Rule the Ming Dynasty Alone

The April rain is like a hail of bullets, violently attacking the entire city of Beijing.

Several dyehouses in the southern suburbs were the first to bear the brunt. When they saw the sudden summer rain, they hurriedly put away all the cloths drying on bamboo racks.

The same is true for the people in Beijing. When experienced people saw the dark clouds rolling in the east, they ran home to put away their clothes to prevent the clothes being dried from getting wet by the rain.

Although they look a little embarrassed, if you look into their hearts, they actually like this look. After all, compared with the four-walled family, they now have valuable clothes and other items.

Although the country has never seen its true prosperity, the living conditions of the people in the capital have obviously improved.

Under Song Cheng's administration, the taxes paid by the people of Shuntian Prefecture did not increase but decreased. With many unfair taxes being curbed, although this agricultural society cannot make everyone rich, many families can buy a meat bun for their children to satisfy their cravings.

In fact, the people of this era did not have high requirements, and not everyone yearned for the prosperous age described by literati. All they needed was to be fed and clothed.

It is worth mentioning that the birth rate in Beijing is clearly on the rise.

The textile industry in Beijing has developed rapidly. Although the output of the Royal Weaving Factory has been increasing, cotton cloth has become increasingly scarce.

No one understands the reason for this, but there are always endless orders overseas, and now cloth tickets in Beijing are becoming more and more popular, so that more and more people in Beijing can dress decently.

Although many literati have said that a tyrant appeared in the Ming Dynasty, especially recently, a group of powerful people have to be killed, but many ordinary people know that their lives are much better than in previous years.

As for the people who had just been rescued from the quagmire of loan sharking by the court, although they were now impoverished, they had already seen the hope of life.

They used to hate the word country, but after experiencing this incident, their attitude has changed 180 degrees, and they are even more willing to die for the emperor in the Forbidden City.

Perhaps it is not yet the prosperous age described by literati, but many people are already satisfied and see hope in life, and some have even begun to take the initiative to raise more children.

To the east of the city, Dongsheng Inn.

In the evening, the summer rain finally cleared up, and several people who had received official uniforms from the official office walked into the front hall, making the place slowly become warm.

Xu Hong and other Guangdong Xinke Jinshi gathered together again, with bright smiles on everyone's faces because they finally got their "work assignments."

Ordinarily, after three days of training at Honglu Temple, their new scholars can take up their posts.

It was just that the imperial court suddenly decided to rectify the financial system, but it made a temporary decision to "grasp the young men" and sent all their new scholars to the Hubu Yamen to help with errands.

There were too many things stemming from the imperial government's financial rectification. In addition to checking the account books of a hundred financial shops, they also had to trace a large number of cases, but almost all of them fell on them, the new Jinshi.

Except for the top three Jinshi who couldn't stand the hard work and took the initiative to apply to join the Hanlin Academy early, the other 598 new Jinshi were working day and night.

After a full month of busy work, they, the new Jinshi, were able to assist the three yamen to handle all the matters.

However, their lives are very fulfilling. After this period of busy work, they helped the innocent souls to be exonerated and at the same time brought a large number of lawless people to justice.

Although they were busy, no one complained. Because they all felt that they had been tempered and were doing the most meaningful things, they all enjoyed it afterwards.

But now it's all over. Those criminal dignitaries and collection agents will all be executed, and they will go their separate ways starting tomorrow.

"I got twenty tickets to make up for it!"

"I got forty votes to make up for it, twice as much as you did!"

"Haha... I got a hundred tickets as replacement, so I don't have to worry about travel expenses this time!"

…

As soon as Xu Hong and the other five people took their seats, some people couldn't help but show off their coupons. Because this time all of their new scholars received coupon subsidies from the Ministry of Household Affairs, which was equivalent to giving them taels of silver, so everyone seemed very happy to show their coupons. The amount obtained.

In fact, in the early Ming Dynasty, all official posts were reimbursed by the court. However, as the number of officials increased, officials now had to pay their own travel expenses. This is one of the reasons why many officials need Beijing debt.

It's just that the court seems to be aware of this problem, and now uses ticket compensation to not only give them their remuneration for the past month, but also provide travel expenses for officials sent abroad.

It is worth mentioning that Royal Bank has started the redemption business of cloth tickets and silver, that is, anyone can go and redeem silver with cloth tickets.

"One hundred tickets? You are going to Jingshan County to serve as the county magistrate. Eighty of them are considered as travel subsidies, right?" Gao Kui was slightly stunned at first, and then he reacted.

