Chapter 129 – The Palace Digging in the Corner

Qing’s court meeting opened on time, the sky was still cloudy, the palace hall was still cold, the emperor was still sitting on top of the dragon chair, and the ministers were still humbly and directly discussing the political affairs of the counties and the roads. After the end of all the matters that need to be discussed urgently, the emperor with a faintly tired face opened his mouth and said, “What else is there?”

A minister of the Da Lisi stepped forward and carefully reported, “Your Majesty, how is the matter …… of Lord Little Fan, the official ambassador of the Inner Treasury Transit Department, handled?”

What many officials in Kyoto hadn’t expected was that the days of buildup to investigate the deficits of the Ministry of Revenue hadn’t yet begun, but the accusations against Fan Xian, who was far away in Jiangnan, had already arrived violently.

In three days, from the Jiangnan imperial historian and some officials of the ZhangZhong like snowflakes fly to Kyoto palace, word by word, directly pointed to the internal treasury transfer department is Fan Xian, arrogant and unrestrained, relying on the identity of the imperial envoys, suppression of colleagues, disregard for the national laws and regulations, presumptuous kill the internal treasury treasury four, provoked the public anger, which triggered the three big workshop workers’ strike.

The inner treasury of the three major workshops is an important pillar of the financial state of Qing Dynasty, and such a big event like the labor strike has not happened for many years, so the news spread back to Kyoto, but also shocked a lot of people. Kyoto Jiangnan is far away from each other, people don’t know the real situation of the Minbei Transit Department’s office, not to mention that it is the Royal Historian Guo Zheng and those officials from the Princess’s faction who reversed black and white, obviously it is the labor unrest in the first place, and Fan Xian suppressed and killed people in the second place, but by these officials emotionally impassioned accusations, but it turned into Fan Xian killed people unreasonably in the first place, and provoked the people’s indignation in the second place.

In the minds of the courtiers, young Lord Fan was indeed a character capable of such a crime.

So before Old Fan was investigated, the courtiers began to have deep opinions about Little Fan, discussing the matter for several days in a row on top of the court meeting, only that they never came up with an idea, and His Majesty didn’t let up.

Among the courtiers, there were always a few who were not scum, and they were not concerned about the fact that Fan Xian was the emperor’s illegitimate son, but because of this matter, they cast more distrustful glances at Fan Xian, because they feared that such a powerful minister would harm the foundation of the Qing court and the interests of the people.

For example, now has entered the door under the Chinese book, began to walk in the cabinet of Hu Daoshi, he and Fan Xian did not interact, for Fan Xian’s understanding is limited to the officialdom and folk rumors, although by Shu Daoshi’s introduction, he for Fan Xian’s talent and knowledge of the people greatly appreciated, but he …… still believe some of the zhangzhang above what was said.

Hu Daoshi long years in the counties as a local official, well aware of the Beijing officials difficult to deal with the reason, is very afraid of Fan Xian rely on their own family strength and stature, once out of the capital will be no checks and balances, in the south of the belt of the arbitrary behavior.

He decided to speak for the officials of Jiangnan, on the one hand, to avoid the local victimization too deeply, on the other hand, he was also afraid of his own heart some admiration of the little Lord Fan will be slipping to the crooked road.

Only to see Grand Maester Hu standing out at length and calmly saying, “Your Majesty, this matter should be thoroughly investigated.”

The Emperor rubbed his temples and asked, “A thorough investigation? Fan Xian has long written a report to me, the Supervisory Yuan also has a report, and there should be a copy filed under the door, you should be clear that the trouble in the inner treasury this time was caused by Fan Xian’s investigation into the age-old evils, and his plea for justice for the workers.”

Grand Maester Hu said in a clear voice, “Your Majesty, this is only one side of the story of little Lord Fan, since so many officials have petitioned to join him, someone should always be sent to Jiangnan to ask. If the words of the petition are true, naturally, we must investigate strictly and thoroughly, and make up for it, in order not to hurt the heart of the tens of thousands of workers in the inner treasury. If the words of the zhangzhang is not true, should be severely reprimanded Jiangnan Road officials, a good life to relieve Little Fan Sir, but also Little Fan Sir a fair.”

