Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 266 The Emperor Could Also Have Died of Exhaustion

After the ministers left, the warm room became quiet.

Zhu Cilang rubbed his sore eyes with the back of his hand. After he felt a little relaxed, he turned his gaze back to the paper covered with words in front of him.

"The dispute between the two governors", "Huating land", "Jiangxi war", "New salt field", "Six departments of the imperial court", and "Ministry of Works".

Each of these things had a far-reaching impact on the Ming Dynasty, but after looking at them, he had to admit that none of them could be easily solved except for the construction of a new salt field.

"comprehensive."

"The servant is here."

"After that, take someone to get back the treasury that was taken out by the household division."

"Yes."

"Also, issue an imperial decree to order Song Yingxing, the younger brother of Guangdong Provincial Governor Song Yingsheng, to go to Qiongzhou to take charge of the establishment of the salt field." Zhu Cilang seemed to hesitate for a moment before continuing, "Go to Qiongzhou to take charge of the establishment of the salt field."

Song Yingxing was only of unknown name at that time, but Zhu Cilang knew how valuable this prefect of Bozhou who had resigned and returned to his hometown was.

Originally, according to his plan, he would only use this person after Li Yongmao had sorted out all the production workshops under the Ministry of Industry. But now that the salt field has been used as a starting point for economic affairs, even if it is a bit of a waste of talent, he has to let this great man take action.

Of course, the establishment of a salt field still requires the approval of the cabinet. After all, this involves the court's finances and cannot be touched lightly.

However, Lianghuai is no longer in the hands of the Ming Dynasty, so it is reasonable to look for other production areas. As long as the newly built salt fields remember to pay taxes to the court, there will not be too much resistance.

Therefore, Zhu Cilang had no scruples about using the imperial edict to set up the platform.

After settling everything down, Zhou Quan quietly left. About an incense stick's time later, he entered the warm room again, but this time he was followed by an older eunuch.

"Your servant, Gao He, the Supervisor of the Imperial Household Department, pays respect to Your Majesty."

The eunuch bowed as soon as he arrived at the door of the warm room, and then he began to explain in the face of Zhu Cilang's somewhat puzzled gaze.

"Your Majesty, he is the only supervisor left in the Imperial Household Department."

Zhou Quan's words were euphemistic, but Zhu Cilang knew something about the inner court system, so he understood the reason after a little thought.

Although the imperial edict did not need to go through the cabinet, it had to be issued by the Imperial Household Department.

However, when Hongguang fled, all the qualified eunuchs in the palace followed him. After various twists and turns, few of them dared to come back. According to the current situation, there is probably no one in the Imperial Household Department who is qualified to issue the imperial decree.

"Is this the case in other prisons and bureaus?"

After he finished speaking, Zhou Quan reported the situation in the palace in detail, and the soreness and swelling in Zhu Cilang's eyes gradually tended to move to his brain.

In addition to the twelve abbreviations, the inner court also had four bureaus and eight departments. However, at this time, there were no eunuchs at the level of eunuch or junior eunuch in these twenty-four yamen, and the highest-ranking one left was just Gao He, the chief eunuch.

This kind of situation
Isn’t Wang Fuping settled down?
With this in mind, Zhu Cilang ignored Gao He who was still kneeling on the ground. He turned around and searched on the table for a while before he pulled out a blue booklet from a pile of question books and other documents.

This booklet was reported by Wang Fuping, and it contains the current situation of the various supervisors in the palace.

When Zhu Cilang first received the booklet, he was still busy with matters related to his ascension to the throne and had no time to read it carefully. Only now, when he flipped through it, did he discover that there were indeed no eunuchs or deputy eunuchs from the inner court listed on it.

After a while, he closed the booklet helplessly. Then he saw a figure still kneeling on the ground. Zhu Cilang waved his hand to signal Gao He to stand up, and then he continued to think.

It is obvious that Wang Fuping was very cautious, and Empress Dowager Zou, the theoretical master of the harem, did not exercise her rights.

This is certainly a good phenomenon, but at the moment, this good phenomenon has plunged the entire inner court into a kind of inexplicable embarrassment.

"Since the people in charge have all run away, then no one knows about the affairs of the Textile Bureau and the local mining and tax supervisors?"

