prosperous age

Chapter 269 Chapter 268 One Step Late

"Last year, I only borrowed 80,000 taels of silver, but this year it suddenly became 700,000 taels."

In the Yongshou Palace in Xiyuan, Emperor Jiajing sat on the throne and looked at the note that had just been delivered in his hand. This is not a memorial, but a request from the cabinet.

Looking at the handwriting, Emperor Jiajing could tell at a glance that the note written by Xu Jie was stamped with Yan Song's stamp on the back.

I thought that after the Jiangnan levy was added, the imperial court's finances could breathe a sigh of relief this year, but I didn't expect that the deficit was still getting worse.

Emperor Jiajing naturally knew how to distribute the 700,000 taels of silver. He just didn't say many things, but it didn't mean he didn't know.

Footsteps sounded outside the palace, and after a short while a small servant came in to report: "Your Majesty, Governor Lu outside the palace asks for an audience."

Hearing that Lu Bing was coming, Emperor Jiajing nodded slightly to let him in.

The little servant naturally understood the meaning of his lord's action, and immediately bowed and retreated.

Not long after, Lu Bing, dressed in python, strode into the hall and saluted in front of Emperor Jiajing.

"Be flat, you don't need to be so polite."

Emperor Jiajing looked at Lu Bing, a rare smile appeared on his calm face, and said, "What's the matter in coming here today? This is not your usual time to come here. Could it be that something big happened again?"

Although Lu Bing held a lot of official positions, his main task was to be in charge of Jinyiwei, to monitor the world, and naturally he had the right to see the emperor at any time, otherwise the role of Jinyiwei would be useless.

"Your Majesty, this is a memorandum written by my minister, please read it."

The household department is worried about the money for the new year, and Lu Bing believes that the palace must know about it.

At this time, Emperor Jiajing, although he didn't say anything, must be thinking about it in his heart.

Regardless of the fact that Emperor Jiajing is almost 50 years old, he is usually ascetic in order to practice Taoism, but in fact he is still playful, and he especially likes to watch fireworks.

There was no big industry in ancient times, no matter what objects were made by craftsmen, although they could not be said to be unique, they were indeed rare, and naturally the price was high, even the ordinary fireworks of later generations.

Now that the household department has no money, Emperor Jiajing should also be worried about the New Year. Lu Bing felt that the opportunity he was looking forward to had finally come.

To impeach Li Bin when the emperor was worried about money, no matter how much Emperor Jiajing favored him, he would harden his heart and wield the butcher knife at this time.

Huang Jin took the memorial from Lu Bing, placed it lightly on the imperial book table, and then stepped aside again.

But Emperor Jiajing didn't read the memorial at the moment, but stared at Lu Bing with interest for a long time, then turned his gaze back to look at the memorial in front of him, picked it up casually, and looked through it carefully.

Gradually, as he read the memorial and read the content, the face of Emperor Jiajing, who was relaxed before, gradually became gloomy.

While the emperor was reading the memorial, Lu Bing quietly glanced at Huang Jin beside him, Huang Jin shook his head at him, without opening or closing his mouth.

Even so, Lu Bing's heart trembled slightly, it seemed that today was not the right time.

Huang Jin didn't speak, but shook his head, indicating that he probably understood a little bit.

Yes, Lu Bing planned to attack Li Bin, so he had explained to Huang Jin beforehand.

Li Bin was not promoted by Huang Jin. Similar to Gao Zhong, he came from the wild, because he was valued for his performance when Emperor Jiajing first entered the palace.

Of course, it's not that Huang Jin is jealous of Li Bin's favor. His position is unbreakable. He used to be happy to see this Li Bin and Gao Zhong fighting openly and secretly in the Prison of Rites.

It's just that compared to Gao Zhong, this Li Bin is more courageous and greedy, which makes it more and more difficult for the loyal Huang Jin to bear Li Bin.

Although he, as the admiral of the inner court, could manage all the eunuchs and servants in name, but he was often unable to control the eunuchs around Emperor Jiajing, and he could only do something to them when he was ordered by the emperor.

After Lu Bing found two pieces of evidence that Li Bin was corrupt and perverted the law, Huang Jin would naturally not object to Lu Bing's impeachment, but he would not get involved and let Lu Bing do whatever he wanted, but he still had to take care of it. of.

The time for Lu Bing to see him today was not right, and what he said after entering the palace made him naturally know what was said in the memorial, and it should be evidence of Li Bin's guilt.

Unfortunately, if it had been earlier, before the cabinet handed over the note, perhaps Emperor Jiajing would have ordered Li Bin to be taken down on the spot.

Now, maybe they will be detained first, or they may be called to scold them.

Thunder, rain and dew are all in the emperor's heart.

