"Thirty a day! If you can come, don't come if you can't come! ”

"Recruit a slender man! Slender man ......"

"The boat in front of you is going to get in quickly, the back is going to be blocked!"

"Bell! Clang! Bell ......"

In the early morning of November 15 in the first year of Taichang, when the forces of all sides were surging, hundreds of large and small ships were waiting to enter the city on the Yangtze River waterway.

Before dawn and the Yangtze River was still full of steam, the wharf was already full of Ming people who came to act as porters.

In the early morning of the bell tower of the city, on the dock where thousands of people worked, as the sun slowly rose, the mist of the Yangtze River was slowly evaporated, gradually revealing the city several miles behind the pier.

A quaint and vast giant city lies on the earth, stretching for hundreds of miles, slowly uncovering from the mist.

The city wall of this city is tall, majestic and magnificent, like a mountain range lying in front, full of a sense of condensed force, like a stone dragon lying on the side of the Yangtze River, magnificent and majestic, the pressure of people can not breathe, the city wall is full of the imprint of the years.

It is in such a huge city that 1.2 million people of the Ming Dynasty live.

This is the largest capital city in ancient history, and its scale is so large that it is difficult for all cities in history to match.

Nanjing City of the Ming Dynasty, this city is the southern capital of the Ming Dynasty, which is divided into four walls of the palace city, the imperial city, the capital city and the outer Guo city from the inside to the outside.

The circumference of the outer Guocheng is more than 100 li, the enclosing area is about 372,000 acres, the city is three feet high, the city is two feet four feet wide, and there are 18 city gates.

Such a city, if placed in Europe at this time, would be enough to become a country on its own.

In front of such a magnificent city, anyone seems very insignificant, and it is in such a small contrast that some people's rights are greater than this city, and even radiate the entire Jiangnan......

Scholars, nobles, merchants, gentry, squires, rich peasants, peddlers, pawns......

In addition to the imperial power, this giant city has all the factors that the Ming Dynasty should have, and because of the system of the Ming Dynasty and the two capitals, it often controls this place, and it controls the entire south.

But at the same time, if there is any unrest in the south, it is also a place to pay for any unrest.

Huaibei hunger, this matter may be very distant to the officials and masters of Shuntian Mansion before it was stabbed out of the truth, but in fact, it was fermented in Jiangnan.

On August 23 of the first year of Taichang, the famine in Huaibei had already begun, and the local residents ate the bark of grass roots and trees, or even several cottages, women and children, and ordered to be crushed with beans and rhombs.

Subsequently, a large number of hungry people crossed the river to the south to grab rice and grain, which led to the soaring price of grain in the south of the Yangtze River.

On the first day of September, Zhenjiang Doumi 100 money......

On September 14, in Suzhou and Songjiang, the price of doumi increased to 140.

The merchant ships of Nanzhili could not hope for the township rice in Sichuan and Huguang, and all the shops were closed, causing the price of rice in the city of Nanjing to soar to 200 yuan.

Such a price should not appear in the land south of the Yangtze River, but he just appeared.

It wasn't until then that Huai'an and Xuzhou were suddenly sealed, and grain prices were brought under control overnight.

The money has been earned, and the problem is left to Huai'an and Xuzhou to solve by themselves, and once this kind of problem is pierced, it is comparable to the four eucalyptus of Hongwu!

Now, the balloon has exploded, and the first thing to burst is near the source, and the explosion is beginning to spread.

If you want not to be affected, you can only survive with a broken arm.

For some people, the broken arm is too difficult for them, and giving up the pawn is already the biggest concession they have made......

"So the old man said at the beginning, you shouldn't make such a big fuss, how can it end now?!"

"When I was so happy when I first collected the cashier, why didn't I want to think about how bad the impact of this incident was?!"

In the study of a mansion in Nanjing, when an old man wearing a Taoist robe and gray hair scolded the three people sitting in the study, the three people were silent and could only endure it.

It's a big deal...... Everybody knows the answer.

The emperor's change of Jingcha and the dispatch of the Imperial History of the Northern Zhili Prefecture to inspect Jiangnan all show that the emperor has extremely distrust of the officials left behind in Nanjing.

And Sun Ruyou, Fang Congzhe and others did not prevent the reform of Jingcha, which also shows that the pattern in the court has undergone changes that they do not know yet.

Everyone knows that the sky is going to change, but the question now is how to save themselves before the change.

Jin Yiwei and the people of the Donglin Party are in Pizhou, six hundred miles away, and as soon as the matter in Pizhou is resolved, it is time to solve them next.

