It is now October of the 19th year of Wanli. The first snow has fallen, the city is covered with silver makeup, and charcoal fires are lit in every house.
Attendant to the Secretary.
When Zhu Yijun agreed to Wang Xijue's request and left the imperial palace, Shen Yiguan stood by the charcoal fire in front of the royal cabinet and did not come back to his senses for a long time.
Because the emperor finally decided to go on a personal expedition, and he was the only one who opposed it. Wang Xijue, who had clearly stated that he did not want the emperor to leave the capital, actually became the initiator of the emperor's personal expedition.
Therefore, Shen has always found it puzzling.
"Why did the Duke suddenly propose that His Majesty personally march out of Beijing?"
So, Shen Yiguan couldn't help but ask Wang Xijue after a while.
Then, Shen Yiguan looked at Shen Shixing and asked, "And Yuan Fu, why did he suddenly agree to His Majesty's departure from the capital?"
Wang Xijue replied with a smile: "I didn't propose to let His Majesty leave the capital before, because I didn't expect that there would be officials who would be so greedy and bad! I couldn't tell whether these officials were really stupid or really bad, and they actually caused two incidents in the place. The reason for the rebellion is that if His Majesty is not allowed to come out of the capital to have a look, His Majesty might lose confidence in the new gift."
"What you see on paper is ultimately shallow, but you know you have to do it in detail."
"Yuan Yu is right. There have been two rebellions. If your Majesty is allowed to stay in the palace, your Majesty will be even more unwilling to receive good news from the world."
Shen Shixing also smiled and explained at this time.
"yes!"
Qi Jiguang also nodded: "His Majesty was not furious about the urgent report of the rebellion in Ningxia, but felt normal. This shows that our emperor is smart!"
"However, smart people are often misled by cleverness. Therefore, what we should worry about now is that His Majesty will be disappointed with his ministers and his people. He really feels that they are ignorant and think that they are willing to belittle themselves. I became discouraged and unwilling to change the system!”
"So, we might as well go and see for yourself, His Majesty, to see that although the good governance he implements is not as perfect as he imagined, it is actually not as bad as he imagined! Those good news from factory guards and the people are not all flattery. Made-up words.”
"As the Prime Minister said, it is I who underestimated His Majesty. His Majesty has never thought highly of us scholar-bureaucrats. Don't look at the fact that Your Majesty has always respected the late Grand Master!"
"So, the matter of Dang Xin and Cao Zideng did not make Long Yan furious. Even the members of the clan were persecuted by some corrupt officials and the vassal king. His Majesty was not very angry when the Jin Yiwei reported it. It seems that in His Majesty's eyes , there is no shameful thing that we scholar-bureaucrats cannot do, so there is nothing surprising about it.”
"If this continues, do we still need to worry about the bad things His Majesty doesn't want to hear?"
"On the contrary, what we should be more worried about is whether His Majesty will further distrust us scholar-bureaucrats, and even those of us in power."
"Scholar Guo once asked His Majesty to treat scholars in the ruling school, but I was afraid that His Majesty would sneer inwardly after hearing this and not take it seriously."
As Wang Xijue spoke, he spread his hands and said aggrievedly: "What a pity, the scholars who are familiar with the saints are really sanctimonious people, or even have no lower limit? So that His Majesty was not surprised by this incident, and even asked the rebels How dare you rebel? You asked with a smile, obviously waiting for us to expose our own shortcomings."
After hearing this, Shen Yiguan stretched out his hands with sincerity, then closed them and bowed to Shen Shixing, Qi Jiguang, and Wang Xijue and said, "Thanks to your guidance, I understand. I really didn't expect this level."
Next.
These ruling ministers did not say anything else, and only began to write letters to their disciples and former officials in the world. After the emperor announced the news of the personal expedition, he also reminded them to do their job well and not to leave the party when the time comes. If you make a mistake like Xin's, don't let yourself die and leave a mess for the court.
The ruling ministers who had been in office for many years actually had no idea about the virtues of their own bureaucrats. Therefore, they were no more surprised than Zhu Yijun about what the local bureaucrats would do with the New Deal.
But they still hope to maintain a good image of the entire bureaucracy in front of the emperor, so they try their best to remind and guide the bureaucrats under them within the legal scope, just like a senior executive in later generations does not want the big boss to feel that he is under his subordinates. People are not the same, which will indirectly make the big boss question his ability.
The weather was perfect that day, the sky was clear, and Zhu Yijun, who was walking in the clear blue sky, told Huang Xun after leaving the Shiyusi: "Follow me to the inner transport warehouse!"
Huang Xun handed over his hand and said yes, and ordered someone to inform Zhang Yuangong, the British Duke of Shaofu, who was in charge of the transportation warehouse.
Due to the decrease in the number of eunuchs, and the fact that many eunuchs only want to make money and gain benefits, and do not consider the long-term interests of the Sheji Ancestral Temple, several incidents have occurred that shocked China and the world. Therefore, the affairs of the inner court can basically be left to the clan relatives. They were all handed over to the clan members.
Because Zhang Yuangong was stimulated by the nobles such as Qi Jiguang, he also took the initiative to learn and improve his abilities. He used his expertise in financial management to pass the exam and became the palm print of the inner transport warehouse.
