The heavy snow that had been falling for several days finally stopped. There were only a few pedestrians on the street. The sky was still very gloomy, which made people feel a little unhappy. Today was the day when the imperial meeting was held.
Outside the cabinet, five people, led by Lu Fang, the eunuch and eunuch in charge of etiquette, were all eagerly awaiting the arrival of the cabinet members.
After a while, five sedans of different colors stopped outside the cabinet. The first assistant of the cabinet, Yan Song, the second assistant, Xu Jie, and cabinet members Zhang Juzheng, Yan Shifan, and Gao Gong, got off the sedans one after another with the help of servants.
"Mr. Yan Ge!" Lu Fang was the first to greet Yan Song with a smile on his face.
"Eunuch Lu." Yan Song bowed slightly to show courtesy.
The two walked side by side and began to chat, followed by a group of ceremonial supervisors and cabinet members.
"Old Yan Ge was eighty last year, and he will be seventy-nine this year!"
"What the hell, my bones are so old!"
Yan Song smiled, and the age spots all over his face trembled. With Lu Fang's help, he stepped up the steps.
"Hey, Mr. Yan Ge has a strong body. I see, he will have to work for at least another twenty years!"
"If you work for another twenty years, you will be hated by others!" Yan Shifan interjected angrily, glancing in Xu Jie's direction with the corner of his eye.
"You!" Gao Gong on the side wanted to seek justice for Xu Jie, but Xu Jie just shook his head indifferently and motioned for everyone to follow Yan Song and Lu Fang's footsteps.
"Mr. Yan Ge, we are all in the same boat today! Let's get over the shortfall if we can."
Before entering the cabinet, Lu Fang gave another instruction as if he was worried.
"Okay, let's go if we can." Yan Song nodded, as if he approved Lu Fang's proposal, while the other cabinet members behind him, including Yan Shifan, all had expressions on their faces and said nothing.
"Then let's go in."
"Um."
…
Today's cabinet seems a bit crowded. There are two tables facing each other in the small room, each with five seats. There is a dragon chair behind the bead curtain. Emperor Jiajing is stroking the carved dragon head boredly. There is a chime made of jade (note: a percussion instrument) placed next to the chair, and the situation inside the curtain cannot be seen from the outside.
Then the two parties took their seats. On one side was the cabinet headed by Yan Song, on the other side was the ceremonial supervisor headed by Lu Fang. Behind the curtain sat Emperor Jiajing.
Before the cabinet meeting began, Yan Song saluted Emperor Jiajing behind the curtain and said: "I rely on the emperor's virtues like heaven, and everyone is diligent in state affairs. This snow was prayed for by the emperor!"
Then Yan Song turned around and looked at the crowd, saying in a deep voice: "But some people are using climate issues to slander the imperial court."
After hearing Yan Song's words, everyone understood what Yan Song was referring to - Zhengzhou Yunyi, the prison supervisor of Qintian who had been killed with a stick at the Meridian Gate of the Forbidden City.
'Ding! 'A crisp sound sounded from behind the curtain, and Jiajing behind the curtain knocked on his jade chime.
After hearing this, Lu Fang, the eunuch and eunuch in charge of etiquette, nodded slightly to Yan Song: "Let's discuss the matter."
Immediately afterwards, Lu Fang first expressed her goodwill to Yan Song: "Mr. Yan Ge, please hand over the bill first! We, the Chief of Ceremonies, have approved everything that can be approved."
After Yan Song heard this, he stood up tremblingly and put the tickets neatly on the table.
"The votes prepared by the cabinet are all here. Let's clear last year's accounts first, and then we will discuss this year's expenditures."
Just as Lu Fang took the draft from Yan Song, Xu Jie, who had been silent, was the first to speak: "The overspending of the Ministry of Personnel and Work is too big, and we at the Ministry of Revenue did not dare to sign."
After saying that, Xu Jie didn't care about the crowd and simply closed his eyes to rest.
