In the early morning, Eunuch Qin, the eunuch of the Royal Horse Supervisor and the Admiral of Dongchang, braved the increasingly cold weather and went to Qianqing Palace to say hello.
Emperor Jiajing was having breakfast, so he called Eunuch Qin in and stood beside him to report the matter.
As the governor of Dongchang, the Qin eunuch had to regularly report to the emperor some news from above and below the imperial court, as well as from inside and outside the capital.
Sometimes, Dongchang's secret reports were not as high-level as outsiders imagined. Many of them were trivial gossip and were listened to by the emperor as amusement.
After all, it is considered a time of peace, there is no rebellion, and there is no situation in Kowloon to seize the heir, so where can there be so much thrilling confidential information?
Eunuch Qin looked at the note in his hand and reported again: "At the end of September, Qin Dewei, the Imperial Academy, was given twenty imperial staffs. It has been one month since then."
Emperor Jiajing had a habit that no one else knew about, and only the factory officials knew about it.
After beating an official with a royal stick or severely punishing an official, Emperor Jiajing liked to secretly spy on the official's subsequent reaction, usually within a month.
Therefore, after being beaten with the imperial rod, some people will have nothing to do, while others will be exiled.
Emperor Jiajing said with great interest: "Continue."
Eunuch Qin continued to report expressionlessly: "Qin Dewei only did three things besides recovering from his injuries.
The first thing is that he struggled with Zhan Rong, the young minister of Guanglu Temple, and wanted to buy Zhan's house in the east and expand his house.
The second thing is to grab Zhan Rong and try to bargain for the lowest price.
The third thing is to urge Zhan Rong to move out as soon as possible and want to celebrate the New Year in his new home."
Emperor Jiajing: ""
"That's all." Eunuch Qin finished his report.
Emperor Jiajing asked again in disbelief: "Didn't you compose poetry?"
Eunuch Qin replied: "According to inquiries, there is no such thing."
After the imperial cane was beaten, Eunuch Qin once hinted to Xu Miaojing, "Tell him to pay attention to his words and deeds."
But I didn't expect that Qin Dewei, let alone paying attention or not paying attention to his words and deeds, had no words or deeds at all. He was just a daily man.
However, it can be proved that Qin Hanlin has no resentment at all, nor does he have any intention of showing off with his imperial staff.
But the mediocre performance of this kind of "living man" also made Emperor Jiajing lose the fun of controlling power. What's the point of the lack of feedback in the game?
I always feel that twenty sticks are missing, and even Qin Dewei's emotions are not brought out.
Then Emperor Jiajing asked again: "What about Guo Xun?"
At that time, Guo Xun was forced to resign from all his errands. Of course Emperor Jiajing would also pay attention to Guo Xun's subsequent reaction. Is there any resentment?
Eunuch Qin looked at the folder in his hand again and said to him: "Guo Xun has been shut up in recent months to think about his mistakes and has not seen any outsiders.
But after inquiring, Guo Xun summoned a group of literary disciples to compile a new version of the novel."
Everyone in the capital knows that Wuding Marquis Guo Xun’s hobby is story-telling novels, and he is currently the largest sponsor of the publication of story-telling novels. His representative work is "The Legend of the Heroes of the Ming Dynasty" which praises the ancestors of the Guo family.
Emperor Jiajing was very sensitive to literary and artistic content. It was too easy to use the past to satirize the present, so he immediately asked: "What story is it?"
Eunuch Qin replied: "I heard that "The Biography of Mo Xuanqing" will be compiled."
Emperor Jiajing, who usually showed seriousness to others, suddenly couldn't help laughing when he heard this. This Guo Xun was really riding a horse and was not a fuel-efficient lamp.
Who is Mo Xuanqing? Academician Gu Dingchen has long popularized his knowledge. He was the youngest number one scholar in history before Qin Dewei of this dynasty, and he was from the Tang Dynasty.
And like Qin Dewei, Mo Xuanqing was also the number one scholar at the age of seventeen. There are so many similarities.
So at this time, Guo Xun suddenly wanted to compile the storybook "The Biography of Mo Xuanqing". The purpose is self-evident, it must be to allude to Qin Dewei.
