My father is Jiajing

Chapter 244: The Wisdom of the Young Minister
The east building of Yan Shifan's villa.

Donglou was a villa purchased by Yan Shifan to show off his literary taste, so Yan Shifan also called himself Donglou.

This was also a gathering place for Yan Shifan and his confidants.

The reason why Yan Shifan likes to meet with his confidants here is to avoid his father's nagging.

Over the years, Yan Shifan, who is smart, wise and enterprising, feels that his father is becoming more and more timid. He has to think for a long time before doing anything, and most of the time he may not get a result after thinking for a long time.

Over time, Yan Shifan became tired of his father Yan Song's slowness.

Therefore, Yan Shifan began to take the initiative to support the Yan family for his father. He dared to use people that his father was too cautious to use! He dared to decide things that his father had been unable to decide for a long time!
So gradually, many speculators who wanted to take shortcuts and members of the Yan Party who were valued by Yan Shifan naturally gathered around Yan Shifan and became a major force.

However, today the East Building Courtyard is no longer filled with the joyful sounds of the past.

Yan Shifan sat on the master chair in the main hall of the east building with an angry face. There was only a tea tray left on the coffee table next to him. It was obvious that Yan Shifan was extremely furious at the moment and he threw the teacup next to him without any shame.

"What happened to Prince Jing? Didn't you tell me he was fine the day before yesterday? Why did Prince Yu become the chief priest at the opening ceremony of the capital's expansion early yesterday morning?"

Yan Shifan stared at Luo Longwen angrily and said so angrily.

Luo Longwen also felt aggrieved. The day before yesterday, when he went to Prince Jing's mansion to deliver new ink to Prince Jing, Prince Jing was indeed fine, just like usual, with no signs of illness.

God knows how it happened that just one night had passed, and how it was that Prince Jing, who had been fine, suddenly fell ill, and was so ill that he could not go on the journey, so the emperor urgently ordered Prince Yu to preside over the ceremony of expanding the capital.

This also surprised Luo Longwen. He racked his brains but couldn't figure out why King Jing fell ill at this critical juncture.

Luo Longwen said aggrievedly: "Young Lord, you know me well. I will not lie to you. When I went to deliver ink last time, King Jing was indeed fine and showed no signs of illness."

Yan Shifan looked at Luo Longwen's aggrieved expression and tried hard to suppress his anger, but he couldn't help but let it burst out.

You have to know that Yan Shifan is also a person who thinks he is extremely smart, and smart people are generally conceited and arrogant. They like to take risks that ordinary people dare not take to satisfy their psychological superiority.

The fact that Prince Jing was able to obtain the position of chief official in charge of the capital's expansion was actually the result of Yan Shifan's clever manipulation. He just wanted to earn some fame for Prince Jing, let him step out from behind the scenes and compete with Prince Yu, who was mediocre and stupid and was just born early.

Let the world also see King Jing’s intelligence and his courage to take on responsibilities.

As things were about to go smoothly, King Jing suddenly fell ill, which made Yan Shifan very angry.

So he couldn't help but get angry and blame the people around him.

Yan Shifan looked at Luo Longwen, who had an innocent face, and couldn't help feeling a lump in his heart.

Yan Shifan said in a hateful voice: "I will deal with you later. Now I want to determine what disease King Jing has and whether there is any cure. If there is no cure, we will join Xu Jie and the others in flattering King Yu."

Yan Shifan knew very well that if something happened to Prince Jing, Prince Yu would be the only choice.

So for the future of the Yan family, even if he was unwilling in his heart, he had to flatter Prince Yu and pave the way for the future of the Yan family.

But this was a great humiliation for Yan Shifan!
Who is Prince Yu?
Apart from that bunch of whining, self-proclaimed pure-minded literati who like to support him under the banner of seniority, what else does he have except that he was born a few days earlier than King Jing?