In this regard, an official with a fat brain and a luxurious silk couldn't help but say:

"What if there is a long live to support them? As long as the big and small officials in Huai'an and Xuzhou do not confess, they will not be able to help us. ”

"Did Wei Guogong think things too simply? The tragedy of hundreds of thousands of corpses on the streets, is it something that can be solved by the death of a few petty officials of the fifth or sixth grades? A civil official sneered, and also pointed out the identity of this fat man.

Xu Hongji, the Duke of Wei, encroached on a large piece of cultivated land near Nanjing, and still had a lot of salt and tea in his hands, so it can be said that his family alone made the Ming Dynasty pay hundreds of thousands of taels less in taxes.

If his words were heard by Zhu Youxiao and Zhu Youzhen, I am afraid that he would not be able to hold back his actions.

Fish and meat people, killing hundreds of thousands of people, but still unrepentant, such an ugly appearance, is really disgusting to people and gods.

"Okay, it's useless to say this, let's listen to what Fang Ge Lao and them mean."

A civil servant who had not spoken for a long time couldn't help but sigh, and as soon as he spoke, everyone patiently closed their mouths.

The bustling city of Nanjing is secretly surging, they are waiting, but they don't know that the people they are waiting for are also ready to give up on them.

The abandoners were eventually abandoned, and while they were still waiting, in a mansion in the capital of Shuntianfu in Beizhili, Fang Congzhe and Sun Ruyou called Tang Binyin of the Xuan Party and Gu Tianjun of the Kun Party.

The four of them sat at the table, no matter how delicious the dishes on the table were, they lost their aroma at the moment, like chewing wax.

At such a silent dinner, the first person who couldn't help but speak was Gu Tianjun, the leader of the Kun Party, who represented Suzhou, that is, the prosperous place in the east of Nanzhili.

He lowered his glass, and the sound of the glass clinking against the table made the other three look at him.

In front of everyone, Gu Tianjun said with a cold face:

"Huaibei is hungry, and I can't hide it at the moment, Suzhou and Songjiang have been affected, and the rice is 130 Wen, who can afford to eat such a rice price?"

"The matter of rice prices is easy to solve, as long as Yangzhou releases grain, the grain prices in Huai'an and Yangzhou Susong will go down, and the focus at the moment is how to deal with Jingcha." Sun Ruyou's face was as flat as ever, and it seemed that everything was still under his control.

"What can I do? This year, unlike previous years, all the people in charge of Jingcha are members of the Donglin Party, and most of them are officials who were impeached and resigned a few years ago. Tang Binyin of the Xuan Party couldn't help but speak:

"At that time, you didn't want to find a way to sweep out the troubles, and now you have been counterattacked, but you think of us?"

Tang Binyin was angry in his heart, they did not take advantage of the affairs of Huai'an Mansion and Xuzhou, but suffered from the impact.

Now it's good, not only has it been affected, but it also has to help the Zhejiang Party wipe its ass.

Tang Binyin and Gu Tianjun were both very annoyed, but they had no way to leave the Zhejiang Party.

Although the Donglin Party is fighting the most fiercely with the Zhejiang Party, it is inevitable that the two parties will be cleaned up first, and then the Zhejiang Party.

The power of the Zhejiang Party is huge, and at most they will be hurt by the Jingcha once, and they will not be able to extinguish it.

Sure enough, Fang Congzhe smiled and said:

"It's still under control, don't worry."

"The old man's meaning is very simple, that is, the Zhejiang party officials involved in this eucalyptus are blamed for the old man, and the two only need to agree that Donglin will share the miscellaneous items equally."

Fang Congzhe and Sun Ruyou are worthy of being old foxes, they know the personalities of Yang Lian and Zuo Guangdou, and they will definitely continue to track them down.

Therefore, they are not ready to propose peace talks with Yang Lian and Zuo Guangdou, but directly push the interests to more people.

After all, the officials of the Donglin Party, poor peasants and rich peasants, were in the minority, and most of them were small and medium-sized landlords, squires, and gentry.

In this case, then retain the strength, let the officials of Nanzhili take the blame and remove the exile, and then agree to the political opinion of the Donglin Party to reduce the land endowment, share miscellaneous items, and remove tariffs.

To put it bluntly, the Zhejiang Party chose to take a step back and cede its interests to the Donglin Party and the imperial power.

When Tang Binyin and Gu Tianjun heard this, they all frowned and thought carefully about the pros and cons.

