Seeing that the rainy season is approaching, the top priority for various places in the south of the Yangtze River is to repair and strengthen embankments.
Some time ago, everyone was only paying attention to the changes in the Nanjing Sixth Department, and many things were delayed. It can be said that time is tight.
However, when money, materials, manpower, time, etc. are all limited, the north is the farmland of the imperial village, and the south is the private land of the noble gentry. In which direction should the government give priority to building and strengthening the embankment?
What? You mean the common people’s fields?
There are also, mostly concentrated in the west.
But this option was excluded from the beginning, or it was not among the options from the beginning.
After all, the dam in the west was just repaired eight years ago, but the dams in the north and south directions have not been reinforced for a year. Normal people can distinguish which is more important.
But should the priority be given to repairing the southern levees? Or should the northern levees be given priority?
Because of this matter, the eunuchs of Huangzhuang and the noble gentry got into a quarrel.
Mr. Zhao, who has a wealthy family, is crying about poverty. Mr. Huang, who owns 8,000 tenants, says that he is short of manpower. Mr. Wang, who has opened three quarries, laments that he is short of labor and materials. They all hope that the government will provide money, people, materials, and priority.
Build embankments and strengthen dams for them.
As long as the government spends hundreds of thousands of taels of silver to build embankments and consolidate dams for them, they are even willing to jointly submit a plaque to the government with the four characters "Relieving the People's Worries."
The eunuchs of Huangzhuang said arrogantly that no matter how short of money, materials, and nobody you, the wealthy gentry family, the fields under Huangzhuang are royal property, and once they are flooded, everyone must bear responsibility, so
The dams in the north must be repaired first, without any room for negotiation.
In the end, the lawsuit was brought before the seventh prince Zhu Hejian again.
Zhu Hejian was extremely helpless. He was still in a dilemma. He didn't want to offend anyone, so he gritted his teeth and paid a sum of money himself, indicating that the dams in both directions should be reinforced at the same time.
Seeing Zhu Hejian spending money out of his own pocket, both the eunuchs of the imperial palace and the noble gentry were greatly moved. They praised the seventh prince's benevolence and righteousness, and then became more unscrupulous and made the trouble even more serious.
Zhu Hejian originally thought that the money was almost enough, and the matter should be over like this, but the two sides soon began to compete for the labor and materials to repair the dam.
The eunuchs of the Imperial Manor forcibly took away a batch of sand and stones hoarded by the wealthy Jin gentry families and injured several domestic slaves. In order to retaliate, the wealthy Jin gentry families secretly encouraged the farm laborers in the Imperial Manor to cause trouble and flee...
If it is only to this extent, Zhu Hejian's "harmony with thin mud" method can still persist for a while.
But unfortunately, the central government's plan to take over the power of the Six Ministries in Nanjing has now reached its final stage.
According to the original plan, Zhu Hejian should come forward at this time to encourage people from all walks of life in Southern Zhili and ask them to jointly submit a memorial to the imperial court to impeach the Six Ministries in Nanjing.
Only with the joint petition from all walks of life in Southern Zhili, could the central government of the imperial court legitimately take over power from the six ministries in Nanjing.
Although the Six Ministries of Nanjing have been rejected by all walks of life in Southern Zhili due to various perverse actions recently, in fact, the core interests of the Six Ministries of Nanjing and all walks of life in Southern Zhili are still consistent, so the central government must let Southern Zhili
Only when people from all walks of life took the initiative to openly oppose the Nanjing Six Ministries could they justifiably announce the takeover of power. When people from all walks of life in South Zhili finally reacted, they would find no reason to oppose the matter.
On the contrary, if there were no active expressions from people from all walks of life in Southern Zhili, the imperial center forcibly took away the power of the six departments in Nanjing, and there would definitely be opposition and fierce backlash from all walks of life in Southern Zhili. Considering that Southern Zhili is the imperial court's
We must do our best to maintain stability in a land that is heavily taxed and grain-prone, and naturally we must do our best to avoid this situation from happening.
And under such circumstances, after seeing that Zhu Hejian still chose to favor those imperial eunuchs, the gentry and wealthy families became more and more resentful, and Zhu Hejian's reputation and reputation also showed a downward trend...
The most important thing is that, under the leadership of the wealthy gentry, people from all walks of life in Southern Zhili were no longer willing to actively cooperate with Zhu Hejian as before, so Zhu Hejian wanted to take the opportunity to encourage them to jointly submit an impeachment memorial, which soon emerged.
Signs of poor progress and half the effort.
After discovering this situation, Zhu Hejian immediately became anxious.
Zhu Hejian knew very well that the most important task of his trip was to complete the central government's plan to take over the six ministries in Nanjing.