After a moment, His Majesty's voice sounded again, but Gao He and Zhou Tao just bowed to the ground and dared not answer.

This is not surprising. During the Ming Dynasty, the life and death of eunuchs was decided by the emperor alone, and when the emperor was in trouble, they were the most nervous.

But then again, Zhu Cilang was not the kind of person who abused his power, and he had no intention of pursuing the matter, so when he saw the two of them acting like this, he said helplessly, "Get up."

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

"You take charge of the Silijian for now. After the imperial edict is issued, find a way to understand the situation of the eunuchs sent out from various places."

"This slave takes the order."

After he finished speaking, Gao He bowed and left, but Zhu Cilang's thoughts were inevitably drawn back to the inner court.

He knew very well that those eunuchs sent abroad were either helping the emperor to make money or to command the army. However, if he had not remembered to issue an imperial decree, he would have almost forgotten about these tentacles. It really made people wonder whether to cry or laugh.

Why do I feel like I'm all alone?
Thinking of this, Zhu Cilang couldn't help but have this thought in his mind. After careful consideration, he had to admit that he had no control over the inner court at all.

This is no wonder. He has been here for more than half a year, but before he ascended the throne, he had never set foot in the palace. In this case, how can he talk about the word "control"?
"When you're done, call the heads of the various supervisory offices over here."

"Yes," Zhou Quan bowed in agreement after hearing His Majesty's words, but he hesitated for a moment and then asked boldly, "Your Majesty, how about setting it in the evening?"

"Row."

After he finished speaking, Zhou Quan secretly breathed a sigh of relief. When he saw that His Majesty had turned his attention back to the stack of papers in front of him, he stood quietly by the side, like a wooden sculpture.

The inner court is extremely important to every emperor, but in Zhu Cilang's view, the control over this place is different from that of the outer court.

Therefore, for the time being, he only planned to meet this group of people first, but did not make any further plans.

In the final analysis, the best way to increase influence is to do things.

In the process of doing things, people who hold power will establish various connections with him, and these connections can become the best way for him to exert influence.

Take the army for example. The so-called work is to fight wars. Zhu Cilang gathered generals around him through victory after victory. These generals became the nodes for him to control the army.

In the end, he was able to command each unit with ease, and this ease became his greatest asset in winning the next battle.

Therefore, Zhu Cilang naturally knew very well how to strengthen the influence on a certain system.

just
The affairs of the inner court were too trivial, and he might not be as invincible in the palace as he was on the battlefield. In this situation, he could only resort to other means.

As time went by, the pile of papers on Zhu Cilang's desk gradually became shorter, and Zhou Quan, who was standing by, quietly left the warm room after seeing the position of the sun outside through the window. "Go and see, why isn't lunch ready yet?"

He gave an order in a low voice, and the young eunuch waiting in the hall took the order and left. But when he was about to return to the warm room, he heard footsteps, and then he saw the young eunuch who had just left running back.

"Grandpa, it's ready, it's ready."

"You want to die, you have disturbed the Holy Emperor. How many heads do you have to chop off?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the young eunuch knelt down and kowtowed hurriedly. But perhaps because he was frightened by the words "startling the Holy Emperor", the whole hall was filled with the only sound of kowtows, but there was no word of begging for mercy.

This kind of situation was very common in the palace, and even Zhou Quan had often begged for mercy from the eunuchs in this almost self-harming way.

You know, disabled people like eunuchs are not among the four classes of people at all, and no one would ask a question about them even if they really died.

just
"what happened?"

Just as the young eunuch was still banging his head on the ground, a somewhat tired voice came from the warm room. After hearing this question, Zhou Quan just glared at the young eunuch fiercely, and then hurried back into the warm room.

Although the young eunuch looked only twelve or thirteen years old, he seemed to have already anticipated his fate. When he saw Zhou Quan hurriedly entering the cabinet, his thin body shook slightly, and then he collapsed to the ground.

Everyone knows that his majesty created this world on the battlefield. Not to mention that such a person kills people like crazy, but what's so strange about eating a child's heart or two?

But I actually disturbed the emperor by kowtowing. How could I survive in this situation?
I'm afraid I'm about to die. I only hope Your Majesty can give me a quick death and not dig out my heart and liver to eat with wine.

Thinking of this, the young eunuch, who was trying to get up, felt that he had no strength in his limbs. When he was about to be scared to death, he heard footsteps, followed by a voice asking.

