Peach and plum spring breeze and a glass of wine

"If you don't plan for the eternity, you can't plan for a moment; if you don't plan for the overall situation, you can't plan for a region!"

In the study room of Ziwei Palace, the young Emperor Zhaode had a long conversation with Wang Jiangling, the chief minister of the cabinet, who had gray hair on his temples: "Last year, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Huguang and other places had good weather and good harvests, and the food shortage in the way could only cause temporary disturbances. , can’t cause a big mess..."

Emperor Zhaode's eyes narrowed and he asked in a deep voice: "What does the Qing family mean...do they have any other tricks?"

Wang Jiangling stroked his beard and nodded, and replied calmly: "If the veteran has not guessed wrong, their next move should be in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Huguang!"

Emperor Zhaode couldn't sit still anymore, stood up with a gloomy face and said: "I will immediately send the embroidered guards south..."

"Your Majesty, please do not be impatient."

Wang Jiangling stood up and made a "please" gesture to the Grand Master's chair, indicating that he would listen to what he had to say first: "As the saying goes: strike first, strike later and be controlled by others. Since they have already taken action, they must have taken all possible measures. Your Majesty is sending them now." Even if Xiuyiwei went south, he would still be restrained and exhausted."

Emperor Zhaode asked in confusion: "Then I just sit here and watch them torture the people of Wei Dynasty?"

Wang Jiangling clasped his hands and said, "That's not what I mean. What I mean is... Your Majesty must break the situation!"

"Breaking?"

Emperor Zhaode asked: "What's the way to break the situation?"

Wang Jiangling said in a persuasive manner: "Your Majesty, where do you think this chaos is coming from?"

Emperor Zhaode patiently pondered for a moment and replied: "Chaos in the court?"

Wang Jiangling nodded: "Then your Majesty, do you think that the chaos and injustice in the court can only solve the problem of food shortage? Without the food shortage, there would still be floods, and without the floods, there would still be military disasters. I want to do a good job Things are extremely difficult, but it is much easier to think badly of one thing... Furthermore, the imperial court cannot just blindly fight against each other, abandoning the country, the country, and the well-being of all people. "

The inexplicably familiar words made Emperor Zhaode seem to realize something. He narrowed his eyes and said, "So, we still have to deal with these rebellious officials and traitors first?"

Wang Jiangling couldn't help stroking his beard and chuckled, and followed his words: "Your Majesty is wise. I believe that in order to solve the problem, we must first deal with these rebellious officials and traitors."

Without waiting for Emperor Zhaode to intervene, he continued: "However... killing must be the last resort, and it is also the last resort. It can only treat the symptoms, not the root cause."

Emperor Zhaode smiled noncommittally.

Wang Jiangling obviously saw what he was laughing at, and felt a little helpless... This was the consequence of the court battle breaking through the bottom line!

He could only put it another way: "Your Majesty, do you still remember the time when Duke Luting killed corrupt officials in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, which shocked the government and the public. The civil and military officials of the entire court went on strike and knelt outside the palace gate, asking for the execution of Duke Luting?"

Emperor Zhaode nodded without thinking: "Of course I remember that I had not yet crowned the crown prince at that time, but didn't the ministers request the Three Law Division to conduct a thorough investigation to prove their innocence... Well, that's it!"

Before he finished speaking, he suddenly realized... He didn't understand the virtues of civil and military officials in the Manchu Dynasty before, can he still not understand it now?

With their moral character, how can they still prove their innocence?

Mentioning the past events, Wang Jiangling couldn't help but sigh softly. That time of forcing the emperor to marry could be said to be the beginning of the suspicion between the emperor and his ministers in the Xiping Dynasty.

It was precisely because of that forced palace that the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty saw the nature of Emperor Xiping who was soft on the outside and strong on the inside.

It was also because of that forced palace that Emperor Xiping saw through the truth about the sanctimonious civil and military affairs of the Manchu Dynasty.

Then he, Wang Jiangling, entered the cabinet.

Then came the Xiping New Deal.

In the end, it came to the point where the monarch and his ministers were separated, and life and death...

Wang Jiangling shook his head, retracted his thoughts and said calmly: "Your Majesty, do you know how the late Emperor responded to the civil and military strike in the Manchu Dynasty?"

Emperor Zhaode smiled, nodded and said: "I know a little bit, I know a little bit..."

As the eldest prince in the past, he did know some "inside information".

It's just that he now knows that the "insider stories" he knew at the beginning were all "insider stories" that the civil and military officials of the dynasty wanted him to know, and they were completely different from the truth.

Wang Jiangling did not rush to elaborate on Emperor Xiping's original response, but first asked: "If your Majesty were the late emperor, how should your Majesty respond to this matter?"

'Of course we should release all the people from Dongchang, Xichang and Xiuyiwei, select a few who are leading the trouble, investigate them, and kill the chickens to scare the monkeys...'

