My life skills in Daming Liver

In the capital, this time the Aoshan Lantern Festival was not as grand as the last one. As the first celebration of the New Year, Zhang Juzheng specially ordered all government-run workshops to have a day off so that people could take to the streets to play on the Lantern Festival.

Since the implementation of the New Deal, the holidays for court officials, which originally ran from New Year's Eve to the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, have been reduced. At the same time, government-run workshops have also shortened their annual leave.

Xiangzi got up early and first came to Wang Shizhen's mansion. He only saw Wang Shizhen coming out of the house wearing a hat, taking out a red envelope and handing it to Xiangzi.

"Happy Lantern Festival."

Xiangzi quickly declined, but Wang Shizhen stuffed the red envelope into his arms.

Since the rapid development of papermaking and printing and dyeing technology in the southeast, the price of red paper, which was once expensive, has become much more affordable.

Even ordinary people in the southeast region are now popular to wrap a red envelope in red paper and put a few copper coins as lucky money during the Chinese New Year.

The price of red paper in the capital was also much lower than in previous years. The Ming court's workshops could not produce red paper. Both officials and people knew where the red paper came from.

The business of smuggling goods from the southeast has always existed, and the profits are huge, but the threshold for being able to engage in this business has increased a lot.

After Zhang Juzheng's ban on goods from the South was strictly enforced for a period of time, it was finally relaxed a lot. After all, matches, soap, and cheap paper, pen and ink had already been used. These daily necessities could not be produced by the Ming court itself anyway, so for The sale of these goods also turns a blind eye.

After all, it’s the Lantern Festival, and the streets are a lot more lively.

The Imperial College also had a holiday today, and those students who had not returned home also went to the streets to visit the lantern market.

Wang Shizhen looked at the streets of the capital, which were busier than in previous years, but behind this prosperity there was a turbulent undercurrent.

Although Wang Shizhen was no longer in officialdom, he still had many old friends in the capital due to his status as a literary master.

In addition, he often attended cultural gatherings, so he was quite well-informed and understood the dynamics of the Ming court officialdom very well.

Since Zhang Juzheng promoted the New Deal, it has indeed achieved certain results, but behind the initial results of the New Deal are the surging forces of all parties.

The first was the fight between Chen Yiqin, governor of Henan, and Li Chengliang, minister of the New Army and governor of Shandong.

This battle did not end with Li Chengliang's "epic victory", but intensified.

Chen Yiqin wrote to the court, exposing Li Chengliang's behavior of inflating the results of the war, exaggerating his military exploits, and killing good men for taking credit.

Li Chengliang naturally fought back, and in turn impeached Chen Yiqin for deliberately delaying material transportation and depriving the Shandong New Army of military supplies during the Xuzhou Battle.

The memorial and lawsuit between the two sides lasted from the year before to the end of the year, and people continued to join the battle.

According to Ke Dao, people from the six divisions continued to end up. In the end, even the nobles of the capital and the generals of Jiubian were involved in this struggle.

The final result was that Zhang Juzheng stood up and used his prestige as the prime minister to suppress the fight between the two sides.

Yes, Zhang Juzheng promoted himself again.

Originally, Zhang Juzheng restored the department of Zhongshu Province in the Ming Dynasty, and merged the Chief Envoys Department, the Inspection Envoys Department and the Dusi Department into the Xing Zhongshu Province at the local level, with Zhongshu Ling as the highest official in the Ming court and the governor as the highest local authority. Sir.

But soon, Zhang Juzheng was dissatisfied with the title Zhongshu Ling.

Zhang Juzheng's disciples soon realized Zhang Juzheng's ideas. Several young officials who had just been promoted by Zhang Juzheng into the officialdom wrote a letter demanding that Zhongshu Ling be changed to Zhongshu Prime Minister, and it was made clear that Zhongshu Prime Minister was not only the highest official in Zhongshu Province. The leader was also the supreme leader of the entire Ming Dynasty.

The prime minister controls all officials, governs the country's affairs, and controls everything.

The officials came up with the story of Liu Chan of the Han Dynasty who worshiped Zhuge Liang as prime minister.

