Years later, the officialdom in Beijing was in a depression.

Because it is still in the New Year's holiday, many yamen have not been opened, even if there are not many people on duty in the open yamen, to say that there is no yamen in the imperial court is indispensable, there is really not, as if there is no such yamen, the Ming Dynasty will not have any deviation in the operation, but because of the interference of the six yamen in the capital and other yamen, there will be some unstable factors within the Ming Dynasty.

The twelfth day of the first month.

This day was the day when the yamen of the household department was reopened, and the ten-day holiday was over, and on the first day of his arrival at the household department, he sorted out the things at hand.

He didn't plan to ask Liu Jian or Li Dongyang, what was the matter before...... Especially when it comes to military and political affairs, we must first ask Liu Jian and Li Dongyang's opinions, their courtyard in Mixiang in Dongjiang is the place where the six Shangshu and Shilang of the Central Committee of the DPRK and Central Committee go most often.

But now everything has changed.

In addition to the addition of the upper hearing office, the cabinet has also been further limited in power, Xie Qian's case decided that the cabinet's jurisdiction over the six ministries was completely lost, and the six ministries no longer had to ask the cabinet for their opinions on everything like in the early years of Hongzhi.

But when he was about to leave work that day, Li Dongyang still found the household department in person.

If you don't go to me, I'll come to you personally, after all, our cabinet has to interfere in this matter, and it is not so easy for you to get out of control.

"The war in Liaodong has begun, although His Majesty is not in the court, but in Liaodong to request the allocation of money and grain on the note has been approved, and now it has been sent to the household department, to allocate 160,000 stone of grain, this is still the preliminary transfer for the purpose of requisition, local money and grain, there will be Jizhou and Liaodong two places to raise, at the same time Shandong and other places are also transporting money and grain, from the sea to the north ......"

Tong Zhong naturally wanted to give Li Dongyang face.

If you ask, I'll tell you the current situation, it's not that the household department doesn't want to control everything, but from the emperor's order, our household department can't say anything.

Li Dongyang asked: "How much is the transfer of Beijing Reserve?" ”

"It's 160,000 stones, if you can transfer a batch from Tongzhou, or only need to allocate 120,000 stones from the Jingcang reserves, it is still being coordinated, and now the granaries on both sides of the canal are full, but now I don't dare to send someone to investigate, once I find that there is an omission, I am afraid that when there is a war in Liaodong, it will affect the stability of the army."

Tong Zhong said, and handed over the money and grain storage situation summarized by the household department to Li Dongyang for inspection.

But Li Dongyang obviously didn't have the heart to look at it, he basically had a good idea of the amount of grain stored everywhere.

Tong Zhong seemed to think of what Li Dongyang would ask, and took the initiative to say: "At the port, Your Majesty only made a decree last winter to transfer 60,000 stone of grain to the past, but the matter has been dragged out, and it has not been adjusted yet. In terms of silver, it was transferred from the inner treasury of the inner government, and millions of taels of silver were obtained from overseas, and there is still a lot of expenditure, and only the internal officials can know where it is used. ”

Li Dongyang said: "Since the two things of building ports and building ships can be transferred from the inner government, why should the battle of Liaodong not be transferred from the household department?" ”

"Huh?"

Tong Zhong was startled.

In this matter, Tong Zhong is very jealous.

Because Xie Qian's crime is also one of the crimes, that is, obstructing the imperial court from allocating money and grain, hindering the use of troops in the northwest, etc., to put it bluntly, the previous crime of hindering the cabinet from transferring money and grain to Zhang Mao was moved to Xie Qian's body.

Tong Zhong didn't expect that not long after the affairs in the northwest ended, and now Liaodong was going to war, and the cabinet was going to come forward to make trouble.

Li Dongyang said coldly: "The war in Liaodong is just a little friction between the local and the Jurchens, and it is by no means a huge momentum, and the military department is obviously making a big fuss about this matter. What is the significance of requisitioning no less than 100,000 soldiers and horses from all over the world to Liaodong? Soldiers and horses from all walks of life need to be maintained, soldiers need food, clothing, shelter and transportation, and horses need forage, all of which are huge expenses. Now it is a small matter to ask for 160,000 stone of grain, and when this opening is opened, the next step may be 1.6 million stone, and then Beijing Energy Storage will transfer so much grain? ”

Tong Zhong said: "The arrow is on the string." ”

didn't say it too thoroughly, which means that the soldiers and horses have already been transferred out, so do you want to smoke grain and grass now?

This is not a salary draw from the bottom of the kettle, it is simply asking for the lives of Liaodong soldiers.

