Ming Dynasty 1566

Chapter 119

Wang Yongji supported Haimu and sat down on a chair by the window in the north room. Then he noticed the two people, approached Hai Rui, and asked in a low voice, "Who is it?"

Hai Rui replied flatly, "It's from Jin Yiwei."

Wang Yongji was taken aback: "You just came to Beijing, why did you mess with them?"

"I told you in the letter that they will always be provoked. It is better to provoke them sooner than later." Hai Rui still replied flatly.

The landlord was already very nervous when he saw these two people, but when he heard the conversation between the two of them, his face immediately changed, and he stood there in a daze.

The small courtyard house that Wang Yongji found was very suitable for Hai Rui's heart.There are three rooms in the north and south, a living room in the middle, a door to the east of the living room leads to Haimu's bedroom, and a door to the west to the room that can be used as a study for Hai Rui, and also where he often sleeps at night. Take care of mother.The most rare thing is that there is a locust tree on the west side of the yard, which is very luxuriant. In summer, half of the yard is shaded. There is a small table and a few bamboo chairs, which are convenient for eating and enjoying the coolness. Clean water is less than one zhang deep, which is not easy to find in Beijing, especially for Haijia, who have to carry water to wash the ground every day.

The helpers that Wang Yongji hired to move things had already dispersed.Lunch was Wang Yongji's on-demand takeaway, and he also ate it at this time.The long entourage packed up the dishes and chopsticks in the living room of the main room and walked out to the kitchen in the east.Hai Rui arranged for his mother to rest in his bedroom. At this moment, Wang Yongji and Wang Yongji came out from the main entrance of the living room. At first glance, they saw that the courtyard door was wide open but it was empty. The two guards in brocade clothes had disappeared. But he saw the landlord coming out of the kitchen, walking towards the two of them with a bitter face and a smile on his face.

"Who is this?" Hai Rui looked at Wang Yongji.

Wang Yongji: "I've been busy and forgot to introduce you, this is the landlord. Just in time, I signed the contract with Master Hai." After speaking, he accompanied Hai Rui to the small table under Huaiyin, and the two sat down.

The landlord also followed, but did not sit down.

Wang Yongji looked up at him: "If you want to sign a contract, please sit down."

The landlord was so awkward, he glanced at the courtyard gate first, then at Wang Yongji and Hai Rui, and said in a very low voice, "Both masters, you haven't left yet, they are standing in the alley."

Hai Rui and Wang Yongji looked at each other, and then both looked at the landlord.

The landlord thought that the two of them didn't understand, so he made a gesture of raising the car, and then stretched out two fingers: "The two of you are staying in the alley."

"It's none of your business." Wang Yongji interrupted him, "Let's sign a contract with Master Hai."

The landlord quickly glanced at the courtyard door again, and suddenly knelt down to the two of them, lowering his voice: "The two masters are kind, the villain's grandfather was living in Beijing when he became a grandfather, and he has always kept his duty." , I have never been to the yamen of the inspectors, please raise your hands to keep the villain's family safe."

Although he talked in a twist and turn, Hai and Wang still understood what he meant, and they looked at each other again.

Wang Yongji's face darkened: "What do you mean by that? Who made your family unsafe?"

The landlord was still kneeling there: "The master is the blue sky of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, why can't he understand the plight of the villain? Please find another house to live in the master. The villain is willing to supplement the money that the master has spent on repairing the villain's yard in the past few days." master."

Wang Yongji was in a hurry: "What are you talking about! How can there be a rented house that people will move out as soon as they move in!"

Where is the landlord willing to sign, or Lai kneels there.

On the contrary, Hai Rui was in a bit of a dilemma: "Since you haven't signed the contract yet, and you refuse to rent it to me, of course I have no choice but to move out. But an old man and a sick person just lay down, so I can't move out today."