If I can't fight you in court, I will write fan fiction about you to take revenge on you, which is very Ming Dynasty style.
It is rumored that the future leader of the literary world, Wang Shizhen, did this and wrote such wonderful books as "Golden Apple Berry".
Emperor Jiajing suddenly felt a little excited and wanted to see how Guo Xun compiled "The Biography of Mo Xuanqing".
Since the emperor was interested, Eunuch Qin didn't mind saying a few more words: "In order to compile this storybook, Wu Dinghou searched all the Cantonese people in the capital and collected as much as possible about Mo Xuanqing's deeds.
But recently, a rumor came out from the Wuding Hou Mansion that Qin Dewei, our dynasty, was the reincarnation of Mo Xuanqing.
First of all, in addition to being the number one scholar at the age of seventeen, both of them have experienced mothers remarrying, and both of them have not had biological fathers since they were young.
Secondly, both of them had amazing poetry talents since childhood and were arrogant.
Mo Xuanqing wrote poems to mock others at the age of seven, and was included in the collection of all Tang poems. Qin Dewei's poems dominated Nanjing at the age of twelve, and he especially liked to mock people.
Thirdly, Mo Xuanqing's last official position was in Taizhou Biejia, and Qin Dewei's stepfather's ancestral home was also in Taizhou, which seemed to be God's will.
So this rumor from Wuding Prefecture says that Mo Xuanqing of the Tang Dynasty was unwilling to die young and unrequited, and reincarnated into the Jiajing Dynasty."
"This is unreasonable!" Emperor Jiajing couldn't help but said.
Eunuch Qin immediately followed the emperor's tone and said: "Yes, I also think that the rumor spread by Wu Dinghou is extremely ridiculous!
Could it be that the Ming Dynasty and Jiajing Dynasty could not produce the number one prodigy, so they had to rely on the reincarnation of the previous generation to do it?"
What Eunuch Qin meant was that how could the auspicious human figures of the Jiajing Dynasty be leftovers from other dynasties?
However, Emperor Jiajing realized something and suddenly asked Eunuch Qin: "Are you dissatisfied with Guo Xun?"
Eunuch Qin replied a little unjustly: "Guo Xun was greedy and sued for too much land."
Why is Eunuch Qin qualified to complain like this? This involves the authority of the Royal Horse Eunuch.
Yu Ma Jian is recognized as the second most powerful eunuch yamen after Si Li Jian, not only because Yu Ma Jian is in charge of the Imperial Guards.
Of course, this part of the power has been assigned to Huang Jin, the imperial eunuch and eunuch. Eunuch Qin is the eunuch in charge and is not directly responsible for the Imperial Guards.
In addition to the forbidden soldiers, many of the "pastures" belonging to the Yuma Jian were actually royal estates, which were managed and rented by the Yuma Jian.
Therefore, in addition to being in charge of forbidden soldiers and military talismans, Yuma Jian was also a huge economic bureau, in charge of millions of acres of royal land.
Therefore, as a royal eunuch, Eunuch Qin was qualified to complain about land issues.
Emperor Jiajing then asked: "Does your Royal Horse Supervisor still lack 20,000 acres of land?"
Eunuch Qin replied: "This is not the land of the Royal Horse Eunuch, but the land of His Majesty!"
Emperor Jiajing snorted coldly and said: "This year, many people inside and outside the palace are accusing you of Qin Fu for indulging the warriors of the Royal Horse Supervisor, wantonly occupying fields, and harming the national economy and people's livelihood!"
Eunuch Qin responded: "I don't want to trouble Your Majesty, so I can relieve you from the duties of the Royal Horse Supervisor and concentrate on supervising the East Factory from now on."
Emperor Jiajing slapped the table and shouted: "What are you talking about? Are you angry with me?"
The eunuch of Qin took advantage of the situation and shouted at Qu: "The imperial eunuch has 2.6 million acres of land in and around the capital. It is true that the amount is huge, but it has been accumulated over decades!