Especially in the area of Gu Tianjun, Suzhou and Songjiang, after all, they contracted a quarter of the taxes of Nanzhili, and if the land was spread out and paid miscellaneous items, it would not harm the interests of local merchants and gentry, which is worth considering.

Compared with him and Tang Binyin, he didn't have so many concerns.

The Xuandang is in the Fengyang area, mainly because of the interests of Tian Fu and the two Huai salt merchants.

Miscellaneous had little impact on salt merchants, who used small amounts of salt to sell large quantities of illicit salt, which were largely taxable.

However, it is also beneficial for them to reduce the amount of land endowment.

So after thinking about it, Tang Binyin nodded and said, "The nearest officials in Huai'an and Xuzhou are involved, and the old man will go back to persuade them." ”

He nodded and agreed, then the rest was Gu Tianjun of the Suzhou Kun Party.

Gu Tianjun frowned and raised his head and said, "I need to go back and think about this matter." ”

"Naturally, you can." Sun Ruyou nodded, and then said in order to show his sincerity:

"Early tomorrow morning, the Ministry of Officials and the Cabinet will dismiss a number of officials, including 42 officials from Zhejiang, 14 from Nanzhili, 11 from Shandong, and 4 from Huguang."

Sun Ruyou's sincerity was indeed revealed, and the dismissal of Zhejiang party officials was the sum of the Kun Party, the Xuan Party, and the Qi Party, and the Chu Party, and there were 13 more officials.

However, it is not difficult to see from here that Sun Ruyou is not ready to take the initiative to provoke the Donglin Party in Jingcha this time.

In this way, before the next Jingcha, the power of the Zhejiang Party will be greatly reduced.

Tang Binyin and the others thought that this was the end, but they never thought that Sun Ruyou continued:

"Not only that, the old man and Zhonghan will launch the cabinet and return to their hometowns."

"......" Hearing this, Tang Binyin and Gu Tianjun frowned and couldn't sit still.

Once Fang Congzhe and Sun Ruyou resigned, then how could they fight with the Donglin Party in Qichu, Zhejiang, Xuankun, and the Five Parties?

In the current cabinet, Liu Yixiao is a member of the Donglin Party, and although Shi Jikai is a native of Quanzhou, he is a person without party affiliation and is politically biased towards the Donglin Party.

Although He Zongyan is a Chu party, he does not have any real power, so in addition to Sun Ruyou and Fang Congzhe, there are only two Zhejiang party officials left in the cabinet: Zhu Guozuo and Shen Yu (guan).

This is also the result of seven cabinet ministers since October.

If Sun Ruyou and Fang Congzhe withdraw from the cabinet and resign and return to their hometowns, then at least one position in the cabinet must be vacated.

Who is in this position? Naturally, he is the most vocal Han Yi among the Donglin Party members.

If Han Yi takes this position, then the five parties in the cabinet, Qichu, Zhejiang, Xuankun, and Kunming will change from overwhelming to balanced.

Therefore, after knowing the news, Tang Binyin immediately said no, but before he could speak, Sun Ruyou said again:

"Don't worry, even if the two of us resign, according to Banzai's temperament, at least it will be approved after the Jingcha is over."

Sun Ruyou's words are very simple, that is, there is no problem in protecting the five-party alliance until the end of Jingcha, as for Jingcha three years later, it is a problem if he Sun Ruyou is still alive at that time.

After all, he is now seventy-one years old, and he can live to this age in the Ming Dynasty, which is already considered a human being.

Therefore, seeing him say this, Tang Binyin and Gu Tianjun no longer dissuaded, but after a hasty meal, they took people back to their mansion before curfew.

Now what they have to wait for is whether the Chang Chao Donglin Party will compromise early tomorrow morning......

——————

"So, Sun Ruyou is ready to give in?"

While everyone was waiting, Zhu Youxiao in the Qianqing Palace in the inner court stood in front of pieces of wood, listening to Luo Sigong's report behind him.

The content of the conversation between Sun Ruyou and others is not difficult for Jin Yiwei to get, and it can even be said that even if he can't get it, Sun Ruyou will ask someone to give the information to Luo Sigong.

He is having a showdown with Zhu Youxiao, to put it bluntly, don't condone the Donglin Party anymore, if you connive again, they will be ready to pick on it.

The Donglin Party will accept it when they see it, and they will also dismiss the Zhejiang Party officials in Nanzhili, so there will be no seizure of autumn taxes, summer taxes, grain, and additional silver in the future.

