Rise From the Humble

Emperor Jiajing was an emperor with a heavenly appearance. Although he was delayed by cultivating immortals and refining elixirs, and although he had not been in court for more than ten years, not going to court did not mean that he was neglecting government affairs. Emperor Jiajing firmly controlled the affairs of the court, and the court officials No disturbance can escape his ears and eyes.

Since he came to the throne, there has not been a day when he has not lost power. He has mastered political power to the point of perfection. Zhang Cong, Xia Yan, Yan Song... seem to have unlimited glory, but they are just pawns in the hands of Emperor Jiajing. That’s all.

Genius is not scary, but diligent genius is scary.

It is true that Emperor Jiajing was obsessed with cultivating immortals and refining elixirs, but Emperor Jiajing was also famous for his diligence, often reviewing memorials until late at night.

I guess in modern times, most people can only play games until late at night.

Emperor Jiajing, the king of a country, is so diligent. Shouldn't we also be diligent from time to time on a whim?

Emperor Jiajing was vigorous and resolute.

When he was about to get off work in the afternoon, Emperor Jiajing lost his temper in the cabinet. After losing his temper, he ordered a court meeting to discuss the empty treasury.

Tingyi is also a gathering of courtiers, which is a deliberation system started in the Ming Dynasty.

Because the incident occurred suddenly, Zhu Ping'an and other cabinet officials were sent out to urgently notify relevant personnel of the court meeting.

Zhu Ping'an was responsible for notifying Sun Yingkui, the Minister of Household Affairs.

When Zhu Ping'an came to the Ministry of Revenue, many officials in the Ministry of Revenue had already gone home from get off work, but Sun Yingkui was still at work.

Sun Yingkui is a white-bearded old man in his sixties, with neat official uniform and meticulously combed white hair. After hearing that Zhu Pingan came to discuss the matter with the court, Sun Yingkui looked up at Zhu Pingan and said with a formulaic smile. , "Master Zhuangyuan, please wait for a moment until I have sorted out the income and expenditure of the warehouse before leaving. Liu Er serves tea to Master Zhuangyuan."

"Thank you very much, Sun Shangshu, but please hurry up, Sun Shangshu."

After Zhu Pingan thanked Sun Yingkui, he reminded Sun Yingkui to tidy up quickly, and then sat down to wait for Sun Yingkui.

The clerk named Liu Er in the room poured Zhu Pingan a cup of tea, and Zhu Pingan thanked him again.

Sun Yingkui checked the books while sorting out Taicang's income and expenditure.

Zhu Ping'an silently glanced at the stack of books and several organized income and expenditure records on Sun Yingkui's desk. He knew in his heart that Sun Yingkui had already sorted out most of them before he came, and now he just needed to finish the work.

It seemed that Sun Yingkui had already anticipated today when he submitted the letter, so he did not get off work but was sorting out Taicang's income and expenditure.

Sun Yingkui is not a famous figure in history, and Zhu Pingan has not paid much attention to Sun Yingkui in modern times.

However, after Zhu Ping'an came to the capital, he had heard of Sun Yingkui.

In other people's words, Sun Yingkui, as an admonisher when he was young, offended the powerful many times and was an official with high integrity. However, since Sun Yingkui got older, especially after he took charge of the household department, his reputation has not been as good as before. Everyone's evaluation of Sun Yingkui can be described by an idiom: he is contented with everything.

No matter what everyone thinks, from today's short contact, Zhu Ping'an dare not underestimate Sun Yingkui.

This is an experienced official in the officialdom who can predict the thoughts of Emperor Jiajing. There are not many officials in the entire Ming Dynasty who can do this.

No matter if he is just trying to keep his peace or not

With his political acumen, Zhu Pingan did not dare to underestimate him.

Sun Yingkui said that the cup of tea is the cup of tea. When Zhu Ping'an's cup of tea was almost finished, Sun Yingkui had already sorted it out.

The Ministry of Hubu was just outside Xiyuan. Zhu Pingan and Sun Yingkui, Shangshu of the Ministry of Hubu, arrived at Xiyuan quickly.

This court meeting was held in Wuyi Cang.

