Miss Li spent the whole afternoon playing in Wang Lianqing's courtyard. It was very interesting to watch the five beauties rehearsing "The Romance of the West Chamber". She wished she could transform herself into Zhang Sheng and go up to tease the matchmaker.
At dusk, Mrs. Li returned to the courtyard where her brother and sister lived, but was called over by her brother Li Jing.
Li Jing looked at his sister and sighed: "We have to think about the future."
To say that the current life of their brother and sister is actually pretty good, but now Li Jing, the elder brother, always feels uneasy.
Three or four years ago, Li Jing came to Jingying from Liaodong and has been gold-plating in Jingying in the name of Ban Jun.
After three years of "performance appraisal", coupled with his contribution to conquering Annan, Li Jing was promoted two levels from commander to commander.
Of course, in the Beijing camp, even a commander is nothing, especially one who comes from out of town.
Li Jing's current actual position in the Beijing camp is just the commander of the cavalry of a certain regiment, which is almost his ceiling.
There are twelve regiment camps in the capital. Each regiment camp has military positions such as admiral and camp commander. Below the camp, there are also co-campers. These are regarded as high-level military positions in the capital camp.
Further down, there are middle-level military positions such as Dadao Zong, Qian Zong, Xiao Bao Zong, etc. However, there is a huge gap between the intermediate and senior levels, and they are two different levels of people.
Although the official rank and the military position of the battalion officer are not necessarily strictly equivalent, if you don't reach the rank of second-grade commander, generally you can't even think about becoming a collaborative battalion officer.
Therefore, if Li Jing, a foreign commander, could serve as a big boss in the Beijing camp, it was basically over and he would have no future.
Moreover, Li Jing's identity has always been a squadron sent by Liaodong to the capital camp, and his roots are still in Liaodong. What he will do in the future really makes him confused.
At the same time, the relationship between the younger sister Li Shu and Qin Dewei has always been unclear. Having no name or status is not a long-term solution.
But Qin Dewei definitely couldn't give his sister the title of head wife, and the elder brother Li Jing didn't know what to say to his family.
Now that my sister is a young girl in her twenties, it's really not good for her to drag it out like this.
Thinking of the future between the two of them, Li Jing became more and more troubled. It was all a mess.
However, Miss Li was not affected and said with a smile: "I thought something happened to my elder brother, but it turned out to be this."
Li Jing said dissatisfied: "Life is not a child's play. Don't you have any worries about the future?"
"There's nothing to worry about!" Miss Li said nonchalantly.
Li Jing asked doubtfully: "Do you have a clear idea?"
"No!" Mrs. Li said without caring.
Li Jing was very angry at his sister's completely irresponsible attitude toward her life, and wanted to give her a few words of reprimand.
But Mrs. Li said confidently: "Don't think so much, just ask Mr. Qin, Mr. Qin will solve it!
People like Mr. Qin like others to be obedient the most. So just listen to his arrangements honestly and feel happy to be relaxed. It's useless to think too much!"
Li Jing: ""
I couldn't tell for a moment, is my sister really stupid, or is she so wise and foolish?
Mrs. Li turned around and walked out again, "I'm going to go over there and ask. Brother, please don't waste your time thinking on your own."
When she came to the main room of the main courtyard, she happened to bump into Qin Dewei who was returning from the trench.
After listening to Mrs. Li's words, Qin Dewei nodded: "I understand, just ask your elder brother to wait for arrangements."
This answer was completely expected by Mrs. Li, so she responded with a smile: "Then please excuse me, Mr. Qin!"
Xu Miaoxuan, who was standing next to her, asked a question that had been lingering in her mind for a long time: "Why is the sister of the Li family always called Mr. Qin? It sounds a bit strange."
In fact, Mrs. Li didn't understand either. She glanced at Qin Dewei and said, "He said it sounded funny, so he called it that way."
Qin Dewei was still very concerned about the matter of the Li brothers and sisters, and went to the East Government Hall of Beijing Yingying to find Wang Tingxiang the next day.
"Senior, I have something to ask of you. See if you can agree." Qin Dewei asked calmly.
Wang Ting, the Secretary of the Ministry of Punishment and the Governor of Beijing Camp, was so familiar with Qin Dewei that he raised his hand emotionally and responded with gestures:
"Whether I let you say it or not, or whether I agree or not, does it matter? So you can do whatever you want."
Then Qin Dewei was no longer polite, "That's it, I think Li Jing is a good person, you arrange for him to be a cooperating officer to gild the camp."
Although he claimed to be accustomed to Qin Dewei's speaking style, Wang Tingxiang still wanted to point to the camp gate and say to Qin Dewei, "Get out of here!"
He knew that Li Jing was the brother of Qin Dewei's little lover who was very good at fighting. Now his official rank had been promoted to commander, and his military position in the Beijing camp was that of the cavalry commander.
