When Zhu Yuanzhang finished handling these matters, it was already the beginning of time.
He stood up slowly, walked to the window, and looked in the direction of Huangji Palace.
Although there was still an hour and a half before noon, he couldn't wait any longer.
He knew that if the rebels wanted to invade the imperial city early tomorrow morning, they would launch a tentative attack in the afternoon at the latest.
Although the atmosphere in the city had improved somewhat through the miracle performed by Shen Zhanran, he knew that this was not enough.
Because this can only scare ordinary people, but it cannot hide the group of people with ulterior motives, let alone affect the rebels outside the city.
Originally, he sent Wu Mengming out of the city. In addition to monitoring and persuading surrender, he also asked him to take the opportunity to create some auspiciousness among the rebels and undermine their morale.
But according to the news from Wu Mengming, due to the large number of rebels, the auspicious impact he created in a hurry was not great.
Therefore, if Zhang Yingjing can really create colorful auspicious clouds, or even make a golden dragon appear above the Huangji Palace, it will not only boost morale, but also suppress the rebels, and it may be possible to stop the rebels from attacking the city.
Can Zhang Yingjing create the auspiciousness he mentioned?
Zhu Yuanzhang glanced in the direction of Huangji Palace again, and then slowly withdrew his gaze.
At this time, a young eunuch hurried in and reported that Ni Yuanlu had urgent matters to see.
After Zhu Yuanzhang ordered the young eunuch to declare Ni Yuanlu, he couldn't help but frown again.
He recalled the situation during his inspection of the outer city this morning and found nothing unusual. Could it be that something happened again in the past hour or so.
Ni Yuanlu came in and hurriedly saluted, then told Zhu Yuanzhang what happened without waiting for him to ask.
It turned out that after Ni Yuanlu got the confiscated silver, she immediately arranged for people to buy grain in Beijing.
It turned out that yesterday he had negotiated the price with more than a dozen rice merchants in the capital, and had transported the first batch of grain to the military camp.
Unexpectedly, this morning he asked the officials of Cangke to go to the rice merchants to re-sign the contract and transport the remaining grain. The rice merchants suddenly changed their minds and said that after taking stock last night, they found that the amount of grain in the store was insufficient and they could not fulfill the contract.
As for the food that had been transported before, they didn't have the face to accept payment. They just regarded it as responding to the call to donate food to help the army.
Ni Yuanlu was furious when she learned about this and went to deal with it herself.
Although the dozen or so rice merchants had a humble attitude, there was no room for negotiation in their talks, which made Ni Yuanlu feel that the matter was not simple.
Therefore, while accusing them of not keeping their word and stalling for time, he also sent people to find out the truth.
Not long after, the inquirer came back to report that there was indeed not much grain in the rice merchant's warehouse. Now there was a crazy rumor in the market that there was a shortage of grain in Beijing. The price of rice had risen to two yuan a pound, and it was still on the rise.
When Ni Yuanlu learned about this, she was also shocked.
Although he knew that this was caused by a joint effort by rice merchants to raise prices, he had no evidence and was worried that excessive measures would cause turmoil.
So he used both soft and hard tactics to intimidate the rice merchants. After they promised to try to raise another two thousand shi of grain, he hurried to report to Zhu Yuanzhang.
Ni Yuanlu thought that Zhu Yuanzhang would angrily rebuke him after hearing the report, but he did not expect that Zhu Yuanzhang just nodded and asked him to retreat.
After he came out, he happened to meet Fan Jingwen and told him this abnormal thing.
Fan Jingwen heard this and asked in a deep voice: "As far as I know, the relationship between those rice merchants and the Ministry of Household Affairs has always been good. How could they go back on their word today?"
Ni Yuanlu nodded and said, "This is exactly what worries me. If they have no support behind them, they would never dare to do this."
"It's just that the capital seems calm now, but in fact there is an undercurrent. I wanted to ask for an order, but I didn't expect that His Majesty would ignore it."
After saying that, he shook his head and sighed again and again.
Fan Jingwen was silent for a while and then asked: "Your Majesty really didn't say a word?"
Ni Yuanlu thought for a moment and said, "No!"
Fan Jingwen glanced at Dongnuan Pavilion and whispered: "Yuan Lu, this may be your majesty's test."