"I won't move any day." Wang Yongji had no choice but to show his cards, "Brother Gangfeng, don't worry, I signed his contract yesterday. The lease is one year. You just live here." Speaking of this, he looked at the landlord again , "You don't need to sign that false contract, you leave immediately."

The landlord looked like he was about to cry: "Master Wang, Master Hai, you are all living on the emperor's salary, and you are all loyal to the imperial court when Wen dies and admonishes martial arts to the death. The villain is a commoner, so I can't afford this disaster."

Hearing what he said became more and more shameful, Wang Yongji, who has always been mild-tempered, became angry: "Are you going or not? If you don't, I'll invite the two outside the door, and you can talk to them." Then he stood up. up.

"No, no price!" The landlord stood up like a spring, "Let's go, little man." Then he walked to the courtyard gate, when a cicada on the locust tree suddenly barked. , the landlord was taken aback again, and walked out of the courtyard door as if mourning.

Wang Yongji also sat down, bowed his head and stood there silently.

Hai Rui is such an understanding person, now he knew what Wang Yongji had arranged for him, and even more knew that it was not easy for him to sit here with him at this time, so he also remained silent.

The branches of the pagoda tree above us yelled louder, but the courtyard became even quieter.

Wang Yongji's long entourage walked over from the kitchen door carrying a pot of tea and two cups, poured tea for the two masters, and put the porcelain pot on the small table.

"Wait for me outside the courtyard and close the courtyard door." Wang Yongji didn't look up.

"Yes." The long attendant also walked out of the courtyard gate, and closed the two doors from the outside with his backhand.

"National affairs are difficult, and family affairs are also difficult." Wang Yongji picked up his teacup and looked at Hai Rui.

Hai Rui also raised his teacup to Wang Yongji. The two took a sip and put down their cups.

Only then did Hai Rui look at him: "Friends are generous. I can't afford to repay the money you used for me anyway, and I won't say thank you. I accept it. I didn't mean to cause trouble when I came here. If the disease becomes like this, the officials will all make licorice, and the Ming Dynasty will perish for a day, and the world will suffer, so why should the family do it? Since the imperial court has transferred us all to Beijing, let’s face the difficulties together.”

"I'm ashamed." Wang Yongji also looked at Hai Rui, "I've been in the Metropolitan Procuratorate for almost a year, and I've participated in some case handling, and I've gone through a few lectures. In terms of self-blame, I'm similar to Licorice. As soon as Brother Gangfeng arrived in Beijing, he took a dose of the right medicine. One stone shook the sky, and finally stirred up waves in the stagnant water from the palace to the yamen of various ministries."

"It's not that useful." Hai Rui waved his hand. "I just want to say that black is black and white is white. No one dares to say black or white, let alone other things. In Xingguo for the past few years, I also want to say Do something for the people, but everything is difficult and has little effect, just because the government is not right and the officialdom is full of right and wrong."

Wang Yongji: "National affairs must be done, and family affairs should not be too negligent. Brother Gangfeng, I am not talking about you. During the three years in Xingguo, you have been sorry for this family. If you were by your side when the little niece died, she might be saved, and the wife of the sister-in-law would also be saved." It won’t cause the fetus to die like this, after all, there are three ways to be unfilial and to have no offspring.”

"It's right to blame." Hai Rui's voice was low but sincere.

"It will be fine if you enter Beijing." Wang Yongji was originally an extremely optimistic person, and at this moment he deliberately swept away the gloom in everyone's hearts, "There is good news that I haven't had time to tell you, Mrs. Tai and Mrs. Sister-in-law, guess what. "

"Mr. Li has entered Beijing!" Hai Rui guessed right.

"One month's advance to Beijing!" Wang Yongji showed the pleasure of "an old acquaintance", "Mingli is here to see a doctor for Prince Yu, and he is still concerned about entering the palace to save the emperor's life. I hope Mr. Xu Ge and Lu Gonggong can Let the emperor be rebuked, and Li Taiyi's loyalty will not be in vain for Prince Yu's filial piety in inviting him."

