Ming Jiajing: Starting from Immortality

Chapter 9: The method of success in examination, heads rolling!
Along the River During Qingming Festival.

Yan Shifan and Luo Longwen suddenly felt warm in their hearts.

There is no scholar who enjoys elegance and refinement and does not like to collect calligraphy, paintings and ancient books.

Among the countless calligraphy and paintings handed down by famous masters over the past thousands of years, the most recommended calligraphy is "Preface to the Lanting Collection" by Wang Xizhi of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and the most recommended painting is "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" by Zhang Zeduan of the Northern Song Dynasty.

To scholars, every word and stroke is a priceless treasure.

Among Yan Song's collection of thousands of calligraphy and paintings, this painting is still a treasure of the house.

Yan Shifan's eyes sparkled. He knew that his old father had put in a lot of effort to obtain "Along the River During the Qingming Festival".

He had plotted to kill two imperial officials.

Initially, the collector of "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" was Wang Zhenzhai, a member of the Ministry of Revenue.

When Yan Song learned the news, he sent Wang Rong, the Right Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, to Wang Zhenzhai's house to purchase the property by force.

Wang Zhenzhai knew that he could not afford to offend Yan Song, who was in great power, but he was also reluctant to part with his beloved collection, so he spent a large sum of money to forge a fake and gave it to Yan Song.

Yan Song believed it to be authentic at the time. He "treasured it as a rare treasure, used it to top all his paintings, and held a banquet for people to admire it." He showed it off everywhere. When the paperhanger Tang Chen in his mansion was framing the painting, he recognized it was a fake.

Yan Song was furious and sent people to arrest Wang Zhenzhai on the charge of "criticizing the imperial court". Wang Zhenzhai had no choice but to confess that the original painting was in the hands of his uncle, the famous painter Lu Zhi.

Yan Song coerced and bribed Lu Zhi, who had no choice but to give up his love. Wang Zhenzhai was tortured to death in prison due to excessive punishment.

In order to prevent the news from leaking out, Yan Song framed Wang Rong, who knew the inside story, with the crime of "failing to command the army" and killed him to silence him.

In this way, "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" came into the Yan family.

just now.

In order to fill the deficit of the Ministry of Works and for personal gain, Yan Song was willing to take out "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" in exchange for silver, which shows his deep love for his son.

But Yan Shifan was thinking whether there was any way to keep "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" and borrow it from somewhere else first. But after thinking about it, the account of more than 20 million taels of silver was too huge. Even if the father and son counted all the corruption in the past 20 years, it would not be enough to settle the account.

Although this painting is good, it is not something that can be kept for a long time. Yan Shifan sighed, took the brocade box, and said respectfully: "Son, go and exchange it for silver."

There is never a shortage of buyers for treasures like this, especially in this best place in the world, so there is no need to worry about not being able to sell them.

As for the Jinyiwei who sealed off Yan's residence, according to my father, they came for the silver and it would not affect the Yan family's ability to raise silver.

Yan Song was silent for a while, then reluctantly said, "Go."

……

A Beijing proverb says: "On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, snow lights up the lanterns; on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month, clouds cover the moon."

It is only three hours away from the midnight of the sixteenth day of the first lunar month.

After snowing all day, the drought in the two capitals and thirteen provinces was completely alleviated. The clouds in the sky finally thinned and the moon could be faintly seen.

This makes the lantern fairs in many parts of the capital more prosperous than any other year.

Taijichang Street starts from East Chang'an Avenue in the north and connects with Wangfujing Street, and ends at Qianmen East Street in the south and connects with Qinian Street.

Originally it was a place for storing firewood, reeds and fodder, but after the Prince Yu’s Palace was built, this place became extraordinary.

Shichahai, not far away, is the most prosperous lantern market in the capital. Although lights are prohibited here and there is no smell of fireworks for several miles, if you look up you can see the sky illuminated by lights and the colorful fireworks flying into the sky.

The three south-facing gates of the palace were like palace gates. The central gate was always closed, but the side gates on both sides had to be open during the day to let in the purple air from the southeast. Eight imperial guards guarded the palace day and night to show the dignity of the royal family. The arrival of the Jinyiwei added a bit of solemnity to the atmosphere outside the palace.