But it is not that difficult for Li Jing, an external commander, to serve as a coordinating officer in the Beijing camp.
There is a huge gap between middle-level military positions and high-level military positions. They are simply two classes. Is it so easy to cross the class?
Especially in the capital where there are a lot of princes and princes and nepotism is everywhere, a co-camping officer might have more than a dozen people related to the marquis and earls keeping an eye on him.
So Wang Tingxiang explained patiently: "It's not that I don't want to help. Although I, the governor, am responsible for assessing merit, the selection of military positions actually depends more on the Ministry of War.
Generally speaking, when selecting people who are normal and not out of the ordinary, I may still have a bit of face, so I can just say a few words and the decision will be made.
But if you want an out-of-town commander to serve as a coordinating battalion officer, it is beyond my capabilities. I really don’t have such power!"
Qin Dewei looked at Wang Tingxiang and asked: "Is it really impossible?"
Wang Tingxiang replied firmly: "It really can't be done!"
Qin Dewei stood up and left, muttering: "I originally wanted to recommend you to become the Minister of the Ministry of War."
"Wait! Wait!" Wang Tingxiang called to Qin Dewei who had already reached the door.
Then he hesitated and asked: "I am old and my ears are not very good. I seem to have heard you just say the four words Minister of the Ministry of War?"
Qin Dewei turned around and said, "I just calculated that Zhang Zan will be the Minister of War for a long time."
If someone else had said these words, Wang Tingxiang might not take them seriously, but this is Qin Dewei!
Wang Tingxiang's sixty-year-old eyes actually burst out with as much passion as those of young people, but his movements were natural, twirling his beard gently and smiling:
"If I can be the Minister of the Ministry of War and the Governor of the Beijing Camp, I will have enough power to select talents in an unusual way. It is not a problem to recommend your Majesty as the governor."
The Minister of Punishment and the Governor of Beijing Camp are always a little bit different. Although the six bureaus are of the same rank, there is also a chain of contempt between them.
But no matter how they are arranged, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Works are at the bottom, and the Ministry of War is one level higher than these two.
With the actual position of Minister of the Ministry of War and Governor of the Beijing Camp, plus the crown prince and Taibao, this is probably the limit of what Wang Tingxiang, who is already in his sixtieth year, can pursue in his life. It is the kind of pursuit that he will have no regrets in life or death.
Qin Dewei looked at Senior Wang with pity: "You should sleep more if you have nothing to do. There is everything in your dreams, but in reality it is useless to think too much."
Wang Tingxiang: ""
Since there is no point in overthinking, why did Qin Dewei mention the Minister of War in the first place? Just for fun?
Mr. Wang silently looked at the governor's pacesetters outside. He really wanted to imitate the commanders in the storybook, and gave an order to hit Qin Dewei with an eighty-kill stick first.
Qin Dewei felt that if he couldn't come up with a reasonable explanation, he might not be able to get out of the camp, so he quickly said:
"Old senior, you can't blame me. I definitely hope you can become the Minister of War, but don't forget that there is also Mao Bowen who has returned from the southern expedition, so it's useless for you to overthink it."
Mao Bowen is also a member of the second rank. He is a fellow member of Xia Yan, the first assistant, and is currently unemployed like Zeng's stepfather.
Wang Tingxiang, who has more than 40 years of officialdom experience, can tell it all without clicking. He pointed at Qin Dewei and said angrily: "You are really a devil!"
Qin Dewei responded: "I don't mean anything else. The Minister of War still has to be elected according to the normal selection process. But I don't appoint you to be the next Minister of War. Do you understand what I mean?
Just now you asked me what to do, and I said I had no comment, and you wouldn’t be happy either. You want to ask me if I support you, and I do, and I’ll tell you this clearly.”
Qin Dewei's hint is very clear. Of course I support you, Senior Wang, but Xia Shoufu should support Mao Bowen.
So, Senior Wang, will you side with your old ally Xia Yan or me in the future?
After talking to Wang Tingxiang and leaving another question that tests human nature, Qin Dewei hid back at home and kept a low profile to avoid the rumors outside.
The fact that Academician Qin brought a huge sum of fifteen thousand taels to Da Sima's house to give gifts has been regarded as an anecdote in the past few days and has been steadily circulated in the official circles of the capital.
No one can understand the depth of it, but it does not affect everyone's enthusiasm for spreading it. After all, it is too curious, and the protagonist is a celebrity like Qin Dewei.
In the eyes of most people, this is regarded as a performance art that satirizes and slaps in the face.
Probably Academician Qin didn't like Zhang Da Sima, so he deliberately came up with this trick to disgust Zhang Da Sima. There were even rumors that the five boxes were actually filled with stones or iron blocks.