Li Dongyang said: "After the Shangyuan Festival, Your Majesty is in the court, and this matter must be raised in the court. His Majesty wanted to use troops with the Mongol Tatars in the northwest and start a war in Liaodong, and the war had never stopped in the past few years, so didn't he consider the peace of the people everywhere? Unnecessary wars can be avoided. ”

Tong Zhong said: "What does Li Ge Lao mean?" ”

Li Dongyang said indifferently: "The Jurchens, especially the Jianzhou Jurchens and Haixi Jurchens, they are exhausted, if it weren't for the fact that the military department did not insist on using troops in Liaodong before, they would not have the intention of making trouble, and now they should focus on the policy of Huairou." ”

Tong Zhong sighed: "Your Majesty's intention is to place the Jurchens in Yunnan and other places, but I am afraid that the Jurchens will not agree." ”

Li Dongyang frowned and said: "Liaoxi and other places are almost barbaric, and further north, there are places where Nuer Gandusi and others have not garrisoned troops to support the people, why can't the Jurchens move north or stay in the same place?" If it is necessary to intensify the rebellion of the Jurchens, then there will be wars in Liaodong and other places or in the next few decades. I don't know what Zhang Bingkuan is trying to ......"

Tong Zhong reminded: "The policy of Liaodong is determined by the saint, if it is said that this is determined by the secretary of the military department, I am afraid that it will be a little biased." ”

"You and I both know what's going on." Li Dongyang's tone was cold, probably he felt that Tong Zhong and the cabinet were now in harmony, otherwise why didn't he take the initiative to find something, and asked him to come to the door in person?

Tong Zhong said: "The allocation of money and grain, the household department is still cooperating, and a wave of money and grain has been transferred first, if it is delayed for a few days...... In fact, it is not difficult, I am afraid that His Majesty will issue another order to inquire. If you want to wait until after the Shangyuan Festival, you will put it up to the top, and just mention it to the household, I am afraid that it will have little effect. ”

It means that our household department can't be the master of this matter, and don't use our household department as a gunman.

Li Dongyang said: "Don't worry, as long as this matter is postponed first, after the Shangyuan Festival, there will be people arguing with Your Majesty, you only need to report the difficulties of the household department truthfully." ”

……

……

Tong Zhong had no choice but to temporarily suppress the transfer of some money and grain.

After Lu Wan, the right attendant of the household department, heard about this, he ran to Tong Zhong in a hurry and asked why the dispatch of money and grain was not timely.

In the yamen of the household department, Lu Wan's tone was also very tough: "If you delay for one day, you may run out of food for the soldiers of Liaodong, if it is delayed for three or five days, I am afraid that the march will be greatly affected, and the soldiers will be cold and starving. ”

Tong Zhong said: "Don't be in a hurry, it will take some time to transfer so much grain from outside the capital at one time." ”

Lu Wan said coldly: "I don't think it's that I'm not fully prepared, but someone came over to say hello, right?" Tong Shangshu, you should know where Xie Ge Lao's fault is, His Majesty did not hold the household department responsible for that matter before, if there is any delay today, I am afraid that Your Majesty will not turn a deaf ear. ”

"You ......"

Tong Zhong wanted to say, how can you threaten me?

But I thought that although he was just a household servant, he was already a minister on duty, and this yamen gradually gained the emperor's respect.

And the emperor also made the rules clear in the court before, that is, when there is a war, the upper listening office is responsible for the reporting and handling of all affairs, that is to say, in military and political affairs, the cabinet does not have any jurisdiction, but the upper listening office can be used as an adviser to the emperor in wartime and undertake many affairs.

Lu Wan said: "If someone instructs you to wait until the court to discuss it, then it will be delayed for four or five days, and it is not sure whether Your Majesty will come to the court immediately after the Shangyuan Festival." Recently, there has been no news from the palace about whether His Majesty's bow is sick. ”

"That's right." He Zhong also found that there was a loophole in this problem.

It is said that it can wait until the sixteenth day of the first lunar month, and wait for the emperor to go to court, and then make an argument in the court.

But what if the emperor doesn't go to court?

You can't keep putting it off, right? After all, the imperial order has already been issued.

Lu Wan did not break the contradiction, but persuaded with his heart: "This batch of money and grain, it seems that it is not much, but it can also make the soldiers hold on for a few days, and the allocation of money and grain everywhere must be carried out in an orderly manner. You must know that in Shandong and other places, His Majesty issued an order to transfer the transportation in the morning, and there are Cai Guogong and others supervising it, so there will be no major deviations. ”

"What are you talking about?" Tong Zhong said, "How can the military department have the power to mobilize money and food? ”

Lu Wan said: "That household department has the right to dispatch ships from the port?" Or do you want to mobilize the money, food, baggage, etc.? They have all been shipped to the port and will be shipped at any time. The household department is already very embarrassed now, if it is the next step, His Majesty feels that the household department has to be held in his hands, then who will be in charge of the household department in the future? ”

Tong Zhong frowned and said, "You mean to say that Your Majesty is going to remove me from my post and even condemn me to a crime?" ”

"Tong Shangshu, what you are doing now seems to be complying with the wishes of those elders, but in fact, it is against Your Majesty's will, it's good if nothing happens...... If I were the governor of Liaodong, I would have asked Your Majesty for food, and I would have told the local soldiers that they were already miserable, and Your Majesty would have a reason to take them to the court...... Who will suffer then? Is it a cabinet elder? Isn't it up to the people of the household department to bear the consequences? ”

Tong Zhong was silent.

