Zhu Si was fiddling with some small objects and had no intention of taking care of court affairs. On the side, several eunuchs in charge of rituals were busy writing. Zhang Zuo got up from time to time and went over to use seals. Then he turned back and brought several relatively important memorials to Zhu Si. I asked Zhu Si to review it, but Zhu Si basically waved his hand, which meant that you had to watch and deal with it.
"By the way, has Jingdao left?"
Zhu Si finally had enough fun, stood up, stretched and asked.
Zhang Zuo said: "I haven't left yet."
"Still in Xishan? Lu Song has been saved and taken to the south. What do you want Lu Song to do for him? Are you going to fight the pirates and Japanese bandits together?"
Zhu Si thought for a while and asked, his tone calm.
Zhang Zuo said hurriedly: "I don't know."
Zhu Si sighed: "Before Jingdao leaves, let someone give him some things, and then ask him to come back early. Do you also want to be more relaxed?"
Zhu Si looked at a group of eunuchs who were busy, and suddenly thought of those nights at Sixianju, with Zhu Hao around, one person could solve the problem, unlike now, when a group of people have to rely on the votes of the cabinet to solve the problem. Completed, although judging from the results, the stability of the court has not changed. After all, this is not the time when Yang Tinghe was the chief minister.
But Zhu Si still felt that it would be better with Zhu Hao here.
Zhang Zuodao: "Your Majesty may be able to persuade you to stay..."
"I can't keep him. He is very eager to go south. Since he wants to find the elixir of immortality, let him go. I won't stop him!" Zhu Si yawned, "I'm tired. I'll go to bed first. If I can do it tomorrow morning If you can't get up, just tell the minister that I'm ill. This daily court meeting is really boring!"
"yes."
Zhang Zuo was also in a dilemma.
Without Zhu Hao to supervise him, Zhu Si became more and more lax about being an emperor. Now he doesn't look like a wise emperor at all. Except that he is not as foolhardy as Zhu Houzhao, he is becoming more and more like him in other aspects.
They all have no interest in court affairs and only think about how to have fun.
…
…
As expected, Zhu Si did not go to court the next morning.
The ministers were fooled again, and now they are basically used to it. The emperor may not appear in the court twice during the three times he came to the palace. Although some ministers also petitioned the emperor to read more about the affairs of the court, the reasons given by the emperor for his reply were It's also very sufficient.
Now the Ming Dynasty is peaceful and the people are safe, and no major disasters have occurred. It does not involve the audit at the end of the year or the budget for the coming year. If I have to handle everything, then why do you need ministers like you?
With this kind of excuse as a shield, the ministers could do nothing but sigh, and maybe even feel a little secretly happy... In the past, the emperor was too tight on court affairs, and tasks were piled on top of each other, forcing everyone to keep spinning. Now that the emperor is relaxing about court affairs, allowing them to relax their minds, most of the pressure on their shoulders has also been relieved.
However, the courtiers could only keep this idea in their hearts, and they still had to express some emotions about the emperor's neglect of government. Only in this way can they show their loyalty.
"Mr. Fei Ge, His Majesty has not gone to court in the past three days. This is not a good sign." Xi Shu, the Minister of Rites, followed a few steps closer to Fei Hong and Liu Chun and asked the chief minister in a low voice for their opinion.
Fei Hong turned his head and looked at Xi Shu, probably saying, you are a member of the Ritual Sect and you are close to the emperor. You think the emperor has been doing something inappropriate recently, why don't you go and remonstrate in person and come and tell me?
Seeing that Fei Hong didn't want to pay attention to the banquet letter, Liu Chun took the initiative and said: "Why don't you jointly submit a petition asking Your Majesty to be diligent in government affairs and attend court every day? The Spring Festival is about to begin, should I go to Shu to ask for instructions, especially since the Ministry of Rites needs to be in advance? Planning to see if His Majesty will go there?"
Xi Shu said: "Mr. Liu Ge, I heard that there have been troubles in the northwest recently. Some things seem to be suppressed by the local government. This matter has never been taken seriously by the court."
At this time, the mutiny in Datong had not yet occurred, but signs were already there. Small deserters and desertions occurred frequently, and the number of bandits in the northwest increased significantly. The Tatars also invaded the country several times, although they did not achieve any decent results.
, but it also made the northwest wind roar.
Liu Chuntao: "Didn't Zang Feng leave for the northwest? Don't worry about this kind of thing."
Fei Hong finally couldn't help but say: "The Minister of Rites should take care of the affairs of the Ministry of Rites. It is not appropriate to interfere with the Ministry of War or military-related matters. You might as well ask others."
While speaking, Fei Hong specifically glanced at Yang Yiqing, who was not far behind him.
Compared to him who only had Xi Shu nagging here, Yang Yiqing had many people surrounding him. It seemed that Yang Yiqing was the one who could make decisions for the courtiers. The ministers of the six ministries seemed to have no scruples in their dealings with Yang Yiqing, and even the Yushi Yanguan also
They are all moving closer to Yang Yiqing.
Xi Shu couldn't help but look back. He could probably feel the crisis Fei Hong was going through, and he wanted to say something but held back.
…
…
Household Department.
As soon as Huang Zan returned, Zhang Zuo came from the palace to discuss the matter of rebuilding Taiqing Temple.
In fact, the emperor reached out to the Ministry of Revenue to ask for money. Now it is different from when Yang Tinghe was at the helm. At that time, the emperor always found a way to raise money by himself and relied on Zhu Hao to raise it. But now Zhu Si feels that all the money is mine.
Yes, why should I use my own pocket to spend money?
The Minister of Household Affairs is still my person, so of course he can take whatever he wants.
