Jinyi champion

Yang Shen called Zhu Hao to the library, and sat down to discuss with Zhu Hao about the Beijing Academy in detail.

Zhu Hao didn't tire of his troubles, so he could only listen patiently to Yang Shen's nagging.

Xu Jie from outside wanted to come in several times, but was blocked by Yu Chengxun. In the end, it was Sun Jiao who sent someone to rescue Zhu Hao... For some reason, Sun Jiao knew that Zhu Hao had returned to the Imperial Academy, so he rushed there in person and said It's something to discuss.

"Brother Yongxiu, forgive me, I have to go and have a good talk with Sun Butang, I can only talk later." Zhu Hao stood up with a smile.

Yang Shen looked at the door, his face was extremely impatient, probably because he didn't want to let Zhu Hao go.

But Zhu Hao had a reason, so he didn't stay any longer, got up and came to the door, he didn't even respond to Xu Jie who asked him what was going on, and went straight to the gate of the Imperial Academy.

Yu Chengxun said to Yang Shen: "What happened?"

Yang Shendao: "I want Jingdao to fulfill his responsibilities as a minister, but he evades in every possible way... Hey, this word is really not timed."

"Ha ha."

Yu Chengxun could only shake his head and smile wryly.

……

……

When Zhu Hao left the Imperial Academy, he saw Sun Jiao's carriage parked not far away, and Sun Jiao himself was standing in front of the carriage, discussing something with his own coachman.

The coachman pointed and said that Zhu Hao had come out, Sun Jiao turned his head, saw Zhu Hao and waved his hand, telling the coachman to drive away first.

"Respect."

When the two met, Sun Jiao greeted Zhu Hao before Zhu Hao could salute.

Zhu Hao arched his hands: "What wind brought Mr. Sun here?"

Sun looked at the entrance of the Imperial Academy before turning around: "Come with me."

Probably because he disliked the many eyes and ears at the gate of the Imperial Academy, and wanted to find a quiet place to talk with Zhu Hao.

The two walked for a while.

When he got to a place where no one was around, Sun Jiao asked in a low voice, "What special errand do you have when you go back to the Imperial Academy?"

"No."

Zhu Hao didn't hide anything, and told about Yang Shen's sending him to inquire about the Beijing Academy.

Sun Jiao shook his head and said: "Yongxiu is too radical. As far as I know, many young people are bewitched by him. If His Majesty insists on discussing rituals too much, he may have to mobilize scholars to take risks."

Zhu Hao laughed and said, "I don't know what Elder Sun meant by taking risks?"

Sun Jiao sneered: "Jingdao, with your wit and cunning, I don't think you can have no plan, you should know what the most radical thing he can do, maybe this is the reason why you have been in contact with him recently, because You also want to know his specific movements, don’t you?”

After Sun Jiao said this, Zhu Hao felt a little embarrassed.

Against Yang Shen?
Even if there was the Zuoshunmen incident in history, Zhu Hao also knew what the cause of the Zuoshunmen incident was. Zhu Hao had already made a plan before launching the next grand ceremony to make Zhu Si completely give up Ming Xiaozong's lineage... As for the contact with Yang Shen now, it was purely because Zhu Hao didn't want to tear himself apart with traditional scholars.

But it will be a matter of time before the two sides break up.

If the civil official group knew that Zhu Hao was the military adviser behind the emperor, they had been tricked for so long, once the matter was revealed, would they look good?

"If what Elder Sun said about taking the risk is that he took people to the palace gate to kneel and remonstrate, I don't think there is any need to worry too much, because the conflict has not yet developed to that point, has it?"

Zhu Hao found that the depth and breadth of the matters involved in talking with Sun Jiao were indeed far more than Yang Shen, and the topics he talked about were also more sensitive, "Your Majesty must continue to discuss with great ceremonies and posthumously confer the title of Emperor Xian. At that time, conflicts will inevitably arise, but It seems a bit early to worry about this now."

Sun Jiaodao: "So, the old man hopes that before the next ceremony is initiated, the old man can go back to his hometown to take care of himself."

Sun Jiao resigned unceremoniously again, but instead of telling the emperor, he directly complained to his son-in-law about returning home.

"Hehe, did Mr. Sun find the wrong person? It's better for Mr. Sun to ask His Majesty for such matters." Zhu Hao laughed.

"Respectfully, don't think that this old man doesn't know. Although you haven't been around the palace very often recently, His Majesty still listens to you in terms of decision-making. Even keeping this old man in the court is your idea... This old man doesn't expect anything else, just If you want to have a good death, you still have to care about your reputation... You have really hurt my reputation by keeping this old man in court."

There was a lot of helplessness in Sun Jiao's tone, "I'm tired, old and frail, and suffering from various diseases. How can I have the energy to worry about the affairs of the court? There are so many capable people and strangers in the court, do you have to force others to make things difficult?" The tone was very sincere. .

Zhu Hao nodded.

"Is it possible?" Sun Jiao asked again.

Zhu Hao nodded slightly: "Old Sun, you will no longer be involved in the grand ceremony. You will be allowed to return to your hometown a year ago. This is the junior's promise to you."

Sun Jiao's face was full of relief: "Okay, well, then the matter is settled. I couldn't discuss the big ceremony a year ago, and I can go back to my hometown with peace of mind. After the old man leaves, you can do whatever you like. The old lady is in Anlu, absolutely not It will bring you some fetters when you become an official, whether you are the chief assistant, or continue to be so unknown in the court, it's up to you."

