Afternoon of August 28th.
At the same time as the Nanjing Autumn Examination ended, Chongzhen, who was far away in Beijing, received an urgent secret letter sent over a distance of 600 miles.
The letter recorded what Li Banghua did when he arrived in Nanjing.
Chongzhen felt a little unhappy after reading it.
The reason why he was unhappy was not because Li Banghua killed one Li Shi, but because he disliked Li Banghua for only killing one Li Shi.
If it were him, at least double-digit number of Nanjing nobles and court officials would have died.
Chongzhen threw the secret letter to Wang Chengen beside him and asked, "Who does Li Shi belong to?"
Wang Chengen first picked up the secret letter on the ground, and then hurriedly replied: "To reply to the emperor, it is Gao Shiming's people."
"Gao Shiming..." Chongzhen whispered the name.
Gao Shiming has been traveling since March last year and only returned to the capital around the Dragon Boat Festival this year.
After returning to the capital, he fell seriously ill and has not yet recovered.
Chongzhen still highly recognized Gao Shiming's loyalty.
However, Chongzhen expressed doubts about his ability to employ people.
At this time, Wang Chengen had also finished reading the secret letter. He stood beside Chongzhen with his head down, at a loss.
Chongzhen stood up and walked around the hall for a while, then said to Wang Chengen, "You will be the one to take charge of the Jiangnan Weaving Bureau."
Wang Chengen was surprised at first, then he was overjoyed.
What does this mean?
It means that the emperor is going to give him real power.
Although he was the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department before this, his power was limited to the imperial palace.
Out of the palace...No, he couldn't leave the palace.
but...
Once he has the personnel power of the eunuch in charge of the Jiangnan Weaving Bureau, his power can take root outside the palace.
With power comes money.
While Wang Chengen was in a daze, Chongzhen began to instruct him: "I have three requests."
"I'm all ears!" Wang Cheng'en knelt on his knees, and his hot forehead came into intimate contact with the cold floor tiles.
"First, you can be a little greedy, but you must not be too greedy."
"Second, do not disturb the residents, and do not interfere with the governance of local officials."
"Three, be my eyes."
After hearing these three requests, Wang Chengen's tense nerves finally relaxed. He knelt on the ground, kowtowed and promised: "Your Majesty, rest assured, I will definitely take good care of the people below."
Chongzhen's requirements may seem low, but they are actually not low.
The first requirement alone is difficult for most people to meet.
In that era of lack of supervision and full of human relationships, corruption was inevitable.
For example.
A recommends B to be assigned to work abroad.
In order to repay the favor, B has to give A gifts during festivals, otherwise he will be seen as an ungrateful person in the eyes of others.
Giving gifts requires money.
If they were not corrupt, they could only bring back two bags of soil from Nanjing with their salary.
Therefore, corruption is inevitable.
Officials would be much more restrained under the supervision of the censors, but it was different for eunuchs.
There is no one supervising them, so they act according to their conscience.
Chongzhen felt that since corruption could not be avoided, the only option was to limit the scale of corruption.
After receiving Wang Chengen's verbal assurance, Chongzhen stood up and walked out of the hall.
The Yongwei Battalion and the Jinyiwei had been waiting for a long time. They escorted the imperial carriage out of the imperial city and headed towards a mansion in the west of the city.
The home of Fan Jingwen, Minister of Works and Minister of Rites of the Ming Dynasty: Fan Mansion.
Chongzhen came here for only one purpose: to support Fan Jingwen.
Li Banghua left Beijing and went south, and Fan Jingwen temporarily took over the position of Prime Minister of the Cabinet.
Some officials from other departments will cooperate and support, while others will secretly hinder.
In order to allow Fan Jingwen to quickly grasp real power and integrate into the work, Chongzhen decided to visit his home.
This kind of showmanship was equivalent to telling the officials of the six ministries clearly that he strongly supported Fan Jingwen and asked them not to do anything tricky.
As soon as the imperial carriage left the imperial city, the eunuchs told Fan Jingwen the news and asked him to be prepared.
Then a team of Jinyiwei rushed into the mansion and conducted a quick search. After making sure there was no danger, they stood still and took charge of guarding.
Fan Jingwen and his family stood outside the mansion early, ready to welcome Chongzhen's carriage.
When the imperial carriage turned the corner and arrived in front of the Fan Mansion, Fan Jingwen's family bowed at the same time and shouted "Long live the emperor".
When the emperor of the Ming Dynasty went out for a tour, the common people who came to welcome him did not need to kneel or kowtow, they only needed to bow.
Evidence for this can be found in paintings that record the travels of Ming Dynasty emperors.
It was not until the Qing Dynasty that the rulers at the time began to force people to kneel in order to strengthen the slave mentality.
Chongzhen was a guest at Fan Jingwen's home, and as a guest he certainly couldn't ask the host to kneel.
So he asked the eunuch to tell Fan Jingwen in advance to bow.
Chongzhen stepped down from the imperial carriage and returned the greetings to Fan Jingwen and his family, then walked into the front hall of Fan's mansion.
After some polite exchanges, Chongzhen sat in the guest seat and Fan Jingwen sat in the main seat.
The rest of the people were standing in various corners of the room.
Fan Jingwen was very nervous, after all, the other party was the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty.
Chongzhen was not in a hurry to speak, but looked around.
Poor, really poor!
Although the furniture in the house was complete, most of it was a bit shabby. The floor was half brick and half earth, which looked very inconsistent.
But the house was very clean and people didn't feel uncomfortable.
"Your Majesty, please have some tea!" Fan Jingwen personally handed Chongzhen a cup of tea.
Chongzhen took the teacup and took a sip. Feeling it was okay, he held the cup and drank the tea in three or two gulps.
After I finished drinking it, I noticed out of the corner of my eye that there was a signature on the bottom of the teacup.
He turned over the teacup and took a closer look, and saw the six words "Made in the Xuande Period of the Ming Dynasty" written on the bottom of the teacup.
The teacup is made of Sumali blue, which is the most common color, and bright red, which is the most precious color. Judging from the exquisiteness of the teacup and the style of the signature, it is obviously an imperial kiln porcelain of the imperial palace at that time.
There are many ways for imperial kiln porcelain to flow out of the palace, such as rewards from the emperor, rewards from concubines, and secret sales by eunuchs.
"What a nice teacup from the Xuande period. Minister Fan also likes antiques?" Chongzhen asked with a smile.
Fan Jingwen blushed and said, "Your Majesty, I do like antiques. But since my family doesn't have much spare money, I only bought a set of Xuande tea sets."
Chongzhen nodded, stared at the tea set for a while, and said leisurely: "How much did Minister Fan spend on this tea set?"
"Fifty ounces of silver."
"Oh, what a pity." Chongzhen sighed.
Fan Jingwen was slightly startled: "Your Majesty, please explain clearly."
Wang Chengen explained, "Minister Fan, your majesty means that you bought a fake."
"Fake? No way!" Fan Jingwen stood up anxiously.
He had this tea set appraised by an expert and confirmed to be authentic. How could it be a fake?
He took the other teacup and examined it carefully, but he could not find any flaws.
After thinking it over, Fan Jingwen asked tentatively: "Your Majesty is also interested in antiques?"
"I'm not interested in this."
After hearing this, Fan Jingwen mustered up the courage to ask back: "Then how does Your Majesty know that this tea set is a fake?"
Chongzhen blinked his eyes and said something that hurt Fan Jingwen: "There are many Xuande tea sets in the palace, and yours is different from the ones in the palace."
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