Emperor Zhaode subconsciously came up with this idea, but he immediately crossed it out.

As radical as he is, he feels that such an idea is too radical!

He drank tea and pondered for a long time before he said: "I can pull a batch, beat a batch, kill a batch..."

"Your Majesty, Holy Might!"

Wang Jiangling clasped his hands: "The late emperor also responded in the same way back then!"

He put down his hand and said seductively: "The ones who jumped up and down the most in those days were the Zhejiang Party. Oh, by the way, the former Secretary of the Ministry of Household Affairs, Geng Jingzhong, was the leader of the Zhejiang Party. The rest of the ministers and workers followed the Zhejiang Party. The reason for making trouble is out of the sorrow of the dead lips and cold teeth, the death of rabbits and the sorrow of foxes..."

He spoke frankly, not only because he was not among the group of civil and military ministers who knelt at the palace gate, but also because he was not a member of the Zhejiang Party.

He is a staunch supporter of the Royal Party or the leader of a new political party.

"The late emperor first dismissed Geng Jingzhong from the post of Secretary of the Ministry of Household Affairs, and then started with the Qi Party. In the past, the Qi Party and the Zhejiang Party were at loggerheads due to different political opinions in the court. The late emperor only agreed to accept Meng Ziqian, the leader of the Qi Party. When he entered the cabinet, he persuaded the Qi Party to withdraw, and then used the excuse of transferring Chu Party officials to serve as officials in Jiangsu and Zhejiang to persuade the Chu Party to withdraw... The crisis was resolved without hesitation and with ease. "

Wang Jiangling bowed again: "Your Majesty, this moment is just like that moment!"

Emperor Zhaode did not speak, but said in his heart: 'Without bloodshed, lift a heavy weight with ease? If the previous emperor had really resolved that crisis, why would he die in his prime...'

But he also knew that what Wang Jiangling said was indeed a mature and prudent statecraft.

In his heart, he really wanted to take advantage of the issue and let the Embroidered Uniform Guard investigate thoroughly during this famine crisis, arrest important officials in the court and punish them according to law, and kill the chicken to scare the monkey.

But as he took office for a long time, he got to know the court better and better, and he felt more and more powerless like a bird falling into a spider web...

The Wei Dynasty had been ruled by civil officials for many years, and the court had close ties with the parties. All the important officials in the court were powerful people with deep roots and students and friends all over the world. The border had to rely on the generals they recommended to guard, the local areas had to rely on the people they used to govern, and the treasury had to rely on the people they used to make money... Before there was no absolute certainty, moving them would be tantamount to destroying the Great Wall.

And Wang Jiangling, the cabinet chief who could have been a firewall between the emperor and the court officials, had far less power and connections in the court than the previous cabinet chiefs because of the implementation of the new policy and the short time he had been in the cabinet. He could only rely on him to make plans, but not to fight with the civil and military officials in the court.

Of course, as long as he was willing to abandon the new policy, he might immediately get the support of many powerful officials.

But if the people died and the policy was gone, how could the former emperor rest in peace in his nine springs? How will future generations view Zhao Hong?

Even the guy from Yuelai Inn will probably come to Beijing to beat him up, right?

‘Forget it, let’s take it slow! ’

Emperor Zhaode sighed in his heart and nodded, “Listening to your words is better than reading ten years of books, so let’s do as you say!”

Wang Jiangling breathed a sigh of relief and bowed, “Your Majesty is wise!”

…

“Old Fang…”

In Hangzhou, Wu Eryong squatted on the street, eating a pot cake and looking at the pedestrians coming and going on the street. He said to Fang Ke beside him: “Will the second master make a mistake this time? There is nothing unusual here?”

Fang Ke lowered his head and looked at the account book in his hand attentively. He replied without raising his head: “In this matter, the second master’s judgment has never been wrong. He concluded that those corrupt officials are still If there is a back-up plan, those corrupt officials must have another back-up plan, but we haven't found it yet! "

It has been three days since he arrived in Hangzhou. During these three days, with the help of Lianhuanwu, the local snake, he checked all the big grain companies in Hangzhou. The results are that the grain is in the grain warehouse. All grain merchants are waiting for the canal to thaw and are getting blisters in their mouths. As long as the canal thaws, they will immediately transport grain to the north to make a lot of money...

Of course, he couldn't just listen to the one-sided words of these grain merchants. He personally went into the grain warehouses of those grain companies to check, and the results he got were consistent with the words of those grain merchants.

Fang Ke flipped through several account books, but still had no clue.

He closed the account book in his hand, thought intensely for a moment, and suddenly replied: "Old Wu, haven't you had any dragons crossing the river on the Jianghuai waterway recently?"

Wu Eryong looked at him sideways: "Do you think our Lianhuanwu is so easy to bully? Is anyone a man or a dog who dares to come to our door to make trouble?"

