Chapter 850: The Flag Is Missing
Jiang Qingzhi returned home.
Invite Xia Yan and others as soon as possible.
"But is there something wrong? Nothing. I have an appointment." Xia Yan came in. "Someone is inviting guests to Baiyun Tower, saying it is a poetry gathering. A bunch of old bastards, the poetry gathering was held in a brothel, it was a fake poetry gathering for entertainment."
Xu Wei came in next, followed by Hu Zongxian.
Jiang Qingzhi sat there, holding Duoduo in his arms. His eyes were as bright as ink, his mouth was smiling, and his demeanor was dignified.
Jiang Qingzhi said, "Your Majesty entrusted me with an important task earlier and asked me to take charge of the new policy..."
Xia Yan blinked, "What did you say?"
Xu Wei shuddered, "Overall?"
Hu Zongxian's eyes sparkled, "This is... an opportunity!"
Jiang Qingzhi was observing the reactions of the three people.
Xia Yan was shocked, but he concealed his emotions in an instant, but his right hand trembled involuntarily a few times.
Xu Wei was simply shocked, and then he clapped his hands and laughed. This guy was not afraid of anything, but he was most afraid that no one would appreciate him and that his knowledge would be useless.
Hu Zongxian's eyes lit up with surprise, thinking of the history in which this man did not hesitate to flatter and bribe Zhao Wenhua in order to take charge of the anti-Japanese war. Jiang Qingzhi knew that Hu Zongxian must be extremely happy at this moment.
Among the three, Xu Wei and Hu Zongxian were the most determined.
So, what about Xia Yan?
"Lord Xia." Jiang Qingzhi would not be polite at this time. He needed the people around him to express their opinions. "This matter is set in stone. His Majesty's order will arrive soon."
Xia Yan stroked his beard and narrowed his eyes. "Since you are to be in charge of this matter, you must be given real power. Even if you are given the six ministers, it will only tie up your energy. In this case, the Political Affairs Hall must have one more prime minister. You are so young and you are the prime minister..."
It’s Xia Yan indeed!
Jiang Qingzhi nodded, "I think it's pretty close."
"There are no vacancies in the six ministries, otherwise, His Majesty might ask you to serve as the Minister of one of them concurrently." Xia Yan said.
This is as it should be, just like Xu Jie serving as Minister of Rites. But Jiang Qingzhi didn't care about this, "Old Wang is in the Ministry of War, which is no different from me serving as Minister."
Xia Yan nodded and said, "The capital will be in an uproar afterwards."
"Yes." Jiang Qingzhi took out the medicinal cigarette, and Duoduo in his arms meowed and patted his thigh.
“The world will be in an uproar.”
"Ok!"
Jiang Qingzhi is very patient.
He lit the incense and looked at Xia Yan through the smoke.
As the former Prime Minister, Xia Yan's understanding of the Ming Dynasty and grasp of the general situation in the world were of great help to Jiang Qingzhi.
Xia Yan looks old, but he has lost some of his former arrogance. The steady and calm Xia Yan is an indispensable helper in the new policy.
"If the new policy fails, you and I will be sinners of the Ming Dynasty. After that, those who deserve to die will die, and those who deserve to be destitute will be destitute..."
"Is Xia Gong scared?"
"I am afraid." Xia Yan said, "I am afraid that the new policy will fail, and there is no possibility of saving the Ming Dynasty. The country will perish... and the country will fall. I have lived enough, celebrate!"
Xia Yan's eyes were gleaming. "What I fear is that all my knowledge will be buried in the ground after my death. I won't accept this! A man dies and leaves his name behind, just as a wild goose leaves its voice behind. If you want to go crazy, then I will go crazy with you. If you live, the Ming Dynasty will be reborn. If you die, it will be a worthy death!"
"Someone come here!" Jiang Qingzhi raised his eyebrows, "Bring some wine!"
Four small bowls, four bowls of wine.
Jiang Qingzhi raised his bowl. He had a lot to say, but when he looked at the eager eyes of the three people, he suddenly felt that everything was unnecessary. "Cheers!"
"Dry!"
"Uncle, there is an order!" Fu Cheng's voice came from outside.
Jiang Qingzhi finished his drink, stood up and said with a smile: "I'll be right there."
The three of them stood up.
Follow him out.
The sun was shining brightly. Xia Yan looked up at the blue sky and said, "It's a good day!"
"It's a good omen!" said Hu Zongxian.
Xu Wei laughed loudly, "May the heaven protect the Ming Dynasty! Otherwise, we will perish together!"
Snapped!
Xu Wei covered the back of his head, "Mr. Xia..."
