Chapter 50: Cutting the stirrup and leaving the whip, at the height of one's career

June 20th.

The Grand Tutor, the Supreme Pillar of the State, the Earl of Ding'an, and the Grand Secretary of Zhongji Palace claimed to be ill and did not attend the court.

The emperor and the two palaces sent imperial physicians to visit him. The physicians thanked him and replied that he was old and frail, and that it was normal for him to go away.

The emperor felt sorry for Gao Gong's heavy workload, so he discussed the matter with the cabinet.

Gao Gong was dismissed from his post as Minister of Personnel and was asked to cultivate himself well.

On the same day, because the cabinet had a heavy backlog of miscellaneous affairs, an envoy was sent to recall Grand Secretary Gao Yi, who was on vacation, and ordered him to return to the cabinet immediately to work.

The cabinet also decided to promote Lu Shusheng, the right vice minister of the Ministry of Personnel, to the position of Minister of Personnel.

According to the suggestion of Grand Secretary Zhang Juzheng, Shen Shixing, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, was promoted to the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel.

At the suggestion of Grand Secretary Gao Yi, Wen Chun, formerly the Left Assistant Minister of Huguang Provincial Administration, was reinstated and appointed as the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel.

On that day, Zhu Chengxun, the Left Commander-in-Chief of the Central Army Commandery, died after a long illness.

The emperor held a noon meeting with the cabinet, and followed the advice of the three ministers, Grand Secretary Zhang Juzheng, Grand Secretary Gao Yi, and Grand Secretary Lu Diaoyang.

Gu Huan, Marquis of Zhenyuan, was reinstated and put in charge of the affairs of the Central Military Governor's Office.

June 21st.

In charge of the affairs of the Central Army Commander's Office, the right commander-in-chief, Ningyang Marquis Chen Daji, died.

Following the proposal of Grand Secretary Yang Boy, the former Minister of War Huo Ji was reinstated as the Right Censor-in-Chief, in charge of the affairs of the Beijing Camp and the Five Military Commanders' Office.

On the day the imperial edict arrived, he immediately went to Beijing from Shanxi.

Another person, Ma Ziqiang, was promoted to be the official of the Chancellery and concurrently a scholar of the Hanlin Academy. He was appointed as the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites and assisted the Minister Zhang Siwei in compiling the Veritable Records of Emperor Shizong.

On the same day, the Ministry of Rites and the Cabinet discussed the matter and reported to the emperor that the two palaces were equally honored and that there should be no difference in the respect they should receive. So Empress Dowager Li should be given a two-character honorific title.

The emperor was moved by filial piety and honored his biological mother, the Empress Dowager, as the Cisi Empress Dowager.

He also gave Princess Yanqing the usual amount of silver and old items from the Emperor's Eastern Palace.

June 22nd.

On that day, Grand Tutor, Supreme Pillar of the State, Earl of Ding'an, and Grand Secretary of Zhongji Palace Gong's illness worsened and he was unable to perform his duties.

He submitted a memorial to the emperor, requesting him to open up channels for communication and to broaden his royal hearing, in order to glorify the late emperor's legacy.

Several people were recommended, among whom the most eye-catching was the reinstated former Right Censor-in-Chief Hai Rui.

The emperor readily agreed and sent it to court for discussion. However, most of the court officials disagreed and the proposal was not passed.

On the same day, Grand Secretary Gong submitted a petition to resign.

The emperor and the two palaces were kept inside and not sent out.

The cabinet held another meeting in the afternoon and decided to reinstate Hai Rui and promote him to the position of Left Censor-in-Chief.

The emperor reluctantly followed his advice.

June 23rd.

It has been exactly twenty-seven days since the death of the late emperor.

It also means that the days of mourning for the previous monarch and father are over.

On that day, the Emperor went to Xuanzhimen and attended to official business in mourning clothes. All officials performed a ceremony to thank the Emperor for the Emperor's grace and took off their mourning clothes.

King Yi Sun of Joseon sent his ministers, including Minister of Rites, Park Min-heon and 38 others, to express his gratitude; the Dogansi Xuanweisi and the foreign monk Lamawen, a total of 16 people, came to pay tribute and were all rewarded as usual.

Afterwards, the emperor began to wear a white-winged cap, a linen robe, and a waist sash, and distributed melons and fruits to his ministers as rewards.

