.After two days, Xu Jie created the opportunity for Zhang Juzheng to meet the emperor alone - and ordered him to explain the government affairs of the previous dynasty for Longqing. In order to let the emperor take on his responsibilities as soon as possible, the cabinet decided that the Grand Secretary would give lectures to the emperor several months ago. Before Zhang Juzheng had started to intervene in state affairs, he was sent to give lectures to the emperor, which was also a matter of course in the question.
So no one took this seriously, but two days later, the Silijian came to promulgate: "Xu Jie, a great scholar of the Shaoshi, when he was in the temple, he was able to correct the wrongs and correct the rules, clarify the turbidity as the clear, punish greed and ink to calm the people's livelihood, set the rules to slash border expenses, support public opinion, reward talents and talent. For a while, the government was ambitious, the officials were always in power, and Haiyu called the rule of peace, all of which were their strength. He was not good at the imperial court, so how could he persuade the future? I went to Xu Jie to be the Yinqing Ronglu Dafu, the young master and the young master, gave him python robe and gold seal, allowed the Forbidden City to ride a carriage, and added two sons to serve as the commander of the Jinyiwei...' This is almost the highest honor that a minister can get.
Gao Gong and others were shocked at that time, and for some reason, the Sacred Heart suddenly changed drastically.
Before they could react, Xu Jie had already come back to his senses, bowed to his head and thanked him, and said, "I have been telling you that since ancient times, there is no other respect for the superiors, and the superiors are not suitable for the ministers. Although the country has set up this official at the beginning, the left prime minister and the country is the best, he is only the left pillar country. I beg your Majesty to dismiss this official and write it as a statute to show his integrity."
Everyone couldn't help but secretly admire: "It's really admirable that Master Xu Ge Lao is able to stay awake in the face of great glory." But he didn't know that he actually thought of his teacher Xia Yan, who was the only minister in the Ming Dynasty who awarded this title. He was incredible for a while, but he was inevitably disgraced. Therefore, he respected Xu Jie, the "Shangzhu Kingdom" and thanked him for not being able to do so.
In fact, the reason why Longqing gave him the highest honor was not only his contribution to the national affairs, but also the important thing was to reward him for his protection for himself. The day before yesterday, Zhang Juzheng told the emperor about the story of the previous dynasty. When talking about the hard years of the two kings fighting for the legitimacy, Longqing sighed: "At that time, I was neglected by my father, and all the officials thought that King Jing would come from behind, so they all avoided me. In order to please King Jing, they deliberately tried to make my ugly appearance..." As he said that, he looked at Zhang Juzheng with emotion and said: "It's a blessing that you masters have tried their best to protect me, so we can only sit here today..."
"The emperor praised it." Zhang Juzheng said seriously: "Actually, the lecturers of Yudi at that time, most of the officials in the court had shallow foundation and the highest status, were just sacrificial officials of the Imperial College. Although they tried their best to protect the emperor, we could not deal with the late emperor, King Jing and the father and son of the Yan family."
"Oh?" Longqing heard something in his words and asked, "You mean, are there anyone secretly helping me?"
"No," Zhang Juzheng nodded and said, "You can speak for Your Majesty in front of the late emperor; you are qualified to deal with the father and son of the Yan family; you can make King Jing afraid of only Mr. Xu, who was the Cifu at that time. It was his secret protection for the emperor all year round..."
"Why have I never heard of it?" Long Qing said in surprise.
"Her Xu Ge Lao has a special identity. He is a close minister of the late emperor and is regarded as a thorn in the eyes by the Yan family's father and son. If he expresses his position too clearly, it will not only attract the suspicion of the late emperor, but also take advantage of it. In that way, not only will he not be able to help the emperor, but it will also harm you." Zhang Juzheng said lightly: "But Mr. Xu's sincere heart towards Your Majesty is not to be questioned... I remember a few years ago, the Shimiao suddenly suspected His Majesty and ordered the then Minister of Rites to prosecutor Chengzu of Renzong's story." At that time, Emperor Chengzu had once decided to abolish the crown prince and establish the Han King Gao Xu. The so-called "story" refers to this.