"You must know that as the Minister of Household Affairs, it is your duty to manage the price of grain in the capital. You might as well summon the rice merchants in the city and strictly order them not to increase prices at will."
"At the same time, we secretly sent people to inspect the place where they store food, and immediately requested an order to seal it down after discovering it!"
Hearing this, Ni Yuanlu said with some worry: "Mr. Fan, you also know that the rice merchants in the capital are either branches of Jiangnan nobles or shops of Shanxi merchants, and they are inextricably related to the nobles in the court."
"I just reprimanded them, and many people have come to complain. If the methods were more drastic, I'm afraid the students will be criticized."
Fan Jingwen shook his head and said: "I know that you have always been clean and self-sufficient, and you also cherish your feathers very much. This is a good thing. But in this time of crisis, you should sacrifice the greater justice at the expense of the smaller ones."
"What's more, although you are not a party member, you are close to Qian Qianyi, Chen Zilong and others. Qian Qianyi is the leader of the Donglin Party in the south today, while Chen Zilong is the backbone of Fushe and a giant of several societies."
"Also, most of your teacher Yuan Keli's disciples are members of the Donglin Party. Based on these connections, if you don't join the party, you will join the party."
"His Majesty is most afraid of cliques these days. Letting you deal with the food price issue now is to give you an opportunity to express your position. If you don't enforce the law impartially and sever ties with them at this time, you want to gain their understanding and support."
"When His Majesty determines that you have colluded with them and punishes you for forming a party and causing chaos in the country, how will you be able to have a clear reputation?"
When Ni Yuanlu heard this, her face changed several times, and cold sweat broke out on her back.
He composed himself, cupped his hands and said, "Thank you Mr. Fan for your suggestion. I will deal with this matter right away."
After that, he bowed to Fan Jingwen and left in a hurry.
Fan Jingwen looked at Ni Yuanlu's retreating back and was silent for a while before he walked towards the Qianqing Palace with deep thoughts.
When he entered the Qianqing Palace, Zhu Yuanzhang was looking at the city defense distribution map.
Fan Jingwen saw that Zhu Yuanzhang had no intention of stopping. After presenting King Qin's edict, he stood there respectfully.
After a while, the young eunuch came in again to report that Liu Wenbing and Li Ruolian wanted to see them.
After Zhu Yuanzhang heard the report, he stopped and announced that they had come in.
At the same time, he picked up the edict on the gilt case and glanced at it quickly, and said to Fan Jingwen with a smile: "Fan Qing is indeed a great scholar of our time. These edicts are not only insightful, but also of great literary talent."
Fan Jingwen was shocked when he saw Zhu Yuanzhang's rare compliment, but he didn't show it, he just didn't dare to say it.
When Zhu Yuanzhang saw this, he smiled again and said: "This edict is excellent, but we have some ideas today. I would like to ask Fan Qing to make some adjustments."
"First, in Wu Sangui's edict, we clearly stated that we will protect his family and his concubine Chen Yuanyuan, so that he does not need to worry."
"Second, in Zuo Yuliang's edict, he conferred the title of Viscount on his five subordinates, and made it clear that the first one to arrive in Beijing will be conferred the title of Earl."
"Third, give separate orders to Huang Degong, Gao Jie and others under Ma Shiying, and at the same time make it clear that whoever reaches the capital first, regardless of whether they have military merit or not, we will make him count."
...
"By the way, you can prepare another decree for us, calling on the soldiers and horses of the world to be kings of Qin, and tell them that we will select the most outstanding person among the commanders of kings of Qin this time and appoint him as the Grand Governor, and give him the title of Duke to command the soldiers and horses of the world. .”
When Zhu Yuanzhang said this, not only Fan Jingwen was startled, but also Liu Wenbing and Li Ruolian who had just come in were shocked.
You must know that after the Hu Weiyong case, Zhu Yuanzhang revoked the post of chief governor and established a system of five military governors of the center, left, right, front and rear.
He also strictly ordered future generations not to establish this position again.
Since then, the Ming Dynasty has never had the post of Grand Governor. Even Ming Wuzong, who liked being an official the most, only named himself a general, but did not dare to proclaim himself a Grand Governor.
Unexpectedly, Chongzhen, who had always respected the Heavenly Patriarch, would re-establish the Grand Governor today and give him to the generals. They couldn't help but be shocked.
