Chapter 376: The grass grows rapidly and the ground is about to emerge.
Emperor Longqing was very angry.
I just want to hold an Aoshan Lantern Festival, and these officials are so opposed to it.
As for the things done by Qingyuan Bo Li Wei and his son, in the view of Emperor Longqing, this was just a slightly more drastic approach by the father and son to run the Aoshan Lantern Festival.
Besides, holding the Aoshan Lantern Festival is also about having fun with the people. What’s wrong with the people paying some money!
However, Emperor Longqing was different from his father after all. Faced with Yan Guan being in the court outside Zuoshun Gate, Long Qing could not do anything like going to the imperial court to fight against the ministers.
He could only summon Yang Bo and Gao Gong from the cabinet.
The two people in the cabinet already knew what happened at Yanguan Queting. When the emperor saw the two ministers, Yang Bo stood aside with eyes, nose, nose and heart, like a clay statue of a god.
Since Yang Bo became the chief minister of the cabinet, except for military matters, he rarely expressed opinions on major court affairs. He was called "Clay Sculpture Elder" by the court ministers.
This time, the matter was about the emperor's father-in-law, and another official was kneeling outside the door. Yang Bo acted like this again, obviously not wanting to get involved.
Emperor Longqing also knew that Yang Bo had a lot of hopes, so he looked at Gao Gong.
Gao Gong first asked:
"Your Majesty, is the report in the "Jingshi News" true?"
Gao Gong was busy with new affairs a year ago, and he was busy every day. He didn't know that because of a small Aoshan Lantern Festival, To make such a big fuss.
Gao Gong once served as Long Qing's teacher. When Gao Gong asked this question, the emperor hesitated.
Gao Gong suddenly understood that the content in the "Jingshi News" was actually true.
For a moment, Gao Gong felt that things were a little funny.
My own dignified cabinet minister actually found out the truth about the Aoshan Lantern Festival from the newspapers of the Southeast Thieves!
Gao Gong said: "Your Majesty, please stop the Aoshan Lantern Festival, remove the title of Uncle Qingyuan, and order him to return the looted people's property." The
emperor immediately said: "Absolutely not, Uncle Qingyuan also worked for me, if he is punished for this, Who will be willing to do things for me in the future?"
Seeing what the emperor said, Gao Gong said anxiously: "Uncle Qingyuan is not doing things for your majesty, but to ruin your majesty's reputation by doing things for your majesty!"
Emperor Longqing still said: "Uncle Qingyuan is my family and cannot be punished."
Gao Gong's blood pressure rose, and he said: "Uncle Qingyuan is your majesty's family, so the people of the capital are not your majesty's subjects? If uncle Qingyuan is not dealt with, how can the capital be safe?" Long
Qing The emperor stopped talking, and the atmosphere became tense.
Gao Gong understood the emperor's character. He took a breath and said:
"Your Majesty, please immediately remove the errand of Qingyuan Bo, hand over the preparation of the Aoshan Lantern Festival to the Ministry of Industry, recall the Jin Yiwei and the eunuchs in the palace, and deal with the public anger. The biggest culprit."
The emperor said: "Uncle Qingyuan is planning the Aoshan Lantern Festival. It's already half done. Can we hand it over to the Ministry of Industry?" Gao Gong was almost suffocating. By this
time, Gao Gong was almost suffocating. The emperor was still thinking about his Po'ao Mountain Lantern Festival.
Emperor Longqing also put forward his own plan: "The Aoshan Lantern Festival will be organized by Uncle Qingyuan, and a few of the Jinyi guards and eunuchs who have big complaints will be selected to deal with them. What does Master Gao think?" Gao Gong felt exhausted both physically and mentally
. Busy with new tasks, arguing with subordinates every day.
Today there was such a big disturbance because of the Aoshan Lantern Festival, but the emperor refused to deal with Uncle Qingyuan.
But so what?
The atmosphere in the hall condensed again.
At this moment, Yang Bo, who had just been in a state of trance, came back to his senses and said: "Now that
Huang Taiji, the son of Anda Khan, is in the capital, the Aoshan Lantern Festival just highlights the atmosphere of our country tomorrow. According to your Majesty's instructions, Let's carry out the decree."
Emperor Longqing couldn't help but be overjoyed. He asked again: "What do the officials in the court outside the gate want?"
Yang Bo said, "I'll go and persuade them to put state affairs first."
Emperor Longqing immediately said: "Then I'll bother Yang Ge!"
Gao Gong saw that the emperor and the chief minister had reached an agreement. He really had nothing to say, so he could only resign to the emperor and follow Yang Bo to the Zuoshun Gate.
After all, Yang Bo was an old minister. He took off his clothes and put them on the leader Wang Yongji. Then he said to Yan Guan who was kneeling in the snow: "Your Majesty has issued an order to punish the
Jin Yiwei who looted the people's wealth and anointing at the Aoshan Lantern Festival. and eunuchs, all will be transferred to the judicial department for trial, please get up quickly."
That's it?
