I, Jiajing, successfully cultivated immortality

Chapter 8 Imperial Meeting (1)

The heavy snow that had been falling for several days finally stopped, there were very few pedestrians on the street, and the sky was still very gloomy, which made people feel a little unhappy, and today was the day when the imperial meeting was held.

Outside the cabinet, the five people headed by the eunuch Lu Fang, the supervisor of ceremonies, were all looking forward to the arrival of the cabinet members.

After a while, five sedan chairs of different colors stopped outside the cabinet. The first assistant of the cabinet, Yan Song, second assistant Xu Jie, Zhang Juzheng, Yan Shifan, and Gao Gong got off the sedan chairs one after another with the help of servants.

"Old Yan Ge!" Lu Fang smiled all over his face, and greeted Yan Song first.

"Eunuch Lu." Yan Song bowed slightly to show courtesy.

The two walked side by side and began to greet each other, followed by a group of supervisors and cabinet members.

"Yan Ge was 79 last year, and will be [-] this year!"

"Where is it, my body is getting old!"

Yan Song smiled, the age spots all over his face trembled, and with Lu Fang's support, he stepped up the steps.

"Where is there, old Yan Ge's body is strong, I think he will have to work for at least another 20 years!"

"If you work for another 20 years, you won't be envied to death!" Yan Shifan interjected angrily, glancing towards Xu Jie's direction from the corner of his eyes.

"You!" Gao Gong on the side wanted to seek justice for Xu Jie, but Xu Jie just shook his head indifferently, motioning for everyone to follow in the footsteps of Yan Song and Lu Fang.

"Mr. Yan Ge, today we are all in the same boat! We can get over the matter of deficit, if we can."

Before entering the cabinet, Lu Fang seemed worried, and gave another order.

"Okay, let's go if we can." Yan Song nodded, as if approving Lu Fang's proposal, while the other cabinet members behind him, including Yan Shifan, all looked flickering and said nothing.

"Then let's go in."

"Ah."

……

Today's cabinet seems a little crowded. There are two tables facing each other in a small room, each with five seats. There is a dragon chair behind the bead curtain. Emperor Jiajing is caressing the dragon head carved on it boredly. A chime (note: a percussion instrument) made of jade is placed next to the chair, and the inside of the curtain cannot be seen from the outside.

Then the two parties took their seats, the cabinet headed by Yan Song on one side, and the inspector of ceremonies headed by Lu Fang on the other. Emperor Jiajing sat behind the curtain.

Before the cabinet meeting started, Yan Song saluted Emperor Jiajing who was behind the curtain: "Thanks to the emperor's virtue as heaven, everyone is diligent in state affairs. The emperor prayed for this snow!"

Immediately afterwards, Yan Song turned around to look at the crowd, and said in a deep voice: "But some people use the climate issue to slander the imperial court."

Hearing Yan Song's words, everyone understood what Yan Song was referring to—Zhou Yunyi, the prisoner of Qin Tianjian who had been executed with a cane at the Meridian Gate of the Forbidden City before.

'Ding! A crisp sound sounded from behind the curtain, and Jiajing behind the curtain rang the jade chime.

Hearing this, Lu Fang, the eunuch in charge of ceremonies, nodded slightly to Yan Song: "Let's discuss the matter."

Immediately afterwards, Lu Fang first expressed his kindness to Yan Song: "Mr. Yan Ge, please hand over the ticket first! If you can approve it, we will approve it."

When Yan Song heard this, he stood up tremblingly, and put the tickets on the table neatly.

"The votes drawn up by the cabinet are all here. Let's settle last year's accounts first, and then we will discuss this year's expenditure."

Just as Lu Fang took over the bill from Yan Song, Xu Jie, who had been silent all along, spoke first: "The overspending of the Ministry of Officials and the Ministry of Industry is too large, and our Ministry of Households did not dare to sign."

After finishing speaking, Xu Jie ignored everyone and just closed his eyes to rest.

