My life skills in Daming Liver

Huang Jin's knees softened and he knelt down again. He bowed to the ground and his whole body trembled to greet the angry emperor.

Emperor Jiajing looked around, and his last gaze fell on Huang Jin.

"What did the cabinet say?"

Huang Jin still maintained a prostrate posture and said: "Mr. Xu Ge, please resign."

Jiajing finally regained some sense. He sat up with support and said, "Mr. Xu Ge cannot resign. The war is coming. The cabinet needs someone to preside over it. Zhao Zhenji cannot control it."

Jiajing looked at Huang Jin again and asked: "Where is Yuan Cifu? Has Yuan Cifu submitted a memorial to resign?"

Huang Jin knew that someone had to take the blame, and at least it was someone at the level of a cabinet minister. He immediately said: "Yuan Cifu hasn't submitted a letter yet."

Jiajing said: "I want to issue an edict to sin against myself."

Huang Jin was shocked. The emperor wanted to issue an edict to punish himself. This was something that had never happened since the emperor ascended the throne.

This Wanshou Emperor has always committed his crimes, and he is always right.

"Also, stop the big work."

Now Huang Jin was even more surprised. Even when the southeastern court was most short of money, the emperor did not stop the repair project of the three main halls, but now he was willing to stop it.

"In addition, Zhu Congjin and his son of the Shanxi clan made a rebellion and stopped all the Lumi of the entire Shanxi clan."

The emperor, who had been in charge of state affairs for forty-two years, finally showed off his skill and power skills when he first took the throne. After his actions, even the officials thought that the emperor had truly reflected.

But after the imperial edict was sent to various ministries and yamen, the ministers found that they had been tricked by the emperor again.

The content of Jiajing's Sinner Edict is also very simple, and can be summarized in just a few sentences.

Nowadays, the world is in turmoil and the southeast is occupied. Although it is related to the unfavorable support of the ministers, the blame is all mine. Who makes me the emperor?

The loss of Nanjing and the ancestral mausoleum is the fault of the sinners of the clan and the Marquis of Linhuai, but the responsibility belongs to me. Who makes me the emperor!

Now among the officials in the capital, if they can take the king's orders seriously, they are all my loyal ministers. If they are loyal to the Su thief, they can resign now. The Ming Dynasty has many wise ministers and capable ministers like rain, and there is no shortage of such people.

Accompanying this edict of sin was a Zhu's comment written by the emperor himself on the list of old words for Xu Ge.

The content was also very simple. The emperor sternly stated that Mr. Xu Ge had to resign when the country was in crisis. This was to protect his personal life without regard to the justice of the court.

The emperor did not allow Mr. Xu Ge to resign, but suddenly approved the resignation letter submitted by Yuan Wei, the former deputy minister of the cabinet, who resigned due to illness.

At this time, it was widely rumored in the capital that the loss of Nanjing Fengyang was the responsibility of Yuan Wei, the second minister of the cabinet. All kinds of rumors were flying around, and all kinds of inside information were flying all over the sky.

It was a pity that Yuan Wei, who had been playing soy sauce in the cabinet, suddenly became the target of Qingliu in the capital. Coupled with his status as an official in Zhejiang and the crime of supporting the traitor Shen Shixing, Yuan Wei's dictionary was approved the second day. Days later, officials wrote letters to impeach Yuan Wei, saying that he colluded with the Soviet thieves and deliberately delayed the war in the cabinet, leading to the fall of Fengyang in Nanjing!

Suddenly, Yuan Wei, a little transparent person in the cabinet, became a traitor comparable to Yan Song. Some even said that he was Su Ze's undercover agent in the capital.

A flurry of impeachment memorials rushed to the emperor's court. At first, the emperor pretended, saying that Yuan Wei was a hard-working minister and should not be framed in this way.

However, the emperor was soon "persuaded" by the ministers, changed his attitude, and sent Jin Yiwei to search for evidence of Yuan Wei's "collaboration with the enemy."

Chen Hong, the admiral of Dongchang Jinyiwei, naturally had prepared a full set of "criminal evidence" long ago. When the emperor learned the "truth", he was furious, and finally had Yuan Wei imprisoned with "regret".

After Yuan Wei was imprisoned, Wang Xijue, who had just returned from observing the government affairs in the fifth room of Zhongshu, walked into the house and found that the house was quiet.

Wang Xijue immediately became vigilant. During this period of time, there were constant turmoil in the capital, so Wang Xijue was already very cautious.

"Lord Wang."

There was a young man sitting in the yard, his face covered with black cloth, looking straight at Wang Xijue.

"who are you!"

The young man stood up and said, "Master Wang, I am a spy sent by Governor Su to the capital. You are leaving the capital now."

Hearing Su Ze's name, Wang Xijue felt relieved. At least the person coming was not Dongchang or Jinyiwei.

