Outside the huge and magnificent 9,900-year-old mansion in Beijing's imperial city, there is still a hustle and bustle of cars and horses all night, and the porter still treats those officials who ask to see them, even if they are first-class officials, and they are like a group of pigs and dogs.

It was really a sore back when he was standing, so he pulled a bench and sat down, asked his subordinates to bring a cup of hot tea to drive away the cold, and then muttered complainingly: "It's rare for the Chitose Lord to come back to take a break, but these guys are staring at them like rotten flies, and they don't let the Chitose Lord rest, it's really a group of bastards with no eyesight." ”

At this time, a follower carefully stuffed a small package into the sleeve of the porter: "It's not a thousand years old, everyone really doesn't have a chance to see it. It's a rare opportunity to take a break, and everyone has to work hard for Chitose Lord, no, the nephew of one of my cousins' nephew's godfather's brother, also rushed here, and it's been five days since I waited for Chitose to meet, and I asked the steward to give a report. ”

Unscrupulously pinched the things in his sleeves, listened to the voice, weighed the weight, it turned out to be ten taels of gold bars, and the steward smiled and spat this subordinate: "This crutche, it's rare that you can still remember such a so-called relative." ”

"They are all real relatives, they are all real relatives, and they can't be separated." This subordinate smiled and nodded.

"Got a lot." The steward teased.

"I don't hide things, and it's also the beginning and end of fifty taels of silver."

"Okay, for your brother's sake, I can't stand in your way, then I'll go in and report it." As he spoke, he handed the teacup to Xiao Si beside him, stood up and walked inside, and saw that the subordinate was respectfully saluting him, but he smiled and said: "But if the thing is done, you tell you what kind of relative, don't forget our benefits." ”

"Of course, of course, of course." The subordinate immediately went out with a smile and beckoned the generous relative to wait in front of him, which made the other people who were still bending at the end of the street simply envious to death.

Wei Zhongxian, who accompanied the emperor's harem as an engineering carpenter, and had to fight in the ring with the previous dynasty, was tired at this time, and his unique honest black and red face was originally born in a peasant, but now it is even darker.

At this time, he slammed a tea bowl on the head of his cronies, Cui Chengxiu, the secretary of the Ministry of War, and the tea cup was broken, but fortunately, Cui Chengxiu was blocked by an official hat and black veil, and there was no blood flow on his head, but he was also embarrassed.

"You are useless, how many times have I told you, although Yang He is not the same road as us, but such a talent is useful to us Daming, why do you want to block his promotion? Zhao is the only one to be the general soldier of Liaodong? Could it be that the bullshit Zhao Weiyi you protected can shock the Liaodong soldiers and resist the Houjin slave prisoners? It's not impossible for the party to fight against differences, and the party to fight against differences, but as long as the Ming Dynasty needs capable ministers, we still have to use them, otherwise who will work for us and who will guarantee our safety? It's just a matter of keeping a closer look, don't you understand the overall situation? ”

Seeing Wei Zhongxian's anger, Cui Chengxiu only kowtowed tremblingly, but he didn't dare to argue.

"If you want Emperor Sun Chengzong, is that also suppressed? If we suppress him, who can stabilize half of the country for us? After wheezing for a while, Wei Zhongxian hated iron and admonished: "Chaotang Donglin, those filthy bastards are useless in the first place, they can only cause chaos for us, and it is necessary to fight, and there is no loss." But those capable ministers, we still have to use them, the Ming needs them, we also need them, you know? ”

"Yes, yes, my son knows it's wrong." Choi Sung-so kowtowed again and again to admit his mistake.

"It's good to know that it's wrong, you will go to the fold tomorrow to invite Yang He and Lao Sun Tou to take office, and you will do it immediately after I approve the seal, as for the bullshit Zhao Weiwei you recommended, I know his details, but he is just a money-making expert, useless. But it seems that you have gained his benefits, and I will not be too much, he has been in Jiangxi for a long time, so he will be transferred to the Nanjing Military Department and be a scholar, which is also the right thing to do. ”

Cui Chengxiu let out a sigh of relief and reluctantly agreed. Anyway, he got a lot of Zhao's only points, although he didn't let him get his wish to be the chief military officer of Liaodong, it would be good to get a noble military secretary of the Second Imperial Court in Nanjing, and I will talk about it when I have the opportunity in the future.

At this time, the butler's concierge came in, knelt on the ground and kowtowed to Wei Zhongxian, and then asked for instructions: "Li Fanglin, the waiter of the Nanjing Ministry of Rites, please transfer the matter of Sichuan salt tea envoy, he is waiting outside the door, please meet Chitose grace." ”

The officials in the second court of Nanjing, although they are treated at the same level as the same yamen in Beijing, but in fact they are a Qingshui yamen, and they have no real power at all.

When Wei Zhongxian saw his cronies' concierge steward pleading, he rubbed his swollen temples and said, "What conditions does he have?" ”

The porter glanced at the contents of the notebook in his hand and replied: "Once he takes office, he will first pay 300,000 taels of Sichuan salt tea taxes this year." ”

For this amount, Wei Zhongxian is still satisfied.

Sichuan salt tea is all in the hands of the big families, according to the rules, these big families do not pay taxes to the imperial court, but for the increasingly embarrassing imperial finances, Wei Zhongxian had to cut them and send eunuchs to collect their taxes, the result was not only with little effect, but also attracted the unanimous opposition of all Sichuan officials up and down the court. The reason for this is that those Donglin bigwigs who express disdain for businessmen to the outside world, but which of them behind them does not represent the interests of those businessmen? For this reason, Wei Zhongxian has fought countless lawsuits with the cabinet of foreign dynasties every day on this matter.

Hearing that a guy was willing to go to Sichuan to supervise the collection of taxes on salt tea, and also paid 300,000 silver in advance, Wei Zhongxian was happy at that time.

Because with this 300,000 silver, you can block the mouth of Yuan Chonghuan, who is now the loudest.

Yuan Chonghuan, when he went to the capital to meet the emperor in the second year of the Apocalypse, the Marquis of Yushi promoted Yuan Chonghuan to serve in the military department. Soon after, Quang Ninh was captured by the Later Jin army, so the imperial court discussed that it should send people to guard the Shanhai Pass. After Yuan Chonghuan learned about it, he immediately went to check the terrain outside the gate alone. After returning to the dynasty, Yuan Chonghuan said: "As long as I can give me enough money and food for soldiers and horses, I can guard Shanhaiguan alone." The ministers of the DPRK and China also praised Yuan Chonghuan's talent, so he made an exception to appoint Yuan Chonghuan as a military officer, supervised the foreign army, allocated 200,000 yuan, and asked him to recruit troops.

As a result, this thing went to Shanhaiguan and failed from time to time, losing a few important towns, but every time he accused him, he used the excuse that the court owed him money and grain, and shirked his fault.

Wei Zhongxian actually didn't want to see him for a long time, but now except for him, there is really no one who has the courage to guard the front line of Ningyuan to face Houjin Tieho, no, a few days ago, he wrote to the imperial court again, asking for 500,000 military salaries and food, this is really the largest mouth in the Ming Dynasty, and he really dares to open his mouth.

At this time, Wei Zhongxian was ready to allocate another 200,000 yuan to him to see what he could do, if he was so wasteful, even if he had won his trust, he would be kicked out.