Chapter 4: Eight hundred miles to rush, secret letter to Beijing!
Arrived at the small gate of the palace, Ma Wensheng got off the carriage.
He straightened his clothes, took out his tooth tag, and handed it to the eunuch stationed at the palace gate.
"Ma Wensheng, Minister of the Ministry of War, has important matters to come to the palace to discuss with all the cabinet elders."
There is an unwritten rule in the cabinet that every night a cabinet elder will be left in the palace to handle the matter. Urgent matters.
Ma Wensheng entered the palace this time just to meet the elders and discuss with several elders the entry of the little Tatar prince.
As for Zhu Youtang, he did not think of this emperor who had no real power at all.
In his opinion, this matter only needs to be discussed with several cabinet elders, and at most the Empress Dowager Zhou will be notified.
The eunuch stationed at the palace gate refused coldly: "Your Majesty has ordered that the palace is under martial law tonight and no one is allowed in or out!"
"Sir, please go back."
"Your Majesty?"
Ma Wensheng was stunned and confused: "Why did your Majesty give this order?"
The eunuch stationed at the palace gate did not reply.
Ma Wensheng was very anxious: "I really have important matters to discuss with the elder. If I miss the important matter, you will not be able to chop off even ten of your heads!"
The man stationed at the palace gate. The eunuch spoke again: "All the elders are not in the palace."
The elders are not in the palace?
Ma Wensheng was stunned for a moment, feeling strange in his heart, but the secret message in his hand was obviously more important.
He said no more and quickly got into the carriage again.
"Quick, go to Wan Shoufu's house."
"Yes."
Soon, Ma Wensheng arrived at the home of Chief Assistant Wan'an.
Without any obstruction, Ma Wensheng met Wan An who was about to go to bed.
"Master Ma, do you have something important to discuss when you come here so late?"
"That's right, Wan Shoufu, take a look at this first!"
Ma Wensheng He handed the secret letter to Wan An. After reading it, Wan An also looked horrified.
"How could this happen? Datong Prefecture was defeated, and the Tatars actually entered the border?"
"Yes, Wan Shoufu, what should we do now?"
Wan An also had no master: " Let the other two cabinet elders come to discuss it first, right?”
“Okay!”
Not long after, the other two cabinet elders, Liu Jue and Liu Ji, came together. We arrived at Wan'an's house.
There are only three ministers in the cabinet now, and now they are all here.
But when Liu Jue and Liu Ji read the secret letter, neither of them could explain the reason.
Wan'an, Liu Jue and Liu Ji were all old ministers from the Chenghua period.
The three of them have a resounding name in later generations, and are called the paper-paste three pavilions.
The description is that these three people are in high positions but have no real knowledge.
The three of them discussed it for a long time without making any progress.
At this time, Liu Ji suddenly asked: "Should we report this matter to Your Majesty?"
The room was silent at first, and then there was a low laughter.
Ma Wensheng, Minister of the Ministry of War, showed a contemptuous smile.
“Forget it, tell our little emperor such a serious matter, I’m afraid he will be too scared to sleep.”
"That's right, with his ability, even if he knows, what can he do?"
"That's right, I was confused because I thought of him." Liu Ji laughed at himself.
With just a few words, everyone had already made up their mind, and no one mentioned telling His Majesty again.
After an hour of intensive discussion, the four finally came up with a solution.
"Master Ma, why don't you personally lead the troops to Datong Mansion?"
"You have just been promoted to Minister of the Ministry of War not long ago. You need a great achievement to make your position more secure."
Ma Wensheng had previously controlled the three sides and patrolled Liaodong.
He is an official who is relatively familiar with the border situation and has personally been on the battlefield.
Now that the situation is urgent, the three pavilion elders finally only thought of this, which is not a solution.
Ma Wensheng thought it made sense and immediately accepted the order. "It's the Chief Assistant. I'll go and allocate grain, grass, soldiers and horses, and set off immediately to support Datong Mansion."