There are three cabinet ministers, Yan Song, Lu Ben and Xu Jie, Sun Yingkui, the Minister of Hubu, He Ao, the Minister of the Ministry of War, the Minister of the Ministry of Industry, the Minister of the Ministry of War, the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, the Minister of Rites, the General Affairs Secretary, the left and right censors of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and more than a dozen other ministers. The dignitaries entered the Wuyi Hall in two rows, facing the dragon throne in the middle. They knelt on the ground and waited for Emperor Jiajing to arrive.

Zhu Ping'an, Li Chunfang and other four people, as cabinet officials, were also honored to participate in this court meeting. They also knelt on the ground further away in the hall.

I knelt down like this for about ten minutes.

Zhu Ping'an was kneeling behind him, and he was sure that Emperor Jiajing was still angry and came late on purpose to show off these ministers.

He himself was implicated.

After kneeling for ten minutes, I heard the sound of the whip three times. Then two teams of eunuchs came in one after another holding golden furnaces, Bagua mats and other utensils. They burned ambergris in an orderly manner and arranged the utensils. Then, It was a group of palace maids holding palace fans who walked in surrounded by Emperor Jiajing.

Emperor Jiajing, as before, wore a blue cloth Bagua Taoist robe, and Shi Shiran sat on the dragon chair, showing extraordinary majesty.

After Emperor Jiajing sat on the dragon throne, the officials who were kneeling in the ground, led by Yan Song, shouted "Long live the emperor, long live, long live". After shouting "long live the emperor" three times, they put their heads to the ground. Everyone was extremely respectful to Emperor Jiajing.

"All your ministers, please live in peace, Huang Ban, give Wei Zhong a seat." Emperor Jiajing sat on the dragon chair and glanced at everyone, waving his hand.

"Long live thanks." All the officials shouted their thanks and then stood up one after another.

Huang Jin led a young eunuch to bring Yan Song a mat embroidered with Bagua patterns, and asked Yan Song to sit down to discuss matters. Yan Song was old and still insisted on kneeling down to thank Emperor Jiajing. Emperor Jiajing waved his hand, and Yan Song dared to sit down. .

This is Yan Song's unique benefit. Other officials have to stand to discuss matters.

The sound of a chime signified the official start of the court meeting.

The little eunuchs in the main hall walked quickly out of Wuyi Cang with their heads lowered and closed the door of the hall.

"I think you all know why I called you here today. You are all my loyal ministers. You can speak freely today. I will not sin by speaking. I will listen to what you have to say to me today."

Emperor Jiajing glanced at each minister one by one with burning eyes, then waved the sleeves of his large Taoist robe and leaned on the dragon chair.

The hall was quiet for a second, and then Yan Song spoke. As the chief minister of the cabinet, he should be the first to speak at this time.

"In recent years, our dynasty has been troubled by many things, including Japanese invaders from the north and Japanese invaders from the north, natural and man-made disasters... But as the saying goes, a country thrives on adversity. Thanks to the wisdom of the Holy One, our dynasty has gone through hardships and become more stable, and the country is picturesque... ...Your Majesty has been so gracious and blessed the people. We should bathe in His Majesty's grace and think of serving the country. If we cannot share His Majesty's worries, how can we have the face to bathe in His Majesty's grace? It would be better to resign..." Yan Song said slowly.

"What Mr. Yan Ge said is true." Xu Jie was the first to nod.

"Master Xu, where do you think we should start?" Yan Song looked at Xu Jie and asked.

"Just now, Master Yan said that our government has been in many troubles in recent years. I foolishly thought that the national treasury is the key. If the national treasury is full, then there will be sufficient border wages, and there will be no fear of Japanese invaders from the north and south. If there will be food relief funds, there will be no fear of natural disasters. And the national treasury is sufficient. Whether it is or not is nothing more than a matter of revenue and expenditure. If it receives too much and spends too little, the treasury will be sufficient; if it collects too little and spends too much, the treasury will be empty. No one knows the state of the treasury better than Sun Shangshu of the Ministry of Revenue. Now that it’s clear, we’d better ask Sun Shangshu of the Ministry of Revenue to explain Taicang’s revenue and expenditure items to us, so that we can have a clear target.” Xu Jie cupped his hands and said slowly.