Daming talker

Chapter 769: Those Fleeting Years (Part )
It was already the second half of the 22nd year of the Wanli reign, and the issue of the national foundation suddenly became hot again in the court of the capital.

The newly appointed Minister of Rites, Zhao Yongxian, submitted a memorial requesting the enthronement of the Crown Prince.

When Prime Minister Zhao Zhigao saw this situation, he felt unsure and sent a secret letter to inquire about Lin Tailai who was living in Suzhou.

When the secret letter arrived in Suzhou, Lin Tailai was standing in the yard, carefully examining several vines as if he was observing some treasure.

A group of wives, concubines and children stood by, puzzled. They had agreed to go out for an autumn outing together today, but Lin Tailai suddenly received these vines and refused to leave.

Speaking of these vines that were sent along with sand, they had quite a origin. They were sent by Xu Zhenming, the Fujian Provincial Surveillance Commissioner who was promoted by Lin Tailai.

It is said that Lin Tailai sent Xu Zhenming to Fujian to serve as an official with two main tasks: one was maritime trade, and the other was to find a plant.

After the inspection, Lin Tailai said with satisfaction: "Finally I saw the sweet potato vines."

Xu Zhenming's servant who came from Fujian said: "My master searched all over Fujian for several years before he found the sweet potato.

Probably in recent years, some Fujianese saw the high yield of this plant in Luzon, so they secretly brought the sweet potato vines from Luzon back to Fujian and started to plant them. "

Lin Tailai praised it highly, saying: "This is a good product! It should be promoted quickly, especially in the north.

Although it cannot be eaten as a staple food for a long time, it can still greatly alleviate food pressure.

I will present it to His Majesty in the name of the Jiangnan Branch of the Communications Department!"

When the retainer Qian Shiyang saw that Lin Tailai had not yet left the house, he came to report, "Feng Menglong wants to see you."

Everyone in old Suzhou knows that Lord Lin has two nominal disciples in the "academic" field.

One is Wen Zhenmeng, the future hope of the literary world in Suzhou, and the other is Feng Menglong, the son of Feng Taiyi, the chief physician of the Lin Group. Both are 21 years old this year.

Lin Tailai had no choice but to postpone his departure. At the gate, he curiously asked Feng Menglong, "Why did you suddenly come to see me today?"

Feng Menglong replied hesitantly: "I will leave for Nanjing soon to participate in this year's autumn imperial examination, so I came here to say goodbye."

Lin Tailai couldn't help but sigh and said, "Has it been the year of the provincial examination again? I still remember the two times I went to Nanjing to take the provincial examination vividly."

Feng Menglong asked a little embarrassedly: "Teacher, do you know who is the chief examiner of this Nanzhili Autumn Examination?"

Lin Tailai said angrily: "If you had asked me this three years ago, why would you have gone to take the provincial examination this year?"

Feng Menglong said: "Three years ago, I thought I would give it a try with my own ability. If the teacher knew who the examiner would be this year, I would ask the teacher to write a letter."

Lin Tailai replied: "I don't know! I'm in Suzhou, how can I know who the capital will send to Nanjing?"

Feng Menglong was a little disappointed. It seemed that he still couldn't help this time?
Then I heard Lin Tai say: "But I can still write letters. You can take my letters to Nanjing!"

Feng Menglong was stunned and said, "Teacher, how can I write a letter if I don't know who the examiner is?"

Lin Tailai said proudly: "According to the court's rules, the chief examiners of the provincial examinations in the two capitals must be selected from poets of the sixth rank or above.

Anyway, I don't write the recipient on my letters, so no matter who is the examiner, you just need to give my letter to him!"

Feng Menglong: “.”

A young man like him who comes from a lower class background and is doing his homework has no idea about the influence of the top powers.

Then he remembered something and said, "After the chief examiner arrives in Nanjing, he will be locked in the Imperial Examination Hall immediately. Outsiders cannot have any access to him. How can we send a letter?"

Lin Tailai patiently instructed, "The Imperial Examination Hall is guarded by soldiers drawn from various guards in Nanjing, so you should go visit Duke Wei first and ask him to help take my letter to the Imperial Examination Hall!"

Feng Menglong suddenly realized what was going on and left, expressing his gratitude profusely.

