Chapter 226: The Storm of Kyoto (Five)

In the imperial study room, Zhu Yunwen listened to Huang Jinhua's report with a gloomy face. Huang Jinhua reported to Zhu Yunwen in detail the military expenditure reduction mentioned by Li Weizheng yesterday. He was a firm supporter of Zhu Yunwen, and Li Weizheng was a person who was deeply taboo by the emperor. It was rare that he heard Li Weizheng's arrogant words alone. How could he not seize this opportunity to be promoted and reused?

"Your Majesty, he finally said that at this critical moment, the court did the opposite, reducing military expenditure, which was less than the other, so how could the soldiers be willing to work for His Majesty?"

"Later, what did he say later?" Zhu Yunwen asked coldly.

Huang Jinhua knelt down and kowtowed, and said in panic: "I left later. I don't know what he said."

"I understand. I will remember your credit. You can go down!"

"I'm leaving."

When Huang Jinhua went down, Zhu Yunwen immediately said angrily to Qi Tai next to him, "This Li Weizheng dared to underestimate me so much and dared to criticize my national policy of equalizing the land tax in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. I don't believe it. I give it to the people. Can't the soldiers understand it?"

"Your Majesty calmed down!" Qi Tai knelt down and said, "I actually want to report to Your Majesty if I have something to do. Please forgive me for your rebellious words first!"

In front of his master, Zhu Yunwen would not put on any emperor's aura. He quickly helped Qi Tai up and said, "Shangshu Qi should not do this. You used to teach me and listen to both sides. In the past, Emperor Taizong of Tang was good at accepting advice, and achieved the Zhenguan rule. I also had ambitions and wanted to establish the Jianwen Revival. If you have advice, you should speak frankly. I will never blame you."

Qi Tai sat down, he pondered for a moment and said bluntly: "I actually agree with Li Weizheng's statement."

Zhu Yunwen was stunned, "What do you mean by this?"

Qi Tai sighed, "Your Majesty, I am the Minister of War. How could I not know the consequences of reducing military expenditure? My Ming Dynasty has a large army of 2.5 million. What a huge number. The military class is in it and the hierarchy is very strict. From the books, the soldiers should be able to eat and wear well. I guess Your Majesty thinks the same, but in fact this is just an ideal, and there is no consideration of exploitation. In fact, the court allocates a soldier a bucket of rice, and the soldier can get three liters in the end.

Wrong, so, the actual situation is that the soldiers are short of food and clothing and barely starve to death. However, the court cuts military expenditure, and the officers' exploitation will not reduce themselves. In the end, the imperial court will distribute nine liters of meters, which seems to be only one liter less, but in the end, there may be only one liter left in the hands of the soldiers. It will not be a reduction in the amount of military expenditure, because reducing military expenditure breaks the balance, and the officers are afraid that good days will no longer be allowed, so they will exploit more. Can you make a little more calculation? Do your Majesty understand?"

"How could this happen?" Zhu Yunwen was extremely shocked. This was something he had never heard of before. He said in disbelief: "But Li Weizheng didn't say that the soldiers of Weihai Guard can eat a meal of meat in two days, this is OK!"

Qi Tai sighed inwardly that his disciple was still too young and could not even see this reason. "Your Majesty, that is Weihai Guard, it is his foundation. Didn't Li Weizheng say that? The soldiers complained to him, and he also went to investigate the reason. With him staring, which officer of Weihai Guard dared to embezzle? So Weihai Guard has good conditions, but no one else has been watching."

Zhu Yunwen couldn't speak for a long time. He walked to the window with his hands behind his back, and a deep worry appeared in his eyes. He had never thought that the soldiers at the bottom would be so hard and the consequences of reducing military expenditure were so serious. After a while, he whispered: "So, Li Wei is still thinking about me."

Qi Tai nodded and said, "That's what I mean. Although Li Weizheng's words were sharp, he did point out the biggest crisis in front of the emperor. The emperor was not ready to reduce the vassal state for a while, and greatly reduced the tax. Although the court's warehouse is full, it cannot withstand several years of expenses. After a few years, what would the court's finances be like? Li Weizheng was actually worried about this. He was the minister appointed by His Majesty's first honoree. Although he had the ambition to establish himself as King of Goryeo, he still did not forget his promise to His Majesty back then, but His Majesty was suspicious of him again. This is why he disrespects His Majesty's words. He was a little angry with His Majesty for not fighting against His Majesty."

Zhu Yunwen sighed and said, "I understand. I used to be a little despised him and thought he was not important, so I abandoned him in order to please Emperor Taizu. Now it seems that I am wrong. I now know that his power is actually very strong. Maybe he will play a big role in my reduction of power in the future."

Zhu Yunwen lowered his head and walked a few more steps. He suddenly laughed and said, "I originally wanted to summon him to meet him and comfort him well, but now I suddenly changed my mind. I will cause trouble for him and create the illusion that I am not incompatible with him. Then I will secretly appease him. Shangshu Qi, do you think my strategy is right?"

Qi Tai immediately knelt down and said, "Your Majesty is wise, I can guarantee that Li Weizheng's existence will definitely have great constraints on the King of Yan and the King of Qi. I am willing to be this intermediary for Your Majesty."

As time went by, the chaos that occurred when the vassal kings entered the capital gradually subsided, and the people in the capital returned to their normal lives. After all, the power struggle between the royal family was still too far away from them, and ordinary people were concerned about it. However, some gossip news that the vassal kings entered the capital still made ordinary people talk about it. In the past two days, there was a saying that the current emperor fell in love with the daughter of Guo Heng, the former minister of the Ministry of Revenue, before becoming the grandson, they were quite affectionate with each other. However, because of the Guo Heng case, the two broke up sadly. Now the emperor wants to find the old man, but this woman was occupied by Li Weizheng from Liaodong and refused to return it, which aroused the emperor's rage, and thus canceled the original Li Weizheng's meeting.

