Optimus One Pillar of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 50 Apply eye drops to two loyal ministers

Lu Bing asked for a hint. When Wang Daoqiu looked sideways at Lu Bing, out of the corner of his eye he inadvertently saw Emperor Jiajing in Taoist robes, who was hiding behind the cabin door, eavesdropping on his conversation with Lu Bing.

Knowing that Emperor Jiajing was eavesdropping, Wang Daoqiu wanted to give Xia Yan and Zeng Mian some eye drops in advance while Emperor Jiajing was here.So he approached Lu Bing and said in a low voice, "Lord Lu, you can check on Xia Cifu."

"What, Xia Cifu? Xie Yuanlang, listen to what Lu said, that Xia Yan is indeed nothing. He thinks that he has contributed to the country and can help the emperor manage the government, and others are crazy. He bullies his colleagues, He despises the emperor. It can be said that there is no one in the civil and military circles who does not dislike him. But speaking of the matter, the old man has a bad character, but he is still honest and never accepts gifts. Moreover, the old man Xia is very smart and did many things when he was young. After so many years as an imperial censor, how could he commit such a stupid thing as a chamberlain minister colluding with a bian commander? No, no, he's not that stupid, what's his purpose?"

Wang Daoqiu said that Xia Yan, the second assistant, might collude with the frontier commander for money, but Lu Bing didn't believe it.After all, he gave Xia Yan three thousand gold to get out of the crime that day when the incident happened, but was kicked out by Xia Yan. In the end, he had no choice but to kneel at the door of Xia Yan's house and play the sympathy card to beg for mercy.

Moreover, Lu Bing has been dealing with Xia Yan for more than ten years, and he has never heard of Xia Yan accepting gifts from others.So now that Wang Daoqiu said that Xia Yan colluded with Bian Shuai and accepted gifts from others, Lu Bing would not believe it even to death.

The reason for Lu Bing's disbelief must be what the deceased Emperor Jiajing was thinking at this time.Wang Daoqiu understood that if he wanted to give Xia Yan eye drops today, he would have to come up with something useful.

So in the face of Lu Bing's disbelief, Wang Daoqiu said again: "Master Lu, you should know that I am currently living in the inner palace prison alley, right?"

"Lu knows this, what's going on, Xie Yuanlang?"

"Master Lu, Wang is temporarily living in the Inner Palace Supervisor Alley, and he has a lot of contact with the Inner Palace Supervisor craftsmen who live there on weekdays. And the craftsmen in the Inner Palace Supervisor, they all work for the emperor and the capital. Those who serve high-ranking officials include Xia Cifu. To be honest with Mr. Lu, I have heard from the masons and carpenters who went to Xia Cifu’s house to repair the house and make furniture.”

"Xia Cifu is now over 74 years old and has no children. Xia Cifu is very anxious about this. He has married thirteen concubines in total. Every night he takes tonics and goes to the concubine to create People. And the concubines in the thirteenth room have their own maids and mothers, and they also have their own family to take care of. Let’s put it this way, there are currently 89 servants in his Xia Mansion, plus the concubine in the thirteenth room. , a regular wife, and Xia Shoufu himself, Xia Cifu's family now has a total of [-] people, and there are several mules and horses pulling carts."

"The current expenses of the Xia Mansion are only thirteen taels of concubine, which costs 130 taels per person per month, plus food, drink, clothing, coal for the winter, and medicines for the 89 people in the mansion. The furniture in the house was repaired and replaced, and the family relatives exchanged favors... Let's put it this way, I heard from the craftsmen who went to Xia Mansion that they heard from the servants of Xia Mansion that their Xia Mansion spent one year. The expenses are 9000 to 1000 taels of silver. Mr. Lu, think about it, although Xia Yan is a first-class official, his annual salary plus various subsidies is only about [-] taels of silver!"

"Furthermore, Xia Yan was born into a poor military family, and his military status was obtained by His Majesty a few years ago, and His Majesty helped him get rid of it. This means that the ancestors of his Xia Yan family did not leave anything to him. Since he has no money from his ancestors, he only earns about 1000 taels of silver per year, but his current annual expenses are as high as 9000 taels of silver. Mr. Lu, tell me, where did he get all that money? ?”

"This……."

Lu Bing knew that Xia Yan lived a luxurious life, but Xia Yan's image of an upright and upright official was too deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.Therefore, Lu Bing didn't think much about the serious discrepancy between Xia Yan's living standard and income.But now that Wang Daoqiu reminded him, Lu Bing thought about it!

Xia Yan last served as chief minister for three years, and this time he was reinstated as prime minister for just over a year.In four years, the first assistant only earned about 4000 taels in total. As for the past, Xia Yan started his career as an eighth-level practitioner and worked as a middle- and lower-level official for more than 20 years. During these 20 years, his salary was not only used to support his family, but also Being able to save a few hundred taels is considered frugal.

This means that according to common sense, Xia Yan, who has been an official for 30 years, cannot save 9000 taels of silver!But his current annual expenses are as high as 9000 taels, so where did he get all this money?

