Chapter 78. A party for powerful officials and corrupt officials (Part 1.
The day Huang Yourong hosted a banquet for Zhou Shangjing, Shen Changmao and Zhao Junchen was on the fifth day of the Lunar New Year. The venue was the "Jude Restaurant" in the west of the city. This restaurant was much more upscale than the Tianhai Tower where Zhao Junchen often held banquets. It was famous for Shandong cuisine. It is famous as a gathering place for officials and wealthy businessmen in the capital.
On this day, evening was approaching, when Zhao Junchen rode a carriage to the door of Jude Restaurant, and looked at the sign hanging on the door of the restaurant in front of him, he couldn't help but have a strange look on his face.
"Master, what's wrong?"
Xu Qingyan, who was following Zhao Junchen, saw that Zhao Junchen looked a little strange and couldn't help but ask.
Zhao Junchen, with a bit of self-deprecation, chuckled and said: "It's nothing, I just feel that the word 'Gathering Virtues' really fits the situation today."
While talking, he signaled Xu Qingyan to wait outside, and Zhao Junchen was already walking towards Jude Restaurant.
As soon as he entered the restaurant, he saw Huang Yourong greeted Zhao Junchen with the support of a crowd. The smile on his face was as gentle and friendly as ever. On the surface, he looked like Zhao Junchen's own elder.
"As I expected, there will be a banquet today, and Junchen arrived first."
Zhao Junchen hurriedly came up to greet him, bowed and said, "I'm late, I have kept you waiting for a long time."
Huang Yourong waved his hands and said, "Junchen is overly worried. It will be some time before we leave the banquet. Junchen, you are here early. I estimate that Zhou Shoufu and Shen Ge Lao will have to wait a little longer before they come. You and I Let the two of you go to the private room and wait, today is just a private banquet, Junchen, you don't need to be too polite with me."
Although Huang Yourong was extremely polite and cordial, Zhao Junchen said respectfully: "Mr. Huang Ge, you are a superior official and an elder, and I am a subordinate and a junior, so I should respect you more."
Hearing what Zhao Junchen said, Huang Yourong laughed: "Junchen, you are just a stickler for the rules. Since I became an official, I have cared for my younger generation the most. Why do you and I need to be so polite when we get along? At a young age, it's better to be free and frivolous, but you can't lose your vitality."
Although he said that, looking at Huang Yourong's expression, it was obvious that he was very impressed by Zhao Junchen's respectful attitude.
While chatting and joking, Huang Yourong led Zhao Junchen towards the private room he had booked.
Jude Restaurant occupies a large area, and it takes a long distance to walk from the entrance to the depths. Huang Yourong obviously did not intend to hide the banquet at all. On the way to the private room, the two of them met many people. After seeing Huang Yourong and Zhao Junchen, the officials and wealthy people who had dinner here also showed up to greet them one after another, with expressions and tones full of flattery.
The irony is that although this restaurant is called "Jude", the food is actually very expensive, and those who are slightly poorer cannot afford it. However, those who are truly virtuous in the government and the public, since the establishment of this restaurant, I'm afraid few of them have been here at all.
While Zhao Junchen was thinking secretly, Huang Yourong led Zhao Junchen to the private room and took a seat.
Because Zhou Shangjing and Shen Changmao hadn't arrived yet, the waiter at the restaurant just brought them tea.
While chatting and sipping tea, Huang Yourong looked Zhao Junchen up and down with a smile, then suddenly changed the subject and said, "I see that Junchen is very leisurely and contented. It's just that the twenty-four yamen of the inner court are already in a hurry. Junchen is in a hurry." You have finally repaired your relationship with the people in the inner court, so if you suddenly do this, aren't you afraid of completely offending them?"
Zhao Junchen seemed not to understand. There was a trace of doubt in his expression. He put down the tea cup in his hand and asked: "I wonder what the senior is talking about? I am a foreign minister. Although I have the trust of His Majesty to act as an agent for the internal transportation warehouse, There has also been some interaction with the inner court. However, it is the rule of this dynasty that foreign ministers and eunuchs cannot have personal relationships, and the juniors cannot get involved in the affairs of the inner court. The twenty-four yamen of the inner court are indeed in some chaos these days, but it is with the inner court. It has nothing to do with juniors.”
"Is it irrelevant?" Huang Yourong said with a meaningful smile: "But as far as I know, the eunuchs in power in the inner court have been sending envoys to Junchen repeatedly since the day before yesterday, but Junchen has closed the door to them. Although just like Junchen said, our court has its own rules. Foreign ministers and internal eunuchs are not allowed to have personal relationships, but they must be spared and spared. If things are done badly, I'm afraid it will be bad for everyone, right?"
………
It turned out that after the Deqing Birthday Ceremony, because Zhao Junchen did not receive the news that Zhou Shangjing was going to accompany Zhou Shangjing on his southern tour, he sent someone to ask the eunuchs in charge of the inner court for a "reasonable explanation". This was just to frustrate the enemy and find out more about the relationship between Zhu Hejian and Zhu Hejian. The relationship between the inner court, but what Zhao Junchen did not expect was that the eunuchs in power in the inner court were either vague about the messengers he sent, or avoided seeing him, or looked around. He did not give anything to Zhao at all. Junchen gave a satisfactory answer.
