"Ming said that the court meeting, the emperor wants to order the hundred officials to discuss the hall mentioned by Yang Ling."

"The sailor talks about martial arts", Zhang Wenmian reminded with a smile, picked up the teacup with his hand, handed it to Liu Jin respectfully, and then smiled at Zhang Cai, who was sitting next to him, and returned to his chair and sat down.

Zhang Cai is in his early forties, with a majestic figure, a face like a crown of jade, trimmed eyebrows, handsome and straight, it is the most mature and charming age of men, and now he ranks first of the six departments, and the official residence is still the book, and he is even more radiant and extraordinary.

Liu Jin appreciated him a lot, and in order to promote him to this important position, he used both soft and hard measures, and finally partially compromised with Li Dongyang, Jiao Fang and others, and gave up several official positions in other yamen, and finally promoted Zhang Cai to the official of the Ministry of Officials. Zhang Cai also threw himself into Liu Jin's door because of this, he is a frequent visitor to the Liu family, and he doesn't need to report it to his family.

"Hmmm! Yes, yes, yes, it's the water master who talks about martial arts. Haha, it's rare, it's rare that these guys are all in the same mind as the master, and the bureaucrats, civil ministers and military generals inside and outside the DPRK are all opposed to this. Not only Li Dongyang and Yang Tinghe opposed, but Jiao Fang's old slippery head refused to speak this time. ”

Liu Jin fiddled with the tea bowl with the lid of the bowl with a smile, and said to the table: "Well, you can take a good look at these twists and turns, and pick out those twists and turns that are fierce, accusing Yang Ling of cultivating cronies, transferring military power, and having bad intentions, and the master is of great use." Haha, what a good tomorrow."

Two pretty and lovely little girls fanned Liu Jin in the back, he had removed his crown, wearing a casual light robe at home, reclining on the seat, his expression was very relaxed and comfortable.

"Liu Gong, this twist is to be picked, but according to the students, Liu Gong should not attack with these officials, on the contrary, Liu Gong has to protect Yang Ling."

"Hmm", Liu Jin raised his eyelids and glanced at Zhang Wenmian, and said with a smile: "What insights do you have, let's hear it." ”

Zhang Cai's eyes flashed, and he also stared at Zhang Wenmian, wanting to hear what this Liu Jin's first think tank said. Although he is loyal to Liu Jin, and has made suggestions and ideas for him, he has also tried his best to persuade Liu Jin to have some wrong ideas, and he is not a mediocre person who blindly flatters, but he really wants to use Liu Jin's power to show his ambitions in the political career.

For example, Liu Jin has a very 'innocent' and 'jealous and hateful' good habits: he likes to check accounts and fine fines.

If his men had inventoried the granaries and treasury and found that there was a shortage or wear and tear, even a small loss, he would have to pay a fine, a heavy fine, and instead of punishing the kudin and the treasury officials, he would go beyond the rank to punish the governor and the prefect.

He will soon offend all these middle and high-ranking officials, and Liu Jin is still happy to do it. Zhang Cai repeatedly advised him in this regard, but Liu Jin came from a humble background, and he had a kind of antagonism towards senior officials from his bones.

The Zhang Xiucai in front of him is a reluctant person, although he does have real talents, but his surname is crazy and narrow-minded, and because of the bad circumstances, he also hates those high-ranking officials. Zhang Cai admonished several times in succession, but Liu Jin not only did not accept it, but also reprimanded him, so Zhang Cai has not spoken much recently.

"Liu Gong, Yang Ling Dangping Wakou, Jingqing Donghai, subduing the Buddha Lang Jiren, this pile, one by one, is an immortal achievement, with the current emperor's martial arts and joyful surname, and Yang Ling's consistent favor, this should have been praised a long time ago, and even promoted to Juelu, but do you see any movement in the emperor?"

"Well, you said this, our family has been worried that the emperor will reward him lavishly, and we have prepared a rhetoric to deal with it, but it is useless, could it be that the emperor is also suspicious of him?" Liu Jin raised his eyebrows and hurriedly asked.

