Chapter 28 Chapter 28 Skyfire
Those who walk on one side, on the other side, have to look for flowers and willows.Walking over there, walking on the other side, don't hate the golden cup of wine...
The "Drunken Makeup Ci" by Wang Yan, the lord of Shu in the Five Dynasties, rang out in the Ming Palace. The song was also full of hazy drunkenness, but the singer was Emperor Wanli himself.
After countless fine wines entered his body, it brought him a feeling of lightness and dizziness, making him feel that life is supremely beautiful, so he sang happily, expressing the comfort in his heart...
A team of 20 female musicians lined up neatly in the corner, playing the sheng pipe, flute and pipa to accompany him; Concubine Zheng leaned on a pillow embroidered with flying phoenixes, squinting A pair of watery eyes that seemed to be slightly drunk and misty looked at Emperor Wanli with a seven-point smile and three-point flattery; even though he was singing a song unresponsively, and his eyes were not looking at her, she still had the love in her heart. Feeling joy and satisfaction—on such a spring night full of candlelight and fragrance, his people and his heart are by her side—that’s what she wants.
After singing, Emperor Wanli waved his arms and shouted to the singers: "Okay, okay, it's time for you to sing a song for me!"
As he spoke, he returned to his seat with a smile and erratic steps, and threw himself on Concubine Zheng without being wary of a stagger, while asking with a salivating face, "Is my singing good?"
Concubine Zheng smiled happily, stretched out a pair of soft and delicate palms to gently caress his cheeks, and said in a low voice: "Son of Heaven, Jinkou, sing the song yourself, and the concubine is about to get drunk—"
The palms and backs of her hands were all snow white, except for the ten fingertips which were dyed red with the juice of impatiens, matching the color of her lips, adding to the style, and rubbing against Emperor Wanli together, they became more and more encircled His heart; therefore, he chuckled, and hugged her more tightly; of course, there were no major national affairs, any ministers' chapters.
The performance and singing of the female musicians once again resounded throughout the Qianqing Palace. Since no one remembered the existence of the three characters "Zhang Juzheng", what the female musicians sang was actually made by him repeatedly during his lifetime. It is the work of Empress Li of the Southern Tang Dynasty who was the Yin Supervisor of the "subjugated country"...
The sound of music is everywhere, and even the Kunning Palace, which is adjacent to the Qianqing Palace, can vaguely hear the singing of female musicians singing "Jade House Spring":
Evening make-up is beginning to brighten the skin snow, the spring hall is lined up with concubines, the phoenix flute is blowing through the water and clouds, and the neon clothes are singing again...
However, the eunuchs and maids who heard the music not only did not dare to appreciate it carefully, but also tried their best to pretend that they did not hear it, so as not to arouse the displeasure of the queen and the queen; what's more, In the past few days, Queen Wang has been ill again.
Over the past few years, Wang and Empress have always suffered from minor illnesses, and spent the empty days without major illnesses; every few days the fragrance of medicine would waft in Kunning Palace, and every such time, Kunning On the contrary, Ning Palace was lively.
Although the footsteps of Emperor Wanli never stepped into the threshold of Kunning Palace, Kunning Palace is also a cold palace in essence, but in name it is an out-and-out "middle palace" leading the harem, and its owner is justifiable "The empress of the palace"; therefore, as long as the queen is ill, many concubines in the harem will come to Lu'an according to the etiquette, and even accompany them before the sick bed; ——There are always dozens of them in total, but all of them are resentful girls who can't get love. Everyone feels sorry for each other, complains to each other, and unexpectedly develops a strange friendship, which resolves part of the loneliness; and about Emperor Wanli Everything with Concubine Zheng was tacitly shared by everyone and never mentioned.
Therefore, although the Qianqing Palace has the bustle of singing, music and dancing, another form of excitement has developed in the Kunning Palace; it is just that the two are completely different. world……
It wasn't until March that an unexpected change happened that this phenomenon changed for a short time - the two palaces of Qianqing and Kunning met the same fate, that is, they caught fire.
