Chapter 202 You stabbed His Majesty's lung
The main gate of Xiyuan.
When they saw Jiang Qingzhi, the guards had bitter faces, and one of them came over and said, "Master, those flower trees can no longer be dug up!"
"What do you mean?" Jiang Qingzhi had recently dug up a lot of flower trees and brought them home, and was preparing to renovate the environment at home.
"Look." The guard pointed inside, "Yesterday, His Majesty saw those holes and asked who did it..."
The Taoist priest actually started to pay attention to the environment?
The guard saw that he looked unhappy and smiled, "Your Majesty learned that it was the Earl who dug it... It wasn't our brothers who said that, it was the eunuchs. But His Majesty was not angry."
"Then let's not dig." Jiang Qingzhi said.
The guard praised: "My Lord, you are very righteous."
"Come back next spring."
The guard almost stumbled.
"next year……"
There was a group of gardeners in the West Garden, but because Emperor Jiajing spent all day in the palace cultivating or handling state affairs, no one paid attention to the flowers and trees outside. As time went by, the gardeners had nothing to do.
I am a man who clearly distinguishes between gratitude and resentment. If you take my money, you must do things for me. If you only take the money but don't do the work, I'm sorry. I won't tolerate your bad habits. Get out!
Jiang Qingzhi felt that he was doing a good deed.
Jiang Qingzhi couldn't help but feel happy when he thought about the coming spring when flowers bloom and the colorful flowers here again.
"My Lord, it's His Royal Highness the Crown Prince." The eunuch in front stopped and stepped aside.
The prince was surrounded by people and walked over. When he saw Jiang Qing, he smiled and said, "Uncle, are you here to see our father?"
"Yes!" Jiang Qingzhi nodded, and Qin Li said, "Chang Wei Bo, you should pay attention to etiquette."
"Shut up!" The prince shouted at Qin Li. It seemed that he was defending Jiang Qingzhi, but he made Jiang's arrogance particularly eye-catching.
Boy, your rank has improved a lot!
Jiang Qingzhi naturally didn't care about this, but when he thought about the prince's impending death, he couldn't help but feel troubled for a moment.
The prince asked, "Does my cousin have time?"
This is an invitation.
Jiang Qingzhi shook his head, "I have something to ask your Majesty."
The prince smiled and said, "In that case, please do as you please, cousin."
Looking at Jiang Qingzhi's back, the prince's smile gradually faded, "He refused."
"He rejected my kindness!" The prince's eyes were filled with anger. "He would rather be nice to the third and fourth brothers than smile at me."
Qin Li was startled, only then did he realize that Jiang Qingzhi always had a very strange expression on his face every time he saw the prince.
It seems like pity, but also like entanglement and regret.
Just don't laugh.
"Your Highness, Lord Chang Wei's authority is growing, and he is sometimes a bit unserious," someone advised.
Moreover, the atmosphere between the prince and Jiang Qingzhi was very awkward. If they were to sit opposite each other, they would not know what to say.
It’s better to part ways.
……
"Haha! Little brat!"
Before reaching Wuyi Palace, Jiang Qingzhi happened to see Prince Yu and Prince Jing confronting each other with eyes wide open.
"Cousin."
The two saluted.
"What's going on?" Jiang Qingzhi asked.
Prince Jing pointed at Prince Yu and said, "Before, the crown prince and we went together to ask for an audience with our father. The crown prince secretly mocked the two of us, and I fought back, but my third brother didn't say a word... I was the bad guy, but he was the good guy."
Prince Yu said, "What can I say? You have a mother who is a favorite concubine, and I am alone. If I say too much and my money and food are deducted later, will you compensate me?"
The prince's life in the palace is not as comfortable as imagined, and even the situation of an unfavored prince will be very bad.
King Jing was startled. "Who dares to withhold your money and food?"
"Why don't you eat meat porridge?" Prince Yu shook his head, saluted to Jiang Qingzhi, and then left.
King Jing was a little embarrassed, "I don't know who bullied my third brother. I will help him deal with him later."
Jiang Qingzhi thought of the historical incident where Prince Yu was so embarrassed that he had to bribe Yan Shifan in order to get the money and food that should have been given to him.
This little transparent guy...does he need a hand?
As soon as Jiang Qingzhi had the idea, he felt it was inappropriate.
Many times, adversity can temper people.
"Oh, right." King Jing remembered something. "My mother said that if my cousin is fine, he should keep an eye out for a girl he likes. If so, he should let me know. I will go to the girl's family and talk to her."
This means to act as a matchmaker for Jiang Qingzhi.
Anyone else would be so grateful that they would shed tears, but when Jiang Qingzhi thought of that arrogant girl Lu Shan'er, he lost all mood.
I can't afford those noble ladies.