Zhang Wenmian smiled, and then felt that this smile couldn't help but be disrespectful to Liu Jin, so he hurriedly retracted his face, coughed and said: "Liu Gong, there are similarities between the emperor's mental skills and the way of officialdom, and there are also contradictions. After all, the world is the emperor's world, and everything is under his control.

Promotion can be a preparation for killing, or a demotion can be a preparation for employment. Is this a grace thin? On the contrary, this is because the emperor loves and trusts him more, and does not want him to become the target of public criticism.

Yang Ling has meritorious service but no reward, his position as governor of the six provinces will be relieved after the matter of the completion of the increase will be resolved, the position has not been moved, the authority has not changed, and he has never claimed to be the chief official of the martial arts hall, do you think, can the impeachment of the hundred officials work? The emperor's sentence 'jealousy of the virtuous, framing loyalty, and falling into the name of widowhood', who would dare to say it again? ”

Liu Jin was stunned for a moment, thought about it and shook his head and said: "Our family knows the emperor best, although the emperor is now a little older, but he doesn't have this scheming, someone must have given him a move, but our family looks at the emperor closely, Dai Yi and Jiao Fang can't seize the opportunity to speak, who else is helping Yang Ling speak?" ”

Zhang Cai glanced at Zhang Wenmian appreciatively: "This show talent is indeed talented, but it's a pity, if it weren't for his retribution, once he had the authority in hand, he liked to announce personal vendettas, and the help to Liu Gong would be greater." ”

He smiled slightly, and said: "Gong Liu, you have watched the outer court and the inner court, but there is a place and a person, even you can't watch it!" ”

Liu Jin said nervously: "Who is it?" Who is so bold as to dare to oppose our family? ”

Zhang Wenmian was afraid that Zhang Cai would steal his limelight, so he hurriedly answered: "Tang Yixian, who now lives in the Weiwu Marquis Mansion, Miss Tang!" ”

"Ahh It's her! Liu Jin suddenly realized: who can make Emperor Zhengde obey his words, and is willing to secretly defend Yang Ling, and is not afraid that he will frame revenge, except for Tang Yixian, who is about to be canonized as the imperial concubine?

Zhang Wenmian smiled and said, "Gong Liu, haven't you seen it yet?" The emperor does his own thing, but he is a master who is not afraid of heaven and earth. He took a folk woman to the noon gate, which was a place where only the emperor, the queen and the top three scholars in the imperial examination could enter and exit.

As a result, the emperor often accompanied this Tang girl to travel around, and there was always a rebuke in the inner palace, this time the movement was bigger, and the harem was silent, even the queen mother and the queen mother did not dare to reprimand, everyone could see that the emperor was iron-hearted, and he took the Tang Niangniang horse to the noon gate and rode the Golden Palace, which was a demonstration to the whole world.

Yang Ling is not in Beijing now, and no one of his people is qualified to speak in front of the emperor, but with this girl, although she is very well-behaved and has never participated in political affairs, she occasionally beats the side drum and blows the pillow wind, right? As soon as she speaks, the emperor has to make calculations, and as long as the emperor commits calculations, no one can rely on these reasons to catch wind and exaggerate to fall in favor of Yang Ling."

Liu Jin frowned, touched his smooth chin and thought for a while, put down the tea bowl and said: "Don't go around the bend with the master, just say it directly, since the master shouldn't follow and mix in, why are you still looking for those impeachment excerpts?" ”

"Hehe", Zhang Wenmian opened the folding fan with a "bang", fanned it a few times proudly, and said with a smile: "Those old ministers in the court are now looking at Han Wen, this old guy doesn't eat soft and hard, although he is not Yang Ling's faction, but he doesn't deal with Liu Gong, and he will stumble on you as soon as he has the opportunity, and he will be disgusted when he looks at it." We can't defeat Yang Ling, but we can bring down Han Wen. ”

Liu Jin shook his head and said: "It's difficult, it's difficult, this old guy is now learning to be obedient, he refuses to leave a handle on anything, he just doesn't leave in the position of the head of the household, he doesn't make mistakes, and he is known as a virtuous name, and our family can't do anything about him."

