King Xiang of the Red Chamber

Chapter 822 Zhu Family Carpenter

The court meeting was held in the Zhaoren Hall, and Song Ziyu was not present. After all, as an editor, he was in charge of writing the book and was no longer responsible for the specific records.

The cabinet ministers and the nine ministers of the six ministries were all present, as well as several eunuchs from the Imperial Household Department. The first topic to be discussed was the situation in Jiangbei.

These days, there are a lot of reports coming back from Jiangbei, and every aspect needs to be analyzed. Zhu Jinghong definitely cannot do it alone.

After all, this world is not just about the affairs in Jiangbei. The various foreign vassal states, the various military governors, the situations in other provinces, etc. all need to be under the control of him, the emperor.

After sorting out some situations, the next step is to implement the policy. This matter is mainly reported by the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of War, and other departments are basically just listening.

After discussing this first important matter, the second thing was to discuss the investigation of the case. Up to now, the Censorate has not made any progress, which really disappointed Zhu Jinghong.

The reason why it was somewhat was that when he sent Liu Yan there, he roughly guessed that this would be the result. After all, without strong support from the upper echelons, many things would be difficult to push forward at the lower levels.

"Your Majesty, the Chief Censor of Jiangbei is now guilty of a crime. I think we should dismiss him and appoint someone more capable to investigate the old case!"

The person who spoke was not Jia Yucun, but Gu Junliang, the Minister of Public Security, one of the Nine Ministers.

The relationships between the six ministries and nine officials varied in closeness and distance, so Jia Yucun came together with Gu Junliang and formed a certain degree of offensive and defensive alliance.

If Jia Yucun is promoted to the cabinet, the position of the Minister of Personnel will be vacant. If He Gujin can be removed at once, there will be two ministerial positions vacant, which will at least give Gu Junliang a chance.

On the throne, Zhu Jinghong was thinking, and the hall became quiet.

The strategy that had been decided before was to allow people to make amends for their mistakes by giving them meritorious service.

Perhaps it was precisely because of this strategy that the people below worked so hard that the rebellion was crushed in less than half a month, and now has entered the stage of hunting down the remnants.

Isn't it too early to change the wind direction at this time? If someone does something weird and causes the situation to worsen, it will be a big loss for Zhu Jinghong.

While he was thinking about it, He Gujin was also thinking about how he should deal with this matter. He would never try to stop it, but instead he would place his own people in this position.

If it really doesn't work, you can replace Zheng Xianlin's people, or anyone else, but it can't be Jia Yucun's disciples.

After all, they are competitors, and He Gujin must be on guard against this, even if the other party has not taken action yet.

Just as Zhu Jinghong was thinking, a young eunuch came in from the side hall and reported the situation to the eunuch on duty at the door, who then conveyed the report to the eunuch Cheng Ying.

After hearing this, Cheng Ying was shocked and immediately came to the side of the throne and carefully explained the situation to Zhu Jinghong.

"Your Majesty, the Jiangbei Thousand Households has an urgent report that the Governor Bai Hongxuan committed suicide in prison!"

Hearing this, Zhu Jinghong immediately became angry and could not help but scold: "What do Jinyiwei do for a living?"

Although he was scolding the Jinyiwei, as the person who forwarded the report, Cheng Ying was also treading on thin ice and quickly bent down to apologize.

After all, this was a court discussion, and Zhu Jinghong couldn't get too angry, so he asked Cheng Ying to leave.

After this incident, Zhu Jinghong had to reconsider his next steps in rectifying the officialdom in Jiangbei.

Bai Hongxuan's death, whether voluntary or not, means that the Jiangbei officialdom will shift its focus from suppressing the rebellion to eliminating disasters.

At this moment, Jia Yucun was also shocked. He found that things were somewhat out of control, so he began to think about countermeasures again.

"Bai Hongxuan committed suicide. What do you think of this, my dear ministers?"

You can look at it any way you want, but no one wants to say it out loud because if they do, it will imply an attitude and a stance.

If you really want to say something, you should do it alone or be named by the emperor.

No one present wanted to be called out, and the one who was most worried was He Gujin. As soon as he raised his head, he met the emperor's gaze, which frightened him so much that cold sweats broke out on his back.

Zhu Jinghong did not mention He Gujin's name, so many things could not be exposed by him, or to be more precise, he could not take the lead in the battle.

For example, he knew very well who was most willing to see He Gujin in trouble.

Zhu Jinghong then asked: "What do you think of reappointing the inspector?"

Seeing that no one answered, Zhu Jinghong looked at Gu Junliang again and said, "Mr. Gu, since you proposed this idea, do you have any virtuous people to recommend?"

From the time he learned of Bai Hongxuan's death to now, in just twenty seconds, Gu Junliang has been re-evaluating the feasibility of the plan.

Before he could reach a conclusion, the emperor's question came up.

"Reporting to Your Majesty, this morning, Song Ziyu, the editor of the Imperial Academy, submitted a memorial proposing a strategy of promoting peace through investigation, listing the details of making up for mistakes with merits, and also citing items that would be punished for ineffective work!"

