The 17th day of the twelfth lunar month.

It started to snow in the capital again. This time the snow was slightly bigger than the one at the beginning of the moon. Thin snow gradually piled up on the glazed tiles in the imperial palace, the corners of the palace walls and other places. For a moment, the imperial palace seemed to be covered by a layer of white gauze.

Emperor Zhu Gaochi still did not attend court and did not call the ministers to discuss matters; however, he had been almost half a month and had not let go of lust and fun again.

It was not that he "wakes up", but that he is really tired of playing too much. Especially after just one round of events every day, his interest in groups of beauties in the palace has greatly reduced.

This is not the first time he did such a resignation; he had already done it shortly after Zhu Gaochi ascended the throne. Although the state was unstable at that time, he was a prince and prince for too long, and suddenly ascended the throne was very wanton.

Both times, after a while, he felt that he was not very interested; no one could control him.

However, Zhu Gaochi still did not attend court. He would rather sit in the Ganqing Palace and read books and listen to songs every day...

Zhu Gaochi knew the most important matter in the court. He was just unwilling to deal with the memorials; but he did not issue an order to prevent the eunuchs of the Silijian, the commander of the Jinyiwei, and other confidants from meeting each other.

Yesterday, Tan Qing, the commander of the Jinyiwei, came to the Ganqing Palace and delivered a secret memorial from the Minister of War Jin Zhong! But Zhu Gaochi ignored it and directly asked Tan Qing to send it to the outer court for disposal.

At this moment, the eunuch of the Sili Prison, Haitao, came to the Ganqing Palace again. Haitao bowed and walked over and said carefully: "Emperor, the second memorial from Jinbutang has arrived again."

Zhu Gaochi didn't put down the book in his hand and kept a comfortable position on the chair cushion. He asked without looking back, "What did Jin Zhong say this time?"

Haitao said: "The Jinbutang wrote that the British impartially mobilized almost all the water and land troops in Huguang Province to go south to block the rebels on the west bank of the Xiangjiang River..."

After hearing this, Zhu Gaochi made a meaningless voice and continued to look at his book.

Seeing this, Haitao said: "Several ministers in the court said that the most important part of this memorial was not the matter reported by the Jinbutang, but the words "800 Miles Express" on the envelope."

"Oh?" Zhu Gaochi finally became a little interested and his eyes moved away from the book. Haitao hurriedly raised the envelope with both hands and pointed it to him.

Haitao said carefully again: "The ministers all want to meet the saint to discuss matters and wait for the emperor to make an idea."

Zhu Gaochi did not respond, but his eyes did not look at the book in his hand anymore. His eyes did not focus on anything, as if he was thinking about something. He maintained this way for a long time.

Haitao wanted to speak but stopped, and finally leaned over and whispered: "I also met the Empress. The Empress said that the Duke of England had only a disabled son and did not necessarily care about his younger brothers; such a powerful military minister had a heart made of iron, cruel and cold..."

Zhu Gaochi glanced at Haitao. He knew before that this eunuch had been attracted by the queen, and Zhu Gaochi just didn't want to worry about it. Because once he got into it, the subsequent matter would be very troublesome.

Zhu Gaochi still didn't say anything; while Haitao only said that sentence, and stood there silently with tactfulness.

After a long time, Zhu Gaochi said, "I believe Jin Zhong will not lie to me, but the spy from the Ministry of War will definitely not deceive Jin Zhong? This matter can only be speculated from beginning to end, and there is no evidence."

Haitao did not dare to contradict the emperor and hurriedly said, "The emperor is wise."

Zhu Gaochi said: "Let the ministers think of their own ways."

Haitao said: "I obey the order!"

...So Haitao walked to the cabinet study of the Hanlin Academy, where several ministers were already discussing matters.

"Ahem!" Haitao cleared his voice and sang, "Imperial Order!"

Several officials hurriedly gave a big gift. Haitao walked to the north and raised his head and said, "The emperor issued an order, let the ministers think of their own. I admire this." Haitao likes to pass the order very much. Even though he knew that people respected the imperial power and not as an eunuch, he still felt very good whenever this happened.

"I will receive the order to thank you!" the ministers bowed.

Everyone stood up one after another, including Yuan Gong, Ru Wei, Guo Zi and others. Some of them were old ministers of the previous dynasty, and some were confidants of the emperor, but they were all ministers that the emperor relied on.

The study quickly started to talk and became a little noisy.

At this time, Ru Wei's voice said, "I am just a Minister of War, and I say a few words without any bias..."

As soon as this statement was spoken, everyone else consciously stopped and looked at him sideways. Perhaps because Ru Wei made a very reasonable statement, he was a surrendered minister who surrendered after the end of the "Jingnan Campaign", and he did not even have the qualification to favor anyone! So of course it is more likely to be out of public interest.

Ru Feng said: "I have been working as the Minister of War since the Hongwu period. To be honest, Huguang no longer needs to set up the position of "General Ping Han" in this situation. The official army in Huguang was defeated. Now who else can the remaining troops there be? "

All present were people from the center of the court, so there was no need to hide anything; Ru Yi asked a big truth, and no one could answer immediately.

Ru Wei continued: "At present, retaining the 'Ping Han General' in Huguang Province is not only useless, but it has also suppressed the dangers of the court. To this day, the British Duke can still command the navy. What can he do? Can the warships climb onto the shore to quell the rebellion?"

