Chapter 145: Shocking Change (Part 1)
Long before Yan Donglou returned to Beijing, the news of victory had been quickly sent to the palace through a secret passage and directly reached the presence of Master Feixuan.
Of course, the situation on the battlefield was changing rapidly, and a reversal was possible at the last minute. Before the peace treaty was actually signed and the weapons were handed over, the central government would never dare to celebrate at halftime, as this would only make things awkward. So even though the news had already been reported, Zhenjun remained quite sensible and kept silent, not even leaking the information to his close confidants. However, despite this, the palace servants who served him closely could still easily detect the change in the situation - after all, no matter how patient and restrained the True Lord was, his weird temper could never be concealed.
Princess Sishan has a deep understanding of this point. Perhaps because he felt that the emperor's daughter was alone and posed no threat, the emperor was too lazy to pretend his emotions in front of his own daughter and could vent his mean, ungrateful, vicious nature without restraint. Two years ago, the Shao family suffered a great loss at the hands of the Spaniards in Guangdong. After receiving the memorial, the emperor flew into a rage and overturned all the tables and chairs on the spot. He threw a bowl of hot tonic in the emperor's face, almost hitting the princess who was serving at the side and causing her head to bleed and suffer severe burns. The words he used in anger and out of control, cursing the cabinet, the six ministries, and the officials of the Foreign Affairs Office were so sarcastic and unbelievable that the princess was so frightened that she covered her ears and almost fainted on the spot.
——Judging from the quality of this anger, the emperor may have really lost a lot.
Fortunately, this rage did not last long. After the cabinet drew up a charter for declaring war on Spain, Zhenjun's anger subsided temporarily. Although he still made sarcastic remarks from time to time, he never lost his composure like he did that day. If there were no slight marks left on the burns on his hands, who could have predicted the horrors of the past by looking at the emperor's fluttering robes when he appeared?
As the war progressed steadily, the gold market in Southeast Asia fluctuated accordingly, and Zhenjun, who lived alone in Xiyuan, developed other interests. At that time, there was a secret channel between the palace and Guangdong Construction, and an account book would be delivered by express horse every ten days. This account book must be brought directly before the emperor without any delay, and no eunuchs or palace maids inside or outside the palace are allowed to touch it without permission. On the day of receiving the account book, the always leisurely True Lord would definitely take out more than half an hour, dismiss everyone and close the doors and windows, leaving only Princess Sishan to accompany him to grind ink and hold the lamp. He would then take out an abacus and carefully check the data row by row. In the huge hall, the abacus beads clattered as the True Lord took the trouble to check them one by one. He actually enjoyed it and showed no sign of boredom. It can only be said that he was born a financial saint, and it was a waste of his talent to be an emperor.
Obviously, this is the emperor's deepest and most secret privacy, a trump card that cannot be told to anyone; such a secret must be buried deep in his heart forever, and even the closest eunuch and the crown prince who is bound to inherit the throne must not be privy to it. If Princess Sishan had not vowed to become a nun and would never leave the palace in her lifetime, the emperor would not even let his own daughter hear the sound of abacus beads.
Things like money and power cannot be borrowed in the slightest even from one's own flesh and blood!
Because of this kind of vigilance, like guarding against thieves, the princess never knew the contents of the account book, but she could clearly sense the changes in the emperor's mood. After the accident of the Shao family's ship, the emperor was depressed and eager to vent. Although he did not publicly rebuke the central government, he often did some insidious little things; such as writing small pieces of paper and making up riddles, warning important ministers to "take care of themselves" and "think carefully"; he asked the Hanlin Academy to check the national history and compile a book of the guilty ministers who had betrayed the grace and neglected their duties in the cabinets of all dynasties, "for reference"; as for how to refer to it, it was unknown - all kinds of hints, all kinds of yin and yang, greatly aggravated the mental consumption of the cabinet and the central government.
——It can be said that over the past two years, the Cabinet and the Foreign Affairs Office have basically been fighting on two fronts. On the one hand, they are physically fighting passionately with the Spaniards, and on the other hand, they are unilaterally enduring the emperor's endless bullying mentally. It is actually quite difficult to say which of the two consumes more energy.