Moreover, his mother was suffering from tuberculosis, and the emperor didn't even want to look at her. Yan Shifan would never support such a waste.

Another reason is that King Jing is the youngest son, and if he can be promoted, he will definitely be grateful to him. Therefore, Yan Shifan did not want to vote for Prince Yu at all.

How could it be more challenging to praise him than to praise King Jing?
But now King Jing actually failed at the critical moment, how could Yan Shifan not be angry.

So at this time, in addition to being angry, Yan Shifan also sent people to his relative Lu Bing to inquire about the news about King Jing, hoping to get accurate information as soon as possible so that he could feel at ease.

But how could Yan Shifan find out this news so easily?

Although Lu Bang is Yan Shifan's relative, he is not stupid enough to bet everything on Yan Shifan.

Moreover, with Lu Bing's power and status, there was no need for him to offend Emperor Jiajing for Yan Shifan.

You must know that Lu Bang was the confidant of Emperor Jiajing who was brought from Anlu. His mother was also the wet nurse of Emperor Jiajing when he was young. It can be said that the two of them grew up drinking the same milk. Therefore, his importance in Emperor Jiajing's heart is no less than that of Huang Jin.

And since ancient times, no greater merit is greater than savior!
In the 18th year of the Jiajing reign, when Emperor Jiajing was on his southern tour, the Weihui Palace suddenly caught fire. Lu Bing, regardless of his own life, broke open the palace gate and carried Emperor Jiajing out of the fire.

And that’s not all. During the subsequent Renyin Palace Rebellion, it was Lu Bing who first rescued Emperor Jiajing who was almost strangled to death by a palace maid.

Therefore, one can imagine how important Lu Bing was in the heart of Emperor Jiajing?
Lu Bang, who had such great favor from the emperor, even married his daughter to Yan Shifan's daughter because of the relationship between the two families. He thought that his daughter should marry a man of equal status, so he became a relative of Yan Shifan.

Therefore, Yan Shifan was destined to get no useful information when he wanted Lu Bing to give him news about King Jing.

However, Lu Bing would still give Yan Shifan some face.

Therefore, when Yan Shifan sent someone to inquire about King Jing's news, he directly went with the flow and gave the news that "King Jing has a minor illness and will be back to normal after resting for a while."

After seeing the news from Lu Bing, Yan Shifan couldn't help but feel relieved. It seemed that King Jing's problem was not as serious as he had imagined.

But then Yan Shifan had to consider the expansion of the capital.

Originally, he was planning to let Yan Maoqing work hard on the salt administration, get more silver to bring honor to King Jing, and let King Jing gain fame so that he could compete for the throne.

As a result, Prince Jing was now ill, and not only was the position of chief priest replaced by Prince Yu by Emperor Jiajing, but in the subsequent edict, Prince Yu was also given the title of chief official in charge of the expansion of the capital.

If Yan Shifan still spared no effort to raise money for the expansion of the capital at this time, wouldn't that be tantamount to making wedding dresses for others?
So, Yan Shifan’s clever little head couldn’t help but start thinking at this time.

Begin to re-evaluate Yan Maoqing's plans for salt administration.

Yan Shifan thought for a while, then said to Luo Longwen, "You run an errand to Yangzhou to find Yan Maoqing and tell him that he should collect the money from the salt administration, but when he hands it over to the court, he should not hand it over in full. You two should discuss what to do. This matter is only known to you, me and him, and no one else can tell the rest."

When Luo Longwen heard what Yan Shifan said, he immediately understood what he meant.

Luo Longwen said: "Don't worry, young minister. I will go to Yangzhou right away to explain the situation in the capital to the Yanyan envoy. I will also handle the silver issue beautifully and satisfy you."

Yan Shifan waved his hand, "Okay, okay, go ahead, don't let me see you again. If you mess up again this time, watch out for your dog head!"

Luo Longwen immediately patted his chest and promised: "I will definitely live up to the expectations of the young elder!"

(End of this chapter)