Flourishing of the Ming Dynasty Novel - Chapter 98

Chapter 98 Get into the Sovereign’s Eye
A large part of the history of the Great Ming Dynasty was a history of battles between monarchs and officials.

In the beginning, it was the monarchy that held the absolute upper hand. Regardless of whether it was Emperor Hong Wu, Zhu Yuanzhang, or Emperor Yong Le, Zhu Di, they were both extremely powerful overlords. Not to mention the suppression of their ministerial power, many people even blamed them. They could only defend their own ministers at any moment, feeling extremely aggrieved.

But after arriving at the Ren Sect’s Emperor, the situation became very different. The ministerial power had been greatly expanded, but the monarchical power had been eroded bit by bit. After all, people’s abilities were superior and their energy was greatly different. Naturally, the descendants behind them could not compare to the vigorous energy and powerful control of the founding son of heaven. Therefore, they could only hand over their original power to their subordinates bit by bit.

As a result, the power of the Cabinet, which was originally only the secretary of the Son of Heaven, gradually increased, enough to resist the imperial power. Back then, Zhu Yuanzhang had set up a cabinet for the sake of monopolizing power, but he never dreamed that the descendants of later generations would lose their imperial power faster than any other dynasty. If the fountain knew, the Great Ancestor Emperor would probably jump out and kill everyone.

Of course, the later emperors did not wish for this matter to worsen. Thus, from the time of Xuanzong, they set up a bureau to fight against the Cabinet in order to check and balance each other.

As Emperor, unless you have the shocking combat strength of the Great Ancestor Sect, you can’t fight against the civil servants of the Manchu Dynasty alone. Therefore, they had to find helpers at the critical moment. The eunuchs they trusted had become their most trustworthy existences.

Perhaps at the beginning, Xuanzong did not have the intention to use the eunuchs to fight against the court officials. He only had time to teach the eunuchs in the palace some knowledge. However, as time passed, the situation changed, and Supervisor Li finally emerged, forming the third peak of the Imperial Court’s power.

In order to help the eunuchs gain power, the Son of Heaven even gave them a portion of the power that originally belonged to him to review memorials and memorials. Because the commentary was written in cinnabar red pen, it was called crimson. And the memorial that the Cabinet submitted to the palace was also a blue cover, so it was called the blueprint. As a result, a red and a blue color appeared to be particularly correct. However, it was unknown if it was the color symmetry created by a sudden thought of a Son of Heaven. Perhaps this Son of Heaven was a virgin-a female.

At this moment, Wang Zhen was holding a batch of vermilion brushes and looking at the memorials sent in from all over the country. Suddenly, he was attracted by a report from Datong. Even if the tip of the brush fell on the vermilion dot, he didn’t pay much attention to it. “At this time, Dazi actually attacked my border town? And he was defeated by the local army?”

The eunuchs beside him were busy, but they were also paying attention to the change in Eunuch Wang’s expression. As long as they could make this ancestor happy, it would be of great help to their status in the Ceremony Supervisor and the palace. Seeing that he suddenly stopped and revealed a thoughtful expression, a few pairs of eyes carefully glanced at the memorial, wanting to figure out what was written on it, whether he was happy or angry.

A moment later, Wang Zhen raised his eyebrows and said, “Recently, Dazi in the north has become more and more speechless. Previously, he threatened the Imperial Court to open a discussion. Now that the discussion has opened, there are people who are uneasy. In the end, a war has broken out. Do you really think that I, Daming, do not dare to deal with them?”

After a pause, he continued, “This time, this Guang Ling County Magistrate called Lu Zhen did a good job. He fiercely fought for the face of our Imperial Court. It should be commended!”

The eunuchs beside him were naturally well aware of his intentions to learn Zheng He’s military merits. Hearing this, they had already guessed the thoughts of the old ancestor and agreed. Some of them cursed the Mongolian people for being despicable and greedy, while others praised this grade seven county magistrate that they had never heard of.

Only one eunuch named Cao Rui said, “This county magistrate Lu not only has some courage and ability, but also has a long-term vision. He expressed his stance and said that he must not be too conservative towards Dazi. Even if he cannot repeat the northern expeditions like Taizong, he should give them a big lesson so that they do not dare to offend him lightly.”

“Well said, this Lu Zhen’s words are the most reasonable!” Wang Zhen immediately slammed the table and nodded at Cao Rui with praise.

Everyone else looked at the lucky man with jealousy. It was only because he had seen this memorial before that they were able to utter the words that most conformed to Eunuch Wang’s words. How could these people hate him? Why didn’t they want to see this victory?

However, after laughing for a while, Wang Zhen’s expression became gloomy again. “Unfortunately, such a knowledgeable person is only a rank seven county magistrate after all. People are soft-spoken. No one in the court will really agree with his words.”

