In the east of the Forbidden City, on the edge of the Huiji Gate, opposite to the Wenhua Hall is the Wenyuan Pavilion, and there is a row of five bungalows in the south of the Wenyuan Pavilion, which is the so-called East Pavilion, and it is also the location of the Ming Cabinet Office.

The five bungalows in the east pavilion are separated by a wall in the middle, divided into two rooms in the north and south, and the middle room in the south is used to worship the statue of Confucius and the four statues, and by the way is used as a place for cabinet meetings.

The first room in the southeast corner is the duty room of the first assistant Huang Liji, and the five rooms on the north side cannot be lit, and they have to be lit during the day, so when there are no more than four bachelors in the cabinet, they are generally not used. Huang Liji stayed up almost all night last night, only taking a nap in the early hours of the morning.

When Huang Liji woke up in the morning, his mind was still a little confused. After he freshened up a little, Zhang Ruitu walked in.

"The eldest prince is here, how is it, there was nothing wrong with last night, right? What about Kaiyang and Cunmei? Huang Liji wiped his face, and after sobering up a little, he asked with a strong spirit.

"Last night was uneventful, Kaiyang and Cunmei had already left before dawn and went to the camp in the northern suburbs to greet Your Majesty. However, Elder Ge, is Your Majesty acting a little too much now? Although the Ming Dynasty is restless now, it is not a good thing for the Son of Heaven to be a good soldier.

Not to mention the others, the restructuring of this guard led to the rebellion of the Wenxiang Sect, and the restructuring of the Beijing camp led to a mutiny. If this continues, I'm afraid that this Daming's home will become more and more difficult to manage. Last time, it was the gentry of Beizhili who tossed it, and this time it seems that it is inseparable from the nobles in Beijing, so who will it be next time? ”

Zhang Ruitu said with some anxiety, but Huang Liji immediately asked, "It's confirmed?" Was it a mutiny instigated by the Emperor of Kyochu? ”

Zhang Ruitu hesitated for a moment and said: "Deshengmen and Xizhimen have been arrested, according to their identification, it was Xu Jie, the governor of the Chinese Military Governor's Mansion, who ordered the two to go to the Chinese Military Governor's Mansion to discuss matters yesterday, and they left.

However, when Jinyiwei came to the door last night, Xu Jie had committed suicide by taking poison, Qing Pingbo Wu Zunzhou was in charge of the Chinese Military Governor's Mansion, and Baoding Hou Liang Shixun was the commander of Jingying, this Xu Jie was born in Baoding Houmen's family, and he was good friends with Qing Pingbo.

The nobles in the capital camp and the five armies were detained at home by His Majesty and suspended from their posts. Yesterday's rebellious soldiers' words about restoring the old system and abolishing the new policy were not just for the sake of the honorable relatives? And who else can drive Xu Jie to do such a big thing, besides Baoding Hou and Qing Pingbo? ”

Huang Liji's face twitched, and a sentence came out of his mouth, "This group of things that don't know whether to live or die." ”

After Zhang Ruitu looked at Huang Liji's face, he continued to say tentatively: "Although Your Majesty is now justifying the name of the cabinet, so that the cabinet can be restrained. But on the other hand, the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Punishment, the Dali Temple, and the Governor's Office of the Five Armies are no longer subject to the Cabinet.

Speaking of which, the power of the cabinet has not expanded much, but it has cut off the cabinet's power to interfere in military and criminal law. If this goes on for a long time, won't the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Criminal Affairs have to stand up with the Cabinet in the future..."

Huang Liji raised his hand to stop Zhang Ruitu from continuing, he looked at Zhang Ruitu and said: "Chief, you are thinking too much, even if it really becomes a three-legged tripod, it is better than everyone fighting together in the past."

In the past, even if it was an urgent political matter, the six ministries and the cabinet could not make the decision, and they had to communicate with the celebrant and supervisor according to the procedure, and then ask His Majesty to make a judgment before they could act.

If His Majesty is vague, so that the six ministries, the cabinet, and the celebrant have different understandings, it is either to delay time, or to ask the Holy Judge again, this back and forth, the daylily is cold.

At present, although the cabinet cannot control the military department and the criminal department, we can already decide the affairs of the household department, the official department, the Ministry of Rites, and the Ministry of Industry. In this regard, the cabinet restructuring is indeed good governance.

Besides, Changgong, you are now a vested Longfu Wangshu. Will the cabinet be able to handle the affairs of the Ministry of Households, Officials, Rites, and Industry now?

The primary education of the Ministry of Rites has not been implemented for a long time; No one knows how to proceed with the reform of the craftsman system in the Ministry of Industry and the management of the industrial and mining industry; Adjustment plan for the tax collection method of the household department.

The cabinet has not figured out a clue about this case, the old man is about to get into a mess now, you are still thinking about the military department and the criminal department, don't you lift a stone and hit your own feet. ”

Huang Liji's meaningful admonition suddenly made Zhang Ruitu abandon some distracting thoughts. He had always watched the power in the hands of the emperor, but he forgot that the power that the cabinet had seized from the hands of the six ministries, and was also remembered by the officials of the six ministries.

If the cabinet takes too much power, it is difficult to guarantee that Chongzhen will not take back the cabinet's power of moderation when he feels threatened.

After the sky was bright, Huang Liji and Zhang Ruitu, who were dealing with political affairs in the cabinet, heard a commotion outside the door, and when they stopped their affairs, a Zhongshu came in and reported to the two that His Majesty had returned to the palace and was coming to the East Pavilion through the Huiji Gate.

