Early morning, Prince Yu's Mansion.
Everyone in the room had bloodshot eyes, and guards came to report the situation from time to time. Xu Jie, the deputy assistant to the cabinet, had not slept all night and was napping on the table with one hand at the moment.
"Your Highness, we have found out what happened last night. Do you want to..."
The housekeeper quickly came to Wang Yu's side, and then looked at the direction of Xu Jie, with a look of hesitation on his face.
"Let Mr. Xu Ge sleep for a while, let's go out and talk." Gao Gong, the minister of household affairs on the side, lowered his voice and motioned for everyone to go out.
"Yes." Zhang Juzheng, Minister of the Ministry of War, cupped his hands, walked lightly, and followed everyone out of the room.
Yu Wang Zhu Zaijing (ji) is the son of Jiajing and Kang Fei. He is not favored. He has not seen his predecessor for more than two years. He is also the supporter behind the Qingliu faction.
Walking out of the room, a cold wind hit. Seeing this, the guards on the side hurriedly put on the cold fur shoulders for all the adults. The snow today was much lighter than yesterday, and there were only scattered snowflakes falling in the air.
"Say it." King Yu looked at the housekeeper and whispered.
"The Jin Yiwei sent out last night and arrested Tao Xianchang and all the alchemists under him. They found millions of taels of silver. I heard that this time the commander Lu Bing personally led the team!"
"What? Lu Bing!"
There was a moment of silence, and everyone present understood what the powerful commander of the Imperial Guards personally took action to mean.
This is the emperor's will!
After a long time, Gao Gong finally broke the deadlock: "There is no need to talk about this matter anymore."
"In addition, several of the officials who went to submit the letter yesterday were killed by Feng Bao, the eunuch of Dongchang."
Beside, Zhang Juzheng, who had been silent for a long time, reminded him.
"Hmph, do you need to say more? The Yan Party must be behind this! We will discuss it in the morning, and I will definitely give him a copy in front of the Holy Master."
While everyone was talking, an angry voice came from behind. Looking back, I saw Xu Jie had woken up at some point. He was wearing single clothes and was being helped by guards to come to the door. A gust of cold wind blew by. Everyone felt a chill and couldn't help but shiver, but Xu Jie, wearing single clothes, stood still like an old pine.
"Mr. Xu Ge!" Everyone saluted.
"Okay, you guys! Don't even call me, a bad old man, into the discussion, cough cough."
"Come here, please put some clothes on Mr. Xu Ge!" Seeing this, King Yu quickly asked the guards to bring him a cotton-padded jacket to put on.
"I hope Mr. Ge will take care of himself!" Zhang Juzheng bowed, his face full of concern.
"Please take care of yourself, Mr. Ge!" Everyone bowed and repeated again.
"Okay, okay, everyone, let's go back. I have to go to court later, so there's no need to send him off." Xu Jie smiled and stroked his beard, and with the help of the guards around him, he got on the sedan and left.
"Then Prince Yu, I'll take my leave too!"
Everyone bid farewell to Prince Yu one after another, and then sedan chairs of different colors left the door of Prince Yu's mansion.
…
In Yan Mansion, Yan Song finished his breakfast, got dressed under the service of the maid, and was about to get on the sedan when he was stopped by Yan Shifan.
"Father, it's cold today, please put on more clothes!" Yan Shifan said and put the cotton coat on Yan Song.
During the whole process, Yan Song remained motionless, his skin taut, like a statue. After a long time, his eyebrows dyed white by snowflakes moved, and he urged: "Hurry up, father will not be able to make it to the court!"
"Please pay attention to your father's safety." After doing all this, Yan Shifan stepped aside and watched his father get on the sedan, as if he was worried, and warned him again.
"Okay." Yan Song replied without showing any expression on his face.
It is said that you are going to court, but in fact you are just on duty in the cabinet, waiting for the emperor's summons at any time. This cabinet duty is on a rotating basis. The cabinet is usually composed of five people, working in pairs, taking turns. When encountering problems that cannot be solved, you can The chief minister or the second minister of the cabinet is summoned to solve the problem, and today is the day when the chief minister and the second minister of the cabinet are on duty.