"Being in the rivers and lakes, I have Wei Wei in my heart. There are not many people who know Imperial Physician Li." Hai Rui also sighed, "I remember I told you when I was in Zhejiang, you and Imperial Physician Li are my troubles for half of my life. and friends."

"Emperor Li can afford it, but I don't count." Wang Yongji waved his hand, "I think the court will be in trouble for a few days about your writing. After a few days, Imperial Doctor Li will naturally come to see you and Mrs. Tai, Just in time to check the pulse of my sister-in-law."

Hearing what he said, Hai Rui became solemn, looked at him and said in a low voice: "Brother Runlian, I'm telling you something, you really listened to me. If you weren't in Beijing, I wouldn't have that painting of Liubiju today." Dare to write. Maybe I will go to prison today or tomorrow. If that’s the case, my family will have to entrust it to you.”

Wang Yongji was also solemnly said by him: "First, I promise you, and second, this should not be the case. After all, I came to Beijing a year earlier than you, and I know more about the court situation than you, and I also know more about the emperor than you. .Although the words you wrote were directed at the emperor, but with such a serious heart, the emperor's wisdom will not fail to understand. This is what I just said, if the medicine is right for the disease, it will not go bad."

At this time, Hai's wife coughed in the west bedroom, not very loudly at first, but then coughed hard, with the sound of being out of breath.

Hai Rui immediately stood up.

"Go and have a look." Wang Yongji also stood up immediately.

Hai Rui hurriedly ran to the west bedroom.

Wang Yongji couldn't get in, so he stood there, but saw Haimu coming out from the living room door of the main room in the north, so he hurried over and said, "Mrs. Tai."

Haimu: "Lord Wang, I'm afraid I'll bother you to invite a doctor."

Wang Yongji supported Haimu and walked towards the west of the yard: "It's all arranged, Madam Tai, don't worry."

At this time, the futon where Jiajing had been sitting was empty, but Jiajing was actually lying on a bamboo recliner!
Xu Jie was sitting on the embroidered pier of Yan Song back then, placed beside Jiajing's reclining chair, with a large stack of official documents on his lap, quietly looking at the emperor with slightly closed eyes, black eye circles, and sweat on his forehead. .

Jiajing is sick!

In the golden basin beside the altar was a large square of ice, and then a golden basin of ice water. Lu Fangzheng was soaking a snow-white cotton towel with fluff, wrung it dry, folded it into a strip, and held it in his left palm. , picked up a dry velvet face towel with his right hand, walked over quietly, first wiped the sweat on Jiajing's face with the dry face towel, and then applied the ice towel on Jiajing's forehead.

In May of the 41st year of Jiajing, Yan Song returned home from his official position, and Xu Jie took over as the chief assistant of the cabinet. After sorting out the long-standing abuses hidden in the government offices of the two capitals and thirteen provinces, they discovered that the state affairs were more corrupt than they imagined.From then on, Xu Jie, Gao Gong, Zhang Juzheng and others began to tear down the east wall to make up for the west wall, and even revealed to Jiajing little by little things that had been kept secret by the strict party.Jiajing felt that his body was getting worse day by day, and he took more pills.This year, several major events happened at the same time: the land defense in the north and the coastal defense in the southeast were seriously insufficient, the Mongols made surprise raids, and many tribes in Liaodong began to provoke wars; Large-scale plundering of cities and territories in Fujian and Guangdong; the long-standing salary arrears of many officials in the two capitals and some provinces have been full of complaints. In Shaanxi, more than 150 clan officials of the Han Dynasty even demanded for years of arrears, besieging the governor’s office and besieging the governor. The matter of burning government offices; as a last resort, they wanted to increase taxes to solve the deficit of the national treasury, and the corrupt officials increased their exploitation. As a result, people in Wanping and Daxing, near Shuntian Prefecture near Beijing, were unbearable and abandoned their homes one after another. Tragic scene, there is no one in the whole place.In May, Xu Jie and others instigated Censor Lin Run and others to impeach Yan Shifan, Luo Longwen and other parties. Jiajing killed Yan Shifan and others in anger, arrested and dismissed a group of strict parties, and confiscated their family wealth.In June, Jiajing's illness could not even be concealed from himself. This summer he was sweating non-stop, but he still obeyed the alchemist's words and acted against the season. He did not open the windows to ventilate, and still wore thick clothes. Cotton shirt.The time spent in meditation has been greatly shortened. Normally, I can sit for several hours at a time. Now I only sit for two minutes at most before I have to lie down, and I still sweat when I lie down.