Although he knew that the matter had passed, Long Qing still felt nervous. It turned out that the late emperor had really had the intention of abolishing the eldest son and establishing the young. If no one helped him, the fate of himself and Zhu Zaithen would be reversed. So he heard Zhang Juzheng tell the secret of that year: "Fortunately, Xu Huating calmly explained to His Majesty, saying that although Renzong was not as smart and pleasing as the King of Han, he was better because he was kind and upright, and was more suitable to be the Lord of the Congcheng. Moreover, if Renzong was established, the King of Han would still exist. On the contrary, Renzong would be destroyed. After listening to it, the late emperor pondered for a long time, and soon sent Hanlin editors to become the lecturer of the royal palace, which was the meaning of complementation. Obviously, the late emperor had made up his mind." He paused and said: "Xu Huting had a lot of eyes for the weak ministers, and he discussed with me many major matters. Therefore, only one of the ministers knew about this matter, and no one could hear about it."
After hearing this, Longqing remained silent for a long time. A day later, the scene described above happened.
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Faced with the honor given by the emperor, Xu Jie was determined not to be entitled "Shangzhu Kingdom".
Seeing that the old man was so humble, the emperor was very happy and did not force him to accept it anymore. Instead, he transferred the title of Zuozhu Kingdom and handed the banner of "Soul German Old Man" to Wenyuan Pavilion. He was so fond of favor that everyone envied... Fortunately, Gao Gong was not in his heart. He knew that if he had a conflict with Xu Jie again, the emperor would probably not help him. More seriously, in the eyes of the ministers, Xu Jie also received the holy favor. His imperial teacher could no longer threaten Xu Jie, but on the contrary, he might be retaliated by him.
Many people must be far away from themselves, and those censors have no scruples anymore and must be fired at him. When they think of these bad things, Gao Gong felt bitter in his mouth and his heart were blocked, and he secretly blamed his good students for their ears and hearts.
In the next few dozen days of the year, the cabinet began to be busy with various summary and inventory. There were not many places to quarrel, and Gao Gong was much more restrained, so although he was busy day after day, he also ushered in a rare period of peace.
Shen Mo and the others also ended their political observations and began to share some tasks. Among them, Zhang Juzheng was responsible for checking the general account books of the Ministry of Revenue for use at the end of the year-end financial meeting; Chen Yiqin was responsible for studying the official assessment files sent by the Ministry of Personnel and preparing to set the tone for the Beijing inspection in the coming year; Shen Mo was responsible for the accounting analysis of the Ministry of War, also in order to be able to argue with the various departments at the end of the year so that they would not be led by them.
Of course, it was not just busy summarizing it, but also a lot of state affairs. First, Guangdong has investigated clearly that behind the bloodshed incident, there was actually a clan fight. Because the government asked each baojia to declare the number of land by himself before clearing the land tax. In order to evade the land tax, the two tribes tried their best to transfer their respective fields to the tax-free school fields and to support the land, but the tax-free acres were limited after all, and the two tribes had a quarrel in order to compete for share. Because they had long had a feud, it became more and more intense, and eventually turned into a fight. The people in Guangdong were fierce, and more than a dozen lives were born.
In fact, at that time, Pang Shangpeng was trying his best to persuade the big family in Guangzhou to accept the whip method, and the land of Zhangzhang had not officially begun. For that bloody case, he was at most indirectly responsible, so how could he be judged as the culprit? Facts proved that it was right not to have a hasty dealt with at that time, and those Guangdong censors obviously had to bear greater responsibility. However, Xu Jie was not allowed to investigate the matter on protecting the rules of the situation; in this way, Pang Shangpeng could not be held accountable. He was only reminded below to pay attention to the methods and not to intensify the conflicts.
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Chen Si also realized the hard work of the cabinet for the first time. Because many situations are only known to the top leaders, the cabinet was originally small, so some work had to be handed over to Si Zhilang to complete. Now that the staff is supplemented, all of them are naturally collected, so a lot of complicated work must be done by themselves. In addition, the group of their backward Grand Secretary is somewhat different from the previous group. Gao Gong and the three of them have taken off their ministry affairs and entered the cabinet, but the three of them still have the responsibilities of the ministry. According to the rules, the Grand Secretary and the Ministry should go back to the ministry regularly to sit in the ministry, and the daily ministry affairs are handled by the Assistant, but the important matters should be decided by them personally.
