prosperous age

Chapter 681 780 Just Mind Your Business
After Wei Guangde came out of Chen Yiqin's duty room and returned to his own duty room, he did not immediately deal with the backlog of official duties, but directly spread out a note, wrote a note, and then called Zhongshu to send them to the Metropolitan Procuratorate go.

The content of the note, of course, is to make an appointment to meet Zuodu Yushi and Tuntian Yushi in the afternoon.

The same operation, wrote another note, but it was sent to the household department, please Ma Shangshu come over in the afternoon.

Wei Guangde is used to doing things first, Xungui has already said hello, and the next step is to say hello to the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the Ministry of Household Affairs to let them know about it.

The household department will also re-play the matter of Zhuangtian, so that no one will jump out to express dissatisfaction at that time.

Generally speaking, the central government's policy plans are communicated well before they are released, and they are never revised after they are released.

In the film and television works of later generations, fierce disputes at court meetings are actually very difficult to happen. Only when party disputes are fierce will there be situations where the differences cannot be explained in the audience and the differences must be brought to the table.

Although the Ming court had secretly split into several factions, there were only three factions with great strength.

One is the strength headed by the old Yu Yu, who rely on the trust of the emperor, and headed by the three cabinet elders, the most powerful.

The second is Xu Jie's team at the beginning, but now that Xu Jie is away from the court, Zhang Juzheng is still gathering and appeasing these people, so there will be no big moves in the court in the short term.

The last force is actually not the fence-riding faction, but the Qingliu, a group of people headed by the Imperial Academy and Ke Dao Speakers, but there are many small groups among them, which are very complicated.

If they are twisted into one strand, their strength will be terrifying, because they represent public opinion.

Wei Guangde didn't want to cause trouble, but also wanted to do well what Emperor Longqing had asked him to do. Naturally, he had to choose a safe way to handle the matter.

The Xun Qi, the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Metropolitan Procuratorate are indispensable, and the work is done, and they pass the customs at one time, and everyone is happy.

Just after he made the arrangements, he started to deal with official duties, and picked up the first memorial on the table, which was the one mentioned by Chen Yiqin earlier, the memorial of the Ministry of Households about Jiangxi's trial implementation of the "one-whip method" to collect taxes and labor.

He opened his eyes and saw that there was not much difference from what Chen Yiqin said. After discussing with the Ministry of Household Affairs, in order to avoid all kinds of disadvantages after trying this method, he planned to carry out a pilot experiment in Jiangxi to perfect this method.

After all, when Gui E put forward the idea, and after Liang Cai, Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, summarized and formed specific measures, although all localities were trying, all local officials acted according to their own understandings, and there was no unified collection regulation.

This is a whipping method that has been implemented in various places. In fact, it is essentially that the local supervisors are acting according to their own understanding.

Most of the taxes are calculated and collected twice during the summer grain and autumn tax seasons, and no tax is levied at other times. However, there is still a big difference in terms of apportionment.

This is also the key to supporters and opponents after the implementation of a whip law in various places.

As a result, many so-called one-whip laws appeared in various places, most of which were designed by officials according to local conditions and were not uniform.

For example, the Zhengyi method implemented in Jiangnan, the Shuwei book in Jiangxi, the Shiduanjin method in the southeast, the equal silver method in Zhejiang and Guangdong, and the gang silver method in Fujian all have the content of transferring corvee silver to fields.

But this time, the Ministry of Household Affairs wants to use Jiangxi as an example to perfect a set of practical and feasible standard regulations, which will be implemented in all parts of the south of the Yangtze River, and then gradually expanded to the north, so as to achieve the goal of implementing a single whip law in the whole world.

Although Wei Guangde also felt that it would be difficult to form a set of tax laws that could be implemented across the country due to the vast land and abundant resources of the Ming Dynasty and the huge differences in the environments of different regions, the idea of ​​the Ministry of Household Affairs is advisable.

It's hard to imagine that various places in Ming Dynasty have their own way of tax law, which will only lead to confusion in tax law.

This was actually one of the reasons why Ge Shouli wanted to stop a whip.

Messy, too messy.

Wei Guangde had no objection to using Jiangxi as a pilot project. After reading the memorabilia of the Ministry of Household Affairs, he felt that it was very rigorous, so he immediately posted a note on the memo: Yes.

Just as he put away the memorial and was about to continue with his official duties, there were footsteps outside the door.

Wei Guangde subconsciously raised his head and glanced, unconsciously revealing a look of surprise.

Outside the door was a small servant, at first Wei Guangde thought it was Chen Ju who had called to deliver the letter, but when he entered the room, it was the emperor's oral order: Wei Guangde was ordered to enter the palace immediately for an audience.

Hearing that it was Emperor Longqing who wanted to see him, Wei Guangde naturally couldn't sit still, and simply folded up the memorials he had read and put them back.

