Cutting 1719

Chapter 428
Tokugawa Yoshimune, the eighth-generation general who conquered barbarians, is by no means incompetent and mediocre. On the contrary, he is better than the previous generations of family governors. This excellence is not only reflected in the internal reform measures, but also the key What's more, he has a good grasp of the situation in East Asia.

The cooperation with Ning Chu is precisely because Tokugawa Yoshimune saw Ning Chu's potential and rising momentum. If this momentum can be used, the Tokugawa family's rule in Japan can be made more stable, and it can also take this opportunity to teach a lesson The foreign daimyo beside them will make them respect the shogunate more in the future.

The problem is that although Tokugawa Yoshimune has overestimated Ning Chu's strength, he still hasn't seen Ning Chu's true face clearly. However, he will only make this mistake once—for Ning Chu, he will definitely show his strength. treat with a different attitude.

Nakamura Mizuno Tadyuki sees it clearly now, and he also understands Tokugawa Yoshimune's thoughts, "Now that the treaty has just been signed, if the contract is broken, our shogunate will suffer the most."

"It's impossible to break the contract, after all, the money hasn't arrived yet, but this general believes that if Ningchu is unified in the future, the East Asian structure will be completely gone forever, and we will have to go back to the era of Tian Khan. Shall we send Tang envoys again at that time?"

Tokugawa Yoshimune's face was somewhat cold. Obviously, Ning Chu's meddling in Satsuma's affairs is not just an end. If the future feudal curtain can be maintained, it will be fine, but if Ning Chu wishes to change the feudal domain What about the curtain system?How will the Tokugawa family deal with themselves at that time?
Although this possibility is very small from the current point of view, it has to be prevented from happening.

Tadano Mizuno sighed softly, "But right now we can only rely on the strength of the whole of Japan, the northern dynasty basically only has the power to survive."

Tokugawa Yoshimune's expression was a little gloomy. The struggle between such behemoths is by no means a small shogunate can intervene, so he can only sigh in a low voice, "So, we still need to stabilize Japan's interior first, especially this time the Satsuma Domain The time should not be an excuse for the government to attack."

The so-called Gongjia refers to five or more bureaucrats who live in Gyeonggi and serve the emperor and the court. They are different from the "Samurai" opposite the shogunate. The Habayashi family, the famous family, the Ban family, etc., confirmed the relationship between the public and the military through the prohibition and the various laws of the public.

In normal times, the public will naturally not make a sound, but with the changes in the current situation, the public has also begun to be dissatisfied with the current distribution of benefits. In the previous mission to Da Chu, they also sent related envoys. Minister, although this action achieved nothing, it also let the world know the unwillingness of the Emperor.

Now, due to the fact that the Tokugawa family did have a bad influence on the matter of Satsuma, at least they are suspected of collaborating with Ning Chu, so the public will definitely not give up this opportunity to attack the shogunate, at least they will go to the shogunate. Reduces the shogunate's influence over other Mings.

"General, I have already sent envoys to other daimyos, and will give an explanation for this matter. As for His Majesty, the general may have to come forward in person."

Mizuno Tadyuki also had some headaches. Once the matter was involved with the emperor, it would be easy for someone to take advantage of him. Although the current emperor is just a puppet, any puppet has the idea of ​​wanting to make decisions for himself.

Tokugawa Yoshimune nodded slowly, "With General Ben here, there will be no problem with the Emperor."

In mid-April, Tokugawa Yoshimune and his wife, Queen Mamiya Riko, visited Emperor Keihito of Nakagomon, and brought the scholar Yamada Masamo to give lectures to the emperor, and Emperor Keihito was also very interested. And issued an edict to take Tokugawa Iejuge, the eldest son of Tokugawa Yoshimune, as the right to accept the words, and to follow the two.

Quan Da Nayan belongs to the second-class official of the Taizheng, mainly to provide assistance to the three princes and participate in political affairs, and also as the emperor's close servant, to report the government affairs to the emperor, and at the same time to announce the emperor's edict to the emperor. He was also in charge of festival etiquette, which was an important position in the imperial court. At this time, Tokugawa Ieshige was only 13 years old, and it was obviously just a vain job to appease Tokugawa Yoshimune.

Tokugawa Yoshimune naturally understood this truth. On the one hand, he expressed his gratitude to His Majesty the Emperor, but on the other hand, he tested the Emperor's attitude towards the Satsuma domain in his words. Things are naturally very clear, he did not directly express his attitude towards this matter, but instead expressed from the side that this is a vassal government, not something that the emperor should intervene.