Everyone else was dumbfounded. After all, the current Supervisor Li had only just started, and his strength was very weak in the court. It was not easy to dominate the public opinion of the court. Originally, with Lu Zhen’s status as a civil servant in the border area, he might be able to make a fuss, but a county magistrate was simply too inconspicuous in a capital filled with high-ranking officials and nobles like dogs, and no one would care about him at all.

Just as Eunuch Wang was feeling somewhat discouraged, Eunuch Cao Rui’s heart suddenly stirred. He remembered that he had just flipped through another memorial, and that it was also about this Lu Zhen. After thinking about it carefully, he smiled and said, “Don’t worry, Old Ancestor. This Lu Zhen is amazing. This is not the only thing that can be accomplished.”

“Oh? Does he have other abilities?”

Cao Rui nodded and swiftly took out a memorial from his desk and handed it to Lu Zhen with both hands, “Old Ancestor, look, in this memorial, the Great Harmony Commander praised Lu Zhen very well.” It was said that he had created a kind of thing called an airship that could fly in mid-air and see everything that was happening around him for tens of kilometers. It was because of this airship that Guang Ling was able to react in time to Dazi’s attack and defend the city.

“There’s actually such a miraculous object?” Wang Zhen said in surprise, then quickly opened the memorial to read. ‘”This Lu Zhen is really talented and capable. He was wronged by being a small county magistrate. And this airship, if it is really a sharp weapon, our Imperial Court should promote it nationwide!” Lu Zhen’s face revealed a look of delight.

“Old Ancestor is wise!” Cao Rui hurriedly praised. Although the others around him revealed dissatisfied expressions, he simply ignored them. Who told him that he was lucky today? He had read all the memorials correctly.

After pondering for a moment, Wang Zhencai said, “The Imperial Court must reward this merit. I will go see my brother and ask him to transfer people from Datong to the capital.” So that the officials of the Manchu Dynasty could see what true loyalty meant, and at the same time, let him explain the details of the battle with Dazi and the attitude of the Imperial Court. Those civil servants have been living a peaceful life for too long. They don’t remember the hardships of the founding of the Great Ancestor Sect. This is impossible! ”

After saying that, Wang Zhen threw away the pen and took the two memorials and quickly walked away. Only an attendant who was deeply trusted by the Son of Heaven would be able to see the current Emperor Zhu Qizhen at any time. Moreover, he did not address him as His Majesty or a Sage like most people did. He actually used an extremely intimate buddy.

After he left, facing the jealous gazes of his colleagues, Cao Rui straightened his stomach and let out a contemptuous snort. He then sat back in his seat and helped Wang Zhen deal with the rest of the matters. After this battle, he believed that even if he could not be promoted to a Brush Eunuch in a short period of time, his status in Wang Zhen’s heart would be greatly different. The other people were no longer worth mentioning.

@ @ @ @

Half an hour later, in Wu Ying Hall, the Son of Heaven had already summoned a few important cabinet members. He pointed at the winning newspaper and memorial with excitement and said, “Have you seen the memorial memorial from Datong? My Great Ming soldiers have not disappointed us this time.”

“Your Majesty, this is just a small victory. It’s not worth boasting about.” Seeing that Emperor was somewhat inappropriately excited, Yang Pu, the last surviving member of the Three Yang Cabinet, hurriedly stepped forward to advise him.

Zhu Qizhen shook his head and said, “Master Yang’s words are wrong. This time, he used hundreds of soldiers to defend the siege of the enemy and finally repelled the enemy. This Lu Zhen’s contribution is truly not small. The Imperial Court should know his merits and demerits and must not reward him for his merits. Otherwise, it would probably chill the hearts of the people of the world.”

“But …”

Yang Pu wanted to say something, but was interrupted by the Emperor’s wave of his hand, “And as far as I know, Lu Zhen’s contribution is not just to defend the city.” His insights into frontier matters, as well as being able to build airships that could anticipate the enemy’s opportunities, were all great contributions. Especially the latter. If the defenders in our city can confirm the enemy’s movements within a few hours in the morning, their chances of winning any battle will be much higher. What do you think? ”

These orthodox civil servants really wanted to say that it was just a miraculous skill, not worthy of the imperial court’s praise, but seeing the emperor’s excited appearance, their words shrank. Right now, the relationship between the monarchs and the subjects was quite harmonious, so they didn’t dare to refute Emperor’s face too much.

In the end, it was still Yang Pu who dared to speak to this old official, “Your Majesty, it is unknown whether this item was exaggerated or not. In your opinion, even if you want to reward it, you should investigate the matter first.”

“Master Yang is indeed an experienced conspirator. I also think so. So I plan to announce that Lu Zhen to the capital and look at the airship in person. I wonder what do you think after hearing him talk about the situation in the Northern Region?”

Although the cabinet members were a little uneasy, such a small fact was no longer worthy of contending with Emperor, so they could only nod in agreement. It wasn’t until they learned that Wang Zhen was behind all this that they regretted it.

However, Lu Zhen, who was thousands of miles away, never thought that he would be dragged into the court battle for no reason. He just didn’t know if this change was a blessing or a curse.