The emperor looked at him with a smile on his face, thinking that this university scholar said and said, but also insisted on sending another person to Jiangnan, just the Kyoto Jiangnan is so far away, even if sent from the capital, is Fan Xian will still be afraid of him not? However, the reason why this year will transfer has been exiled in the field Hu Daoshi back to the capital, the Emperor of Qing is to use Hu Daoshi’s stubbornness and clear hold.

Just like many years ago using Lin Ruofu to fight with Chen Pingping, Emperor Qing Guo is ready to let this Hu Daoshi fight with Fan Xian in the future, since this is the case, he naturally won’t speak against refuting the Daoshi’s face at this time, smiled and said, “Daoshi’s words are reasonable, draw up a candidate to go to Jiangnan to have a look at what’s going on, it’s always necessary to have a look with your own eyes before you can realize it. ”

Hu want just this seemingly fair treatment opinion, purpose since reached, also backed off.

At this time, Shu Wu Shu Daoshi couldn’t help but worry and said: “Who is right and who is wrong, can always be investigated clearly, I am just worried, the inner treasury after this storm, this year’s entry will not have a problem. After all, young Lord Fan is in charge of the inner treasury for the first year, so please give him a little more guidance, Your Majesty.”

This was a very mild opinion, but it also represented the concerns of many courtiers, all of whom were worried that Fan Xian would be too guilty of being hard-hearted and make the entire inner treasury’s output go awry. However, Shu Wu’s moderation does not mean that other people are moderate, on the contrary, there are a few ministers who took Shu’s words as the beginning and started to come out to express their deep concern and loyalty to the court, saying that little Fan is young after all, and the inner treasury is a major task, if there is too much slippage in the inner treasury within this year as compared to the previous years, shouldn’t the court think of choosing a new candidate and how to do so?

This is a blatant distrust of Fan Xian, and the meaning is also very obvious, if you Fan Xian can’t raise the profit level of the inner treasury, even worse than in previous years, then what qualifications do you have to be in charge of the inner treasury?

Precisely because it was blatant, every word seemed to be for the court, so although the courtiers knew in their hearts that these ministers were trying to remove that god from the inner treasury, they were not in a position to refute anything.

The emperor smiled slightly and said: “the inner treasury this year is a what color, but also next year to know, all the ministers are not too anxious, Fan Xian in the end will not live up to my expectations, always after some time to know.”

The emperor seemed to suddenly think of a pile of things, said: “but the inner treasury bidding a few days ago has ended, the tender should have been escorted back to Kyoto, all the ministers want to see Fan Xian’s ability to look at the results of this bidding, should be able to know one or two.”

The country of Qing has a wide territory, Jiangnan Kyoto is far away from each other, Suzhou opened the bidding on March 22nd, but the news will be sent back to Kyoto. Originally, if you take the secret postal route and the courtyard newspaper, should be a few days faster, but Fan Xian does not know whether to forget, or tender confidentiality problems, has not been in advance to the emperor and the dynasty to disclose what the wind, and in the handling of the three major workshops in northern Fujian after the labor tide, the Supervisory Yuan has begun to consciously block the news between the two places of the word road, so that nowadays the Kyoto, although vaguely aware of the bidding events in Suzhou that was making a fuss at the time, but I don’t know the exact situation.

Originally should go the fastest news, but in Fan Xian’s suppression, go slower than the three stone master.

The emperor quietly looked down at a man in the queue and said, “Has the Taishang Temple received the paperwork yet?”

All the revenues of the three major workshops of the inner treasury were audited and managed by the Taishang Temple and the inner court, so the emperor asked the main secretary of the Taishang Temple.

“It just arrived in the early morning.” The main secretary of the Taishang Temple coughed twice and said with a sad face, “I was in a hurry to enter the palace, so I haven’t seen it yet.”

The emperor snorted coldly, “Then why don’t you hurry and bring it!”

The Taishang Temple’s Zhengqing made a bow and hurriedly trotted out of the palace and went.

“Everybody wait.” The Emperor announced the delay of the court meeting with a smile on his face, taking a bowl of tea from the hand of Eunuch Yao beside him and slowly sipping it.

