Brocade tears

Meng Kuang was late, this was the first time she had joined Jinyiwei since then.Although she hurried to the household department panting, the agreed hour still passed.Zhou Jintong stayed outside alone and waited for Meng Kuang. Guo Dayou had already gone in and continued to check the accounts.Seeing Meng Kuang rushing all the way here, Zhou Jintong thought to himself that the sun really came out from the west today, and Baihu was late.

"Baihu? You're here, Guotou got impatient and went in first."

Meng Kuang ran up to him and stood still, panted for a moment, and nodded.Zhou Jintong didn't ask her why she was late, because he knew that it would be useless to ask someone like Meng Kuang who didn't say a word all year round.It's just that today I always feel that Baihu's appearance is somewhat different from the past, but I can't tell for a while.

Without saying much, the two of them hurried into the household department and went straight to the accounting room.

On the second day of March, the second day of the account checking by the Ministry of Household Affairs, the scope has basically been narrowed to the accounts of the Shandong Qingli Department.Yesterday, a large number of tax debts that did not match the numbers were found, and there were in every province. Among them, the debts in the Jiangnan area were basically taken by the royal family, and they could not be recovered even if they wanted to.But only in Shandong Qinglisi, there has been a big fluctuation in taxation, but the flow direction does not point to the royal family, which has attracted Guo Dayou's attention.

When Meng Kuang stepped into the accounting room, his cousin Zhao Ziyang was explaining the contents of a certain account book to Guo Dayou.

"Based on the figures, Shandong owed 18 taels of silver in the 20th year of Wanli. Was this food used for the repair of Hongji Canal in Fengyang?" Guo Dayou asked.

"Exactly. At that time, the fortification was in charge of the fortification by Wang Tingzhan, the governor of Fengyang, and Wang Tingzhan, the censor of the right capital. The Holy Majesty asked the Ministry of Households to allocate funds, and we were unable to allocate funds from the treasury for a while. The tax was paid, and Wang Xuntai directly appropriated more than half of it on the grounds of urgency. This is a special case. This tax did not enter the treasury of the transfer department. It is difficult for us to record this matter in our books, so our report to the household department stated that 20 taels were indeed transferred from the treasury bank, but we It can only be recorded as arrears on the books, because the money has never been put into the treasury." Zhao Ziyang explained.

"If Wang Tingzhan hadn't embezzled the money at that time, what should it have been used for?" Guo Dayou asked.

"Although there are regulations on the use of treasury silver handed over from various places, it is now stretched. Naturally, it is used wherever there is a shortage. The taxes in the 18th year of Wanli should be used in the 19th year of Wanli, that is, many matters last year. Relief The disaster victims and the allocation of military expenses are all possible. Speaking of which, if there were 20 taels, the famine/famine in Henan last year would have been much easier." Zhao Ziyang sighed.

"I remember, Wang Tingzhan later changed the Minister of the Household Department, and then the Minister of the Nanjing Ministry of Punishment?" Guo Dayou asked.

"Yes, it is true that Wang Xuntai was honored by the emperor after the construction of the Hongji Canal, and he was changed to the Secretary of the Household Department. But he did not take office in the future, so he was changed to the Minister of the Ministry of Punishment in Nanjing. Now he is old and seriously ill at home. It was also difficult. Later, the Minister of the Household Department was appointed by the current Yang Butang. Yang Butang was in charge of the relief of the Henan famine/famine. Although he tried his best, the disaster last year was still horrific. Eat people to satisfy their hunger. As a result, a large number of refugees were stranded near the capital. The Ministry of Households and the Huimin Pharmaceutical Bureau set up a relief area, built shacks to accommodate the refugees, and gave porridge and medicine every day. Only then did they barely appease the refugees. Criticizing the disaster relief is not good enough and ruining the order of the capital. But the Holy One valued his ability and gave him a heavy responsibility."

Guo Dayou fell into deep thought, glanced at Meng Kuang and Zhou Jin coming together, and nodded.Then he turned to Zhao Ziyang and said:

"Shaanxi and Liaodong's military expenses, food and salaries, do you have the accounts of previous years?"

"Yes, please come with me on business." Zhao Ziyang took Guo Dayou and the others to another account book warehouse, took out a thick stack of account books from the densely piled files, and piled them in front of the three.

"I retrieved the military accounts of the previous two years." Zhao Ziyang explained, "Our accounts are not yet complete. If you need to reconcile the accounts, you need to go to the Ministry of War to check the accounts of the number of people and supplies."

Zhou Jintong was already dizzy before he started the investigation, and Meng Kuang's complexion was not very good-looking. Guo Dayou looked at so many files and sighed:

"Check it out."