"Change your words!" Xia Yan stared at him, "Now!"
The rebellious Xu Wei hesitated for a moment, "Never mind, with my help, how can the new policy fail? Right!"
"Shameless!" Xia Yan pointed at him and laughed.
Amidst the laughter, Jiang Qingzhi saw Huang Jin and the imperial decree.
——Grand Secretary of Wuying Palace, directly in charge of the government affairs hall.
"Sanfu!" Xia Yan stood behind and said softly.
The cabinet ministers are also divided into levels. The chief minister is the leader, followed by the second minister, the third minister, etc.
Previously, there were only two assistant ministers in the Political Affairs Hall, the first assistant Yan Song and the second assistant Xu Jie. This time, with Jiang Qingzhi, there are exactly three.
"Xu Jie is blocking the way for the Lord!" Xu Wei sneered. Hu Zongxian disagreed with this view. "With Xu Jie blocking the way, there will be a buffer between the Lord and Yan Song."
"If Xu Jie hadn't been around, Lord could have faced Yan Song directly." Xu Wei's eyes were sharp. "Yan Song and his party will certainly be unwilling to see their power weakened. They won't dare to stab him openly, but they will not stop secretly. In this case, why not tear off the mask and have a fight!"
"If we fight against the Yan Party, those people will laugh their heads off and help Yan Song." Hu Zongxian felt that Xu Wei's mentality was a bit too radical. "Old Xu, Wen Chang, don't forget Wang Rong's lesson!"
Wang Rong, son of Wang Anshi. He was extremely intelligent and arrogant, similar to Yan Shifan and Xu Jie. After Wang Anshi took charge of the New Deal, Wang Rong remained behind the scenes and became his chief think tank.
Arrogant people are often radical, and Wang Rong is one of them. When his new policies were blocked, Wang Rong clamored to learn from Shang Yang and punish those who hindered the new policies.
That is to say, they should learn from the old story of Confucius killing Shao Zhengmao and kill a few people who oppose the new policy to serve as a warning to others.
Xu Wei was startled, then said, "My physique is much stronger than Wang Rong's."
Wang Rong died young. According to later generations' speculation, he was physically weak and arrogant. After his new policy suffered setbacks, he could not accept the reality and became furious.
Hu Zongxian was reminding Xu Wei not to imitate Wang Rong.
In front, the imperial edict was read out, and Jiang Qingzhi received it. Huang Jin's face was solemn, "Your Majesty asked, does Lord Chang Wei have a comprehensive consideration of the new policy?"
Xu Wei said: "This reminds me of Emperor Renzong of the former Song Dynasty."
During the Early Song Dynasty, Emperor Renzong felt that the country was in decline, so he ordered Fan Zhongyan and others to write a reform policy immediately and then launched a new policy.
Jiang Qingzhi said: "I will go to the palace later and report to Your Majesty in person."
Huang Jin nodded, and seeing Xia Yan and the others behind him, he could not help but praise them secretly. "By the way, when we go out of the palace to pass on an imperial decree, it seems that we have never returned empty-handed, right?" Huang Jin suddenly laughed.
Zhang Tong also came along and said, "Chang Wei's bacon is delicious, and there's fermented bean curd, and the chili powder is really appetizing."
Jiang Qingzhi smiled and said, "Fucheng."
Fu Cheng said from the side: "Leave this matter to this old servant."
Fucheng immediately went to the kitchen and asked the cook to bring down half of the bacon.
"Give me a few jars of fermented bean curd, too."
The cook saw that his face was full of rosy glow, and asked, "Does the housekeeper have any happy events?"
"It's a happy event for the whole family." Fu Cheng sighed, "When I went to Beijing for the stone, I thought I was just going to waste my remaining years, but who would have thought that I would become the steward of the prime minister of the dynasty."
"Prime Minister?"
The imperial edict just arrived, and Fucheng ordered the family members not to run around and to stay at their duties, so the cook was still unaware of this.
"The Grand Secretary of Wuying Palace is in charge of the new policy!" Fu Cheng didn't like to show off, but at this moment he couldn't help but pat the cook on the shoulder, "How do you feel about cooking for the Prime Minister?"
The cook slapped his forehead and said, "I actually became the cook of the prime minister's family?"
"That's right, he's the chef of the prime minister's family." Fu Cheng said with a smile.
"My wife is back."
Li Tian came back and happened to meet Huang Jin and others who were preparing to go back.
"Greetings to the county lady." Everyone saluted, and Li Tian squatted down, "Greetings to Eunuch Huang."
Huang Jin smiled and said, "The county lady should know, right?"