"It makes sense..." someone immediately agreed.

Yuan Gong asked: "What is Rubutang meant to temporarily remove the position of "General Pinghan"?"

Ru Wei nodded and said, "This is the best! Within a few months, the official army could no longer attack the rebels, and could only rely on the city defense to fight for time; do you need such a powerful general to defend the city?

There is also the strategy of the British Duke, which I think is nonsense! If the navy can cut off the rebels' boat bridge and ask Chen Xuan to go, it can also delay the rebels' crossing the river; what will happen in a short time when the defeated soldiers and defeated Changsha will hurry over?”

At this moment, Guo Zi said, "I have two words, too."

Several ministers turned to look at Guo Zi, because the ministers were discussing dealing with various government affairs together, and Guo Zi's proposal was still very calm.

Guo Zi did not speak to the ministers, but greeted the eunuch Haitao and asked: "The imperial edict sent by Eunuch Hai should be the original words of the emperor's golden words?"

Haitao was startled and said quickly: "Our family dares to make a mistake, but can't we make a mistake?"

"Eunuch Hai, don't be in a hurry, I'll just make sure." Guo Zi said.

He pondered for a moment, then looked back at his colleagues around him and said in a deep voice: "Have you ever thought that the 'Ping Han General' must be an imperial edict? The emperor uploaded the edict and asked us to think of it, but did not issue an edict to take back the edict of the general seal of the 'Ping Han General'. What method can we think of?"

After Guo Zi mentioned it, everyone suddenly realized it. Lian Ruyi also pondered and said, "I really didn't expect this section just now."

Yuan Gong said helplessly: "It seems... there is no need to tell other ministers to decide this matter."

Everyone nodded and said yes.

Jin Zhong's first secret memorial was sent to the cabinet study of the Hanlin Academy after the emperor received it; the second 800-mile rush memorial was almost known to the Tongzheng and the Central Ministers.

Therefore, among the important officials of the court, some people must be suspicious of Zhang Fu colluding with the rebellion of the king! But at this point, it seems that the decision cannot be made, so they can only be put on hold for the time being.

...The 19th day of the twelfth lunar month.

Something strange happened in the capital. The people from the Jinyiwei discovered in the early morning that Liu Sheng's family actually wanted to run away!

At that time, the two people in charge of monitoring the Liu Mansion did not even have military status from the Jinyiwei, but only received some money. After they found out, they did not dare to activate the mansion of the noble general, and hurriedly reported to the peak.

Unexpectedly, Tan Qing from the Jinyiwei attached great importance to this matter. He arrived soon after he rode a horse and immediately led his army to block Liu Sheng's mansion. Tan Qing personally took the horse and rushed into Liu's mansion!

In the early morning and it was still long until dawn. The Liu family not only dressed neatly, but also packed up a lot of things. If they hadn't had to pack so many items, they would probably not have to get up so early to toss.

Tan Qing asked Mrs. Liu politely: Where are you going to go, please explain to the old lady.

How to explain this kind of thing? The old lady cannot answer.

So Tan Qing immediately mobilized a large number of men from the Jinyiwei, surrounded Liu's mansion, and controlled everyone in the mansion. Then he went to the imperial city and waited for dawn and the emperor to get up, so he could enter the palace to meet the holy!

As soon as dawn, the eunuchs in the palace opened the Meridian Gate. The Jinyiwei could move at the Meridian Gate and be responsible for defending the verge. Tan Qing called a eunuch and invited the eunuch Haitao, the eunuch of the Sili Prison.

Tan Qing talked to Haitao about what happened in the early morning and asked Haitao to enter the palace to start the imperial examination.

Sure enough, when there was a real important matter, the emperor should pay attention to it. After a while, an eunuch went to the Meridian Gate and sent an order to Tan Qing, and went straight to the Qianqing Palace to meet the emperor!

Tan Qing was very fast, and the eunuch who led the way could not keep up, and he was panting like a bellows.

When Tan Qing arrived at the Qianqing Palace, he knelt at the door to ask for an appointment. After he was allowed to enter, he saw that the emperor had just put on his robe and boots, and the palace maid was combing his hair.

The emperor asked Tan Qing about some specific things, when did he find out that the Liu Mansion was moving, did the people in the mansion really packed their luggage, and how did those people explain... Then the emperor asked solemnly: General Tan confirmed that the Liu family's family wanted to run away?

Tan Qing thought for a while before reporting to the emperor: I am sure that the Liu family must be preparing to escape!

At this time, the emperor finally combed his hair and put on a black hat. The eunuch Haitao bowed and asked, "Emperor, do you want to issue an order to summon the ministers?"

Zhu Gaochi shook his head and said, "No need, prepare the pen and ink seal. I want to issue an edict to order the British Duke Zhang Fu to immediately cancel the strategy of "advance southward and water"! All military powers of the 'General Pinghan's General' were suspended, and Zhang Fu was summoned. Liu Sheng set off on the same day to return to Beijing to report his duties."

Haitao bowed and said, "I obey the order and go and handle things immediately."

Zhu Gaochi looked at Tan Qing and said, "You go to the Ministry of War to summon it, and ask the Ministry of War to issue a similar military order. Prepare for a quick horse. After the completion of the work, send it to Wuchang Prefecture in a hurry at 800 miles!"

Tan Qing clasped his fists and said, "I obey the order!"
Chapter completed!