Xiyuan, Wuyi Hall.

As the Holy Sage no longer attends the morning court, it is difficult for officials to see the Holy Sage, let alone to deal with the Holy Sage in person. As a result, the status of the cabinet has gradually increased. The current cabinet has already surpassed the six ministries, and it has become the highest authority for civil servants.

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A young messenger was walking on the blue brick road holding a beautiful box and hurriedly came to the palace. He happened to meet Yuan Wei at the door. He stepped aside respectfully and waited for Yuan Wei to pass by suspiciously.

, he then quickly entered the duty room at the innermost part of the palace.

This value room is owned by the current chief minister, but the familiar smell of sandalwood in the value room has disappeared, which already revealed some information.

"What's up?"

Yan Hong was staying in the duty room, watching the messenger come in, and immediately asked with a straight face.

Since escaping the last time, he has grown a lot. He has lost his arrogance and gained a sense of stability.

Since he was Yan Shifan's adopted son, he did not have to observe filial piety for his grandmother as strictly as Yan Shaoqing. As a member of Zhongshushe, he often went to the cabinet to serve his grandfather.

This messenger naturally recognized his eldest son Yan Hong, so he explained the matter seriously and then solemnly handed the exquisite box to Yan Hong.

After Yan Hong took the box, he watched the messenger leave and then walked towards Yan Song.

Yan Song, who was wearing a python robe, no longer had the majesty of a powerful official. Although the python robe was worn on Yan Song, seeing his old face and skinny palms gave people the feeling of being crowned like a monkey.

Time is ruthless, even if he is the chief minister of the Prime Minister for more than 20 years, he cannot escape the fate of aging.

He didn't seem to notice the arrival of the messenger. He was leaning in front of the case, handling the memorials conscientiously and dealing with the current government affairs of the Ming Dynasty. But after looking at the memorials one after another, his slender and white eyebrows knitted together tightly.

During his more than 20 years in power, in order to satisfy the emperor's grand wish to build the outer city of Beijing, three palaces and countless Taoist buildings, he gritted his teeth and squeezed money from everywhere.

The first priority is to please the Holy One.

It's just that he doesn't have the ability to turn stone into gold. The Ming Dynasty's treasury has long been squandered, and the annual fiscal revenue is only a little. If you spend more here, you will naturally spend less there.

One of the most important ones is the reduction in funding for dam projects.

Dams are undoubtedly very important. They are related to the country's water conservancy, the harvest of the people of the Ming Dynasty, and even the most important tax revenue of the Ming Dynasty. But there is a problem here. The dams prevent floods.

Everyone has a luck mentality, naturally including him, the chief minister of the Ming Dynasty. If floods did not occur and the weather was good every year, then this money would not need to be spent at all, or it would be spent a few years later.

Even so, the imperial court has hardly spent huge sums of money to build new dams in recent years, but has spent another year making repairs. It only allocated a small amount of funds to repair the dams, and it was a lucky mentality.

Last year's floods in Hangzhou, Songjiang and other seven prefectures sounded an alarm for the imperial court. If things continue like this, there may be another major flood this year, displacing more people, and even shaking the foundation of the Ming Dynasty.

The same is true. Since the end of last year, he has advocated "tightening food and clothing". He strives to build fewer projects, save money to maintain dam projects in various places, and strive to do a good job in flood control.

However, his political ideas were not effectively implemented, and the biggest resistance was the Holy One. Besides him, there were people like Xu Jie, Yuan Wei, and others around the Holy One. These people were also good at figuring out the Holy Spirit's mind.

Just like last year when the Longevity Palace burned down, he intended to persuade the Holy One to return to Da Nei or move to Nangong. In this case, he would be able to save a lot of money. However, Xu Jie saw clearly the Holy One's intention and supported it.

The Holy One rebuilt the Longevity Palace.

From that time on, Xu Jie simply intensified his efforts. After forming an alliance with Gao Yao, Xu Jie supported the Holy Master in building another Sanqing Taoist temple in the north of the city and expanding the altar in the outer city, thus pleasing the Sacred Heart.

Maybe he was getting old, and he really wanted to do something practical for the Ming Dynasty. He wanted to put the silver on the dam to make up for the mistakes he had made in the past ten years, but things were no longer under his control.

"Power harms people!"

Jiajing gently put the memorial in his hand on the case and sighed heavily.

In the past, he wanted to gain power by any means necessary. In order to regain his position as chief minister, he even put Xia Yan to death. Now Xu Jie and Gao Yao are trying every possible means to please the Holy One, and he has no right to blame others.

"Grandpa, this is what daddy sent you!" Yan Hong came to Yan Song and presented the exquisite box.

Yan Song's eyes lit up slightly, and he immediately ordered: "Open it!"

Since the emperor moved to Yuxi Palace at the end of last year, a rift has appeared in the relationship between the emperor and his ministers. He originally thought that this was because they lived far apart, but when the emperor moved back to Wanshou Palace, the relationship between the two still did not improve.

At this moment, he already felt alienated from the Holy One.

Likewise, he asked Yan Shifan to spend more effort to collect treasures, striving to obtain rare treasures that would satisfy the Holy Emperor, thus repairing the relationship between the monarch and his ministers.

If in the past, Wu Peng had still served as the Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, he would undoubtedly have obtained a lot of treasures. However, during this external inspection, his right to speak was reduced, thus reducing the enthusiasm of the local officials.

The reason why those local officials tried every means to please him was not because of the noble character of his chief minister, but because he held the power to promote them. But now that this power has been weakened, these local officials will inevitably

Will work so hard.

But I don't know whether this group of local officials have exhausted their search, or they have seen that his old chief minister is gradually losing power. This year, there are no overly eye-catching treasures presented to the Yan Mansion.

At this moment, Yan Song finally got the long-awaited treasure, but it made Yan Song look forward to it very much.

"Yes!" Yan Hong nodded excitedly, placed the exquisite box on the table, and then slowly opened the box.

Yan Song looked at it for a while, then carefully took the object out of the box, and then asked in confusion: "What's so magical about this white Ganoderma lucidum?"

"Grandpa, this is White Ganoderma!" Yan Hong was stunned for a moment, then seriously emphasized the name of this treasure.

After Yan Song heard this, he turned his eyes to Bai Lingzhi, with a look of disappointment on his face.
Chapter completed!