Although Zhao Junchen felt that there might be another reason, if he just gave up and let it go, it would seem like he was showing weakness. In Zhao Junchen's view, the relationship between him and the inner court is just cooperation and equality. There is no one who is superior and who is inferior, or who is asking for help from whom. In the face of such a situation, in order not to be looked down upon, In order to teach the people in the inner court a lesson, it is inevitable to establish authority and retaliate.
Zhao Junchen's method of revenge was also very simple. He just asked people in the government to pay attention to the news on the market. When he heard that someone was going to sell a large quantity of high-quality cloth and satin, he had someone buy it. Then he offered a discount to Emperor Deqing, suggesting that some of the materials that were no longer used after the birthday ceremony should be sold to the public, so that the internal treasury could return the money, thereby saving costs.
As Emperor Deqing approved Zhao Junchen's plan, the twenty-four yamen of the inner court were immediately in a panic.
It turns out that on the occasion of Emperor Deqing's birthday, although money was spent like water, the inner court did not have too much corruption. This was not because the eunuchs in charge of the inner court suddenly became clean, but for them, the real The harvest season comes after the celebration.
For example, during the Deqing Birthday Ceremony, cloth and satin were used everywhere in the palace to form colorful walls and corridors. However, after the birthday celebration was over, these huge quantities of cloth and silk were consumed by the eunuchs of the inner court. The items were sold privately to the people, and from this alone, the eunuchs in the inner court could make a profit of no less than one hundred thousand taels of silver!
Zhao Junchen saw this clearly and asked people in the mansion to pretend to be silk merchants to buy this batch of silk and satin. Then he asked Emperor Deqing for an order to calculate the supplies and sell them off. Although the plan was simple, it was to sell the inner court to the emperor. Forced into a desperate situation.
Such a huge amount of cloth and satin could not be produced by the imperial court in a short period of time. Even if they wanted to buy it from the private sector, the quantity would be too large and they would not be able to buy it even if they had money. You know, when they purchased these pieces of cloth and satin, it took them more than half a month. They even went as far as Jiangnan to purchase them, but Zhao Junchen only had five days left for them.
Then, the people in the inner court found the "silk merchant" who had bought the cloth and satin from them, and then discovered that this so-called "silk merchant" was actually Zhao Junchen. At this time, they naturally understood this Everything was a trap set by Zhao Junchen for them.
Faced with such a situation, although the inner court may be resentful for this, they are more panicked. If Zhao Junchen deliberately retaliates and suppresses the batch of cloth and satin in his hand, once the incident occurs, there will definitely be This shocked both the government and the public, and with Emperor Deqing's temperament, it was unlikely that the entire inner court would suffer a new round of purges.
At this time, the only person who can save them is Zhao Junchen, who has enough cloth and satin in his hands.
Therefore, everyone in the inner court quickly bowed to Zhao Junchen. In the past three days, at least six or seven waves of envoys from the inner court went to see Zhao Junchen every day, and the status of the envoys was getting higher and higher. However, at this time, Zhao Junchen instead He put on airs and avoided seeing these messengers, acting like he was just doing business.
As a result, the inner court naturally became even more panicked.
The reason why Zhao Junchen did this was not only to establish his authority and force people in the inner court to confess their relationship with Zhu Hejian, but also to deepen his influence on the inner court.
This time, the inner court concealed the news from Zhao Junchen that Zhou Shangjing was going to accompany him on the southern tour. It also reminded Zhao Junchen that just cooperation with the inner court was not enough. He could be betrayed at any time, so he deepened his influence on the inner court. For Zhao Junchen, it was already part of his plan to gain power and even directly control some of the eunuchs in the inner court.
But if you want to deepen your influence on the inner court, you need to not only lure each other with benefits, but also force each other with threats.
So Zhao Junchen didn't want to do anything about it. After the inner court had learned enough lessons, Zhao Junchen would naturally save them himself.
However, listening to Huang Yourong's words at this time, it was obvious that everyone in the inner court was still lucky and wanted to use Huang Yourong to persuade Zhao Junchen to let them go.
After all, Zhao Junchen had a cooperative relationship with the inner court and exchanged money for information about Emperor Deqing. However, Zhao Junchen was not the only one who cooperated with the inner court. Huang Yourong was obviously doing the same thing.
………
After understanding the purpose of Huang Yourong's sudden mention of this matter, Zhao Junchen smiled softly, suddenly looked around and said, "Senior Huang, you are rich in experience, and you naturally understand that although some people in this world are useful, they always fail to follow their rules. The rule is, if you want them to help with work, it is not enough to just give them sweet dates. While holding the sweet dates in your left hand, you must also hold a stick in your right hand. If they are obedient, you can feed them some sweet dates, but if they If you are disobedient, the stick you hold cannot be idle. You must hit when it is time to hit. Sometimes, in order to teach them a lesson, the beating needs to be harder. Senior, what do you think?"
Huang Yourong's eyes were slightly narrowed, and his expression was as full of smile as ever. It was hard to tell whether he was happy or angry. He just said slowly: "Of course what Junchen said is reasonable, but if you knock too hard, you will knock the person to death, or What should we do if the person who was beaten feels resentful because of it?”
Zhao Junchen said calmly: "If you beat him to death, just replace him with another one. If the person you beat is resentful, then beat him to death directly. What's more, juniors also have a sense of how heavy they should be."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ps: The work is over! !
..The update is super fast, please press "crtl+d" to add "Ranwen Chinese Network" to your favorites for your next reading!
< >, reading is a kind of enjoyment, it is recommended that you collect it.