Wang Yongji asked: "May I ask Mr. Ge, what is the punishment for Uncle Qingyuan and his son?"
Yang Bo said awkwardly: "Uncle Qingyuan and his son didn't know that things turned out like this. They were also too eager to do things for His Majesty, so they were His subordinates were deceived."
Wang Yongji took a breath and asked again: "Does Your Majesty agree to stop the Aoshan Lantern Festival?"
Yang Bo continued: "This year, envoys from foreign vassals will come to pay tribute to the DPRK. Your Majesty holds the Aoshan Lantern Festival to show that I have The national atmosphere cannot stop."
The culprit is safe and sound, and the harmful Aoshan Lantern Festival will continue to be held. Wang Yongji took off Yang Bo's clothes, continued to kneel in the snow and said: "
I want to continue to play!"
However, Wang Yongji took off Yang Bo's clothes and continued to kneel in the snow. A few of the officials behind him stood up. After all, some of them were just trying to gain fame, rather than really asking for orders for the people.
Yang Bo said with some embarrassment: "Wang Censor, this is all for the overall interests of the court!" At
this time, several more censors stood up behind Wang Yongji, and Wang Yongji was the only one left kneeling in the snow.
Wang Yongji only felt a little unspeakably aggrieved. The overall situation was the overall situation, and everything was the overall situation. But were the people in the capital whose families had lost their lives before the Spring Festival the victims of the overall situation?
Yang Bo was still admonishing himself with a kind face, and turned his head away, not daring to look at him.
The colleagues who had just been kneeling in the snow with him had all stood up, and some even came over to help Yang Bo persuade him.
Wang Yongji placed the memorial in his hand on the snow, and placed his official hat on top of the memorial.
"Please resign."
After saying this, Wang Yongji also stood up and simply turned around and left.
Gao Gong turned his head and looked at Wang Yongji, a low-ranking civil servant wearing a blue official robe. He only saw Wang Yongji walking alone in the snow, leaving only a string of footprints away from the majestic palace.
In the first year of Longqing (the 42nd year of Jiajing, 1563 AD), the last Ming court storm finally passed.
Wang Yongji resigned, he returned the seal to the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and left the capital with his family years ago.
Emperor Longqing verbally praised the remaining 11 Yanguan officials in Queting, but all of them were transferred from the position of Yanguan to Qingleng Yamen.
Although they have all been promoted, anyone familiar with the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty will know that they are promoted openly and secretly.
The emperor ordered Dongchang to investigate the illegal activities among Jinyiwei and the eunuchs, but Dongchang and Jinyiwei were originally from the same family, and this time the people in Dongchang also benefited from it.
After checking again and again, in the end, none of the Jin Yiwei and the eunuchs moved. They just caught a few rogues who helped the Jin Yiwei and the eunuchs to take the blame. Uncle Qingyuan and his son were safe and sound, and they immediately retaliated against the businessmen who complained in Shuntian Mansion. These businessmen were either arrested by Shuntian Mansion officials and put in jail, or all their property was robbed.
The imperial court launched a new round of banning the "Beijing New Newspaper". Because it was impossible to find a printing shop for the "Beijing New Newspaper", the prefect of Shuntian Prefecture came up with a way. Since there was no way to ban the newspaper, he would sell it. Everyone who reported it was arrested.
The Shuntian Prefecture found some dilapidated houses outside the city, saying that they were opening almshouses, and captured all the homeless children in the city, and did not allow these children to enter the city to sell newspapers.
However, Lu Tianshou got the news in advance and protected all the newsboys of "Jingshi Xinbao".
The government officials of Shuntian Prefecture were unable to catch the newsboys. In addition to arresting all the street children in the capital, they also arrested many children of ordinary people.
These common people lost their children and found them in an almshouse outside the city. The government officials extorted "meal money" from them, otherwise they would not let the children back.
This makes the people who are already sad at the end of the year even worse.
On New Year's Eve, countless copies of the "Jingshi News" were posted on the streets of Beijing overnight. This time, there were no newsboys selling them, but they were directly posted on trees, walls, and even on the doors of many people's homes. .
The newspaper had no other pages and only had an article signed by "Wang Yongji".
The article revealed all the evidence that Qingyuan Bo used the Aoshan Lantern Festival to plunder the people, and also told the story of Zuoshunmen Queting in detail from the perspective of an eyewitness.
The prefect of Shuntian Prefecture knew the news and quickly sent his yamen to tear it up. However, there were too many newspapers posted on the streets and many people collected the newspapers. The yamen of Shuntian Prefecture had no time to tear them up.
After such a turmoil, Shen Yiguan did not take any further action, and the Ming Dynasty capital finally ushered in the new year.
On the Lantern Festival in the second year of Longqing, the Aoshan Lantern Festival was held as scheduled.
Colored lights of various shapes flashed on the huge "Aoshan", gorgeous fireworks were set off constantly, and the maids danced gracefully to the beautiful music of the Bells and Drums Division.
