Late Ming Dynasty: Oops, I am surrounded by the Donglin Party

"What? Why is your Majesty not attending court?"

All the officials present were stunned. In order to make good use of the matter of Duke Yansheng, they had quibbled over words yesterday and each of them wrote a thousand-word impeachment memorial.

He was planning to take advantage of this opportunity to launch another fatal attack on Zhang Shikang.

But he was suddenly told that he would not attend court today.

How can anyone accept this?

Wang Chengen's face sulked when he heard this, and he replied:

"The Emperor is ill, so he is not attending court.

What? If the emperor doesn't want to attend court, then he doesn't have to attend court. Do you still need to make a comment?"

Wang Chengen was promoted to the position of eunuch in charge of the Silijian seal a few months ago. The Silijian was ranked first among the four departments, eight bureaus and twelve academies, and the eunuch in charge of the Silijian seal was also the head of the Silijian.

Before Zhang Shikang entered the court, the eunuch who held the seal of Silijian had almost the same power as the chief minister of the cabinet. The chief minister of the cabinet was the most respected in the outer court, while the eunuch who held the seal of Silijian was the most respected in the inner court.

For a long time, the inner court and the outer court checked and restrained each other until the arrival of Zhang Shikang.

But no matter what, as the seal holder of the Imperial Household Department, he is not afraid of the civil officials from the outer court.

The official didn't dare to say anything when he heard this, but just snorted coldly to express his dissatisfaction.

The other civil and military officials looked at each other in bewilderment, thinking that the emperor's illness came at a very inopportune time.

In the group of nobles and relatives, Xining Marquis Song Yude walked up to Duke Yingguo Zhang Zhiji and whispered:

"Brother Zhang, I heard that your third son came back last night.

My third child told me this yesterday and told me not to go out unless necessary for the next two days.

I don't know why, your third son is very capable, brother, do you think our emperor is really ill?"

After Song Yude asked, Marquis Taining and Marquis Xincheng also came over.

Zhang Zhiji walked back and said:

"If His Majesty says he is ill, then he is ill.

As subjects, we should not easily guess. "

After saying that, Zhang Zhiji continued to walk back, but after walking a few steps, Zhang Zhiji finally reminded the three people:

"Be careful not to get into trouble."

Then there was no looking back.

……

Tomorrow is the Lantern Festival. According to past practice, there will be a grand lantern festival in Beijing on the night of the Lantern Festival.

On this day, people from all over the city will go out to enjoy the lanterns, and talented men and beautiful women will gather in brothels and taverns to drink tea, drink wine, and chat about everything under the sun.

There are also lantern riddle activities at the Lantern Festival, and anyone who guesses the riddles will receive a reward.

Some talented men whose families were in financial difficulties would take out the few taels of silver they had saved for a long time and go to the brothel to have some fun.

If you are lucky enough to guess the riddle posed by the courtesan, you can drink with the courtesan for free.

Of course, the brothels were also exceptionally busy on this day, and compared with the prices of vegetarian and meat dishes in brothels, the top prostitutes in brothels were much more conscientious.

Once you guess the riddle correctly, you can get it for free.

The capital city was decorated with lights and lanterns of all kinds were hung on the city walls. If it were not for the famine in the north, one would have thought one was living in a prosperous era just by looking at the capital city.

As the Lantern Festival involves many candles, fires have occurred frequently in previous years. For the sake of the capital's public security, the troops of the Five Cities Military Affairs Division have been patrolling everywhere over the past two days to eliminate all hidden dangers.

Not only that, the Beijing Camp also dispatched additional troops to the capital on the grounds of preventing fire hazards and improving public security, and even a number of new recruits who had only been trained for two months were transferred here.

This is the first time that there are so many troops stationed in the capital since the Ming Dynasty encountered financial difficulties.

The people in the capital did not take it seriously and were looking forward to the Lantern Festival even more.

At the same time, Zhang Shikang became idle.

Most of the members of the Second Sons' Regiment were sent to garrison in various places, and Zhang Shikang couldn't find any friends for a while.

But this did not pose a problem for him. Since Liu Jiawei became the prince's tutor, he did not leave the capital and was called out of the palace by Zhang Shikang.

