Smuggling Daming

Wenyuan Pavilion is the place where the cabinet ministers work. Apart from a few cabinet scholars, there are also some low-level civil servants. These civil servants are generally the most promising young officials of the Ming Dynasty. They follow several cabinet ministers in Wenyuan Pavilion. The experience learned by the ministers in government only needs to be sent out for a few years as officials in the future. When they are transferred to the capital again, they will be reused immediately. It can be said that these young officials are almost equivalent to senior reserve officials of the Ming Dynasty.

Most of these young officials who can enter the cabinet are in their 30s and [-]s. They are usually responsible for drafting documents to convey news, and even taking care of the daily diet of several cabinet ministers. In the words of later generations, they are equivalent to secretaries in the cabinet.But don't look at the low positions of these officials, but because they can get in close contact with the core government affairs of Ming Dynasty, they are all the envy of others. In addition, these people are young, so in front of outsiders, they are all in high spirits , Many people are trying their best to curry favor with them, in order to know the direction of some government affairs earlier, and in the official circles of the Ming Dynasty, it has always been popular, so these official positions in the cabinet can be regarded as the famous vacancies of the Ming Dynasty.

However, since Emperor Zhengde left, these young officials in the cabinet have encountered serious troubles, because Zhou Zhong, the regent, needs to deal with government affairs frequently, and at the same time communicate with the cabinet in time, and Zhou Zhong does not like to leave the Zhao Wang Mansion where he lives. It became an office place, so he finally discussed with Yang Tinghe, and simply found him a room in Wenyuan Pavilion, which became his usual office place, and he would come to work on time every morning.

Zhou Zhong was young and energetic. When he came to Wenyuan Pavilion to work, he soon discovered that some decisions in the cabinet would be leaked.This made him very angry.After all, the cabinet is the political core of Ming Dynasty.If even the government affairs here can be leaked out, then what secrets does the entire Ming Dynasty have?

It was precisely because of this that Zhou Zhong ordered Jin Yiwei to investigate secretly, and the young officials in the cabinet were quickly found.Zhou Zhong is not Yang Ting and these veterans, they may have been used to this situation, and they may even have done the same thing before, but Zhou Zhong will never tolerate this kind of thing, so he severely punished a group of leakers Secret young officer.Then, a group of young officials were transferred from the Hanlin Academy and the Imperial College to supplement them, and a confidentiality regulation was formulated, which made it difficult for the secrets in the cabinet to be leaked out easily.

A small room in the northeast corner of Wenyuan Pavilion. This is where Zhou Zhong works. The whole room is very small. From Zhou Zhong’s point of view, it is only about [-] square meters. In addition to a table, a chair and a few boxes for storing documents, the room is very small. Outside the big iron cabinet, there is only a pot of orchids on the window sill, and there are no other decorations.It looks extremely simple.

"Weizhong, how is the bank's affairs going now?" Zhou Zhong took a sip of tea.He looked at Yan Song who was sitting in front of him and asked, Weizhong is Yan Song's name, although Yan Song is older than Zhou, but because of the difference between upper and lower, Zhou Zhong only needs to call his name.

"Reporting to Jian Guo, the headquarters of the central bank in Beijing has been built and will be moved in soon. In addition, branches of the central bank have also been built in the cities where the chief envoys and yamen are located. With these branches, we It will also be able to more effectively control the flow of money in various places. As for various commercial banks, under our arrangement, they have opened their own semicolons to the state capital level, and even some of the more prosperous counties have branches of commercial banks. No, this has preliminarily completed Master Jian Guo’s plan, how to use the bank next depends on Master Jian Guo’s instructions!” Although Yan Song was sitting on a chair, he still showed a very respectful expression.

"Good job, I really did not misunderstand the person at the beginning, hahaha~" Zhou Zhong was also very satisfied with Yan Song's answer, and finally couldn't help laughing.If he wants to change the status quo of Ming Dynasty, he must reform the court of Ming Dynasty. If he wants to reform, reform is the key. Local finances are separated from the yamen at all levels, which also blocks the channels for local officials to embezzle.

Of course, Zhou Zhong didn't fully believe the words of the treacherous minister in front of him, so he immediately asked some details about the bank. As a result, Yan Song answered clearly almost without thinking, and even took out some Zhou Zhong had a look at the report sent by the bank, which made Zhou Zhong finally believe Yan Song's words, and at the same time, he was more sure of his ability.

