Ming Dynasty: I risked my life to teach the prince, the emperor begged me not to die

Chapter 172 War of words
Ning Cheng left Huaihua Hutong and is still confused.

When did he do such a big thing quietly? Ning Cheng would read the newspaper every day. Now every official in the officialdom would go to the yamen in the morning, and the first thing he would do was to drink tea and read the newspaper to learn about the latest news from Shuntian Prefecture.

But Ning Cheng had no idea when Shuntian Press became Chen Ce's property.
How many other things has he done in private that I don’t know about?

Ning Cheng shook his head vigorously and sighed slightly. It was a pity that this kid wouldn't live long.

Today is Ning Cheng's first day on duty at the Ministry of Rites. He has a lot of work to hand over. He originally planned to ask who recommended him to the Ministry of Rites so that he could express his gratitude, but the first day was too busy. What's even more strange is that the person who recommended him didn't seem to show up.

But it doesn’t matter. Since the other party has been supporting me, he will come out to find me sooner or later.

……

"Get out of the way, get out of the way!"

"Did you see the crown prince's seal?"

In the capital region of Hebei, the Zhang brothers proudly held their salt permits and kicked away the people who were begging for salt at the Changlu Salt Field and the Daqing River Salt Field in Hebei.

After the collapse of the Kaizhong system, merchants had more and more salt permits in their hands, but it was difficult to exchange them for salt.

In recent years, the imperial court has been issuing salt permits indiscriminately, and the powerful and wealthy have more and more salt permits in their hands. If the Zhang brothers want to exchange salt, they need special relationships.

With the crown prince's seal in hand, it is easy to exchange it for salt.

The Daqing River Salt Field invited the Zhang brothers to come in, and Zhang Heling slammed the ten ounces of salt ounces on the table.

One pull is 400 kilograms, and ten pulls are 4,000 kilograms of salt.

But Zhang Heling was not satisfied. He snorted, "I want one thousand Yin. What do you mean by exchanging ten Yin for me?"

"This...isn't the seal of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's ten yins?"

Logically speaking, they can still exchange ten yin, and one thousand yin would be 400,000 kilograms. Half of the salt in the Daqing River Salt Field would immediately become the property of the Zhang brothers.

There are so many merchants and common people out there who are trying to exchange salt permits but they can't get them. Now you just take away a small half of them. Are you still letting others live?
Zhang Heling sneered, "Haha, you, the Supervisory Office, don't give the Crown Prince face, do you?"

"But the prince only mentioned ten yins."

"Asshole!" Zhang Heling cursed, "The prince asked for ten yin and you really gave him ten yin? No wonder you are just a small transport official!"

"Give me one thousand yin and I guarantee you a promotion. Don't be long-winded, exchange it now!"

The two brothers made a lot of money during their trip to Hebei and were very proud of themselves.

He had obtained a certificate for ten yin from Zhu Houzhao, and now he used the prince's name to get a thousand yin. Even if Emperor Hongzhi found out about it, he couldn't do anything to his beloved son.

The brothers didn't dare to betray their sister because Empress Zhang would really slap them in the face, but the prince's nephew would not do that, after all, they were the elders and they should respect the old and love the young.

……

Li Zhen had arrived in Peking from the northwest at this time.

At the same time, the Ministry of War.

At the same time Li Zhen returned, a piece of news was also sent to the Ministry of War from the northwest.

Li Zhen, the co-director of the Imperial Guard, secretly followed the order of the prince and sent rewards to the soldiers who fought in the Helan Mountain battle. The Ministry of War did not take this seriously at first. The prince was just trying to win over the soldiers and there was nothing wrong with that. After all, the future of the Ming Dynasty belonged to the prince.

But the problem is that the rewards sent by the Crown Prince were exactly the list of soldiers with military merit that Wang Yue had reported at the beginning.

This is clearly helping Wang Yue to slap the Ministry of War in the face!