"Where's my family?"

The young man said: "Your family members are all in the house, Mr. Wang. If you don't leave, you will meet Mr. Yuan Ge in the imperial prison."

At this point, Wang Xijue's heart became heavy. Yuan Wei was imprisoned because he was implicated by the three of them.

"How do you prove that you are Brother Su, or a member of the Grand Governor Su?"

The visitor took out a piece of manuscript paper, which was written by Wang Xijue himself when he was the editor-in-chief of "Warning Words" in Suzhou.

After seeing this manuscript, Wang Xijue no longer hesitated.

These days, he was working in the fifth room of Zhongshu, and saw too much corruption and darkness in the Ming Dynasty, including Yuan Wei's imprisonment this time, which made Wang Xijue completely lose his illusions about the Ming Dynasty.

Seeing the manuscript, Wang Xijue thought of his days in Songjiang, Suzhou, and felt even more uninteresting in staying in the capital.

He immediately said: "Can you take me out of the capital?"

The young man nodded and said, "Master Wang, go and clean up the house. We can leave immediately."

Wang Xijue no longer hesitated, but instead of going directly to the main house to meet his family, he rushed directly to his study.

Although Zhongshu Wufang's official affairs department is a very low-level department, it is an important link between the cabinet and the government.

It can even be said that this is a very core department. This was a very crucial department in the Song Dynasty. These old officials could even influence the country's policies to a certain extent.

In addition, Wang Xijue also had access to six departments and nine temples in Zhongshu Wufang's official affairs. After Wang Xijue's initial humiliation, he quickly found a new goal.

During this period, he traveled around six departments and nine temples, and came into contact with many officials who handled specific tasks.

Some of these officials who were truly capable but had little talent were all recorded by Wang Xijue. He compiled a list in his study and recorded all of these officials.

Wang Xijue came to the study to get this list and his correspondence with these officials.

After everything was packed away, Wang Xijue brought his family to the yard and said to the masked young man:

"Let's go!"

At the same time, the same thing happened in the courtyard where Xu Guo rented.

Xu Guo's reaction was the same as Wang Xijue's. He had been observing the government in Taipus Temple these days, so Xu Guo took a good look at the records of Taipus Temple.

Where the racecourse can produce good horses, the record of the racecourse in the Ming Dynasty, and the list of officials in Taipu Temple who really understand horse administration were all recorded by Xu Guo.

Not long after Wang Xijue and Xu Guo left the capital with their families, Dongchang Jinyi guards surrounded their mansion.

After Yuan Wei was overthrown, Yan Guan would naturally not let go of the two collaborators, Wang Xijue and Xu Guo.

Naturally, the emperor accepted everything. Yuan Wei alone was not enough, and a "Yuan Party" was needed in the capital to bear the responsibility for this defeat.

Such a set of operations finally calmed the hearts of the people in the capital, but as expected, the price of food in the capital began to skyrocket.

At this time, unlike the late Ming Dynasty, although the Ming court relied on Huguang and Jiangnan, it did not completely rely on the food from Huguang and Jiangnan.

First of all, the Gyeonggi Plain near the capital is itself a grain-producing area. Zhu Di, the founder of the capital, was entrusted here and could be self-sufficient in grain. However, the capital now has a larger population, so grain needs to be transported from the south.

The Jiubian region also produces food in military camps. However, in recent years, the climate has become colder and colder, and there have been more and more wars in Jiubian, resulting in food shortages.

The Shandong area controlled by the imperial court also produced grain. In the past, grain was transported northward from Dengzhou to support Jiubian.

It's just that now we can't count on the food from Shandong. Now all the food from Shandong is given to the Jiubian Jingqi who are going south.

In addition, Shanxi and Henan were actually able to receive grain. For example, the rice reserves in Shanxi were 1.52 million shi, but most of them had to support the clan.

This time Jiajing was also anxious and simply stopped the Shanxi clan's Lumi supply in order to alleviate the food crisis in the capital.

After the water transportation was cut off, You Jujing, the governor of Huguang, also transported a batch of grain to the capital via land transportation. It stands to reason that the capital was not completely out of food.

The increase in grain this time is simply a result of grain merchants driving up prices and making the country difficult to make money.

Now the court can't sit still. If food prices rise like this, low-level officials will go hungry.

Officials wrote letters one after another, requesting the imperial court to crack down on these large grain merchants and stabilize grain prices in the capital.

The emperor complied with the proposal and even sent King Yu to personally take charge of the task of stabilizing the price of food in the capital.

King Yu was naturally excited after receiving such an important errand. However, besides being excited, he was also at a loss. He had neither a reliable administrative team nor anyone who could help him with advice. How could he attack the grain merchants in the capital? , King Yu didn’t even know where to start.

