prosperous age

"Mr. Qian'an, you are here early."

In front of the gate of the Ming Dynasty Imperial City, Jiang Zhi got off the sedan chair and saw the Minister of Rites Ma Ziqiang who had arrived earlier. He immediately bowed and greeted him.

"Shunqing, you are here too. I just got off the sedan chair as well."

Ma Ziqiang returned the greeting with a smile, speaking modestly.

Recently, some officials in the court have been discussing the issue of filling cabinet positions, and the one who has the most support is Ma Ziqiang.

In this "love-seizing" incident, Ma Ziqiang adhered to etiquette and won the trust of many court officials. Afterwards, he went to Zhang Juzheng's house many times to ask him to plead for Wu Zhongxing, Zou Yuanbiao and others.

It can be said that Zhang Juzheng completely lost the "support of the people" because of this "love seizure" incident.

However, Wei Guangde only knew how to "avoid suspicion" and kept avoiding observing the rules, which made some officials look down on him, and they all thought he was just pretending.

Therefore, it should be said that Ma Ziqiang is one of the people who benefited the most from this incident.

The reason why it is just one of them is that it is because of those unlucky officials. Although they have lost their official positions or been exiled to remote areas, their reputations have been ruined.

Yes, the Ming Dynasty’s imperial caning was just so bizarre.

The caning in court established by Zhu Yuanzhang was originally intended to teach disobedient officials a lesson, but who would have thought that it would become a symbol of those who dare to speak out and make suggestions.

It is no wonder that throughout the Ming Dynasty, many low-ranking officials were proud to be beaten with a stick in the court and used it to enhance their reputation.

Since there is no way to pursue a career in politics, the only way is to improve your reputation by finding roundabout ways.

"Lord Qian'an, do you know why the cabinet is so anxious to summon us here this time?"

Jiang Zhi walked beside Ma Ziqiang, showing respect for him, and then asked in a low voice.

Ma Ziqiang looked at Jiang Zhi in surprise and asked in astonishment: "Shun Qing doesn't know either?"

"How would I know?"

Jiang Zhi was stunned by the question, then he realized that the note for the summons was written by Wei Guangde. Given their relationship, others might have mistakenly thought that they all knew about it.

"Has Shandai not told you about this before?"

To be honest, Ma Ziqiang was a little skeptical, but looking at Jiang Zhi's reaction, it seemed that he really didn't know.

When senior officials act, they mostly just talk. If you want to say that their acting skills are very good, that's not necessarily the case.

It’s just that no one will undermine each other.

In short, people will believe whatever you say.

Maybe next time, I will be the one acting.

Therefore, Ma Ziqiang believed in his own eyes very much and knew that Jiang Zhi seemed to be unaware.

"Let's go, we'll know what's going on when we get in."

So Ma Ziqiang laughed softly.

"Please come, Lord Qian'an."

When they were talking just now, both of them stopped, and now Jiang Zhi politely gave way.

"Together."

Ma Ziqiang was not arrogant either. He raised his hand and made a "please" gesture, saying

In the Ming Dynasty Imperial City, the door of the main hall of Wenyuan Pavilion was open at this time, and Wei Guangde and Zhang Siwei were sitting inside.

The only difference from last time was that Wei Guangde sat directly on the left, while Zhang Siwei sat on the right.

The reason for this is that the palace issued an order yesterday that Wei Guangde temporarily take over the power of the Prime Minister for a month, and the appointment will be terminated after Zhang Juzheng is on duty.

Although there is no Zhang Siwei, he can also play as a secondary support in the order.

At this time, Li Youzi, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, was sitting below. He came early to hand a finished account book to Wei Guangde.

He had received a note from Zhang Juzheng before, asking him to cooperate fully. Although he did not know the purpose of this move, Li Youzi was in a critical period, so he naturally obeyed Zhang Juzheng's orders and accepted them all.

According to the requirements on Wei Guangde's note, high-value items such as silk were counted. As for the low-priced items, forget about them. There was really no need to count them.

In fact, even so, it is just a very brief list of supplies.

However, Li Youzi had people give discounts when writing down the items listed above. He was also worried that if there were problems with the supplies in the local treasury, it would be troublesome if they could not be taken out.

With a buffer, at least the problem will be much easier to solve.

It can only be said that the imperial court was more or less aware of the local problems in the Ming Dynasty, but no one usually cared.

"It's only over one million taels of silver, a little less."

After reading the list, Wei Guangde just said something lightly, and then handed the list to Zhang Siwei.

This voyage to the West was somewhat hasty. After Wei Guangde came back and wrote the note, he handed Zhang Siwei to the duty room to discuss things with him.

It can be said that at this time, apart from the palace and Zhang Juzheng, only he and Zhang Siwei knew what the matter being discussed today was about.

Zhang Siwei quickly finished reading the list. Coming from a merchant family, he was naturally familiar with this.

"Yes, a little less."

After reading it, Zhang Siwei nodded in agreement.