"Hey, hey, hey, the solution is something that people come up with, and if you want to add sin, why bother? Liu Gong, you are just too generous."

Liu Jin was praised for a while in his heart, his old face smiled like a chrysanthemum, he pursed his lips and said, "Could it be that you have a way?" ”

Zhang Wenmian put away the fan, leaned over and said: "Duke Liu, the emperor is preparing to take Tang Yixian as a concubine in September, and at the same time repair the leopard room, don't you plan to take this silver out of the Taicang vault?" ”

Liu Jin spread his hands and said, "What else should I do?" You can't tell the emperor not to be happy, he is not happy, can I be happy? There is no silver in the household, so I have to dig out the old bottom of the emperor's inner treasury."

"Wow!" Zhang Wenmian slapped his palm with a folding fan, and said with his eyebrows: "We have made up our minds about the silver, but the emperor's wedding, whether the household has no silver or doesn't want to take the silver, how can you say this in front of the emperor?" ”

Liu Jin's eyebrows jumped, a gloomy smile appeared on his face, and he nodded and said, "Go on."

Zhang Wenmian said: "The emperor is also a human being, and he is a man with a good face, this one thing can make him unhappy." The students cleaned up the recitals tonight, took out all the recitals written by our people, and left only the recitals of the Hangul faction to present to the emperor, and Duke Liu said a few good words to Yang Ling in front of the emperor with righteous indignation, and the Hangul will stink in the emperor's heart, and he will never think about it anymore."

"Hahahaha", Liu Jin laughed like a female duck, Zhang Wenmian saw that he was happy, and continued to taunt: "Liu Gong, so it's called praying mantis catching cicadas, yellow finches are behind, Han Wen is fighting Yang Ling's idea, but let's fight Han Wen's idea, fight for the court, nothing more." ”

"The strategy is good, but it's a pity that it's still a bit naïve", Zhang Cai smiled disdainfully in his heart, and interjected: "Han Wen has lived in officialdom for a long time and knows how to be an official. Yan Guan is not guilty, as long as Han Wen does not show his head, what can he do? ”

"This", Zhang Wenmian painstakingly came up with a solution, Zhang Cai pointed out the impracticality of it, and couldn't help but be a little annoyed and angry, this person is narrow-minded, and he can't stand the crowd of others.

Zhang Cai is in the villain's nest, but he doesn't know how to guard against the villain, how can he know that he has offended others with one sentence. He took a sip of tea and pondered: "Han Wen has suffered a few big losses, and he has become much more cautious, and now he dares to use this matter to impeach Yang Ling because he has seen one thing!" ”

Zhang Cai paused before continuing: "The establishment of the lecture martial arts hall, Liu Gong opposed, Li Dongyang, Yang Tinghe opposed, Wenchen opposed, and even those military generals who had their own factions and were in high positions were also strongly opposed, Han Wen saw this, so he wanted to take advantage of the wind and rain to fight again, if this failed, then he had nothing to say."

Han Wen, it's not that he can't see the emperor's maintenance of Yang Ling, it's just that he really can't wait for a more suitable opportunity, anyway, if he doesn't succeed, the law will not blame the public, and there will be no loss to him. But he is not a reckless man, he will definitely look at his face first, and he will only come out when he sees an opportunity to set off a storm, so we can't pull out the other impeachment twists and turns, and we must let our people cooperate more and give this old man a little hope. ”

Liu Jin understood it at one point, and said with a smile: "Needless to say, our family understands, even if the people of Yang Ling's faction are not so willing to set up a martial arts hall, they will not come forward to impeach." The possibility of people from the Li and Yang lines acting as peacemakers. Our family is fighting with Yang Ling for power, and Han Wen hopes that our family will take the lead.