When Emperor Jiajing put down the memorial in his hand, his face had already returned to calm.

Emotions and anger are invisible, this may be the basic skill of being an emperor.

But Huang Jin and Lu Bing, who were familiar with him, could still feel the anger in his heart at this moment.

Yes, although his face is calm, the emperor is still a little angry now, it's just that his long-term monastic career has taught him to control his emotions.

The purpose of Taoist practice is naturally to want the Dao, longevity and transcendence, and to achieve it, it is natural to have no distractions.

If you want to cultivate without distractions, you must cut off the so-called seven emotions and six desires.

The seven emotions: joy, anger, worry, thought, sadness, fear, and shock; the six desires: eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind.

Fog is often used to describe the seven emotions and six desires in Taoist practice classics. This is a very vivid and ingenious description. If you understand it thoroughly, you will naturally understand it, and you will be able to concentrate on your cultivation without being influenced by the outside world.

Whether Emperor Jiajing saw through the fog, Huang Jin and Lu Bing naturally didn't know, but they guessed not, because the emperor seemed to have not learned the skill yet.

In this era, there are atheists, but not many, so they are naturally not among them.

So at this time, they could still see that Emperor Jiajing was angry.

"Wow, wow, hehe, it's really hard for a slave to accumulate such a large fortune."

Emperor Jiajing looked at Lu Bing, then at Huang Jin, and asked, "Huang Jin, how much money have you accumulated?"

Hearing the emperor's question, Huang Jin was so frightened that he fell to his knees with a "plop", and exclaimed in his mouth: "My lord, although the slaves have accumulated some silver, they are all rewards from the emperor. The rewards given by the superiors, and when they are on errands for the emperor, the subordinates will give some transportation expenses, but they have never been corrupt and perverted the law to accept ill-gotten gains, the emperor's lesson, the emperor's lesson."

As he spoke, Huang Jin kowtowed to Emperor Jiajing.

"Get up, I'm just asking casually, don't your sons and grandsons give you filial piety?"

Emperor Jiajing waved his sleeves, put his hands on his knees and asked.

"There are some, but not many, and they don't have much money themselves."

Huang Jin didn't expect that the matter would involve himself. At this time, his intestines were full of regrets. At least he should have informed Lu Bing in advance. If he is to be impeached, he must first find a chance to leave Yongshou Palace and let other people bear the burden.

Can these eunuchs around me not accept gifts?
Even the emperor, there are tributes sent from all over the country every year, which is actually one of the ways to receive gifts.

The people around me take some money, as long as they can do things for themselves with all their heart, Emperor Jiajing will not take it seriously.

A few 100,000 taels of silver, a little too much, exceeded the limit he could bear, and naturally made him think of the saying "cannibalism is short, and softness is soft".

These days, this is the number of rich and wealthy families in the local area.

"A few 100,000 taels of silver, hehe, I can really collect a lot of money, and I don't know how many dirty things I have to do to take these silver."

After Emperor Jiajing waved Huang Jin to get up, he turned to Lu Bing and said.

Hearing the emperor's words, Lu Bing finally let go of his previously suspended heart, and Li Bin was finished.

"Your Majesty, the crimes listed in the memorandum of the humble official are full of personal and material evidence, otherwise I would not dare to report the matter. After all, the matter is of great importance. Eunuch Li works in the Supervisor of Rituals."

Lu Bing whispered.

It's just that after Lu Bing finished speaking, Emperor Jiajing didn't speak immediately, but kept his hands on his knees, and looked at the memorial on the imperial book case.

I don't know what Emperor Jiajing was thinking about. At this time, Lu Bing and Huang Jin didn't dare to say anything, they could only stand there quietly, waiting for the emperor to speak.

I don't know how long it took, but Emperor Jiajing seemed to have thought it over clearly, and said to Lu Bing: "First monitor him and investigate his criminal evidence. I don't believe that he has only such a small crime. Let me investigate it carefully. Don't let him He gets away."

Emperor Jiajing didn't immediately order the arrest, so Lu Bing was at a loss and couldn't tell the situation clearly.

If you don't take people away years ago, what will you do on the New Year's Day at Jinyiwei?
But the emperor's words have already reached this point, so he can only obey the order.

After leaving Yongshou Palace, Lu Bing did not leave Xiyuan directly, but found a place to sit near Yongshou Palace. He had to wait for someone and find out the situation.

The person he was looking for was naturally Huang Jin, the great eunuch next to the emperor. No one knew the emperor better than him.

Before, Huang Jin had hinted to him that obviously something happened before that he didn't know about, and the timing he grasped was a bit wrong.

Lu Bing didn't know the details, but Huang Jin probably guessed what Emperor Jiajing was thinking.