On that day, Queen Wang was still ill, and Emperor Wanli was in a drunken dream as usual. By the time the two were informed of the fire, the fire had been extinguished; the disaster was not serious, and only Several small side halls and the Jiaotai Hall between the two palaces; however, the cause of the fire could not be traced - even if dozens of eunuchs in charge were beaten to death, they all gave the same statement : "The servants only saw smoke from a distance, but when they ran closer, they saw that it was already on fire—"
And what everyone identified with one voice, the place where the white smoke first came out was: "It came out from the corner of the roof of the Dajiaotai Hall, and it filled the entire Jiaotai Hall at once; originally there was only white smoke, but after It took a while to see the fire—"
When several senior old eunuchs asked this question, they already vaguely believed in their hearts that this was a "heavenly fire", which was used by the heavens to warn Emperor Wanli, but they dared not say it; but Emperor Wanli's reaction was even more outrageous. It was beyond everyone's expectations.
The rage he felt when he heard the report of the fire in the two palaces completely disappeared after a night, and what was replaced was actually a secret joy—on this night, when he and Concubine Zheng were whispering Suddenly, a flash of inspiration flashed through his mind, and the voice blurted out: "Now, it's time to properly renovate the palace—since it's burned, no one will object!"
He remembered the past many years ago. He wanted to renovate the palace several times, but he was interrupted as soon as the idea came up. The thrifty Zhang Juzheng and the Empress Dowager Cisheng always opposed his idea, thinking that the palace It is already luxurious enough, and there is no need to waste money on renovations; and now, Zhang Juzheng's Book of the Dead is gone, and the Empress Dowager Cisheng no longer controls him everywhere; plus the excuse of "fire" now, any one of the courtiers Opposition can be silenced—he can do as he pleases.
Therefore, his mood immediately changed to excitement, and he pulled Concubine Zheng to happily discuss the plan to renovate the palace. The two talked all night, and a new blueprint for the palace after renovation took shape in his mind; In the next few days, the two discussed more earnestly, and also called the eunuch to draw a picture according to the dictation-and in this way, all government affairs and state affairs were even more out of the attention of Emperor Wanli.
The various scandals committed by Li Zongcheng on Tsushima Island and the handling of the aftermath, despite repeated urging and four requests from the ministers, were dragged on until March to deal with it reluctantly, and the handling was nothing more than a nod. The method proposed by the ministers was approved - Li Zongcheng was arrested and imprisoned for questioning, Yang Fangheng was promoted to be the chief envoy, Shen Weijing was added as the deputy envoy, and the title of Shenjiying was added to continue the mission of "East Seal" in Japan.
The ministers who received this "permission to play" were of course greatly relieved, and glad that things could go on smoothly; but unexpectedly, what Emperor Wanli dropped at the same time was a hot potato, and the ministers who received the order came from the cabinet. All the officials from the bachelor's degree to the household department were stunned together.
The content of this edict is very clear, that is, the ministers are required to raise a sum of funds as soon as possible to renovate the imperial palace after the fire.
Yang Junmin, Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, lost his mind and almost cried: "National use is already insufficient, taxes have been added and increased, and there will be an additional fee of two million taels-how can I raise it!"
As the chief assistant of the cabinet, Zhao Zhigao lowered his head and did not speak. Chen Yubi, who had been in the cabinet for less than a year, watched him for a long time, waiting for him to speak first, until he couldn't bear it anymore, and then ignored the "propriety" This word was spoken in front of the chief more times; he said: "We must go to the evacuation immediately, please think twice about the long live Lord-although there is a fire in the two palaces, but the damage is not serious, just a little repair, why bother?" Two million taels of silver?"
Shen Yiguan, who had the lowest qualifications among the cabinet bachelors, interrupted and said, "Long Live Lord's intention must be to rebuild the two palaces, which only requires two million taels of silver!"
Chen Yubi shook his head and sighed: "Reconstruction is not necessary. Two million taels is not a small number. The treasury is really unable to pay. Only I wait for Shang Shuli to advise and ask Long Live Lord to cancel this matter. Of the policy!"
Yang Jun's face was full of sorrow: "A few years ago, Dingling Mausoleum was built, and military expenditures have been spent in these few years. To rebuild the two palaces, all officials, big and small, have to suspend their salaries for two years, which is enough!"
Everyone said what they said, and finally Zhao Zhigao reluctantly agreed, so he immediately drafted the draft, and after writing the first draft, he discussed and reviewed word by word, and finally transcribed it. Yu Bi and Shen Yiguan; the Ministry of Household Affairs was led by Yang Junmin, and officials at all levels jointly signed a joint statement to Emperor Wanli about the current financial distress of the country, and it was impossible to raise two million taels of silver to renovate the palace. , please ask Emperor Wanli to postpone this matter - it is of course inconvenient for a courtier to ask the emperor to "dispel his thoughts". After some discussion, everyone changed to the gentle word "suspend", so as not to provoke Emperor Wanli and instead make the situation stiff .
