It was the end of autumn in the sixth year of Yong Hong's reign. Today's court assembly was the last grand court assembly before the beginning of winter. Other than the six kings entering the capital, almost all of the officials outside the court "rolled" into the capital. Among them was the general Gu Jiantang who was rumored to hand over the position of Minister of War. The famous general of the Spring and Autumn period, Lu Shengxiang. The rest of the generals who were still alive all put on their court uniforms and followed the flood as the sky darkened. They entered the imperial road from the mansions in all directions and slowly flowed to the outside of the imperial palace.
Great peace City was the center of the world. It became the imperial road for the bride's waist. It was sixteen miles long and was without a doubt the most majestic central axis in history. The nine meridians and nine latitudes led to the front of the court and the back of the market. The buildings on the central axis were thicker and more majestic than those of previous dynasties.
The Xiamawei Post House was located between the inner and outer city. It was less than half a mile away from the Yong 'an Gate Bridge on the central axis. The river under the bridge was called the Dragon Whisker Ditch. The people said that the water in the capital formed the Dragon Whisker here. However, Chong Huo of the Liyang Dynasty used a bridge to subdue the water dragon. An inconspicuous carriage followed the imperial road and slowly drove to the Zhao Family Urn outside the main gate of the imperial palace. Outside the first gate of the imperial palace, there were two archways named Fu Wen Zhen Wu. The Ministry of War, Ministry of Justice, and other yamen offices were named Fu Wen Zhen Wu. The Ministry of Rites, Ministry of Revenue, and Hanlin Academy were named Fu Wen Zhen Wu. They were named Fu Wen Zhen Wu on the right. This Old Man of the Song Dynasty used to write Fu Wen Zhen Wu. Today's morning court assembly was very grand. There was almost no place to stand near the Zhao Family Urn. It was filled with all kinds of carriages and servants. The Liyang Dynasty had been peaceful for twenty years. There were many unwritten rules regarding the morning court assembly. The higher the carriage was, the closer it was to the walls of the imperial palace, while the lower the carriage was further away. Many civil and military officials who were neither high nor low were familiar with the situation of the court assembly. They just walked to the court assembly to avoid hurting the harmony. They did not have to fight with others for seats. It was not easy to be an official in the capital under the Emperor's feet.
There were no less than a thousand people in the grand lineup. Among them, there were old men in their sixties who had gray hair but had never been able to cross the threshold of the fifth rank; there were old men in their thirties who had a bright future and were already fourth rank officials; there were even some in their forties who were favored by God and held power in their hands; there were nobles with high social status; and there were also royal relatives who wore embroidered robes. Some people joked that if there was an immortal on the earth who could randomly slaughter people in every morning court session, the Liyang Dynasty would suffer a great loss. There were also some who joked that if they could take the jade pendants of these officials into their pockets, it would be a huge fortune. As for the joke, once you get to know the hundreds of faces outside the city gate, you will have figured out the background of the Li Yang Dynasty.
The blue-eyed Zhang Julu led the Zhang Clique, the Gu Clique led by the Great General Gu Jiantang, the Legacy Clique without a leader after Sun Xiji left the capital, and the Green Clique that collapsed with a bang. These were only the rough divisions on the surface. Internally, there was a tangled mess of various Princes Cliques, Foreign Relatives Cliques, Hanlin Huangmen Cliques, Imperial College Cliques, Imperial Censors Cliques, Enyin Cliques, and New Scholars Cliques. Some were deep-rooted and enduring for a long time, while others were declining and losing power. No one dared to say that they could make ends meet left and right in this big muddy pond where fish and dragons mixed together. Even Grand Secretary Zhang Julu did not dare to say so. The city gate was closed and had not been opened yet. More than a thousand people who were qualified to enter the Imperial Court stood in their positions one after another. There was no lack of slippery people who were still mingling in various circles and talking. But most of the officials felt the atmosphere of a storm in the city. They held their breath and concentrated their mind, being exceptionally quiet. Occasionally, they had some enlightenment and whispered to each other, but they were very careful and only whispered to the "cliques" around them.