If Li Bin is taken down now, as the eunuch of Bingbi, the supervisor of ceremonies, the news will soon spread throughout the officialdom in the capital.

After copying a few 100,000 taels of silver, and it was the New Year's Eve again, it was impossible for Fang Dun and those people not to think about the money.

If the things are copied to the Dirty Punishment Treasury, those civil servants will definitely clamor to use the dirty silver as the palace's New Year's expenses. The amount of money that was intended to be borrowed from the Changying Treasury of the Taipu Temple in the previous note should be reduced. Some, but not too many.

In a word, those civil servants keep a close eye on the palace, especially money.

Emperor Jiajing spent a lot of money because of Taoism and pleasure, so naturally he would not be indifferent to these 100,000 taels of silver.

Emperor Jiajing wanted the silver from the Taipu Temple's Changying Treasury, and the silver stored in Li Bin's house was indispensable.

As long as the time of the incident is moved back a little bit, and the money from the Taipu Temple is borrowed and sent to the palace, then it should be the time for Emperor Jiajing to act.

If the emperor of the Ming Dynasty was rich, he was really rich, at least on paper.

The emperor is the son of heaven, rich all over the world, it is said that all the wealth in this world belongs to him, as long as he needs to increase taxes.

But the emperor of the Ming Dynasty was unlucky to have a meddling ancestor. Zhu Yuanzhang settled everything down and made it into the ancestral system in the mouth of civil officials.

Although Emperor Jiajing didn't value that thing, he would change it without hesitation as long as it was necessary, but he was a little tired of fighting with civil officials for a long time, not to mention that he had to concentrate on cultivation and not be distracted by these mundane affairs.

Well, as the son of heaven, Emperor Jiajing couldn't feel the feeling of being rich all over the world.

He had to talk to Mr. Zhang and Xia Yan for a long time to find money from the Ministry of Accounts. It would be better to replace Yan Song, and he tried his best to meet his needs. Empty.

In the past two years, the money of the imperial court has been to tear down the east wall to make up for the west wall. He knows this, but he doesn't want to get involved. Let the civil servants make trouble on their own.

Adhere to your own principles, you should get it yourself, then you will enter the inner court.

Practicing the Dao is for the livelihood of the people in the world, so naturally the treasury needs to pay money.

Yes, Emperor Jiajing's inner court has income, but the money will not be used for his own cultivation.

No one understood the importance of money better than the Ming emperors.

Governing the world is actually relying on the control of financial power. As long as the government's financial flow is well controlled, the national power can be effectively controlled.

This truth must be contradictory to the current Confucianism, but Emperor Jiajing understood it, Yan Song understood it, and Wei Guangde actually thought of it.

In fact, the ultimate goal of the fiscal and taxation reforms in later generations is to control the localities more effectively.

Lu Bing waited outside the palace for a long time before Huang Jin found time to come out from Yongshou Palace.

It's not that Huang Jin has grown up with Emperor Jiajing's training, and he can pinch and count, but a little servant quietly told him about it.

Huang Jin knew what Lu Bing wanted to know, but as he was serving the emperor, he naturally knew when to leave the emperor's side.

Fortunately, he finally found a chance. Shangmei from the palace came here with nothing to do, so Huang Jin naturally wanted to leave the hall.

Arriving in front of the gate of Yongshou Palace, Huang Jin looked back at the majestic palace, that Shangmei was really a blessing in eight lifetimes, and thought that the emperor would punish this unruly little maid.

Who would have thought that it would be a blessing in disguise, from a young maid to Shangmei, and a serf who turned over and sang and became the little master of the palace.

She was the little court lady who made fun of Emperor Jiajing for dozing off in the palace before. Not only was she not punished for her gaffe, but instead she was invited to sleep by Emperor Jiajing. This is no one's luck.

After leaving Yongshou Palace, Huang Jin saw Lu Bing, and then whispered to him about the note sent by the cabinet just now.

Lu Bing is naturally a smart person, and instantly understood what Emperor Jiajing meant.

On the way to leave Xiyuan, Lu Bing was even more worried. He couldn't copy Li Bin's house a few years ago, so where should he get this Jinyiwei's annual ceremony?

The impeachment was delayed until this time, not only because of the need to collect sufficient evidence, but also because it was a period when the palace was short of money, and another reason was that Jin Yiwei also wanted money to send his subordinates.

Although Jin Yiwei has a lot of oil and water in the capital, his subordinates are not just a few people. Not to mention the other Jin Yiwei in the country, tens of thousands of people in the capital alone rely on him for food, and this does not include those rewards vain job.

Riding on the horse, Lu Bing felt a little lost.

(End of this chapter)