Our family has been doing the work of waving flags and shouting for many years. It's not a problem to stumble under the trap, and when he gets in, our family will be transformed and indignant, so that his old Han is not a human being. Hey, hey, hey, but".

He affectionately called Zhang Cai's expression and said, "Shang Qian, can you bring him down like this?" I think Li Dongyang and Yang Tinghe will definitely come forward to protect him."

Zhang Cai smiled and said: "Wen Mian, the emperor's marriage without losing the silver, and gathering the crowd to attack the loyal ministers, are just used to build momentum, strengthen the emperor's disgust, and make it clear that he is passive in the court, as for what is really used to make a fatal blow."

Zhang Cai paused for a moment and said: "The household member Wailang was involved in the corruption case and has been arrested, his resume file, yesterday the factory guard was just transferred from the Ministry of Officials, Liu Gong, the household member Wailang, but the people at the door of his household department Shangshu Yamen, I just don't know, is he Han also implicated?" ”

"Bang!" Liu Jin slapped the table and shouted, "There must be, how can there be?" "He already has a good habit and tradition of lower-level officials committing crimes and overstepping the level to pursue higher-level officials, not to mention that he is now trying to rectify Hangul and take the opportunity to seize the political territory that belongs to him, so he immediately responded.

Zhang Wenmian rolled his eyes: "That foreigner is a corrupt official, I'm afraid he doesn't have any hard bones." Such a person doesn't have to be tortured, as long as he puts the kind of flail weighing one hundred and fifty catties made by Liu Gong on his neck, and Lie said that he doesn't want him to recruit anyone, he will recruit whom?

Zhang Wenmian hurriedly got up and said: "Liu Gong, leave this matter to the students, three no, within one day, the students will have good news to Liu Gong."

Liu Jin stood up with a smile, patted him on the shoulder with satisfaction, and said, "Okay, I'll leave this matter to you, but don't be too anxious, you have to wait for the Ming Dynasty to discuss before going, so as not to beat the grass."

Zhang Wenmian understood, and hurriedly saluted: "Yes, or Liu Gong is right, the student will do it again tomorrow, and he will do it again tomorrow."

"Hmm!" Liu Jin nodded with satisfaction, turned his head slightly to look at the southeast, and narrowed his eyes: As soon as Han Wen falls, the forces that our family can gather will be greater, and the cabinet will be even more inactive, and when Yang Ling returns to Beijing, the sky will change.

Yang Ling, Yang Ling, we wish you a happy stay in Sichuan! ”

The Great Tomorrow Dynasty sent troops to help the Manchurian Sultan restore the country, which was not just a victory in a war. There are seventy or eighty vassal states in the Ming Dynasty, and the sky is high and the road is far away over the years, and the Ming Dynasty has been involved in too much energy by the northern Tatars, so there is no time to take care of it, so there are more than 20 vassal states that have not made Hajj for many years.

Now the north of the Ming Dynasty and the three guards of Duoyan, defeated the Tatar iron cavalry, swept away the Japanese in one fell swoop, subdued the bandits in the East China Sea, garrisoned the Ryukyus, recovered the Manchurian Thorns, the oriental dragon once woke up, and the dragon claws were in harmony with the wind and rain, and the surrounding countries were both respectful and awe-inspiring, and they had begun to prepare to send envoys to the Hajj to the Great Tomorrow.

For a while, the Yanjing Siyi Pavilion came to envoy continuously, reproducing the prosperous situation of all countries coming to the dynasty, the Ming court also knew that the political significance of the Manchurian Thorn plus affair was far greater than the military victory, in order to build momentum, escort the Manchurian King Su Duanma to return to China, Zhengde Long and heavy, sent two Qincha, one is the Ministry of Rites Shangshu Wang Hua, and the other is the new military department Shangshu Liu Yu, it can be said that the courtesy and respect are beyond can't be added.