After the meeting, Zhu Yijun should have either given lectures in Japan or attended court meetings.

But now that the matter has been settled, there is no need to continue sitting in court and suffering.

If there is any problem, just hold a small meeting - I suddenly understand Sejong a little.

As for the daily lectures, because of the imperial lectures, the daily lecture officials must be re-selected.

Some daily lecturers may have enough qualifications to serve as lecturers to the crown prince, but now that the crown prince has ascended the throne and is selecting an imperial lecturer, someone should move on.

Of course, he was not completely unharmed.

Because after the mourning period is over, one has to restart learning archery.

Although it was supposed to start in the afternoon, Zhu Yijun still arrived at the training ground early.

It is called a training ground, but in fact it is just a large flat land outside Jingyun Gate.

When Zhu Yijun arrived, Jiang Keqian and Gu Chengguang had already put on their armor and were waiting there.

The two of them are now considered guards, so if the emperor wants to shoot, they naturally need to accompany him.

In addition to the two of them, there were some young boys, all selected from the Beijing Guards’ martial arts school.

Well, of course the selection is not based on martial arts, but on family background.

But at least those who are chosen to serve the emperor are not too weak or stupid.

If you lack basic qualities and attract dislike, it will be a disaster rather than a blessing.

Zhu Yijun signaled to irrelevant people not to approach, and then walked towards Jiang Keqian and Gu Chengguang.

He looked at the two curiously and said, "Why are you just waiting? Since you have nothing to do, why don't you two have a competition to open my eyes?"

The fighting between the Royal Guards sounded very exciting. I had only seen it on TV in my previous life, so now of course I wanted to see it to satisfy my visual pleasure.

I just don't know which of these two is smoother.

But Jiang Keqian smiled bitterly and apologized: "Your Majesty, Commander Gu has been on the battlefield, I am afraid I can't withstand two or three punches from him."

Zhu Yijun shook his head in disappointment.

As expected, the foreign relatives and nobles can only do engineering projects and bully corrupt officials. If they really want to take real action, they have to look at military achievements.

He picked up a large bow and tried to pull it: "Gu Qing, have you ever really been on the battlefield, or have you been planning with the Marquis of Zhenyuan in the rear?"

After suppressing Gao Gong, Zhu Yijun spoke more casually.

I asked out of curiosity.

Although Gu Chengguang is Gu Huan's nephew and can be considered a newcomer, he is now over 40 years old.

With broad shoulders and thick legs, he looks very strong and powerful, like Wu Song in an old TV show.

Hearing this, he said with some restraint: "When my uncle was the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, he took me to the battlefield and charged with the central army several times. We didn't gain anything, but we did see blood."

Zhu Yijun looked at him with some surprise.

I didn't expect that he had actually been to the battlefield. I thought he was just brushing up his resume.

He put down the motionless bow in his hand and picked up a small one.

He skipped over this matter and asked, "What did the Marquis of Zhenyuan say about the matter I entrusted to him?"

Gu Chengguang was about to bow and answer, but Zhu Yijun stopped him: "Don't try to be so rude when you are in the military training ground wearing armor. Just speak directly."

When the emperor spoke, his subjects naturally followed his orders.

Gu Chengguang replied directly: "My uncle said that he does have some family background, but the Central Military Governor's Office..."

Zhu Yijun interrupted directly and said, "It's temporary. After my father is buried in August and rewarded, I will let him take charge of the Beijing camp again."

What a rotten state the Five Military Commanderies and the Garrisons have become.

Sooner or later, everything will have to be torn down and rebuilt, so there's no need to patch it up now.

On the contrary, the Beijing Camp has real military power after all.

Gu Chengguang was still a little embarrassed: "Then at most I can train 200 elite soldiers for Your Majesty."

so little?
Zhu Yijun frowned: "We don't need to use all of Zhenyuan Marquis's private soldiers and generals. We can use them to set up a framework, and the rest can be people from the Beijing Camp."

"It will be a separate camp by then."

Private soldiers are of course illegal, but it is a bit funny to discuss this in the Ming Dynasty.

All famous generals have their own private soldiers, the only difference is the specific number.

From the county magistrate to the general of the Li Family Army and the Qi Family Army, it is all like this.

This is also due to national conditions.

