In mid-to-late October, the capital was free of wind and rain, but there was no clear and refreshing atmosphere in autumn. The cloudy days have been going on for many days, with thick clouds pressing against the sky, and the heavenly palace above the head seemed to be within reach.

Since Emperor Zhu Gaochi ascended the throne, he has almost never walked out of the palace. He has basically moved between the harem, the imperial gate, and the eastern warm-up pavilion. Zhu Gaochi has always liked quietness and not moving, and most of them either sat or lie down. He usually took a chariot or had someone carry him in a sedan chair to those places.

However, Zhu Gaochi is very diligent and spends most of his time reviewing memorials or summoning ministers to discuss matters every day.

In the past, he was a little resentful to the late emperor in his heart; but more than a year after ascending the throne, he now understands the late emperor a little! Zhu Gaoxu personally felt that this position was really difficult to sit in, and he couldn't bear to leave after he sat in it.

There is no sound outside the Donghunting Pavilion; the cloudy day at the intersection of autumn and winter is terrible.

Zhu Gaochi wore a pitch-black gauze hat on his head and a regular indigo dress with a round dragon pattern embroidered on it, brand new materials, and a wide robe dress specially customized for him in the palace. He sat there without saying a word, looking at the memorial on the imperial desk, stunned and stunning.

Below were Yuan Gong, Xue Yan, Ru Wei, Tan Qing and other civil and military officials, and the eunuch Haitao stood beside him. No one dared to speak. They saw the emperor's expression and waited carefully.

There were a bunch of memorials on the imperial case, and Zhu Gaochi had already picked out what he thought was the most important. Among them were the people from the Jinyiwei who secretly reported the collusion of the kings to rebel, the memorials of Jin Zhong, the Minister of War who was in charge of military supplies, and the memorials of Zhang Fu, the general of the Han Dynasty... Another one was written by Gao Xianning, the Hanlin Academy, to persuade the establishment of the crown prince!

These things are not isolated matters, and they are inseparable and difficult to separate!

But he knew many things in his mind, for example, he could almost confirm that Gao Xianning should be the queen. A few months ago, Gao Xianning wrote a letter to mention the enthronement of the crown prince; now he mentioned it again, and this matter should be the instruction of the queen.

Gao Xianning is also very good at picking things. When is this time? He was thinking about becoming a confidant in the Eastern Palace! The late emperor admired Gao Xianning very much and took great effort to invite him out of the mountain as a wise minister. Unexpectedly, what kind of wise minister is this kind of virtue?!

Zhu Gaochi finally said, "I heard everyone say that they are for the country and the court, but I always feel that many people only think about themselves." He was a little angry, "When the overall situation of the court and the benefits of his family cannot be achieved at the same time, I am afraid some people would rather die together!"

His tone was very heavy, but he was just talking in general and not giving a name, so the matter was not that serious. The ministers seemed to be deeply taught, but there was no need to be too nervous; after all, when the emperor wanted to be serious, he would not scold him like this.

Sure enough, Zhu Gaochi let out a breath, and did not continue talking, turned to look at Tan Qing and said, "You just reported that Yang Qing, the eunuch of the Sili Prison, was dead?"

"Return to the emperor, he was poisoned to death!" Tan Qing bowed, "The person responsible for guarding Yang Qing is Yang Yong, a hundred household of the Northern Fufu Division. But at present, I dare not believe that Yang Yong did this, because such a thing is not necessarily the work of the manager. Yang Yong may only have the crime of inadvertent supervision. I have ordered him to suspend his post at home, waiting for interrogation, and find out the whole story."

Zhu Gaochi looked at Xue Yan, the minister of Dali Temple, and asked, "Is Yang Qing very important?"

Xue Yan said: "When Yang Qing died, it will be difficult to find out the truth about Peking for a while."

Zhu Gaochi said: "In Yang Qing's death, those suspected Jinyiwei soldiers, Xue Siqing and Commander Tan went to interrogate."

Xue Yan and others bowed and said, "I will obey the order!"

Zhu Gaochi was silent for a while and soon decided to put all these matters aside for the time being and not to ask about them anymore. After all, there are even more urgent matters!

He still said nothing and turned his eyes to Ru Yi, the Right Secretary of the Ministry of War. Although Ru Yi did not stare at the emperor, he must have been paying attention to it and could also detect the emperor's actions with his light.

Ru Wei bowed and said, "The British Duke urgently reported that the official army and the rebels fought a great battle near Baoqing Prefecture City. I cannot judge whether it is right or wrong, nor dare to rashly persuade the emperor.

It is reported that the rebels of the Han King seemed to have gathered about 300,000 people in Huguang; while the British Duke held more than 400,000 heavy troops and had a considerable advantage in military strength.

The military households of many local garrisons under the rebel king, according to the Ming court's actions, often took the Beijing camp as the elite force and mobilized the military army locally as the auxiliary. The military households of garments, armor and weapons were all inferior to those of the Jing camp. However, the rebels of the Han King of Han have been fighting for many years in recent years, and have always won and never lost. Looking at the past and ancient times, they have fought on the battlefield and won many years, which is a shortcut to obtain elite troops. Therefore, I think that the combat power of the rebels should not be underestimated.

However, there were many soldiers of the "Jingnan Army" in the Han army. A few years ago, these men and horses went to war for three or four consecutive years. Now they are well-clad, strong soldiers and strong horses, and diligent in training. They are not easy to be an ordinary army. I think that the British Duke's chance of winning this battle is quite good; but the rebels have become strong, and the British Duke cannot win. Please give the Lord the Holy Tribunal."