The central government of the imperial court invested a lot of energy into this plan, and it took more than a year to plan it. The chance of winning was also extremely high, so Zhu Hejian could mess up other things, but if he messed up this matter, I am afraid even Emperor Deqing would
Will strongly doubt his ability and wisdom.
Comparing it with Prince Zhu Heyu's task of rectifying the vassal, although it caused too much noise and caused all kinds of chaos, it was still fruitful in the end. Comparing the two, Zhu Hejian's competition for the reserve position will definitely be greatly reduced.
chances of success.
As a last resort, Zhu Hejian had no choice but to adopt a compromising attitude towards the wealthy Jin gentry and severely punished the eunuchs of the Imperial Village who had caused the greatest resentment among the people. He hoped that his actions could calm the resentment of the wealthy Jin gentry.
However, Zhu Hejian's compromise posture not only failed to obtain the full cooperation of the Jin gentry and wealthy families, but instead made these Jin gentry and wealthy families more and more aggressive and emboldened. They even further proposed to Zhu Hejian, hoping that the central government could abolish and reduce the number of people in Southern Zhili.
The number of royal houses!
How dare Zhu Hejian agree to such a thing?
If he agreed to this matter, he would definitely disappoint Emperor Deqing and think that Zhu Hejian was weak and incompetent, and he would never think about deposing the crown prince again.
So, the situation became deadlocked again.
At this time, Zhou Shangjing, who was "inspecting floods" near Huaiyin Mansion and had been watching with cold eyes, finally couldn't stand it anymore.
The various difficulties that the seventh prince Zhu Hejian has encountered recently are actually due to Zhou Shangjing's behind-the-scenes planning and fueling. However, Zhou Shangjing just wanted to take the opportunity to test Zhu Hejian's nature, shake Zhu Hejian's reputation in the government and the public, and make Zhu Hejian suffer a big fall. But
After all, he had the overall situation in mind, understood the priorities, and was unwilling to hinder the central government's centralization plan, so he personally went to Nanjing to take charge of the overall situation.
Zhou Shangjing's prestige and skills are extremely clever, and the "Zhao Party" forces also fully cooperated with Zhao Junchen's advance instructions, so he finally got the situation under control and finally succeeded in getting people from all walks of life in South Zhili to sign a joint
A memorial to impeach the Six Ministries of Nanjing was submitted to the imperial court.
In this way, the central government's plan to take over power was finally completed. All that was left to do was to wait patiently until Emperor Deqing issued a decree to take away all the powers of the Six Ministries in Nanjing.
However, although the imperial court center's plan to take back power was successful, Zhu Hejian's troubles had only just begun.
*
On the same day that Zhao Junchen and Li He left Xingzhou and returned to the capital.
In the city of Nanjing, in Zhanyuan, there is a study room with a hidden location.
"Snapped!"
Thinking of all the humiliations he had endured during this period, Zhu Hejian could no longer control his patience and anger, and smashed the tea cup in his hand at his feet, breaking into a large number of pieces.
The long-term eunuch Jia Lun on the side was still expressionless, just silently changing a new teacup for Zhu Hejian, and filling the teacup with new tea.
Seeing Jia Lun's appearance, Zhu Hejian took a deep breath, finally regained his composure, and asked, "Has everything been investigated?"
Jia Lun nodded lightly and replied: "We have roughly investigated it clearly! In the past month, the reason why the wealthy gentry families in southern Zhili have repeatedly been in trouble with His Highness is because the Song family, a prominent family in the south of the Yangtze River, took the lead! In Zhou Shangjing's case,
During the imperial inspection southward, the Song family also maintained frequent close correspondence with Zhou Shangjing!
You also know that the Jiangnan Song family is the family of Song Qiwen, the Minister of Civil Affairs! Although Mr. Song Chengren has been an official for many years, he relied on the success of his children and grandchildren and was a friend of Zhou Shangjing for many years, so he became the Southern Zhili
The leader of the Jin gentry in the territory! It is obvious that all the actions of the Jin gentry in Southern Zhili are due to Zhou Shangjing’s behind-the-scenes manipulation and guidance!
At the same time, Zhao Junchen's 'United Shipping Company' also has considerable influence among the Jin gentry. It has been active frequently in the past month, which is also indispensable! Therefore, Your Highness, you are the target of Zhou Shangjing and Zhao Junchen.
They have joined forces to plan... The fact that you have been passive and in a dilemma during this period of time is not unjust."
Zhu Hejian's pale face was full of evil and coldness, and he gritted his teeth and said: "Zhou Shangjing! Zhao Junchen! It's really these two foxes, one big and one small, who are hiding in the dark and causing mischief! No wonder the gentry and wealthy families in Southern Zhili always choose the last moment for every action.
At the perfect time, he accurately stepped on my weak spot at that time, so that I was always tired of dealing with it and couldn't help myself! These two treacherous ministers are really skillful!"
