prosperous age

The news that Emperor Longqing issued an order to seize love and summoned Wei Guangde, who was worried at home, to return to the court to handle errands, spread throughout the capital's yamen that day.

When the emperor recalled his ministers, he still wanted to seize his love. If it were normal, the officials of the Department of Science and Technology and the officials of the Ministry of Rites would definitely make a fuss.

However, after experiencing the emperor fainting at the great court meeting, everyone remained silent this time.

The news coming out of the palace now indicates that Emperor Longqing's health seems to be very poor. Perhaps recalling his trusted old ministers is to prepare for his funeral.

After all, if he really goes, what kind of situation will the Ming Dynasty face?

The emperor of the Ming Dynasty will once again be appointed by a ten-year-old boy. Before that, it would have to be pushed to the Yingzong period.

Ming Xuanzong Zhu Zhanji also died young, leaving behind his eight-year-old eldest son, Ming Yingzong Zhu Qizhen, who ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor, and then reigned twice, with the reign names of Zhengtong and Tianshun.

However, later generations know him mostly because of the Tumu Fort incident.

But in any case, this is not a good sign. Perhaps it was for this reason that Emperor Longqing wanted to recall Wei Guangde anxiously.

After all, no matter where the prince saw Wei Guangde, he would always call him "Master Wei" affectionately.

If something unexpected happened to Emperor Longqing, then Zhu Yijun's teachings would really be the top priority of the Ming Dynasty.

Also on this day, another news spread rapidly in the Ming capital.

Gaoyi has arrived in the capital.

Gaoyi arrived in Tongzhou early this morning. Without rest, he directly asked for a carriage at the post station at Tongzhou Pier and hurried to the capital.

When he was in Tongzhou, Gao Yi had already heard the news that the emperor was critically ill, so he didn't dare to delay for a moment.

Knowing that Gaoyi was coming to Beijing, Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng invited officials from the capital to greet Gaoyi that day.

Even if the emperor is ill and not dead, a banquet can still be held at this time.

"Zixiang, regarding your matter, His Majesty has already made a decree. After arriving in the capital, he will go directly to the cabinet to handle business. The procedure of meeting with Your Majesty can be avoided. Now you should have heard about His Majesty's health. It is very bad."

At the banquet, Gao Gong said to Gao Yi.

To be honest, Gao Yi was worried about returning to the capital to join the cabinet at first, but he thought that Yang Bodu had already served as Minister of War, so he came with peace of mind.

This time he had a face-to-face communication with Gao Gong at the banquet, and he finally felt relieved.

"Your Majesty was in his prime, how could he be so ill?"

But after all, he had been away from the capital for a long time, so Gao Yi still asked him about his doubts.

The rumors he heard were so bizarre that he, the former Minister of Rites, would never believe it. People could be so obsessed with sex.

Moreover, the princes of the DPRK and Gungun did not dissuade him, which was really difficult for him to accept.

He asked this question at the banquet, and everyone else immediately didn't know how to answer the question, and they really couldn't say it.

They were indeed at fault for making Emperor Longqing what he is now.

"Ugh."

Gao Yi's questions were greeted with only a series of sighs.

On the second day, Gao Yi went to the cabinet to do business, and there was no proper procedure. After all, the current situation was special.

Gaoyi was still familiar with the procedures of the cabinet office and could not officially start handling official duties for a while. He was just reading the memorials that Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng had drafted.

In fact, these things are easy to get started with. After all, he has been a minister of the Ministry of Rites for several years and knows everything he needs to know. However, he still needs to show his studious side and cannot deal with government affairs as soon as he joins the cabinet. It makes people feel like Strong desire for power.

Just as Gaoyi was reading the memorial, a chamberlain ran into the chief assistant's duty room again in a hurry, shouting as he ran: "Master Chief Assistant, Master Chief Assistant"

"What are you doing? It's so disrespectful."

Gao Gong put down the papers in his hand, looked up at the chamberlain, and lectured him angrily.

"Your Excellency, Your Majesty, Your Majesty has urgently summoned the cabinet ministers to the palace for an audience. Please summon the cabinet ministers to follow me to Qianqing Palace immediately."

The waiter did not bow his head and admit his mistake in response to Gao Gong's lesson, but continued to shout eagerly.

Yell, not say.

"Meet Your Majesty."

Gao Gong was stunned, and a bad premonition appeared in his heart.

"How is your Majesty doing?"

Gao Gong asked hurriedly.

"I don't know. I just came to the cabinet to inform the chief minister on Eunuch Feng's order."

The waiter replied hurriedly.

"Eunuch Feng? Feng Bao? Is he in charge of the Qing Palace today?"

Gao Gong frowned and asked again immediately.

"Yes, Eunuch Feng is responsible for taking care of His Majesty today."