As for the left deputy general He Fu, Ru Yi did not mention it at all. Because Zhu Gaochi didn't mention it, he pretended not to know it; the ministers were also very sensible.

Zhu Gaochi had a lot of dissatisfaction with Zhang Fu in his heart, not only the matter of He Fu, the left deputy general He Fu personally, but also the suspicion of Zhang Fu's framed Wu Gao last time! But at this time, the battlefield in Huguang was tense, and after Zhu Gaochi weighed the pros and cons, he still planned to swallow his anger.

From the perspective of loyalty and ability, he really couldn't find a candidate who could replace Zhang Fu... And as Ru Ying said, the elite troops of the Jingnan Army were many soldiers of the Jingnan Army; now, except for Qiu Fu, Zhang Fu is the most capable general who can command the Jingnan Army. But how can Qiu Fu openly supports Gao Xu?

Zhu Gaochi was inconvenient, had never fought a war, and did not understand specific battle tactics. However, he was born in the Yan Palace, who often presided over the northern defense line. Later, in the "Jingnan Campaign", Zhu Gaochi was also nominally in charge of the defense of Peking. He heard too much about war, so he still had some insights into military affairs.

He knew in his heart that the changes in the battle formation often made the judgment of the generals in front of him right! So he repeatedly reminded the ministers around him to strictly prohibit civil and military pressure from putting pressure on Zhang Fu and not urge Zhang Fu.

Before completely pacifying Gao Xu, no matter what Zhang Fu did, as long as he showed no sign of surrendering to Gao Xu, Zhu Gaochi could tolerate everything! Zhu Gaochi endured the attacks of the late emperor all the time, but now he could not bear Zhang Fu?

Ru Wei was the Minister of War chosen by Emperor Taizu, and he has been in charge of the Ministry of War for many years. He has a lot of experience. After hearing Ru Wei's words, Zhu Gaochi's expression gradually became firmer. He said in an unquestionable tone: "Take my words to Zhang Fu and do what he believes is right."

Ru Wei bowed and said, "I obey the order!"

Yuan Gong, the minister of Taichang Temple, worshiped: "The emperor is the eldest son of the late emperor and the crown prince. He inherited the great throne from Emperor Taizong; the emperor is kind and virtuous, and has a deep heart of the people and is home to the great righteousness! Now the royal army of the court pacified the Han army with strong troops, with more than 400,000 troops, and with the benefits of the navy, he will surely quell the rebellion in the southwest in one fell swoop and calm the holy heart. I ask the emperor to be content with the dragon body and wait for the good news."

He paused slightly and continued, "Now the two armies are gathering in a small area of ​​Baoqing Prefecture. There are no conspiracies and tricks available. It's just that whoever is stronger wins, and the official army will win in this battle!"

Zhu Gaochi thought that Yuan Gong didn't understand military affairs at all, so he looked at Ru Yi again. Ru Yi said, "What Yuan Siqing said is nothing wrong. Hundreds of thousands of troops gathered to fight to the decisive battle. It will take a long time for the central army to be sent to the front. It can only be based on the strength."

Zhu Gaochi nodded slightly.

Although he was not anxious, he really hoped that Zhang Fu would decide the victory and defeat in his heart! Once the biggest enemy Gao Xu was pacified, Zhu Gaochi could free up his hands to deal with the chaos in the current court!

"You all go down." Zhu Gaochi said, and then turned his head to Haitao and said, "If there is any military information in Huguang, I will immediately report it to me and ask someone to come in with a basket tonight."

Haitao said: "I obey the order."

Zhu Gaochi took out a copy of "The Art of War" from the under the memorial, and opened a page casually and saw a line of words on it: War is a major event of the country, a place of life and death, and a way of survival and death, and must be observed!

He stared at the lines for a long time, feeling mixed emotions and became even more anxious.

At this moment, Zhu Gaochi felt that all his wishes since he was born were not as good as his greatest wish now: to fight to the decisive battle in Huguang and defeat Gao Xu!

In such a dull palace, Zhu Gaochi happened. Time flies too slowly and it is like a year.

...A courtyard in the Western Six Palace is a Buddhist temple, where the sound of wooden fish "tuk tuk" and the vague chanting of scriptures came from it.

Queen Zhang was sitting on the cushion, knocking on the wooden fish while reciting the scriptures. She squinted her eyes as if she had closed her eyes, and she looked very pious. She also heard the news from Huguang, and seemed to be praying for something at this time.

The craftsman shaped the golden Buddha statue on the wall with a rich look. It seemed to have a faint smile, and it seemed to look down at all living beings coldly.

In addition to chanting scriptures and the sound of fish and wood, the entire Western Six Palace was silent.

The eunuchs and palace maids standing outside the Buddhist temple seemed to have entered a state of meditation, and no one dared to speak; in the huge Western Six Palaces, few people were walking outside.

This place is like an empty city, with the windless air dull and depressing; if the connection between palaces and houses were not cleaned up, it would be like a ruin. Only the thick clouds in the sky seemed to be surging slowly, difficult to detect, but difficult to stop.

Under the heavy haze, it seemed as if everyone in the world was waiting for a storm. Even if people were told that there were thunder and lightning, some people might believe it.

But at the turn of autumn and winter, there will be no thunder. The capital cannot hear the wrath of the gods who are thundering. Perhaps the Huguang battlefield two thousand miles away can be felt.
Chapter completed!