Li Tian nodded and glanced at her man.
Jiang Qingzhi smiled slightly.
After Huang Jin left, Li Tian said, "My in-laws were quite enthusiastic before, surrounding my mother and me and refusing to let us go."
Jiang Qingzhi held great power over the new policy, and when Chang's family heard the news, they erupted in outrageous enthusiasm.
The drunk man who attacked Chang's mother and daughter was in trouble. Jiang Qingzhi held great power, and it was not easy for him to deal with such a small person. But if he bowed his head and apologized, it would be embarrassing.
"At this moment, a woman rushed out and scratched his face with her claws, leaving several bloody marks. She kicked and beat him, and he couldn't be stopped. Husband, can you guess who this person is?"
The couple walked into the house side by side, and Jiang Qingzhi asked with a smile, "His wife?"
"That's right." Li Tian nodded, "A virtuous wife brings less trouble to her husband."
"Congratulations, sir."
Fucheng was really efficient. In just a moment, he gathered all the servants in the house and had them lined up in an orderly manner.
"Husband?" Jiang Qingzhi was a little tangled, "Let's just call him by his original title!"
"Isn't my husband nice?" Li Tian asked.
"There's no need to make a fuss about it." Jiang Qingzhi said casually.
In later generations, "husband" is not a good word.
"Then call me Lord?" Xia Yan asked jokingly.
"The name is just a code name." Jiang Qingzhi said, "Leave the rest to my wife. I won't get involved."
Li Tian immediately ordered a reward of 100 coins for each person.
Afterwards, the neighbors came to congratulate them after hearing the news. Li Tian asked Fucheng to entertain them, saying that this matter should not be publicized, so the banquet would not be held.
"This is the pattern for achieving great things." An old man said with emotion, "Don't be impatient or anxious."
Zhu Xizhong came in a hurry and had a secret discussion with Jiang Qingzhi. It was his turn to be on duty today, so he had to go back in a hurry.
Jiang Qingzhi discussed with Xia Yan and others for a long time that day and thought about the entire structure of the new policy.
Late at night, Jiang Qingzhi was still sleepless, and the same was true for the other three.
"Now that we have started, the taxation issue must be implemented as soon as possible. However, this matter affects the livelihood of those people, and what will happen..." Jiang Qingzhi looked at the three people who were equally energetic and thought of Zhang Juzheng.
"There will be blood." Xia Yan drank a sip of strong tea, and his brows were furrowed with bitterness. "But everything is difficult at the beginning. As long as we can handle the tax issue, everything will fall into place."
"To be honest, the tax issue is a bit urgent." Xu Wei said: "It stands to reason that we should rectify the administration of officials first. After rectifying the administration of officials, we can replace those who strongly oppose the new policy..."
Hu Zongxian shook his head. "Who supports the new policy? At least 50% of those who support it right now are speculators."
"It is better to speculate." Xu Wei said: "Use profit to lure them, and use profit to drive them."
"That's another Yan Party!" Hu Zongxian retorted.
"We are for the new policy, and the Yan Party is for wealth and glory. How can we compare?"
"Alright." Xia Yan stopped the argument between the two and said, "Now that things have come to this, we can only move forward!"
Xu Wei and the other man had no more objections.
"Mr. Xia, I probably won't be able to take care of everything from now on, so I hope you can help me with many things." Jiang Qingzhi stood up and bowed solemnly.
"I originally wanted to recommend myself, but I didn't expect you to be so impatient. Hahaha!" Xia Yan laughed.
"I'm happy to hear about the war, it's a good omen!" Xu Wei smiled.
As the sky gradually brightened, Jiang Qingzhi stretched out his body, still in good spirits.
"That's all! I'll go to the palace later."
Jiang Qingzhi returned to the backyard.
"Dapeng!" The child was laughing, and his laugh was very innocent.
Jiang Qingzhi held the child and said to Li Tian, "If anyone comes to see you in the next few days, don't agree to anything."
"I know." Li Tian suddenly said with a sad face: "Husband, do you think we can still wander around the alley leisurely from now on?"
"Yes!" Jiang Qingzhi nodded.
"Master!" Huang Yan'er looked unhappy, "The housekeeper sent a message, someone came from the manor outside the city, someone raided the manor last night, three people were seriously injured."
Jiang Qingzhi's smile froze.
There was more coldness in his eyes. Li Tian couldn't help but shudder when she saw it. She felt that the man in front of her was very strange.
"We just need someone to offer sacrifice to the flag!"
The decisive and murderous little warlord in the previous life suddenly appeared online.
(End of this chapter)
