Ming Dynasty 1566

Chapter 43

King Yu became even more angry: "I'm so angry? It's a joke." After saying this, he flicked his sleeves and walked out.

Concubine Li knelt there in a daze, while the eldest son was crying in the back room, tears finally flowed down from his eyes.

When Xu Jie and others arrived, King Yu was still in a very depressed mood.

Zhang Juzheng brought a letter from Tan Lun, detailing the current situation in Zhejiang in his heart.Can't wait to read one by one, Xu Jie is holding the letter, Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng are standing behind him, the three of them are holding their breath and watching carefully.

Xu Jie watched slowly. After all, Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng were young, so they finished it quickly. They looked at each other with excitement in their eyes.

"Today is the [-]th, and the letter was sent out on the [-]th. You can't use the survey and cooperation from the Ministry of War. It was delivered in five days. This is really hard for Tan Lun." Gao Gong praised Xu Jie loudly, regardless of whether Xu Jie had read it or not. Tan Lun is here.

Zhang Juzheng looked at King Yu, with the mood of eagerly looking forward to the joy of the monarch and his ministers.But he found that Yu Wang was not as excited as he imagined, but sat there listlessly.He was a little surprised and stood quietly.

Xu Jie had just finished reading the letter at this time, and no matter how old he was, he couldn't help showing an excited expression: "You will kill yourself if you do many unrighteous deeds. A fake case involving the Japanese, and a cheap purchase of disaster victims' land under the name of the palace." There are two major cases of defaming the holy name, and it will be very difficult for Yan Song and Yan Shifan to escape this time."

Gao Gong: "Don't miss this opportunity, immediately find some memorials from the censors!"

All three looked at King Yu.Only then did King Yu turn his attention to them, and it took him a long time to reply: "Yan Song and Yan Shifan have controlled the government capital for 20 years, and there are not a few of them in the two capitals and one thirteen provinces. It is not so easy to really move them..."

Xu, Gao, and Zhang were all startled, and they all looked at him and waited for the next sentence.

After saying this, King Yu himself was startled. Isn't this what Concubine Li said not long ago?After realizing it, I felt bad for a while, fell silent, and stopped talking.

"What the lord said is true." Zhang Juzheng continued, "If the emperor really wants to move them, there will always be a decree. If there is no decree, it means that the final decision has not been made. At this time, we should wait and see for a while."

These words are exactly the same as what Concubine Li said!King Yu couldn't help looking straight at Zhang Juzheng, examining him.

"What? Did I say something wrong?" Zhang Juzheng asked, feeling a little uncomfortable being looked at by him.

"No, no. You are right." Yu Wang replied, but looked out of the window.

Xu Jie and Gao Gong were also a little surprised, they glanced at each other, and at the same time looked at Zhang Juzheng, signaling him to finish speaking.

Zhang Juzheng understood, looked at King Yu's back and said, "I always have a feeling that it is too unimaginable to buy the victims' fields under the name of the palace. If this happened, there must be quite a few heads. Who Will do this, who is doing it? There are still a lot of variables hidden in it. Before such turbulent things are determined, the latter will restrain others, and the first will likely be controlled by others."

Xu Jie and Gao Gong deeply agreed with Zhang Juzheng's opinion, nodded and looked at King Yu at the same time.

King Yu seemed to be listening, but he didn't respond much at this time.

Zhang Juzheng: "My lord..."

"Yeah." Yu Wang responded slowly, and then he felt his gaffe. He coughed, turned his face seriously, turned to them and sat down on the chair in front of the window: "Master Zhang broke in with the whip. Master Gao just said That’s right. If you don’t talk about it now, you have to find a few censors to say hello first, write the memorial and prepare it there, and hand it over as soon as the situation becomes clear.”

Xu Jie, Gao Gong, and Zhang Juzheng looked at each other again, knowing that although King Yu was distracted just now, they still listened to what they said.

Xu Jie: "People must be reliable. If the news gets out, it's a matter of life and death."

Gao Gong: "Naturally. I have a person under my command, the censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, who once consulted the eunuchs of the Central Palace on iron mines and salt wells. The emperor approved his performance and punished several people. This People's memorials have more weight in the emperor's mind than others."

Xu Jie: "Who?"

Gao Gong: "Zou Yinglong!"