"Lord Wei, Lord Zhang, these are the more valuable goods in the treasury. In fact, there are still quite a few other goods."

Li Youzi didn't understand what was going on, but he spoke immediately anyway.

The Ming Dynasty's treasury usually did not have sufficient supplies on paper, mostly only 70% or 80% full.

The list submitted to the cabinet was a 50% discount on the materials on the books, so there must be a surplus, but Li Youzi couldn't say for sure at the moment.

“I remember that there seemed to be a batch of government-made textiles in Jiangnan, which cost about 400,000 to 500,000 taels of silver.

That batch of fabrics is much better than those sold to the outside world, but only slightly inferior to those used by the emperor."

Zhang Siwei suddenly spoke.

Official fabrics are different from imperial fabrics and ordinary fabrics. The requirements are not as high as those in the palace, but they are better than ordinary fabrics. They are a kind of welfare issued by the court to officials, and are generally distributed every year according to rank.

This is not included in the palace's year-end rewards. It is a separate benefit, equivalent to the court placing an order directly with the textile workshop.

Officials would mostly use these cloths to make official uniforms and clothing for their family members in the harem.

"good idea."

Wei Guangde clapped his hands and smiled, "When the accounts are kept, the value of this batch of cloth will double. The court can also use the money earned to continue ordering a batch of cloth, which can be regarded as a benefit for everyone."

After hearing what Zhang Siwei said, Wei Guangde understood what he meant and laughed immediately.

"Well, at most the distribution will be postponed for two or three months. I don't think people will wait for the cloth urgently."

Zhang Siwei smiled.

We all think like businessmen, so we understand things easily.

However, Li Youzi found the words even more strange. The batch of cloth was almost delivered, and from what the two ministers said, it seemed that they were going to sell it at a high price.

If it is really sold at a high price, shouldn't the profit be given to the Ministry of Revenue?

Why are you still ordering fabric? They even said that they have distributed it as welfare.

Well, although he didn't understand, Li Youzi knew one thing, that is, this year's fabric might be distributed later, but the quantity would be twice as much as usual.

Apparently, it’s not a bad thing.

"Brother Yuan Shu is here early."

At this moment, Jiang Zhi's voice came from outside the lobby. Then, Ma Ziqiang and Jiang Zhi walked into the room together.

After a simple greeting, everyone sat down.

Ma Ziqiang disliked Li Youzi, not only because Li Youzi took the lead in supporting Zhang Juzheng's "seizure of love", but also because at that time all the ministers were there, and he was the only vice minister in charge of the ministry.

"Shan Dai, I'm calling you today. What do you want to talk about?"

Soon, Ma Ziqiang asked.

"No hurry, everyone is not here yet."

Wei Guangde replied with a smile, "Wait a moment, and let's talk when everyone is together."

"Alright."

Ma Ziqiang nodded, stopped talking, reached out to pick up the tea that had just been served and took a sip.

After putting down the tea, Ma Ziqiang did not stop and reached out to take out a small porcelain pot from his sleeve.

Ma Ziqiang opened the porcelain bottle skillfully, poured a little powder into the base of his palm, pinched it between his thumb and index finger, slowly put it under his nose, and then took a sip.

"Ah, cut."

Ma Ziqiang sneezed and immediately felt much more refreshed.

"This snuff bottle from Qian'an is quite nice. Let me take a look."

Jiang Zhi on the side said happily.

Ma Ziqiang handed over the snuff bottle in his hand and said with a smile: "Shunqing, why don't you try it too? This is the ambergris flavored one given by a friend. It's very comfortable to inhale."

"No wonder it smells so good."

Jiang Zhi joined in the fun and also took a sip, sneezed several times, then exclaimed "refreshing".

Ma Ziqiang watched it happily, and then said to Wei Guangde: "Shandai, Ziwei, do you want to try it too?"

Wei Guangde smiled and waved his hand, saying, "I have this too, but after taking it twice, I don't think it's as good as you say, so forget it."

Zhang Siwei also waved his hand to refuse.

At this moment, Jiang Zhi returned the snuff bottle to Ma Ziqiang, and took out his own snuff bottle and said with a smile: "This one is made of ivory and has a mint flavor. Would you like to try it, Lord Qian'an?"

Although snuff had only been introduced into the country a few years ago, it had already become popular in the Ming Dynasty, especially among the upper class. Many nobles and officials liked it.

The snuff bottle for holding snuff also became one of the gifts given to each other by the powerful and wealthy.

Chinese snuff bottles, as exquisite handicrafts, are made of porcelain, copper, ivory, jade, agate, amber and other materials, and use techniques such as blue and white, five colors, carved porcelain, inlay, clever workmanship and inner painting. They have absorbed the advantages of various crafts from home and abroad and are regarded as precious cultural relics by connoisseurs.

Moreover, because the Portuguese ordered a large amount of this product from China and it was shipped across the ocean and exported abroad, it also became very famous overseas.

After all, they are all high-quality products and ordinary people can’t afford them.