Time passed minute by minute, the officials in the hall waited a bit anxiously, but did not dare to show any expression, and they were really curious, Fan Xian went down to Jiangnan, just how things were done? The inner treasury every year in the new spring to open the bidding collected 40% of the fixed silver, is the first large amount of income collected by the Qing dynasty every year, no wonder these officials are not excited and expectant, waiting nervously.

The emperor looked at these officials with cold eyes, his heart was slightly unhappy, he understood why for Fan Xian, all the civil officials had to come forward to express their opinions, even Shu Wu, who had a good relationship with Fan Xian, could not get away from it – because Fan Xian was his own illegitimate son, the officials had a bellyful of grievances about the court’s reappointment of Fan Xian, and they always felt that The officials have been complaining about the court’s reappointment of Fan Xian for a long time now, and have always felt that this is out of order, and that it is all a matter of His Majesty’s heart caring for his own flesh and blood and so comforting him with a public position.

But this inner library is my, this world is my, this son is also my …… Emperor coldly thought, when it is your turn to these old man to talk too much? But the emperor also understands in his heart, if Fan Xian really does not compete, will be a mess in Jiangnan, the inner treasury has become decadent, the scourge of a country’s important land, should be a group of ministers of the worry, how to protect their own shortcomings, but also had to transfer him back.

However, the emperor has confidence in Fan Xian, this confidence is gradually cultivated, from Fan Xian from Tanyu state into the capital, this nine five supreme father has been cautious and meticulous staring at Fan Xian’s every move, want to see his own and her child, in fact, will be able to show what kind of ability.

And in all things, Fan Xian’s performance did not let him disappointed, the text has the temple before the three hundred poems, martial arts has the name of the nine products, the name of the Zhuang Mo Han gift book, the ability to seize the gold is not bad, but there is no greed and contemptuous attitude, even that the force of the flow of the force, but also is not the general young handsome can do, as for the grasp of the situation in the imperial court, is not like a young man is only eighteen years old, to the king’s loyalty, to the father’s filial piety, the real standard.

In the end, the emperor is still a normal middle-aged man, for Fan Xian this illegitimate son, his heart will inevitably give birth to a few points of pride, after all,…… this is his seed.

So when the courtiers began to express doubts about Fan Xian, he let the Taishang Temple immediately reported to the inner treasury open bidding details, although he did not know the exact number, but for Fan Xian scraping the skin of the ability, the emperor has never doubted.

Scraping the ground is the most basic skill of an official.

Outside the temple came a burst of rapid footsteps, the Secretary of the Imperial Standing Temple trotted in, red in the face, constantly wiping the sweat from his forehead. Followed behind him, the young secretary of the Taishang Temple, Ren Shaoan, was also tired and gasping for breath, running all the way from the Taishang Temple to the Taiji Hall, it is indeed a bit physically exhausting.

Just a simple salute, the emperor let the two get up, leaning forward, with a hint of interest on his face and asked, “How is it?”

The great elders of the court in the hall also looked nervously at the two officials of the Taichang Temple.

The head minister of the Taishang Temple swallowed his saliva with a grunt, and before he could say anything, he was already wearing a joyful face as he loudly reported, “Congratulations, Your Holiness!”

With these words, all people knew that the situation of the new spring opening bidding for the inner treasury in the sixth year of the Qingli calendar was favorable, and that it was a great good, not a small good.

The officials who vaguely had the intention of returning Fan Xian’s favor were relieved, with smiles on their faces, and Grand Maester Shu nodded his head repeatedly in relief. Most of the remaining officials, however, were slightly stunned, as if no one had thought that Fan Xian, who was in charge of the inner treasury for the first time, would be able to obtain not-so-bad results after the secret constraints of the Princess’s forces and the inner treasury’s labor tide.

Only that Grand Maester Hu had a calm face and was not different.

Sitting on the dragon chair, the Qing Emperor heard these four words, but also a heart of relief, although his face has remained calm, but is the entire buttocks sat back in the chair, peacefully – although he has confidence in Fan Xian, but in the absence of a real return, there is always still some nervousness.

The emperor smiled and said, “What is the exact number?”

Everyone needed money, and the emperor was no exception. If he had all the money in the world, he would prefer to have the total number of silver money in the world to be as much as possible. He was the biggest landlord in the world, but at this time, still like all landlords, a faint color of joy flashed in his eyes.