Zhang Zan himself was still a little uneasy, so he looked around for advice from acquaintances, thinking that working together might be able to discover the problem.
But without exception, no one can give any reliable answer.
This rumor naturally found its way into Dongchang's daily information, but the factory boss, Eunuch Qin, understood that today's emperor may not be in the mood to listen to Dongchang's daily information as gossip like in the past.
Today, the Qin eunuch arrived at the Qianqing Palace early in the morning, but failed. Emperor Jiajing went to the Xuanji Palace last night to have a fast, and stayed here temporarily.
Standing outside the Xuanji Palace, waiting for the result of his request, Eunuch Qin sighed secretly, looking a little worried.
Maybe the ministers from other dynasties haven't noticed the change yet, but the emperor's cronies like Eunuch Qin have discovered that since the death of Empress Dowager Chiang, the emperor is really different from usual.
Although the original emperor also cultivated immortality, his focus was still on government affairs and he was considered diligent in his administration. Close eunuchs like Eunuch Qin often saw the emperor about twice a day.
But now the emperor suddenly became extremely addicted to Zhaijiao, and even the eunuchs of Qin might not be able to see him every day.
It turned out that every morning, the eunuch Qin would meet with the emperor and tell the emperor the daily information about Dongchang as a joke.
But now, the emperor, who often lives in seclusion, basically doesn't listen to this anymore.
Of course, the eunuch Qin's request to see the emperor today was not to tell jokes, but to have other important matters. Otherwise, he would be asking for trouble if he disturbed the emperor's cultivation for no reason.
While Eunuch Qin was thinking wildly, a message came out from the Xuanji Palace, asking Eunuch Qin to see him.
Emperor Jiajing was sitting on a high platform meditating. Eunuch Qin did not dare to look at him and lowered his head to report the affairs of the southern patrol.
"It is planned to have 120 retinues and uniformed guards, 8,000 members of the flag school, and 6,000 remaining officers and soldiers. As for the allocation of silver,"
After hearing this, Emperor Jiajing opened his eyes and fell into deep thought, and Eunuch Qin also stopped.
Although there was no communication, Emperor Jiajing knew what the problem was, and eunuch Qin also knew what the problem was.
Two words, no money! Four words, no money in the internal treasury!
In the past few years, the Ancestral Temple was newly built, and two palaces for the Queen Mother were built. The treasury consumption was already huge, and after the death of the Empress Dowager Chiang at the end of last year, countless silver taels were spent.
But this year has just begun, and all kinds of taxes and money have not yet been transferred to the internal treasury, so we are at a critical juncture.
Although the southern patrol team had local supplies along the way, the emperor also had to provide subsidies. Otherwise, depending on the economic level of the states and counties along the way, there would be no financial resources for such a huge supply in a hurry.
Moreover, during the southern tour, the emperor planned to send important officials to carry silver taels to patrol the nine borders in order to use rewards to boost morale and stabilize the frontiers. This was another huge expense.
Thinking of this, Emperor Jiajing was also a little worried. Even the national treasury in Taicang was very short of silver, so there was no need to demolish the east wall to make up for the west wall.
Eunuch Qin took the opportunity to solve the problem and said: "Zhang Yanling has been in prison for several years, but your majesty is kind and never ransacked the Zhang family. Now the money is insufficient, so why not"
Emperor Jiajing raised his hand to stop Eunuch Qin from continuing.
This matter was mentioned by more than one person named Qin, but Emperor Jiajing could not let go of his dignity and was afraid of being accused of being greedy for the Zhang family's wealth.
But now that he was extremely short of money, Emperor Jiajing was really tempted by the Zhang family's property.
But the emperor's dignity does not allow him to go back on his promise, so he should think again.
When Eunuch Qin reached this point, he did not dare to continue persuading him any more, as it would be too much to go too far.
Then the Qin eunuch took out the book and told Emperor Jiajing: "Your Majesty, please take a look at the recent information about Dongchang."
Emperor Jiajing only asked: "Is there something big going on?"
After so many years, Eunuch Qin probably knew the standard of "big things" in Emperor Jiajing's mind, and he simply replied: "There is no big thing."
Emperor Jiajing was too lazy to pay attention and asked Eunuch Qin to retreat.
He also asked the Qin eunuch to pass on the decree to the outside world, and held a court meeting on February 12th to convene ministers of third rank and above and Hanlin officials to finalize all matters related to the southern tour.
Eunuch Qin reluctantly withdrew from the Xuanji Palace. Not only did he meet the emperor less frequently now, but even if he could meet the emperor in person, the communication and interaction was much less than in the past.
If you could interact with each other for a hundred sentences in the past, now it’s pretty good if you can interact with each other for only ten sentences!
Fortunately, he is not like this alone, everyone else is like this, otherwise Eunuch Qin would really not be able to sleep.