Chapter 34 Chapter Thirty-Four

The collection of "mining tax" has achieved concrete results. Boxes of silver began to be carried into the palace to enrich Emperor Wanli's internal funds, and also created an illusion of "fullness" in his mind, temporarily filling his empty space. Spiritual Realm——When Huang Yinxue's bright light flashed in front of his eyes, he smiled very happily, and his face was full of happiness and satisfaction like a baby. Although, he is old and fat, and the magic power of drugs has made him too lazy to move his limbs. He is no longer like in previous years, happily playing the game of counting silver next to Concubine Zheng. Pieces of silver were used as building blocks to build houses and build castles. However, while enjoying the drugs, he saw with his own eyes that his most beloved pair of children—Chang Xun and Princess Shouning—were just like the ones in his youth. When watching the happy scene of Baiyin playing as a toy, the satisfaction in his heart is not only the same, but even greater than before.

That's because this pair of sons and daughters who have completely inherited the inheritance from him and Concubine Zheng are even more talented in "playing with money", especially Princess Shouning with a clever mind, whose little head is full of all kinds of weird things. Every time I turn my eyes, a new way of playing is released, which not only makes my brother and sister play happily, but also makes the father Wanli Emperor very happy, smiling heartily and happily, and hugging Shouning Company from time to time. into his arms, kissed her pink face, and teased her, saying: "How many things are packed into your little head and heart? Why do you have so many clever ideas? Eh? Father, the clever one in the harem Lingxiu, I let you pull out seven or eight points alone, no wonder everyone else has grown into a stupid head!"

And Shouning Company always cuddled up to Emperor Wanli and acted like a baby, while using her delicate and tender childlike voice to say to Emperor Wanli with a sweet smile: "The son was born by the father, the father was born well, and the son is the best!" Clever and clever, others who were not born by the father, of course they are stupid!" Of course, these words made Emperor Wanli even more happy, and the things he gave to Princess Shouning were naturally very rich—the daughter is another kind of lover, and he enjoyed many subtle feelings in the process of loving his daughter, which made his Happy and satisfied.

Sometimes, Concubine Zheng will automatically throw herself into this sweet and warm family affection, and the role she plays is a double mother—not only the mother of the children, but also the mother of Emperor Wanli—she uses the gentleness unique to a loving mother. Speaking in a half-coaxing, half-funny tone, it continued from the child to Emperor Wanli, and it became a habit after a long time, making Emperor Wanli often mistakenly think that he was still a child. Concubine Zheng, who is over 30 years old, is still extremely beautiful, but her whole body is much plumper than before, with a smile on her face, and her appearance is very close to the image of the mother that Emperor Wanli had in mind when he was young; moreover, Concubine Zheng "Mother" is a mother who is good at indulging and doting on her children, not the real mother who forces him to study and learn to be an emperor all day long, and puts high pressure on him; On the contrary, she even single-handedly arranged all kinds of food, drink and entertainment for him that made him very satisfied, from drugs to female music, singing and dancing, delicious food and wine, everything - when he followed the children and called her "mother" She also readily agreed, and hugged his head, stroked his cheeks, and called him "little darling" in a low voice——

The maternal love that Emperor Wanli longed for since childhood was not obtained from Concubine Zheng until he was thirty-five years old, so of course he was extremely satisfied. And he and Concubine Zheng have developed such a delicate relationship during the long time of more than ten years together. They are not only husband and wife, but also false mother and child, and sometimes they can be friends who can talk to each other. After such multiple relationships gradually formed After being mixed into one body and then solidified in the hearts of the two of them, the two of them really became an inseparable intimate partner.