The three of them began to look it up dully. From the morning until the afternoon, their eyes were full of numbers.The lunch was brought by the internal affairs of the household department, and it was not satisfactory, so we had to make do with it.While Meng Kuang was eating, Zhou Jintong kept staring at her.Because she lifted the lower half of the mask, Zhou Jintong was very novel, Xindao Baihu was too handsome, as pretty as a woman.No wonder you have to wear a mask, this is like King Lanling.Just looking at her eating and chewing, it seems that her jaw doesn't seem to have been injured, what a weird person.

After checking until the afternoon, Meng Kuang had already recorded a large number of incorrect accounts on the paper at hand. There were too many shortfalls in food and wages, and many reasons were unclear. If the total was calculated, it would be a huge sum.Among them, Guo Dayou needs to find out from which channels the Zheng family put Shaanxi's military pay into his own pocket, and whether there will be a crisis similar to the Ningxia rebellion in other regions.The defense of Shaanxi and Liaodong is currently the most important. One is guarding against the Mongols, and the other is guarding against the Jurchens. Two-front warfare is extremely unfavorable to the Ming army. There are already problems in Shaanxi, and Liaodong must not be chaotic.

Meng Kuang quickly checked the part that belonged to her, and handed over the doubts he had written down to Guo Dayou.Guo Dayou looked at her, and saw Meng Kuang gesturing to tell him that he wanted to go back early today because he had something to do at home.

Guo Dayou found it strange that this kid was late in the morning and wanted to go back early in the afternoon?What could be wrong with her family, is her frail sister sick?Still that woman...

Guo Dayou nodded and said:

"Then you go first, and report to the Ministry of War tomorrow, it's still Chenshi."

Meng Kuang nodded, got up, and unobtrusively handed Zhao Ziyang a small piece of paper folded squarely to the side.Zhao Ziyang held the piece of paper in his hand and remained calm.After Meng Kuang left, he walked out of the accounting room under the pretext of going out for convenience, and unfolded the note: Come to Lingji Hall for dinner tonight, and let me know if there is anything to do.

……

Lingji Church reopened today.When Qingxu arrived in the morning, Meng Yan gave a harsh word to her.He said that he colluded with his sister to spy on the family, and he didn't tell himself that he regarded himself as a fool.Qingxu can only apologize, and comfort her with kind words.

Not long after the door opened, the newly appointed Deputy Commander Ma Si Zhan Yuzhan led the team over to say hello.From today onwards, he will continue to patrol the neighborhood to ensure the security of the neighborhood.Probably because of his appearance, the number of refugees today has decreased greatly, and the leaders of the refugees who came to make trouble the day before yesterday are no longer seen.

Before noon, uncle Zhao Yun'an came to the door with his aunt Du Shi.Zhao Yun'an is now over fifty years old, and his body is still strong, but his curly hair and beard are already grey, and the wrinkles on his face are getting more and more year by year.His facial features are three to four points similar to those of his late mother Zhao, and he can vaguely see the appearance of his mother in the past.My aunt Du Shi is over forty years old, she is a quiet and elegant middle-aged woman, without the slightest aura of street women.She was a well-known lady of the official family in her early years. She was well-read in poetry and books, especially good at calligraphy and painting, and could write good characters.It was only because of the decline of the family that he married into a merchant's family.Uncle Zhao Yun'an was loyal and loyal, devoted to her, cared for her, knew and accompanied her all his life, and never married another wife.The two have only one son, their cousin Zhao Ziyang.Because she married a good family, her life was relatively smooth, her heart was peaceful and peaceful, and she was gentle and amiable to her children.Especially for the children of the Meng family, she always takes care of them with infinite compassion and love.No, I heard that there was a turmoil in the Meng family yesterday, so today I brought my wife to see the situation.

The Zhao family also had their glory days in their early years.The ancestors of the Zhao family were originally rich peasants in Jiangdu County, Yangzhou Prefecture, Southern Zhili Province. During the Hongwu period, the grain growers who entered Beijing became officials and started their family. The family has always been inextricably linked with the Ministry of Households.During the Zhengde period, because of his distant relationship with the emperor's relatives, he was given the status of an imperial merchant and began to operate rice grain business.In fact, it was the branch of the Imperial Merchant under Changping Cang, an assistant to the imperial court to stabilize the price of rice and grain. In its heyday, it controlled one-fifth of the rice grain purchase between the two capitals.In the last years of Jiajing, he gradually broke away from the background of the imperial court and became a relatively independent businessman. Up to the current Wanli year, most of the business has been transferred out, and now he only does some small-scale rice, flour, grain and oil businesses, basically relying on the personal connections accumulated in the early years , doing the business left by others, and completely decoupled from the imperial court and merchants.It is not so much a downfall in the family, but a wise choice under the changing circumstances of the world.Several generations of the Patriarchs of the Zhao family are well versed in the way of officialdom, and they also know that the imperial merchants are engaged in extremely risky business, and they must find a backer.Therefore, from shortly after becoming an imperial merchant, the Zhao family has been trying to get rid of their identity as an imperial merchant bit by bit, and now they are finally completely freed.Although the glory is no longer there, there is no need to worry about food and clothing, so there is no need to worry about it anymore.

