I am a temporary worker in Jinyiwei, how did I become a powerful official?

Chapter 67 The answer to the fingernail riddle is

Emperor Jiajing saw at a glance that Huang Jin was hiding something from him. He was indeed an extremely smart emperor.

When Emperor Jiajing ascended the throne in his teens, he was surrounded by wolves. The civil officials headed by Yang Tinghe had absolute control over the court, just like the emperor emeritus.

Yang Tinghe even dared to make Emperor Jiajing disown his own biological father and mother.

In such a dangerous environment, the young emperor spent many years, step by step, taking back power from the civil officials. If you are not smart, you can't do it.

Assassination attempts against the emperor followed one after another. Wherever Emperor Jiajing went, there was fire.

The last emperor of the Ming Dynasty was easily dissolved in water. The current emperor is a Fire Star Lord.

In the tenth year of Jiajing, a fire broke out in the eastern wing of the Qianqing Palace, burning down fourteen houses. Fortunately, Mai Fu, Lu Fang, and Huang Jin led the eunuchs to fight the fire with sand, thus preventing the fire from spreading to the palace.

In the 17th year of the Jiajing reign, the heroine of the Great Etiquette Incident, Empress Dowager Jiang, the biological mother of Emperor Jiajing, passed away. Emperor Jiajing led more than a thousand civil and military officials to personally escort his mother's coffin back to Hubei to be buried together with his father.

Guess what?

On the first day of his trip, Emperor Jiajing stayed at the Zhaozhou Palace, which caught fire that night.

A few days later, Emperor Jiajing stayed at the Linming Palace, which caught fire that night.

A few days later, Emperor Jiajing stayed at the Weihui Palace. The fire burned the Weihui Palace down!
Emperor Jiajing almost died in the fire, but fortunately his half-brother Lu Bing rushed into the fire and carried Emperor Jiajing out regardless of the danger.

If Lu Bing had not risked his life to save him, Emperor Jiajing would have been killed that night.

One trip to the south, three fires. It must be someone's deliberate assassination that caused the ghost to appear!
In the 21st year of the Jiajing reign, there was a palace coup in Renyin, and a dozen clumsy palace maids almost strangled Emperor Jiajing to death with ropes.

During this palace coup, Emperor Jiajing was so frightened that he had difficulty breathing and was about to die.

Something interesting happened.

The Imperial Hospital, which had cured the death of three previous emperors, Chenghua, Hongzhi, and Zhengde, "dared not use medicine easily" on the pretext of the emperor's noble body, hoping to delay the death of Emperor Jiajing.

Fortunately, Emperor Jiajing had a ruthless confidant named Lu Bing.

Lu Bing arrested the entire family of 28 people of Xu Shen, the imperial physician. That night, he killed 14 of them with his own hands and threatened the remaining 14. Only then did Xu Shen give the Emperor Jiajing medicine.

The historical records state that "the emperor was given a strong medicine to take at 7:00 pm. He suddenly made a sound at 5:00 pm. He lost several liters of purple blood. He was able to speak again at 5:00 pm."

The Imperial Hospital stood aside and watched a matter that could be cured with just one dose of medicine. It would be strange if they were not instructed by someone.

Strangely, the year after Xu Shen saved Emperor Jiajing’s life with medicine, he “died of a sudden illness.” Apparently, Xu Shen had ruined someone’s business, and those people didn’t let him go.

Everyone in the government and the country knew who had repeatedly attempted to assassinate Emperor Jiajing in recent years.

Those daring bastards not only wanted to kill the emperor, but also wanted to destroy his heart. They fabricated all kinds of rumors to slander Emperor Jiajing.

They said that the Renyin Palace Coup was caused by the Jiajing Emperor's debauchery and immorality, who tortured the palace maids with forty-eight extremely evil methods, which led to the palace maids killing the emperor.

The Jiajing Emperor was afraid of fire, so he moved from the Qianqing Palace to the Yongshou Palace in the Western Garden, which was spacious and easy to guard. They also said that the Jiajing Emperor wanted to live in a side palace, neglect state affairs, and have sex.

Those people can really turn black into white.

When he first ascended the throne, Emperor Jiajing was a young emperor with the ambition to create a peaceful and prosperous era.

Young people with great ambitions do not worry about anything.

However, after more than 30 years of fighting with civil officials, being assassinated again and again, escaping death again and again, and being slandered again and again, the ambition of Emperor Jiajing had long been worn down.

