Zheng Miao frowned and said: "The imperial conquest is a big deal and cannot be made hastily. Now that the prince of Lingnan has been captured, who is Zheng Yu who is leading the army? You and I have some doubts, so there is no need for my father to take action personally... Moreover, the war is fierce and dangerous. If anything happens to the Emperor, we cannot afford it..."
Qiu Yizhi's opinion after listening to Zheng Miao was actually very clear - he opposed the emperor personally leading the troops - and Zhongli Kuang and Qiu Yizhi themselves also opposed it.
But the reason why the emperor is called "Emperor" relies on the authority of his word. No matter how many words that close ministers such as the prime minister and the prince say, they cannot match his words.
Therefore, Qiu Yizhi could only shake his head and sigh: "It sounds like the Emperor has already made up his mind about this matter. It is difficult to disobey the destiny. I am afraid it will be difficult to dissuade him... I remember last night, even Master Zhongli's persuasion was useless. Function…”
Zheng Miao knew that Zhongli Kuang was hired by his father when he was still King Youyan, and he always obeyed his words. Zhongli Kuang's words were much more effective than the emperor's three princes. Therefore, if Zhongli Kuang could not dissuade him, then no one in the court would be able to dissuade him.
So Zheng Miao sighed and said: "Alas! Now that the Holy Will has been decided, it seems that we can only follow God's will."
Qiu Yizhi nodded: "This is natural. However, in my humble opinion, although the Lingnan Army has lost its backbone, it is still powerful. The emperor is not the kind of conservative person who uses troops. Maybe Zheng Yu jumped over the wall and really caused something like this. It would be bad if something like this comes out.”
Zheng Miao said solemnly: "Brother Xian, these are the wise words. Brother Yu also wants to follow my father and protect him from the enemy. But listening to what my father said today, it seems that he wants to keep me." I really don’t know what my father means by supervising the country in the capital..."
Qiu Yizhi raised his head and glanced at Zheng Miao, thinking: Although the third brother is more loyal, he is definitely not a dull person - like this, the king is patrolling outside, and what kind of prince is left to supervise the country at home? Isn't the meaning of " " written less in history books
However, this layer of window paper is as thick as the dark clouds on the horizon. It is absolutely difficult and impossible to break. Qiu Yizhi said: "Third brother, although the battle is fought with soldiers and horses on the surface, in fact it is fought with soldiers and horses." Money and food. The reason why Zheng Yu's army of more than 100,000 people lost to his younger brother was because he couldn't handle these two things. The emperor understood this simple truth. My brother stayed in the capital because he understood the key to this. Therefore, instead of following the emperor to the south of the Yangtze River to charge into battle, it would be better for him to handle the logistics in the rear. This is the most important thing in the world. !”
Zheng Miao nodded silently while listening to Qiu Yizhi's words - with his intelligence and experience, he had certainly guessed the emperor's intention. However, the emperor did not clearly say anything about this important matter, and no one could tell nonsense.
So Zheng Miao could only follow Qiu Yizhi's intention and said: "Thank you for reminding me, brother Yu, you should try your best to do it well. There is another thing. The emperor seems to want your virtuous brother to accompany the emperor on his own expedition, and all the soldiers under his command will be eliminated. In addition to being rewarded, they are all temporarily under the command of Xiandi and serve as the vanguard of Zhengyin. After all, Xiandi has been fighting in Jiangnan for a long time, and no one is more familiar with the situation in Jiangnan and Lingnan than Xiandi."
When Qiu Yizhi heard the news, he felt excited. After all, he had lived for more than 20 years and was used to running around as a lackey. If he was forced to stay in this boring jar in the capital, he would definitely get sick from boredom.
As a result, Qiu Yi's mood immediately improved, and her tone became much lighter. She spoke to Zheng Miao again, but the topic was no longer limited to matters related to the battle south.
The two talked for a long time. Seeing that it was getting late, Zheng Miao said goodbye and went out.
Since that day, the emperor often summoned Qiu Yizhi to inquire and discuss the matter of his personal expedition to the south, but he still allowed him to live in the palace and not leave.
Just like this, another three or five days passed, and the emperor personally ordered the eldest son Zheng Xin and the second son Zheng Sen, who were transferred from the Shanshan and Youyan fronts, to finally arrive in the capital. So the emperor issued an order to summon his three biological sons, his master Zhongli Kuang, and his adopted son Qiu Yizhi, and held talks in the "Shuli Hall" to roughly decide on the strategy for sending troops.
At this point, the emperor's personal expedition to the south has been basically determined, and the newly recruited imperial troops in the capital are beginning to mobilize according to the established deployment. However, the imperial conquest was a very important matter, and it was not communicated to lower-level officers, and those who knew about it were strictly kept confidential. Therefore, the Imperial Guards and soldiers only thought that the imperial court was about to send a general to lead an army to counterattack Lingnan, and they did not know that the leading general was the emperor. My own business.
Three or four days later, Emperor Zheng Rong summoned the court's civil and military officials in the "Taihe Hall", the main hall of the Forbidden City, to formally announce the imperial conquest. In addition to the three princes, Heluo King Zheng Hua, Prime Minister Zhongli Kuang and several other people who have long been in love with each other, the other two Zhongshu Ling, the Six Ministers' Ministers, and senior military officers in Beijing also participated in the court meeting - the so-called hundred officials attending court. Nothing more than that.
Originally, Qiu Yi, a seventh-grade county magistrate, was unable and unwilling to participate in such a high-level meeting of the imperial court. However, the emperor's personal expedition and the southward campaign to suppress the rebellion had a lot to do with him, so the emperor specially asked him to participate. Court meeting. It's just that the robes of these seventh-grade officials were too conspicuous among such a large group of senior officials. Fortunately, Qiu Yizhi still had the title of earl, so he made a temporary set of earl court robes and sandwiched them between them. A group of royal relatives are quite gregarious among themselves.