This incident soon spread in the capital, and several versions were extended. This woman who caused disagreement between the king and the minister became a topic of relish in the capital. Everyone was speculating that her appearance must be as beautiful as a fairy, otherwise how could such a big storm be caused?

Of course, most officials with a little brain sneer at this statement. How could the emperor compete with Li Weizheng for women? However, the news from some insiders stunned the officials. Although the emperor was not as excessive as in the rumors in the market, he also met Li Weizheng, but when he met, he did ask about a woman when he met. As an emperor, of course, he would not ask his subordinates for women directly. This kind of inquiry was actually a hint. If the minister was smart, he would give the woman obediently, but Li Weizheng replied to the emperor with a tough sentence: "She is dead."

The emperor couldn't bear the face and left on the spot. The beauty drama of the country was really staged in the Ming Dynasty again.

The night was shrouded in Chang'an City, and a carriage guarded by hundreds of cavalry parked in front of the Qin Palace. King Zhu Gang of Jin got out of the carriage, but he did not report it and went directly into the Qin Palace. This was the third time that the two had met in Beijing. The two had indeed formed an alliance to deal with the King of Yan. In fact, the first one proposed alliance was King of Jin Zhu Gang. He had fought with King of Yan many times. He knew the strength of the King of Yan and knew that he was not his opponent. During a northern expedition in the 26th year of Hongwu, Jin, Liao, and Ning.

The three kings each sent 20,000 elite troops to the commander of the King of Yan, but in the end, all 60,000 troops were swallowed up by the King of Yan. This incident caused Zhu Gang's panic. That year, he proposed to the King of Qin to form an alliance to deal with the King of Yan together. However, at that time, the King of Qin was discouraged and did not agree. However, under the persuasion of his adviser Shao Wenda, the King of Qin took the initiative to propose the alliance. The two hit it off and decided to make a secret agreement to rule the river in the future. Qin and Jin really became a family.

This time when he entered Beijing, the two kings of Qin and Jin also discussed that since they wanted to deal with the King of Yan, they also hoped to keep calm with the court for the time being, so the two kings did not intend to provoke. Today, King of Jin Zhu Gang got a definite news from the Ministry of War, so he rushed to discuss with the King of Qin.

Zhu Ren met his third brother in his most secret inner room. As soon as he met, he smiled and said, "Did you hear the jokes of that boy Zhu Yunwen?"

"What the second brother said about a woman with Li Wei?" Zhu Gang sat down and shook his head and said, "There are people in the capital talking about this, but I think it is deliberately spread by someone who is interested and cannot believe it."

Zhu Ren sneered and said, "Then you are wrong. There is indeed this incident. I have ears and ears around the boy. He heard the news that when the boy met Li Weizheng in Zhonghe Palace yesterday afternoon, he asked about the recent situation of a woman named Guo Qianqian. As a result, you guess how Li Weizheng answered, he actually said 'She is dead'. Just these three words made the boy tremble all over and trembled his sleeves on the spot."

Speaking of this, Zhu Ren laughed to the sky, his fat body trembled. Zhu Gang read it twice, and he asked again: "Is there really such a woman?"

"It's true!" Zhu Ren nodded. He put away his smug laughter and said coldly: "That year, Zhan Hui and I joined forces to get together Li Wei Zhengshi and I had investigated his family in detail. He had a woman named Guo Qianqian. I don't know if she is Guo Heng's daughter, but Zhu Yunwen's kid is very infatuated with this woman. When Li Wei was in Weihaiwei, he also sent eunuchs to deliver letters to this woman several times. Many people in the East Palace knew about this. I was stupid at that time, but I didn't expect to use this to attack the former prince."

"Then why is the second brother interested in this matter now? Do you want to..."

"I'll talk about this later. Tell me first, why did you come to me so late?"

A sentence reminded Zhu Gang, and he hurriedly said: "I got a definite news from the Ministry of War today that the court would reform the military system and transfer troops from seven provinces including Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong, Jiangxi, Huguang, Henan, Shandong into Beijing. The last 1.5 million people formed ten armies, led by the general, and directly under the command of the emperor. Second brother, the situation is not good!"

"What's wrong with this? Isn't it obvious that he is preparing to cut down the vassal states? As I expected." Zhu Ren did not take this matter to heart. Suddenly his thoughts flashed, "Wait, you just said that the troops from Henan and Shandong will also be transferred to Beijing?"

"That's right, they are found in the seven provinces."

Zhu Ren frowned and said to himself: "Then if this happens, the Central Plains will be empty? This is an opportunity!"

"What my second brother means is that if you want to take the opportunity to occupy Henan, will Huguang be successful?"

"No! No!" Zhu Ren waved his hand quickly and said, "I'm not talking about myself. I'm wondering if the fourth brother will take the opportunity to march into Henan. He has a shortage of population and a wealthy finance in Peking, which has a great impact on his expansion of the army. I was wondering if the fourth brother would be moved. If he is moved to the south, it would be a good opportunity and excuse to take action."

"My second brother makes sense, I will pay special attention to this matter."

The two of them put aside the matter of King Yan, and the topic turned to Zhu Yunwen. Zhu Qiang smiled sinisterly and said, "Zhu Yunwen and his ministers competed for women, which was absent from the emperor's integrity. Can we use this matter to join forces with the kings to force him to abdicate, and then the elders who de will live there."
Chapter completed!