Correspondingly, he was even more lazy to step out of the harem and go to court; sometimes, even after the eunuchs read the ministers' memorials to him in front of him, he didn't bother to give instructions, and waved his hand to signal the eunuchs Just take the memorials and store them in the filing cabinet; most of the time, he doesn’t even bother to listen to them, and many political affairs are delayed indefinitely because of this. The number of people has been increasing every month, and has accumulated to a considerable number. From the central government to the local government, almost every department and every locality has a large number of "jobless" situations, resulting in a shortage of manpower, and many Political affairs cannot be promoted, and the problems continue to accumulate and expand like a snowball——

The only department with sufficient manpower is the "Mine Tax Envoy"—he has sent a large number of eunuchs to serve as his servants, and they have been sent to all parts of the country to collect people's anointing for him; and he is very happy to hear the news returned by these mine tax envoys, especially It was the series of figures of mining tax revenue, how much a certain place had collected, which always made him feel elated. Secondly, regarding North Korea's battle reports, he is also more willing to pay attention to them-he is a face-saving person after all, and his basic attitude towards North Korea, a "vassal state", is to show the "heavenly power" of the Ming Dynasty, and, Now that the war against Japan has begun, the outcome of the war is directly related to his face——

On this day, he was enjoying the hallucinations brought by the drug balm as before in the soft and curling female music; Concubine Zheng was by his side in new clothes and make-up, saying what he liked to hear To add to the fun; her new clothes are carefully embroidered with pictures of birds playing in spring, and she herself is a caring little lark. He was talking about the content of a new play "Han Peng" that a female singer is rehearsing: "Chen Qie heard them sing a few passages--the raw role of Han Peng sang especially well, and I almost fell down when I heard it. Tears are coming! There are really infatuated men like Han Peng in the world, so they should hurry up and practice as soon as possible, so that the Long Live Lord can also cry with his concubine—"

She whispered softly, and Emperor Wanli looked at her with a smile in his eyes, nodding his head frequently, and saying "yes" slowly; at this time, Xing Jie's memorial from North Korea was sent to the palace. Emperor Wanli was immersed in the red fragrance and warm jade, and he had no intention of governing in his heart, so he had no intention of calling the eunuchs to read the memorial; however, a sudden thought entered his mind, and he suddenly squinted his eyes and said to Concubine Zheng: "Maybe it's great news. Well—he came back from a big victory for me!" So he changed his mind and sent an order to bring the memorial to him, and the eunuch would read it aloud to him.

Xing Jie’s memorials are beautifully written, with sonorous and powerful words, and the effect of reading them is particularly good. A battle of Ulsan that took place in North Korea was vividly walked before the eyes of Emperor Wanli. However, Emperor Wanli's face became more and more serious after listening to it all the way. He had only read half a volume of the memorial, and his face was completely black. Concubine Zheng Gui, who is good at observing words and expressions, already knew that something was wrong, she quickly lowered her eyebrows and kept silent, waiting for the sparks of Emperor Wanli's emotions to emanate - before she could finish her thoughts, Emperor Wanli had already picked up the tea on the table The cup was thrown out vigorously, and the curses followed: "Damn things-a bunch of pustules, I am ashamed and thrown abroad!"