But fortunately, as the account books grew thicker and the abacus beads grew louder, the emperor's anger and depression visibly disappeared. He stopped smashing cups, making up riddles, and writing inexplicable little notes, and gradually returned to his elegant and leisurely manner; when he felt like it, he would even reward the cattle and horses on duty with two bowls of tonic.
Of course, the efficacy of the tonic is actually quite questionable, but as long as the True Lord stops giving Niu Ma strength, it would be a great favor.
When the news of victory reached the court, the joy became even more sincere. The True Lord could not express his opinion publicly, but he sent out three messengers in one day, rewarded important officials of the central government several times, and praised the cabinet for being "daring to take on responsibilities", "shrewd and experienced", and "the backbone of the country". The gloomy and terrifying pressure of the past seemed to disappear in an instant like a spring breeze and rain, and disappeared in the warm sunshine.
Such joy even overflowed into other official business. On the day after receiving the good news, the emperor got up early as an exception and ordered the princess to fetch all the memorials that had been piled up for many days. He cleared them out as he pleased, and was generally magnanimous and considerate, showing the rare generosity and kindness of imperial power. It was not until he flipped through the familiar handwriting on a certain memorial that Master Feixuan's smile faded slightly, and he looked a little unhappy.
"Where did this memorial come from?" he asked even though he knew the answer.
After being beaten by the True Lord for so long, the princess has finally gotten her skills right. She glanced at the cover and answered honestly:
“It should be from Zhejiang.”
"From Zhejiang?" The emperor said calmly, "In the past six months, there have been many memorials from Zhejiang."
Princess Sishan lowered her head and stood with her hands, not daring to say a word. After serving the emperor for so long, even if he "doesn't care about government affairs", he should have practiced it. Although she could not read the official documents carefully, but just a glance at the emperor's face told her that her father's temper had been touched again and he was furious.
Over the past few years, the emperor has been sitting still for a long time and has been thinking of taking action. Using his external relatives, the Yan Party, and the Embroidered Uniform Guard as his white gloves, he has made close arrangements and reaped endless profits in Southeast Asia. The connections are so great that even the current naval war between China and the West is mostly to cover up the royal family's extravagance and wastefulness.
Such unscrupulous trade and speculation could certainly not be hidden from the eyes and ears of the entire court; cargo and merchant ships were coming and going in a constant stream, and everyone knew about the extravagance in the palace. But they don't worry about things that don't concern them. Most bureaucrats are confused by the pursuit of profit and afraid of imperial power, so they dare not speak out their opinions when the emperor is in high spirits and in high spirits. The whole court was silent, the censors were obedient and public opinion was weak. Zhenjun could do whatever he wanted and was unbridled, not subject to any legal constraints - until a year ago, when he received a memorial from Hai Gangfeng, co-organizer of the Foreign Affairs Office, Zhejiang councilor, and prefect of Shaoxing.
Due to his low official rank, Prefect Hai was unaware of the chaos in the Forbidden City; but as he was in charge of the Zhejiang Special Economic Zone and the Southeast Customs, he was able to spy on the secrets of the palace from clues of trade. Hai Gangfeng was obviously not the type to be conservative and perfunctory. After finding out the evidence one by one, he wrote a letter to the Ninth Heaven, revealing the shy and hidden underwear of the True Lord. The memorial was clear and concise, leaving no room for misunderstanding or ambiguity. It started with three core demands:
1. Palace eunuchs and relatives of the emperor in Beijing often forced people to buy and sell goods at Zhejiang Customs. Who was protecting and condoning them? I have already arrested and detained him. I request the court to conduct a strict trial according to the law.
2. I have discovered that the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau purchased luxurious and useless Southeast Asian treasures for the palace, spending huge amounts of money on them. Now that the war is raging, the court is still squandering huge sums of money to buy such things. Doesn't this make the officers and soldiers and craftsmen feel disheartened? I have detained all the treasures. Those that can be returned have been returned, and those that cannot be returned have been sealed up for sale in the future. This is all for the sake of your Majesty's virtue and reputation. I suggest that high-ranking officials in the court should not meddle in other people's affairs.
3. I heard that Your Majesty was secretly speculating in gold in Southeast Asia. This is truly outrageous. The Holy Emperor has everything, why would he pursue such illusory profits that are similar to gambling? If the emperor himself were engaged in speculation, how could he persuade the people to develop industries and enrich the country and strengthen the military? This is really not the behavior that an emperor should have. I hope Your Majesty will stop it immediately, otherwise his innocence will inevitably be tarnished in future history books.