He came from the future, and he liked ordinary women. As for the "beauties" with exquisite makeup on the screen, Jiang Qingzhi felt that they were not his cup of tea.
He is still that ordinary man at heart. No matter what a man has experienced outside or what status he has, when he returns home, he still has a wife and children and a warm bed.
"No hurry." Jiang Qingzhi still used this sentence to prevaricate.
Prince Jing went to see his mother and told her Jiang Qingzhi's reply.
"Not in a hurry? You'll be sixteen soon, and this is the perfect age to get married." Concubine Lu suddenly frowned and looked at King Jing, "I heard that someone is making trouble over there recently?"
King Jing sneered, "There are always people who want to climb into bed."
"You didn't use a knife, did you?" Thinking of the last time when Prince Jing hid a knife in the quilt and almost scared the palace maid who climbed onto the bed crazy, Concubine Lu Jing felt that she was so miserable to have such a weird son.
There are some rumors outside now, saying that King Jing is homosexual...it is because of this matter.
King Jing shook his head. "My cousin said I was stupid when he found out. I thought about it and realized that using a knife was indeed stupid. So I got a snake this time."
In the middle of the night, a woman with disheveled hair slowly entered the bedroom.
"Your Highness!" She lifted the quilt and threw herself on him shyly...
What came towards me was actually a snake.
"Get out! Get out!"
Concubine Lu Jing's roar could not be heard in Wuyi Palace, but the emperor's stern shout could frighten his subjects.
"What do you mean by not having enough money and food? If you had been less greedy, you wouldn't have to cry poor to me at the end of the year!"
Emperor Jiajing's face turned pale, and Zhu Xizhong said, "Your Majesty, why don't you arrest him and investigate him thoroughly?"
Emperor Jiajing shook his head. "It's easy to catch this man, but how many corrupt officials are there in the world? Once we see his fate, the people under his jurisdiction will encounter natural disasters and man-made disasters. For the sake of their official hats, they will definitely choose to conceal it. I don't hesitate to kill a few corrupt officials, but I can't bear to see the people suffer because of this."
Yan Song coughed dryly, "Your Majesty, why don't you order the censor to supervise? I remember there is still some money and grain that can be embezzled from the Ministry of Revenue. It would be better if the censor keeps an eye on it." Emperor Jiajing raised his eyebrows, but suddenly waved his hand, "Forget it."
What could he say?
Shouldn't the court take the blame for those idiots?
But in the end I couldn't bring myself to say it.
"I feel the difficulty that Wang Jinggong is going through, and I also feel the dilemma that Emperor Shenzong is in."
A single move can affect the entire body. If you don't move, it will be bad. If you move, it will be bad too. In the end, euthanasia is the best choice.
"Your Majesty, Long Wilbur requests to see you."
When Jiang Qingzhi came in, Emperor Jiajing asked him the question without waiting for him to salute.
"To be honest, I admire Wang Jinggong's determination to eliminate the abuses. However, there are too many constraints, and he is stubborn and inflexible, so the new policy failed miserably."
"Where is Emperor Shenzong?" asked Emperor Jiajing.
"This..." Jiang Qingzhi thought for a moment, "The emperor is in the palace, what can he do!"
"What can I do? Yes! What can I do?!" Emperor Jiajing said, "I cannot transform into thousands of forms, so I can only sit back and watch those villains run rampant."
Comparing officials to thieves, the Taoist priest is indeed harsh.
Jiang Qingzhi took the opportunity to state his purpose, "Your Majesty, I think that the envoys of Altan Khan should be allowed to travel."
Ok?
Yan Song was stunned and wondered why Jiang Qingzhi brought up this matter for no apparent reason.
The same thing happened to Emperor Jiajing, whose expression turned calm.
Cui Yuan knew the temper of Emperor Jiajing, who was the most stubborn. Many of Altan's envoys had been killed in recent years, and suddenly someone said to spare their lives, and what was he talking about... Don't kill them from now on.
Isn't this just trying to please Emperor Jiajing?
Cui Yuan was delighted and said righteously, "How can the great Ming Dynasty share the host and guest with the remnants of the Mongols and Yuan Dynasty?"
The Ming Dynasty has always refused to recognize Altan as the successor of the Yuan Dynasty, and the two sides have been hostile for many years. Altan has always wanted to restore the prosperity of the Yuan Dynasty and rule the Central Plains. And Emperor Jiajing has never forgotten to completely wipe out this mortal enemy...
Both sides were putting on airs, so the envoys became cannon fodder.
"What guest of honor?" Jiang Qingzhi looked confused.
"When envoys come and go, what else can they be but host and guest? They are competing with each other!" Cui Yuan sneered.
The old playboy immediately offered his help to his brother, "Those foreign envoys who came to the court, are they also competing with each other? Remember what came a while ago... The Javanese envoys came to the court, and it seems that the Ministry of Rites treated them like VIPs!"