Nowadays, only one person is blamed for the crime inside and outside, and I really can’t bear the responsibility!”
Objectively speaking, the amount of land is too large, and it is all concentrated around the capital, which greatly affects the capital's taxes and levies.
Therefore, the land occupied by the Royal Horse Prison has become a focus issue in recent years and has been criticized by courtiers.
Eunuch Qin's attitude has always been very hawkish and he has resisted several times.
However, this year the Chief of Ceremonies had an ambiguous attitude and favored the courtiers, which put a lot of pressure on Eunuch Qin.
In order to seek the position of the East Factory, Eunuch Qin had a big dispute with the Qiandi faction of the Supervisor Si Li. Now he is under pressure from the Supervisor Si Li, which can be regarded as cause and effect.
Emperor Jiajing did not comment on what Eunuch Qin said, and said: "I heard from the Chief of Ceremonies that the amount of silver handed over by the Royal Horse Eunuch to the palace this year is 60,000 taels less than in previous years."
Yu Ma oversees 2.6 million acres of land. He is not a white steward without financial interests. He has to pay money to the palace every year.
Eunuch Qin hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, please forgive me, but I lent these 60,000 taels to Gao Zhong privately. I wanted to wait until Gao Zhong returned them and then hand them over to the palace, but I didn't want Your Majesty to find out."
Eunuch Gao Zhonggao is the project leader in the palace and is currently in charge of the construction of two new palaces for the Queen Mother, namely Cining Palace and Ciqing Palace.
Lending money to Gao Zhong means that it will be used to build the Queen Mother's palace.
Emperor Jiajing scolded him again: "Nonsense! How come Gao Zhong's side doesn't have enough money? Who dares to borrow money from you, the Royal Horse Supervisor, if he is short of construction money?"
Emperor Jiajing was a man who was very filial to his mother, the Empress Dowager Chiang. He would never be reluctant to spend money to build Cining Palace for his mother.
Eunuch Qin said: "No one dares to deduct the money for the construction of Cining Palace, but the allocation from the internal treasury is indeed slow, and the review by the Supervisor of Ceremonies is too strict, which has delayed the progress.
Gao Zhong was also impatient. In order to speed up the construction progress, he asked the Holy Mother to enter the new palace to support her as soon as possible, so he asked the Royal Horse Supervisor to borrow some silver.
I thought for a while, as a minister, I should worry about your Majesty first, so I first lent the Royal Horse Supervisor's money to Gao Zhong, but unexpectedly, His Majesty was alarmed."
This means that the Supervisor of Ceremonies was unable to handle matters on his own, and delayed the progress of the construction regardless of the overall situation. Instead, evil people complained first.
Emperor Jiajing secretly pondered, after all is said and done, the root cause of all the problems is that you, Qin Fu, are at odds with the Supervisor of Ceremonies?
But Emperor Jiajing did not express his position clearly, and just asked: "Qin Fu, how many years have you been in the Imperial Horse Prison?"
Eunuch Qin answered truthfully: "It has been six or seven years since I took the imperial horse eunuch's palm seal in March of the ninth year of Jiajing."
Emperor Jiajing continued to ask inexplicably: "How much has the land of Yumajian increased during the years you have been in Yumajian?"
Eunuch Qin was not sure what the emperor meant, so he continued to answer honestly: "In the past six or seven years, the area has increased by approximately 200,000 acres."
Emperor Jiajing gave instructions: "Since there are so many people impeaching you, the Royal Horse Inspector will first clear out the 200,000 acres that he has occupied in recent years. This will be an explanation to public opinion and temporarily put an end to the impeachment!"
Eunuch Qin took the opportunity to ask for instructions again: "The 20,000 acres along the Yongding River that should have been given to Guo Xun are also among the 200,000 acres. What should be done with it?"
Emperor Jiajing said impatiently: "Guo Xun gave him half the land and moved it elsewhere! In addition, I sent him an edict to refine the meaning of the saints' scriptures and cultivate his character, and stop being obsessed with some words!"
Eunuch Qin was very satisfied with this result, so the land along the Yongding River in the southwest suburbs was also included in the clearance.