Your court owes you wages on an annual basis. How can a regular army without pay have any combat effectiveness?

If you want to get things done, you naturally have to find other ways.

The first is mercenaries, who are mostly found among minority guest armies.

The second one is naturally the private soldiers and generals.

It would take time for him to reorganize the Beijing camp.

It's a protracted matter involving an army of 100,000. This kind of thing costs money, lots of money.

There's no rush.

What is urgent now is to form a battalion of private troops which nominally belongs to Gu Huan but actually belongs to the emperor.

Not many, a few hundred people are enough, and we need them urgently.

The Lianghuai Salt Tax was intended to clear the salt tax, and "civil unrest" was inevitable in the process.

When Hai Rui went to cause trouble for Xu Jie, he fell into this trap.

Now that we have asked someone to come out of retirement, how can we not provide him with all the necessary things?

Those who need to be tempted should be given authority, and those who need to be coerced should be given manpower. In short, this is the basic attitude when asking people to do things.

Anyway, Wang Zongmu, the governor of the Grand Canal, is also in charge of military affairs, so we can let Gu Chengguang take charge and put him under his name.

Gu Chengguang stammered, "We do have enough manpower...but the Beijing Army has been in arrears of pay for a long time."

That's lack of money.

You can't empty your family's coffers to send people to train, and still have to pay for it, right? Even if you are loyal to the country, you can't fleece it like this.

Now Zhu Yijun was in a dilemma. Everyone was short of money. The Ministry of Revenue had no money, and naturally the treasury had no money either.

He groaned for a moment and said, "At least 800 people are needed. I will take care of the money issue."

Gu Chengguang breathed a sigh of relief and bowed to accept the task.

Zhu Yijun pulled the bow for a long time but failed to do so, and he became angry.

He called out and asked the two men to teach him how to ride a horse first.

While asking Zhang Jing to change his clothes for him, he looked at Jiang Keqian and asked, "Have you found out about Ningyang Marquis Chen Daji?"

A few days ago, the Left Commander-in-Chief, Wujinbo Zhu Chengxun, died after a long illness. He took the opportunity to re-employ Gu Huan and put him in charge of the Central Military Commander's Office.

As a result, just as the edict was drafted, the right governor and Ningyang Marquis Chen Daji died suddenly.

Using this as an excuse, Yang Bo revived Huo Ji from the Jin Party and stared at Gu Huan.

It was such a coincidence that he couldn't believe it.

Jiang Keqian nodded, obviously prepared, and immediately replied: "In addition to the Imperial Hospital, we also found some doctors from outside."

"But... he did die of illness."

Zhu Yijun was stunned: "Did he really die of illness?"

Jiang Keqian thought about it for a moment and replied, "There is no sign of assassination by outsiders at the moment."

Zhu Yijun nodded thoughtfully.

Having said that, it’s better to put the blame on the Jin Party!
Make a mental note of this.

After getting dressed, Zhu Yijun did not rush to mount his horse.

Amid everyone's puzzled gazes, I recalled the health exercises I did in my previous life and did them to prevent back and leg pain the next day.

Then he asked two more people, and even the eunuch Zhang Jing, to ride the horse and try it out to confirm that it was a docile horse.

Only then did he follow everyone's lead and learn horse riding.

Although Jiang Keqian was leading the horse in front throughout the whole process, Gu Chengguang was carefully blocking behind him.

But after riding five or six circles, Zhu Yijun did master some skills.

In this way, he sometimes practiced horse riding, and sometimes practiced boxing following the instructions of the Beijing Guards Martial Arts School.

The morning was passing quickly.

Zhu Yijun was taking off his wooden armor and asking Zhang Jing to wipe his sweat carefully when Li Jin suddenly appeared in his sight.

He watched Li Jin jogging towards him and waved Zhang Jing away.

After a while, Li Jin walked up to him, calmed his breath, and said, "Your Majesty, Earl Ding'an and the ministers request to see you."

Zhu Yijun was startled and asked in confusion, "Didn't the court decide today that An Bo did not apply for retirement?"

Using Gao Gong to control the court officials and allowing Hai Rui to rise again, it can be said that the play is over.

Gao Gong should retire today, and everyone will be happy. Why is he still asking for a meeting?

Li Jin hesitated and said, "I have indeed applied for retirement, but Earl Ding'an said that he wanted to bid farewell to His Majesty and the Holy Mother in person."