That's right, although Emperor Qingren said so aggrievedly, diplomatic matters are indeed the shogunate's vassal government, and the emperor has no right to interfere at all. The general signed it, but the imperial court and the daimyo were not allowed to intervene, and even intelligence and news related to diplomacy were monopolized by the shogunate and kept secret.

When Tokugawa Yoshimune heard this, he finally felt relieved. No matter what the emperor said about this matter, it might trigger his inner dissatisfaction. However, Emperor Keihito's current statement is to directly use the system to tactfully tell Tokugawa Yoshimune, The emperor will not interfere with all diplomatic matters, let alone the imperial court.

Seeing that Emperor Keinin was so witty, some of Tokugawa Yoshimune's back tricks were no longer needed. He pondered silently in his heart, "It seems that there is no need to be so anxious to depose Keinin."

The sky in the capital is a little gloomy, and the scene of a storm is about to come, but it disturbs everyone's heart. In addition, people have been going to Shengjing during this period of time, so that the huge capital is actually a bit empty The signs seemed to be inexplicably depressed.

Since the beginning of spring, many people in the Zhili area have moved towards Shengjing under the purposeful organization of the government. Some of them voluntarily, while some were forced to move to Shengjing. Go to Beijing, because everyone knows that when the Northern Expedition starts, it may be difficult to keep the capital, and then Shengjing will be the only place they can go.

The pessimistic mood of the capital is naturally not groundless. The gesture of sharpening the knife in the south has already been passed on. Once the Fuhan army breaks through the defense lines north of Shandong and Henan, Zhili will be close at hand.

Inside the Hall of Mental Cultivation in the Forbidden City, there was also an extremely inexplicable atmosphere at this time. Emperor Yongzheng's condition had become worse and worse. Although he did not vomit blood anymore, his face was as pale as paper. Worried, not to mention that the enemy is outside, even the emperor looks sick, no matter how you look at it, it looks like a posture that is about to subjugate the country.

"Narsu, how far has the training of the [-] new troops reached? Can they fight now?!" Emperor Yongzheng looked at Narsu who was kneeling below, with a hint of anger on his face.

Narsu also looked embarrassed. Although he was already very busy with military affairs, there are some things that he can't get busy with if he wants to. How can it be so easy to train a new army?

"If you go back to the emperor, there are [-] new soldiers, all of whom are selected from the Eight Banners of Manchu, Mongolian and Han. , it is difficult to achieve maximum combat power.”

"Insufficient guns and cannons? What does the firearms factory do for food?"

Yongzheng's eyes widened, looking at Dai Jing, the owner of the firearms factory who was kneeling on the ground trembling, he was furious.

Dai Jing, the owner of the firearms factory, was the eldest son of Dai Zi, a firearms expert in the Qing Dynasty. Dai Zi once invented the "Lianzhu firecracker" and "Mother and Child Cannon", which were deeply valued by Kangxi, but later Dai Zi was hated by Nan Huairen. Being slandered, Dai Zi secretly communicated with the East (that is, Japan), causing Dai Zi to be exiled to Shengjing for more than [-] years.

After Yongzheng succeeded to the throne, he knew that firearms were powerful, so he sent someone to Shengjing to bring Dai Zi back. However, Dai Zi was very old at this time and had passed away during the journey. Later, his eldest son Dai Jing was valued by Yongzheng. Several Westerners set up a firearms factory together, specializing in the development and manufacture of guns and artillery.

Dai Jing didn't dare to raise his head, and said in a low voice: "If you go back to the emperor, the slow production of the firearms factory is not due to the slackness of the ministers, but the lack of iron and fuel, which makes it impossible to produce sufficient guns and artillery."

Yongzheng's face was slightly gloomy, "Why are there insufficient iron materials and fuel? The silver I allocated should be enough. Even if there are occasional failures in the manufacturing process, it is still enough to produce the required amount."

Hearing what Yongzheng said, Narsu, Dai Jing and the others bowed their heads in silence, as if unwilling to argue.

The reason is very simple, because there is no way to talk about this matter, once it is said, it will be involved in a shocking relationship. The Ministry of Internal Affairs is responsible for purchasing the iron and fuel, but what kind of virtue is there in the Ministry of Internal Affairs?Of the 1000 million taels that went in, 700 million taels can be used in practice, and that is the blessing of the Bodhisattva.

