Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 261
"This hell, it's not raining now, and the Xiaoqing River is almost dry..."

"Without food, the imperial court should help us."

"That's for sure. Didn't the imperial court ask for relief when Dilong turned around a few years ago?"

"But last time, didn't King Qi ask the emperor to allocate money and food for relief? I heard that King Qi went to Hetao to fight this year and hasn't returned to the capital yet."

"The emperor couldn't possibly starve us..."

In June, when Zhu Youjian was in Xining, a group of bitter farmers stood beside a waterwheel, stepping on the pedals, trying to push the water in the river below them into the ditch.

However, the water level of the Xiaoqing River, which has not rained for half a year, is low, and a pile of silt has been stepped on.

"Ugh……"

Looking at the mud that was stepped on, a man sighed, turned his head to look at the rice that was about to die in the field, and then looked up at the bright sun shining high in the sky. .

"If it doesn't rain again, I'll really have to wait to die..."

In a word, everyone's heart is heavy, and it's not only them who are also heavy hearted, but also Yuan Keli in Qingcheng County, dozens of miles away.

At this moment, Yuan Keli squatted on the dry and cracked cultivated land, stretched out his hand to pick off a rice ear that hadn't matured, and rubbed it with his fingers, only to find that all he rubbed were empty husks without any fruit.

"Magistrate Wang, how much official food is there in the treasury of Qingcheng County? How much Changping granary?"

Yuan Keli stood up with a heavy heart, and at a glance, there were tens of thousands of acres of dry and cracked land, as well as dead rice.

Behind him, a dozen yamen servants, several chief secretary officials, and several county officials stood.

A county magistrate who heard the words stepped forward and said: "There are still [-] shi of official grain in the county, and [-] shi of official grain in Changping warehouse."

"Is this little food enough to eat if a drought comes?" Yuan Keli turned to look at the other party, and the county magistrate also faltered and said:

"It should... probably... not enough to eat..."

When he said this, Yuan Keli frowned, and the officer from the chief secretary also stepped forward and said:

"Governor, it's better to ask the Ministry of Households to distribute the grain. It's better to allocate grain in advance than to allocate grain later."

"As far as the current drought is concerned, even if it rains, I'm afraid not many people will be able to harvest. You should ask the court to allocate grain and prepare in advance to stabilize grain prices."

"Hmm..." Yuan Keli nodded slightly, turned around and glanced at the cracked rice fields before leaving with a sigh.

They returned to Qingcheng County, and after Yuan Keli returned to Qingcheng County, he immediately wrote a letter and asked the Ministry of Households to allocate [-] shi for emergency needs.

It's a pity that after his memorial was urgently sent to the capital all day and night, it aroused quite intense discussions in the cabinet.

"The severe drought in Shandong requires food, the white disaster in Shaanxi needs food, the relocation of Hetao needs food, the relocation of old port needs food, and Fujian and Guangdong also need food. How can the household department have so much food?"

In the Wenhua Palace of the Outer Court of the capital, when the cabinet minister Huang Liji spoke, everyone frowned.

At this time, Bi Ziyan, another cabinet minister in charge of the Ministry of Accounts, said:

"There is not enough food in the household department. You can find a way, or transfer money, or ask the other five departments and four temples for help. These are all possible."

Bi Ziyan is still young in the cabinet, but he is also fifty-six years old, and he has been in office for thirty-three years. He is very skilled in terms of political achievements and handling disasters.

As soon as he opened his mouth, Huang Liji shut his mouth immediately, but at this time, another cabinet minister Wei Guangwei found fault again:

"Everyone knows that the silver reward for the Battle of Hetao has not been issued, and King Qi and His Majesty have not said anything at the moment, and it is probably inappropriate to use the silver deposits from the six ministries and four temples without authorization."

"Cough cough, the disaster is imminent, first relief..."

Suddenly, a cough interrupted the quarrel, and when everyone looked around, it was Zhao Nanxing who had been ill since the beginning of the year.

It's just that Zhao Nanxing is the Minister of the Ministry of Officials after all, and it's not his turn to speak about money and food, so Wei Guangwei is not afraid of his status as the leader of the Donglin, but pretends to be concerned about the country and the people, but says:

"If there is no money, the military pay and rewards will not be paid, I am afraid that the hearts of the soldiers will be chilled..."

Everyone can see Wei Guangwei's cat-cry-mouse trick. In the final analysis, Wei Guangwei has his eye on the position of governor of Shandong.