Wei Guangde also had snuff bottles made of ivory and jade in his mansion, as well as snuff of many different flavors, but he was really not interested in playing with them.

The reason why it became so popular so quickly was thanks to Emperor Longqing.

Well, the emperor also smoked this stuff, which directly led to the nobles in the capital city following suit, and then they competed with each other, and a lot of fine products were produced.

"It seems this thing can also be included in the list."

Wei Guangde looked at the snuff bottles that Jiang Zhi and the others were playing with, and suddenly spoke to Zhang Siwei beside him.

Zhang Siwei nodded slightly, and then said in a barely audible voice: "Shandai, I still have some local specialties over there, can you please give them to me?"

"Okay, then we'll go by rank, one ship for the first rank, half a ship for the second rank."

Wei Guangde also answered in a very low voice.

Zhang Siwei immediately smiled and nodded slightly.

Soon, all the six ministries and nine officials arrived. Tan Lun arrived a little later, and he had not yet reported the results of the investigation by the Ministry of War.

But Wei Guangde did not wait any longer. The Ming Dynasty actually had ships, but they were all in the hands of maritime merchants.

If the imperial court wanted to requisition it, there was no need to obtain their consent.

What's more, going out to sea at the end of the year actually doesn't mean much loss for them, as that is not the time for them to go out to sea.

It might just delay their sailing date next year, which is just a delay of one or two months.

It's no big deal.

"Okay, now that everyone is here, I will tell you the reason why I called you all here this time."

Wei Guangde said.

As soon as he spoke, everyone in the room turned their eyes to him.

So Wei Guangde told him about the recent discovery that the emperor was too young for his wedding.

When the Minister of Rites Ma Ziqiang heard Wei Guangde's words, his face changed immediately.

Yes, the Ministry of Rites had always been in charge of selecting a queen for Emperor Wanli, but unexpectedly, a mistake occurred at a key point and they forgot about His Majesty's age.

Although the emperor's affairs could not be restricted by the "Great Ming Law", now that Wei Guangde mentioned this matter, it was obvious that everyone from the cabinet to the palace believed that the emperor was too young for his wedding.

What comes next is naturally the response to this.

Therefore, everyone in the room perked up and wanted to see what Wei Guangde would choose to do as the temporary prime minister of the cabinet.

Sure enough, Wei Guangde changed the topic and stopped talking about the emperor's wedding and started talking about his voyage to the West.

In fact, in the Ming Dynasty, going to the West was not considered a big deal. Apart from some officials, few people in the society knew about it.

"It has been 150 years since the eunuch Zheng He, the eunuch of the Imperial Household Department, sailed to the Western Ocean for the seventh time in the fifth year of Xuande. Our navy has never set foot in the Western Ocean again, and our contact with Western vassal states is limited to a few tributes."

When Wei Guangde talked about the tribute trade of the Ming Dynasty, everyone below naturally knew what it was about. In fact, these countries sent people with the permits granted by the Ming Dynasty to come and do business, not for tribute.

"Official contact has been severed for over a hundred years, and I think it's time to reestablish it, so I've proposed to Your Majesty that we take advantage of the Emperor's wedding to send a navy to sail to Western countries and invite their rulers to come to our Ming Dynasty to participate in this grand event, both to promote our national prestige and to congratulate Your Majesty on his wedding."

When Wei Guangde said this, the people below actually understood, especially Li Youzi from the Ministry of Revenue and Tan Lun from the Ministry of War.

Wei Guangde asked the Ministry of Revenue to sort out the goods, naturally, to prepare supplies for this voyage to the West.

The Ministry of Revenue, on the other hand, was instigating the sea vessels.

To sail to the West, you naturally need a big ship.

However, at this time everyone in the room also connected it to what Wei Guangde had said before, and they knew that the main reason for the voyage to the West was to delay the emperor's wedding until the emperor reached the right age.

At this time in the room, except for Ma Ziqiang who looked unhappy because of a mistake made in the work of the Ministry of Rites, everyone else's eyes were fixed on Li Youzi who came on behalf of the Ministry of Revenue.

The ministry that should have voiced the most opposition to the voyages to the West and the large-scale tribute payments was actually the Ministry of Revenue, which had to pay out money.

However, the impact on other government offices was not significant.

However, to their disappointment, Li Youzi did not object out loud. Instead, after hesitating for a moment, he remained silent.

In fact, they didn’t know that Li Youzi was struggling internally at that moment.

How much silver would the Ministry of Revenue need to prepare for a trip to the West and inviting Western countries to attend the emperor's wedding ceremony?

However, this matter was proposed by the Second Assistant Wei Guangde, and the First Assistant also gave me a note asking me to cooperate fully. How could I object?

He didn't say anything, but someone was worried about him. That person was the Minister of Personnel Wang Guoguang.

He had been transferred from the Ministry of Revenue to the Ministry of Personnel not long ago, so he naturally knew the current situation of the Ministry of Revenue.

Although the financial situation has improved slightly, it is not enough to justify extravagant spending. (End of this chapter)