Since the day he came back, Zhang Shikang rarely stayed at home, and took Liu Jiawei to various high-end brothels in Beijing.

Go to Qingyuan in the morning, go to Camellia in the afternoon, and go to Yihongyuan in the evening.

At first, Liu Jiawei was full of doubts, but the next day he kept silent and went wherever Zhang Shikang asked him to go.

As a member of the Second Sons Group, Liu Jiawei was considered to be the most talented writer among them. He always won applause when he recited poems and songs with others in brothels.

Compared with this, Zhang Shikang's literary talent cannot be said to be outstanding, it can only be said to be better than nothing.

However, the one who eventually won the favor of the courtesan was often Zhang Shikang.

Because he was the one who paid for it.

Moreover, he is the most popular figure in the current court. Not only does he hold the military and supervisory power of the entire Ming Dynasty, but it is said that he also holds the financial power.

He is rich, powerful and has free time. He may not be as handsome as Pan An, but he is still a handsome young man.

After the buffs are fully stacked, it doesn’t matter whether you have literary talent or not.

But Zhang Shikang seemed to be not used to the environment of brothels and always lost his temper at the slightest provocation.

The shopkeeper of Qingyuan had two front teeth knocked out by him, the shopkeeper of Camellia was beaten so hard that his buttocks were bruised, and the madam of Yihongyuan was even paraded through the streets by Zhang Shikang.

In just two days, Zhang Shikang's misdeeds became known to everyone in the capital.

Ordinary people didn't have much to say, after all, Zhang Shikang was a playboy before that. The most important thing was that since Zhang Shikang became an official in the court, he never bullied ordinary people again.

So even if Zhang Shikang was making a scene in a brothel, people on the street would just treat it as a topic of conversation in their spare time.

Compared with this, Zhang Shikang's deeds of leading the Beijing camp troops to fight against the Jianlu and driving the barbarians out of the Ming Dynasty are even more commendable.

However, it was different for Liu Yuliang and others.

The capital city suddenly dispatched an additional 20,000 troops last night, which really shocked Liu Yuliang and others.

As news of Zhang Shikang's misdeeds in the capital spread, Liu Yuliang and others finally felt at ease.

"This bastard is young after all. He was lucky enough to win two battles and was favored by the emperor. It is natural that he is so arrogant now." Fang Fengnian said.

"Shutian is right. Let alone that playboy, even if I were a few decades younger and had such power, I would not be able to hold on for long." Liu Yuliang took over the conversation.

"That's right. After all, beautiful women are so charming, soft and fragrant. Who can resist them?" Fang Fengnian showed a slightly obscene smile.

As the youngest cabinet minister in recent years, Fang Fengnian is only 42 years old this year. He is a frequent customer of the top-floor private room of the Wangyue Restaurant opened by Liu Zongzhou's nephew.

"Hmph, we are well prepared for battle, but this guy is arrogant and lazy. He deserves to fail!" Xiong Mingyu said in a deep voice.

"Is that matter done?" Zheng Sanjun asked after taking a sip of tea.

"The news has already spread. Those nearby counties and cities may take action within a few days." Liu Zongzhou said.

Several other people also gave affirmative answers, and Zheng Sanjun frowned slightly when he heard it.

What the colleagues present said was not without reason. After all, Zhang Shikang was young and came from a wealthy family. Now that he had gained fame and fortune, it made sense for him to indulge in corrupt things.

But Zheng Sanjun just couldn't calm down. Why did it have to be at this time?

"Brother Yongzhang, don't worry too much. Tomorrow is the Lantern Festival. His Majesty has claimed to be ill and has given all the civil and military officials a day off.

We haven't been in public for a long time, and we are somewhat estranged from our old friends in the court. Why don't we take advantage of this festive occasion to get together with them? It is said that this year's Lantern Festival is more grand than in the past!" Xiong Mingyu suggested.

Xiong Mingyu and others nodded in agreement. Zheng Sanjun could not resist everyone's expectations and immediately agreed.

Only Fang Fengnian declined Xiong Mingyu's invitation on the grounds that he had family matters to attend to.

But after everyone left, Fang Fengnian caught up with Liu Zongzhou's carriage and asked:

"Brother Qidong, I heard that your nephew has had many tea art masters come to his place recently, and there are also foreigners from Persia?"

……