Therefore, Zhu Yijun now wanted to check the situation of the internal transportation warehouse, and Huang Xun hurriedly asked people to send the message to the British public.
"His Majesty!"
Zhang Yuangong rushed to the inner transport warehouse not long after, greeted Zhu Yijun, and then asked Zhu Yijun: "What does your majesty want to see first?"
"Look at the gold first."
Zhu Yijun said.
Zhang Yuangong said yes, and then led Zhu Yijun into the warehouse where the gold was stored.
Zhang Yuangong was not afraid that the emperor would come to inspect the warehouse in person.
Because he does manage the inner treasury very seriously.
First, he knew that the internal treasury was related to military power, because the current military system of the Ming Dynasty was mainly a recruiting system, and the method of combat became mainly firearms, while the guard system had long existed in name only, so the number of troops the emperor could control no longer depended on the distribution of soldiers. The number of fields depends on how much money can be given to the soldiers. As long as the emperor is not short of money, he can raise a well-equipped army at any time, and he can control the army at any time by controlling the supply of firearms.
Whether the military power is controlled by the emperor is related to the long-term peace and stability of the Ming Dynasty.
Therefore, Zhang Yuangong considered the long-term interests of Ming Dynasty and did not dare to let the money in the inner treasury get less and less.
The second is that he knows better that this is related to the fate of his Zhang family. Eunuchs can find ways to get money from the inner treasury. That is because eunuchs are only of his own generation. Even if the nine tribes are executed, they often cannot gather the nine tribes, but he The Zhang family is different. If His Majesty's internal treasury is really kept empty, the Zhang family's hereditary title of duke may not be able to keep it, and this is an iron rice bowl for the country.
Therefore, as long as he was in his right mind, he would not dare to easily destroy his iron rice bowl of the Zhang family.
Third, the internal treasury is still a real power errand, and it can also achieve a win-win situation with the royal family through financial management methods.
As a member of the nobility, Zhang Yuangong had finally transferred this power from the hands of the eunuchs to the hands of the nobility. How could he dare to do something wrong easily and ask the emperor to no longer hand over this job to the nobility? Then it was handed back to the eunuchs, or directly to the civil servants.
Of course, the eunuchs and civil servants also became nobles because of this job, and they all kept a close eye on him, so that Zhang Yuangong did not dare to act recklessly.
Therefore, Zhang Yuangong is still managing the inner treasury very well.
Zhang Yuangong himself was also confident that the emperor would recognize his ability in financial management after checking the inner treasury.
Soon, Zhu Yijun arrived at the gold storage warehouse in the inner transport warehouse, and then saw the gold in the room. He was stunned for a moment and cursed:
"I have never seen so much gold in my life!"
Zhu Yijun then couldn't hide his joy and asked Zhang Yuangong: "Approximately how many are there?"
"Your Majesty, since the excavation of gold mines in Burma, Luzon and other places and the purchase of gold from Japan, Ryukyu and other places, about 125,000 kilograms of gold have been put into the warehouse."
Zhang Yuangong replied.
After hearing this, Zhu Yijun said: "Is it possible that you can afford the money needed to go out to Beijing to tour the world?"
"It's enough to return to Your Majesty, not to mention that there are more than one million catties of pure silver and silver coins in the internal treasury. I have also prepared the estimated expenses for His Majesty's first trip to Beijing to inspect the world. Now I am waiting for Your Majesty." Decree."
Zhang Yuangong replied.
Zhu Yijun nodded, and then said to Zhang Yuangong: "You are a competent person!"
Zhang Yuangong immediately handed over his hand and said, "Your Majesty is so complimentary."
Zhu Yijun then went to the queen's palace and told the queen about the matter. Then he held the queen's hand and said with a smile: "I didn't expect that my first trip out of the capital would be a personal expedition. In this way, you will also It’s not convenient for you to go with me. Let’s go together on our southern tour in the future.”
The Queen nodded and smiled slightly and said, "I never thought that there would be so many foreign ministers supporting His Majesty's personal expedition."
"They want to save the respect of the world's bureaucrats. They want to prove to me that there have indeed been changes after the implementation of the New Deal. Many good news are not fake, so that I can continue to trust them."
Zhu Yijun laughed and said.
The queen couldn't help but pull the prince over, and asked on his behalf: "Does your majesty trust them?"
Zhu Yijun stood up and walked to the door of the palace, looked at the pavilions under the clear sky, and said with a smile: "Why don't you trust them? But no matter how much you trust, it doesn't mean that I won't think of them with the greatest malice, nor will I treat them with the greatest malice." It’s surprising how evil some of them do.”
"What did your father say?"
Prince Zhu Changxun came over and asked.
Zhu Yijun looked at the prince with a smile and said: "Never underestimate how bad a person is, just like never underestimate how good a person is, the same goes for scholars!"
"They tend to be better, but they tend to be worse. What's more important is that the whole bureaucracy itself is the product of herdsmen. They don't produce things, but they have more property, which can only be obtained from People, your father and I are working hard to get them from foreigners as much as possible."
"But they are used to taking it from the ordinary people of their own country. This habit is too strong. After all, it has been a habit for thousands of years, so it cannot be completely changed in ten or twenty years. It may be that the next generation will have to continue to work in this direction in the future. .”
"Do you understand, Zhu Changxun?"
Zhu Yijun asked the prince as he spoke.
(End of chapter)