At this time, Qiao Zhuang dressed up in high gear and ran all the way to the capital. He pretended to be a servant and entered Prince Yu's Mansion.

"Master Gao! You have suffered!" Seeing Gao Gong who had lost a lot of weight, King Yu cried and held his hand.

Gao Gong said to King Yu: "The guilty minister fell into Nanjing and deserves death."

"It is not Master Gao's fault that Nanjing was lost. Now you can stay in the palace!"

Gao Gong also knew that in his current state, there was no way he could return to the capital in a normal capacity.

When Nanjing fell, all the new troops he commanded surrendered to the enemy, and his own son also defected to Su Ze.

Therefore, he could only disguise himself as Qiao Zhuang and return to the capital incognito, becoming a personal staff member of Prince Yu's palace.

Gao Gong has figured out many things along the way. He already has a plan in mind and has long given up on his identity as a court official.

King Yu invited Gao Gong to the study and immediately said: "Master Gao, my father asked me to stabilize the price of food in the capital and crack down on illegal traders. Where should I start?"

Gao Gong immediately said: "The grain merchants in the capital are all closely related to the powerful people in the capital. Some of them are even family members of the powerful people in the capital."

"There have been several ways to suppress food prices since ancient times."

"First, a large amount of grain was shipped from other places. The official low-priced grain sales forced grain dealers to lower their prices. Can Your Highness get the grain?"

King Yu immediately shook his head. Now the entire north is feeding the Jiubian Jingqi going south, and there is no extra food at all.

"The second is to arrest a few grain merchant leaders who are driving up prices and force them to sell grain at lower prices. As long as these leaders lower their prices to sell grain, grain prices will come down."

King Yu asked again: "In what name should we arrest him?"

Gao Gong said directly: "Collaborating with thieves and collaborating with Su thieves to drive up the price of food in the capital. This crime is enough to arrest someone."

King Yu was overjoyed and wanted to do it immediately. Gao Gong said again:

"Your Highness, there are a few things I need to remind you about using this strategy."

"First of all, we must arrest the well-known large grain merchants in the capital. If we arrest the small ones, it will become an opportunity for officials and subordinates to exploit small grain merchants. In that case, not only will the price of grain in the capital not be able to fall, but it will even continue to rise because of the exploitation of these officials. .”

"Furthermore, you must not let go when you are asked to intercede. If you let go to one family, then other families will have something to talk about, and it will be difficult to get them to lower their prices."

"Finally, the price of food cannot be dropped to the bottom all at once. After the people have experienced the rise in food prices, they will definitely hoard food when they see the price of food drop. At this time, if the price drops to the bottom all at once, there will be a run on food. In that case, the capital Prices will still rise due to shortages, so the price of food must slowly drop."

King Yu immediately said: "Master Gao, I understand, let's do it now!"

Prince Yu went out with great fanfare, and immediately issued a notice in the name of Prince Yu's Mansion to crack down on the illegal and profiteers who collaborated with the enemy, and asked these grain merchants to sell grain at reduced prices.

Sure enough, the profiteers in the market were unmoved, and King Yu immediately began to arrest several large grain merchants in the capital.

As expected, there were many dignitaries in the capital. As soon as King Yu arrested a few people, a large number of dignitaries came to plead for mercy.

Among them were several princes and even the eunuchs of the palace.

This time, King Yu thanked the guests behind closed doors and was determined not to betray these people. After hearing this, the people in the capital felt very happy and applauded.

It's a pity that King Yu has only been hard for two days, and he has to meet one person.

King Yu’s father-in-law and Concubine Li’s father, Li Wei, knelt on the ground and cried to King Yu:

"Your Highness! Our Li family really operates in compliance with the law and does not raise food prices! Those officials stare at us royal relatives every day and attack us at every turn. This time, these officials are taking revenge on us!"

King Yu thought about Gao Gong's words and sat on the chair pretending not to be moved. Li Wei then cried and said:

"The little old man must have handled the winter clothes properly last time and took away the business of Xu Ge's hometown, so these Qingliu are holding on to it!"

Now King Yu couldn't sit still. The last time he got the winter clothes, King Yu got a commendation from the emperor (the inferior winter clothes didn't cause any big trouble). King Yu always thought it was the Li family's credit.

Concubine Li gave birth to an imperial grandson, which also solidified King Yu's position in the emperor's heart.

Thinking of this, King Yu couldn't help but walked down, helped Li Wei up and said, "The Li family is loyal and diligent in state affairs. I also know it, but is it just the price of food in the capital?"

Li Wei immediately promised: "Reducing the price! The price must be reduced!"

King Yu wrote a handwritten letter and gave it to Li Wei, saying: "Don't make a big deal about it after you go out, and lower the price of food immediately. After the war, I will ask my father for a reward for the Li family."

Li Wei immediately said with joy: "Don't worry, Your Highness! We will lower the price when we get back!"