It can be said that it was the civil officials who made Emperor Jiajing suspicious, selfish, cunning and cruel.

If he wasn't suspicious, selfish, cunning, and cruel, he wouldn't have lived long as an emperor!

Let's get back to the point. Huang Jin knelt on the ground and shouted: "Your Majesty, you are wise! I am hiding something from you."

Emperor Jiajing said, "Go ahead." Huang Jin smiled and said, "The sour writer who wrote "Journey to the West" to satirize you has come to Beijing. I sent the Jinyiwei to steal his monkey. This is a slight punishment for him."

Emperor Jiajing stood up from his cushion and said, "Foolish slave! Do you think I am a petty-minded emperor?"

"I am the emperor, why should I bother with a sour scholar who writes books?"

"You even stole someone else's monkey. You are such a fool."

"First, go and give my 'dragon scale' to Yan Song and his men. Then go and tell the Jinyiwei to release the monkey."

Huang Jin cupped his hands and said, "Yes, I know I was wrong. I will change my name to 'Huang Chunhan' tomorrow, and I will go to do the two tasks assigned by the emperor."

Huang Jin is the only one in the entire Ming Dynasty who dares to make fun of Emperor Jiajing.

Emperor Jiajing laughed and scolded, "Get lost!"

Soon, Huang Jin, holding the dragon and phoenix jade box, delivered the big toenail of Emperor Jiajing to the cabinet duty room.

Sitting in the cabinet duty room were Chief Minister Yan Song, Second Minister Xu Jie, Cabinet member Lu Ben, and Left Vice Minister of Works Yan Shifan.

According to the rules, Yan Shifan, a minister, had no right to participate in cabinet meetings. But the young cabinet minister never cared about that.

Huang Jin opened the jade box and showed everyone the big toenail of Emperor Jiajing.

Huang Jin said: "Lord Yan asked the emperor whether to approve Yang Bo's memorial suggesting a major renovation of the garrisons in the northwest. This is the emperor's will."

The so-called Tunbu is a kind of military fortress, which has the effect of consolidating the border.

Yan Song asked, "Tell me, what does this mean?"

Xu Jie guessed: "Dragon scales protect the world, which naturally includes the northwest. This is the emperor's approval of Yang Bo's memorial and the order to build a garrison to protect the northwest."

Lu Ben stroked his beard and said, "Huang Tingjian has a poem that says, 'Strong energy covers the tiger's mouth when sitting, and loyal words are like dragon scales in the sky.' This means that the emperor agrees that what Yang Bo said is loyal advice, and asked the cabinet to follow it."

Yan Song turned to look at his son: "What did you say?"

Yan Shifan lazily half-reclines on the armchair, playing with a carved gourd in his hand: "You are all wrong."

It is said that Yan Song was good at guessing the emperor's intentions, but the one who was really good at guessing the emperor's intentions was actually his beloved son.

Yan Shifan put down the gourd and said, "What dragon scales? There is no need to be so elegant. The emperor's toenails are also toenails. "盖" means "to cover a fortress."

Xu Jie asked: "Young Lord, your guess is the same as mine and Lord Lu's? Why do you say we are wrong?"

Yan Shifan waved his hand and said, "I haven't finished yet. The toenails have been cut. To cut means to reduce. The big toenail means to greatly reduce. The emperor means that the garrisons must be built, but the number recommended by Yang Bo must be greatly reduced."

Yan Song suddenly realized: "Well, that makes sense. But how much should it be reduced?"

Yan Shifan replied: "That's something you'll have to ask old Yang Bo who's recuperating in Xiangshan. How many and which ones should be reduced? This will save military expenses while keeping the northwest defense line supported by the garrisons lean and lean."

Yan Song nodded and said, "Ask Fang Xiang from the Ministry of War to go to Xiangshan and ask Yang Bo."

Huang Jin smiled and said, "If we talk about guessing the emperor's intention, it has to be the young minister. I have other errands to attend to, so I'll take my leave first."

Huang Jin left the cabinet duty room and told his attendant Chen Ju: "Are you familiar with the flag officer at the elephant training station? Go to him and ask him to release Wu Chengen's monkey. This is the emperor's wish."

Chen Ju asked, "What about the three thousand taels of silver?"

Huang Jin said, "No. I acted on my own initiative and was abrupt. Our emperor is truly open-minded."

Chen Ju cupped his hands and said, "I will leave the palace right now to find Lin Shisan."

(End of this chapter)