Prince of Chaos

Chapter 8 Noon Incident
Just when Zhu Changluo was racking his brains and brains to make penicillin with local methods, an event happened in the previous dynasty that made Emperor Wanli furious!

Emperor Wanli regards etiquette as the way of heaven, but he will pay special attention to things that go beyond the etiquette!But today, something happened that made Emperor Wanli extremely angry.

On the 15th day of the first lunar month in the [-]th year of Wanli, the ice and snow on both sides of the streets and lanes inside and outside the capital had not yet thawed.Although the weather at this time is not as cold as the twelfth lunar month, the branches on the street have not yet sprouted. Obviously, this is not a good time to hold large-scale events outdoors.

However, at noon that day, the streets in front of the Forbidden City in Beijing were bustling with people.It turned out that the news came that His Majesty the Emperor was going to hold a grand ceremony in the afternoon.

The civil and military officials did not dare to neglect, and rushed to the imperial city immediately.High-ranking officials in sedan chairs still have the opportunity to arrange their crown belts in the sedan chair; low-level officials on foot, from the Liubu Yamen to the imperial city, traveled more than one and a half miles, and were panting when they arrived, so they didn't bother to add details on their appearance. groomed.

The imperial guards standing guard in front of the Daming Gate did not receive relevant orders in advance, but when they saw a large number of officials in costumes coming, they thought it was a grand ceremony, so they did not ask.

Entering the Daming Gate is the Forbidden City. Civil and military officials saw that the atmosphere before the Duanmen Meridian Gate was calm, and there was no sign of court gatherings on the towers. Speculate and ask each other: Is the so-called Wu Dynasty rumored?
At this time, Sun Xian, the eunuch who served closely beside Emperor Wanli, announced the exact news. Sun Xian announced the oral order of Emperor Wanli to the Minister of Civil and Military Affairs who had arrived in front of the Meridian Gate.

Sun Xian's voice was loud and long, and he shouted loudly in front of the Meridian Gate: "The emperor speaks!"

When the officials heard Sun Siam shouting that there was an order from the emperor, they all knelt down to accept the order.

The officials knelt down and asked, "Saint Gongan."

Sun Xian turned slightly towards the palace and cupped his hands, "I'm safe."

Then Sun Xian began to dictate Wanli oral instructions.

"There is no decree to hold the Wuchao Grand Ceremony in the palace. I don't know where the ministers and workers heard about the Wuchao Palace?"

All the officials looked at each other in blank dismay, not knowing how to answer the imperial decree's question, and the atmosphere became awkward for a while.

Sun Xian saw that none of the six cabinet ministries and officials of other yamen responded to the order, so Sun Xian asked the Chief Assistant Shen Shixing, "Does Yuanfu know what's going on?"

The chief minister of the cabinet, Shen Shixing, didn't know how to respond for a moment. He said, "Probably someone has rumored it."

Sun Xian didn't continue to ask any more questions, he was going back to the palace to reply.

All the officials also retreated one after another.

The shock was set, and this unfounded Wuchao incident inevitably became a topic of discussion, "Where did this rumor come from, and how did thousands of officials in Beijing be deceived? Even the cabinet elders don't know how to respond." It's a queer thing, and it's really puzzling."

Sun Siam returned to Qianqing Palace to renew the decree. Emperor Wanli heard Sun Xian say that the ministers didn't know what was going on. When they arrived at the Meridian Gate to participate in the Wu Dynasty ceremony, Emperor Wanli's face suddenly became angry. Qi said: "I don't know? The officials don't know about such a big matter, I don't know, but all the officials gathered at the Meridian Gate to participate in the Wuchao Hall, are they trying to force the palace?"

Seeing Emperor Wanli's thunderous wrath, all the eunuchs and court ladies in Qianqing Palace immediately knelt down in fright. Sun Xian, Chen Ju and other chief eunuchs immediately said in panic, "The emperor calm down."