The chamberlain replied hurriedly.

"Come, hurry up and tell Shuda and Zixiang to follow me to Qianqing Palace to meet you."

Gao Gong stood up, walked around the desk to the door, and shouted to the clerk who was standing outside the door.

As soon as the words fell, two clerks turned around and ran to Zhang Juzheng and Gao Yi to inform them of the room check.

Not long after, the three men met in front of the cabinet door and hurried to Qianqing Palace with the chamberlain.

Along the way, Gao Gong kept asking the chambermaid about the situation in the palace.

"The Emperor woke up half an hour ago and seemed to be getting better, so he sent someone to summon the Crown Prince to see him. When the Crown Prince arrived at the palace, the Emperor also ordered Queen Chen and Concubine Li to be announced."

The young chamberlain and Gao Gong and the other three hurriedly rushed outside the Qianqing Palace. Just like yesterday, the palace was already crowded with palace maids and eunuchs today, who were obviously here with the prince and the concubines in the harem.

Gao Gong and the other two people only waited outside the palace for a while before a chamberlain came out to announce and invited the three of them to come in.

As the chamberlain entered the hall, the smell of herbal medicine that originally filled the hall was no longer there. He frowned and asked, "Where is your majesty's medicine?"

"Master Gao, I asked people to withdraw."

Gao Gong did not dare to speak loudly in the palace, and his tone just now was very soft. Unexpectedly, Emperor Longqing on the sick bed heard him clearly and answered.

Gao Gong looked at the emperor. At this time, Emperor Longqing still looked sick, but his body just looked lazy, leaning on the bed, but his eyes were still alert. It was completely opposite to the appearance two days ago. He seemed to be in good health. few.

But Gao Gong was already sixty after all. Seeing the emperor's current appearance and thinking about what he saw yesterday, Gao Gong's heart couldn't help but tremble.

He knew where his bad premonition came from.

"Your Majesty, you."

Gao Gong walked quickly to the bed and said tremblingly.

The prince, who was originally kneeling in front of the bed, was reached out by Emperor Longqing to pat the back of his hand gently, "Your Majesty, please go back and rest. You must keep in mind what my father told you."

"Father, I won't leave."

Prince Zhu Yijun seemed to have a premonition of something, crying and unwilling to leave.

"Obey, I am not in good health and need to rest." After Emperor Longqing finished speaking to Zhu Yijun, he ordered the eunuch next to him: "Send the prince back to the palace to rest."

Immediately, two eunuchs came forward, supported the prince Zhu Yijun on both sides and walked out of the palace.

"Concubine Li, you go too. Watch the prince and teach him more rules. I don't have many happy days that I can give him."

At this time, Emperor Longqing said to Concubine Li next to him.

"Your Majesty, I would like to spend more time with you here."

At this time, Concubine Li had tears in her eyes and wanted to stay.

"Go and stay with the prince. You are his mother-in-law. You must stay with him at this time and not leave for a moment."

Emperor Longqing suddenly said in a tough tone, "Empress Chen is here to serve you, so I don't need to worry here."

"Sister, go take care of the prince. The prince is the one you need to worry about most now."

Queen Chen actually looked tired. Her health had not been good since she moved to the other palace.

However, because of her identity, the eunuchs in the palace did not dare to treat her lightly and still treated her carefully.

After Empress Chen had people send Concubine Li out of the hall, Emperor Longqing looked at Empress Chen and said, "It's my fault that I've treated you badly all these years. I regret it."

Even when a man is about to die, he speaks well. Emperor Longqing seemed to feel that his time was short, and he couldn't help but think of Empress Chen's original advice to him: stay away from women and use less of those prescriptions.

In fact, Emperor Longqing was not annoyed with Empress Chen for asking him not to be sexually involved with women, but was annoyed with her for publicly saying not to take those pleasure-enhancing drugs. Emperor Longqing felt that this was the empress' dissatisfaction with his "ability".

He could accept that the queen was jealous of him being with other women, and he understood the queen's displeasure about it, but he couldn't tolerate persuading medicine.

I used to think that since I was young and powerful, I could do whatever I wanted, but now, I feel that my time is running out, and I finally feel regretful.

"Sit down."

Emperor Longqing raised his hand and pointed to the chair next to him and ordered Queen Chen.

After all, they were husband and wife, and Emperor Longqing was actually not a heartless person.

At this time, there were only Empress Chen, three cabinet ministers Gao Gong, Zhang Juzheng and Gao Yi left in the palace, as well as the Royal Horse Supervisor Zhang Yin, the Admiral of Dongchang, and the eunuch Feng Bao in charge of Qingning Palace.

Feng Bao had commanded the eunuchs waiting beside him to handle the previous tasks, while he had been standing quietly beside the dragon bed, motionless.

"My health is failing."