Jia Lun shook his head and said: "Although Zhou and Zhao are working together to target His Highness, all the things that have happened recently are mainly due to Zhou Shangjing's powerful skills and have little to do with Zhao Junchen! Zhao Junchen may still be stranded in Liaodong.
Within the territory, I heard that the Jianzhou Jurchens had provoked another border trouble. Zhao Junchen did not know the art of cloning and could never control the situation in South Zhili from thousands of miles away. Therefore, Zhou and Zhao jointly took action in South Zhili.
It must be Zhou Shangjing who takes the lead, while Zhao Junchen and his cronies are just cooperating."
"No matter who these two people are, I will never spare them in the future!"
After saying this harshly, Zhu Hejian suddenly coughed violently, which scared Jia Lun and quickly took care of him, stroking his back and giving him water.
Obviously, Zhu Hejian was already in poor health, and now he was so angry that his physical condition became even worse.
After Zhu Hejian finally stopped coughing violently, Jia Lun regained his cold face and advised: "Your Highness, don't be so angry that your body is broken. You have been weak since you were a child. There have been many things going on in Nanjing during this time, and
You haven't bothered to rest. If you get angry again, our family will have no choice but to go to Zhou Shangjing to ask for Dr. Zhang to come and treat you!
What's more, you don't have to be too angry. Although Zhou Shangjing set up a plot against you, he will soon suffer retribution! Since he arrived in Nanjing City, we have resumed the poisoning plan, and now Zhou Shangjing's stomach problems have become worse
Seriously, as long as we wait patiently for one or two more months, he will definitely die!"
"I have already guessed the ulterior motives of Zhou Shangjing, the old dog, so after he arrived in Nanjing, I immediately resumed the poisoning plan. Letting him die of diamond powder did not wrong him, but rather benefited him!"
After Zhu Hejian snorted coldly, he suddenly raised his head and asked: "Speaking of Zhou Shangjing and the miracle doctor Zhang Decheng... we poisoned Zhou Shangjing, did we not let Zhang Decheng find any flaws?"
Jia Lun shook his head and said: "Your Highness, don't worry. Although Zhang Decheng has excellent medical skills, he doesn't know the existence and use of diamond powder at all. Naturally, he has no way to start and it is impossible to find the flaw! During this period of time, Zhou Shangjing has been poisoning us.
Later, his physical condition became increasingly worse. Zhang Decheng tried every means to treat him, but at most they could only delay Zhou Shangjing's symptoms and death date slightly!"
Zhu Hejian imagined the scene when Zhou Shangjing died tragically. The resentment in his heart finally dissipated a lot, and he completely restored his usual calmness and rationality.
After pondering for a moment, Zhu Hejian said slowly: "To this day, the imperial court center's plan to take back power has been considered a great success!
It's a pity that when I was in charge of this project, everything went smoothly in the early and middle stages. However, in the final stage, Zhou and Zhao jointly set up a trap, which almost failed. The last step allowed Zhou Shangjing to pick the peach! If
If Zhou Shangjing had not arrived in Nanjing in time to take charge of the overall situation, the central government's plan to centralize power might have failed!
When my father sees this situation, he will definitely doubt my ability, and will definitely hesitate again to abolish the crown prince! Especially my repeated compromises when facing the wealthy gentry, will definitely make my father unhappy.
!For me, the top priority right now is to prove my ability and decisiveness to my father!"
Jalen asked: "How do you plan to prove your ability and decisiveness, Your Highness?"
Zhu Hejian sneered: "Since arriving in Nanjing, I have been playing the role of a good old guy, but this style is not in line with my nature. Not only is my hands tied, but I am always kicked in the nose and face. I am really a good person.
Bully... But now, as the imperial central government’s plan to centralize power is complete, I don’t have to deliberately show favor or weakness to anyone anymore, so I can just let go and do whatever it takes!”
Later, Zhu Hejian ordered: "Jia Lun, go secretly to see Xi Cheng, the eunuch guarding Nanjing, and ask him if he has prepared what I have told him! Hey! Aren't those wealthy gentry people always asking me for justice?
OK, then I will give them justice!
[Currently used, it is the most complete and best-used app for listening to books. It integrates 4 major speech synthesis engines and over 100 sounds. It is also a source-changing artifact and app that supports offline reading]
Also, send someone to summon the Crown Prince, Grand Master Wang Baoren, and the great talent Lu Delu! Just say that I have something to discuss with them... Especially that old fox Wang Baoren, who has been watching the play for so long, he should be let go
If he moves, what use would he be!"
Seeing that Zhu Hejian was finally starting to fight back, Jia Lun's sinister eyes flashed, and he immediately nodded and turned around to leave.
Zhu Hejian, on the other hand, sat motionless in his original position, lost in concentrated thought, his cold eyes also flickering.