Zhu Si went to Yang Tinghe twice to discuss alone, and after arguing hard, the cabinet proposed to increase the number of candidates for cabinet bachelors, and promoted Yuan Zonggao to be the Minister of Rites and the bachelor of Wenyuan Pavilion.
Cabinet, temporarily ranked fourth among the cabinet bachelors.
For Yuan Zonggao, this is something he never dared to dream about before. Joining the cabinet will mean that he has won a reputation for himself before retiring.
But at the court meeting on May 11th, Yang Tinghe presented a memorial to the new emperor with Qin Jin, the left minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs.
The content of the attack was related to the dispatch of grain and grass from the nine sides, and mainly focused on the supply of grain and grass from the three sides. On the grounds that the little Tatar prince was invading the border, he requested that a large amount of money and grain be allocated from the Ministry of Revenue to the three sides to actively prepare for war.
Alleviating the huge pressure on expenses in the northwest.
Of course Zhu Si knew that this was what Yang Tinghe meant. Although Qin Jin was the Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of Household Affairs, his influence in the court was not great, so he would not dare to pose problems to the emperor so directly.
Zhu Si was so calm that he said: "In last year's memorial, didn't it be mentioned that the northwest is now enough? In addition, hasn't the little Tartar prince not violated the border for many years? Why are we making such preparations this year before the troops from the Fan Kingdom have arrived?
?”
Qin Jin said: "Back to your Majesty, the Ming Dynasty is a little unstable now. When your Majesty ascends the throne, foreign countries may take advantage of the situation and invade."
Zhu Si asked with a straight face: "Does that mean I'm a soft persimmon and they want to pinch me?"
This was said so bluntly that the ministers present could not bear it. The emperor actually described himself as a soft persimmon... But his words were rough and unreasonable. If you are not a soft persimmon, who is?
"I saw the report from the Ministry of Revenue yesterday, but I asked people to adjust the accounts of the three sides in the past few years. I did not find that there was a large deficit. Instead, the Xuanfu and Datong were due to the late emperor's long-term stay and the deployment of troops to the Beijing camp for regiment training.
, making it difficult to make ends meet..."
Zhu Sidang even said the words Zhu Hao had prepared for him in public.
The memorial by Qin Jin, the Minister of Household Affairs, was not without reason. When discussing matters in the court, one should not talk nonsense. Instead, he had to submit the memorial first and then discuss it in public in the court. When Zhu Hao saw Qin Jin's memorial, he knew that Yang Tinghe was going to take action.
Emperor, aren't you stingy with the little money from the Imperial Household? I will try my best to get it out for you. This is also what I punished you for asking Okura of the Ministry of Accounts to check the accounts.
At this time, due to the vacancy of the position of Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, Sun Jiao had been appointed as the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, but he had not yet taken up the post. Currently, Qin and Jin were responsible for the affairs of the Ministry of Finance. The emperor wanted to use Sun Jiao to control the warehouse and large accounts of the Ministry of Revenue. Naturally, Yang Tinghe could not.
Let the new emperor get his wish.
Qin Jin was asked and did not know how to reply. At this time, Jiang Mian, a cabinet scholar, came out and said: "Your Majesty, since the Xuanfu and Datong are unable to make ends meet, we should allocate money from the capital's warehouses for relief!"
Zhu Sidao: "Next step, Jiang Ge always wants to tell me that the capital can't mobilize money and let me find another way?"
Yang Tinghe finally came out and said: "In the last years of Zhengde, the saints often drove to Xuanfu. Famines came one after another. The officers and soldiers had not paid their salaries and food for many years, and people were starving all over the country. If your majesty is considerate of the border people, you should allocate funds for disaster relief."
Qin Jin, Jiang Mian and Yang Tinghe came out to fight for money and food for the northwest one after another. The ministers present could see that this was naked pressure on the emperor.
Yuan Zonggao, who had previously been immersed in the joy of being promoted from the Minister of Rites to the Cabinet Bachelor, suddenly felt invisible pressure rushing towards him.