Zhu Yijun frowned for a moment, then quickly reacted.

This was because Empress Dowager Chen had not appeared for a few days, and the court officials were a little worried, so they came here for the last time.

Zhu Yijun nodded helplessly: "Let them wait in the side hall of the Qianqing Palace first. I will tidy up and invite the two palaces to see me together."

Now that the situation has been decided, it is time for the ministers to meet the two palaces.

To avoid any weird rumors.

……

After Li Jin finished reporting to the emperor, he received another order to inform Empress Dowager Li.

He immediately rushed to the Cining Palace without stopping.

Empress Dowager Li was teasing her second son Zhu Yiliu.

Seeing Li Jin coming in, she let the palace maid carry her away. After listening to Li Jin's detailed account of the incident, Queen Mother Li snorted coldly: "Farewell? You still have the nerve to say goodbye!?"

"I won't go."

"Go tell Gao Gong that after retiring, he will go to Songjiang Prefecture immediately and is not allowed to stay idle in the capital!"

Li Jin had no choice but to agree.

Just as he was about to leave, Empress Dowager Li called him back.

I only heard Empress Dowager Li say with some displeasure: "Also, tell the Emperor."

"Don't forget that he has a biological mother who goes to Ciqing Palace all day and has been missing for three or four days."

Li Jin quickly explained, "This is just a general amnesty and reward, and the emperor is busy summoning all officials to express his gratitude, so he really has no time to spare."

Empress Dowager Li glared at him.

He muttered, "My family members are not as considerate as Feng Bao."

Then he drove him away again: "Go ahead, go ahead, and remember to pass on the message."

Li Jin wiped the sweat off his face and carefully retreated.

If you can't invite someone, you naturally can't force them to come.

Li Jin then wanted to return to serve the emperor.

Halfway through the journey, they saw Zhang Hong leading Empress Dowager Chen's carriage towards the Qianqing Palace.

The two sides met each other, and Li Jin bowed and waited by the roadside, waiting for the Queen Mother to go first.

As the group passed by, Queen Mother Chen turned around and asked casually, "Is this Li Jin?"

Zhang Hong responded cautiously.

Queen Mother Chen handed the cat slave in her arms to the palace maid beside her and said lazily, "Sister can not come, but she insisted on inviting me to come."

"Is the foreign court afraid that I will be harmed?"

Zhang Hong has gained some insights from serving this person over the past two days.

He smiled and said, "No, it's the Earl of Ding'an who said that Your Majesty had attended lectures with the late emperor, so you had some teacher-student relationship. Now that you have retired, I want to pay my respects to you in person."

Empress Dowager Chen did not comment.

Suddenly he sat up straight and looked down at Zhang Hong: "Go, tell my son that Princess Yanqing is getting a little older and will need enlightenment next year."

It's bad enough that he's under house arrest, but he still has to come out and advertise himself.

It would be unreasonable not to take the opportunity to ask for some benefits for my daughter.

Zhang Hong accepted the order with a wry smile and quickly hurried to the Qianqing Palace.

……

Zhu Yijun washed himself and changed his clothes.

Only then did he walk around the side hall to the throne.

Several ministers had been waiting for a long time and quickly stood up and saluted: "Greetings to Your Majesty."

Zhu Yijun nodded: "I am well."

While asking the eunuchs to seat the ministers, he asked, "Why have you, my most trusted ministers, come to see me together?"

Lu Diaoyang stood up first and said, "It was Earl Ding'an who requested to see Your Majesty."

"But just now the court discussed and the late emperor decided to give us a posthumous title, so we came together to listen to your majesty's teachings."

The late emperor died at a wrong time.

It is the hottest time of the year.

The body is now kept in the palace, and things are already looking a bit strange. We need to discuss it as soon as possible so that we can complete the rituals and bury it quickly.

Of course, this was just a reasonable reason. Zhang Juzheng and he still wanted to come and see if Empress Dowager Chen had any missing limbs.

The other two saw that everyone else had come, so they didn't want to be left behind and came together.

Zhu Yijun nodded and said, "Mr. Lu, you may present it to my mother later. Their opinions are my opinions."

Even an emperor has to learn to slack off.

It would be best to leave this kind of useless and energy-consuming task to the two palaces.

