Outside the Donghua Gate, Xu Ping got off the horse and hesitated for a while holding the reins of the horse.

In last night's dream, Xu Ping was wearing a Zhu Ye official robe and riding a high-headed horse, and suddenly appeared in front of his parents and Lin Suniang, giving them a big surprise. But now, I want to enter the palace to face the king, and I am afraid that this surprise will not be brought home by myself.

Handing over the reins of the horse to Gao Daquan, Xu Ping said to Sun Qilang and Xiuxiu: "Gao Daquan is here to wait for me, you two go home first, and say that I will be home tonight at the latest." ”

Sun Qilang and Xiuxiu agreed, and asked Xu Ping if he had any other instructions.

Xu Ping had a thousand words in his heart, but in the end he couldn't say anything, waved his hand, and asked them to go back first.

After the Donghua Gate is the imperial city, not to mention that Xu Ping does not have the qualification to ride a horse in the imperial city, and few people in the entire Great Song Dynasty have this qualification. No matter how big the imperial city is, you have to walk through it honestly.

Shi Quanbin stepped forward and said a few words to the soldiers guarding the city, and Xu Ping was ordered to return to Beijing and pass smoothly.

Entering the Donghua Gate, it is the most important road in the imperial city, the south of the road is the outer hall and the yamen and the official office of some key institutions, the north of the road is the inner one, and the end of the road is the Xihua Gate.

Donghua Gate and Xihua Gate are far away from each other, dividing the imperial city into two, one for the outer dynasty and the other for the inner dynasty. These two doors have different ceremonial functions, and it is not a matter of going through whichever door you want. It is precisely because of this that Concubine Li Chen died suddenly last year, and Lu Yijian insisted on going out from Xihua Gate, because that was the etiquette that Concubine Li Chen should enjoy. And out of Xihuamen, you have to take this road, the south of the road is connected to the officials, and you can't hide the eyes of the ministers at all, and this is exactly what the Empress Dowager Liu wants to avoid.

Follow the main road in this imperial city. Xu Ping and Shi Quanbin walked forward silently. Came to the outside of the Vertical Arch Temple.

Since the Song Dynasty. The two halls of the outer dynasty have become more and more ceremonial decorations, except for major days, the emperor does not royal the outer court hall, and the early dynasty has changed to the vertical arch hall of the inner dynasty.

The vertical arch hall is also the gateway to the inner hall, and the ministers face the king, basically entering from here. The other door, Xuanyou Gate, leads directly to the inner east gate and arrives at the emperor's bedroom. Unless it is a very special thing, the ministers will not go inside.

When he arrived outside the Vertical Arch Palace, Shi Quanbin whispered to Xu Ping: "Yun Xing stay away, I will go in and pay homage to the official's house to see when I will summon me." You go to the gate and pay the pleadings first, just wait. ”

The things in the palace naturally Shi Quanbin understood, and Xu Ping agreed with his mouth.

Watching Shi Quanbin enter the hall with Ren Shouzhong and a few small yellow doors, Xu Ping neatly groomed and went to the door to get his name.

The emperor is not something that the ministers can see if they want to. Even the ministers are not what the emperor can see if he wants, and they must pass through the gate. The gate is connected to the Zhongshu Gate, and organizationally belongs to the Privy Council.

Xu Ping is a foreign official, and only when he resigned, he went through this procedure, or with others, and he passed in a daze. On the way, Shi Quanbin told Xu Ping in detail, and Xu Ping knew how troublesome it was to see the emperor last time.

In addition to the normal palace performance, the general ministers have to write a petition to see the emperor, and the application is approved by the Chinese book and the emperor before they are arranged by the gate. The emperor was faced with many ministers alone, and the number of people he could see in a day was limited, so he had to line up day by day according to the shift, and this row would take ten days to a month. If Xu Ping returns to Beijing according to the normal procedure, even if he has made great contributions to the country, he will have to wait more than ten days before he can be ranked for himself.

And Shi Quanbin's words of the emperor are to face the monarch immediately after entering Beijing, and enjoy this treatment, except for the minister and the prefect of Kaifeng Prefecture, there are only the emperor's very trusted relatives. From the perspective of the gate arrangement, Xu Ping is cutting in line, and the official statement is that he has entered the right place more times, squeezing other people's shifts, and the ministers of the Manchu Dynasty are all watching.

Originally, the entry of the pair had to be agreed by the Zhongshu Sect first, Xu Ping's step has been saved, after all, the emperor's words are more effective than Zaizhi, but the procedure here in the gate cannot be saved.

First of all, it is necessary to submit a certificate of origin, detailing the resume since taking office, official promotions, what merits and demerits, and so on. Originally, it was going to be sent to the gate a day in advance, but Xu Ping only had to pay it now.

To pay the above petition, you must also write a confession, that is, the guarantee will be sent to the door of the Chinese book. The content is simple, but when you face the king, you don't dare to show your convenience, and you can't take chances and try for grace in vain. To put it bluntly, when facing the monarch, he is not allowed to make a small report, and if he has opinions on the government and the minister, he must go through formal channels and go to the official chapter, and he cannot talk nonsense when he enters the right place. You can't take this opportunity to ask the emperor for additional benefits, such as adding officials to knighthoods and rewarding relatives.

In fact, the latter article is only a formality, and the more you take the opportunity to invite the emperor later, but the former is not a joke. If Zhongshu knows that he took this opportunity to beat the small report of Zaizhi, this person will also be on Zhongshu's blacklist, no matter who is replaced as Zaizhi, there will probably be no chance to meet the emperor again in the future.

