The Jinyiwei Yamen is in the inner city, and you need to cross the outer Wulong Bridge and Chengtian Gate.

On the right side of the road between Duanmen and Chengtianmen.

This road is also where officials go to and from get off work every day, and further ahead is the Meridian Gate.

Behind the Meridian Gate is the Inner Five Dragons Bridge, then the Fengtian Gate, and behind the gate is the Fengtian Hall, commonly known as the Golden Palace.

When Zhu Ying reached the gate of the inner city, he was stopped.

"Sir, may I ask what is the matter with entering the inner city?"

The guards in the inner city saw Zhu Ying coming over.

He originally wanted to scold him, but when he saw Zhu Ying's scholarly temperament, he softened his attitude.

In the Ming Dynasty, it was normal to look at people by their appearance.

If he looked pale and thin, he probably wouldn't be so easy to talk to.

Of course, the main reason for stopping Zhu Ying was because Zhu Ying was wearing a linen blue shirt.

He doesn't look like he holds an official position.

"My dear, I want to go to the Jinyiwei Yamen to ask Song Zhong, the governor of the city, for something."

Zhu Ying was not angry. After all, this was someone else's responsibility. He calmly stated his needs and even mentioned Song Zhong's name directly.

This can fully support what you say and avoid some irrelevant troubles.

When the gatekeeper heard Song Zhong's name, he was indeed moved.

The Jinyiwei Yamen is not a place that everyone can go to.

After a slight hesitation, he made way for Zhu Ying.

After all, Zhu Ying looks like a scholar and is not very tall.

The defense of the inner city is not very strict, so there is no need to offend some people because of it.

Mindless fault-finding rarely happens.

Zhu Ying bowed slightly as a token of thanks, and then walked directly towards the inner city.

After passing the inner city, especially around three or four in the afternoon, the road ahead was still relatively deserted.

The officials haven't left work yet at this time. Leaving early is impossible in the current Ming Dynasty, especially in the capital. I'm afraid they don't live long enough.

Overtime is not unique to later generations. For officials who can now work in the capital, the work schedule may be even more intense than the 996 work schedule in later generations.

Continuing along the way, Zhu Ying soon arrived at Waiwulong Bridge.

This is equivalent to the first moat outside the imperial palace. It is not too wide, about six meters, and is made of stone. There is no place to climb, and you can't get out if you fall in.

Because it was still dark, officials had to pass through here, and occasionally some blind officials would fall down.

So you can see that there is a bamboo ladder prepared at Chengtian Gate in front, so that officials can be rescued in time to prevent them from falling down and drowning.

After crossing Wulong Bridge and arriving at Duanmen, the guards here are not so easy to talk to.

The office space behind Duanmen is not accessible to ordinary people.

Those who were able to work at the gate of the imperial palace were all important officials in the court.

Ordinary government offices, places that common people can go to, are usually on the edge of the inner city, belonging to the outer city.

"Please inform the owner of the teahouse on the Qinhuai River, Zhu Ying, that he has something to do with Song Zhong, the pacification envoy of the Jinyiwei Yamen." Zhu Ying said.

The guard in charge of the city gate saw a commoner coming and subconsciously wanted to chase him away.

Among the people coming and going here, there can be no common people.

Even officials need a wooden badge to enter. Without a wooden badge, officials cannot enter.

Even if you are attending the morning court, no matter if you are a minister of one of the six ministries or a duke or marquis, you are not allowed to enter without a wooden badge.

What about common people?

However, the leading guard felt a particularly familiar feeling when he saw Zhu Ying's face.

It seems so. Where have you seen it before?

This feeling made the guard commander a little unsure. After hearing Zhu Ying's reply, he frowned and said:

"The palace is a restricted area. No one is allowed to enter without a badge. Please go back, sir. If you want to find someone, you can ask someone to help pass the message."

Hearing this, Zhu Ying frowned slightly.

He walked for more than half an hour to get here, and just went back like this?

This is also because Zhu Ying is not familiar with some of the current systems of the Ming Dynasty, especially the systems of the imperial palace.

This is my first time to visit the Ming Dynasty Palace.

I had too many things on my mind earlier and neglected this aspect.

Just when Zhu Ying was feeling somewhat helpless and was about to return, a voice suddenly came from behind him: "Mr. Zhu, why are you here?"

Zhu Ying turned around and saw a Jinyiwei dressed in brocade clothes.

He looked somewhat familiar, but I had no impression of him. After careful recollection, I remembered that he seemed to be a certain Jinyiwei who had appeared when Song Zhong first came to the teahouse.

"I want to talk to Governor Song about something, could you please pass the message on, young man?" Zhu Ying said while bowing.

When the Jinyiwei saw Zhu Ying bowing, he quickly stepped aside and said, "Mr. Zhu, wait a moment. I will go in and notify Song Zhenfu to come over immediately."

After saying this, without waiting for Zhu Ying to reply, he showed his badge and hurried inside.

As soon as we passed Chengtian Gate, we started running.

Realizing that the identity of the visitor might be more important than he had imagined, the commander of the guards said nothing more. He clasped his fists towards Zhu Ying and then returned to his post.

Zhu Ying showed no sign of worrying and just stood there waiting quietly.

He knew in his heart that the appearance of this Jinyiwei was not a coincidence.

Given the old man's temperament, it is very normal for him to arrange for the Jinyiwei to monitor him.

Zhu Ying knew very early on that he might be under surveillance.

However, the scope of this surveillance was very wide, and it did not extend to his own yard or teahouse, so Zhu Ying did not care too much about it.

It seems that after I entered the inner city, this Jinyiwei has been following me.

Not long after, the sound of rapid footsteps was heard from the Chengtian Gate. Zhu Ying turned around and saw that Song Zhong had come over in person.