Therefore, although Yongzheng has dispatched important officials to take charge of this matter, it still cannot stop the greed of the slaves under the House of Internal Affairs. More than [-]% of the iron materials, fuel, etc., have been turned into silver and flowed to those slaves themselves. In his pocket, as for the people below, they dare not report the matter to Yongzheng at all, for fear of offending the servants of the Ministry of Internal Affairs who have connections to the sky.

"Yunlu, you are in charge of the affairs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, come and tell me the reason for this!"

Seeing that no one was willing to answer, Yongzheng immediately began to roll the rolls, and the first to bear the brunt was naturally Prince Zhuang Yunlu who was in charge of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

With a heavy face on his face, Yunlu knelt down on the ground, "If you go back to the emperor, the slaves are incompetent. Although they are in charge of the House of Internal Affairs, the servants below are all doing their own thing, and they don't care about everything. I didn’t inform my slaves, and I haven’t figured out the pits that were buried in the past until now.”

Good guy, Yunlu pushed it all at once, and even led the suspicion to Prince Lian Yunsi who was studying behind closed doors, because the prince who was in charge of the House of Internal Affairs was Yunsi, and Yunlu was vaguely implying that the other party still In the Ministry of Internal Affairs, there is a lot of influence.

This time, Yongzheng's lungs were completely pierced. He thought that since he succeeded to the throne, he had been quite polite to Yunhu. There may not have been the shadow of his eighth brother in the incident of the old fourteenth last time. The incident at that time also revealed the weirdness of the old eighth, but now it is even more serious, the other party has extended his hand to the Ministry of Internal Affairs!

Where is the Ministry of Internal Affairs?It is an institution that is responsible for the management of royal life, and even the elixir that Emperor Yongzheng ate was purchased by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but now someone tells him that the old eighth is still influential in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which naturally has an impact on Yongzheng Not so big.

"Let the Criminal Ministry, Dali Temple, and the Metropolitan Procuratorate's three judicial departments investigate this matter, and put Li Yanxi, the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and everyone involved in jail. You must investigate clearly for me, and no matter who is involved, you will be sure to investigate!"

Yongzheng gritted his teeth, he seemed to have seen Lao Ba's smug smile, but it was a series of orders that caused an uproar between the government and the public.

After Yongzheng finished speaking, the expressions of Xu Yuanmeng, Zhang Tingyu and other ministers became solemn. Of course they understood that the current situation was not just about the iron and fuel of the firearms factory, but started a new round of confrontation. The purge of the Baye Party, and this time is different from the previous ones, it will go straight to the core—Prince Lian Yunsi, and even Lao Jiu and Lao Shi.

No one underestimated the anger in Yongzheng's heart at this time, and no one dared to plead for mercy at this time, because the fact that Li Yanxi, the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs was directly imprisoned, can show the seriousness of this case. Who is Li Yanxi?He is not only the director of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but also the director of the imperial hospital, and even the elixir that Yongzheng took was personally prepared by Haiwang.

It can be said that the person who really controls the life and death of Yongzheng in this world is not the emperor Ning Yu in the south, but this inconspicuous head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

From the fact that Li Yanxi was imprisoned, it can show how jealous Yongzheng is towards the people around him, or he is already doubting everyone around him.

Zhang Tingyu stood up at this time, facing Yongzheng's almost cannibalistic eyes, said softly: "Your Majesty, Li Yanxi's matter involves the secrets of the great internal affairs, and it is really not something that foreign ministers can listen to. Perhaps the case should be reviewed by the senior officials in person. Can avoid outside wind and rain."

Hearing Zhang Tingyu's words, Yongzheng's mind was a little clearer, and he soon realized what a big mistake he had made. Once this kind of matter is investigated by the Sanfa Division, the matter of the emperor taking the elixir will be gone. It is completely revealed to the world. In this way, how should the people and officials of the world treat this emperor?

"What Hengchen said is very true. This matter really shouldn't be tried by the three justices. The eunuch should personally review this matter. Prince Zhuang Yunlu is in charge of this matter. You must investigate and find out the truth!"

Prince Zhuang Yunlu immediately answered yes, but he was not at ease at all. It was obvious that the emperor was running to kill Lao Ba this time. At this point, it is not something he can evade and refuse.

When the matter was over, Yongzheng felt endlessly tired. He waved his hand, meaning to announce his withdrawal from the imperial court. However, because of this major corruption case, both inside and outside the capital were once again caught in a turmoil.

(End of this chapter)