Such a memorial naturally aroused opposition from some officials, but now Zhang Juzheng's power is very powerful in the Ming Dynasty. In the end, Zhang Juzheng resigned three times and accepted the new position of Prime Minister Zhongshu years ago.

Wang Shizhen was riding in a green charter car when he suddenly heard someone calling his name.

"Mr. Wang."

Wang Shizhen looked back and saw Tong An standing at the corner of the street. He asked Tong An to stop the car and walked to Tong An.

"It's Tong Ziyuan, are you here to see me?"

Tong An took out a stack of paper and said, "Sir, this is an article written by a student. I would like to ask you to correct it."

Wang Shizhen and Tong An hit it off immediately. Tong An admired Wang Shizhen's knowledge and often gave his articles to Wang Shizhen for correction.

Lu Er from the Capital Information Station also said that the Alumni Association was a progressive organization among young scholars in the Ming Dynasty, and Wang Shizhen was also willing to have contact with Tong Anduo.

Over time, Tong An treated Wang Shizhen as his teacher, and Wang Shizhen also regarded Tong An as his student.

Wang Shizhen was fond of reading. He said to Xiangzi: "Xiangzi, you go out of the car first, and I will go out in the afternoon."

After Xiangzi pulled the car away, Wang Shizhen took Tong An back to his house, opened Tong An's manuscript and started reading.

After reading only half of it, Wang Shizhen praised: "Tong Ziyuan, this article of yours is such a pity!"

Tong An looked at Wang Shizhen doubtfully.

Wang Shizhen said: "If this article were written in the southeast, it could be published in the "Jingshi Bao" and let everyone in the world know your name, Tong Ziyuan. But in the capital, no newspaper of yours would dare to publish your article."

Tong An lowered his head in the face of Wang Shizhen's praise. Wang Shizhen continued to read the entire manuscript, and then said: "It's really a pity. Tong Ziyuan, your article is very relevant to the current situation. It's a pity that the court will not approve your article."

Tong An raised his head and looked at Wang Shizhen and said:

"Sir, I would like to submit this article to a southeastern newspaper."

Wang Shizhen raised her head and said with a puzzled expression:

"Be careful! Not to mention publishing articles in Southeast newspapers, even buying Southeast newspapers is a felony in the capital. Don't mention this matter again!"

Tong An immediately said: "Sir, I just heard that you are from Suzhou. Tong is reckless. You should not open your mouth and embarrass your husband."

Wang Shizhen confirmed that Tong An was not here to test him, he said:

"Have you ever mentioned this outside?"

Tong An immediately said: "The student has not told anyone else, nor has he shown this article to anyone else."

Wang Shizhen said: "Don't mention it again, why did you publish this article in a southeastern newspaper?"

Tong An thought for a while and finally expressed his feelings.

"Sir, I am doing this for the sake of the court."

"For the imperial court?"

Tong An nodded and said: "What I talked about in this article is about the shortcomings of the imperial court, but I am a humble student and can't speak out, so I want to publish it in the Southeast Newspaper. Anyway, the ministers of the Manchu Dynasty also read the Southeast Newspaper."

That was what it meant. Wang Shizhen nodded.

Although the Ming court did not allow ordinary people to buy Southeast newspapers, almost all the families of court ministers subscribed to Southeast newspapers. Even the Zhang family had special channels that could get the latest Southeast newspapers faster than Wang Shizhen.

Tong An wanted to publish his article in a southeastern newspaper so that the people in power in the Ming court would see it.

Wang Shizhen sighed. He could see that Tong An was really for the Ming Dynasty, but could just one article save the Ming Dynasty?

Wang Shizhen put down the manuscript and said: "Although you said it was for the Ming Dynasty, the current situation in the capital is tight, and many people have been convicted for slandering the government. Why did Ziyuan come? If you really want to save the country, why not get the honor and become an official? ?”

Tong An said: "Official life is not suitable for me. Isn't it true that my husband has no official career?"

Wang Shizhen thought that she was an undercover agent sent to Mingting from Southeast, and she was different from you, but when she saw Tong An's young face, she couldn't help but sigh.

He had also been involved in the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty and knew the darkness of the officialdom. When he saw young people like Tong An, he also cherished his talents.

Young people like Tong An still want to advise and make suggestions for the Ming court. Indeed, as Governor Su said, many people still have illusions about the Ming court.