Fang Ke was so angry that he grabbed his neck and shook him back and forth: "It's endless, right? Is it endless?"

Wu Eryong picked up a pot cake and stuffed it into his mouth: "You talk without thinking, blame me?"

Fang Ke let go of him, took the pot cake from his mouth and bit it: "There is no problem with the food, so it can only be the grain road that has problems The Jianghuai waterway is under the control of your Lianhuanwu. If I don't ask you, should I ask the navy master Lao Wang? "

Wu Eryong waved his hand and said, "There is no problem with the Jianghuai waterway, that is, there is no problem; even if there is a problem, it must be said that it is no problem! Whoever dares to jump out and make trouble at this critical juncture will not only make things difficult for us Lianhuanwu, but also for Erye. No matter how big the world is, there will be no place for him to stand!"

Fang Ke clapped his hands while holding a pot cake in his mouth, and said vaguely, "Then the problem comes. There is no problem with food and food routes. What could be the problem?"

Wu Eryong thought for a while and asked, "There are fish and rice in the world. The hometown is not only Jiangsu and Zhejiang, what about the two lakes? Could the problem be there? "

"Unlikely."

Fang Ke shook his head: "The grain from the two lakes can only be transported to Beijing by land, and the time and loss are far less than the water route in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Besides, even if there may be problems in the two lakes, as long as the grain in Jiangsu and Zhejiang is acceptable, it can still alleviate the famine in the north. It is not a year of disaster. As long as we can catch our breath, there will be no big trouble!"

Wu Eryong picked up another pot cake, chewing it while trying to think hard. After a while, he said: "Let's say there is a possibility that the famine this time is really a coincidence, and it is actually not a No one is making a fuss about this?" Fang Ke glanced at him, and suddenly grabbed his neck again with both hands: "You are getting ahead of me, right? Are you getting ahead of me? With your pig brain, you dare to say that the second master is wrong?" Wu Eryong rolled his eyes because of his pinching: "Water, water, water..." Fang Ke took off the water bag from his waist and threw it into his arms. He picked up the account book in his arms again and continued to look through it helplessly: "Where exactly is the problem?" ... "Where exactly is the problem?" Deep in the gloomy and terrifying Xiuyiwei Prison, Shen Fa frowned and put down the torture instruments, picked up a clean sweat towel and wiped his bloody hands. He secretly arrested several clerks from the Ministry of Revenue in the past few days to track down the whereabouts of the grain that the Ministry of Revenue deliberately hid.

But the result was that this batch of grain was not intercepted under the instruction of several ministers of the Ministry of Revenue and the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue.

On the contrary, Chen Huaizhen, the Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue, had previously "ordered" a group of middle and lower-level officials in the Ministry of Revenue not to withhold the grain allocated by Hanjiacang. If he found out that someone was selling the grain from Hanjiacang in the capital, he would be punished. Important point...

Obviously, all the middle and lower-level officials in the Ministry of Revenue understood this serious and severe order, and Shen Fa also understood it.

It’s so watertight!

What's even more watertight is that even his embroidered clothes and guards couldn't find the food that was scattered through the hands of these corrupt officials in the Ministry of Household Affairs!

For those who bought those grains, except for the fact that the banknotes were genuine, everything else was fake...the name of the person, the grain number, and even the whereabouts were fake!

These corrupt officials and officials in the Ministry of Revenue "mistakenly thought" that the people buying grain were actually sent by their superiors to "share the profits", so they pretended to be deaf and dumb and sold the grain to them half-heartedly.

Simply impeccable!

It's just that the cleaner these dog officers cut, the more determined Shen Fa is. Their next move... must be extraordinary!

Because of the official ranks of the ministers and ministers in the household department, ordinary "small things" cannot shake them at all, so they rarely wipe it clean... After all, the only one who dares to check them is the emperor, leaving some Giving the emperor a small clue to investigate not only gives the emperor a step forward, but also leaves a way out for himself.

‘Is the problem really in Jiangsu and Zhejiang? ’

Shen Fa thought for a while and quickly gave up the idea.

Yang Gen's strength in Jiangsu and Zhejiang is too strong. The white and underworld have to give him face. As long as those dog officials have no problem with their brains, they will never plan a fight with the emperor in Jiangsu and Zhejiang!

‘Not in the south… could it be in the north? ’

A thought suddenly flashed through Shen Fa's mind, and his eyes suddenly narrowed into a thin line.

This year's heavy snowfall has caused disasters, and all northern provinces have been severely affected.

The disaster in the grasslands is bound to be more serious than in the northern provinces.

And sometimes, the weakest and the strongest can be equated.

As soon as he thought of this, Shen Fa immediately grabbed the torture instrument he had just thrown on the table, turned around and walked towards the figure hanging on the wall.

"Tell me, you colluded with the Tatars, cheated, betrayed the country and sought glory. Who was instructing you!"

"I didn't, I didn't collude with the Tatars, please forgive me..."