Everyone proceeded cautiously, and it was not until four o'clock that they finished processing the memorial with detailed financial data. Everyone simply didn't go back to the house or go to bed, and just sat and waited in the direct dormitory of the cabinet. It was dawn; fortunately, there were quite a few people left behind, and each of them brought their servants to serve them. It was not deserted during the long night, but, after the work was done, everyone naturally felt a ray of "" The feeling of "empty", this feeling is extremely uncomfortable, and several people have no choice but to chat a few words to drive away this feeling.
It's just that these important officials in the court are not young anymore. After staying up in the middle of the night, their spirits have long been exhausted. Zhao Zhigao even sat up and dozed off; From time to time, he lowered his head to think about things, and when he raised his head, he asked Chen Yubi beside him: "Master Chen, in your opinion, what will Lord Long Live have after reading this memorial?"
Of course, Chen Yubi couldn't answer this question, so he could only reciprocate with silence. Shen Yiguan took such a "silent gift" with his head around his head, and after a sudden reflection, he immediately closed his mouth and bowed his head while regretting Meng Lang; The atmosphere fell into dead silence again, and the silence was even more unbearable. After a while, someone couldn't stand it anymore, and said a few innocuous words to relieve the almost suffocating dullness: "I hope the Lord Long Live will be sympathetic to the people of Li. The people—”
This was easy to catch up with, so several people took turns to say a few words, and used some respectful words to express their wishes to Emperor Wanli; in this way, the time was finally passed, and when it was bright, everyone came together Stand up and prepare to send out this memorial—Emperor Wanli is no longer in the morning court, and the memorials that the ministers want to submit to him are actually delivered to the eunuchs—until the matter is completed, everyone quits one by one Chaofang, each went back to the house.
Because Chen Yubi had a very good personal relationship with Yang Junmin, when they left, they walked side by side without saying anything; , still didn’t say anything; however, Chen Yubi’s thoughts in his heart, which had always been in poor health, fluctuated very violently. He only took a couple of sips of the ginseng tea that was brought over and put it down, and then sat silently in the study alone.
He felt a little dazed in his heart, but also felt stuffy, bloated, heavy, and even faintly painful; facing the shelves full of books all around him, he sighed softly, and silently looked at the book in his heart. He said to himself: "Reading the books of sages, what have you learned—"
The situation of studying and aspiring when I was young can be seen before my eyes. My father was selected into the cabinet as a bachelor, and I also wanted to be on par with him. I hoped to be a good minister of Zuoguo in the future, so I often stayed up late at night and studied hard—— But what about now?Although I have joined the cabinet as a great scholar like my father, and have the name and reality of the prime minister, how could I have expected that I would meet such an emperor?
Although the memorial to him to suspend the renovation of the palace has been published, can it be accepted by Emperor Wanli?No one knows, but according to the previous examples of "advising and admonishing" in the past, Emperor Wanli was not a person who knew how to read Naya words...
In fact, why didn't he understand it in his heart?Yesterday I took the lead in putting forward the suggestion of exhorting and remonstrating, and it was simply out of the intention of "knowing what can't be done"!
A sense of powerlessness crawled up from the bottom of his heart, and slowly, a feeling of sadness filled his body, but his body began to heat up, and soon became hot, and in the afternoon, he finally fell ill.
During his illness, he stayed at home for ten days, but he knew everything that happened in the court like the palm of his hand—the father and son entered the cabinet for two generations, and they had accumulated deep connections. He had a lot of people, and people came to visit him several times a day when he was sick, and they would tell him everything about the court.
Of course, what he was most concerned about was Emperor Wanli's palace renovation, but it was this matter that disappointed him the most—after the persuasion and remonstrance went up, time passed day by day, but Emperor Wanli did not respond at all.
Everyone knew it well: "I don't know when will the Lord Long Live want to read the memorials!"
Half a month later, he recovered from his illness and returned to the imperial court. Emperor Wanli still did not respond; then, a thunderbolt fell out of nowhere.
The eunuch sent from the palace once again dictated the will of Emperor Wanli to the ministers in an arrogant manner; he told all the officials present that after learning about the shortage of silver in the national inventory, Emperor Wanli had come up with a plan himself. There is a new way to raise money. As long as everyone obeys the order, they will soon be able to raise enough expenses for the renovation of the two palaces. Tax"……
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