Xia Yan's financial problems were so obvious that Lu Bing now believed Wang Daoqiu's words.Of course, in addition to Lu Bing, Emperor Jiajing, who was hiding behind them, began to have deep doubts about Ci Fu Xia Yan after hearing Wang Daoqiu's words.Seeing that Lu Bing did not refute him after listening to his words, but was thinking about life with a stern face, Wang Daoqiu knew that he had convinced Lu Bing.However, in order to have a better effect when Xia Yan's incident happened a year later, Wang Daoqiu added more firewood and said, "Master Lu, Wang will give you another clue!"

"What clue? Jie Yuanlang, tell me quickly."

"Lord Lu, it's like this. According to an inner palace mason who used to repair the roof of the Xia Mansion, I told me. He said that once he was busy working on the roof of the Xia Mansion, he heard two servants of the Xia Mansion in the courtyard below. Gossip there. One of the servants of the Xia Mansion entrusted another servant of the Xia Mansion to help him take care of his old mother, saying that he was going to travel far to the northwest to deliver a letter to Governor Zeng on behalf of the master."

"Master Lu, think about these words. Governor Zeng of the Northwest is here to deliver a message for you. Master Lu, if Wang guessed correctly, the Governor Zeng of the Northwest spoken of by the servants of the Xia Mansion should be Zeng Xian, the Governor of the Three Sides! Also! Xia Yan, who was still the chief minister at the time, if he had any official business to entrust to Zeng Mian, he would definitely ask the imperial postman to deliver the official document, and he would never let his own servants deliver it. In other words, Xia Yan Yan's letter to Zeng Mian is by no means an official document, but a private letter."

"Master Lu, I dare to tell you this. If you, Master Lu, send the masters of Jin Yiwei to break into the houses of Xia Yan and Zeng Xian, they will definitely find more than just those private messages between Xia Yan and Zeng Xian. One letter. Because the relationship between these two people is not just a day or two. Xia Yan's father-in-law Su Gang and the governor of the three sides, Zeng Xian, are fellow Jiangdu fellows, and the two have a good personal relationship. "

"To be honest, Mr. Lu, I even doubt that Xia Yan and Zeng Xian may have something bigger than greed for money. After all, Xia Yan and Zeng Xian are both very smart people in the world. They will not fail to do so." You know, it has been a taboo in the past dynasties for the emperor's inner chamber ministers to associate with the border commanders. This is called internal and external collusion, this is called conspiracy, and it is a capital crime. But knowing that this is a capital crime, these two people still dare to communicate in private. Do they Are you so audacious and want to join forces to get some military pay for the border troops?"

Wang Daoqiu was blinded by this. With Lu Bing's intelligence, he could certainly hear what Wang Daoqiu was accusing Xia Yan and Zeng Mian.So Lu Bing opened his eyes wide, stared at Wang Daoqiu with a face of horror, and said tremblingly: "Xie, Xie Yuanlang, you, you mean that, that Xia Yan and Zeng, Zeng Mi, want to plot rebellion."

Lu Bing was frightened, and Wang Daoqiu glanced at Emperor Jiajing who was hiding behind the cabin door with his peripheral vision.Wang Daoqiu felt it with just a glance. At this moment, Emperor Jiajing's body was shaking.

Feeling secretly happy, Wang Daoqiu said based on history, "If my guess is right, it will take at most three years, after Zeng Mian has established a foothold in the northwest, gathered a group of generals, and has the strength to rebel. He would collude with Xia Yan and find some excuses, such as quelling the rebellion of a certain ethnic minority in the northwest, recovering the Hetao, or reopening the Hexi Corridor. In any case, it would be some excuse for large-scale military operations, and then ask the court for a With a large amount of food and salary, as well as the power to assemble a large-scale army, and finally with the cooperation of the frontier generals he had already won over before, he took the northwest frontier army and went directly to the city of Beijing."

"What? Jie Yuanlang, are you totally thinking this? This is too big, don't scare me."

"I hope it is Wang who is unfounded. However, Mr. Lu, the so-called preparedness means that you, the Imperial Guards, should prepare for this matter in advance. In the event that Wang is unlucky in the future, you may as well wait for His Majesty's decree and cover it up with lightning speed. With the power of his ears, he took down those rebellious ministers and traitors in one fell swoop."

"No, no, this matter is too big, and Lu has to report it to the emperor at dawn. Please order to search Xia Yan and Zeng Mi's mansions. Once they are found in their mansions, you can solve the private letters you mentioned by Yuanlang, then Just based on the evidence that the two of them, a chamberlain minister and a frontier commander, had a personal relationship, they can be charged with death."

"Yes, Master Lu, this matter should be reported to the Emperor. But Wang still wants to suggest to Master Lu that when you report this matter to the Emperor tomorrow, you should suggest that the Emperor consider the long term and make careful arrangements to try to get rid of the people hidden in the northwest. Catch all those rebellious officials and traitors in one fell swoop."

"The Emperor is very talented. He came from Anlu to the capital alone when he was a teenager. He was able to survive many dangers on his own. He holds the government firmly in his hands. I believe that the Emperor wants to deal with those little shrimps in the northwest. That is cat playing with mouse. It's not difficult at all. Moreover, the people in the northwest are greedy and poor, and it is impossible for the local money and food to support a large army. As long as the court does not allocate large sums of money to them, what will Zeng Ming do to let the soldiers work for him and Xia Yan? To work for your life?”

(End of this chapter)