Taking advantage of this severe drought to pull Yuan Keli off his horse, and then support the eunuchs' own people to go up, this is what he wants to do.

Everyone is not stupid. It can be seen that this guy's methods and thoughts, and as one of the cabinet ministers, Sun Chengzong had to say:

"Even if you don't adjust grain from the Ministry of Households, you can also borrow grain from Nanzhili."

"Borrowing food?" Wei Guangwei suddenly asked Sun Chengzong forcefully:

"Dare to ask Sun Gechen, since the first year of Taichang, how much grain has Shandong borrowed from Nanzhili? How much has it been returned?"

Wei Guangwei's words immediately made Sun Chengzong speechless, and he also hit the rails while it was hot:

"In the second year of the Apocalypse, the Earth Dragon in Shandong borrowed more than [-] million stones of grain from South Zhili, and it has not been returned yet. However, the Earth Dragon in South Zhili turned over last year, and Ying Tianfu Su, Song, Feng, Si, Huai, and Yang , Chuzhou and other places suffered an earthquake on the same day, and Yuan Liqing (Yuan Keli's name) cried poorly and refused to return the grain when he asked Shandong to return the grain."

"Yuan Liqing had promised to return it this year, but now that there is a severe drought in Shandong, he not only failed to return it, but also asked the court for food and fodder, without any regard for the court's difficulties."

"For five years, he did not do anything beneficial to the imperial court and Shandong."

"Dare to ask Zhao Shangshu, according to the official examination, is Yuan Liqing really qualified?"

Wei Guangwei's aggressive appearance made people feel disgusted, but in the face of his questioning, Zhao Nanxing took his time and responded with a sick body:
"Ahem... Natural disasters and man-made disasters, wouldn't it be too absurd to blame one person for all the disasters?"

"Wei Gechen only knew about the severe drought in Shandong, but he didn't know that within five years, Yuan Liqing led the people of Shandong to reclaim more than [-] mu of land, built more than [-] dams and canals, and participated in the suppression of the White Lotus Rebellion."

"If these merits are really investigated, I am afraid that only the introduction of the cabinet can be reciprocated, rather than letting people who are vegetarians opportunistically gain positions."

Zhao Nanxing deftly defuses Wei Guangwei, and also disgusts him by the way.

However, Wei Guangwei is willing to be Wei Zhongxian's dog, and his face is not important to him, so he retorted openly:
"Natural disasters and man-made disasters cannot be blamed on one person, this is a good saying!"

"If the old man remembers correctly, back then Gao Panlong, Wan Yanyang and others often associated King Qi with natural disasters."

"Why didn't the officials refute it at the beginning, but now they start to refute it?"

"Okay..." Seeing that both parties were not giving in to each other, even though Ye Xianggao looked headache, he still had to stand up as the chief assistant of the cabinet and be the peacemaker.

He comforted the two of them: "Right now we're not discussing crimes, and things aren't developing beyond relief."

"Five ministries and four temples will share [-] taels first, and Taicang will also transfer [-] shi grains to the south to Jinan. If the situation is uncontrollable, then use [-] taels to buy grain from Jiangnan and go north."

Ye Xianggao wanted to make peace, but Huang Liji snorted coldly:

"Hmph! Over the years of the Ming Dynasty, the state treasury has been short-lived every year. It is precisely because of your practice of tearing down the east wall to make up for the west wall!"

"Really?" Zuo Guangdou, the censor Zuoqin of the Metropolitan Procuratorate who had been watching suddenly, couldn't help but speak.

He asked Huang Liji, Wei Guanghui and others:
"The national treasury is running short every year, isn't it caused by the construction of the inner court?"

Having said this, Zuo Guangdou stood up, and said in a loud voice to the forty or so senior officials in Wenhua Hall:

"The inner court is doing a lot of construction work, but the officials at all levels in the outer court are loyal and obedient, but they are secretly taking the opportunity to search."

"Zuo Guangdou! It is Long Live's will to build the three halls." Wei Guang frowned slightly, and Zuo Guangdou did not back down:

"The construction of the three halls is the foundation of the country, and I have no objection to this point."

"However, recently, the chief inspector of ceremonies and the internal officials have been involved in large-scale construction projects. The timber they use is transported from the deep mountains in eastern Liaodong, crosses the sea to Tianjin, and then transported to the capital by manpower."

"There are twists and turns in it, it's impossible for all the superiors not to know?"