The actual significance of such a grand ceremony at the court meeting is not very great - the things to be announced at the court meeting are often discussed and decided before - but its main significance lies in using such a grand ceremony to announce the emperor to the whole world. The news of the crusade against rebellion in person should be used to inspire the troops and at the same time weaken the morale of the enemy.
As usual, this pre-arranged ceremony was presided over by the Minister of Rites, but the current Minister of Rites is Shi Liangzhi, the youngest among the six ministers.
Shi Liangzhi was already the Minister of Rites during the time of the late emperor Zheng Yong and the pseudo-emperor Zheng Yao. He had some grudges with the current emperor Zheng Rong before, and he even once obeyed the order of the pseudo-emperor Zheng Yao to interrogate Zheng Rong, who was still King Youyan, and even tortured Zheng Rong's vitality.
After Zheng Rong ascended to the throne, he originally planned to punish Shi Liangzhi first. Unexpectedly, this young Minister of Rites, who was very proficient in etiquette knowledge, proposed at that time that Zheng Rong should regard Emperor Shenzong as Zhengshuo and be on an equal footing with his brother Zheng Yong, so that the foundation of his rule would be more legitimate. With such great achievements, of course Zheng Rong could no longer punish Shi Liangzhi, so he simply fined him one level and kept him in office, still presiding over the affairs of the Ministry of Rites, which was a clear proof that the emperor was benevolent and disregarded past grudges.
However, this Shi Liangzhi was really up to his standards. Although he was guilty, he was meticulous in running the affairs of the Ministry of Rites. Within a year, he made several achievements, and finally he was reinstated and resumed the position of Minister of Rites.
Therefore, the court meeting hosted by him was also meticulous and carried out without any coldness.
And when Huang Zhongdalu roared, Emperor Zheng Rong personally announced that he would personally lead the army south across the Yangtze River to quell the rebellious Lingnan Palace. Several princes and important ministers under the golden rank led all the officials to kneel down. Shouting "Long live!" really has an overwhelming and great momentum.
Then Zheng Rong took out the imperial edict that had been prepared, inspected the generals one by one, and assigned tasks.
These generals had been greeted a long time ago and knew their missions before the meeting. Therefore, when they heard the order, they did not feel any shock or panic. Instead, they felt excited and confident. They all raised their voices to accept the order and thank them. This voice of gratitude was louder than the other, giving people a feeling of eagerness to try, waiting for the emperor's order to lead the tiger and wolf army to conquer Lingnan.
After the court meeting ended, the news that the emperor was going to march south spread from the palace to the capital, from the capital to the customs, and from the customs to the world. It seemed to have wings, and it spread all over the world in the blink of an eye.
As early as when Emperor Zheng Rong was the King of Lingnan, he was known for being good at leading troops. There are not one hundred but seventy or eighty plays, drum poems, and novels describing his leadership in suppressing rebellions, exterminating water bandits, and resisting Turks. In the "Battle of Rebellion" a few years ago, Zheng Rong only relied on the power of Youyan Dao to conquer the capital city of Luoyang in less than three months, forcing the false emperor Zheng Yao to commit suicide. It adds to his mythical aura of being victorious and invincible.
Therefore, when the people in the capital heard the news of the emperor's personal expedition, they immediately became excited and rushed to see the emperor on horseback. Every household lit lanterns and placed incense tables at the door, waiting to see the emperor from the crowd when he left the city. Take a look at the emperor.
Originally, when the King of Lingnan was causing chaos, in order to ensure the stability of the capital, he imposed a strict curfew, and no one was allowed to go out and walk around for no reason at night. However, this move by the people in the capital is a reflection of their trust in the court, which helps to improve people's morale and cannot be stopped by force.
Therefore, the imperial court ordered the Prime Minister's Office to send additional manpower from the Luoyang Mansion Yamen to prevent fires or people taking advantage of the chaos to cause trouble, and the people were left to their own devices.
Two days later was the auspicious day of the zodiac, and Shi Liangzhi, the Minister of Rites, organized and arranged the ceremony of setting off for the imperial chariot.
The main gate of the imperial city that had been closed for a long time was finally opened today, and the Pingchang Gate directly south of the Luoyang City Wall, which was specially designed for the emperor's expeditions and triumphs, was also rarely opened. The straight Imperial City Avenue connecting the two gates has long been covered with loess pavement and clean water-splashed street. It is meticulously swept. On both sides, there is a soldier of the imperial army standing every ten steps. It is strictly forbidden for anyone to set foot on the avenue.
At noon, a cannon shot was heard in the imperial city, and then the war drums beat, and the emperor was finally going to lead the army to the expedition.
There are rules for all ceremonies and rituals when the emperor is in charge of his actions. The ritual utensils cannot be missing, the flags cannot be more than one, and even the steps cannot be wrong.
However, even under such strict regulations, Shi Liangzhi, who presided over the ceremony, still did his best to make it a success.
For example, the army that leads the way is focused on being powerful and majestic. However, Shi Liangzhi chose not to choose those superficial imperial guards of honor, but instead asked the emperor to issue an order for Qiu Yi's troops and Zhao Chengxiao's 218 people to walk at the front of the team.
More than two hundred people came back to the capital from the battlefield in the south of the Yangtze River, after going through untold hardships and narrowly escaped death. Therefore, in addition to the elite aura, this group of soldiers also has an evil aura - especially Zhao Chengxiao and his seventeen bandit-born soldiers, each with a heavy back and a fierce look on his face, riding on a tall horse. Like evil stars falling from the sky or evil spirits crawling out of the ground, people dare not look directly at them.