Seeing that he only had twenty cloth tickets, Xu Hong said bitterly: "That must be it! I stayed in the capital, but the Ministry of Revenue only gave me twenty cloth tickets!"

"Haha... I have ten more cloth tickets than you. The Ministry of Revenue probably knows that you are marrying a wealthy daughter, so I will deduct ten more cloth tickets from you!" Gao Kui showed off his thirty cloth tickets and teased. smiled.

Now, the work assignments of the five of them have been officially announced: Yang Kuan will be appointed as the magistrate of Chun'an County, Chen Shou will be appointed as the magistrate of Jingshan County, Weng Peng will be promoted to the Huai'an Prefecture, Gao Kui will successfully enter the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and Xu Hong will be promoted to the Procuratorate. to the Ministry of War.

The one who got one hundred tickets was Chen Shou who went to Jingshan County, Huguang. The one who got at least twenty tickets was Xu Hong who stayed in the Ministry of War in the capital. The others were in the middle.

"My lords, do you want to serve the food?" Shopkeeper Zhang lit the lamp and brought it over, and then asked in a flattering manner.

Xu Hong glanced outside the door, shook his head slightly and said, "Wait a moment, Zhang Sui will be here before we serve the food!"

The six of them were friends in times of need in the prison of Fusi in Beizhen. Now they are officials in the same dynasty and they still maintain this friendship. This time they are going to have a farewell banquet together here.

"Okay!" Shopkeeper Zhang said happily that the business of the inn is now booming because of the six of them.

Haikuan looked up and looked outside, but he was full of confusion and said: "Why hasn't Zhang Sui come over yet?"

"Do you know where Zhang Sui is assigned?" Gao Kui suddenly asked mysteriously.

Chen Shou immediately rolled his eyes and said, "Do you still need to guess about this? With Zhang Sui's achievements in mind, the Ministry of Personnel will definitely arrange for him to enter the Sixth Department. I guess it is the Ministry of Personnel!"

"Wrong!" Gao Kui shook his head firmly.

Weng Peng stepped in and said, "Hubu?"

"No, Zhang Sui does not work in the capital!" Gao Kui shook his head seriously, looking serious.

Haikuan's eyes suddenly widened and he looked in disbelief: "He didn't assign him to stay in Beijing. How is this possible?"

"I'm afraid you will never guess that Zhang Sui was promoted to the supervisory censor, and he was assigned to Liaodong, the least popular place!" Gao Kui sighed softly and announced the answer.

Chen Shou frowned, looking extremely puzzled and said: "How could this happen? Hasn't he already participated in the Little Chuanlu?"

"Speaking of this matter, where did Zhang Sui raise that grass carp that day?" Gao Kui also reacted and asked everyone seriously.

Everyone looked at each other, and Haikuan was the first to speak: "Huh? He didn't say anything about this!"

In order to find a place to raise fish, Xu Hong decided to marry Miss Qian on the spur of the moment. When he noticed that everyone was suddenly looking at him, he shook his head gently and said, "I asked Zhang Sui, but he didn't say anything!"

"Don't want to tell? He doesn't have a house in the capital, so where can he raise that grass carp?" Gao Kui frowned, but he was very puzzled.

Weng Peng poured the tea cup and then seriously guessed: "Did he raise it in the room?"

"I sleep with him every day. How could I not know if he was kept in the room? Besides, the top three are all kept in their own rooms. If Zhang Sui really did this, he would be either the top pick or the top pick!" Gao Kui said helplessly. .

Weng Peng took a sip of tea and said in confusion: "Where can we put the grass carp? None of us have a house in the capital, and we don't know anyone who has a house in the capital and a pond!"

"I think... there is a possibility!" Gao Kui thought seriously and suddenly looked at everyone and said.

Xu Hong and others suddenly became interested and asked seriously: "What is possible?"

"He should have eaten the grass carp directly, otherwise the court would not have released him to Liaodong as a supervisory censor!" Gao Kui met everyone's gaze and expressed his guess.

Xu Hongshen agreed and nodded gently: "This seems to be the only explanation!"

"The grass carp given by His Majesty, how could he be so confused!" Hai Kuan hated the iron.

Chen Shou, the eldest, seriously warned: "Let's not mention this matter again later! Now that it has happened, if any of us becomes promising in the future, we must try our best to support him. Zhang Sui is a military man." Talented people!”

As soon as he finished speaking, there was movement at the door.