Such a large contingent was simply a show for the other nations, and the Sultan of Manraka was only a prop for this great show, so in spite of his heart, the team continued to move steadily, and it was not until the beginning of August that the fleet arrived at Manjak.

Taking advantage of this time, Yang Ling had already used the free labor force of thousands of people to build the barracks of the Daming Naval Division at the selected site of the Portuguese fleet, selected the generals of the garrison, and traveled back and forth between Fujian and Manchuria to handle some important military and political affairs.

Since the East China Sea has been cleared, and now the Ming Dynasty has opened the ports of Tianjin and Hangzhou to Korea, Yueben, Luzon, and Ryukyu countries, and maritime commerce has begun to start preliminarily, and it has rapidly affected more countries.

At the same time, Gu Dayong organized a group of merchants, literati, monks and spies composed of a group of merchants to visit Yueben, the merchant representative was Xu Jing, and the literati representative was Tang Bohu, who brought a large number of exquisite and expensive Ming products, which were welcomed by the daimyo from all over the world.

He said that he believed in Buddhism, and the upper-class people liked vassal elegance the most. Tang Bohu, the first genius in the south of the Yangtze River, is very knowledgeable, elegant in conversation, and very good at studying Buddhist scriptures. When he was romantic, he was lustful and uninhibited, which was very much in line with the appetite of those generals, and now he seems to be the first celebrity in this book. Nowadays, whether it is a general, a famous man, a ruler, or a rich gentry, a noble woman and a monk, everyone is proud to see the style of Tang Jieyuan.

So if one day someone sees such a strange scene: one daimyo's army escorts a complicated convoy to the border of their power, and then another daimyo's army respectfully picks them up and politely sends them into their own city, and then the two armies continue to fight, killing the city and the river, then it is not surprising that this convoy must be Tang Bohu's visiting group.

When Su Duan's mother arrived in Fujian, Yang Ling also rushed back to greet him, and then accompanied the two escorts to Manchu Jia.

The "mighty general" sailed on the rough sea, and the unarmored General sailed faster, plowing a huge wave mark on the sea.

Yang Ling stood on the deck of the third layer of the battleship, holding on to the side of the ship and quietly listening to Liu Yu tell him about the situation in Beijing: "My lord is not in Beijing, now Liu Jin has been able to control most of the government affairs of the DPRK and China, and the new secretary Zhang Cai was promoted by Liu Jin, and he has followed him with all his heart, and the officials are in his hands, and there are more officials who have taken refuge in the past, and even Li Dongyang and Yang Tinghe are not very opinionated now." ”

Yang Ling smiled and said: "They have become shrewd after repeated failures, and they are not sure and are unwilling to make easy moves." Don't look at them and Liu Jin now, they are waiting for an opportunity, these old ministers may be a little stupid in politics, but they are human beings and will not change easily."

Liu Yu said respectfully: "Yes! The vision of the adults is impressive. Although the adults are far away from the capital, they are still long. Han Wen and others attacked the adults by preparing for the establishment of the Sailor Lecture Martial Hall, and they expected that Liu Jin would definitely respond, and wanted to use the pressure of the Manchu Dynasty's civil and military people to force the emperor to dismiss your military position, but Liu Jin did not dare to offend you, but instead helped you refute Han Wen, which made them feel dusty."

"Oh?" Although Yang Ling was not in Beijing, he did not relax his attention to Jingshi, and any major and minor matters in Jingshi would be delivered in time, and he already knew about it.

However, he wanted to see what these Beijing officials thought of Liu Jin's actions, and he also wanted to know if Liu Yu would hide anything from him, so he said quietly: "What else does he do, tell me about it."

Liu Yu said: "The lord is not in the capital, Liu Jin is very powerful, the lord will transfer the tax supervisor to the inner court and the household department to manage, these two yamen for the tax filthy life, Liu Jin took advantage of the corruption of the household department, knocked down the Hanwen, and now the Hanwen has returned to his hometown."