Afterwards, he scolded for an entire hour before stopping; and Concubine Zheng Gui, who had always been very familiar with his habits, just kept silent about his "Longyan's fury" and didn't feel much fear in her heart—she It was very clear that such a situation was not the worst and most terrifying reaction of Emperor Wanli, but just venting his anger. Therefore, she did not say a word and allowed Emperor Wanli to vent his emotions through appropriate channels. "Once the anger is over, it will be fine!" In her feelings, Emperor Wanli's mind, words and deeds are already a complete child. Even when it comes to state affairs, he often handles them in an emotional way. A few days later, a big prison was raised. Firstly, Shi Xing, Minister of the Ministry of War, who had stepped down because of his mishandling of the war between Japan and North Korea, was sentenced to death. Then, Shen Weijing was also sentenced to death, and Xing Jie was ordered to send someone to escort him back to Beijing. Then he ordered Yang Gao, Yang Yuan and other officials who had suffered defeats in North Korea to return to Beijing for investigation and wait for severe punishment. Moreover, after taking these severe measures, he was still angry, and his heart was still ups and downs from time to time; one night, with a superhuman memory, he suddenly had a new idea, he remembered Xing Jie's It was mentioned in the memorial that Yang Gao was so arrogant in North Korea that he showed Zhang Wei, a cabinet scholar, and Shen Yiguan's handwriting to be proud of others—for a moment, he let out a cold snort from the bottom of his heart: "Shen Yiguan is fine, he is always obedient; That old fellow Zhang Wei is abominable, he always talks too much when he has nothing to do, talking about me and that, it's so disgusting, he just took this as the reason and kicked him out—" Therefore, he immediately decreed to reprimand Zhang Wei, asking him to reflect on himself and judge himself for his "secret relationship with Yang Gao". Of course, the eunuch who was selected to pass the decree chose a sharp-tongued eunuch, and asked him to go to Zhang Wei, and with a few words, he could throw all the dignity of Zhang Wei's life to the ground Trampling——Zhang Wei, the "Second Assistant to the Cabinet", naturally couldn't sit still. He immediately went to the eunuch and asked to return; this time, Emperor Wanli became more diligent, and he quickly made up his mind, and Zhang Wei changed from a cabinet minister to a commoner overnight, and he had to follow the usual practice. Leave the capital immediately. Emperor Wanli was overjoyed, and he thought secretly in his heart: "In the future, whoever loves to talk too much will use this method to concoct it - all of them will be driven out of the court, and I will keep them far away." Far--" How an emperor holds all the power in his own hands, and how to deal with disobedient ministers, for him who has read a lot of books on "imperialism" since he was a child, it is simply a piece of cake; His ingenuity and intelligence gave the whole play the wrong direction, and when he was complacent, he never thought that what he got by doing this was only his own momentary pleasure, but what he had to pay was the loss of the entire country——Zhang The impact and sequelae caused by his resignation were never thought of when he willfully exerted his ability in political struggle. The number of cabinet scholars has been reduced from three to two, and the cabinet composed of Zhao Zhigao and Shen Yiguan, two incompetent and eloquent people, has essentially become a vacuum with no one, and the function of "assisting the government" has completely disappeared. ;At the same time, this incident also caused another hidden disturbance among the courtiers. The resignation of a minister who has a lot of commentators, loves to speak, and dares to speak out is certainly heartbreaking. After the news spread, the public opinion aroused even greater waves; and what followed was an ongoing struggle—— Since there was a vacancy again for the high position of "Cabinet Grand Master", it once again aroused the jealousy of many people who thought they were qualified, and thought that they were the most suitable candidates for the cabinet, so they started to operate one after another; Officials are originally candidates who have their own support, and at this point, they "each their own master", either preemptively creating the reputation of their own supporters, or secretly creating voices to slander their opponents— —The whole court was in chaos. However, Emperor Wanli was completely indifferent to all this. He still did not go to court or manage politics, and he was not even planning to select new cabinet ministers; there was an unknown idea hidden in his heart: "A dog bites a dog, a mouthful of fur—let you look at the fleshy bones of a 'person's pavilion', and bite half the sky yourself! The harder the bite, the better, and you will exhaust your strength, so you don't come to talk to me—" —” This idea of ​​making ministers "check and balance" with each other, he never even said it to Concubine Zheng, but only secretly thought in his own heart, what he got was an unknown pleasure-he felt that he had something in his heart. After discovering an unknown secret, he felt as satisfied as if he had hidden a piece of private money; moreover, he felt that there was a huge disparity between him and all the officials in the court, but now, he put this The group of officials, who accounted for the vast majority, fought against each other, as if they were manipulating a puppet on a hanging wire, which was extremely enjoyable. Therefore, although he did not go to court at all, he still enjoyed the taste of power in his heart, which made him very satisfied with his ability. However, he never thought that the biggest war that took place in the Ming Dynasty was neither aiding Korea to fight against Japan, nor conquering Yang Yinglong in the southwest, nor attacking Mongolia, Taining and other tribes. This kind of war has planted the seeds since he came to the throne, and it has gradually unfolded since he took office, and then continued indefinitely - this is a war that has no end at all. On the surface, it seems that he has won countless victories. Starting from dealing with Zhang Juzheng, as the most noble emperor in the world, he defeated his opponents one by one, and purged those courtiers who had objections to him one by one. , knocked down, and dismissed, making the Ming court his exclusive "one-word hall"-he is invincible, majestic, and victorious in every battle. He never thought that he was already a complete loser in essence.These superficial victories have enabled him to lead as many as 100 million people across the country into a dark road leading to extinction.