look after these orphans. In addition, when he is free, he goes to the imperial prison to check on Wei Bin's situation and learn from Wei Bin how to better manage the inner court.

When Zhu Houcong arrived at the orphanage, Huang Jin, who accompanied him, told him about the situation of these orphans.

But the actual caretakers of the orphanage are actually Professor Ye Tingfang of the former Xingwang Mansion and his wife Chen.

The couple were both old and unable to participate in newspaper affairs, so they chose to stay in the orphanage to take care of the orphans. Ye Tingfang also taught the orphans to read.

In fact, Zhu Houcong had already started adopting orphans when he was in the palace, especially orphans from families that had no descendants and were the palace's hereditary guards.

There is nothing taboo about this. After all, it is a way to show favor to the people in one's own palace.

Outsiders will only think that Zhu Houcong is kind and righteous.

Zhu Houcong even set up a charity school to train these people.

Now some of these people have grown up and become the new guards of the palace.

Among them, many entered the Jinyiwei system and worked under Luo An, Lu Song and others.

There were also those who had grown up but had not yet become guards, who stayed in the orphanage to help Ye Tingfang and his wife. After hearing that the emperor was coming to see them, these orphans had already gathered and stood in the courtyard, silent and well-behaved.

However, when Zhu Houcong came, these orphans became active, some grinned involuntarily, while others pursed their lips.

Cao Qi was so excited that he couldn't breathe. His heart was in his throat. He was worried about what would happen if the emperor talked to him later.
But Zhu Houcong still walked towards him at this time.

He couldn't help but grip his feet tightly on the ground, as if if he loosened his feet, he would slip and fall, and he regretted in his heart why he stood in the first row.

Zhu Houcong walked up to him but did not speak to him.

This made Cao Qi breathe a sigh of relief, feeling a sense of happiness as if he had survived a disaster.

Zhu Houcong only glanced at the orphans in front of him seriously, nodded, and then said with a smile: "Very good, they are all strong and energetic, which is what I want to see!"

"Are the shoes I asked the Needlework Bureau to make for them suitable?"

Zhu Houcong asked about Ye Tingfang at this time and glanced at the feet of the orphans in front of him.

In those days, carriages and horses were rarely used, and the most worn-out item was shoes. Zhu Houcong had already asked the Needlework Bureau to make new shoes for them.

Ye Tingfang replied, "They are all suitable, but many of them are reluctant to wear them. They only put them on because Your Majesty came today."

Zhu Houcong nodded.

At this time, Cao Qi and most of the orphans had tears in their eyes.

"This is the king and father whose grace is as great as a mountain!"

"He is so majestic. The key is that even though he is so busy, he still cares about us."

Cao Qi sighed in his heart.

At this moment, it seemed that even if he had to sacrifice his life for the emperor, he would feel that this was an incomparable happiness.

At this time, Huang Jin followed Zhu Houcong's suggestion and walked to the front and asked loudly: "Children, tell us, who is your closest person?"

"It's the Lord Father!"

"It's the Lord Father!"

……

Cao Qi and other orphans answered so loudly that their lungs were about to be torn out.

Seeing this, Zhu Houcong smiled slightly, and then said something to them, asking them to study and practice well. Then, after looking at the orphans who were still in their cradles or sick, he returned to the palace with satisfaction. On the way back, he instructed Huang Jin:
"Let Dai Yi select a group of grown-up orphans from my care to join the Gyeonggi Province Patrol Team for training and gain experience in suppressing bandits and catching thieves."

Huang Jin nodded in agreement.

Saying.

In Gyeonggi Province.

Teaching has not started yet because the teaching materials have not been compiled yet.

In addition, the work of increasing the marriage rate has not yet started, mainly because the matter of recruiting women is still in progress. However, the training of the patrol team has already begun.

Because now they are busy in May, after planting some grains, they will not plant wheat until October. As for rice, because the current agricultural development efficiency in the north is limited and the corresponding water conservancy construction has not been carried out on a large scale, these did not appear until the Wanli period in history, so the militiamen in Gyeonggi Province have plenty of time to train now.

In order to avoid being looked down upon by the emperor, Dai Yi, the deputy commander-in-chief, now keeps a close eye on the training of these patrol teams and does not dare to withhold the salaries and rewards allocated to them by Zhu Houcong.

The militiamen did not expect that the emperor would provide them with food and give them money if they were willing to join the patrol team and receive training.

"The imperial edict says: Every citizen has the responsibility to protect the country and the people. Since you are under my direct supervision, you should work together to protect our homeland. Therefore, I have organized you into a patrol team to defend against the Tartar invaders and eliminate bandits at home..."

When distributing the first installment of wages, Dai Yi gathered the militiamen of the patrol team and read the imperial edict to them in order to motivate them to train actively and let them know the emperor's grace, so that they would not regard patrol training as a kind of hard labor that they were forced to perform in their hometown before.

"It is the emperor who distributes the land to you, and it is also the emperor who pays you."

"So, those who come to collect their salaries now should kowtow to the imperial edict. Remember in the future that since we are members of the Imperial Guard, we will be the first wall of the capital city in the future. We must protect our homes and our emperor!"

Dai Yi said one more sentence while he finished reading the imperial edict.

Because the members of the patrol team are nominally just civilians and not soldiers, their salaries are not much.

But the members of the patrol team were still very happy and grateful to the emperor. When they received their salaries, they were so moved that they kowtowed to the imperial edict. Some of them who were sensitive even shed tears.

Under Zhang Bin's leadership, Wei Changgui also joined the patrol team. He brought his sister over, received his wages, and kowtowed to the imperial edict, making loud kowtows.

Seeing this, his sister Wei Xiu Lian also knelt down, knocking her knees loudly.

And because of this, although it was the hot summer season, the militiamen of the patrol team did not slack off, and no one deserted, and they trained very seriously.

At the end of June, Zhou Shangwen, who was ordered to go to Beijing, was shocked to see a patrol team training when he entered the capital. He said to his old friend Dai Yi who came to greet him:
"Everyone in the world says that the capital's defenses are weak, but today I see that this is not the case. Even these civilians are clearly energetic and well-trained. Among them are even veteran soldiers. I think the government troops will be better."

"We can have such a strong people, thanks to your majesty's good governance and emphasis on martial virtues."

Dai Yi said this with a smile, and then told Zhou Shangwen the origin of the Gyeonggi Province Patrol Team.

"Although I have heard that the emperor loves his people, I did not know that he has such far-sighted military strategies!"

Zhou Shangwen was speechless after hearing this. He was even more curious about the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty who had promoted him right after ascending the throne. He thought to himself:

"Could it be that the spring of these generals is not far away?"

(End of this chapter)