"This person can do it!" Zhang Juzheng immediately agreed, "Once the purchase of land under the name of the palace in Zhejiang is confirmed, Zou Yinglong will be the first to go to the sparse."

"Just do it like this, be sure to be secret." Yu Wang said, immediately felt the sound of footsteps outside the door, and hurriedly looked towards the door.

Sure enough, a maid's voice came from outside the door: "Qi, Qi to report to the lord, Princess Li is going back to her mother's house..."

King Yu stood up suddenly, walked to the door a few steps, and opened the door: "What did you say?"

The palace maid knelt down: "My lord, the princess said that she is going back to her natal family and asked her natal family to return the [-] bolts of silk that Long Live Lord rewarded to the palace."

"I don't know why!" King Yu was anxious, "Tell Wangfei, wait there. If I don't come, don't leave."

The maid: "Yes." She stood up and hurriedly walked towards the inside.

Xu, Gao, and Zhang seemed to understand why the prince was always absent-minded just now, and the three of them met their eyes.

Xu Jie: "My lord, this matter has to be discussed in the long term anyway. The ministers will leave first, and it will not be too late to discuss when there is new news."

King Yu: "Okay. Be careful, too."

Three people: "Yes."

"Let's go." King Yu was obviously eager to see Concubine Li.

"Your Majesty, please keep this letter." Xu Jie reminded him and solemnly handed Tan Lun's letter to him.

King Yu hurriedly took the letter and put it in his arms.

Gao Gong was not as careful as Xu Jie or Zhang Juzheng in this regard, and said directly: "It is best to leave all such letters to Princess Li. The princess has a clear mind and can handle it."

King Yu was impatient: "Understood, let's go."

Zhang Juzheng hastily tugged on Gao Gong's sleeve, signaling him to leave quickly.

"It's sold!" He Maocai went against his previous rage, and sat there in a daze, "We were sold by Shen Yishi's bastard...the rice was changed to sanghuang..."

"It's not a matter of changing rice into mulberry now!" Zheng Michang seemed to have switched people with He Maocai, but he was no longer gloomy in the past. , you and I will be dismissed from office and go to jail. If Shishiro Inoue, who is imprisoned in Chun’an, reveals about us, you and I will have to kill the Nine Clans!”

"Then what should we do?" He Maocai looked at Zheng Michang in a daze.

Zheng Michang: "Hurry up, you go in person, and bring the prisoner back first."

He Maocai: "Hu Zongxian sent someone there himself, and I may not be able to escort him back."

Zheng Michang: "As long as Hu Zongxian himself is not around, you are the procurator, in charge of the punishment of a province, and you want to personally arrest criminals, who dares to stop you!"

He Maocai: "Then I will go now."

Zheng Bichang: "Do you know what to do when you come back from custody?"

He Maocai calmed down a bit at this moment, and thought for a while: "We can't let him live anymore."

Zheng Michang: "There are more than a dozen Japanese pirates who are currently locked up in the office of the Ministry of Justice, and none of them can survive."

"Understood." After answering, He Maocai walked out of the door, and stopped at the door, "The matter of changing rice into mulberry can't be done like this. Zhongcheng, this year's hundreds of thousands of silks can't be produced. The imperial court still has to investigate, and if we find out about the destruction of embankments and flooding of fields, you and I will not just be dismissed from office and go to jail..."

"I know!" Zheng Bichang cut him off, "It's all like this, and things have to be done one by one."

He Maocai: "I went to Chun'an, you can't just stay here, you have to find some way to start doing the next thing."

Zheng Bichang: "Can I still live after you die? At this moment, I still have these suspicions!"

"It's not that I'm suspicious." He Maocai still stayed at the door, "If you have any ideas, tell me first, so I can have a solid foundation in my heart."

Zheng Bichang was really helpless, and sighed fiercely: "Then I will tell you, my solution is three."

"Which three?" He Maocai asked anxiously.

Zheng Bichang: "One is a rope, one is poison, and the other is a steel knife! Either one can kill my old life. Don't you worry about that?"

He Maocai immediately turned back to the chair and sat down: "Then what else should I do?"

Zheng Michang's eyes went dark with anger, he immediately spun and sat down on the ground.

He Maocai was startled, got up and ran over again, supporting him: "Zhongcheng! Zhongcheng! You can't fall down at this time!"