Zuo Guangdou said, and suddenly looked at Bi Ziyan:
"Bi Shangshu, you are in charge of the account department, you should have read the accounts of the account department."

"How much is the amount of silver taels in the Ministry of Internal Affairs? How much material is needed for the construction of the Department of Rites and Internal Officials? How much will it cost?"

What he said made Bi Ziyan frown, and Zuo Guangdou didn't want to stop, but glanced at many ministers, and continued:
"All these materials are for imperial use, and the items for imperial use are collected and allocated from counties, prefectures, government offices, and government offices."

"How many officials in these places have embezzled the money of the court? How many of the people who were forced into corvee died?"

"How many of these things have been impeached by the Metropolitan Procuratorate? How many have been played? Why didn't Wansui respond? Why didn't Wei Gechen respond to you?"

"Zuo Guangdou, you are not complaining right now. Your attitude is very problematic. This is Wenhua Palace, not your Metropolitan Procuratorate." Seeing Zuo Guangdou's eloquent words, Huang Liji didn't bother to argue with him, but used attitude to speak.

"Is there a problem with your attitude? Heh..." Zuo Guangdou lightly scoffed:
"I'm afraid it's not me who has a problem with my attitude, but Wei Gechen, Huang Gechen, and the motley bunch behind them, who are vegetarians!"

"Zuo Guangdou! You're presumptuous!" Wei Guanghui couldn't take it anymore, so he glared at Zuo Guangdou and scolded:
"This is Wenhua Palace, a place for discussion, not a place for you to run wild."

"As the censor of Zuoqian capital of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, don't you even understand the court rules?!"

Wei Guangwei was furious, and many officials of the eunuch party had a bad face, including Yao Zongwen and a large group of former ministers of the five parties.

"The rules of the court! That's for the courtiers to hear, let the courtiers do it, not..."

"Ahem! Alright..."

Zuo Guangdou wanted to say more, but at this moment Zhao Nanxing interrupted him suddenly, and said before him:

"There is no need for the three of you to quarrel, not to mention Zuoqian Capital Censor is right."

"Long live in the inner court, it often takes a few days to review the memorials. For the Chang Dynasty, it changed from one court per day in the first year of Taichang to one court every three days, one court every ten days, and now one court every month."

"I'm afraid all the cabinet ministers should take care of these things and persuade Long Live not to repeat the mistakes of Emperor Shenzong Xian."

"Severe words..." Huang Liji stood up and coughed:

"Long live is indeed too much work, not to mention that the world is peaceful now, there is nothing wrong with taking a rest."

"The world is peaceful?" Zhao Nanxing laughed angrily:

"If the world is really peaceful, then there won't be so many disasters and wars!"

"What's wrong with the war? I am the teacher of the king, and Jiugang Hetao also regained the lost ground." Gu Bingqian couldn't listen anymore. Originally, he was not going to speak, but Zhao Nanxing went too far.

As an official of the Qi Royal Party, how could he not know that basically all wars are led by the generals of the Qi Royal Palace?

If Zhao Nanxing said these words, if he didn't refute, the generals of the five armies' governor's mansion might have objections to him.

"Regaining the lost ground is not a problem at all. The problem is that we act too hastily..." Zhao Nanxing also realized that he shouldn't set up so many enemies, so his tone eased a lot:
"When there is a rebellion in the southwest, the north and south will fight at the same time, and the north and south will move."

"This kind of practice completely exceeds the operation that the six ministries and four monasteries can bear."

Zhao Nanxing's words attracted the approval of many officials. In the past few years, they could all see that Zhu Youjian's actions were a little too hasty.

Daming's financial situation has just improved, and right now it is supposed to accumulate money and food first, and then when the money and food are almost accumulated, it will not be too late to recover the lost land.

As a result, Zhu Youjian's actions were too big, so that the household department did not deposit silver every year, and the other five departments and four temples were not much better.

"His Royal Highness King Qi is doing it for Daming and the common people by attacking cities and looting land."

"Not to mention that the land of Nanyang gained tens of millions of acres in one fell swoop. In the past few months alone, the tax payment of the Shibo Division has been greatly increased."

"Last year, from January to June of the fourth year of Tianqi, the tax money collected was only [-] taels, but at the same time this year, we received more than [-] taels."

"With the extra [-] taels, we can buy nearly a million stones of rice and wheat in the south of the Yangtze River and relocate hundreds of thousands of people."