However, Li Dongyang and Yang Tinghe tried their best to ensure that the old minister Xu Jin succeeded him as the head of the household department, but Liu Jin failed to insert his own people into it, and the tax power was still divided into two families. Liu Jin had no choice but to win over the eunuchs in various places, and now he took advantage of the lack of taxes in the imperial court and the extremely difficult financial situation to say that the emperor asked the eunuchs in various places to increase their authority in order to strengthen tax collection. Now the eunuchs and governors and governors in various places have equal powers, can review any administrative and legal affairs, can supervise officials, and have great power. ”

Yang Ling frowned and nodded, there are many reasons for Daming's financial difficulties, and this is that he has no way to change it, only hoping that the introduction of grain varieties, mutual markets, and opening the sea will produce benefits, but these affairs are really effective, and it will take a year or two at the earliest, compared to the current predicament, it can be regarded as far from quenching the thirst.

However, the imperial court was bloated, and there were 30 princes, 215 county kings and generals, 2,700 lieutenants, more than 20,000 civil officials, 100,000 military attachés, 772 guard officers and soldiers, and 40,000 people who were awarded the examination for nothing.

In addition, the taxes were unreasonable, there were many corrupt officials and corrupt officials, the opening of the sea and the establishment of government offices, the construction of warships and the equipment of sailors, and the war between the north and the south consumed more. Last year, the summer and autumn tax grain in the world was about 26 million stones, and the situation was very serious. These problems, unless he has a little ability to turn stone into gold, want to solve them in a moment, that is really a myth.

"If you govern a big country and cook a small fresh, no matter how hungry you are, you have to control the heat slowly, and you can't burn the vegetables", Yang Ling sighed and nodded heavily.

What really disappointed him was another piece of news obtained through other channels: the preparation for the construction of the Maritime Lecture Hall was indeed not approved. It's really too difficult to break the old order!

Looking at the endless sea, Yang Ling suddenly felt an impulse in his heart: the Great Empire has lasted for thousands of years, and its civilization and order have become self-contained, no matter what changes are made, they must build new ones while destroying the old, so even if they are emperors who stand at the top of the power structure, they must be cautious.

But what if it's a small area? What about a backward and wild place? It's like a blank sheet of paper, and you can scribble it as you like. For example, in the land of Manraka, if you want to build schools, run factories, and reform the system of taking officials, is it not easy? Because there was nothing here in the first place, and naturally there was no destruction of the old, and it would not touch a large number of recipients of the old benefits.

The whimsical and bizarre idea was just a flash of thought, and the seagull that cut through the air chirped, which recalled Yang Ling's flying heart, and he retracted his mind and said: "Go on."

Liu Yu said: "The most important thing is that now after Liu Jin used the eunuchs in various places to participate in politics, he began to justifiably require that all important official documents be presented to him first, and only after his approval can they be sent to all ministries and cabinets, and the recitals of the ministers must also be written in red and pasted to him first, and then posted in white to the General Administration."

Liu Yu paused, lowered his voice and said, "Some people say that now the world only knows that there is a eunuch Liu but does not know that there is an emperor. ”

The corners of Yang Ling's mouth tugged, and he smiled without a trace: "It's almost over, Liu Jin's fate is almost over!" ”

Now in the Ming Dynasty, the external threat is not enough to destroy his strength, and the internal opposition forces may stifle many of the policies he is doing, and the Ming is changing step by step.

The current Da Ming is like a butterfly struggling to break free from the cocoon shell of the old shackles, its wings are wrinkled together, its body is trembling and shrunk into a ball, and it can't stand steadily, it looks even more ugly and fragile than when it is hiding in the cocoon, but give it a little time, it will stretch out its colorful and dazzling wings and fly into the flowers.

Yang Ling looked at the huge waves stirred up in front of the battleship, and suddenly flew back to Yanjing City: "Liu Jin, Liu Jin, the cocoon has turned into a butterfly and wants to spread its wings, how can I allow it to be pecked by you, the old bird!" ”

(To be continued)