Yan Shifan, who was sitting beside him, exploded when he heard this. He suddenly stood up from his seat and retorted: "What do you mean the overspending is too big! You were all present when the ministries drafted the bills, but now you say that our Ministry of Personnel and Work have overspended too much." big?"
"Being here does not mean we agree." Gao Gong narrowed his eyes and responded calmly.
Yan Shifan was furious and pointed his index finger at Gao Gong: "You didn't sign the bill from our Ministry of Personnel and Work, but you just signed the bill from Zhang Juzheng's Ministry of War without even looking at it! What on earth are you going to do with your Ministry of Accounts?"
Xu Jie, who had been closing his eyes to meditate, reminded him: "Mr. Xiaoge, the Household Department is the Household Department of the Ming Dynasty, not our Household Department. In the same way, the Personnel Department and the Work Department are also the Personnel Department and the Work Department of the Ming Dynasty. Ministry, not your Yan Shifan’s Ministry of Personnel and Work!”
Hearing these heart-wrenching words, Yan Shifan became even more angry, looked in the direction of Yan Song and shouted: "Dad!"
Yan Song slowly raised his head, his cold eyes sweeping over Yan Shifan without any expression.
"There is no father here. There are only ministers of my Ming Dynasty here."
Yan Song looked at Gao Gong again and said softly: "If you have any difficulties at the household department, you can raise them."
Gao Gong pulled out the account book with eyes wide open and said loudly: "Last year, my Ming Dynasty's tax revenue totaled 32.8 million taels, the expenditure was 46.5 million taels, and the deficit was 13.7 million taels. And this The deficit of 13.7 million taels is all due to the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Works."
After finishing speaking, Gao Gong glanced at Yan Shifan again and continued: "Now we are asked by the Ministry of Household Affairs to draw up the bills from other ministries, and even the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Works added three million taels of the bills to the accounts of the Ministry of War. This How do we sign it?"
"At worst, I, the Minister of Household Affairs, will quit my job!" Gao Gong became more and more anxious as he spoke, and he seemed to be giving up his job.
At this moment, a muffled groan came from behind the bead curtain. Gao Gong quickly stopped talking when he heard it. Others present were also nervous. The emperor was unhappy.
Yan Song and Lu Fang looked at the bead curtain at the same time. After a while, Lu Fang admonished: "Let's just discuss the matter and don't talk about other topics."
Zhang Juzheng, who had been silent since entering the cabinet, also said: "The three million silver was recorded on the bill of my Ministry of War. It said that it was for the thirty warships built for the Ministry of War to fight against the Japanese. But in fact, our Ministry of War did not Saw a warship!"
Zhang Juzheng's words were like a bombshell, completely detonating the scene. Even Lu Fang, who had always been calm, had a look of horror on his face.
Yan Shifan seemed to have expected this. He looked directly into Zhang Juzheng's eyes and said, "Those thirty warships were originally used to fight against the Japanese. But last year, when the emperor renovated the palace and went to Yungui River to cut wood, he found that there were no ships at all. Roads, and the cost of building roads is too high, so we have to go around the sea route.”
"The sea route is difficult and requires a large circle. On the way to transport the wood, the fleet unexpectedly encountered wind and waves, and several ships sank. Adding the losses on the road and labor costs, three million taels is more than enough!"
"Those thirty warships are equivalent to what our Ministry of Industry borrowed from the Ministry of War, and they will be returned soon." Then, Yan Shifan added to Zhang Juzheng.
Seeing that Yan Shifan explained the shortfall of three million taels of silver in a few words, Zhang Juzheng stopped talking and sat down angrily.
Yan Shifan glanced at everyone, cupped his hands towards the figure behind the bead curtain, and said angrily: "For the sake of the emperor, I can endure any suffering!"
Behind the bead curtain, Emperor Jiajing, who had been eating melons since the beginning of the meeting, was no longer calm when he saw that the fire was burning on him. After browsing the memories left by his original body, he discovered that it was indeed true. In order to live forever, he built a palace on a large scale Taoist temple, it can be said that the predecessor of the Ming Dynasty’s treasury was one of the main culprits.
