The Ming Dynasty's Spokesperson

It was already the second half of the 22nd year of Wanli, and the issue of the country in the capital suddenly became hot again.

The newly appointed Minister of Rites Zhao Yongxian submitted a memorial requesting the enthronement of the Eastern Palace.

When the chief assistant Zhao Zhigao saw this, he was not very confident and asked Lin Tailai, who was living in Suzhou with a secret letter.

When the secret letter arrived in Suzhou, Lin Tailai was standing in the yard, carefully observing the vines, as if observing some treasures.

A group of wives, concubines and children stood beside him for no reason. They originally agreed to go out for an autumn outing together today, but Lin Tailai suddenly received these vines and stopped leaving.

Speaking of these vines delivered with sand and soil, they are quite famous. They were sent by Xu Zhenming, a Fujian Censor who was promoted by Lin Tailai.

It is said that Lin Tailai sent Xu Zhenming to Fujian to be an official, and there were two main tasks, one was sea trade and the other was to find a plant.

After the inspection, Lin Tailai said with satisfaction: "I finally saw the sweet potato vine."

Xu Zhenming's servant who rushed from Fujian said, "My master searched in Fujian for several years before finding the sweet potato crop.

Perhaps in recent years, a Fujian native saw that this product was very high in Luzon, so he secretly brought the sweet potato vine back to Fujian from Luzon and began to plant it. ”

Lin Tailai praised: "Good products! They should be promoted quickly, especially in the north.

Although it cannot be eaten as a staple food for a long time, it can still greatly alleviate the pressure on food.

I will first offer it to the emperor in the name of the Jiangnan Train Office of Communications Department! ”

When his guest Qian Shiyang saw that Lin Tailai had not yet left the house, he came to report, "Feng Menglong asked for a meeting."

Old Suzhou people know that Marquis Lin has two nominal disciples in "academic".

One is the future hope of Wen Zhenmeng, half of Suzhou literature and art, and the other is Feng Menglong, the son of Feng Menglong, the chief physician of Lin Group, who is both twenty-one years old this year.

Lin Tailai had to temporarily postpone his time of going out and asked Feng Menglong curiously at the door: "Why did you suddenly come to see me today?"

Feng Menglong replied naively: "I will set off soon to Nanjing to participate in this autumn examination. I will say goodbye."

Lin Tailai couldn't help but sigh and said, "Is it the year of the provincial examination unconsciously again? My past of the two provincial examinations in Nanjing seems to be still vivid in my mind."

Feng Menglong asked a little embarrassedly: "Do you know who the examiner of the autumn examination in Nanzhili this time?"

Lin Tailai said angrily: "If you came to ask me this three years ago, why would you still have to take the provincial examination this year!"

Feng Menglong said: "Three years ago, I thought about using my own skills to try it out. If the teacher knew who the examiner was this year, I would ask the teacher to write a letter."

Lin Tailai replied, "I don't know! I am in Suzhou, how can I know who will send to Nanjing in the capital?"

Feng Menglong was a little disappointed. It seems that he still couldn't help this time?

Then he heard Lin Tai say, "But I can still write a letter. Just take my letter to Nanjing!"

Feng Menglong said in surprise: "The teacher doesn't know who the examiner is, how can I write a letter?"

Lin Tailai said proudly: "According to the court's laws, the chief examiner of the provincial examination in the two capitals must choose from the sixth rank or above.

Anyway, my letters are not written to the recipient. No matter who comes to be the chief examiner, just give me my letters to him! ”

Feng Menglong: "."

A young man from the bottom of his homework knows nothing about the influence of top power.

Then he remembered something, and Feng Menglong said again: "After the examiner arrives in Nanjing, he will immediately lock in the tribute court. It is completely out of touch with outsiders. How can he deliver the letter?"

Lin Tailai patiently advised: "The tribute courts are all drawn from the guards of Nanjing, so you can visit the Duke of Wei first and ask Duke of Wei to help bring my letters to the tribute court!"

Feng Menglong suddenly realized and left with great gratitude.

