I'm really not the carpenter emperor

"I heard from the signboard of the Sixth West Palace that you don't spend much in the palace, why don't you ask the palace bureau to make up for it?"

"Your Majesty is working hard on state affairs, these trivial matters are not enough to disturb the saints."

These words were high-sounding and seemed reasonable, but to Zhu Youxiao's ears, they sounded like malicious irony.

Zhu Youxiao accompanied her to the harem and said:

"This corridor is too simple, we should add some embellishments, what kind of flower do you like? Peony or crabapple?"

Wang had no choice but to look up at the unusual Emperor Tianqi, pondered for a moment, and said indifferently:

"My concubine doesn't like flowers. The war in Liaodong is not over yet, and there are frequent major court cases. I should save my expenses and help each other in difficult times, so I dare not waste money."

"Uh……"

Zhu Youxiao turned his head and glanced at her, but he was also helpless.

An emperor and a concubine walked silently along the narrow corridor leading to the West Sixth Palace, one behind the other.

The atmosphere was very awkward, and Zhu Youxiao became a little angry.

All the way to the gate of Yanxi Palace, Zhu Youxiao stood in front of the gate for a while. After walking for so long, the anger in his heart disappeared.

Speaking of it, it's still the fault of his own words.

Zhu Youxiao clicked his tongue lightly, then suddenly turned around and rolled up Wang's sleeves, holding her panicked little hand.

It's too tiring to talk on airs. In the past, he was like this with courtiers, and he was like this with disputes. After returning to the harem, he still has to be like this. He no longer wants to act anymore.

Wang stared at the emperor in a daze, shyly wanting to withdraw his hand.

The more she was like this, the harder Zhu Youxiao used, until she felt a slight pain in her wrist, then she frowned and looked at the emperor angrily.

Zhu Youxiao looked at her gaffe triumphantly, thinking that she is also a shy little lady, but she has to pretend to be tough in front of me.

Immediately, he said with a narrow smile:

"Concubine Liang, you have long been my woman, the imperial concubine of the Ming Dynasty."

"It's embarrassing to hold hands like this. If I let you continue the royal family, what will you do?"

Chapter 6 and Four: The Counterattack of the Plutocrats

Early in the morning of the second day, sunlight shone into Yanxi Palace.

The two palace maids were waiting outside, chatting with each other.

"Sister, did you hear the movement in Yanxi Palace last night?"

"Oh! Who can't hear it? Everyone said that His Majesty is so fierce, and the empress' cry is probably going to Kunning Palace."

"Hey, let's see who will look down on our empress in the future."

"Yes! It would be even better to have a dragon son, I'm so happy for my mother!"

On the couch in the palace, Liang Concubine Wang was lying on Zhu Youxiao's not-so-generous chest, looking at her quietly.

How many women throughout the ages can get so close to the sleeping emperor.

Thinking of the madness last night, Wang's cheeks flushed again, and she lay quietly on the emperor's chest.

At that time, the imperial court wanted to select beautiful women from all over the country to enter Beijing, and the outstanding ones were expected to be selected as imperial concubines. From then on, the carp jumped the dragon's gate and became a wealthy family for generations.

The Wang family comes from a simple farm family in Daxing County, Shuntian Prefecture. Since childhood, she has been famous for her beauty inside and out.

Hearing this news, Wang's father thought over and over again, then abandoned the family of a scholar with whom he had arranged a baby marriage since childhood, and urged his daughter to enter Beijing as soon as possible.

At first, no one thought that Wang would become the imperial concubine, and they all thought that if she could enter the palace and become a beautiful girl, she would already be regarded as a green smoke from the grave, and she would come out on top.

Who would have thought that Wang Shizi was the best, having passed five trials and beheaded six generals, and was appointed by Zhu Youxiao as the imperial concubine of the Ming Dynasty in the third round of selection.

In this way, the Wang family can be regarded as "one person attains the Tao, and the chicken and dog ascend to heaven".

It's just that the scholar named Zhang Qichen who had a baby marriage with Wang, it is said that after hearing the news, he joined Donglin Academy with drinks all day long, and began to criticize the current affairs with righteous indignation.

At this time, in Wang's eyes, it was all about the emperor in front of him.

The gate of the palace is like the sea. For several years, the emperor was busy with government affairs and rarely had time to set foot in the palace. Empress Zhang Yan was especially favored.

She also used to sleep alone in the dead of night, crying in a low voice, secretly regretting why she gave up the happiness that should belong to her for the sake of this glory and wealth.