At this time, the emperor was besieged by three important ministers. Logically speaking, he should come out to speak for Zhu Si. After all, when the emperor ascended the throne, he said that he had appointed new ministers, but some ministers were either neutral or like Sun Jiao.
This has not yet reached the capital, and when civil servants are jointly exerting pressure, ordinary civil servants dare not speak out. As the emperor's former teacher, he needs to stand up, fight with the Confucian scholars, and open the eyes of the emperor.
But at this moment, Yuan Zonggao didn't know what to say.
The scene froze there for a moment.
Zhu Siqiang suppressed the anger in his heart, shook his head and sighed: "I also know that the northwest has experienced natural and man-made disasters in the past few years. I asked someone to check the amount of silver in the inner treasury, and it was less than 400,000 taels. Most of them were confiscated from the traitor's house.
.
"Last night, the Xuan Mansion reported the disaster situation. I have approved the transfer of 200,000 taels of internal treasury silver to the Xuan Mansion and 130,000 taels to Datong. I also agreed to confiscate official silver taels, family property, farmland, and land.
I ordered them all to be fed, sell them according to the estimates of the grain officials, and keep them all in the town for relief. There is only so much I can do."
As soon as the emperor's words came out, the ministers who were ready to attach themselves to Yang Tinghe and come out to argue with the new emperor suddenly became silent.
Even Yang Tinghe didn't expect it.
The emperor would actually prepare to transfer the silver from the inner treasury in advance?
There are a total of 400,000 taels, and you are going to transfer 330,000 taels out of it? If you are so generous, why did you ask the Ministry of Household Affairs to investigate the expenses of the elephant house and leopard house at the beginning of the year?
There is a conspiracy!
But then Zhu Siyi waved his hand, and the eunuch Zhang Zuo, the eunuch in charge of the ceremony, opened a memorandum that had been reviewed but not yet issued for execution in public and handed it to Yang Tinghe and other ministers for circulation.
Yang Tinghe felt his scalp numb when he saw the content of Zhu's batch. He had suddenly launched an attack and barely gave the new emperor any time to prepare. The new emperor seemed to be in a panic, but he was well prepared in advance. What's more, Zhu's batch was clearly the new emperor's handwriting, which was not consistent with the cabinet.
The difference in the votes shows that the emperor carefully thought about this issue and made the reply based on his subjective wishes.
This made Yang Tinghe feel that his moves seemed to be within the expectations of the new emperor.
"I hope that the little money and food will be used in useful places. I am young and I still have some confusion about running a family and governing the country. If your family has any financial matters in the future, please help mediate. After all, I have taken over the inner treasury.
, it is really empty and empty, I tried my best but could only do a little bit."
Zhu Si said something beautiful again.
I mean, don’t you just keep an eye on the little money in your inner treasury?
But the inner treasury I took over is not as full as the one left by Xiaozong. My cousin was squandering all the money and food. You ministers have no idea how empty the inner treasury is? You only have so little money and you still keep an eye on it every day.
, then I won’t hide it and give it to you all!
Next time you are short of money, please raise it on your own and don't try to trick me again.
Yang Tinghe even felt that he had been plotted, so that the moral high ground was completely occupied by the new emperor. Unlike what he expected, the new emperor would find various reasons to allocate money and food from other places to provide relief. At that time, Yang Tinghe had something to say, you
An emperor who has property but does not pay for it is not worthy of being a wise king...
What now?
Yang Tinghe lost his temper for a moment and was unable to answer the conversation.
Zhu Sidao: "By the way, I asked the Ministry of Household Affairs to conduct a thorough investigation on the river engineering. Do you have any clues? In order to speed up the progress, I want to send someone to supervise it. Why don't I ask Mr. Yuan Ge to go to the Ministry of Household Affairs to sit in charge on my behalf? What do you think?
how?"