Seeing that Wang Shizhen could not persuade Tong An, he also knew that young people have the character of never looking back, so he could only talk about Tong An's article.

Wang Shizhen pointed to the article and said, "Where did you hear about the local disadvantages you mentioned in the article?"

Tong An said:

"After the implementation of the New Deal, the investment used by the court to set up workshops was either distributed by local officials to their own private individuals, or became a tool for local governments to exploit the people. Some counties in Gyeonggi Province even took money from the people in order to complete the task of setting up workshops. Land was expropriated by force and factories built that were useless.”

Wang Shizhen asked: "Did you personally verify all of this?"

Tong An nodded and said: "The issues mentioned by the students in the article were all verified by the students themselves by visiting and researching near Gyeonggi. They can be learned from heaven and earth, and every word is true."

Wang Shizhen said deliberately: "I heard that Prime Minister Zhongshu is planning to send a censor to inspect the place, which means that the court has also realized these shortcomings. Maybe these problems can be solved after the censor's inspection is completed?"

Tong An shook his head and said:

"The root of the shortcomings of our Ming Dynasty lies in the center. As the saying goes, 'When the jackal is in power, why don't you ask the fox'?"

Tong An continued: "The shortcoming of my Ming Dynasty is that the party struggle in the central government is too fierce, which has led to all the central officials to be idle. They only want to keep their positions instead of doing good work for the court."

Tong An said boldly: "Since the emperor was in power, first the Xia Party, then the Yan Party, and then the Xu Party, the result of every party struggle was that the court was purged, and central officials who were on the wrong team were killed. , those who are demoted are demoted.”

Tong An glanced at Wang Shizhen. Wang Shizhen's father, Wang Yan, was killed and was a victim of party strife. Wang Shizhen was also deeply aware of the cruel party strife in the Jiajing Dynasty.

Tong An continued:

"After His Majesty ascended the throne, he first cleared out the remaining old ministers of the Emperor, and almost cleared out the entire center."

"After Prime Minister Zhang came to power, he cleaned up the court again. Due to this violent turmoil, all the officials in the six ministries had no intention of doing anything and only wanted to keep their official positions."

Wang Shizhen nodded. The result of the party struggle in the Ming court was that the central government was completely out of order. When speculating and siding with one another could lead to promotions more than doing things, everyone wanted to observe the direction of the court and speculate instead of actually doing things.

"When the central government is full of tigers, leopards and jackals, these local officials are nothing more than foxes."

“What’s the use of dealing with the fox if you can’t even do anything to the jackal?”

Wang Shizhen nodded and said, "Zi Yuan, let me take another look at this manuscript."

Tong An said: "I copied this manuscript originally. Please correct me sir."

After sending Tong An away, Wang Shizhen called Xiangzi again. He took the manuscript and drove to a bookstore in the capital city where he often went.

This bookstore was the store owned by the Shen family's uncle and nephew. After the bus book incident, this bookstore was taken over by another businessman from the capital.

This businessman from the capital was nominally a businessman from Qingyuan Bo Li Wei's family, but he was actually a spy from Southeast. This shop was still the intelligence station of Southeast.

Wang Shizhen paid the fare and told Xiangzi to go back and walked into the bookstore.

After Xiangzi pulled the cart away, Wang Shizhen found Lu Er who was busy through the secret passage.

Wang Shizhen handed Tong An's article to Lu Er and then said:

"This is the manuscript Tong An gave me. Webmaster Lu, please take a look."

Lu Er looked at it briefly and said, "This Tong An still has some knowledge. He is different from other people in the study group. He really thinks about Ming Ting."

"But such a person has no chance of success in the Ming court."

Wang Shizhen nodded and said: "Don't Zhang Juzheng know about these shortcomings that Tong An mentioned? But in order to promote the New Deal, Zhang Juzheng can only use private individuals who have taken refuge in him, and the violent turmoil in the Ming court will only make everyone think about the present. interests and will no longer make long-term plans.”

"Tong An is full of blood. I'm afraid something will happen to him."

Lu Er immediately said: "I understand, I will send someone to protect him."

Wang Shizhen sighed and said: "Jackals and foxes, it's ordinary people who suffer."