——No extravagance allowed! No forced buying! No speculation! Hai Gangfeng is in charge of everything, so why doesn’t he just be the emperor’s father?
It can be imagined that the emperor was so angry and depressed that he could not control himself when he received such unpleasant words. That is, he was in a very good mood after winning the naval battle, and with the loyalty value of the Heavenly Book protecting him, the True Lord endured it and did not explode immediately; but he still grabbed the memorial and threw it into the spittoon, expressing his dissatisfaction directly:
"Burn them all! Don't reply even a single word!"
How can a monarch who holds dictatorial power and a tyrant who claims to have the power of heaven allow you to criticize him like this? Even with the guarantee of the Heavenly Book, Zhenjun's anger could not be eliminated. Burning the memorials to humiliate the ministers was not enough, he also secretly ordered people to do some tricks - most of the naval battles between China and the West were based in Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Guangdong as logistical bases, and victories in the front would also be rewarded in the rear; but the officials in Guangdong and Jiangsu were promoted, while the prefect Hai, who contributed the most, remained unchanged, and it was obvious that he was left out in the cold.
Cold treatment, indifference, humiliation, ridicule, the imperial power has endless means of torturing its subjects, and no one can resist. A loyal minister? Yan Fenyi, Xu Shaohu, which one of the cabinet ministers was not a reputable and upright minister who dared to give advice and write letters to the emperor? But when the True Lord's iron fist strikes, it won't be rolled into a round shape, but flattened.
It's a pity that the steel is so soft as to be as soft as silk. It's understandable that a small official like him, who was born as a juren, can't stand the grinding of the furnace of officialdom!
...Then, Zhenjun received the second, third, and forty-fifth and sixth memorials admonishing the emperor and impeaching the external relatives.
It’s not over yet, right? !
It's not that Zhenjun didn't try other tactics; he sent eunuchs from the Imperial Household Department to warn Hai Gangfeng to tone down his edge, but Prefect Hai arrested the man, fined him five hundred taels of silver for exceeding the law and disturbing the people, and scared the eunuch away; he sent a note to the censor, suggesting that the Zhejiang officials find some fault with Prefect Hai to shut him up, but the note was passed down without any news, and instead the Governor of Zhejiang took the initiative to write a letter to the court, praising Prefect Hai for his outstanding achievements and good conduct, and suggested that the court quickly transfer him out of Zhejiang, the higher the better, and it would be best if he never returned to Jiangnan in his lifetime.
——In the end, the emperor was even forced to use the dangerous bomb of Prince Mu. He sent someone to give Mu a small piece of paper with a riddle, suggesting that Duke Mu should take charge of the officials he recommended. But it is not known whether the prince did not understand or even if he understood it he could do nothing about it. Anyway, he has now received the seventh memorial.
Bastard! If the Lord doesn't show his might, you will think that the imperial power can be bullied!
The emperor glanced at the pile of memorials and his tone turned cold:
"I remember that Pan Yinchuan, who was recommended by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, submitted several memorials, all of which discussed the Yellow River."
"Yes." The princess honestly performed her duties as a secretary: "The cabinet has seen his plan and plans to appoint him to inspect the river works and try out this fundamental solution."
"Why, ministers, are you going to innovate and come up with some new tricks in water control?" The emperor laughed with an ambiguous meaning, "The Yellow River is repaired every year, and there are river disasters every year. When a sage appears, the Yellow River will be clean; but when has the Yellow River ever been clean? It seems nonsense to treat the root cause. The most important thing is to prevent the river from flooding and causing disasters. If the water submerges the top of the mountain and hugs the hills, it will cause disorder between the upper and lower levels, unrest in the court and the people, and will surely lead to a disaster."
He paused for a moment, picked up his brush and wrote the word "Mu" on the imperial paper:
"In this case, the cabinet should know."