The Donglin Party benefited, the imperial court was able to smoothly obtain the southern taxes, and in the end everyone was fine, as for the officials and gentry of Huai'an Mansion and Xuzhou, they were regarded as outcasts.

As for the officials who have been dismissed in other places, Sun Ruyou and others hope that Zhu Youxiao will not be pursued anymore and will be dismissed and exiled.

Sun Ruyou's meaning is very obvious, but it is precisely because of the obviousness that Zhu Youxiao will be unhappy in his heart.

In his opinion, he is the emperor, the whole world is his, what he wants does not need Sun Ruyou and the Zhejiang Party to give, he can take it himself.

The other thing is......

Zhu Youxiao glanced at Luo Sigong, who was reporting with his head bowed next to him, and sneered in his heart: "Old thing, do you really think I don't know the relationship between you and Sun Ruyou?" ”

He sneered in his heart, but he did not show joy or anger on his face, but quietly built a small boat with concocted wood, and then said unhurriedly:

"Tell them to do it, in addition, Luo Sigong, I remember that you are sixty this year, right?"

"Uh...... Long live, the minister is only fifty-four this year......" Luo Sigong was stunned, thinking that Zhu Youxiao had made a mistake.

Seeing this, Zhu Youxiao also pretended to be embarrassed and smiled: "Yes, yes, yes?" Looks like I'm mistaken. ”

One of my self-proclaimed made Luo Sigong's heart half cold.

Where is this misremembered, it is obviously a signal that he is old and it is time to give up his position.

Luo Sigong is a smart person, and he quickly thought of his relationship with Sun Ruyou and others, and his heart suddenly tightened, and then he wrote:

"Although the minister is only fifty-four, he injured his body while riding a horse in his early years and left a leg disease, so today in addition to reporting the movements of Sun Ruyou and others, he also wants to ask for his resignation."

"Resign?" Zhu Youxiao frowned and said:

"Without you in the outer court, it is very inconvenient for me to act, let's talk about it another day."

"Hooray!" Luo Sigong suddenly knelt down on his knees, and looked up at Zhu Youxiao:

"The old minister is really not good for his body, I hope to agree ......"

"Alas...... Why are you suffering? Principal Zhu You sighed, and then said:

"That's it, you are tired for a while, Jinyiwei's affairs are more tiring, and when Lu Wenzhao comes back from the south, you will return home to retire, I will never shirk."

Zhu Youxiao's self-proclaimed name changed from me to me again, which made Luo Sigong breathe a sigh of relief, and he could only thank: "Long live Longen!" ”

"Okay, you go down and have a good rest, in addition, I heard Zhongxian say, your eldest son Luo Yangxing has also reached the age, and when you return to old age, you will grace him to be the hereditary family of Jinyi Wei."

Zhu Youxiao looked reluctant to Luo Sigong, which made Luo Sigong have to accompany him to play and said: "Long live Xie, the old minister has retired......"

"Well, let's rest early......" Zhu Youxiao fiddled with his wood without looking back, and Luo Sigong felt very uncomfortable when he saw this.

The position that was already stable was lost because he received some silver taels from Sun Ruyou and others.

Enyin Jinyi Wei 100 households, what is this compared to the commander of Jinyiwei?

Luo Sigong laughed at himself in his heart, not knowing whether he was laughing at himself, Sun Ruyou or them, or Zhu Youxiao.

He walked out of the Qianqing Palace, obviously on the ground, but he walked out of a feeling as if he was going down the steps.

With a lonely back, he slowly disappeared on the road of Qianqing Palace, and at the same time, Wei Zhongxian also walked into Qianqing Palace with Wang Tiqian and several other eunuchs holding a dry wood with a human waist thick.

"Hooray, the timber is here."

Wei Zhongxian knows how to make a fool of himself, although he has been mentioned by Zhu Youzhen, he has been going to the inner study hall to read and write during this time, but he has this brain, and he forgets fifty of a hundred words after learning a hundred words.

At the moment, he understands and learns from talents, and ten of them are not Wang An's opponents.

Since he can't compare, then he simply doesn't compare, he is better than a sycophant!

He is familiar with Zhu Youxiao's preferences, and every time he sees that Zhu Youxiao's wood is about to run out, he immediately takes someone to lift the wood.

Sure enough, as before, hearing Wei Zhongxian's voice, Zhu Youxiao turned his head to look over.

His eyes directly passed over Wei Zhongxian and Wang Tiqian, who were panting and sweating profusely, and instead set his eyes on the wood.