Emperor Longqing saw that there was no one else, so he said to Gao Gong again.

However, this sentence immediately made Gao Gong completely unable to hold back, and he burst into tears.

"Your Majesty, it's your fault, my fault. It's my fault, wuwu."

At this moment, Zhang Juzheng finally confirmed what was about to happen, while Gao Yi next to him opened his mouth in surprise. He never imagined that as soon as he entered the cabinet, he would face the death of Emperor Longqing.

He already knew that the emperor was returning to his former glory, and he summoned them here this time just to care for him.

Considering that the prince was still a half-grown child, he already knew that the imperial power would inevitably decline after the death of Emperor Longqing, and the cabinet would lead the civil service group to control the Ming Dynasty.

But at this moment, Gao Yi didn't have any emotion in his heart. He didn't know whether he should be happy or sad because of the emperor's death.

They were all very old and had seen each other through life and death many times. Many of his classmates, classmates and friends had become a cup of dust.

"Master Gao, in the future, I hope you will pay more attention to the Ming Dynasty. Shuda and Zixiang, you must also assist the prince and make him a capable emperor."

When Emperor Longqing said this, his breath was obviously stagnant. It seemed that he had reached the last moment. When he finished speaking, he took a few breaths and then slowly calmed down.

"Fortunately, I have you, you loyal ministers, so that I can rest assured. The last decree is for Gao Gong, Zhang Juzheng, and Wei Guangde Gaoyi."

Having said this, Emperor Longqing suddenly paused, looked around, and finally his eyes fell on Feng Bao, who had been standing quietly with his head bowed. At this moment, he was also struggling in his heart.

The emperor was still too young, and Emperor Longqing would still feel a little uneasy if he gave all the power to foreign ministers.

At the beginning, it was also here that what Emperor Jiajing held his hand and told him came to mind unconsciously.

Balance, the outer court needs balance, and the inner court also needs balance.

"Feng Bao is a minister who cares about life and assists the prince. He does not hesitate to deal with major events. The queen will make the decision."

When Emperor Longqing spoke, Gao Gong, Zhang Juzheng and others looked at Emperor Longqing in disbelief.

Why does Feng Bao's name appear among the ministers of Tuogu?

How could a eunuch become the Minister of Gu Ming? With Emperor Longqing's decree, that didn't mean that Feng Bao could interfere in the government affairs of foreign countries openly.

Wei Guangde didn't care. He was originally a cabinet minister. According to the emperor's wishes this time, if he was in the capital at this time, he should be standing here.

Wei Guangde is qualified to be a minister who cares about life, but Feng Bao is not.

"His Majesty."

Gao Gong spoke eagerly, but as soon as he shouted, he saw that Emperor Longqing had closed his eyes slightly, as if he didn't want to listen to him.

Behind them, Zhang Juzheng and Gao Yi just looked at each other quietly and then lowered their heads.

At this time, they could only listen to the emperor's will and could not object. They might be beaten with just one sentence.

People at this time are the most sensitive. Once they find that they are dissatisfied with his decision, they can really do such a thing.

After all, he is the emperor after all, and all his decisions will revolve around the royal family.

Letting Feng Bao, who had been taking care of the prince, become one of the ministers who cared about the prince's fate was actually to contain them.

Just in an instant, Gao Gong and the others actually had their minds set on something.

To oppose Emperor Longqing's order at this time is to do evil and have ulterior motives.

As for the Queen CEO, this is actually understandable. After all, the prince is young and has too little experience to make correct decisions.

As a womanly family, the Ming Dynasty also had many regulations for relatives, so they were not worried that the queen's natal family would become bigger because of this.

It is impossible for people from the queen's natal family to have real power except for obtaining false positions.

"The minister obeys the order."

As Gao Gong took a step back slightly, only half a step ahead of Zhang Juzheng and Gao Yi, the three of them knelt down together and accepted Emperor Longqing's order.

They will control the future affairs of the court as ministers of Gu Ming.

However, when they were all concerned about Emperor Longqing's decision, Feng Bao, who had been standing quietly aside, quietly raised the corner of his mouth and showed a smile, but it disappeared in an instant.

He didn't even raise his head, he still stood there quietly, appearing to be so respectful to Emperor Longqing.

What Gao Gong could figure out, Feng Bao could naturally figure out.

He knew that it was all because of his loyalty to the prince that Emperor Longqing made such a decision.

Good loans are really great.

He just thought about it in his heart, but never said it out loud.

"I am the heir to the great rule of our ancestors. I got this by chance six years ago. I am so ill that I can't get up. I have the responsibility of the late emperor to entrust me to the young master of the East Palace. I am now entrusting you to your ministers and other three ministers. I should work together to help abide by the ancestral system and protect the emperor's plans and ministers." The country will never be lost forever."