After Zhu Youzhen greeted Huang Liji and Zhang Ruitu outside the East Pavilion, he said to Huang Liji gently: "I stayed in the barracks last night, which made Mr. Huang worried. After I came back, I would first come to see Mr. Huang, so as not to worry about the elder of the pavilion. ”

Huang Liji arched his hand and said: "Your Majesty is worried, and the minister is really frightened, but the minister hopes that Your Majesty should put the community first." Your Majesty's safety is related to the stability of the Ming Dynasty, for the sake of Your Majesty's safety, it is better not to stay abroad. ”

"Haha, Mr. Huang said with a smile. There are a few gentlemen who govern the country, can this Ming still have so many dangers?

If the Ming Dynasty is stable for a long time, then I will live in the mountains and wilderness, which is as safe as living in the Forbidden City. If the Ming Dynasty is in turmoil, then I don't feel safe outside, is it safe to hide in the Forbidden City? ”

Zhu Youzhen seemed to be joking, but he blocked Huang Liji and the others' idea of restraining him.

personally participated in quelling the mutiny in Beijing, which made Chongzhen look a little more confident. And the guards who are waiting near him are all now all promoted by him from the bottom brocade guards, which can be said to be the order of only Chongzhen.

Huang Liji only observed a few glances at Chongzhen's entourage, and determined that there was not even a single son of Xun Qi beside Chongzhen.

He immediately thought of Chongzhen's attitude towards the nobles all along, and couldn't help but sigh in his heart, these nobles of the capital were probably going to pay the price for their unscrupulous actions.

Huang Liji is a very smart person, and on this kind of unprincipled foreign accommodation issue, he couldn't persuade Chongzhen, so he gave up.

However, Sun Chengzong and Zhang Ruitu obviously did not see it that way, they thought that if they found the emperor's mistakes, they should let the emperor correct them, rather than let them go.

They did not want Chongzhen to become the second Zhengde Emperor and did not live in the Forbidden City, but built a leopard house for themselves to live in.

Regarding the persuasion of these two, Zhu Youzhen immediately chose to change the topic, "I see, let's discuss first, what happened to the mutiny yesterday, and there is nothing to discuss about the little things in this foreign accommodation." ”

Huang Liji immediately relieved Chongzhen and said: "It's better to invite Your Majesty into the cabinet, and wait for the old minister to report to Your Majesty, from last night to now, the investigation information gathered from all over the place." ”

"It's fine." Zhu Youzhen nodded and walked towards the pavilion. From the snowy outside, it was a little warmer to enter the pavilion, but compared to the palace where Chongzhen lived, it was still a little cold.

Zhu Youzhen soon noticed that this East Pavilion was not only simple and cramped, but also did not have the same earth dragon as his own palace, and could only rely on two charcoal basins for heating, so it was much colder.

Seven or eight people poured in at once, making Huang Liji's attic suddenly look a little cramped.

According to Chongzhen's order last night, the Jinyi Guard, the Criminal Department, and the Shuntian Mansion and other yamen sent all the information collected to the cabinet.

When Zhu Youzhen arrived, Huang Liji and Zhang Ruitu had already sorted out this information. According to the direction of these intelligences, Baoding Hou Liang Shixun and Qingping Bo Wu Zunzhou are the most suspicious.

However, now the governor knows that Xu Jie committed suicide, and several deputy generals in the Beijing camp are nowhere to be found, so Jinyiwei has not found evidence that these nobles actually participated in the mutiny. If there was to be a search of several nobles' mansions, the emperor himself had to order them.

Zhu Youzhen dried his hands on the edge of the charcoal basin, and said after half a sound: "This matter will be handed over to Jinyiwei to deal with, and the cabinet does not need to follow up." Have the people in the city who were stricken yesterday been well settled? The homes of those whose homes were burned down are now well housed? ”

Zhang Ruitu held back the words of wanting to intercede for the nobles, took the file handed over by Shuntianfu, and told Chongzhen about the resettlement measures for these victims.

Zhu Youzhen nodded after listening, and suddenly said: "Yesterday to pay tribute to the dead soldiers in Liaodong, I suddenly thought, how did the court pay tribute to the descendants of these dead soldiers? Can anyone speak for me? ”

Sun Chengzong is more familiar with the affairs of the military department, but he only knows about the preferential maintenance and preferential treatment of military attachés, and does not know much about the soldiers at the bottom.

In the end, it was Shi Fenglai who sent someone to call a director of the military department, and only then did he roughly explain the various matters concerning the sergeant's pension.

After Zhu Youzhen listened, he said to the ministers in the room: "I think that these pensions still need to be corrected. Now that the salaries of the regular soldiers of all armies have begun to be in arrears, how can we ensure the payment of the salaries of the families of these deceased sergeants?

I have a few suggestions that I would like to consider among the gentlemen. First, the bereavement of the deceased soldiers should be transferred from the military to the localities. Local health centers may supervise the issuance of bereavement benefits to local governments, but they cannot interfere in the issuance of bereavement benefits. Localities that dare to be greedy for the bereavement of the families of the deceased sergeants will be sentenced to death regardless of the reason or amount.

Second, it is also necessary to adjust the policy of giving and supporting military attachés. In the future, the descendants of military attachés will no longer be directly granted official positions, but they will be exempted from examinations to enter the military training school, and after graduation, they will no longer inherit their own officials, but will be distributed according to the requirements of the imperial court.

Third, the families of servicemen who die of illness in the barracks should also be given bereavement pensions, but the benefits and pension period can be reduced. ”

Huang Liji thought for a while, and couldn't help but say: "Your Majesty, if you transfer to a locality, will you deduct the army's food and salary, or will you deduct the local taxes?" And is this greedy pension, that is, the death penalty, too harsh? ”

"It is deducted from local taxes and military salaries are not deducted. Soldiers defend their families and die defending the country, and there are still people who want to be greedy for a little compensation they get in exchange for their lives, if such people don't die, my Ming should die. ”