Specifically how to clear it out, slowly figure out how to operate it.
After breakfast and listening to the gossip news from Dongchang, Emperor Jiajing visited the Wenhua Hall.
Today is the first prayer feast since the birth of the second son of the emperor, and it may also be the last prayer feast before the winter solstice.
Emperor Jiajing didn't need to think about it. He knew that today these officials would definitely present their congratulations in person.
Before Emperor Jiajing ascended the throne, the ministers attending the Sutra Banquet had already arranged their positions.
A certain champion named Qin also mingled in the crowd, attracting the attention of many other ministers.
Someone asked: "Qin Banqiao, are you healed of your injury? I didn't hear that you were off leave after recovering from your injury."
Qin Dewei replied: "I haven't fully recovered yet, but the emperor once asked me why I couldn't come to the feast.
Therefore, I have to come to this banquet even though I am injured, and I do not dare to trouble the emperor for further inquiries."
There is only one grade difference between Cai Ang, a scholar of the fifth rank, and Qin Dewei, a Zuo Zanshan and editor of the sixth rank, so they are very close.
This made Academician Cai angry when he looked at Qin Dewei. He had been in the Hanlin Academy for twenty years, three years as a scholar, three years as an editor, three years as a compilator, and six years as a lecturer. Now he is a bachelor of ministers.
After working hard to get to where we are today, the official rank is only one step ahead of Qin Dewei!
Hearing Qin Dewei's answer, Academician Cai couldn't help but sarcastically said: "Isn't it because I heard about the birth of the prince and was reluctant to take this opportunity to please him, so I would rather come here injured than go out to express my congratulations?"
Qin Dewei bowed his hand to Cai Ang and replied politely: "Unlike Senior Cai, I am a person who likes to do practical things. I never think about taking advantage of congratulations!"
This statement is a bit yin and yang, implying that Academician Cai can only write special articles to praise horses and praise saints.
Academician Cai said angrily: "Then you dare to say that you will not send a congratulations today?"
Qin Dewei nodded: "Dare!"
Academician Cai: ""
He didn't expect Qin Dewei to actually dare not say congratulations. Is this because he is mentally ill?
Everyone will send a congratulatory message today. Do you want to be unique?
Teacher Zhang Chao Zhang coughed repeatedly and wanted to stop Qin Dewei from speaking out, but he didn't stop him.
At this time, Emperor Jiajing came out, and the ministers stopped talking (fighting) and went to see him together.
Emperor Jiajing is still in a good mood. After all, the pressure of not being able to give birth to a son is too great, and now he is finally relieved.
So I rarely looked friendly, said a few words to the ministers, and then started the process.
Congratulations were presented one after another, some were glanced at, and some were read once.
Scholar Cai Angcai's eulogizing article was still so gorgeous that Emperor Jiajing rewarded him with two pieces of silver brocade on the spot.
If there are no accidents, Academician Cai will come out on top today.
Hanlin is a place that pays attention to seniority. Qin Dewei is a "newcomer" who only came in last year. In such occasions, he is basically the last to show his face.
It was coming to an end, and Emperor Jiajing was also a little tired.
When Qin Dewei came out of the queue, everyone's eyes were instantly focused, because just now Qin Dewei said angrily that he would not follow the crowd and go to the congratulatory table today.
If Qin Dewei breaks his promise, doesn't dare to act independently, and honestly shows up to congratulate him, then it will be considered a slap in the face.
Qin Dewei took out a stack of manuscripts and presented them, which made everyone including Emperor Jiajing feel strange.
The style of documents generally written by ministers to the emperor is commonly known as "zhezi". As the name suggests, you can guess what it looks like. Anyway, it should definitely not be in the form of a stack of manuscripts.
Emperor Jiajing was quite curious. He quickly raised his eyes and saw the first five characters in the title.
Wucao! Emperor Jiajing couldn't help but stood up and flipped through the manuscript.
The ministers below were incomprehensible. Seeing that the emperor was actually standing, they could only fall to their knees.
But he was still extremely confused in his heart. Qin Dewei was indeed dishonest in riding the horse. What did he offer?