Emperor Wanli snorted and said: "Decree to the Ministry of Rites of the Cabinet, they will thoroughly investigate who released the rumor this time. In addition, the Ministry of Rites and Honghe Temple are ordered to be ordered. All matters at noon today are related to the Ministry of Rites and Honglu Temple." The responsibilities of the temple are closely related. The Ministry of Rites is in charge of drafting the instrument notes, and the head of the Honglu Temple supervises the exercises. The two yamen know that the midday ceremony has not been held for many years, and there is absolutely no reason to summon all the officials in a hurry when the instrument notes are not prepared. Therefore, since the other yamen have made false reports, the second yamen should stop it immediately. If they fail to stop it, they are dereliction of duty, and officials below the minister and the minister of the temple will each be fined for two months."

Sun Xian immediately received the decree, and then Emperor Wanli said to Sun Xian: "You are in charge of Dongchang, and you have to investigate this matter for me. I want to see who is so bold!"

Sun Xian knelt down and said, "The servant is in command."

After Shen Li, Minister of the Ministry of Rites received the order, he immediately summoned the minister of the Ministry of Rites and other subordinate officials to start an internal investigation of the matter, but after a day of investigation, there was no result, and all the officials of the Ministry of Rites did not know what was going on.

Shen Li had no choice but to reply in this way, and Shen Li entered the palace to see the decree, "I have thoroughly investigated the Ministry of Rites and Honglu Temple, and the officials of the two yamen did not know what was going on. At that time, it was spread by word of mouth. I can't find out, please punish the emperor."

When Emperor Wanli heard that Shen Li, Minister of the Ministry of Rites, responded with such remarks, Emperor Wanli was very angry, thinking that this was a challenge to the emperor's authority!
So Emperor Wanli felt that this incident must be punished!
Emperor Wanli directly issued a decree, "You waited for a long time to eat the king's salary, but you didn't know why. Honglu Temple of the Ministry of Rites and all officials in Beijing were fined for two months as a warning."

Shen Li was stunned at this moment, but Shen Li didn't dare to persuade him, because this matter was really the fault of the minister, and the emperor was not at fault.

So Shen Li had no choice but to accept the decree to thank him, and brought the bad news to all the officials in Beijing.

However, this two-month penalty for high-ranking officials is nothing to senior officials, because the gifts they usually receive from magistrates are far higher than the salaries given by the court, although Zhu Yuanzhang, who was a bitch when he first set official salaries The annual salary of Shangshu-level officials is only 150 taels of silver, and there has been no salary increase for 200 years. One can imagine how stingy this is?Compared with the salaries of officials in the Song Dynasty, this is like heaven and earth!But this senior official really doesn't care, after all, he is not short of money.

But the low-level officials were miserable, no one was willing to give gifts to them, their salaries were not known to be much lower than the 150 taels of silver given by the Shangshu, and now they were fined for another two months, this life must be impossible.

And Zhu Changluo didn't know about such a big thing until the next day, because the next day he saw the serious Liu Wenzhen come over with a dark face.

Zhu Changluo asked curiously: "What's wrong with Imperial Physician Liu? Who made you angry?"

Liu Wenzhen glanced at Zhu Changluo, first sighed, and then hesitated to speak, "It's okay not to talk about it."

Now Zhu Changluo was even more curious. What could make it so difficult for a moral imperial physician like Liu Wenzhen who neither delighted in things nor saddened himself?
Zhu Changluo asked: "Tell me about it. I want to hear it."

Liu Wenzhen looked at Zhu Changluo's curious eyes, and finally he couldn't help complaining.After all, he did not receive any red envelopes when he was an imperial physician. Now that his majesty has fined him such a salary, it will be difficult for his wife and children to live.

Liu Wenzhen said: "Yesterday, I don't know who rumored that the emperor was going to hold the afternoon ceremony, but the emperor knew nothing about it, so he ordered the Ministry of Rites to investigate, but the Ministry of Rites did not find any news after a day's investigation, so the emperor punished the emperor in Beijing. The salaries of all officials for two months. I still have to worry about the rice money for the next two months."

When Zhu Changluo heard about it, he seemed to have a little impression of it. He had read a book called "The Fifteen Years of Wanli". He couldn't help but maliciously speculate that Emperor Wanli might have done it himself. After all, the old Zhu family didn't have any good enemies, and each of them was better than the other, so Zhu Changluo thought that this matter might be that Emperor Wanli wanted to give civil and military officials a blow.

(End of this chapter)