Yan Shifan who was sitting on the side exploded when he heard it, stood up suddenly from his seat, and retorted: "What is too much overspending! You were all present when the ministries drafted the bills, but now you say that my Ministry of Officials and the Ministry of Industry overspend too much." big?"

"Being present doesn't mean we agree." Gao Gong squinted his eyes and responded lightly.

Yan Shifan was impatient, and pointed his index finger at Gao Gong: "You didn't sign the bill from the Ministry of Civil Affairs, but you signed the bill from Zhang Juzheng's Military Department without even looking at it! What on earth is your Ministry of Accounts going to do?"

Xu Jie, who had been keeping his eyes closed before, opened his mouth to remind him: "Mr. Xiaoge, the household department is my Daming's household department, not our household department. In the same way, the official department and industry department are also my Daming's official department workers. Ministry, not your Ministry of Officials and Works of Yan Shifan!"

Hearing these heartbreaking words, Yan Shifan became even more anxious, looked in Yan Song's direction and shouted: "Father!"

Yan Song raised his head slowly, his cold gaze swept over Yan Shifan without expression.

"There is no father here, only my courtiers of Daming here."

Yan Song looked at Gao Gong again, and said softly, "If you have any difficulties in the household department, you can bring them up."

Gao Gong pulled out the account book with wide eyes and said loudly: "Last year, my Ming tax paid a total of 3000 taels, expenditure was 80 taels, and I was short of 650 taels, and this shortfall of 370 taels It’s all the deficit of the Ministry of Officials and the Ministry of Industry.”

After finishing speaking, Gao Gong glanced at Yan Shifan again, and continued: "Now our Ministry of Households is asked to draft bills from other ministries, and even the Ministry of Officials and the Ministry of Industry added 300 million taels of bills to the account of the Ministry of War. How do we sign?"

"It's a big deal that I, the servant of the household department, will quit!" Gao Gong became more and more anxious as he spoke, with the tendency to drop the pick.

At this moment, a muffled groan came from behind the bead curtain, Gao Gong immediately stopped talking when he heard that, other people present couldn't help being nervous, the emperor was upset.

Yan Song and Lu Fang looked at Zhulian at the same time, and after a while, Lu Fang warned: "Let's discuss matters, don't talk about other topics."

Zhang Juzheng, who has been silent since he entered the cabinet, also said: "The 300 million silver was recorded on the bill of my Ministry of War, and it was written on it that the Ministry of War had made [-] warships for the war against the Japanese, but in fact, my Ministry of War did not see it." To a warship!"

Zhang Juzheng's words were like a heavy bomb, completely detonating the scene, and even Lu Fang, who had always been indifferent, showed a hint of horror on his face.

Yan Shifan seemed to have expected this a long time ago. He looked directly into Zhang Juzheng's eyes and said, "Those thirty warships were originally used to fight against the Japanese, but last year when the emperor repaired the palace and went to Yunguichuan to cut wood, he found that there were none at all. The cost of building roads is too high, so we have to detour to the sea.”

"The sea route is difficult and requires a large circle. On the way to transport the timber, the fleet encountered wind and waves unexpectedly, and several ships sank. In addition to the loss and labor costs on the road, 300 million taels is more than enough!"

"Those thirty warships are equivalent to what our Ministry of Industry borrowed from the Ministry of War, and they will be returned soon." Immediately afterwards, Yan Shifan added to Zhang Juzheng.

Seeing that Yan Shifan explained the shortfall of 300 million taels clearly in a few words, Zhang Juzheng didn't say anything, and sat down resentfully.

Yan Shifan glanced across the crowd, cupped his hands at the figure behind the bead curtain, and said angrily: "For the sake of the emperor, I will endure any hardship!"

Behind the bead curtain, Emperor Jiajing, who had been eating melons since the beginning of the meeting, was no longer calm when he saw the fire burning on him. After browsing the memory left by the original body, he found out that it was true. In order to live forever, he built a palace wantonly Taoism, it can be said that the reason why the treasury of the Ming Dynasty is so empty is that the predecessor is one of the culprits.

(End of this chapter)