"Why does Your Majesty want to practice Taiqing Temple? Didn't you say that Zhu Shangshu has already gone to Nanjing?"
Huang Zan was surprised.
The only thing he had heard of Taiqing Temple recently was that Zhu Hao had been a Taoist priest there for nearly a month. Other than that, he had no idea that Taiqing Temple had any connection with the palace or even the emperor.
Zhang Zuo said with a smile: "Your Majesty intends to recruit Taoist priests from all over the world, especially those who are profound in Taoism, can predict the heavens, and can see into the future, and preferably those who can refine elixirs. If these people enter the capital, they will always need a place.
To relocate them, Taiqing Temple is a grand temple in the south of the city, filled with outstanding people, so it is most suitable to renovate it to accommodate them."
Although Huang Zan has always been good at flattering, he is doing practical things after all. Anyone who is good at living at the helm of the household department will feel that the reasons given by the emperor are too nonsense.
"Taoist priest? I'm afraid he doesn't have much ability..."
Huang Zan almost wanted to say that those Taoist priests are all swindlers, and whoever believes them is a fool.
Zhang Zuodao: "Huang Butang, we are not here to discuss with you whether this matter is feasible, but to convey His Majesty's oral instructions. Even if some people hold objections, you must implement them to the letter, right?"
"this……"
Huang Zan was speechless.
"We just want to ask Huang Butang, if the Ministry of Revenue can renovate Taiqing Temple, can the Ministry of Revenue provide fifty thousand taels of silver?" Zhang Zuo directly told the number.
This shocked Huang Zan.
What kind of Taoist temple requires fifty thousand taels of silver to be repaired?
Why not just grab it?
Fifty thousand taels can build several palaces. Doesn’t the imperial court calculate the cost before repairing Taoist temples?
But just when he was about to give his opinion, he suddenly noticed that Zhang Zuo looked wrong, and he immediately understood... It would not take that much money to rebuild Taiqing Temple. The emperor just found an excuse to allocate money and food from the Ministry of Revenue, or use it for something else.
The place may even be seized by Zhang Zuo and other specific handlers for personal use.
"Fifty thousand taels is too much."
Huang Zan said bluntly, "The money allocated to the government at the beginning of the year was only 120,000 taels, which is the largest amount in recent years. If we include the allocation to the three sides and other places, the total amount of money and grain will not exceed 300,000 taels."
Silver, everyone in the imperial court is cutting back on food and clothing, and the royal palaces have not been issued rice for half a year."
Huang Zan expressed the difficulties currently faced by the imperial treasury.
Nowadays, the imperial court's progress in raising money is not going smoothly. The imperial court still needs to build railways, trains, and ships... Although Zhu Hao financed most of these expenses, the emperor has repeatedly asked for money from the imperial court after he took charge of the government.
The name was to build the railway, but in fact no one knew what the money was used for after it was transferred by the palace.
Recently, the imperial palace has purchased a lot of things, and there is also a big expense, which is to rebuild the Xingwang Palace in Anlu Prefecture. Chiang Kai-shek has been in Anlu for nearly half a year, and he has been staying there recently to carry out construction projects.
There was some displeasure on Zhang Zuo's face: "50,000 taels of silver is too much? Your Majesty hasn't said that you want 80,000 taels or 100,000 taels! Huang Butang, you are a capable person. If you can't get even this little silver,
Your Majesty will be very disappointed. Look...should you find a way to solve it? Within ten days, okay?"
Huang Zan thought for a moment, is the emperor asking for money from me personally?
Could it be that you want me to buy an official position?
Zhang Zuodao: "I heard that Huang Butang has always wanted to be promoted to Minister of Civil Affairs. Look..."
Huang Zan didn't understand it very well at first, but after hearing these words, no matter how stupid he was, he understood that the emperor was asking him to dig into his pocket, so that he could be given the position of Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, so that he could be famous.
In order to make room for Yang Yiqing, Shi Yuan resigned from the cabinet and became the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel. Almost everyone in the court knew that his post would not last long, and they were all thinking about who would be the next Minister of the Ministry of Personnel. Huang Zan had previously fought for it, but during the event
I didn't spend any money, it was mainly because of Yang Yiqing's relationship.
Probably because of this, the emperor was annoyed, and the emperor now wanted to give him a difficult problem.
Huang Zan said: "The imperial court can allocate 30,000 taels... In addition... we can find a supplement of 20,000 taels from other places..."
Zhang Zuo smiled and said: "There is always money to be had if you squeeze it. If it involves the official position of Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, fifty thousand taels is a bit too little. Why do you need 60,000 taels? What do you think?"
Do you also have extra code?
Huang Zan thought for a while, if he was asked to pay 60,000 taels of silver, he would definitely not be able to get it. Now he had no idea how much silver Su Xigui could provide him, but if it was 30,000 taels, there would be no problem at all. No need.
If Su Xigui takes action, he can take it out himself.
"I'm willing to give it a try," Huang Zan said.
"Well, just ten days, sixty thousand taels of silver, official silver of good quality. Thirty thousand taels are nominally used to practice Taiqing Temple. You don't need to report the remaining 30,000 taels to the court. Our family will send
People from the inner government will contact you. If you have any concerns, please directly raise them with Eunuch Huang Jinhuang of Dongchang."
What Zhang Zuo meant was that this was considered a "private transaction."
Don't let the courtiers know, otherwise they will suspect Huang Zan's intention of taking out 30,000 taels of silver from his personal pocket.
"yes."
Huang Zan felt very happy.
At least I have the opportunity to be the Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, but I don't know if this is reliable.
Is the emperor openly selling his official position?