Lin Tailai looked at Feng Menglong's back, and suddenly became thoughtful. Would his techniques be written into vernacular novels in the future?
After returning from the evening outing, Secretary Bai came to ask, "How should I write a reply to the Prime Minister?"

Lin Tailai casually instructed: "Just say that Jiangnan's harvest is probably good this year, and there's no need to mention anything else!"

After seeing the content of the reply, Prime Minister Zhao naturally understood the meaning of just waiting and following the crowd instead of being the first to take action.

The two opposing parties are the Qingliu Party, who are in urgent need of restoring their momentum, and the Wanli Emperor. We in the Lin Party can only watch the fun.

Then the Minister of Rites Zhao Yongxian played the role of cannon fodder to the fullest and submitted eight memorials in a row requesting the establishment of a crown prince.

This directly pushed the dispute over the national foundation to a climax, and it was also a new climax after two or three years.

As expected, Emperor Wanli was furious and dismissed Zhao Yongxian, the Minister of Rites. Zhao Yongxian then "retired after completing his mission" and left the court completely.

Afterwards, officials such as Yu Kongjian, Langzhong of the Ministry of Rites, Yue Yuansheng, Langzhong of the Ministry of Works, Wang Rujian, Jieshi of the Ministry of Criminal Affairs, Zhang Zhenguan, Jieshi of the Ministry of Rites, Xu Honggang, Jieshi of the Ministry of War, and Zhu Weijing, Guanglu Cheng, submitted memorials in support of Zhao Yongxian and requested the establishment of a crown prince.

The cabinet was forced into a corner and had no choice but to follow the crowd and ask the emperor to enthrone the Crown Prince.

Emperor Wanli responded: "I read the Imperial Ming Ancestor's Instructions yesterday, and it says that the ancestral rule is to establish the heir apparent instead of a concubine's son.

Now the princes are all commoners, and the queen is still young. What if something happens in the future?
You can make the three princes kings at the same time, and if the queen has no children in a few years, you can enthrone them."

It's the same old tune again: first "three kings will be ennobled", and then see if the queen can give birth to a legitimate son.

The ministers all knew that Emperor Wanli was not close to the Empress at all, so how could the Empress have the chance to give birth to a legitimate son?

Therefore, the statement of "first make all the illegitimate sons kings, and then see whether there will be a legitimate son" is actually just to fool people and delay time.

Yue Fei's 18th-generation grandson, Yue Yuansheng, a doctor in the Ministry of Works, submitted a memorial in opposition, saying, "Your Majesty wants to use the text of the prince as the successor, as a precedent for establishing a crown prince?"

What this means is that Your Majesty did not directly appoint your son as the Crown Prince, but instead made your son a Prince first, and then appointed the Prince as the Crown Prince later. Does this mean that if the main royal family line dies out, the prince of the lesser royal family can take over as the Crown Prince?

Just this one sarcastic remark completely broke down Emperor Wanli's defense!
He directly issued an order to send Yue Yuansheng and three others to serve as soldiers on the border, but after persuasion from his ministers, he changed his decision to dismiss them from office.

The quarrel continued until November, when Emperor Wanli summoned Prime Minister Zhao Zhigao to the warm room of his bedroom.

"If Lin Tailai were in the court, how dare they act so recklessly and defy the heaven!" Emperor Wanli said to the Prime Minister.

There was no one else here, so the emperor spoke casually.

But given Zhao Zhigao's character, he couldn't let himself go and said in a proper manner: "Your Majesty should settle the foundation of the country as soon as possible to reassure the people at home and abroad."

Emperor Wanli was also very exhausted. As the prince grew older, it became increasingly difficult to find excuses for delay.

He said helplessly: "Sir, you can go and announce it to the outer court. After the beginning of next spring, let the prince come out of the palace to listen to the lecture."

Zhao Zhigao was overjoyed and said, "Your Majesty is wise."

Letting the eldest prince go out to study first can be considered as a way of establishing his status invisibly.

Things have to be solved step by step. It is a good thing that the stubborn emperor can start to make concessions. As the prime minister, he is also fed up with the dispute over the national foundation. The sooner it is resolved, the easier it will be.

But Emperor Wanli still wanted to make trouble, and said: "The eldest and third sons are about the same age, so they can go out together to listen to the lecture."