Zhu Yijun looked at Gao Yi again and asked, "Sir, have you gotten better from your cold?"

Well, Gao Yi went to some stream on vacation, named Canglang Stream, and washed his feet in the water, but ended up making himself sick.

It's a bit like someone who lives a life of luxury and then has a high fever.

Gao Yi hurriedly stood up and replied, "I would like to thank your majesty for his grace. The medicine prescribed by the imperial physician was very good. I was almost fully recovered yesterday."

As he answered, he looked up at the disciple.

Only a few days after he left, the situation in the court changed drastically.

Although everyone tacitly keeps things mysterious and confusing, they have been through ups and downs for many years.

On the first day after returning, he received the reward from the Deputy Prime Minister and immediately saw the clue.

Then Gao Gong kept his mouth shut and His Majesty seemed to be hesitant.

Despite Feng Bao's inexplicable death, Gao Gong was awarded the highest honor.

Grohe quickly came up with the answer.

It was obvious that the prime minister acted too drastically. Not only did he want to dismiss the Imperial Household Department, he also used extraordinary means to kill Feng Bao.

However, this aroused suspicion among the two palaces, and they wanted to remove Gao Gong.

Your Majesty had no choice but to offer the utmost rewards and compensation.

Alas, I heard that this disciple also hinted to Lu Diaoyang that he wanted to rebuild the Lingyan Pavilion to preserve the posthumous reputation of all the ministers.

It turns out that he always keeps his word.

The emperor talked to everyone one by one and exchanged greetings.

Finally we arrived at Gaogong.

Zhu Yijun asked curiously, "Why is Earl Ding'an here?"

I haven't been to court for a few days, so I should have had a good rest. But when I went to court today, I could see with the naked eye that I had aged a lot.

Zhu Yijun secretly sighed that he was just like his former colleague, who had become emaciated after only one day in Qincheng.

Gao Gong sighed and replied, "I have been feeling exhausted recently, so I have come to Your Majesty to retire."

Zhu Yijun stood up and walked slowly forward.

He said sincerely, "Does Earl Ding'an really want to abandon me?"

Gao Gong shook his head: "I am a minister in a high position in the government, so I can worry about the people. I am far away in the rivers and lakes, so I can also worry about the emperor."

Zhu Yijun tried his best to save the situation but failed.

Just at this moment, Zhang Hong came in and said a few words to Zhu Yijun's ear.

Zhu Yijun stood up and said, "It's my mother who has arrived. I will go and greet her first."

After saying that, he walked out of the hall.

The several assistant ministers could no longer sit still and followed him out.

Seeing Empress Dowager Chen approaching from afar, Zhu Yijun could clearly see Gao Gong, Zhang Juzheng and Lu Diaoyang all breathed a sigh of relief.

Zhu Yijun shook his head and laughed.

He hurried forward to support Empress Dowager Chen and said, "Mother, it is Ding'an Earl who has retired due to illness and wants to say goodbye to you."

As he said this, he nodded, implying that he would take Princess Yanqing's enlightenment to heart.

Empress Dowager Chen hummed with satisfaction.

Only then did he turn to the ministers and return the greeting.

Then he looked at Gao Gong and said, "Mr. Chen just left two years ago. I didn't expect that Mr. Gao would also retire now."

The Mr. Chen mentioned by Empress Dowager Chen refers to Chen Yiqin.

If we were to say who were the most responsible for protecting Prince Yu's Mansion from the elements, it would be Chen and Gao.

Gao Gong sighed: "Time has come, and I, an old minister, am no longer in the right place."

The two looked at each other speechlessly.

Seeing this, Zhu Yijun called Zhang Hong and said, "Go, get me fifty taels of silver from the treasury. I want to personally prepare the travel expenses for the Earl of Ding'an."

Zhang Hong left immediately.

Empress Dowager Chen looked at the emperor and said, "Your Majesty, can you let Chen Mingyan send Earl Ding'an off on my behalf?"

Gao Gong was also a poor man. Although he was a noble man, he was still trapped in the mountains and rivers. If he encountered any bandits, he would be killed with a single blow.

There is naturally a difference between escorting and galloping.

Zhu Yijun nodded: "Of course, I will send someone to inform you later."

He would have done so even if Empress Dowager Chen hadn't said it.

