On the 23rd day of the third month of the 26th year of the reign of Wanli, two days before Xiao Ruxun led his army to Hukou, the sun was shining brightly in Beijing.
To tell the truth, this was a rare sunny day in several months. Previously, the capital had been shivering in the cold and damp. Even the Emperor had not had a good time, let alone the common people huddled in their low and dilapidated houses.
Now, there was finally a rare sunny day with a hint of spring in the air. The common people of the capital took out their cold and damp quilts and bedsheets and hung them in their courtyards to dry, drying out the dampness and moldy smell of the winter.
Similarly, the people in the palace were also busy drying quilts, bedsheets, and washing clothes. The bright sun made people feel warm and comfortable. The entire palace was bustling with washing clothes and quilts. The chief eunuchs directed the junior eunuchs and palace maids to dry and wash things. Under the gentle caress of the sun, everyone's face was brimming with smiles of the new year.
However, the joy of the common people had never appeared in the cabinet. The joy of the mediocre and ordinary people had always been something that the scholars and masters, who did not eat the food of the world, could understand.
Speaking of which, the big shots in the cabinet had been frowning in worry for many days.
"Everyone, tell me. Shanxi needs to be rebuilt. Where will the money come from? Everyone, tell me."
Sitting in the vice minister's seat, Shen Yicheng spoke, opening the tone of today's cabinet meeting.
Speaking of which, the war in Shanxi had happened suddenly and no one had been prepared. As a result, it had made things very difficult for everyone. One hundred thousand Northern Barbarians had marched south and thrown Shanxi into chaos. Hundreds of thousands of people had been displaced, cold, and hungry. It just so happened that there was a shortage of food at this time, and the situation, which had been stabilized by the Burmese immigration policy, was thrown into turmoil again.
Later, although Xiao Ruxun had led troops over and pacified Shanxi in a short period of time, Tarik, that bastard, was being escorted back to the capital, and Xiao Ruxun had reported that he would soon pacify Datong and end the war.
They believed in Xiao Ruxun's military ability. There was no doubt about this. Xiao Ruxun had never lost a battle since his birth. He was the most reassuring and capable general in the empire. If the army was given to him and there were fewer constraints, he would be able to achieve what everyone expected. This was the Emperor's warning.
The Emperor vouched for him and gave him real power by not sending an army supervisor. Not only did he become the first general of the dynasty, but he also became the first governor to command more than one hundred thousand troops without the supervision of an army supervisor. Not even civil officials had received this trust. of Xiao Ruxun was trusted.
Special times called for special treatment. Everyone treated him as an emergency governor who would return to Myanmar as Marquis Zhennan. Therefore, they did not care about him anymore. What they cared about was nothing more than the post-war reconstruction of Shanxi in Datong and the addition of cabinet members.
Because of these two matters, the six ministers and the three ministers met several times to discuss countermeasures, but they still did not achieve anything.
It was the same today.
First Minister Zhao Zhigao, Second Minister Shen Yicheng, Assistant Minister Shen Li, Minister of Personnel Tsai Kuo-chen, Minister of War Shi Xing, Minister of Rites Yu Jideng, Minister of Justice Song Yingchang, and Minister of Works Xu Zuo. The eight big shots formed the highest decision-making circle of Daming. They gathered again to discuss the post-war reconstruction of Shanxi and the addition of cabinet members.
Well, Minister of Revenue Yang Junmin did not attend. Otherwise, there would be nine of them.
But it did not matter. It was the same whether he came or not. No one cared about what he thought, as long as he did it.
As a Minister of Revenue, he could not go against everyone's decision, unless he wanted to flip the table. That would be great. They could push him to the bottom and completely defeat the Jin party and the Jin merchants.
But as far as the current situation was concerned, the two matters could be handled separately, but when they were put together, it was impossible for the political animals not to get excited.
It was the nature and instinct of political animals to eliminate dissidents. There was no political animal in the world who did not like to eliminate dissidents. Everyone who came to the highest decision-making circle of Daming was a first-class political animal. They had long reached a consensus on how to deal with the post-disaster reconstruction of Shanxi and the addition of cabinet members.
This was not an ordinary government affairs or an ordinary election, but a major political event.
Because these two matters happened to collide with the third matter — Jingcha!
The cabinet had already submitted a memorial, waiting for the Emperor's approval, and the storm of Jingcha would officially begin to sweep the city of Beijing.
After decades of evolution, the inspection of the capital had long changed from the original purpose of inspecting the achievements, abilities, and conduct of the officials in the capital to a tool of political struggle. What brought the inspection of the capital into such an abyss was the cruel political struggle between Yan Song and the civil officials during the Jiajing period.
From that time on, under Emperor Jiajing's intentional or unintentional promotion, the inspection of the capital became a means of siding with one's own faction against those who did not, rather than a means of self-cleansing to get rid of incompetent and muddle-headed officials for the country. The inspection of the capital lost its original meaning, and instead became a weapon that intensified the struggle between the various factions of the officials.
Political struggle was as cruel as the battlefield. The battlefield was to kill and destroy a person physically, while the political struggle was to destroy a person spiritually and spiritually. There was no essential difference between the two.
In the big boss circle composed of nine people, everyone was accustomed to such means. They had even experienced Jing Cha six years ago. The scene of the fierce struggle at that time was still fresh in everyone's mind.
Right now, several things were mixed together, and the various matters were intertwined. Each matter could be related to the others, and each matter was not pure.
The Emperor had asked Shen Yicheng to preside over the disaster relief in Datong, and Shen Yicheng was certain that he would do it as a stepping stone for him to become the Cabinet Secretary in the future.
But Shen Yicheng, as a Jiangzhe native, was the spokesperson of the Jin merchants' enemies. Letting such a person preside over the disaster relief in Datong was like letting the Big Bad Wolf carry out the rescue work for Little Red Riding Hood. It was more Andersen than Grimm's fairy tales.
Yang Junmin was full of praise.
Letting Shen Yicheng preside over the disaster relief in Datong was tantamount to letting the Jin merchants in Datong unload their weapons and wait for Shen Yicheng to slaughter them. Wouldn't that make them meat on the chopping block?
As the only representative of the Jin merchants in the court, Yang Junmin expressed that he could not accept it. He had written to the Emperor asking him to allow him to be the overall person in charge of the disaster relief in Datong. The reason was that he was the Minister of Revenue and was familiar with all kinds of work.
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