"what's your name?"

When the young eunuch heard the words, his brain was in a mess and he had lost the ability to distinguish sounds. Then he felt two forces coming from the left and right, and then he was lifted up.

"Asshole! How dare you play dead when His Majesty asks you questions!"

Maybe Zhou Quan had left a deep impression on him, but after hearing the scolding, the young eunuch seemed to regain some of his senses.

The frightened eunuch only looked around blankly until now, but had no intention of answering the questions of Your Majesty. It was obvious that he was still recovering.

Seeing this, Zhou Quan was ready to use his palm to help him recover, but just as he took a step forward, His Majesty's voice came from behind him.

"Don't worry, let him take his time."

After receiving the imperial order, Zhou Quan did not dare to move any further. Then he saw His Majesty waving his arms, as if he was trying to relieve his fatigue in some way, so he asked again tentatively.

"Your Majesty, the sun is shining brightly outside. Why don't you let me accompany you for a walk? This way, you won't be disturbed by this bastard."

According to common sense, he meant well, but who would have thought that after he had spoken, there was no movement from His Majesty.

In this situation, he was naturally a little confused, but when he was hesitating whether he should speak louder, he heard the voice of His Majesty.

"Zhou Quan, how did you get into the palace?"

"Your Majesty, I was still young at the time. I only remember that there seemed to be a famine, and my family couldn't survive, so they sold me to a human trafficker. Later, I don't know how I entered the palace."

While speaking, Zhou Quan half bent his waist and even had a flattering smile on his face, as if the child he was talking about was just an outsider and had no effect on his emotions.

"You're all pretty much the same."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

As soon as Zhu Cilang asked the question, the dozen or so eunuchs in the hall all answered in the same way. When Zhou Quan was wondering why the emperor would ask such questions, the voice that came next made him freeze in place.

"Zhou Quan, I won't blame you for trivial matters, and I hope you won't blame them either."

As the words fell, in Zhou Quan's slightly blurred vision, the bright yellow figure gradually came under the sunlight. He then glanced at the little eunuch who seemed to have regained his senses, but his heart could not help but think of his past.

He was only six or seven years old at that time. If he had not been taken care of by a few old eunuchs, he might not have survived the first few days.

Later, those old eunuchs died or disappeared, and he, as a little boy without adult care, suffered a lot in the palace.

But after all, he grew up in the palace since he was a child, and learned a lot from those old eunuchs. Under such circumstances, although his life was difficult, he finally managed to reach his current position.

As my thoughts drifted, Zhu Cilang's figure became farther away.

As the emperor's close attendant, he had to hurry to catch up, but after taking just one step, he thought of the little eunuch again.

"You are lucky. If it had happened earlier, you would have been skinned alive!"

After he finished speaking, he knew he would not waste time on this little eunuch. He trotted for a while and when he got behind His Majesty, he put a fawning smile on his face again.

"Your Majesty, you have been busy all morning. Why don't you serve the meal first?"

"Ah."

The speed in the palace was indeed extraordinary. Even though the imperial kitchen only reported the preparations after they had been prepared, it was only half an incense stick of time from the time Zhu Cilang agreed, and the palace maids and eunuchs holding various containers appeared in Zhu Cilang's field of vision.

"That's too much. Three or four dishes per meal will be enough from now on."

Seeing this scene, Zhu Cilang was naturally a little dissatisfied. If he had not taken into account that his appetite had been growing with the eating of those soldiers, he would have even planned to reduce the number of dishes to one or two.

Fortunately, the Ming Dynasty did not have too many requirements for the emperor's meals, and the number of dishes depended on personal preference. In addition, as it was a matter of general talent, eunuchs like Zhou Quan did not dare to say much.

In this way, the frugal tone of the Jingwu Dynasty was set.

Afterwards, Zhu Cilang wandered around the open space in front of the Qianqing Palace for a while, and his fatigue was relieved by sunbathing and moderate exercise.

After the eunuchs and palace maids had arranged all the dishes, he slowly returned to the palace.

To be honest, although he didn't consume much physical energy this morning, his brain was still working so hard that he couldn't help but swallow his saliva after seeing the food.

just
"Your Majesty, Duke Wei requests an audience."

(End of this chapter)