Chen Yiqin's side is better. The Ministry of Personnel has Yang Bo, which doesn't matter whether he returns or not, so he just goes back every now and then. He spends most of his time in the cabinet. Chen Mo and Zhang Juzheng are not good at it. The Ministry of Revenue has no Secretary of the Secretariat, and Zhang Juzheng is a good person to take over. His ministry reform has just begun. Even if Xu Yangzheng is watching, he is uneasy. He has to go back every day to calm down those cheating people.
The Ministry of Rites is said to be less than a person, but it is also time to get points. Next year is another year of competition, and the autumn examination will be held in the two capitals and 13 provinces. This is the top priority of the state machine of the Ming Dynasty. It is of great significance and is highly watched and there is no omission. The main and deputy examiners, invigilators, advisors, and even copying clerks in each examination room must be sent by the Ministry of Rites; the examination room and examination conditions of each tribute court also require the Ministry of Rites to check and close... Although the provincial examination was only held in autumn, because the territory of the Ming Dynasty was too vast, it is necessary to start busy from now on.
He had to worry about the affairs of the ministry, but he could not delay the affairs of the cabinet. He had to go from white to black every day, and often didn't care about going home, so he could only stay in Da Nei. It was not until the 27th day of the twelfth lunar month that he had only returned home for five trips, and he also went two more trips because Baoer was sick.
After being busy, what made him feel relieved was that his previous layout had made progress and seemed to have achieved a number of results:
First, according to his arrangement, Xavier organized a Franc mission and requested to enter Beijing as a messenger of Yuanyi who paid tribute to Longqing. With the care of the Minister of Rites of the Ming Dynasty, he naturally went all the way to Beijing from Shanghai and successfully submitted the messenger document to the Ministry of Rites, and soon came to Chen Si. Seeing that Xavier's memorial to the emperor was quite literary, but he did not show his own strengths, he personally revised it. Therefore, Xavier's memorial was well-known and well-informed.
In the memorial, Shabulu called himself a 'meanor', saying that foreign ministers admired the Chinese Celestial Empire and came from 80,000 miles away. In order to enter Beijing, they studied Chinese in Shanghai, Beijing and other places, studied the books of Chinese sages, and enthusiastically introduced the Ming Dynasty to their compatriots. As a result, they also yearned for the country of the Celestial Empire very much, so they formed a small mission, carrying hundreds of Western tributes, and traveled thousands of miles to the Ming Dynasty, hoping to get the emperor's reception.
This wish is not easy to realize. Emperor Longqing, who was ruled by the throne, has been in court for a few times since he ascended the throne, and he can count the number of foreign ministers with his fingers. Even his ministers are rare to see, so how can he be a foreign minister? Of course, just say silence, Longqing will definitely give him face and meet those foreigners. But Mr. Shu is now special in his identity, so he cannot speak casually, so as not to leave anyone's talk. So he can only give them secret guidance and teach them the secret weapons to impress the emperor.
The secret is hidden in the tributes I have entered. The list of tributes includes: images of the Golden Emperor, images of the Golden Emperor's Mother, the Golden Emperor's Sutra, the pearl inlaid with crosses, pocket watches, music time-sounding bells; more than a dozen Western musical instruments such as organs and long tubes, as well as hundreds of books such as "Magic of the Worlds" and "Taixi Calendar"... They are either expensive or novel and rare, and they can be said to be a painstaking effort. It can be seen that their expectations for this trip have reached the point of not paying much attention to their money.
This gift list, along with the gifts given, was handed directly to the Lijian Supervisor by Shen Mo. In contrast to the self-restraint and hard work of the auxiliary ministers, after the king did not go to court early, Emperor Longqing specialized in eating, drinking and having fun, and even won the nickname of "Little Bee". Of course, in addition to hard work, the emperor also liked to dabble in various novel things, so after reading these tributes, he realized that it was novel.
However, no matter how precious the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was, it would be fine if it was a novelty. He didn't even read those books, and the emperor could not put it down in the end. It was still the pocket watch... In fact, it was the same as the silent one, but according to Silence's instructions, Shaburo replaced the back shell with gold, and the words "Full Lives Without Border" were engraved on it, as well as patterns such as bats and Qingyun, which immediately looked much more noble.