Lin Tai looked at Feng Menglong's back and suddenly thought, his own techniques would not be written into the novel in the future, right?

After returning from the fun in the evening, Secretary Bai came to ask for instructions and said, "How to write a reply to the Prime Minister?"

Lin Tailai casually instructed: "Speaking of Jiangnan's harvest this year, there is no need to mention anything else!"

After seeing the content of the reply, Shoufu Zhao naturally understood the meaning of watching it follow the crowd without being the first to be a leader.

We are the Qingliu Party members and Emperor Wanli who urgently need to restore their momentum, and our Lin Party only watch the fun.

Then, Zhao Yongxian, the Minister of Rites, fully played the role of cannon fodder and issued eight memorials to request the appointment of the crown prince.

This directly pushed the dispute over the foundation of the country to a climax, and it was another new climax after two or three years.

Emperor Wanli was furious as expected and dismissed the Minister of Rites Zhao Yongxian. So Zhao Yongxian "retired after success" and completely left the court.

Later, officials such as Yu Kong Jian, Yu Yuansheng, the doctor of the Ministry of Works, Wang Rujian, the clerk of the Criminal Department, Zhang Zhenguan, the military department, Xu Honggang, and Guanglu Cheng Zhu Weijing, all submitted memorials to support Zhao Yongxian and request the appointment of the crown prince.

The cabinet was forced to no avail, so he asked the emperor to enthrone the Eastern Palace with the crowd.

Emperor Wanli responded: "I read the "Instructions of the Emperor Ming's Ancestors" yesterday, the ancestral system established the legitimate system but not the common people.

Now the princes are all concubines, but the queen is still young. What if there is a chance to be born in the future?

The three princes can be conferred the kings together, and if the queen is not released in a few years, they will be enthroned. ”

Then, if the old tune of "Three Kings" is repeated, then if the queen gives birth to a legitimate son, it will be repeated.

The ministers all know that Emperor Wanli is not close to the queen at all, so how can the queen have the chance to have a legitimate son?

Therefore, the saying "firstly confer all the concubine's sons as kings, and then see if there will be a legitimate son" is actually to fool people and delay time.

Yue Yuansheng, the 18th generation grandson of Yue Fei and the doctor of the Ministry of Works, submitted a memorial to object, saying, "Is Your Majesty the Prince's article about enlisting the prince as a precedent?"

This means that Your Majesty did not directly make his son the crown prince, but let his son be the prince first, and then the prince would be the crown prince later. Should we quote the regulations on the extinction of the royal family's descendants and the succession of the small clan prince?

Just one sarcastic sentence that ruined Emperor Wanli!

He directly issued an order to transfer Yue Yuansheng and three others to the border to garrison, but after the persuasion of the ministers, he changed his dismissal to be dismissed.

It was quarreling until November that Emperor Wanli summoned the chief assistant Zhao Zhigao in the warm pavilion of the bedroom.

"If Lin Tai comes to the court, how dare you deceive the heavens so recklessly!" Emperor Wanli said to the chief minister.

There is no one here, so the emperor speaks casually.

But with Zhao Zhigao's character, it is impossible to let himself go. He said in a proper manner: "Your Majesty should set the foundation of the country early to calm the hearts of both Chinese and foreigners."

Emperor Wanli was also very tired. As the prince grew older, it became increasingly difficult to find excuses to delay.

Then he said helplessly: "Sir, you can go to the outside court to declare that after the beginning of spring next year, the prince will go out to listen to the lecture."

Zhao Zhigao was overjoyed and said, "Your Majesty is wise."

Letting the eldest son go out of the cabinet to study first can be considered an invisible position.

Things must be resolved step by step, and it is a good thing that the stubborn emperor can start to make concessions.

As the prime minister, he was also upset about the dispute over the country's foundation, and it was easy to resolve it early.

But Emperor Wanli was still thinking about something and said, "The eldest son and the third son of the emperor are not much different in age, so you can go out to the cabinet and listen to the lecture."

Zhao Zhigao, who had just finished the joy, almost wanted to quit his sleeves. Emperor, is it useless to pretend to "concessions" like this?