After last night, the countless grievances and bitterness seemed to have disappeared.

Because until this time, she was truly the concubine of the Ming Dynasty, the woman of the current emperor.

Just thinking about it, Wang Shi was suddenly taken aback.

At some point, Zhu Youxiao had already opened his eyes, just like that, quietly watching her face to face for a long time.

In Zhu Youxiao's eyes, Wang's originally clear and bright eyes have now been painted with a few lines of wind and frost from the deep palace.

She looked forward suddenly, her red lips parted lightly, and Zhu Youxiao saw every move she made.

Zhu Youxiao looked into her eyes, and reluctantly accepted that his heart softened little by little, so he stretched out his hand, touched her cheek, and said:

"Over the years, I have suffered for you."

There was a moving color in Wang's eyes, nestling between the emperor's body, she said like a little woman:

"I know, I have always known, Your Majesty is thinking about me..."

"Hmm... It's just that I really can't get out of my family. I made thousands of mistakes. It's all my fault that I chose you back then, otherwise..."

"Your Majesty, don't say any more, I don't regret it."

Zhu Youxiao hesitated to speak, he held her in his arms, looked at the little eunuch who came to the palace gate to ask if he wanted to play the court affairs, and gestured with his eyes.

Xiao Eun hastily left without interrupting the brief warmth in Yanxi Palace.

……

In the past few months, a series of commotions have been caused in the outer court regarding the incident of surrogate death. Following the in-depth investigation by the factory guards, countless turbulent incidents have also occurred in the local area.

After receiving the memorial from the Shanxi Procuratorate, Li Yangzheng, Minister of the Ministry of Punishment, had the heart to observe the holy will, and sentenced Qu Jingxin to be executed and confiscated his family property for "assisting Fan's family in a surrogate death".

However, the evidence presented in the court was passed by the Ministry of Punishment to the Dali Temple, and there was a stubble.

As soon as the Dali Temple minister brought up the interrogator and called Wang Zhiliang, he said that the Qu family did not help the Fan family to die, but the Fusi of Beizhen fabricated a false case and distorted the facts.

Although it is true that Fan's family died for him, Qu's family was wronged.

This revealing post was submitted to Qianqing Palace by someone with a heart, and it went straight to the heaven to listen. For a while, the world was shocked, and the whole court was full of panic and restlessness, and people's hearts were disturbed.

The Taoist officials from all subjects pointed their spearheads at Beizhen Fusi, and the snowflakes of impeachment memorials flew to the Qianqing Palace.

In recent years, Dongchang has gradually kept a low profile, while Jinyiwei has rapidly increased its power with the establishment and gradual improvement of supervisory departments in various places. The authority of Beizhen Fusi has surpassed any previous dynasty.

Right now, Jin Yiwei doesn't even need to ask for a driver's sticker to arrest people. There are supervisors everywhere. If there is a small matter, they will arrest people arbitrarily, which is quite chilling.

In Beizhen Fusi Prison, there were even more cases of torture and death trials than in Dongchang, especially Xu Xianchun, who was the commander of Jinyiwei, had more people impeached.

As the saying goes, there are no waves without wind.

Various rumors and revelations soon appeared among the people, and the most sensational one was undoubtedly the various black materials that Xu Xianchun had done in order to serve the emperor in the past few years.

For example, in the case of Donglin Academy in Hangzhou in the third year of Tianqi, there were folk rumors that Xu Xianchun boiled his mother to death when he failed to torture the prisoner, and then slaughtered his family.

What's more, the officials were sparse and stern, saying that Xu Xianchun's "extraordinary means" to put criminals to death was nothing more than an act of stealing the country and usurping power.

Under such turmoil, even Xu Xianchun no longer dared to investigate the Fan family's surrogate death case with too much fanfare.

As a result, Jin Yiwei became a situation where everyone was shouting and beating, especially the supervisors in various places, and there was a series of news that the school captain was beaten to death for no reason, and the prohibition continued.

When the matter developed to such a point, Zhu Youxiao knew that he could not remotely command behind the scenes, and it was time to intervene.

Jin Yiwei and the Dongchang back then were all doing things for themselves. They did black work, and they were responsible for being the son of the Holy Heaven.

Jinyiwei is his right-hand man. Some people want to use the ignorant and innocent people to force the court to abandon Jinyiwei and the local supervisory department system.

Xu Xianchun didn't dare to continue working hard for one reason, that he didn't get his own signal.