Zhang Sui is a taciturn young man. Although he is not handsome in appearance, he has a masculine aura because he was born in Leizhou Guard, and his eyes are somewhat cold.

It rained again outside just now. I put away my oil-paper umbrella at the door. Then I walked over and nodded lightly to the five people present. There was a touch of warmth on my cold face and said: "Brothers, please wait. Got it!"

"We have just arrived!" Xu Hong said politely and asked shopkeeper Zhang to serve the food.

Since everyone was already hungry, they began to eat without being polite, and no one pretended to be polite. Perhaps this was the so-called mutual affinity.

Gao Kui and Xu Hong were naturally very happy to be able to stay in Beijing, so they both had good appetites.

Yang Kuan and others are not bad at being sent abroad, especially the three of them who were originally failed, but now serve as magistrates or officials in local places, and the places they go to are not bad, so they are also very happy.

But when everyone looked up and saw Zhang Sui at the same table, they couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

Although his grades were so good and he performed well in cleaning up the accounts this time, who would have thought that he would be sent to Liaodong as a small supervisory censor.

If he hadn't eaten that grass carp, now he would at least be the head of the Ministry of Punishment, and would be a Beijing official that everyone envied. It's a pity...

When Zhang Sui was eating tofu, he suddenly noticed that Gao Kui had been staring at him. He mistakenly thought there were rice grains on his face, so he reached out and touched his face.

But after touching it twice, he found that there was nothing on his face at all, and he couldn't help but asked in confusion: "Gao Kui, what's wrong with you?"

"Huh? It's okay, I just got distracted!" Gao Kui didn't want to do anything that would expose someone's scars, so he lowered his head and continued to eat.

Zhang Sui continued to eat, but soon noticed the strange looks from Xu Hong and Hai Kuan. He immediately picked up his chopsticks and asked, "What's wrong with you?"

Gao Kui exchanged glances with everyone, and seeing that the matter could no longer be concealed, he bluntly said: "Zhang Sui, we all know that you have been arranged by the Ministry of Civil Affairs to serve as the censor of Liaodong!"

"Yes, I forgot to mention it. I was arranged by the officials to go to Liaodong, so I will leave for Liaodong tomorrow. I would like to say goodbye to you brothers!" Zhang Sui immediately realized what he was doing and picked up the wine glass on the table. .

this……

Gao Kui and others couldn't help but were slightly startled, but after exchanging glances, they all picked up their wine glasses.

Now the Ministry of Civil Affairs has arranged official positions for them. In fact, Hai Kuan and the other three planned to set off tomorrow, but they did not expect that Zhang Sui was the most carefree one.

After Gao Kui finished drinking, he finally couldn't help but ask: "Zhang Sui, you...are you unwilling to accept this arrangement from the Ministry of Personnel?"

"This arrangement is very good, why should I not accept it?" Zhang Sui put down the wine glass and asked in confusion.

Gao Kui saw that Zhang Sui seemed to be fine, and thought that Zhang Sui had looked away, so he nodded gently: "Okay! It's a good thing that you think so!"

"Yes, a man can bend and stretch. I believe that gold will always shine!"

"Brother Zhang, if you are greedy in the future, I will make sure you eat fish to your heart's content!"

"Zhang Shi, if you want to eat grass carp in the future, I will cook for you myself, but... you have to think twice about everything!"

…

When Xu Hong and others saw that Zhang Sui had put this matter aside and accepted the unfair arrangement of the court, they all made promises.

Seeing how strange these people were, Zhang Sui couldn't help but shake his head secretly, then he picked up his wine glass and said, "We will go our separate ways tomorrow. I wish you all can make full use of your talents and serve the country with loyalty!"

"Serve the country with loyalty!" Xu Hong and others also raised their glasses in response.

Since Zhang Sui could hold it up and put it down, he enjoyed the meal quite happily, while Weng Peng played a Chaoshan ditty and Haikuan sang a Qiongzhou folk song.

When he was almost drunk, Xu Hong took out his twenty cloth tickets, photographed them in front of Zhang Sui and said, "I don't have many places to use money in the capital, so I give these twenty cloth tickets to you!"

"No!" Zhang Sui gently shook his head when he saw the cloth ticket being pushed over.

Xu Hong knew that Zhang Sui must be "specially cared for" by the Ministry of Household Affairs, so he immediately said with a straight face: "If you refuse, you are too young!"

"It's really not necessary. The Ministry of Revenue will give me five hundred cloth tickets this time!" Zhang Sui shook his head seriously, and his words seemed shockingly authentic.