"Weizhong, your ability is indeed good. I am very relieved to entrust the affairs of the bank to you. In addition, although the central bank has been initially established, its potential is far more than that, and you need to slowly discover it yourself!" Zhou Zhou Chong laughed and praised, although he was still a little wary of Yan Song, but he admired his ability very much.

Next, Zhou Zhong asked about the difficulties Yan Song encountered. Regarding this point, Yan Song also answered very honestly. The biggest difficulty their bank is currently encountering is the difficulties from the household department. Originally, Daming’s finances were all managed by the household department However, with the strong rise of the central bank, many of their interests have been violated, and the bank is still an independent department. Except for the emperor, no department has the right to control the bank. They are very dissatisfied with the central bank, and they will find opportunities to provoke them from time to time, but they also have a sense of propriety. After all, Zhou Zhong is behind the bank. Sample.

"There is no way to do this. The bank's financial management function overlaps with that of the household department. They will naturally be dissatisfied with you, but with me here, they don't dare to go too far, so you just need to be patient for now. Let's see, if they really dare to do something excessive, then the king will naturally rectify it!" Zhou Zhong is also very helpless. Using the regular route, Zhou Zhong couldn't catch his mistakes, so he couldn't help even if he wanted to.

"With Mr. Jian Guo's words, the officials and others will be satisfied. Anyway, no matter how difficult the Ministry of Accounts is, our bank will continue to operate, and the scale will become larger and larger. Maybe the Ministry of Accounts will ask for it in the future. We are on top of our heads, and then we will make things difficult for them in turn!" Yan Song said half-jokingly and half-seriously when he heard Zhou Zhong's words, but Zhou Zhong smiled in his heart when he heard this, and he finally discovered a shortcoming of Yan Song , that is a little narrow-minded.

After chatting about the bank for a while, Yan Song was about to get up and leave. Zhou Zhong was also having a headache, so he didn't plan to keep him. Stopped him and said, "Weizhong, have you heard about the incident in Xuanfu?"

"Jian Guo said that His Majesty wants to build an elite cavalry, but the cabinet does not agree, so the two sides are at a stalemate now?" Yan Song turned around and said when he heard Zhou Zhong's question.

"That's right, it's exactly this matter. The emperor wants to learn from the ancestors to conquer Mongolia in the north, so he wants to build an elite cavalry, but such a cavalry will inevitably cost a lot. Although Daming's finances are improving now, But there are many places to spend money, and the cabinet does not want to see the emperor take risks, so they all oppose the establishment of cavalry. It's really embarrassing for me to support him, I don't know what good strategy you have for Weizhong?" Zhou Zhong said helplessly.

Regarding Zhengde's desire to establish an elite cavalry, Zhou Zhong is also opposed to it, but he is Zhengde's younger brother, and he is also appointed by Zhengde to supervise the country. If even he does not support Zhengde at this time, although this will win the cabinet and ministers However, it will make Zhengde feel even more isolated, and with Zhengde's temperament, he might do something irrational, so Zhou Zhong had no choice but to procrastinate, letting Zhengde and the cabinet come to a conclusion first. It's a pity that it can't be dragged on now.

Yan Song was refreshed when he heard Zhou Zhong asking his opinion on this matter, because it was a sign that he had been favored by His Royal Highness Zhao Wang. At that moment, Yan Song thought about it for a moment, and stepped forward to answer Said: "Master Jian Guo, Your Majesty likes martial arts. Before that, he personally commanded the army to defeat the little Tatar prince. In this way, His Majesty's confidence was greatly increased. That's why he created a cavalry and set fire to the grassland. thoughts on it.”

Yan Song paused at this point, and then said: "Under such circumstances, the cabinet's rejection of His Majesty's idea will naturally arouse His Majesty's strong dissatisfaction, and in the view of your Majesty, it is estimated that if you want His Majesty to completely change his mind It's unlikely, but I think you can think of a way to delay it. After all, you must first agree to His Majesty's request to establish a cavalry, but the establishment of a cavalry is not a matter of a day or two. It requires the cooperation of many parties and a large amount of supplies. If the cabinet secretly If people hinder it, it may be difficult to build this cavalry in ten years."

"Delay? This is a good way!" Zhou Zhong's eyes lit up when he heard this, but what he was thinking in his heart was not Yan Song's way, but Yan Song's words just now made him suddenly have another idea. Yan Song's delay was just to take advantage of the officialdom However, what Zhou Zhong thought of was another delaying method. If this method could convince Zhengde, it might solve the northern prairie people forever. (to be continued..)