To put it bluntly, he wasn't sure if he would survive this wave and abandon the established Jinyiwei system.

For Dongchang, Jinyiwei and Dongchang depend on each other.

And Wei Zhongxian is even more understanding. He knows that with Xu Xianchun around, Jin Yiwei can form a handicap with Dongchang, and the emperor can rest assured.

One of the courtiers is like a sharp sword hanging above their heads, and the other is using the local supervisory department to carry out the emperor's will, so as to continue the current situation where government orders can be issued from top to bottom.

And once Jinyiwei falls, Dongchang will become the target of public criticism.

At that time, not only would they have to suffer from multiple open and dark arrows, but even the emperor would be worried about the power of Dongchang and the Wei Party.

Therefore, this time Wei Zhongxian chose to stand on the same front with Xu Xianchun temporarily.

Officials of the Wei Party began to work hard, and many officials, headed by Wei Guangwei, the chief assistant of the current cabinet, also began to go to the sack.

They condemned the ignorance of some science and education officials, saying that using rumors as evidence is itself a kind of stupidity.

And the Fan family's surrogate death is even more certain. Even if the Qu family is not guilty of assisting, it is also a fact of treason during the war and will be punished.

Wouldn't it be a sneaky change of concept to induce ordinary people to be sparse in this way?

It seems that this is a party struggle surrounding Xu Xianchun's life and death. In fact, Zhu Youxiao knows that this is a game between the imperial power and the local chaebol forces.

The counterattack finally came, but it was too late.

Chapter 6 and Five: Heavy Snow in Shaanxi, Great Hunger in Shandong

Apocalypse five years on June [-]th.

One wave is not flat, another wave is rising.

At this critical moment when the party disputes caused Zhu Youxiao to burn out, news of a series of natural disasters came one after another.

The magistrate of Yan'an, Shaanxi Province made a memorial, saying that there had been heavy wind and snow in the area for more than half a month.

Right now, some departments in Yan'an Mansion are closed, post stations are blocked, and the government can't even send guards to patrol the streets. Even the daily drills of the local garrison have temporarily stopped.

The local government agencies were almost completely paralyzed. Countless civilians and city guards froze to death every day.

Coincidentally, Jining, Shandong also sent a rush.

The prefect of Jining said that since the beginning of spring this year, there have been occasional locusts passing through the border. In June, swarms of migratory locusts came from the south.

The migratory locusts gathered and covered the sky and the sun, so that the spring crops were wiped out, and no grass grew in the places they passed.

The prefect of Jining said in the memorial that swarms of migratory locusts have recently spread to the surrounding area, and Jining official warehouses have been opened for one month, and there are still more and more refugees, and the food payment is already a drop in the bucket.

Grain storage in official warehouses was gradually running out, and the news spread, which directly led to the skyrocketing price of grain in Shandong, which would double almost every day.

Those who have food are hoarding grain and rice, and those who have no food can no longer afford food.

Refugees are everywhere, and the government granaries in many places have run out of food. They are really empty.

Jining is the most important place where the canal flows, and it is also the place with the most merchants in Shandong, and it is also one of the original strongholds of the Imperial Chamber of Commerce.

The Great Famine in Shandong broke out from Jining, which also had a considerable impact on the economy of the canal.

Natural disasters are coming, even after five years of preparation, these things are still not enough, and now the country's population is too large.

Fortunately, the sweet potatoes and potatoes in Jifu Huangzhuang have been mass-produced, and with the addition of grain adjustments from other places, it should be enough for Shandong.

But what if another major famine broke out in several other provinces at the same time?

Once these refugees are not handled properly, they will soon split into rogues who cause trouble and rebellion in various places. At that time, the nature will change.

I don't have much time, and I must deal with the famine in Shandong as soon as possible.

As for the current chaotic party struggle in the DPRK, Zhu Youxiao decided to appear in person to avoid troubles!

At the Dachao meeting today, the main topic was this matter.

The two urgent plays were sent yesterday. After reading it, Zhu Youxiao was deeply worried, and decided to discuss it in today's court meeting and issue an order immediately.

"See, long live, long live, His Majesty—!"

After all the ministers shouted, Zhu Youxiao sat firmly on the Kowloon throne, glanced at the ministers below, threw out two memorials, and said straight to the point:

"Leave everything else aside. Let's talk about heavy snow in Shaanxi and heavy hunger in Shandong. How to deal with it?"

Before the words fell, a spokesperson came out and remonstrated:

"Your Majesty, I have the original performance!"