Zhao Zhigao, who had just had a great celebration, almost wanted to resign. "Emperor, what's the point of pretending to "concede" like this except deceiving yourself?"

Why can't you make concessions without hesitation? What is the difference between "two princes studying together" and "three kings being conferred titles"?
Zhao Shoufu patiently advised him, "Next year, the eldest son will be fourteen years old, and the third son will be ten years old.

This age is too late for the eldest prince, but just right for the third prince.

So the priorities of teaching are completely different, how can we learn together?"

Emperor Wanli sighed. If even the Prime Minister who was sitting on the fence didn't agree, one could imagine what the outside court would think. "Then let the eldest son go out to study alone next year."

Zhao Zhigao asked tentatively, "The eldest prince of the emperor is leaving the palace to attend a lecture. I wonder what kind of attire he should wear? Why not have a ceremony to wear the cap first to determine the color of his attire?"

Emperor Wanli said impatiently: "No need for the coming-of-age ceremony! Next year, the eldest son will go out to listen to the lecture in his ordinary clothes as a prince!"

After the emperor's edict was announced, the court calmed down temporarily. This year's dispute over the national foundation finally forced the emperor to make a small concession.

In the blink of an eye, it was the second year, which was the 23rd year of Wanli. It was also a year of a major examination. Sanfu Zhang Wei actively fought for the opportunity to be the chief examiner.

Lin Tailai advised his "disciples" not to take the exam, so Wen Zhenmeng and Feng Menglong both followed his advice and did not go to Beijing to take the exam.

Only Wen Zhenmeng's father Wen Yuan asked, "Why?"

Lin Tailai used his physiognomy skillfully and said, "I see that Zhang Wei has the temperament of a loser. Do you want your son to have such a master?"

At the same time, the emperor finally did not go back on his word this time. In February, the eldest son went out to give lectures, and the ministers finally saw the eldest son with their own eyes.

Feng Qi, the Vice Minister of Rites, presented the ceremonial notes for the eldest prince, but the emperor did not arrange any guards or ceremonial guards for the eldest prince on the grounds that he had not yet been canonized.

Originally, Emperor Wanli was considering recalling Lin Tailai back to the court.

However, looking at the 100,000 taels of silver presented by the Suzhou and Hangzhou Weaving Bureau, Emperor Wanli fell into deep thought.

Since Lin Tailai likes living in his hometown, he can stay there for a few more years. Anyway, there is nothing big going on in the court except for the disputes over the national foundation and mining taxes.

Compared with the original historical time and space, the financial situation of the national treasury has been much better in recent years.

Through the two wars of suppressing the rebellion in Ningxia and resisting Japanese invaders in Korea, Lin Tailai saved about two million taels of silver for the national treasury, and also gained an additional 400,000 taels of income each year.

Therefore, the Minister of Revenue Yu Shenxing felt much less pressure regarding the deficit in the national treasury. As a result, his main pressure at work became opposing Emperor Wanli's random dispatch of mining and tax supervisors in order to make money.

For the Shangshu, this was more of a moral pressure than an economic or financial pressure.

It can be said that the economic eunuchs sent by the emperor were of various types. If they heard that there was a mine here, they would send people to open the mine. If they heard that there was a certain product here, they would send people to collect the product tax.

Everyone in the world opposed the emperor sending eunuchs directly to various places to develop the economy, and in the end all the pressure was on Shen Xing, the Minister of Revenue.

Some members of the Qingliu Party directly accused Yu Shangshu, saying: "The great eunuchs were in charge of mining taxes, oppressing the people and making profits, and the Grand Tutor was unable to guide them, which led to the people who were left behind to spread evil."

The implication is that if you can't do it, then just resign and don't get in the way. The Qingliu forces have occupied two assistant ministers of the Ministry of Revenue, and there is no place for promotion!
Yu Shangshu had no choice but to resign to avoid criticism, so he wrote a letter to the Emperor Wanli to dissuade him:

"There is the Lelang Copper Mine in front and the Suzhou and Hangzhou Weaving Factory in the back. Both can make huge profits. Why do we need to send mining supervisors and tax supervisors everywhere to disturb the people?"

After reading it, Emperor Wanli kept it in his palace without publishing it.

Anyway, after the eldest prince left the palace to give lectures, the court temporarily calmed down on the issue of the country's foundation.