Longqing really couldn't put it down and held it in his hands all day long. As a result, Concubine Li saw it and wanted to borrow it for a few days... Although the emperor's harem had 3,000 beauties, Empress Li's mother enjoyed unshakable favors due to her son's value... The emperor was not willing to refuse, so he had to bear the pain and gave up for a few days. But he was afraid that she would not return it, so he deliberately did not tell her that this thing had to be fired. As a result, Concubine Li played for a few days, and the pocket watch stopped. She thought it had been broken by herself, so she quickly apologized to the emperor. As a result, Longqing took it, took out the clockwork spoon, twisted it calmly for a few times, and the needle turned as dripping as before.
Looking at the emperor's pride, Concubine Li knew that she had been fooled and looked coquettish. Longqing quickly begged for mercy and said, "I only have this watch, don't snatch it. Otherwise, you can pick the rest of the things you like, just take away whatever you like."
Concubine Li continued to act coquettishly and asked the emperor to accompany her to choose. Although she was the mother of the prince and had no favors, she was rarely with the emperor. Of course, she had to seize every opportunity.
Long Qing naturally agreed, so he asked the eunuch to bring the tribute from the Curry and display it in the warm pavilion, allowing Concubine Li to choose. Women like fine things, but at this time the craftsmanship of Europe was far inferior to the Ming Dynasty, otherwise there would not be such a huge trade difference. So when Concubine Li looked at it, there was nothing that could be seen. She only saw the woman holding the child was very kind and asked for the statue of the Virgin.
Seeing that she only took the most valuable one, the emperor felt uncomfortable, so he urged her to pick it again and said, "After all the way, you can pick two more?"
Concubine Li had to look again, pointing at a square cabinet like something and laughing: "These Westerners are really here. I'm sending a cabinet from thousands of miles away. Is it better than our Ming Dynasty?"
"This is not a cabinet," Long Qing said happily when he saw that he had the opportunity to perform in front of his wife: "This is called a harpsichord, it is a Western musical instrument."
"Music Instrument?" Concubine Li immediately became interested. She is now a beginner in the Qindao. She wanted to try it out when she wanted to see the musical instruments in the world.
"No one can play this." The emperor said, while lifting the cover himself and saying, "But it sounds really nice..." After pressing it a few times, the sound of nature-like ding dong flowed out of the black and white keys, which immediately calmed down Concubine Li. Although her appearance was not beautiful, her delicate and vivid tone was incomparable to any Chinese musical instrument.
She started playing it herself a few times. After all, the instruments were connected. Concubine Li quickly found the tone and could simply play some melody, and was attracted very quickly. However, there were still differences in the essence of the instruments in the east and west. She always felt that there was a layer of window paper between them, and she couldn't figure it out and said coquettishly: "It's better to have a musical instrument than not playing it."
Longqing also felt that if this thing was played well, it would definitely be much better than the squeaking silk and bamboo sounds, and it would be more fun when drinking and having fun. He thought about it and said, "Those Westerners must know how to play it. Let me see them and ask you." So he ordered the Ministry of Rites to summon foreign guests at a time.
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Different from the emperor's jokes. The cabinet attached great importance to the reception of foreign envoys this time, because one of the signs of the prosperity of the dynasty was that the Ming Dynasty was "all nations came to pay tribute." Because of the decline of national strength, and the closeness of the country, the Ming Dynasty had cut off contact with most vassal states, except for Korea and Ryukyu and other vassal states that had always been close to the Celestial Empire. Now there are Taisai tribute envoys coming here, which made the long-lived ministers very excited. Especially Xu Ge Lao, who ordered the Ministry of Rites to give the highest national gift.
Shen Mo advised: "After the scene and the ceremony, the emperor will be impatient again. What should I do if I don't receive the mission again?"
Xu Jie thought about it, and the laziness of this dynasty emperor was so horrible that in order to increase his interest in state affairs, it would be better to keep everything simple, so he asked Shen Mo to make arrangements by himself and he would not ask about it anymore.
As a result, the location where the foreign envoy was received was arranged in the emperor's favorite Xihunting Pavilion.
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Chapter completed!