From the hour of Yin to now, just a few short hours, but it seemed to Prince Yu Zhu Zaihou like decades had passed and his mood fluctuated several times.

On the night before the imperial financial meeting, Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng went to the prince's palace to tell him that the Yan party might use the backing of Zhou Yunyi, who had been beaten to death, to attack the Qingliu and Prince Yu's palace.

Therefore, Prince Yu did not sleep well the whole night, and at the hour of Yin, Concubine Li suddenly went into labor.

Concubine Li's screams of dystocia for nearly two hours almost made Prince Yu, who was already upset, collapse.

Fortunately, with the company of the palace secretary Tan Lun, he was able to control himself.

Perhaps God took pity on Prince Yu, and the prince was born safely. Xu Jie, Gao Gong, and Zhang Juzheng, following the emperor's order, arrived at the palace in the snow with Lantern Festival dumplings to congratulate him, and Prince Yu's heart, which had been hanging in the air, finally settled down.

Prince Yu sat down on the snow. His already sickly body became exhausted due to the shock and he couldn't even stand up again.

Xu, Gao, Zhang and Tan Lun were so frightened that they hurriedly carried Prince Yu back to the palace.

After a long time, Prince Yu slowly recovered his strength and spirit, then he sat up and saluted the three masters.

Several chairs formed a semicircle in front of the bed, surrounding a white copper brazier in the middle. Xu Jie, Gao Gong, Zhang Juzheng, and Tan Lun sat down in turn, and the five of them, the emperor and his ministers, talked around the fire.

Gao Gong relayed to Prince Yu in plain words everything that happened at the imperial financial meeting.

When talking about the Imperial Household Department withdrawing from the imperial financial meeting and Yan Shifan handing over more than 20 million taels of silver under the pressure of Yan Song, Prince Yu was in high spirits. If he had not been seriously ill, he would have jumped up.

Then Gao Gong talked about the Xu family of Songjiang Prefecture's annexation of land and the Zhang family of Jiangling's wanton wealth accumulation, and how the two families' actions brought disaster to the whole village. Prince Yu looked at the two masters, Xu and Zhang, whom he had always respected, and they were both embarrassed to the point of being beyond words.

Tan Lun even turned his head and gripped the ground tightly with his toes.

There are five people in the cabinet, three from the Qingliu party and two from the Yan party.

Both the father and son of the Yan Party are greedy, but the master and apprentice Xu and Zhang of the Qing Dynasty are not weak either.

It's just that the father and son are greedy in the court, and the master and apprentice are causing trouble among the people. It is really hard to say who is the biggest harm in the Ming Dynasty.

Gao Gong did not let the awkward atmosphere continue and mentioned the Imperial Financial Conference's cancellation of the six ministries' annual budgets.

"Just cancel it. It's fine to just discuss the matter at hand." Prince Yu's voice was tired and weak, and he took the initiative to break the deadlock.

"Your Majesty is wise," Xu Jie continued, "If we discuss everything in detail, there will be less controversy afterwards, and the court will be more stable."

"It won't be peaceful." Zhang Juzheng rejected everyone as soon as he opened his mouth.

Prince Yu, Xu Jie, Gao Gong, and Tan Lun all looked at him.

Zhang Juzheng explained to Prince Yu: "In most cases, the budgets of the six ministries at the beginning of the year cannot be fully spent, but the magical thing is that at the end of each year, the budgets of the six ministries at the beginning of the year can be fully spent, and even over-spent like the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Personnel.

The Ministry of Works was not mentioned because Yan Shifan used his power for personal gain, but the Ministry of Personnel was in real deficit, and it was a deficit that could not be found out. I think the prince knows the reason. "

Prince Yu understood clearly that it was nothing more than corruption and embezzlement.

Zhang Juzheng continued: "If everything is discussed in detail, then the six ministries' plans for what to do, what goals to achieve, the specific numbers, time, and location must all be recorded in the books based on facts, which requires the officials of our Ming Dynasty to be realistic.

On this basis, the emperor only needs to set up another supervisory unit to verify and evaluate according to the records, and he can accurately investigate the corruption of officials at all levels in the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty.

In our Ming Dynasty, corruption is rampant. Once the performance evaluation system is implemented, within a few months, the officialdom will be filled with heads rolling and blood flowing like a river!"

(End of this chapter)