The carriage that got off the horse steed came a little late, so it was extremely difficult to find any gaps. It could only stop far away, and a man in white who was suspected of violating the etiquette walked down. A dozen or so officials who were afraid of missing the court meeting hurriedly ran past, not even having the time to take a look. A middle-aged, dark-skinned fat man was having a particularly hard time, panting heavily. Just as he brushed past the white-haired man, he bent over with his hands on his knees, sweating profusely. Looking at the patch on his court robe, he was a fifth-rank Chancellor of Heavenly Strategy. He could be considered a high-ranking official in the Directorate of the Qingshui Yamen. After all, the Left Chancellor, Huan Wen, was only a third-rank Chancellor. However, the fat man's bulging buttocks were so swollen that his court robe was about to burst open. It really couldn't be considered elegant. He lowered his head and panted like a cow. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of the man beside him slowly walking forward. There was an uncommon jade belt around his waist. This made the dark-skinned fat man, who had no talent for currying favor in officialdom but had a pair of fiery golden eyes. Strange. Could it be that he was a distant descendant of one of the branches of the Zhao Family? If it wasn't for the fact that the Zhao Family had an extremely distant relationship with the previous Emperor's branch, they wouldn't have settled down here and walked to court. The dark-skinned fat man hurriedly looked up and became even more puzzled. It was a young man with gray hair. Although the dark-skinned fat man's appearance was shabby, he was a warm-hearted man. He gritted his teeth and walked forward, whispering, "Sir, allow me to say one more thing. I've never heard of your embroidered robe before. Please don't use it rashly. If this sir inherits the title of a prince of the previous dynasty, you can't wear this court robe right away. There will be many imperial censors and eunuchs staring at you if you walk a few steps forward."
The fatty's words were too careless. It was no wonder that he could only work in the Imperial College, where it was extremely difficult for him to make a name for himself.
The white-haired man turned his head to look at him and dismissed it with a smile. Perhaps the dark-skinned fatty had a stubborn personality, as he nagged endlessly, "Sir, you really shouldn't be so careless. A few years ago, there was a distant son of a royal prince who hadn't seen the world, and no one talked to him about the rules. In the end, he went to court according to the old calendar. Before he even entered the door, he was stripped of his official robe and demoted two ranks on the same day. Today is the most important court session in more than a decade. Sir, you really should listen to my advice and quickly go back and change into a set of court robes. It's better to be late and be punished than to be wrong and be beaten. I see that official robe of yours, if placed in the current Yong Hong era, only the Prime Minister and some of the Great Scholars would wear it to court. "
The white-haired man frowned and walked forward in silence.
The dark-skinned fatty who was walking on his right caught a glimpse of the saber hanging at the young man's waist. He slapped his thigh hard and said with a sad face as if his family had suffered a disaster, "I say, sir, you really can't be a coward anymore. Going to court with a saber, you are …"
The white-haired man in the white official robe was naturally the Crown Prince of Beiliang, Hsu Fengnian, who was attending the court session of Liyang for the first time in his life. He chuckled softly and said, "Mr. Chancellor, are you saying that I'm courting death?"
The dark-skinned fatty smiled embarrassedly and waved his hand hard. He said awkwardly, "I can't afford to be Chancellor, and I can't afford to be Mr. Chancellor."
The dark-skinned fatty, who was equivalent to an assistant minister in the Imperial College, finally didn't continue to insensibly mention that he had overstepped his boundaries. After all, he wasn't so blind as to be at the bottom of a pot. However, it was obvious that the dark-skinned fatty was worried about being implicated. He subconsciously distanced himself from Hsu Fengnian, but his conscience was really tormenting him. After walking for a while, he took only fifty or sixty steps and said in a low voice with a bitter face, "I say, sir, may I take the liberty to ask, where do you work? Do you have a solid backer in the court? Can you talk to a noble in the palace? If you don't have the last two, I really advise you not to go to the morning court. The capital is not like other places. There are many rigid rules. "
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