"That's tribute." Cui Yuan said.
Zhu Xizhong wanted to say that Altan's envoy also asked for tribute, but then he thought it would be embarrassing to make such an excuse, so he gave up.
Zhu Yuanzhang's vision is still narrow... Jiang Qingzhi said: "Altan's troops frequently invaded the nine borders, and at the same time continuously sent envoys to be killed by the Ming Dynasty. I want to ask Cui Fu Ma, is Altan a bitch?"
Of course not!
Otherwise, how could Altan become the overlord?
"The Ming Dynasty has everything, and Altan is jealous. But he cannot break through the nine border defenses, so he has no choice but to ask for tribute."
It seems that Cui Yuan has made great progress.
The so-called tribute is a variant of trade, which in many cases has evolved into a form of taking advantage.
When the foreign envoys arrived, there were thousands of people in total. They were provided with free food and drink along the way, and wandered around like bumpkins. In the end, they had to reward them with several times the gifts contributed by the other party, or even more.
So much so that later on, being an envoy to the Ming Dynasty actually became a lucrative job for foreign vassal states.
Jiang Qingzhi said: "Then why not?"
Cui Yan glanced at Emperor Jiajing and said, "Han and thieves cannot coexist!"
This is what is said in the later part of "The Memorial to the Emperor on Departure".
Jiang Qingzhi said: "No matter how much we curse Altan Khan and boast about the Ming Dynasty, we still cannot stop Altan Khan from roaming the grasslands and eyeing the Ming Dynasty covetously."
Cui Yuan sneered, "In this case, we should even more strictly isolate the envoys from coming and going."
"In terms of military strength, who is stronger, the Ming Dynasty or Altan Khan?" Jiang Qingzhi asked.
Cui Yuan said: "There are millions of Ming soldiers..."
"Lao Cui, stop talking about useless things and don't make me look down on you." Jiang Qingzhi used the petty-bourgeois method of provoking others.
"The Ming Dynasty is a little bit lacking at the moment." Cui Yuan said, "Because of this, we should cut off contact to prevent Altan from knowing our true intentions."
"By killing the messenger, we can prevent Altan from spying on the Ming Dynasty, and at the same time prevent the Ming Dynasty from learning about the strength of Altan's army." Jiang Qingzhi said, "If Altan is determined to go south, and the Ming Dynasty knows nothing about it, when the smoke of war spreads from the north to the capital, Altan's army will probably have already approached the capital."
Jiang Qingzhi was somewhat annoyed that these people had no strategic vision. "As for the strength of the Ming Dynasty, to be honest, the soldiers of the Nine Borders were so afraid of the enemy that why would Altan Khan need to find out? But the Ming Dynasty knew nothing about the true situation of Altan Khan's tribe."
Jiang Qingzhi saluted, "Your Majesty, as the Art of War says, if you know yourself and your enemy, you will win every battle. When two armies confront each other, whoever can learn the truth about the opponent and hide his sight will win. The Ming Dynasty is like a blind man..."
In history, when Altan Khan's army reached the capital, the emperor and his ministers in the capital suddenly realized that Altan Khan's tribe had become so powerful.
What a bunch of blind people!
Jiang Qingzhi sighed inwardly.
Cui Yuan said, "Chang Wei Bo is exaggerating..."
Emperor Jiajing was silent for a moment, "Go yourselves!"
The Taoist priest didn't express his opinion?
Jiang Qingzhi said: "Your Majesty, this matter..."
"Chang Wei Bo!" The eunuch came up, and the censor was also watching with eager eyes, ready to impeach.
Emperor Jiajing stood up and walked out first.
Cui Yuan gloated: "You stabbed His Majesty's lungs."
Jiang Qingzhi turned around and looked at him, "Hermaphrodite."
Jiang Qingzhi walked away.
Yan Song walked over slowly.
"Why didn't Yuanfu say anything just now?" Cui Yuan asked.
"This matter is not about reason, but about who can convince Your Majesty." Yan Song said slowly.
What he has to do is to be obedient and submissive.
I will do whatever your majesty says.
"What does Jiang Qingzhi mean by this?" Cui Yuan was pondering.
Yan Song said calmly: "Where does the merit come from?"
He pointed to the north and said, "For a young man, being a baron is already the pinnacle. But Jiang Qingzhi has now raised a banner in the court, so he needs merits to boost people's morale. Merits come from the battlefield."
Cui Yuan suddenly realized, "He is looking for an opportunity to go to war with Altan! And then he can raise the flag in the court."
Yan Song nodded, "He can't get past your majesty."
Emperor Jiajing was very concerned about his reputation and was extremely stubborn.
"Want to raise a flag in the court?" Cui Yuan sneered, "Then cut off his flagpole."
(End of this chapter)