“That’s very good.”
After Ma Wensheng left, the paper-made Sange Lao yawned and went back to sleep.
After Ma Wensheng returned to the house, he immediately began to prepare for the expedition.
During the Hongzhi period, an important reason why the Ming Dynasty's armaments were depleted was because after Ma Wensheng moved to the right to be the Minister of War, he squeezed out the ministers and generals and controlled the money and food of the border towns.
Ma Wensheng was promoted from the Governor of the Beijing Camp to the Minister of the Ministry of War during the power vacuum period just after Zhu Youtang succeeded to the throne.
In this way, he was actually in charge of both the Beijing Camp and the Ministry of War.
In the second month after Ma Wensheng took charge of the capital camp, Li Jin, the Marquis of Xiangcheng, who was originally in charge of the capital camp, died suddenly and strangely.
After that, Lu Jian, the chief military officer who guarded Yansui, and the deputy chief soldier who guarded Xuanfu returned home.
Wang Xi, the chief military officer guarding Gansu, died suddenly.
Even Anyuan Hou Liu Jing, who was headquartered in Guangdong and Guangxi, was impeached and imprisoned.
Behind this, Ma Wensheng is all pushing the flames.
The purpose is to continue to control the soldiers and horses on the border after controlling the military department of the imperial court and the capital camp in the capital.
In history books, Ma Wensheng is highly praised.
In fact, during the more than ten years that Ma Wensheng was in charge of the Ministry of War, the Ming Dynasty's border towns were in disarray and were in a state of disarray.
There is a folk song circulating in the capital: "The broom star in the sky and the Tatar soldiers on the ground. If you want to get rid of these two, Ma Wensheng must be killed."
Now, Ma Wensheng will be ordered to go to Datong Mansion to fight against the invasion of the little Tatar prince.
……
Forbidden City.
Cining Palace.
The eunuch of Dongchang placed the tray into Cining Palace and left quickly.
When the eunuchs and maids in Cining Palace saw this thing, they were so frightened that they screamed sadly.
“What are you calling?”
Empress Dowager Zhou walked out of Cining Palace with a displeased face.
The surrounding eunuchs and maids quickly saluted and shouted forgiveness.
The Empress Dowager Zhou also noticed the tray outside the palace: "What is that thing? Bring it to the Ai family to see."
A bold eunuch picked up the tray and came to the Empress Dowager Zhou In front of the Queen Mother.
Seeing the blood stains on the white cloth, Empress Dowager Zhou already felt something was wrong.
She signaled with her eyes, and a eunuch boldly lifted up the white cloth on the tray.
Liang Fang’s fresh head looked straight at Empress Dowager Zhou.
"Ah..."
"Ah!"
"Ahhhh!"
"..."
Rao is the Empress Dowager Zhou I was used to seeing wind and waves, but I was still shocked when I suddenly saw a bloody human head.
There was even more exclamation in the palace.
After being frightened, Empress Dowager Zhou felt angry!
This head must have been ordered by the little emperor to warn her.
Liang Fang is hers, how can you let you kill her at will?
Okay, this little emperor has strong wings and wants to seize power.
The Ai family wants to let him know who has the final say in this harem!
"Come on, let Zhan'er come to see me!"
"Yes, empress."
The Empress Dowager Zhou walked into the palace with a gloomy face.
She has already made up her mind that Zhu Youtang must be severely punished this time!
With a wave of his hand, Wei Xing, the eunuch in charge of the ceremony, automatically came to the mouth of Empress Dowager Zhou.
"Go and ask Wantong to bring the royal guards into the palace. You will be the admiral of Dongchang for the time being. Let all the fans of Dongchang in the palace come to my Cining Palace."
"Yes. , Empress!”
Wei Xing accepted the order and hurriedly left Cining Palace to follow the orders of Empress Dowager Zhou.
(End of this chapter)