Yan Song sat in the sedan chair, lifting the curtain from time to time and looking to both sides. For some reason, the road he had walked for more than 20 years had a different feeling today.
"Old Yan Ge, we're here."
Yan Song got up from the sedan and slowly got off the ground with the help of the guards. Not far away, Xu Jie's sedan also stopped.
"Mr. Xu Ge."
"Old Yan Ge."
"We are both on duty today. It's really such a cold day!"
"yes."
The two cabinet elders met each other, exchanged a few words, and then shook off the hands of the surrounding guards. Like close friends for many years, they supported each other and walked into the cabinet tremblingly.
Entering the cabinet, the warmth in the room restored consciousness to their bodies that had been frozen by the cold wind. After warming themselves for a while, they began to put on their reading glasses and correct the memorials.
"Send this to the Supervisor of Ceremonies."
"Send this back and ask him to rewrite it!"
"This is approved."
"Whatever you wrote, please type it back!"
…
The two of them were extremely efficient, and within a short time most of the pile of memorials on the table had been dealt with.
"Look, this is Hu Zongxian's memorial. It says there is a lack of salary and silver. Let us pay it as soon as possible." Yan Song said, handing the memorial to Xu Jie.
Xu Jie took the memorial, read the contents, and sighed: "Hu Ruzhen is in a difficult situation. The burden of the entire southeast lies on his shoulders alone. I will ask the Ministry of Revenue to transfer the money as soon as possible."
"Um."
Yan Song responded, as if he suddenly thought of something, and continued to ask.
"Have the Tanjing and Bingjing been distributed this year?"
"It's all been distributed! Alas, the treasury has no money." At this point, Xu Jie's face suddenly became sad.
"Well, the country's affairs are difficult, it's difficult for the people, it's difficult for us, and it's difficult for the emperor too. Just bear with it a little longer!" Yan Song put down the corrected memorial in his hand and comforted him.
…
In the Ganlu Palace, Jiajing looked at Shen who was still sleeping under the quilt. He recalled the battle last night and couldn't help but smile. After kissing Shen's forehead gently, he got dressed under the service of the palace maid. , walked out the door.
"Your Majesty, Jin Yiwei Lu Bing has everyone under control. Here is the account book. Please take a look at it." Lu Fang had been waiting for a long time. When Jiajing came out, she quickly handed over the account book.
Jiajing took the account book, glanced at it briefly, then returned it to Lu Fang, and said with a chuckle: "You should wear more clothes, it's such a cold weather."
"Slave, thank you for your mercy!" Lu Fang said and was about to salute, but was stopped by Jiajing.
"Go and call Yan Song and Xu Jie to me. I have something to discuss with them."
"I'm going to invite Mr. Yan Ge and Mr. Xu Ge!" Lu Fang bowed slightly and prepared to leave.
Just two steps away, as if he suddenly remembered something, he quickly returned and whispered: "Your Majesty, what should we do with those alchemists?"
Hearing this, Jiajing raised his eyebrows and said, "Go and tell Lu Bing, follow the laws of the Ming Dynasty. Those who should be imprisoned should be imprisoned, and those who should be killed should be killed!"
"Yes, I'll go right away."
After Lu Fang finished speaking, she bowed and left quickly.
Looking at Lu Fang's leaving figure, the corners of Jiajing's mouth raised slightly: "Humph, three million eight hundred thousand taels! It solves an urgent need."
…
"Huh, today's memorial is almost done. Mr. Xu Ge should take a rest."
Yan Song put down the memorial, picked up the tea bowl on the side, and took a sip of tea.
"Well, it's time to take a rest."
Xu Jie said, gently pressing his temples with his index finger, and lay down on the chair imagelessly.
"Excuse me, you two pavilion elders, Eunuch Lu, the Superintendent of Ceremonies, would like to see you!" Just as the two pavilion elders were resting, a guard came to report.
The two of them looked at each other, trying to read something in each other's eyes. Then they stood up from their seats and said to the guards: "Please come in, Eunuch Lu!"