"Well, this wood is good, and it's just right to make the keel of the ship."

As soon as Zhu Youxiao said this, Wei Zhongxian's heart immediately became happy, and after leading someone to lift the wood to the shelf next to him, he flattered:

"Long live, the teak that His Royal Highness said the fifth, the slave maid has sent someone to the country of Siam, and asked the king of Siam to find the northern transport."

"The seventh month of the next year is the day of tribute from the Siamese state, and the king of Siam should be able to find teak wood to send to the capital."

"Well, you did a good job in this matter, you should ...... reward" Zhu Youxiao nodded with satisfaction, and Wei Zhongxian's eyes immediately lit up when he heard that he could be rewarded.

His eyes lit up, and he looked at Zhu Youxiao with longing, and Zhu Youxiao looked at it, and when he found that he was wearing a middle coat and there was nothing around him, he set his eyes on a duck wood sculpture he had made a few days ago.

He grabbed the duck wood carving, and then handed the wooden carving over in Wei Zhongxian's stunned expression and said:

"You'll be rewarded."

"Long live Long Sui, the slave maid has long taken a fancy to this duck, this duck looks handsome, the body is beautiful, and only Banzai has such a craft to make it, and it is really a blessing for the slave and maid to cultivate it for ten lifetimes......"

Wei Zhongxian turned his stunned into boasting in a very short time, as if the wooden withered duck in his hand was not made of wood, but made of gold and precious stones, which was extremely valuable.

But I have to say that his sycophants are good, and Zhu Youxiao was very useful when he heard it, so he patted Wei Zhongxian and said:

"Zhongxian does things well, and if I have a fine product in my hand in the future, I will give it to you."

After that, Zhu Youxiao put his eyes on his half-finished ship, turned to a eunuch and said:

"Come and see, this ship is different from your Jiangnan ship?"

This eunuch was found by Zhu Youxiao and Wei Zhongxian from more than 20,000 eunuchs in the palace, and before entering the palace, he was the son of a craftsman in the Longjiang Shipyard in Jiangnan, and he was also proficient in shipbuilding.

Zhu Youxiao is not keen on shipbuilding, but after all, Zhu Youzhen likes it.

In order to please his younger brother, Zhu Youxiao deliberately began to learn the craft of shipbuilding, and the eunuch hurriedly saluted when he saw it:

"Long live is extremely talented, but after a few days of study, the craft is already comparable to the little master who has been learning in some shipyards in Jiangnan for three or four months."

"Hehe, after all, I have been doing carpentry for five years, this shipbuilding is not difficult, the main thing is ......" Hearing someone praise himself, Zhu Youxiao also boasted about himself.

But after praising it, he paused again, and said with annoyance: "It's just that this drawing that my brother gave me is not the same as Daming's ship, and I still have to learn how to get it, especially the structure ...... inside."

Zhu Youxiao began to think about it, and when Wei Zhongxian saw this, he called out all the palace maids and eunuchs except for the shipbuilding eunuch.

It has long been known that the emperor did not like to have too many people present when he was doing carpentry work.

It's just that when everyone came out, Wei Zhongxian was holding the fist-sized duck wood carving, thinking about something.

Seeing this, Wang Tiqian next to him hurriedly stepped forward and said, "Gonggong, do you need a small one to help you put this wooden withered duck away?" ”

"Put it away?" Wei Zhongxian was stunned, and then a sly smile appeared on his face: "Uh-huh-hum-hum......"

"No, the treasure given by Banzai, it's really aggrieved to just put it away."

Saying that, Wei Zhongxian put the wooden duck in Wang Tiqian's hand, and then patted him on the shoulder and said:

"Find someone to take this thing out of the palace, and then find a rich man to buy this duck."

"Long live the craftsmanship, how can it be worth a few hundred taels of silver......"

"Sold?" Wang Tiqian was stunned and couldn't believe it.

This is a wood carving rewarded by the emperor, if he remembers it at any time, he asks Wei Zhongxian to take it out, and Wei Zhongxian can't take it out, it will be miserable.

However, Wang Tiqian didn't understand Wei Zhongxian's thoughts, and after his doubts were seen by Wei Zhongxian, Wei Zhongxian pouted at the old face and said with a ghostly smile:

"Of course it's sold, and the more you sell, the better, I'm of great use!"

Thinking of his genius-like thoughts, Wei Zhongxian's old face gradually became obscene, and then with his male duck voice, he hummed a little song and walked towards the palace where the Hakka family lived......