Because Meng Kuang didn't want his uncle and aunt to know about Sui'er, Meng Ai took a lot of effort to keep his uncle and aunt in the front hall and not let them go to the backyard.The uncle and aunt asked the family staff to bring some rice, flour, grain and oil. Whenever they came to visit, they never forgot to bring food, especially taking care of Meng Yan's physical condition, lest she feel unwell.Uncle still often brings Meng Yan the sweet cakes she loved when she was a child, and treats her like a child.The old couple sat in the front hall and asked about the recent situation at home, and then carefully asked about Meng Kuang's situation.Every time Meng Kuang was mentioned, my uncle always said to find a way to get her to stop staying in Jinyiwei, and to withdraw quickly and go back to her hometown in Yangzhou Prefecture to get married. There is still time at the age of 24 or [-].Uncle has always been worried about Meng Kuang's entry into Jinyiwei, but he couldn't resist Meng Kuang, so this matter became his biggest heart disease.And my aunt always comforted him, let everything go with the flow, don't force it.Children have their own pursuits, so why bother.

The family had dinner together, and the old couple chatted for a long time.In the afternoon, the number of patients seeing a doctor and taking medicine gradually increased, and Meng Ai was about to start busy again, so they could not bother them anymore, so they left.Meng Yan sent them away, feeling warm and helpless in her heart.

It wasn't until the old couple left that Meng Yan had time to deliver food to Sui'er.Fortunately, Sui'er got up late in Japan today, and ate breakfast late, and read a book in the morning to pass the time, so she doesn't feel hungry even now.When delivering the meal, Sui'er mentioned the things discussed with Meng Kuang last night, and Meng Ai was secretly startled when she heard that, so Miss Xiaosui hasn't told the whole truth yet?It seems that sister is right, sister Xiaosui really hides a deep secret.She could understand her sister's suspicious state. As a Jin Yiwei who wanted to find out everything, she couldn't go crazy when she met such a mysterious person as Xiaosui.

It's just sister and sister Xiaosui... alas... Thinking of his uncle's grizzled beard and hair, worrying about Meng Kuang's future, Meng Ai didn't know what it was like.

Before the application time, Meng Kuang came back with a piece of pork, a fish and a jug of wine in his hand.The wine is Magu wine, which is sold in the well-known Jiangxi restaurant.This wine originated from Jianchang in Yuzhang, and it is a double cooking wine. It became famous in Beijing because of the recommendation of literati.After it was introduced to Beijing, it was very popular among the dignitaries in the capital.There is a pair of words: Magu double cooking wine, rose gum.This wine is extremely fragrant, and it is also meant to ward off evil spirits during the Dragon Boat Festival.

As soon as Meng Kuang came back, he started cooking. While he was busy in the kitchen, the guests at home gradually arrived, his cousin Zhao Ziyang, brother Qingmiao Qingheng, and Qingxu who was helping at Lingji Hall.At about [-] o'clock, the Lingji Hall closed its doors to thank the guests, Sui'er came out from the backyard, and a total of seven people sat in a group in the side hall of the front hall.

Not much to say, everyone at today's banquet already knows what this banquet is for.Meng Kuang and Meng Ai toasted first, and then Sui Er also toasted. Everyone raised their glasses and drank, and then began to eat vegetables with chopsticks.During the conversation, they chatted about the family's gossip, until after three rounds of wine and five flavors of food, Meng Kuang glanced at Sui'er, and said:

"Everyone, we are here because Sui'er is willing to tell us about her affairs. I hope everyone can come to a conclusion after hearing this. I also need to discuss with you about the way forward. That's good."

Everyone turned their attention to Sui'er, Sui'er put down the bowl and chopsticks, cleared his throat, and said:

"Everyone, what you hear next is the secrets of the inner court. Unless you have the means to go to the inner court to verify, what I said is also lack of evidence. Believe it or not depends on your judgment. I will tell [-]% of the facts , the remaining [-]%, please forgive me for concealing it. It is not a good thing to tell you all, I do this to protect you. I hope that after listening to you, you can help me leave the capital as soon as possible, which is my most important thing right now."

So Sui'er began to narrate what she had experienced in the palace for so many years. Following her narration, the unbelievable things happened, which made everyone in the room stunned.