After thinking about it, he took the household memorandum that had already been drawn up, and followed the little servant out the door.

"My father-in-law, did His Majesty only summon me alone?"

After leaving Wenyuan Pavilion, Wei Guangde asked with some puzzlement.

In his opinion, Emperor Longqing summoned him at this time, most likely because of Li Fang's affairs.

After all, Chen Yiqin went to intercede early in the morning, and he and Yin Shixuan went to the prison to see people, and even brought them into the doctor for treatment.

Don't underestimate the abilities of Dongchang and Jin Yiwei. Perhaps their conversations in the prison have been well recorded and handed over to Emperor Longqing for review.

Wei Guangde was the first to not believe that there were no spies from Jinyiwei in a sensitive place like the Prison of the Ministry of Criminal Justice.

Chen Yiqin said that His Majesty seemed to believe those words, that is, Li Fang was dissatisfied with him and said bad things in private.

To make Emperor Longqing mind, Teng Xiang, Meng Chong and others must have painstakingly come up with words that can make Emperor Longqing unable to let go.

It can only be said that it is impossible not to admire these few people. It took a year to figure out Emperor Longqing's temperament and know what kind of words can stimulate him.

"I don't know, the decree I received was to summon Elder Wei Ge to the palace."

The servant was also very polite, and immediately bowed and said.

"okay."

Wei Guangde smiled and continued to follow the servant.

The two soon arrived outside Qianqing Palace, Wei Guangde had to wait for an order at the palace gate to enter, and the little servant entered the palace to announce.

After a short while, the servant hurried out again and invited Wei Guangde in.

Emperor Longqing met Wei Guangde in the side hall, which is where he usually handles memorials. At this time, after Wei Guangde entered, the main hall door was closed from the outside.

With the door closed, the room was dimly lit.

At this time, Emperor Longqing did not deal with the memorial, but sat on the throne in a bored manner, looking at Wei Guangde who came in.

Although the palaces in the Forbidden City are the crystallization of the intelligence and wisdom of Chinese skilled craftsmen, they are limited by technology and materials, and the indoor lighting is not good.

In particular, the palaces of the Ming Dynasty were built in a grand manner, with a look of heavenly style. The roofs are supported by long-span columns. This layout makes the natural light that can enter the palace very limited.

In fact, most Chinese people choose to face south when building houses, which is the so-called orientation, because this layout is the most conducive to building lighting.

Most of the ancient buildings in our country are laid out in this way, as recorded in the pre-Qin literature "The Book of Songs Xiaoya Sigan", "Kaikuai is upright, 哕哕 is dark. The gentleman is peaceful", which means that the main hall (north room) is spacious and bright , the side hall is magnificent, which is good for the king to rest.

The eaves of the ancient buildings in the Forbidden City protrude outwards, with a slight upward arc, forming a beautiful curve, called overhanging eaves.

The upturned eaves of the curved roof have less sun shading and are conducive to lighting inside the building.

The overhanging eaves of the ancient buildings in the Forbidden City are obviously different from the overhanging eaves of modern buildings. Modern buildings generally do not have large overhanging eaves. Sunlight directly enters the room through the window glass, making the room bright. A large amount of heat leads to an increase in the energy consumption of the air conditioner, and because of the high brightness of the window, it brings direct glare and reflected glare to the indoor people.

In contrast, the large overhanging eaves of the ancient buildings in the Forbidden City block a lot of direct light from entering the hall directly through the doors and windows, and a small part of direct light enters the building ground, diffusely reflects to other places in the hall through the ground, and the external direct light is filtered by the overhanging eaves and occlusion becomes softer.

Not only that, the method of overhanging the eaves of the ancient buildings in the Forbidden City is beneficial to avoid sunlight entering the room at noon in summer, while in winter at noon the sunlight can just shine into the deepest part of the building to obtain the best lighting effect inside the building.

The materials inside the building can reflect the light source, and the building materials can have a significant impact on the light. The ancients used materials with high reflectivity to introduce light into the interior space of the building more effectively.

For example, Fan Chengda's "Guihai Yuheng Zhi" in the Song Dynasty contained: "The natives used lime to build the walls, and when they were still wet, they wiped them with talc powder, and they were as bright as jade", which means that after smearing talc on the walls of the building, , the walls will sparkle.

Li Yu in the Qing Dynasty wrote "Li Weng Ou Ji · Living Room Department": "The lime chalk wall is ground to make the aurora, and it is also on it; secondly, it is pasted with paper, which can make the pillars, windows and couplets of the house into one color", which means Whitewash the wall with white ash, and then paste it with paper. The light in the room can be increased through the reflective effect.

The lighting of the palace buildings in the Forbidden City is inseparable from the reflection of light inside the building, and this reflection is mainly carried out through the wall and ground materials.