Shaoqing Ren Shaoan coughed twice, took out a dossier and read it in a clear voice: “Qingli six years March 22, the inner treasury transit division opened the door to bidding, the north, south, and east road line right sixteen bids, the total number of certificates is ……”

When he said here, he seemed to be startled again by that huge number, slightly sank his mind and said:

“Twenty-four million two hundred and twenty-two thousand taels …… whole ……!”

As soon as this fluttering whole word was exported, the entire Taiji Hall became silent, and for a long time no one was able to utter a word.

Twenty-four million two hundred and twenty-two thousand taels? That much? This is a full eighty percent more than last year! Fan Xian …… How did he do it? Could it be that he could have compelled the hearts of the people with his sorcery, turning all those royal merchants in Jiangnan into great fools?

The ministers’ jaws dropped and they looked at each other in disbelief, a little breathless by this huge figure, and everyone’s spirits were in a kind of daze.

There was a thud!

Grand Maester Shu’s face turned red, and he fell on top of the floor, causing the group of ministers to be in a mess, and it took a whole half day to help him up. Only to see this Grand Maester’s face was incredibly excited, slurring his words to His Majesty on the dragon chair, “Congratulations to His Majesty, congratulations to His Majesty!”

The ministers only reacted at this time, and after a coaxing exclamation, they turned to the emperor and saluted him in joy, with horse’s asses like a tidal wave surging, flattery like the sea, holy grace like a mountain, heaven blesses the Great Qing Dynasty, and His Majesty’s wisdom, and how it is all in the clouds.

Twenty four million taels of silver, even if only 40% of the revenue can be credited today, there are still nearly ten million taels of silver! Such a large amount of income can be used to do too many things, such as repairing river works, such as strong military, such as relief of people’s livelihoods, such as …… raising salaries? No matter what kind of faction these ministers belong to, but after all, are the world’s first strong state of the subjects of the Qing dynasty, the thought of the court has such a large amount of silver can solve the urgent need of the empty treasury, are beginning to rejoice.

This kind of rejoicing is not hypocritical, but is really happy, the ministers whether greedy or not, virtuous or stupid, always hope that the court can be better.

And while these people are desperately patting the emperor s ass, it is inevitable that they will also think of the …… little Lord Fan, who had previously been suspected of being opposed by himself.

The inner treasury opening bidding so smooth, for the court to bring such a big benefit, far away in Jiangnan supervise the war Fan Xian naturally want to take the first credit, just how to turn this corner to turn around? So some of the ministers’ eyes rolled around and refused to mention the matter of Jiangnan.

At this time, Hu was the first one to stand out.

He stood out, lively and happy in the courtroom suddenly quiet a little, who want to know what the Hu University Professor wants to say.

Hu University sergeant calmly, reported: “this number of big really can not believe, I do not want to be Lord Fan with some other means, the so-called drying up and fishing, this year will be the Jiangnan royal merchants to squeeze clean, and the inner treasury of the production can not keep up with the words, next year, how to do?”

In a peaceful mood, suddenly a discordant note, really make people very uncomfortable, the ministers a clamor, even those who look at Fan Xian is not good, are a little see past, have spoken for the inner treasury transit department, think Hu Daoshi this statement is not good.

The emperor also from the previous excitement out, coldly looked at Hu bachelor said: “according to your opinion, Fan Xian for the court so much silver, but not reward, but when the punishment?”

Hu shook his head and said: “My words, just a trace of doubt, after all, I’m not in Jiangnan, do not know the specifics, just according to the minister’s own role, to His Majesty to remind one or two. As for little Lord Fan, as long as there is no problem with this bid opening, of course, should not receive a hint of punishment, but should be greatly rewarded.”

The emperor calmed his mind and quietly asked, “According to Hu Qing’s opinion, how should be rewarded?”

“Although it is a matter of silver goods, it is the foundation of the country.” Hu Daoshi calmly said, “Little Fan Taoshi established this fundamental great work, should be rewarded by the world.”

The emperor slightly narrowed his eyes, said: “What is the reward of the world?”