"Master Zhu's presence is a great honor to our Jinyiwei Yamen."

Song Zhong came up and laughed, then spoke in a very familiar tone.

"There are some things that I need the help of Mr. Song," Zhu Ying said with a bow.

Seeing this, Song Zhong, like the Jinyiwei before him, did not care about losing his manners and quickly moved away.

This is in front of the imperial palace. Although Zhu Ying's identity has not been announced yet, it is not something that a pacification envoy like him can afford.

Even if there was a possibility of being discovered, he didn't dare.

Zhu Ying was not surprised to see this, and his eyes remained calm as usual.

"Mr. Zhu, you are too polite. It is my blessing to be able to help you."

After Song Zhong finished speaking, he took out his badge and registered it with the commander of the guards.

The current duties of the Jinyiwei Yamen are quite special, because they involve the function of protecting His Majesty's safety, and they also have the power to arrest people and send them to the Jinyiwei prison, so they are qualified to enter the palace.

But it is only limited to Chengtian Gate.

It is naturally impossible to enter the palace.

To actually enter the Forbidden City, there are two checkpoints behind: the Wumen Gate and the Fengtian Gate.

Except for officials attending court and guards changing shifts, it would be extremely difficult for anyone else to get in.

Song Zhong led the way in front, and Zhu Ying followed.

After passing Chengtian Gate, there is Qianbu Corridor. Walking along it, you will soon arrive at the Jinyiwei Yamen.

Song Zhong led the way and soon brought Zhu Ying to his office.

And he asked his subordinates to make tea.

"I wonder if Mr. Zhu needs my help this time. Mr. Zhu, please feel free to ask. I will do whatever I can to help you."

After arranging Zhu Ying to take a seat, Song Zhong did not sit in the main seat, but sat next to Zhu Ying and started to take charge of everything.

Zhu Ying said, "I have some things in the Western Regions that I want to send to the capital as soon as possible. The journey is long, so I want to ask for a customs document to facilitate the passage through the post station."

Song Zhong, who had just taken on a lot of responsibilities, was suddenly stuck.

The post station thing is not something that his Jinyiwei Yamen can control.

Post stations were extremely important to the Ming Dynasty, especially in ancient times when communications were backward. Zhu Yuanzhang attached great importance to them and clearly stipulated that post stations could only be used by officials of the court who needed to travel on business, and no one else could use them.

Around the 18th year of the Hongwu reign, a royal consort wanted to secretly transport tea to make huge profits. He thought that since he was a royal relative, he could exercise some privileges.

To this end, the prince consort asked his servant to get the certificate of the post station and go to the post station to borrow a carriage.

However, the person in charge of the post station refused to lend the carriage to the prince consort's servants, and the servants got angry and beat them.

When this matter reached the ears of Zhu Yuanzhang, he was very angry and felt that the prince consort completely ignored the laws he had set. He wanted to execute the prince consort and his servants even though his daughter was a widow.

At that time, this incident caused a huge uproar in the court and the country. From then on, no one dared to touch the post station at all.

Seeing Song Zhong's embarrassment, Zhu Ying frowned slightly.

Obviously, Zhu Ying did not have the same understanding of the post station as Song Zhong.

Song Zhong also noticed Zhu Ying's displeasure, gritted his teeth, stood up and said, "Please wait for a moment, Master Zhu. I will go and take care of this matter for you."

Zhu Ying's brows relaxed, and he knew that this matter might be troublesome, so he stood up and bowed, saying, "Then I'll trouble Song Zhenfu."

"No, no, Mr. Zhu, please take a rest here. I will be back soon. If you have any instructions, just arrange them for me."

Song Zhong waved his hands repeatedly. Mr. Zhu was good in every way except that he was too polite. He bowed all the time, which made him feel overwhelmed.

After saying this, he hurried out.

Zhu Ying was speechless. He picked up the tea and waited patiently.

After Song Zhong went out, he immediately gave orders to his subordinates who were waiting outside the door.

"Whatever Mr. Zhu needs, we must do it. If it is impossible, we must find a way to do it. Do you understand?"

"I understand."

The person waiting outside the door was the Jinyiwei who had helped Zhu Yingtong pass the message to Song Zhong.

He often guards Zhu Ying and has some understanding of Zhu Ying's situation.

After Song Zhong gave the order, he headed towards the palace without any hesitation.

He wanted to convey this matter to Commander Jiang Lidu immediately.

In the Huagai Hall, the Ming Imperial Palace.

Zhu Yuanzhang was discussing the effectiveness of work-for-relief with several ministers of the six ministries and several real palace ministers.

"Your Majesty, at present, the strategy of using work for relief is very good. The gentry and nobles are willing to put up grain as collateral in exchange for the opportunity to undertake the project."

"Many victims of this famine have survived because of this. I believe that it can be deployed on a large scale."

Minister of Works Shen Xi said.

The Ministry of Works is still mainly responsible for work-for-relief, and Shen Xi is the one who knows the current situation best.

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded after listening and said to everyone: "Let's discuss and see if there are any areas that can be filled."

After that, everyone present began to whisper and discuss.

At this time, outside the Huagai Palace gate, a Jinyiwei came quickly and reported in a low voice to Jiang Lin who was guarding outside the gate.

After listening to this, Jiang Li pushed the door open and walked in, not caring about the political discussions going on inside.

"Your Majesty, I have something important to report."

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned slightly and said, "Speak."

Hearing this, Jiang Li said, "This is an important matter. Your Majesty, please allow me to listen to you in detail."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and said, "Okay."

Jiang Li walked to Zhu Yuanzhang's side and whispered, "Your Majesty, His Royal Highness Changsun is now at the Jinyiwei Yamen, and he wants to ask for a post station pass, saying that he wants to bring some things from the Western Regions."