If you want to make concessions, you can’t make concessions quickly? What is the difference between "two princes studying together" and "three kings are enthroned together"?

Zhao Shoufu conscientiously and patiently persuaded him: "Next year, the eldest son of the emperor is fourteen years old and the third son of the emperor is ten years old.

This age is too late for the eldest son, but it is just right for the third son.

Therefore, the temporary and urgent teaching is completely different, how can we learn together? ”

Emperor Wanli sighed, even the chief minister who was riding the fence disagreed, and it is even more conceivable that the outside dynasty was. "Then let the eldest son go out to study alone next year."

Zhao Zhigao asked again tentatively: "The eldest son of the emperor came out of the house to listen to the lecture. I don't know what kind of crown and clothes he was wearing? You might as well perform the crown ceremony first to determine the color of the clothes."

Emperor Wanli said impatiently: "No need to perform the ceremony! Next year, the eldest son of the emperor will go out to the palace to listen to the lecture in his regular clothes!"

After the emperor's decree was announced, the court temporarily calmed down. This year, the dispute over the foundation of the country finally forced the emperor to take a small step.

In the blink of an eye, the second year, that is, the 23rd year of Wanli, which was also a year of great competition. The third auxiliary Zhang Wei actively competed for the opportunity to be the chief examiner.

No mistakes, one song, one post, one content, one reading!

Lin Tailai suggested that his "disciples" should not take the exam, so Wen Zhenmeng and Feng Menglong both followed the opinions and did not go to Beijing to take the exam.

Only Wen Zhenmeng’s father Wen Yuan asked: “Why is this?”

Lin Tailai skillfully used his skills in camera and pointed out: "I see that Zhang is frustrating. Do you want the son to have such a teacher?"

At the same time, the emperor finally did not go back on his word this time. In February, the eldest son went to cabinet to give lectures, and the ministers finally saw the eldest son with their own eyes.

Feng Qi, the Minister of Rites, presented the emperor's eldest son's note, but the emperor did not arrange guards for the emperor's eldest son on the grounds that he had not enacted the book.

Originally, Emperor Wanli was still thinking about summoning Lin Tailai back to the court.

However, seeing the 100,000 taels of silver donated by the Suzhou-Hangzhou Weaving Bureau, Emperor Wanli fell into deep thought.

Since Lin Tailai likes to live in his hometown, stay for a few more years. Anyway, the imperial court has nothing to do except to make trouble for the country's foundation and quarrel with the mining tax.

Compared with the original historical time and space, the treasury's financial situation in recent years has been much better.

In the two wars of suppressing the rebellion in Ningxia and the Korean anti-Japanese war, Lin Tailai saved about 2 million taels of silver for the national treasury, and also added 400,000 taels of input every year.

Therefore, Yu Shenxing, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, had much less pressure on the treasury deficit, and the main pressure in work became opposition to Emperor Wanli's random dispatch of mining and tax supervision to make money.

For the Shangshu, it is more of a moral pressure than an economic or fiscal pressure.

It can be said that the emperor sent a wide variety of economic eunuchs. When he heard that there was a mine here, he sent people to mine. When he heard that there was a certain property here, he sent people to collect property taxes.

Everyone in the world opposed the emperor sending eunuchs directly to various places to engage in economics. In the end, the pressure was all about the Minister of Revenue.

Some Qingliu Party members directly accused Yu Shangshu and said, "They used the juggernaut to obtain mining taxes, abused the people and mobilized profits, and the Grand Situ could not provide guidance, which led to the execution of evil."

The implication is that if you can’t do it, just quit your job and don’t block the way. The Qingliu power occupied two ministers of the Ministry of Revenue, and there was no place to be promoted!

Shangshu Yu had no choice but to resign from his post to avoid others' words, so he submitted a memorial to dissuade Emperor Wanli and said:

"There are Lelang Tongshan in front and the Suzhou-Hangzhou weaving behind. They can all make huge profits. Why send mining supervision and tax supervision to disturb the people?"

After Emperor Wanli finished reading it, he stayed at the end of the school and refused to post it.