It's another of those riddle-like, half-real and half-shady behaviors! But perhaps it was because of their blood connection and natural talent, Princess Sishan had been training with Lao Deng for a long time and had actually mastered the skill of catching shadows; now, after a moment of hesitation, she actually understood the strange hint - there was no doubt that the True Lord was taking advantage of the situation to express his grim dissatisfaction again. The monarch and father are mountains, and the ministers are rivers; if the rivers embrace the mountains and hills, it means that the ministers are unscrupulous and exceed the proper order between the monarch and his subjects, "which will surely lead to great disaster."
Reporting these words to the cabinet was undoubtedly the most direct blow to the Prince of Duke Mu, and it almost stripped the Duke's Mansion of its reputation. Obviously, the emperor had been irritated to the point of impatience and was unwilling to tolerate the advice of his loyal ministers; Hai Gangfeng was far away in Zhejiang, so it was not easy to take action for the time being, but Mu Qi, the person who recommended him, could not manage people well, so he should be punished.
reason? No reason. To involve others at will and to vent one's feelings wantonly, this is the emperor's privilege.
...To put it even more seriously, the fact that Zhenjun specifically mentioned Pan Yinchuan's memorial in his attack might be another way of hating the whole family. Hai Gangfeng, who was recommended by Mu Qi, angered the emperor, so Pan Yinchuan, who was also promoted by Mu, would also be implicated. The fire at the city gate affected innocent people. If Hai Gangfeng doesn't want to be involved, he has to learn to shut up!
To be honest, after realizing this incredible logic, Princess Sishan was stunned. The princess had been confined in the palace for too long and didn't quite understand the logic of the operation of imperial power. After hearing such an incredible operation, she was inevitably horrified:
——No way, is this really how we want to play it?
She stood there and hesitated for a moment, as if still hoping that the emperor would suddenly wake up and take back his order. But she was still too naive. The emperor looked at her indifferently, and the princess had no choice but to obey. She took the imperial letter and walked out quickly.
·
By the time the princess disappeared outside the door, there were no outsiders left in the huge palace. Zhenjun let out a long breath of foul air from his nostrils and sat cross-legged comfortably on the couch; after venting his anger, his daily workload had been completed and he could enjoy the leisure time he deserved - he took out the Heavenly Book again.
Perhaps because the peace treaty has not yet been formally signed, there are not many historical echoes leaked from the Heavenly Book. Basically, they are just scattered fragments, which cannot satisfy Zhenjun's urgent desire for spoilers and his desire to leave his name in history. And for some reason, regarding the so-called "Sino-Western naval battle", the Heavenly Book did not contain any other information, but the content marked as [Not suitable for public disclosure] was extremely rich, so rich that it was enough to affect the viewing experience - the emperor could see the smeared paragraphs just by turning a few pages, who could stand this?
However, Zhenjun has been with the Heavenly Book for many years and has gained a lot of experience. For example, he discovered that if he soaked the Heavenly Book in salt water and then repeatedly dropped it, the fonts on the pages would flicker and some strange prompts such as [bad contact] and [short circuit] would pop up. If he then carefully roasted it with a candlelight...
With a crackling sound, the candle wick in Zhenjun's hand shook, and a drop of candle oil suddenly rolled down, actually burning a huge black spot on the edge of the heavenly book.
The emperor took a breath, quickly moved the candle away, and took out a silk cloth to wipe it carefully. However, the burning of this drop of candle oil seemed to be the last straw that broke the camel's back. The heavenly book creaked and a few wisps of green smoke rose from the black spots, with a pungent and unpleasant smell. After a while, the paper began to tremble, and a lot of unreasonable content popped up:
【warn! warn! System carrier self-test failed, trying to troubleshoot]
[The fault cannot be corrected, the system will try to restart; some settings may be erased during the restart, please save your data]
[Restart failed, restart again——]
After making a creaking sound for half a day, the Heavenly Book suddenly began to flash violently; a large amount of text suddenly disappeared and suddenly reappeared, interspersed with inexplicable garbled characters; this strange movement frightened the emperor, who could only carefully put the book on the ground and stepped away from it with fear - the magic weapon of the immortals was really strange and mysterious, and it was completely incomprehensible...
After flashing for two quarters of an hour, the Heavenly Book finally stopped, or in other words, it "restarted successfully". It first went blank, and then suddenly a large amount of text popped up:
[…There is no doubt that these actions have greatly shaken the imperial power…]
Zhenjun suddenly widened his eyes!
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