“After investigating the matter of the opening of the bidding in northern Fujian and Suzhou,” said Hu, raising his head and saying gently, “I would like to be the recommender, and ask His Majesty to summon Lord Fan to enter the cabinet to discuss the matter.”

At these words, the courtroom was shaken and the ministers were shocked. What was the role of the Central Book under the Door? That is the center of the court, after Minister Lin left his post, there was no more prime minister in Qing, it was the university scholars under the door who were responsible for the functions of the cabinet, especially when Qin Heng became the Kyoto guard, after Minister of Justice Yan Xingshu withdrew, and University Scholar Hu returned to the capital, the status of the Cabinet under the Door Zhongshu Province was already determined – if one could enter the Door Zhongshu, it would be If you can get into the Chinese Book of Discipline, you will be able to enter the highest decision-making authority of the imperial court, and Dr. Hu wants to recommend Fan Xian to enter the Cabinet?

The ministers were thinking, “Which side is this scholar Hu on? How could he talk like a crow at one time, and then give Fan Xian such heavy power and high status at another time? Yan Xingshu, the Minister of Justice, stared at Dr. Hu with a hint of cynicism and a hint of incomprehension.

I didn’t realize that the emperor was listening to this discussion, but he didn’t even think about it, and directly said, “No. Fan Xian is too young. Fan Xian is too young.”

Qunchen slightly peaceful, thought his majesty this argument when the fair, otherwise let a less than twenty hairy young man to enter the door under the central book of deliberations, this thing is also too ridiculous.

Hu said calmly: “In ancient times, the wise man was the 16th prime minister, not to mention the fact that the Central Committee under the Gate is His Majesty’s paperwork organization, not the real sense of the ruler. Moreover, little Lord Fan is gifted with talent, brilliant and multi-tasking, such a talent should be above the courtroom to share His Majesty’s worries and difficulties.”

The emperor looked at him with a smile or not, still simply shook his head, “He is the supervisory court’s tisan, according to the Qing law, the supervisory court officials are not allowed to concurrently serve as a court official, that is, after retiring from the post, can only serve as the three temples of idleness.”

Hu Daoshi picked up extremely fast: “Qing law is not as good as his majesty’s will, the age is still young is not a problem, the supervisory office is not a problem, if not, I would not dare to say that it is not the world’s reward?”

The emperor cocked his lips and smiled, waved his hand and said, “This matter does not need to be discussed again, I …… will not allow.”

The son of heaven a word, a team of horses is difficult to catch up, Hu Daoshi had to retreat back, just the face does not have any other look.

The emperor narrowed his eyes and looked at the bottom, found that Hu Daoshi and Shu Wu between the eyes, then know Shu Wu this old guy received the wind beforehand, but also immediately guessed why today Hu Daoshi will take advantage of the opportunity to put forward such a ridiculous proposal.

“Talent ah …… Anzhi is indeed a talent.”

It was precisely because Fan Xian’s demonstrated abilities were too amazing that Fan Xian was in the Supervisory Court, the civil official system would always be wary of him, and they would prefer to detach Fan Xian from the Supervisory Court and put him back into the warm embrace of the civil officials. After all, Fan Xian had the hat of a Poetry Immortal on his head, and was vaguely the leader in the hearts of the world’s young scholars, so for the two heads of the civil ministers, Hu and Shu, accepting Fan Xian was not a very difficult thing to do.

Hu and Shu are the people who cherish talent, and also the people who know the situation, naturally they can see His Majesty’s arrangement for the future, but they are a little bit unwilling to Fan Xian this pearl just like this into the darkness of the Supervisory Yuan, no matter it is from the civil official system’s own security considerations, or for the sake of Fan Xian’s considerations, they all want to dig Fan Xian over.

Although it was a bit early to mention this, Grand Maester Hu had already seized this rare opportunity to show the sincerity of the civil official system, many years in advance, and began to make a speech to lay the groundwork.

For the courtiers of these small minds, the Emperor of Qing has always been more tolerant, and not much care, but instead, from this matter, more and more feel their own bastard son …… to the imperial family brought glory.

The emperor’s heart is proud, his face is calm, his eyes are complex, and he glanced at the Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue who has been silent in the queue, his son’s nominal father – Fan Jian.