Emperor Longqing led his ministers to watch the lantern festival, and asked Huang Taiji beside him:
"What do you think of the Aoshan Lantern Festival?"
Huang Taiji stood up, bowed and said, "The atmosphere of the heaven is like a fairyland! I am here on the grassland. Never seen her!"
During the Chinese New Year, Huang Taiji has been negotiating terms with Li Chunfang.
Huang Taiji was not a stupid person. On the contrary, he was very shrewd and quickly realized the weakness of Ming court officials.
Therefore, Huang Taiji's attitude was aggressive, as if he was going to attack the enemy.
But Li Chunfang is also a good person. He heard Huang Taiji's blackmail intention and felt relieved.
Since it is just blackmail, there is still talk about the matter. If Mongolia really wanted to invade, there would be no such talk.
Sure enough, Huang Taiji put forward Mongolia's conditions:
first, the Ming court provided Mongolia with 5,000 pieces of "low-priced" silk and "gifted" 5,000 catties of Andahan tea.
Second, open the tribute cities of Xuanfu, Ningxia, and Yuling to allow Mongolia to "pay tribute" to the Ming Dynasty.
Third, this time Huang Taiji wanted to take away 500 households of blacksmiths and 300 households of gunpowder makers from the capital.
But Li Chunfang also achieved a result.
The Mongols were willing to send five thousand cavalry to help the Ming Dynasty suppress the rebellion, but they required the Ming court to pay military salaries, food and grass, and also give rewards.
Li Chunfang immediately reported the news to the emperor, and Emperor Longqing was overjoyed.
Regardless of the New Year's holiday, the emperor immediately called a meeting with his ministers.
The ministers discussed it a lot. Not many people objected to the second and third clauses, but the ministers were very opposed to the first clause.
It was Gao Gong who took the lead and said: "Your Majesty, the annual coins paid by Tan Yuan's alliance Song to Liao were only 10,000 bolts of silk and 10,000 taels of silver. Now that they have not fought a single battle, they are paying annual coins to Mongolia. How can we pay this to Mongolia?" Ancestors and ancestors explain!?"
But this time Emperor Longqing had allies. Li Chunfang, who facilitated the peace talks, immediately jumped out and said:
"What Mr. Gaoge said is wrong, this is not a yearly coin!"
"A yearly coin is what we need every year. The payment is just for selling silk tea at a low price this time, and you don’t have to pay every year!” “
And this is not to pay Mongolian coins, but to hire Mongolian cavalry to quell the rebellion!”
If this negotiation is If he succeeds, then Li Chunfang will be able to reap the greatest benefits. It is not certain that he will join the cabinet again based on this merit, so of course he will be the first to jump out and oppose Gao Gong's statement.
With Li Chunfang taking the lead, many ministers naturally came forward to support.
Gao Gong is more impatient and domineering in doing things, and offends many ministers on weekdays.
The new affairs reform involves many interests and departments. Gao Gong also knows the virtues of these Ming officials and is often more willing to promote young officials to do things.
Therefore, he had many enemies in the court, and soon more and more people supported Li Chunfang.
In the end, it was Yang Bo, the elder of the Clay Sculpture Pavilion, who finally stood up and agreed to Huang Taiji's conditions. However, the Mongols would immediately send troops southward after the spring to help the Ming Dynasty suppress the rebellion.
Since he had extorted so many benefits, Huang Taiji naturally did not hesitate to say a few good words at the Aoshan Lantern Festival.
These few words of flattery were naturally taught by Li Chunfang. In order to make him say these two sentences, Li Chunfang also collected two beauties and gave them to him.
Emperor Longqing was overjoyed and pulled Huang Taiji up the city wall to overlook the lantern festival.
Seeing only a large number of people gathering in the square near the Aoshan Lantern Festival, Huang Taiji felt that the Ming Dynasty was rich, and asked himself if he had blackmailed too little?
In previous years, a lantern market was held during the Aoshan Lantern Festival, and people visited the lantern market with their families.
But who dares to hold a lantern market this year? Most people feel very heavy when faced with the brilliant fireworks, and no one wants to go to the streets to celebrate.
The people were unwilling to go out, so the prefect of Shuntian Prefecture immediately sent government officials and soldiers from the Beijing camp to drive the people out and gathered in the square in front of the Forbidden City, creating a prosperous scene.
On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, Emperor Longqing became extremely drunk.
When the fireworks ended, the tired people returned home.
When it is late at night, every household opens the door and hangs a small pale lantern on the door.
I don’t know who initiated this incident. I don’t know if it was to mourn the deaths of those who lost their lives because of the Aoshan Lantern Festival, or if the people wanted to vent their grievances.
There are all kinds of lanterns, all made by the people themselves, using discarded newspapers.
In the capital, every alleyway was lit with pale lanterns, as if to commemorate, and even more so to announce the funeral.
This was not an agreed uprising, but a silent protest by the people.
The grass and mustard are growing rapidly, and the ground is about to emerge. In the spring of the second year of Longqing, the world is in good luck.
(End of chapter)