Think about it too.

It's okay if nothing happens, once something happens, it must be the executive level rather than the decision-making level who is responsible for the black pot, and Liu Jian and Li Dongyang can be easily exempted from responsibility.

Like being able to bring Xie Qian out like this, after all, the situation is rare, and now Li Dongyang will not leave any evidence on paper, who will arrange for the transfer department to do things? You know that you are directly under the emperor's control, why do you want to listen to the cabinet? When you say that the Cabinet arranged for you to do this, you are committing a crime yourself.

"The grain must be adjusted." Lu Wan said, "You can wait until you are transferred out, and then argue with Your Majesty, that's all a later story." If something happens because of food delays, no one can bear the responsibility. Please also think twice. ”

Tong Zhong looked up at Lu Wan, and when he thought of the power he held in his hand, he felt that his head was big.

In the end, he still shook his sleeves and said: "I've been in poor health recently, it's up to you to decide, and when I come back from recuperation in a few days, I hope the matter has been resolved!" ”

Obviously, Tong Zhong also felt that Lu Wan was reasonable, but he couldn't "bear" Li Dongyang's entrustment, and the only way was to hand over the matter of grain transfer to the waiter Lu Wan, and he chose to escape.

……

……

Food allocations continued, albeit with a one-day delay, but the overall problem was not significant.

And Liu Jian and Li Dongyang didn't receive any news from their side, after all, the people who directly connected with them were all officials such as Shangshu Shilang, and the Jingshi warehouse was allocating grain, so there was no need to report this matter directly to the cabinet elder, and the cabinet would not have so many eyes to stare at.

Moreover, Li Dongyang also felt that Tong Zhong, as a traditional civil servant, would not be able to live up to his trust.

Since the matter has been decided in person, it is enough to wait for the court to argue with the emperor on the basis of reason, and there is no need to worry that Tong Zhong will turn back.

But that's just how out of control......

The reason is that the cabinet's control over the court is already very low, and many of the decisions made by the cabinet are contrary to the emperor's opinions, and the emperor does not give the cabinet any face now.

When the cabinet and the emperor disagreed, the emperor no longer cared about the friendship between teachers and students, or the stability of the court, and he would no longer suffer losses as before and hold back...... The current emperor is already very strong.

Tong Zhong understood this, so he listened to Lu Wan's opinion with great interest.

On the fourteenth day of the first month, in the cabinet room, Li Dongyang was still swearing to Liu Jian that this matter was completely under control.

But after being a casual worker, when Li Dongyang wanted to go to the military department, he would talk to the two squires of the military department about the use of troops in Liaodong, and was ready to pull the two squires of the military department to oppose the use of troops in Liaodong at the sixteenth day of the first month, but he saw Ma Wensheng coming in a hurry.

Ma Wensheng said: "Binzhi, didn't you say that you should first slow down the matter of the household department's grain transfer?" Why hasn't there been any slowdown? ”

"What?" Li Dongyang frowned.

"The grain has been transferred out in the past few days, and it is all going to the port by land, saying that it is going to be transported to Liaodong by sea, don't you know about this?" Ma Wensheng was also surprised.

You, Li Dongyang, control the situation, that's how you control it?

Li Dongyang said: "Ma Butang, how do you know? ”

Obviously, Li Dongyang didn't believe it.

Ma Wensheng sighed: "I don't know, but even the governor in Xuanfu already knows about it, guess how I know?" The grain transportation of the Beijing division is related to the transportation of money and grain to the northwest, and the Xuanfu as a granary will also have an official document from the household department...... Didn't anyone tell you? ”

Li Dongyang was stunned.

Only then did he realize that Liu Daxia, the governor of Xuanfu, was recommended by Ma Wensheng, and Liu Daxia was a good hand in managing finances.

As a result, in just a few days, Liu Daxia learned about the situation and passed it on to the Jingshi in time, but he was the elder of the Jingcheng Pavilion who didn't know about it at all.

"What the hell is the household department going to do?" Li Dongyang was furious.

Ma Wensheng sighed: "That Shangshu, I heard that he has been sick and retired, the left waiter is on the three sides, and the right waiter is in the listening office, but it is the right waiter in the listening office who is handling this matter." I'm afraid that if you look for the household, it will be in vain, because ...... Alas! Your Majesty wants to use troops, it is better not to forcibly obstruct it. (End of chapter)