After Wang Yue died, the merits of this group of soldiers were not recognized by the Ministry of War. Now you, the Crown Prince, are giving them rewards. Isn't this a slap in the face of the Ministry of War?
Therefore, the Minister of War Ma Wensheng immediately impeached Li Zhen, the co-director of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, at the morning court today and asked Emperor Hongzhi to arrest the thief.

The reason was that Li Zhen, as a Jinyiwei, secretly made friends with people in the army and had rebellious intentions.

Emperor Hongzhi naturally would not punish the Jinyiwei at will, and immediately sent someone to order Li Zhen to come to the court for confrontation.

Li Zhen had already made preparations. He entered the hall neither servile nor overbearing, clasped his fists and said confidently, "Your humble servant pays respect to His Majesty, long live the emperor."

Ma Wensheng immediately stepped out of the ranks and questioned Li Zhen, "The military affairs of the country are under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of War. You are the deputy governor of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. You are not in a position to make decisions, but you have stepped out of your position and privately went to the northwest to reward soldiers in an attempt to win over the northwest soldiers. Are you planning a rebellion?"

Li Zhen said calmly, "I am ordered by the Crown Prince to reward the meritorious soldiers in the northwest."

Ma Wensheng said indifferently: "The Jinyiwei is the emperor's personal army. No one except the emperor can mobilize them. Where do you put the emperor with this move?"

Li Zhen said calmly: "The Crown Prince is the foundation of the country and the future emperor. Does Minister Ma mean that the Jinyiwei can ignore the Crown Prince?"

Ma Wensheng hurriedly said, "Of course I don't mean that. The prince is young and has not yet participated in political affairs. Many of his decisions may not be wise. Don't you, the Jinyiwei, know this?"

To be honest, the topic has been led to this point, and it is almost exactly the same as when Li Zhen asked Chen Ce for advice.

He couldn't help but sigh at how powerful Chen Ce was. Although he was not in the court, he could make decisions thousands of miles away!
If he were in the court, what a demon he would be!
These topics were almost exactly the same as Chen Ce's deductions in Huaihua Hutong! Ma Wensheng was also guided step by step into Wei Wenli's conversation rhythm.

Emperor Hongzhi narrowed his eyes and looked at Wei Wenli with some admiration.

Who would have thought that there was such a talent among the Jinyiwei? He was so eloquent that he was not at all stingy with the civil servants!

Why didn’t I realize that there were such talents in the Jinyiwei before?
Li Zhen clasped his fists and asked Ma Wensheng, "Ma Shangshu said that the prince's decision might not be wise?"

He slowly took out a blood letter from his bosom, handed it to Emperor Hongzhi respectfully, and said: "Your Majesty, this is a letter written in blood by the Northwest Military to express gratitude to the Crown Prince!"

"So many soldiers in the northwest are cheering for the prince to live long and for the prosperity of the Ming Dynasty. I dare not say that the prince's move is not wise!"

"I think this shows that the prince cares about the soldiers in the northwest!"

"According to what Minister Ma said, can the soldiers in the northwest only be grateful to the Ministry of War and not to the Crown Prince?"

Anyway, these civil servants have always looked down on the Imperial Guards, and the Embroidered Uniform Guards are the emperor's men, so there is no need for Li Zhen to be too polite to Ma Wensheng.

Several cabinet elders narrowed their eyes slightly and looked at the Jinyiwei associate director with complicated expressions. No one knew what they were thinking, but a hint of imperceptible shock could be seen in their eyes.

Ma Wensheng, a civil servant who always quoted classics, was a little at a loss at this time. He hurriedly said: "Of course I didn't mean that!"

Li Zhen said, "What does Minister Ma mean? This money is all saved up by the Crown Prince through his frugal life."

"The Crown Prince sympathizes with the soldiers in the northwest, and your Ministry of War is unwilling to reward those who have made contributions. Does it mean that the Crown Prince has paid out of his own pocket to send me to reward them? Is this also a taboo? I find it difficult to understand."

"If the Ministry of War feels that I am guilty of this, then please punish me. I have nothing to say."

After these righteous words were spoken, the entire hall suddenly fell silent!
(End of this chapter)