Gao Gong, with his fame, was going to Nanzhili, and I wonder how many people were uneasy.

If there is no escort, he might die of illness on the way.

They exchanged pleasantries for a while, and seeing that it was almost time for lunch, Empress Dowager Chen left.

Zhu Yijun invited all the ministers to lunch, but they all declined.

Gao Gong also said goodbye and left, saying that he would pack up and rush to Songjiang Prefecture.

Zhu Yijun insisted on personally escorting him to the outside of the imperial city.

Afterwards, the Emperor and the Prime Minister saw him off with courtesy, all the way along the central axis of the Forbidden City until they arrived outside the Meridian Gate.

The three of them said goodbye reluctantly.

The emperor led the prime minister to the top of the Meridian Gate Tower and watched from afar.

Zhu Yijun stared at Gao Gong as he walked away, and his somewhat hunched back, and said, "Prime Minister, when will the regulations for the performance evaluation system be finalized?"

Zhang Juzheng was also on the tower, looking down at Gao Gong as he left, and said with a complicated expression: "It is estimated that it is September now, and the Ministry of Personnel will have to dismiss some people."

"Let Shen Shixing bring out the framework next month, and the cabinet will also need to discuss the details."

Zhu Yijun nodded.

Today, the powers of the Ministry of Personnel are divided into three parts.

The Minister of Personnel, Lu Shusheng, was a rubber stamp. He sought fame and reputation and would often return home on the grounds of illness as soon as he got a job.

He previously served as the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, but he never worked a day in office.

To put it bluntly, it is to occupy a position, which is convenient for the cabinet to lead directly and can be taken back into one's own hands at any time.

Shen Shixing, the left vice-minister of the Ministry of Personnel, was a member of the New Party. From then on, he was the one who cooperated with Zhang Juzheng in implementing the performance evaluation system in the Ministry of Personnel.

Wen Chun, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, was a good friend of Gao Yi and a man loyal to the emperor and patriotic.

Of course, he also has no ability or temper, and he would probably only speak when the emperor has an opinion.

Zhang Juzheng glanced at the emperor and asked, "What errand did your majesty give Ding Anbo?"

Before Gao Gong left, he also recommended Hai Rui. He didn't believe that this was simply to disgust the court officials.

Zhu Yijun shook his head repeatedly: "No, since Earl Ding'an has retired, how can he be used excessively? I just want him to have a good rest."

Zhang Juzheng curled his lips and didn't believe a word of it.

The emperor naturally changed the subject: "How much money does the Ministry of Revenue have now?"

Zhang Juzheng hesitated for a moment and said, "It's hard to say. We have to wait until Zhang Shouzhi retires before we can calculate it."

Zhu Yijun sighed and said, "Let Feng Baojia copy it. There should be some."

Zhang Juzheng looked at the emperor with a strange expression.

Zhu Yijun met his gaze and said helplessly: "Don't look at me like that. It's also because Earl Ding'an has good morals but his family is in trouble."

"Believe it or not, if Ding'an Bo was from a prominent family like Zhang Shouzhi and was the grandson of the prime minister, he would have been in prison by now."

I have to say that Gao Gong and Gao Yi are really weird people.

If it was someone who had three generations of high officials and had worked hard for several generations, he would definitely not show mercy when confiscating their property.

On the contrary, this poor guy with good personal ethics is really a fool in the officialdom.

Zhang Juzheng felt that there was something behind this, so he turned his head away awkwardly and said, "The country is losing a lot of money, and confiscating property is not going to stop the decline."

Zhu Yijun nodded to show that he accepted the instruction.

Seeing Gao Gong's back completely disappear, he sighed and said, "It will be hard for Yuan Fu to manage the family in the future."

Then he turned around and went down the city wall.

Zhang Juzheng bowed and saluted, also standing beside the emperor.

The sun was high in the sky, it was that time.

The two of them cast a shadow, one big and one small, walking hand in hand.

"Your Majesty, it's time to start the imperial lecture."

"Let the cabinet discuss it and include Shen Shixing in the discussion."

"So what does your majesty want to do by reinstating Hai Rui?"

"Isn't that what Earl Ding'an meant? Yuan Fu, please don't talk nonsense. By the way, about Gu Huan's matter..."

The two of them walked and talked, and gradually their voices could no longer be heard.

(Volume 1, end.)
(End of this chapter)