After a while, Zheng Michang wandered over and said weakly: "I heard that Eunuch Yang has returned...you go to Chun'an, I will go to find Eunuch Yang...isn't that okay? My ancestor..."

He Maocai: "It's fine if you told me earlier, why bother?"

Zheng Bichang: "We can't delay, go quickly..."

He Maocai shouted loudly: "Come here!"

A clerk came in and was startled when he saw this: "Lord Zhongcheng!" He hurried over to support him.

He Maocai stood up: "Go and call Langzhong. Zhongcheng, I'm leaving!" He said and strode out.

The scribe helped Zheng Michang to sit down on the chair, turned around to call the doctor, but was stopped by Zheng Michang's weak voice.

"There's no need to call Langzhong. I'll go see Eunuch Yang right now."

In Yang Jinshui's bedroom, there was a big red sandalwood round table, and there were only five people sitting around it.Yang Jinshui sat at the head, and four sturdy men sat on the left and right, with hard faces, all wearing knee-length black clothes.Seen from the back, everyone's shoulders are very broad, and the waist is very small because of the belt. The hem of the black clothes is short, and the blue veins on the exposed legs are as hard as iron pillars.This is the famous Jinyiwei of the Ming Dynasty, known as "Tiger Arm, Wasp Waist, Praying Mantis Leg"!
It is said that these three rules for the selection of Jinyiwei were set by Zhu Di, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty.Anyone who possesses these three skills is firstly good at walking, one person can walk more than 160 miles a day; secondly is good at jumping, a two-foot-high wall can be passed by jumping up and climbing with both hands; the third is good at fighting , not only have the kung fu of fists, feet and weapons, but also have the strength to pinch the opponent's throat at the same time. If one's own throat is broken, he will not die. The one who dies must be someone else.The most powerful, it is said that there is also "horse skill", which is to be able to sleep without sitting or lying down for seven days and seven nights, stepping on the ground with two legs in turn to sleep, and can kill a wolf with bare hands on the ground with both feet on the head for seven days!

The delicacies did not work for them, and now there were three legs before each person: a leg of mutton, a leg of dog, and a fat pig's trotter.There is no need for a glass for wine. In front of each person is a big wine jar, with a piece of red paper pasted on it, and the words "Three Ten Years" are written on them.

Yang Jinshui smiled: "Where to eat. Shaoxing rice wine is good in Zhejiang. The best is these 30-year-old daughter red. People who are idle will get drunk after drinking a catty. You should drink ten catties of each pot first. In addition, I have prepared some for you, and when you return to Beijing, you will board the boat, and give the brothers in Jinyiwei in Beijing a taste."

The four of them also laughed, but none of them looked like smiles, their mouths were dryly grinning, and their eyes were still shining.The next Jin Yiwei sitting under Yang Jinshui asked, "Why is the rice wine called 'Daughter Red'?"

Yang Jinshui: "It's a custom. When a son is born in Shaoxing, he will make some wine for him, bury it in the cellar, and name it 'Zhuangyuanhong'. It will be buried for more than ten or 20 years. It is said that it will be taken out after the son wins the championship. Banquet with friends."

Yang Jinshui, the first Jinyiwei, answered: "I know, after giving birth to a daughter and burying it, after more than ten or twenty years, it will be taken out to drink when married, and it will be called 'daughter red'."

Yang Jinshui: "Brother is very knowledgeable."

"I still don't understand." Jin Yiwei, who was the first to ask the question, spoke again, "If the son he gave birth to didn't win the first prize, it would be a pity for this wine."

Yang Jinshui really laughed: "There is only one champion in three years in the whole country. It is called this name, and it will be drunk when the son marries his daughter-in-law."

Another guard in Jinyi spoke up: "I don't understand. Eunuch Yang gave us 30-year-old daughter red wine. Could it be that daughters from Shaoxing can't get married at the age of 30?"

Just as Yang Jinshui took a sip of wine, he spit it out in one gulp: "Waiting for 30 years, I just waited for you guys to come and marry you!"

Yang Jinshui's first Jinyiwei was obviously the leader, and he also liked Yang Jinshui very much. He praised him and said with a smile: "Thirty is like a wolf, it is suitable for us!"

Seeing the two talking and laughing like this, the other guards in Jinyi also started to giggle loudly after being infected by them, but their voices were a bit creepy.

