An old man wearing a dragon robe sat on a dragon chair. The table in front of him was piled with thick memorials.
Regarding so many memorials, the old man showed no impatience on his face and responded to them one by one.
The only difference is that after opening different memorials, the old man would sometimes frown due to the contents of the memorials, and sometimes his eyes would be cold, while the old eunuch waiting on the side would lower his head tightly and become stiff.
"Um?"
Suddenly, the old man's face darkened again, he stopped the imperial pen in his hand, and looked at it seriously.
His brows gradually furrowed.
Then, he opened the next memorial again, read it briefly, and then read the next one again.
After reading six books in a row, the old man said in a deep voice: "Come here, go find Jiang Yu!"
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
A young eunuch in the palace responded and quickly trotted out with small steps.
This old man is none other than the Ming Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang who Guo An, the magistrate of Wanping, fears the most.
Not long after, Jiang Yu, dressed in Feiyu uniform, hurriedly walked in from outside the palace and knelt directly in front of Zhu Yuanzhang.
"Your Majesty, Jiang Chen, is here to see you!"
Zhu Yuanzhang said expressionlessly: "Get up and answer!"
"Thank you, Your Majesty!"
Hearing this, Jiang Wei, who had hurried over, felt relieved and stood up quickly.
Zhu Yuanzhang asked: "During this period, have you paid attention to the affairs of Beiping Mansion?"
Jiang Wei quickly replied: "Reporting to your Majesty, every few days, news will come from the Jinyi Guards of Beiping Mansion. I dare to ask Your Majesty, but what happened in Beiping Mansion?"
"snort!"
Zhu Yuanzhang snorted, "Both the Inspection Censor and Supervisory Department of Beiping Prefecture have reported that King Yan opened a barbecue shop. The price of barbecue is very expensive, and even the drinks in the shop are twice as high as those outside.
, specializing in selling to those merchants.
The merchants were frightened by King Yan's power and did not dare not eat. Now the people call King Yan the Prince of Merchants.
Your Jinyiwei monitors the whole country. We want to know whether this matter is true or false?
A while ago, the King of Yan sent people to purchase large quantities of poultry and livestock in Shanxi and Shandong. The prices of chickens, ducks, sheep and goats in these two places increased a lot overnight, which attracted officials from both places to file complaints. Now they are coming to us again.
He married a merchant prince, what a sin..."
Hearing this, Jiang Wei subconsciously glanced at Zhu Yuanzhang's expression, and quickly reported: "Your Majesty, the Jinyi Guards of Beiping Prefecture also reported this matter. However, what I heard was that the barbecue shop opened by His Highness King Yan used...
Special spices are used to barbecue and cook dishes. The taste is extremely fragrant, so the price is more expensive.
That's why those merchants left because of their reputation. Your Highness has no intention of forcing them.
As for the prices of drinks, they are more than twice as high as similar wines outside, but these are clearly marked prices, and His Highness King Yan has no intention of forcing them.
But when the merchants came to eat vegetables, they couldn't help but order several kilograms of fine wine. Therefore, His Highness Prince Yan did make a lot of money in this barbecue shop.
As for the title of Prince of Merchant, His Majesty, Your Majesty, please atone for your sins. By the time your subordinates notice it, the title of His Highness, Prince of Yan, has already spread throughout the Beiping Mansion."
"Your Majesty, please forgive me. I will send more manpower to Beiping Mansion when I get back. I must find out who is behind this!" Jiang Wei trembled and said quickly.
"Check? How to check?"
Zhu Yuanzhang said bitterly, "There are so many common people in Beiping Mansion, and these common people like to hear these illusory news about noble people.
As long as someone casually says "merchant prince" on the street, the people around him will spread the word spontaneously, and there will be no trace at all. How can we investigate like this?"
Jiang Wei lowered his head tightly and did not dare to reply.
"What we're curious about is, Lao Si, this is just a shop. Even if it can make money, who can it stand in the way of?"
After saying that, Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Jiang Wei again: "In the memorial, we also saw someone participating in the memorial to Guo An, the magistrate of Wanping County, Beiping Prefecture. This thief official is young, flattering, and very good at pleasing his boss.
The things that the fourth child has been doing in Beiping Mansion these past few months were all instigated by this traitorous official, do you know about this?"
Jiang Wei quickly replied: "Your Majesty, I know this person."
"Guo An was a great scholar of Zhaowen Palace in the former Yuan Dynasty and a great-great-grandson of Guo Shoujing, a minister of Taishi Academy.
Last year..."
"Descendants of Guo Taishi?"
Zhu Yuanzhang looked surprised.
"Your Majesty, it is exactly that, and among the descendants of Guo Taishi, they are the descendants who stay in the old house of Beiping Mansion!"
Jiang Wei said.
Although Guo An tried his best to hide himself and prevent his news from appearing next to Lao Zhu'er.
However, he underestimated the importance Lao Zhu attached to vassal kings such as Zhu Di, and also underestimated the importance these royal guards attached to each vassal king.
The moment he was promoted to Wanping County Magistrate by Zhu Laosi, he came into the eyes of the Jinyi Guards of Beiping Prefecture.
"Last year, Guo Shou was recommended as the head of Wanping County by Nie Zishi, the chief envoy of Beiping Prefecture. After entering the county government, he has been living alone and was ostracized by all the officials in Wanping County government...
After the Guo Huan case in March this year, both the magistrate and the county magistrate of Wanping County were beheaded.
But somehow Guo An got into the eyes of His Highness King Yan and was recommended by His Highness as the magistrate of Wanping County.
Later, His Highness King Yan wanted to reclaim wasteland in all counties, and Guo An was the first to respond. He first went to the countryside in person and inspected every township under Wanping County.
After that..."
Following Jiang Wei's words, Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes gradually lit up.
"How can such an official be a flattering person? In our opinion, Guo An has inherited some of Guo Taishi's talents?"
"Your Majesty is wise!"
"So, why did these inspection censors and officials from the Beiping Prefecture impeach Guo An like this?"
As he said that, Zhu Yuanzhang's face turned cold again.
"Your Majesty, it should be that Guo An has a rather out-of-the-box personality and a different style of dealing with ordinary officials, so he was rejected by these officials!"
Jiang Wei replied cautiously.
"snort!"
Zhu Yuanzhang snorted coldly, "Go and check for us. Check the details of these officials. I don't believe it. These officials will impeach Guo An and Lao Si for no reason. There must be some shameful deeds!"
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
Jiang Wei responded and quickly stepped back.
at the same time.
A young man wearing a blue dragon robe, carrying a snack box in his hand, walked directly in from outside the palace without any eunuchs or eunuchs telling him.
All the eunuchs and eunuchs in the palace quietly saluted him.
Seeing the visitor, Jiang Wei quickly bowed respectfully, and then slowly left.
"Dad, look what good things did my child bring you?"
When he arrived at the palace, the young man handed the food box in his hand to the old eunuch who was standing aside, then with a smile on his face he bowed his hands and saluted Zhu Yuanzhang who was looking down at the memorial.
"Huh? Biao'er!"
Hearing the sound, Zhu Yuanzhang immediately raised his eyebrows and grinned, picked up a memorial from the table and handed it to the visitor with a smile on his face.
"Dad, what happened?" Zhu Biao asked with some confusion.
Zhu Yuanzhang said with a smile on his face: "I don't know where that bastard Lao Si is, blocking the way of some officials and gentry, but because he opened a barbecue shop, he was rumored to be a merchant prince...
Hahaha, Merchant Prince, the fourth child has been greatly embarrassed this time!"