Anyway, after the eldest son of the emperor came to the cabinet to give lectures, the court temporarily calmed down on the issue of the country.

Then the court did not have any major issues, but when the youngest son of the chief minister Zhao Zhigao returned to his hometown in Zhejiang, he passed by Suzhou to pay his respects to Lin Tailai, he brought Zhao's oral message saying, "The three auxiliary officers and Zhang form a clique to form a power."

Lin Tailai wrote a letter to Zhao Zhigao and replied, "It will be your own collection, let him go."

In the 23rd year of Wanli, there was another important thing for Lin Tailai, which was that his wife's brothers had ended up observing the system.

The former Minister of Revenue Wang Zhiyuan was already 68 years old and did not want to go out to trouble again, so he stayed in his hometown to teach his future generations.

Wang Zhiyou, the former deputy envoy of the Censorate, was in his prime and had enough experience. He was directly reinstated as the Right Censor, Governor of Fengyang and Governor of the Grain Transport.

After the 23rd years of Wanli, the two major items, Lelang Tongshan and Jiangnan Hai Trade, brought 300,000 taels of silver to the inner treasury of Emperor Wanli, accounting for one fifth of the current silver income of the inner treasury that year.

Compared with the other side, after more than a dozen mine and tax supervisors sent to mobilize a large number of troops, they finally contributed tens of thousands of taels of silver. Emperor Wanli fell silent again.

Then the emperor issued an order to separate the Ministry of War Communications Department from the Ministry of War and become an independent office.

In addition, the chief official was promoted to the fourth rank and was renamed the Communication Envoy, the first Communication Envoy, the Capital of Kings.

The time was in the 24th year of Wanli, and the court was still stable. However, in the southwest Guizhou, Yang Yinglong, chieftain of the Xuanwei Division of Bozhou, ravaged the Miaodi.

Lin Tailai, a communication envoy of the Jiangnan Train Department of Communications, who had not been in court for a long time, suddenly submitted a memorial, asking the court to send a large army to eliminate the Yang family in Bozhou.

This aroused the high vigilance of some people, believing that Lin Tailai had the idea of ​​returning to the court, so he threw a stone to explore the way.

The Qingliu Party members attacked Lin Tailai and made a big fuss and took the opportunity to hold troops and respect themselves. Grand Secretary Zhang Wei also agreed.

It is obvious that once the army is used, it will cost money, and Emperor Wanli is a little reluctant to let it go.

Moreover, the emperor did not think that the small toast in a remote place like the Yang family in Bozhou was a big problem.

So Emperor Wanli finally adopted Zhang Wei's opinion and ordered the officials in the southwest to strictly restrain and comfort the Yang family of Bozhou.

After receiving the court's reply, Lin Tailai could only shake his head.

As the saying goes, those who do not listen to time travel will suffer losses later!

Then Lin Tailai temporarily put down the court affairs, shouted "ah" and looked up and fell down!

The servants and the servants who were prepared had already supported Lin Tailai in all their might and comforted each other, "Your Majesty, I am so sad!"

Don’t get me wrong. Lin Tailai also just received a news of his demise from Huizhou Newspaper. Xu Guo, the chief examiner of the 17th year of the Wanli Association and former Grand Secretary, passed away.

Lin Tailai looked at the sky with no eyes, beat his chest and stamped his feet and lamented: "I have been diligent in the king's affairs for several years. I have finally had a little time recently and was about to go to Huizhou to pay homage. If I don't want to, I will be separated from my old teacher Tianren forever!"

The left guardian Zhang Wen secretly complained, "It's enough, everyone is tired of supporting you with more than 200 pounds!"

Then Zhang Wen asked again: "Do you want to go to Huizhou to pay your condolences?"

Lin Tailai replied without hesitation: "As the chief disciple, of course he has to go!"

Then he carefully ordered, "Click five hundred soldiers quickly. Oh no, five hundred clerks set out with me!

After all, the place in Huizhou is a bit dangerous and has a great hatred for me, so you must be careful. ”

Everyone on the left: "."

Junhou, are you going to pay condolences or to fight for territory?