After laughing, the four of them drank and ate meat.The head of Jin Yiwei got to the point: "When we came here, Eunuch Lu explained everything to us in detail. We should listen to Eunuch Yang who should be arrested and who should not be arrested. Eunuch Yang, when will we do it, and which ones should we arrest first?"

Speaking of this, Yang Jinshui's smile faded away, and a look of worry appeared on his face.

The four guards in Jinyi glanced at each other, and then asked again: "Eunuch Yang, what's the matter?"

Yang Jinshui: "I will not hide from you my brothers. This time the first person to be arrested is my partner."

"Partner?" Several Jin Yiwei didn't understand.

Yang Jinshui: "It stands to reason that this person has done some things for the palace, but this time he was deceived, and while I was in Beijing, he went to buy fields under the brand name of the Weaving Bureau. He openly shamed the emperor! He himself I have no choice but to court death."

A royal guard: "What kind of official is he?"

Yang Jinshui: "The palace invited him a vain title of sixth rank, but in fact he has no official position, just a silk merchant in Hangzhou."

On the other side of Jin Yiwei: "Didn't the officials tell us to arrest something, so if the Hangzhou government arrests it, it will be fine?"

Yang Jinshui: "This man has been working for the Weaving Bureau for more than ten years. He knows too many things. He went to the government, and he was shaken out to embarrass the palace."

"I understand." Jin Yiwei held up the wine jar and took a big sip, "Who else?"

Yang Jinshui: "Others have to wait for this person to be interrogated before they can be arrested."

Another dish was served, a large tray with four large bowls inside, and each bowl contained a braised lion's head the size of a hydrangea.The person delivering the food was actually the eunuch who was next to Yang Jinshui. He put the food in front of the four of them with a smile, and leaned into Yang Jinshui's ear: "Godfather, Zheng Bichang is here."

Yang Jinshui frowned: "He knows I'm back?"

The accompanying eunuch: "I seem to know. It is said that there is something big, and I must let my godfather see him."

The four Jin Yiwei put down their chopsticks and looked at Yang Jinshui.Yang Jinshui pondered for a moment, then stood up: "I'll see you sooner or later, let's see what he says. The brothers eat and drink slowly, and I'll be back in a while."

The four royal guards stood up and handed each other off.

Yang Jinshui walked into the living room with a smile on his face, and when he saw Zheng Michang, he said, "Good ear report! I just arrived on the front foot, and you came on the back foot."

Zheng Michang stood up, dressed in casual clothes, but with a wide band tied around his head, his face was gloomy.

"What? Are you sick?" Yang Jinshui looked at the band on his head.

Zheng Michang: "Headache, partly because of the wind, partly because they forced it."

Yang Jinshui: "Who dares to force the majestic governor of Zhejiang? Sit down first." He said and sat down first.

Zheng Michang also sat down, no longer detoured, and said directly: "Eunuch Yang, do you always know what Shen Yishi did?"

Yang Jinshui looked at him and knew that he was talking about the weaving bureau's purchase of fields. He thought that this person must have heard the news and rushed to clear it up, so he asked, "What's the matter? I just came back and was looking for you Come and ask how things are going."

Zheng Michang: "Changing rice into mulberry is impossible. Shen Yishi lent all the grain he bought for the fields to Chun'an and Jiande to help the victims..."

"What!" Yang Jinshui stood up abruptly.

Zheng Michang: "Under the name of the Weaving Bureau, Shen Yishi first went to Chun'an to borrow dozens of boats of grain for Hai Rui, the new county magistrate of Chun'an. Then he went to Jiande and borrowed dozens of boats of grain. I gave it to the new county magistrate of Jiande to use it. There is no more food to buy any more fields.”

Yang Jinshui stood there in a daze, unable to recover for a long time.

Zheng Michang: "Eunuch Yang, it's already mid-June, and the mulberry seedlings can't be planted. The Weaving Bureau has ordered 50 pieces of silk this year. What will they sell to Xiyang? Without this money, the state treasury will be in short supply. How can I make up for it? At that time, not only the cabinet, but also the palace will have to ask me about my crimes. I was really hurt by this Shen Yishi!"

"Shen Yishi lent grain to Chun'an and Jiande, is the news reliable?" Yang Jinshui looked at him.

"It's absolutely true!" Zheng Michang quickly replied, "The food escort ships are all officers and soldiers sent by the province, and they are the ones who came back to report."

(End of this chapter)