The state affairs were like this, Xu Jie finished handling the government affairs in the cabinet every day, and rushed here as much as possible, guarding Jiajing, trying every means to get Jiajing to approve or acquiesce in some memorials made by him, Gao Gong and others to remedy the current problems.Especially in this month, it is necessary to sort out the confiscated family property of the strict party one by one, and make up for the huge deficit of the national treasury.Today is the day to come to present this important event. I was supposed to come in the afternoon, but suddenly I received the report from Qi Dazhu, so I changed my mind and came to the Yuxi Palace Abode before noon, holding a large pile of Gong Wen chose to ask Chen Zuo, and then cooperated with Lu Fang to close the gap that Hai Rui stabbed, so as not to involve King Yu.

After Lu Fang put the ice towel on, Jiajing's irritability eased a little, his brows were still closed, and he spoke. It was still a stone pavement, but he was not as calm as usual: "It's nothing more than a fire in the east. It's windy in the west, and the sky won't fall. As long as it's something that bothers you, feel free to say it, I like to hear it."

This is of course an irony, Lu Fang couldn't help but secretly gave Xu Jie a wink.

"Yes." At this time, Xu Jie had already practiced the spring breeze with one eyebrow and the autumn water with another face. Although Jiajing closed his eyes, he still bowed his body, then picked up the outline on the official document, and used the one with Wu Yin Xuxu began to speak the official language: "Qizou Shengshang, the household department who confiscated the wealth of Yan Shifan, Luo Longwen, Yan Maoqing and other corrupt officials have all been calculated. There are a total of more than 37 taels of gold and more than 640 million taels of silver. The rest are antiques and treasures. The discount is also nearly 300 million taels."

Jiajing's eyes opened suddenly: "Go on."

Xu Jie: "Yes. The cabinet convened various ministries to discuss. Please allocate 360 million taels to the Ministry of War, of which 160 million taels will go to the Ministry of Yu Dayou and Qi Jiguang as military supplies for the Fujian-Guangzhou Anti-Japanese War, and 200 million taels will be allocated to the governor of Jiliao for the north. defense munitions."

"Zunzuo." Jiajing thought for a while, spit out these two words, and closed his eyes again.

Xu Jie planned to hand the two tickets to Lu Fang, who took them and walked to the imperial case, stood there and began to criticize them.

Xu Jie went on to play: "Many provinces owe officials salaries, especially those in Shanxi, North Zhili of Shaanxi, Henan, Yunnan, and Guizhou that have been in arrears for more than one year. Please allocate 270 million taels to these provinces. The salary owed has been paid."

Jiajing fell silent.

Lu Fang's red pen just stopped there, and she didn't come to pick up Xu Jie's draft.

"Let's divide it." Jiajing said after a long time, "If there are any other provinces and ministries that owe salaries, tell them all, and we will finish dividing up the money."

Xu Jie: "Returning to the Holy Lord, the situation of other provinces, as well as the ministries in the two capitals, is better. After discussing with the ministers, we will find ways to make up for it slowly from other sources."

Jiajing's face became brighter: "Then you all have the final say, and the salaries owed by the provinces mentioned just now will be reissued."

(End of this chapter)