After that, there were indeed no major events in the court. However, the youngest son of Prime Minister Zhao Zhigao returned to his hometown in Zhejiang. When he passed by Suzhou to meet Lin Tailai, he brought a message from Prime Minister Zhao saying that "the three ministers Zhang Wei have formed a clique and become powerful."

Lin Tailai wrote back to Zhao Zhigao, saying: "God will decide the outcome. Let him be."

In the 23rd year of the Wanli reign, there was another important event for Lin Tailai, which was the end of the mourning period for his wife's brothers.

The former Minister of Revenue, Wang Zhiyuan, was already 68 years old and did not want to work in the mountains anymore, so he stayed in his hometown to teach his descendants.

Wang Zhiyou, the former Deputy Censor of Suzhou Prefecture, was in his prime and had accumulated enough experience, so he was directly reinstated as Right Censor-in-Chief, Governor of Fengyang and Governor-General of the Grain Transport System.

By the end of the 23rd year of the Wanli reign, the two major projects, Lelang Copper Mine and Jiangnan Maritime Trade, had brought the Wanli Emperor's treasury an income of 300,000 taels of silver, accounting for one-fifth of the treasury's cash income that year.

On the other hand, after sending out a dozen mining and tax inspectors to make a huge mobilization, they finally offered a total of tens of thousands of taels of silver, and Emperor Wanli fell silent again.

The emperor then issued an edict to separate the Communications Department of the Ministry of War from the Ministry of War and make it an independent agency.

The chief officer was promoted to the fourth rank and renamed the Communications Envoy, with the first Communications Envoy being Wang Zhidu.

By the 24th year of the Wanli reign, the imperial court was still stable, but in the southwestern Guizhou region, Yang Yinglong, the chieftain of the Bozhou Xuanwei Office, was wreaking havoc in the Miao area.

Lin Tailai, Marquis of Daifang, academician of the Hanlin Academy, and communications envoy of the Jiangnan Branch of the Communications Department, who had not been involved in the court affairs for a long time, suddenly submitted a petition to the court, asking it to send a large army to eliminate the Yang family of Bozhou.

This caused some people to be highly vigilant, and they believed that Lin Tailai had the idea of ​​returning to the court, so he was testing the waters.

The Qingliu Party attacked Lin Tailai for making a big deal out of nothing and for taking advantage of the opportunity to gain power by raising his own troops. Grand Secretary Zhang Wei also agreed with them.

It is obvious that once a large army is mobilized, money will be spent, and Emperor Wanli was a little reluctant.

Moreover, the emperor did not think that a small chieftain from a remote place like the Yang family of Bozhou would be a big problem.

So Emperor Wanli finally adopted Zhang Wei's opinion and only ordered the officials in the southwest to strictly control and comfort the Yang family of Bozhou.

After receiving the imperial reply, Lin Tailai could only shake his head.

As the saying goes, if you don’t listen to the time traveler, you will suffer later!
Then Lin Tailai temporarily put aside the affairs of the court, screamed "Ah", and fell down with his head raised!
The servants and retainers who had been prepared hurriedly supported Lin Tailai and said to him in a consoling tone, "My Lord, please accept my condolences!"

Don't get me wrong, Lin Tailai had also just received the news of a death from Huizhou. Xu Guo, the chief examiner of the imperial examination in the 17th year of Wanli and former Grand Secretary, had passed away.

Lin Tailai looked up at the sky with lifeless eyes, beat his chest and lamented, "I have been diligent in the king's affairs for several years. I finally had some free time recently. I was about to go to Huizhou to pay my respects to my old teacher, but I didn't expect to be separated from him forever!"

The left protector Zhang Wen complained inwardly, "That's enough. It's really tiring for everyone to support your 200-pound body!"
Then Zhang Wen asked again: "Do you want to go to Huizhou to pay your respects?"

Lin Tailai answered without hesitation: "As the chief disciple, of course I have to go!"

Then he gave detailed instructions: "Quickly gather five hundred soldiers. No, five hundred family servants, go with me!
After all, Huizhou is a dangerous place, and the hatred towards me is quite strong, so I must be on guard. "

Everyone around: “.”

My lord, are you going to pay your respects or to fight for territory?

(End of this chapter)