"This is Song Ziyu's memorial. I dare to present it to you directly. Please read it, Your Majesty!"

After saying that, Gu Junliang took out the memorial, and Yu Hai took it and handed it to Zhu Jinghong.

In fact, here, Jia Yucun tricked Song Ziyu. After all, what he promised yesterday was to recommend him. Only after the other party agreed did he let him submit a memorial to recommend himself, while he hid behind the scenes and went with the flow.

Zhu Jinghong read the memorial and found that it was indeed written in detail and seemed feasible.

It's just that he would think more about everything, especially when it comes to party struggles.

He is not afraid of party struggles as long as they can be controlled, so the problem lies in ensuring that they can be controlled, otherwise it will endanger the country.

"Mr. Jia, I heard that you and Song Ziyu had a teacher-student relationship, and you asked him to take over as the governor of Jiangbei... What do you think?"

Zhu Jinghong has too many things to pay attention to, and the fact that he knows the background of a small-time figure like Song Ziyu actually explains some problems.

Therefore, the direction of his words was very clear, he was warning Jia Yucun not to do anything inappropriate.

Jia Yucun knew all this, but he was not panicked at all, because he just wanted to disgust He Gujin, not to disrupt Jiangbei.

After leaving the class, Jia Yucun replied: "Your Majesty, Song Ziyu is quite careful in his actions, but he is quite aloof... I am worried that he will not be able to handle the important task!"

This is a disguised way of saying that Song Ziyu is very, after all, a lofty person will not collude with local authorities, so it is just right for him to investigate the case.

Zhu Jinghong smiled. Of course he knew these little tricks, so he said, "Send someone to call Song Ziyu. I want to ask him questions after the court meeting!"

Zhu Jinghong did not make a decision on the spot, but asked about the situation first, which showed that he would not be manipulated by his subordinates.

Next, the court discussion continued for another half an hour. After all the ministers left, Zhu Jinghong summoned Song Ziyu.

Although he was an official in the Hanlin Academy and had met the emperor many times, this formal private summons still surprised Song Ziyu.

Fortunately, he was not completely unprepared. From the time he learned about the situation to the formal audience, he had about an hour to prepare, which was actually more than enough.

This was Song Ziyu's opportunity, so he fully demonstrated his talent, not to mention that he is indeed very talented.

After some questioning, Zhu Jinghong saw that this man really had his own ideas and was not a puppet of Jia Yucun, so he started to think of using him.

Governing a country depends on the use of people, and the court cannot have only one party, so Zhu Jinghong has to use different people, and talented people should be given important positions.

Zhu Jinghong then issued an edict on the spot, promoting Song Ziyu to the position of Chief Censor of Jiangbei, and ordering him to be fully responsible for the Jiangbei imperial case affairs.

After arranging all this, Zhu Jinghong approved a memorial for another hour. At this time, a eunuch came to report that the Yaohua Palace invited him to have lunch.

Although he was busy with state affairs, Zhu Jinghong did not neglect his life and would visit the harem every day.

In addition, in the afternoons when he had more free time, he would play polo or hunt with his guards and generals, and his days were actually very exciting.

At least compared to Zhu Xianming, he did not confine himself to the palace, and he went to the wider areas of Xiyuan and Shanglinyuan almost every other day. When Zhu Jinghong arrived at Yaohua Palace, the first person to greet him was not Daiyu, but his fifth son Zhu Muzhen, who was now six years old.

"Dad..." Zhu Muqi rushed towards Zhu Jinghong excitedly.

Zhu Jinghong squatted down and picked him up. He pinched his son's face and asked, "I haven't seen you these past two days. Are you hiding from me?"

"No... I've been looking forward to your coming these days. My son has already built all the building blocks that the Ministry of Industry sent me a few days ago!"

"Oh? Really?" Zhu Jinghong was a little surprised.

Zhu Muqi had been strolling around the Ministry of Works before, when he happened to see a craftsman delivering a palace model and explaining the construction plan to the officials of the Ministry of Works. He watched it with great interest.

After he came back, he begged Zhu Jinghong for the model. To this end, he memorized ten articles in one day before Zhu Jinghong agreed to give him the model. Of course, he had to wait until the Ministry of Industry had used it.

Zhu Jinghong had seen the model before. The various mortise and tenon structures were very complicated. After being completely disassembled, there would be at least thousands of parts. Zhu Muqi only got it two days ago.

Zhu Jinghong was really surprised that the model was restored in just two days.

"Let's go and take a look!"

When Zhu Jinghong first got the model, he saw Zhu Muqi dismantling it with his own eyes, so he had to go and see if it was real.

The father and son entered the palace together. Palace maids and eunuchs along the way bowed to them one after another, but Zhu Jinghong ignored them all.

When Daiyu came out, she saw neither the emperor nor her son, so she asked the palace maid outside.

The head maid replied, "Your Majesty, His Majesty and Little Fifth Master went to the side hall to see the small palace!"