"If the old port is stable in the future, tens of millions of acres of land will be produced every year, and more than [-] million stones will be produced, and the taxes paid will also be millions of stones."

"Let's talk about the Hetao, the land of the Hetao has been regained, and I, Da Ming, can also reclaim the fields in the front Tao and the back Tao, and raise herds."

"The four towns of Guyuan, Ningxia, Taiyuan, and Datong became inland. I don't know how much food was saved, and how much stability the people in Guanzhong got."

"What His Royal Highness King Qi does is for the court, for Ming Dynasty, and for the people of the world."

Gu Bingqian kept his mouth shut about the imperial court and the common people with his mouth, silencing the officials of the Donglin faction.

However, this does not mean that he is Zhao Nanxing's opponent. Zhao Nanxing is unwilling to refute in depth because he does not want to make enemies.

In his eyes, although the Qi royal party is treacherous, it is neither chaotic nor thieves, and it can still make some positive effects for the Ming Dynasty, the court, and the people.

The eunuchs and the officials of the five parties who are hidden among them are the ones who are really up to the task.

"Okay, let's stop here, and the things in Shandong will be handled according to what I just said."

Ye Xianggao got a headache from the noise, so he could only speak again to stabilize the situation, and at the same time got up to leave Wenhua Palace.

At this time, he really wanted Zhu Youjian to come back quickly, and let Zhu Youjian see for himself what the chaos in the courtroom looked like.

He didn't want to take over anymore, and he couldn't move his old bones anymore. He hurried home to take care of the elderly while he still had strength.

Thinking of this, he also left the Wenhua Palace one by one, and at the same time as he left, all the officials got up and left the place one after another.

The officials of the six ministries returned to the six ministries respectively, but Huang Liji, Wei Guangwei, Yao Zongwen, Tang Binyin, Guan Yingzhen and others got together and rode in a carriage to head for the Supervisor of Rites.

Two quarters of an hour later, when the carriage stopped at the gate of the Supervisor of Rituals, everyone got out of the carriage and saw the supervisor's construction site in full swing.

Just as Zuo Guangdou said, Wei Zhongxian asked Zhu Youxiao to agree to repair the Ritual Supervisor and the Internal Official Supervisor last year, and the excuse was very simple.

He first said that the palaces in the Silijian were decayed and unusable, and then he said that the officialdom of the Inner Prison was the place where the emperor practiced carpentry, so that Zhu Youxiao agreed to repair the two prisons.

Just for this construction, tens of millions of taels of expenditure have been embezzled.

Even Wei Zhongxian himself didn't know the silver taels that were actually implemented.

Wei Guanghui and the others didn't want to see the construction site, so under the guidance of the eunuchs, they soon came to the palace where Wei Zhongxian was working.

And when they entered the palace, what they saw was Wei Zhongxian leaning on a chair, followed by two eunuchs with fair faces and slender figures.

Those two eunuchs with a discerning eye could tell they were two women, and what they were doing was nothing more than pinching Wei Zhongxian's shoulders and kicking his legs.

"Why did you come to our house? Is there something wrong?"

Wei Zhongxian closed his eyes to enjoy, while Yao Zongwen squinted his eyes when he heard the words, and immediately cried miserably:

"Mr. Chang, you don't know that Zhao Nanxing, Zuo Guangdou and everyone in Donglin started to impeach you again during the discussion in the Wenhua Palace today!"

"Huh?" Hearing that the Donglin Party was impeaching him again, Wei Zhongxian also opened his eyes, and while taking away the slender hands on his shoulders, he did not look at Yao Zongwen, but at Wei Guangwei instead:
"What did they say again?"

"Eh..." Seeing Wei Zhongxian's appearance, Wei Guangwei could only pick up the words:
"They impeached the cost of repairing the internal officials' supervisor and the ceremonial supervisor, thinking that you and the people below were greedy for money."

"However, the lower officials have already refuted them on the spot, so the factory owner doesn't have to worry about it."

"..." Hearing this, Wei Zhongxian immediately turned ugly.

Since he came to power, in less than a year, the Supervisor of Rituals has obtained tens of thousands of impeachment memorials.

Most of the content of the memorandum is about his seizing the fields, or seizing the house, and accepting bribes.

Wei Zhongxian didn't feel that he had done anything wrong in these things. Didn't he become a eunuch just to collect money and gain power?
He only felt that these Donglin and Qingliu were croaking, and wished they could all be caught in prison and beaten severely.