The interior of the Forbidden City building has a smooth jade-like gold brick floor, vermilion columns and light yellow walls. The surface is shiny and has a high reflectivity; while the turquoise ceiling inside the building has a dull surface and a low reflectivity.

There is also the best Korean paper used for the doors and windows of the palace. This kind of window paper is of high quality and has good lighting and wind and cold protection effects. The Forbidden City Palace is already the best building in China at this time. But the moment the palace door is closed, Wei Guangde feels His eyes were pitch black, and he could only see things after a while.

After just a brief moment of dazed effort in front of the palace gate, Wei Guangde realized that he was disrespectful in front of the imperial court, hurriedly walked towards Emperor Longqing, knelt down and saluted in front of the imperial book case.

"Chen Wei Guangde has met His Majesty, long live long live long live long live."

"Aiqing calm down."

On the throne, Emperor Longqing spoke.

Wei Guangde stood up, still bowed, maintaining a respectful look.

When he got up just now, Wei Guangde had reconfirmed that there was no other person present in the hall, at least on the surface, and maybe His Majesty was secretly playing against him again.

"How is Li Fang now?"

Just as Wei Guangde regained his composure, Emperor Longqing's questioning voice came to his ears.

"Reporting to Your Majesty, the doctor said that Eunuch Li's injury will take half a month to heal."

Wei Guangde didn't dare to lie, so he answered directly.

"Li Fang is a slave, but I treat him too well."

Hearing that Emperor Longqing was concerned about Li Fang's injury at the beginning, Wei Guangde still had a hope in his heart, maybe he had a chance to persuade His Majesty to spare him once.

But the cold words that followed made Wei Guangde feel as if he had fallen into an ice cellar.

"Your Majesty, you still have to cherish your body, and don't spoil your body just because of Eunuch Li."

Wei Guangde had no choice but to say.

"It's in vain that I treated him so well. I didn't pursue so many wrong things before. I just let him sit at home and think about it for a while. Unexpectedly, he became dissatisfied with me because of this, and uttered disrespectful words."

Emperor Longqing still said with a bit of annoyance in his tone.

Wei Guangde really wanted to ask him what he heard, but in the end he didn't say a word.

Some things, the less you know, the better, especially when it comes to the emperor.

In fact, Wei Guangde is not sure whether the Li Fang in front of him is the Li Fang in the palace, as the saying goes, you know the face but don't know the heart, this is the truth.

Wei Guangde understood what he said earlier, Li Fang made a mistake, Emperor Longqing did not pursue it.

But this kind of thought was shattered in an instant, he couldn't be sure of Li Fang's character in the palace, but the bystanders did.

At least the Chen Ju he knew didn't say anything bad about Li Fang. Does that mean there's still a postscript?
Those wrong things should be reported by those people behind their backs.

Wei Guangde had an idea in his mind, but he couldn't say it out loud. The more he explained it, the more he couldn't explain it clearly, especially the matter of the inner court.

"Your Majesty's generosity is the blessing of the ministers."

Later, Wei Guangde said, and then bowed to Emperor Longqing and continued: "But Eunuch Li is an old man who has served His Majesty for many years. Word.

Just thinking of those years when Yu Yu was in the same boat, I really can't bear to see him being imprisoned and suffering.

I implore Your Majesty to forgive him once more and let him out of the prison. If Your Majesty is not relieved, why don't you just let him go to Nanjing City to take care of his old age? "

"Hmph, you and Chen Yiqin are the same way, I knew you would intercede with that slave."

Emperor Longqing said in displeasure, "Stop asking for mercy, you said it before, it's up to me to punish him, and now I want to punish him.

Let him be sober in the prison first, don't think that after serving me for many years, he can tell me what to do. "

Hearing Emperor Longqing's words, although Wei Guangde put down his desire to rescue Li Fang, he could tell that the emperor had no intention of killing him.

It's just annoying that he often points and points in front of him. This is not a bad excuse, and I don't want to see him.

"Can"

Wei Guangde just raised his head, then shut up all of a sudden.

Didn't I originally want to say that people are locked in a big prison, and whether they can be released? It's not good for outsiders to see.

But after thinking about it, it is good for people to be in the prison of the Ministry of Criminal Justice, at least it is more convenient for them to do what they do. If they are transferred to the imperial prison, although they can go in and see people, it is quite troublesome.

"I called you here today to tell you not to worry about Li Fang's affairs."

Emperor Longqing said unhurriedly on the throne.

"Yes."

On this occasion, Wei Guangde would not argue with Emperor Longqing over Li Fang, it was really unnecessary, just follow the emperor's wishes first, and then find another opportunity.

"The cabinet affairs are complicated. Don't be distracted by irrelevant things. This is why I called you here."

"I understand."

"How is the matter of Zhuangtian handled?"

(End of this chapter)