In view of the lessons of the Tang Dynasty, the emperors of the Song Dynasty generally attached great importance to the opportunity to talk face-to-face with their subordinates, so as to prevent being isolated from China and foreign countries by important ministers and losing power. But on the other hand, in order to prevent the ministers from interfering in politics, there are many restrictions on this interview.

Of course, if the emperor really wants to see anyone, it is impossible to stop him from seeing him, it is nothing more than to express his opinion to the emperor if he thinks it is inappropriate, and the emperor must insist on seeing it, but he can't hide it from him.

With Shi Quanbin's guidance, Xu Ping had already written the document and confession, took it in his hand, and walked towards the door in the porch next to the temple gate. There is a side room in the corridor, which is the place where the door is located.

Thinking of the film and television dramas in his previous life, the emperor paid private interviews at every turn, or was hated with the people's daughters, Xu Ping could only sigh. That kind of scene only happens when the dynasty is at the beginning, the various institutions are incomplete, or the country is about to die, and the system is abolished. In these normal years, the emperor's every move is in the eyes of the ministers, maybe there is a seal on the official when he sneezes, so that the emperor can ensure the dragon's body and avoid walking outside the house. The emperor's errand is not very pleasant to do.

Entering the corridor, Xu Ping sighed in his heart, it is too troublesome to see the emperor, if there is no great benefit, it will be rare in the future. Others are loyal to the country, and they only need to fight for a small fortune, so why bother with it.

"Brother, it's really you back!"

Xu Ping was startled by this low voice, and when he raised his head, he saw Li Zhang standing in front of him dressed as a military general, looking at him in surprise.

Xu Ping only felt like he was dreaming, looking left and right, although the sun had set in the west, the palace gate was still bright, and he realized that it was really Li Zhang who was transferred here.

stepped forward to take a closer look at Li Zhang, who had grown into an adult, and Xu Ping asked, "I heard from the head of the stone pavilion, you went to the Imperial City Division on an errand, how did you come here?" ”

Li Zhang scratched his head with a smile: "I stayed in the Imperial City Division for a few days, and the official family supported me, and I was transferred here last month to be a waiter." Today is my duty, and I am pitiful to see that I am meeting my brother returning to Beijing to face the saint. ”

As he spoke, he accepted the birth document and confession in Xu Ping's hand, and led Xu Ping to the side room.

The guards on duty inside are now under Li Zhang's control, and they have long heard that he has an elder brother who has made great contributions in Lingnan, and when he saw Xu Ping coming in, they all saluted Xu Ping.

Li Zhang asked Xu Ping to show him a seat, served tea, and said, "Brother sit down for a while, I will go to the front political hall to hand over your confession, and I will take you into the inner house when I come back." The official family happens to have no important business today, and the next two Zhizhou who are going to come to His Majesty will be lined up until tomorrow, and my brother is the person named by the official family to meet. ”

After speaking, he took Xu Ping's confession, took a guard out of the hall, and hurriedly went to the opposite political hall.

The place closest to the emperor is here, and the envoys and officials are not only the rank officials of the military ministers, but also the ministries here. Although the level is not high, but the position is important, most of them are used by the descendants of the nobles or relatives, Li Zhang is the closest cousin of the current emperor, it is just right for him to come to the gate, and Xu Ping is relieved when he thinks of this.

During the Tang Dynasty, the gate was the sphere of influence of the eunuchs, and it was the key place for them to control the government. Since Liang Taizu Zhu Quanzhong killed the eunuchs, it was gradually changed to be in charge of the military ministers, and because of the Song Dynasty, he was under the order of the Privy Council.

In the imperial city, the heart of the empire, Xu Ping was also a little depressed sitting here. After Li Zhang left, he saw that the guards next to him had serious faces, and Xu Ping didn't speak, just waited quietly.

The political hall and the vertical arch hall are only one street apart, both in the imperial city, or not long, Li Zhang came back from there and said to Xu Ping: "Brother, come with me, the official family is in the Chongzheng Palace." ”

Xu Ping thought that Shi Quanbin needed to come out and call out, but he didn't expect that Li Zhang would lead him in, but it was more convenient for him, so he hurriedly got up and followed him and entered the Forbidden Palace along the corridor.

Chongzheng Hall is located in the depths of the Great Interior, although Xu Ping has been here once, but he is crowded with many new jinshi, where can he remember the southeast and northwest. This time, the way in and out was different, all walking around the corridor, and I didn't know where I went.

It wasn't until he came to the gate of the Chongzheng Palace that Xu Ping found a little shadow in his memory and knew where he was.

A guard subordinate to the gate stepped forward and reported to the attendants in the palace, but it was in the tone of the poetry of the ancients that Xu Ping had seen in the film and television dramas of his previous life, which was very peculiar, and he didn't know what to pay attention to.

It didn't take long for Shi Quanbin to come out of the hall, say hello to Li Zhang, and say to Xu Ping with a smile: "The official family just mentioned Yunxing, but it just so happened that you came, hurry up and follow me into the hall." ”

Xu Ping looked at Li Zhang, and when he saw him nodding to himself, he straightened his clothes and followed Shi Quanbin into the palace gate.

It is roughly the same as when Xu Ping participated in the palace examination here, but the table used in the examination at that time has been removed, and there are many fewer guards on both sides.

In the depths of the hall, the current emperor in civilian clothes is sitting behind the desk, looking at the Tiansheng five-year Tanhua who has just returned from Lingnan and appeared in the Jinshi roll call. (To be continued.) )