Thinking of the prison, Wei Zhongxian said unhurriedly:

"I'll let Cui Yingyuan and Yang Huan handle the matter. You can submit a list and recommend suitable officials."

"Yes..." Upon hearing this, Yao Zongwen and the others responded immediately, and Wei Guangwei and Huang Liji also responded successively.

"Go down if you have nothing to do." Wei Zhongxian said while playing with the hand of the female eunuch behind him.

Seeing this, everyone didn't want to disturb his elegant mood, bowed and saluted, and left.

Only after leaving, seeing Wei Guangwei and Huang Liji leaving one after another, Yao Zongwen glanced at Tang Binyin and Gu Tianjun on the left and right and said:

"This group of guys are really immature, they messed up with Dong Lin again in a few words."

"Zhao Nanxing and the others still have some restraint in doing things. It is not good for us to procrastinate like this. We have to deal with them before King Qi returns." Gu Tianjun also expressed his thoughts.

"It's not easy for them in the end. Unless Wanzai makes a move, we can only maintain the status quo at best." Tang Binyin knew the essence of the problem.

Now the emperor is very calm, hiding behind the scenes and manipulating the court, letting Wei Zhongxian stir up the wind and rain in the court, and because Wei Zhongxian is afraid of Zhu Youjian, he has never dared to use the Qi royal party, and Dong Lin, who is related to the king of Qi, to make an example of others.

As a result, the political situation fell into a stalemate.

This stalemate is not good for the five parties. Who knows what Zhu Youjian will do when he returns?
His methods are not simple. Fang Congzhe, Sun Ruyou and others have all stumbled in his hands, let alone them.

"This Wei Zhongxian has a big appetite, and now we have to push him up a bit. As long as he is not afraid of King Qi, many things will be easy to deal with."

Yao Zongwen thought well, but he didn't know that Wei Zhongxian was so afraid of Zhu Youjian that he would die.

"I'm going to let the people below build a shrine for Wei Zhongxian, and you can figure it out."

As soon as Yao Zongwen opened his mouth, Tang Binyin and Gu Tianjun frowned: "Jiansheng Temple? Can Long live agree?"

"There is no harm in trying." Yao Zongwen stroked his beard. Although he was not sure about this matter, he also wanted to try Zhu Youxiao's attitude towards Wei Zhongxian.

"You can try it first. If you can, there is a way to win over a group of officials without party affiliation." Tang Binyin chose to agree, and Gu Tianjun also nodded.

"In that case, let's get ready when we go back."

After all, Yao Zongwen and the two parted ways, and the three returned to their own mansions, and held meetings about the Shengci one after another.

It's just that their actions were all going on under Nanzhen Fusi's nose.

However, after Cui Yingyuan learned of these things, he did not report back to Wei Zhongxian, but chose to go to Xuqin Palace and told Cao Huachun and Wang Chengen all the things.

"This group of people know how to please others. It's a pity to be a civil servant. They should enter the palace as eunuchs..."

Taking the information from Cui Yingyuan, Cao Huachun spoke in a flat tone, while Wang Chengen next to him said indifferently:

"At the moment, I don't care about these party disputes. In comparison, it is more important that His Highness asked us to allocate three million shimi to Datong to kill the tiger and go to the front."

"The grain stored in the three major warehouses in Yanshan is only about [-] million shi. How to adjust the rice has become a problem."

Wang Chengen's question didn't bother Cao Huachun, he simply answered:

"This matter is simple. There is still [-] taels of silver in the Huangdian. Buy the grain in Beizhili with the silver deposited in the Huangdian, and then collect three million shi and ship it to the front."

A very simple issue of grain adjustment was arguing in the Wenhua Palace, and it was finally settled under Ye Xianggao's insistence.

When they arrived at Xuqin Palace, Wang Chengen and Cao Huachun didn't even discuss this issue for more than ten sentences before deciding on the matter.

Cui Yingyuan saw it clearly in the hall, and his thoughts about following King Qi closely became deeper and deeper in his heart.

"Okay, you continue to help Wei Zhongxian attack Donglin, and provide Donglin with some criminal evidence of officials from the five parties when necessary."

"Remember, attack the five parties, don't attack the backbone of the eunuch party..."

Cao Huachun explained carefully, and Cui Yingyuan nodded when he heard the words, and then withdrew from Xuqin Palace.

Looking at his leaving back, Cao Huachun turned to look at Wang Chengen, and couldn't help laughing:

"The party struggle in the court is getting more and more interesting..."

(End of this chapter)