"Mr. Sun is very negative." Zhu Hao said.

Sun Jiao glanced at Zhu Hao: "I don't have any other thoughts, I'm here to let you know that I have time to see Liu Renzhong. The old man has retired, but he won't. Maybe you can ask him to help you... At this time, you should explain everything to him."

"Ah."

Zhu Hao nodded, "I'll find a time, and I'll explain everything to Mr. Liu Ge. In the future, I may really need to rely on his influence in the court."

Sun Jiaodao: "Before I gave you the list and told you who the old man trusts. They should be able to help you with the affairs of the court and China, but don't expect them to stand on your side when it comes to the ceremony. here.

"Of course, it's good to be able to help you. If it doesn't work, you can also build momentum. I'll take care of the aftermath. If you have time, come to my house. I'll invite the officials in Beijing to talk to you face to face. It's better than the old man saying hello to them. Do you want to meet?"

Zhu Hao nodded: "It's rare that Mr. Sun still has old subordinates in the court. Of course, I am willing to use them and work with them to help the great Ming Dynasty."

Sun Jiao was very relieved when he heard this: "Okay, okay, if you are willing to use it, I can be this introducer, and I am even willing to be their guarantor. I don't ask them to make contributions, but I just ask them to keep one side safe. Expectations!"

……

……

Sun Jiao was doing the handover seriously, and Zhu Hao knew that Sun Jiao was very eager to leave the court this time.

It is said that it will be before the end of the year, but it is estimated that before the end of the year, Sun Jiao will be impatient and leave. After leaving the court, he will return to Huguang non-stop to live his life of idle clouds and wild cranes, and will never intervene in court affairs... This is the wise and wise old man in the officialdom. This is normal, as was the case when Liu Jian and Xie Qian resigned from office.

Zhu Hao sent his grandson to the sedan chair. This is Zhu Hao's own sedan chair, and it can only be used to honor the elderly.

Watching Sun Jiao leave, more than a dozen followers from Zhu Hao's side immediately approached to protect him.Zhu Hao neither went back to the Imperial Academy, nor went to any yamen of the imperial court, just walked aimlessly on the street, as if thinking about something on his mind.

"Sir, Eunuch Zhang has been waiting for you for a long time." After Zhu Hao walked for a while, a plainclothes brocade guard who was acting as an entourage came over and whispered.

Zhu Hao nodded.

Walking forward, I arrived at the nearest teahouse, and Zhang Zuo arrived not long after.

Zhu Hao seems to be idle, but once he is in the capital, he will be busier than any minister in the court, because Zhu Hao presides over most of the things on Zhu Si's side, even a supervisor like Zhang Zuo Almost all the eunuchs circled around him.

Zhang Zuo sat down and said, "Two things, one is about the Marquis of Shouning and the Marquis of Jianchang... The second is that His Majesty wants to build the ancestral hall of the palace, and the mausoleum of Emperor Bensheng will also be repaired. The court does not agree. To allocate money and food, His Majesty wants to add 10 taels of expenditure on the original basis to reflect the specifications..."

After all, Zhu Si was still a titular emperor, seemingly stable on the throne, but like almost all emperors in Ming Dynasty, he was coerced economically and politically by civil servants.

Civil servants are always passive on the issue of great etiquette, but it is not easy to restrict the emperor from spending money on building temples?If you just say that there is no money, the court will not be able to allocate money and food. One thing can be delayed for a year and a half, making you want to but powerless. You can taste the passive feeling of us civil servants in the court.

Zhang Zuo said: "Mr. Zhu, 10 taels... is it too much?"

Zhu Hao nodded: "It depends on where you start from. If you want the court to allocate the 10 taels of silver, not to mention this year, even by this time next year, I'm afraid there won't be enough money allocated to repair the imperial palace. The progress of the mausoleum will be greatly slowed down. Now that the imperial court wants to build the railway, it will cost millions of taels of silver at every turn, and it is actually not difficult to allocate some of it."

Zhang Zuo sighed: "That's really embarrassing Mr. Zhu."

Zhang Zuo knew very well that the emperor's house was not easy to manage.

He and Zhu Hao are very clear that Zhu Si's face is based on "economic independence", because the emperor has his own private small treasury, and he is free from the restrictions of the court in doing things, so that the emperor can not care what the ministers think, The court wanted to fight and fight as much as they wanted, but the money the emperor had to spend was not comparable to that of ordinary people. It was often tens of thousands of taels to millions of taels. No one could take care of this small treasury for the emperor.

This is just a big expense. In private, so many people under the emperor are waiting to be fed, and many of them survive by being parasites.

Zhu Hao said: "I would like to ask His Majesty to send more people to Huguang, Jiangxi, Yungui and other places to continue mining, not silver mines, but only iron ore and useful metal ores, so as to increase the income of the inner government."

Zhang Zuowei wondered: "Could it be that... the income has not increased, and the cost is too much first? It takes a long time to make a profit in mining."

Zhu Hao sighed: "I also have this concern. After all, mining cannot be accomplished overnight. I don't know many mineral deposits in the south, and I can't explore them myself. Fortunately, I have trained a group of good mining experts who can help. Really. If that doesn't work, let's put off the construction of the railway and put the construction of the imperial mausoleum ahead of schedule..."

"Will that..."

When Zhang Zuo heard this, are you giving up your personal ideals, all for the sake of the emperor?