Daiyu then walked along the corridor to the side hall. As soon as she entered the hall, she saw her son explaining the structure of the palace, while Zhu Jinghong was sitting quietly opposite him.

"Greetings to Your Majesty!"

"You sit down too!" Zhu Jinghong pointed to the chair next to him.

After these years of recuperation, Daiyu's complexion has become better and better. Although she cannot be said to be as round and smooth as jade, she is no longer as frail as water.

"Look, if you press it in like this, it will get stuck and can bear the weight!"

"These short pieces of wood can be put together to extend two or three times as far. My son was thinking...if we use bigger and more pieces of wood, wouldn't we be able to support it even further?"

"That way we can not only build houses, but also bridges... big, big bridges!"

The child was talking with great joy, especially when he gestured "it's so big, so big", which made Zhu Jinghong smile unconsciously.

At this point he was basically certain that this guy had really done research on it, and was not just cheating and asking someone else to help him assemble it.

At this time, Daiyu also laughed and said, "Xie'er, wood can not only be used to build bridges, but also to make carts, sedan chairs, boxes, and large ships. This is not surprising!"

At this time, Zhu Muqi said hurriedly: "Son, you are talking about a very big bridge!"

"Mother, you are talking about the big bridge. It's not like I haven't seen the bridge from Xiyuan to Chengming Palace and Guanghan Palace before!"

"It's the longer bridge!"

"A longer bridge?" Daiyu looked puzzled.

Guanghan Palace is located in Xiyuan Lake. The long bridge leading from the shore to the palace is at least forty or fifty meters long, and there are hundreds of piles under the bridge.

After thinking about it, Zhu Muqi replied: "For example, build a bridge across the Yellow River and the Yangtze River!"

In this era, building bridges across the Yellow River and the Yangtze River is equivalent to building an elevator to the moon in the early 21st century. This is something that goes beyond human imagination.

Daiyu was undoubtedly shocked, and so was Zhu Jinghong, but they were surprised in different ways.

At this time, Daiyu said coldly: "You are so young, but you are so ambitious!"

Daiyu was usually very tolerant towards Zhu Muqi and never set strict requirements on his studies. She just hoped that he would grow up safely and live a happy life.

Only when Zhu Muqi had behavioral problems would she correct him or even teach him a lesson. At this moment, Daiyu thought that he was too ambitious.

This made Zhu Muqi feel a little aggrieved, and the expression on his face immediately faded a lot.

"Xie'er, don't listen to your mother. I think building a bridge across the Yangtze River and the Yellow River may not be impossible!"

"Really?" Zhu Muqi's expression began to recover.

Zhu Jinghong asked with a smile: "In ancient times, people ate raw meat and drank blood. Could they have imagined the luxurious clothes and delicious food we have now? In the Qin and Han dynasties, strong bows and crossbows could shoot a hundred steps. Could people at that time have imagined that artillery could shoot thousands of steps?"

After careful consideration, Zhu Muqi replied: "No!"

“It can be seen that things that cannot be accomplished now may not be impossible to accomplish in the future, as long as we continue to work hard and study!”

Zhu Mu's face regained its spirits, and then he said excitedly: "Father, what you said is absolutely right!"

Zhu Jinghong added: "It's just that delving into research is boring and can even waste one's life. Many people can't endure it!"

Zhu Muqi quickly replied: "My son is willing to study!"

Zhu Jinghong smiled and said, "Then Dad wishes you to achieve results soon!"

He has many sons now, and as long as they don't grow up to harm others, he can accept any way their development occurs.

If Zhu Muzhen really liked to study things and even became a scientist later, it would be an excellent result in Zhu Jinghong's opinion.

After all, emperors may not necessarily be remembered, but those who promote the development of the times will surely be remembered and praised by future generations.

Daiyu listened carefully to the whole conversation between the father and son, and did not think it was a joke. She did not object to her son studying these things.

In this side hall, after Zhu Muqi restored the palace, Zhu Jinghong and Daiyu went to the main hall, where lunch had already been prepared.

The meal is relatively simple, consisting of only six dishes, a soup and a dessert, but it is cooked with exceptional care.

Daiyu personally served Zhu Jinghong food, and asked, "Your Majesty, is Jiangbei stable?"

She was not concerned about state affairs, but was using this opportunity to show concern for Zhu Jinghong. After all, the latter had been worried about this in recent days.

"It's basically stable!" Zhu Jinghong responded.

Daiyu then smiled and said, "Then your Majesty can finally spend the New Year in peace!"

Sighing, Zhu Jinghong said: "Whether I can spend the New Year peacefully is secondary. I just hope that all the people in the world can spend the New Year peacefully!"

Daiyu was silent for a while, then replied: "As long as Your Majesty works hard to govern, the people of the world will be able to live in peace, not just during the New Year, but every day!"

Looking at Daiyu, Zhu Jinghong laughed and said, "You are complimenting me!"

"No...I am just spurring Your Majesty!"

"Encourage?" Zhu Jinghong looked at Daiyu and suddenly had an idea.

(End of this chapter)