Yuan Zonggao originally thought that the emperor had grown up, but before I could help him, he took the situation back by himself.
As a result, the emperor immediately targeted himself.
Yuan Zonggao instantly became the target of public criticism.
Yang Tinghe glanced at Yuan Zonggao, and naturally knew that this was the emperor's absolute direct descendant. Thinking of the emperor's steady and ruthless actions, he began to wonder in his mind, had he underestimated this smiling old fox before? Otherwise, who was the emperor's calm response?
Guidance?
"Since you have no objection, the matter will be settled as such. The Ministry of Works will transcribe the river engineering accounts and hand them over to Mr. Yuan Ge for careful inspection..."
…
…
A court meeting.
Originally, Yang Tinghe deliberately wanted to create a problem for the emperor, but the new emperor easily resolved it and even made him lose face.
In the end, the emperor wanted to find out the accounts of the river works, obviously taking this as an opportunity to "find money" from the accounts of the past few years.
Didn't you say you have no money? Then I will investigate to the end. If there is any discrepancy in the accounts, I will take down a group of officials, ransack their homes and hold them accountable. Will the money come out?
Some of your ministers are corrupt and bending the law, and their wealth may be richer than that of the Ministry of Household Treasury. Do you think I don't know about it?
You are targeting my inner treasury, but don’t blame me for taking action on those corrupt officials among you who have embezzled money and violated the law!
After leaving the court.
Yang Tinghe was thinking as he walked. Qin Jin, the Minister of Household Affairs, trotted to catch up. He leaned over and whispered: "Mr. Ge, your Majesty wants to check the accounts this time. However, in the past few years, the government has been in chaos, and most of the treasury is controlled by close sycophants.
Now that we have just put things right, it will be hard to settle the big debt."
Yang Tinghe said angrily: "Whoever caused the shortfall will be held responsible! Your Majesty said that you want to check the accounts, do you want me to object?"
The emperor should have had a copy of the court's accounts. Now the emperor says that the accounts are unclear and need to be thoroughly investigated. The cabinet cannot say that you can't do this. Wouldn't that mean that there is a problem with the emperor's accounts?
Now the Six Ministries are arguing that the deficit was all caused by Wang Qiong, Wang Xian and others. Anyone who believes it is a fool. In this case, we can only tell the truth.
Qin Jin is bored as a boss.
But everyone can see that Yang Tinghe is really angry, and it is also because the new emperor's performance is too unexpected, which makes Yang Tinghe, an old official in the officialdom, very passive, which is very frustrating.
…
…
After the court meeting, Yuan Zonggao was called to Qianqing Palace alone.
This was also given by Zhu Hao.
In fact, it was just to trick Lao Yuan and make people think that the new emperor's recent abnormal behavior was all due to Yuan Zonggao's behind-the-scenes advice.
"...Your Majesty, should this account...be handed over to others for investigation?"
When Yuan Zonggao was in the Xingwang Mansion, he was still full of confidence as the chief historian, but when he reached the center of the imperial court and now even became a bachelor in the cabinet, he felt that he was unable to do what he wanted.
Although Yuan Zonggao did not ask Zhu Si whether those countermeasures came from Tang Yin's suggestions, he already instinctively felt that Zhu Si could not learn the tactics of court strategy overnight. There must be someone who was expert behind the scenes, and it was not Tang Yin's words.
...Then it can only be Zhu Hao.
Could it be Zhang Zuo who is more mediocre than himself? Or even Jiang Lun who is ignorant and incompetent?
Zhu Sidao: "Don't bother others. I ask you to investigate, and you will investigate to the end. If there are not enough manpower, just transfer a few heads of the household department, plus some subordinate officials from the palace. Don't be too deliberate."
"Then your Majesty...what exactly do you want to investigate?"
Yuan Zonggao didn't understand.
Zhu Siming pretended that he was going to hit the officials of the Ministry of Accounts and the Ministry of Works over the accounting matter. Why did he make it seem like he was just dealing with a superficial matter?