The situation in the capital became strange.

His Majesty suddenly sent troops to Jiangnan, which was unexpected by everyone, and almost no one in the court discussed it.

After that, the sudden killing of Nanjing City shocked the world. Not to mention Jiangnan, the city of Beijing was also panic.

For a moment, the entire city of Beijing was shrouded in a strange atmosphere.

This atmosphere is indescribable.

The original dispute between the north and the south of the Ming Dynasty, or the dispute between the Donglin and the eunuch party, seemed to be completely gone at this moment.

Instead, it is a kind of indescribable fear.

Everyone knows His Majesty's temperament, but in a sense, the situation has completely lost control.

Many people submitted memorials.

And these memorials were unexpected by Wei Zhongxian.

In his opinion, his godson and godson were all over the court, but Wei Zhongxian never expected that these people would completely lose control.

This naturally made Wei Zhongxian realize something was wrong, so he subconsciously ordered the Warriors camp under the Imperial Horse Supervision to strengthen the vigilance of the capital.

Immediately afterwards, he received the will of His Majesty, saying that he would return to the palace soon.

Wei Zhongxian breathed a sigh of relief at this. When His Majesty comes back, of course everything is easy to say.

But at this time, Wu Chunfu, the Minister of Works, came hurriedly to ask for a meeting.

Wu Chunfu is Wei Zhongxian's close friend. When he attacked the Donglin Party, he was promoted from Taipu Shaoqing to Minister of Works within a year. He was one of the "Five Tigers" under Wei Zhongxian's disciples.

Wei Zhongxian trusted this person the most because although the Ministry of Works has little authority among the six ministries, in essence... the most abundant and only the person who trusts the most can be held.

Taking advantage of the day when Wei Zhongxian did not serve in the palace, but was resting in the Wei family's mansion outside the palace, Wu Chunfu came with a food box.

Wei Zhongxian was quite happy to see him. Because Wu Chunfu had a deep relationship with him, he went to the flower hall. Wu Chunfu first saluted Wei Zhongxian, then took out the food box, opened it, and smiled and said, "Jiu Qiansui, this is the pastry made for you by Zhuo Jing himself. I know you like it..."

Wei Zhongxian laughed: "It's so difficult for her. Is she okay recently?"

"It's good."

Wei Zhongxian nodded again. When Wu Chunfu personally delivered the pastry to him, Wei Zhongxian picked up a piece, tasted it, and then said yes.

Wu Chunfu is the Minister of Works. Although he is not a high-ranking minister, he is also the most core figure in the court. Such a person lets his wife cook in person just to please Wei Zhongxian. It is a big deal to say whether the pastry tastes good or not, but this feeling of being arrogant made Wei Zhongxian addicted to it.

Wu Chunfu smiled and said, "When it comes to this pastry, the most difficult thing is to grind the bean paste. It needs to be fine at the time of Mao. It is not easy to taste. Naturally... the lower official has absolutely no intention of seeking credit..."

"It's really not easy." Wei Zhongxian nodded and then said, "Is the Ministry of Works still okay now?"

"Good, good." Wu Chunfu said: "Now there is silver in the treasury, and Your Majesty is willing to give money, and the rewards are more than in previous years, so everyone in the Ministry of Works praised Your Majesty."

Wei Zhongxian nodded: "That's good, use your life well... Your Majesty is not in the capital now... You should be more careful..."

"Nine thousand years old." Wu Chunfu looked at Wei Zhongxian and said, "But, speaking of this, the treasury allocates so much silver every year, and the Ministry of Works receives 7.32 million taels of silver every year. But the official heard that just this year, His Majesty will give the place to smooth it out, and there will be nearly 50 million taels... This... the Ministry of Works is under the leadership of a large project, which requires both repairing the royal garden and…"

Wei Zhongxian suddenly stared at Wu Chunfu, with a deep look and said, "What do you mean by what you say?"

"This..." Wu Chunfu seemed hesitant and opened his mouth to speak.

"But it's okay." Wei Zhongxian said lightly.

Wu Chunfu continued, "Your Majesty dare not tell others about this. Only when you come to you can you speak freely. Do you think that your Majesty favors the Zhang family too much? This Ministry of Works is one of the six ministries, and isn't it as good as a mere Lushun? Wasn't Lushun already enfeoffed and just a mere corner of the land? The Ministry of Works is in charge of the world's major plans."

Wei Zhongxian said lukewarmly: "It seems you are not convinced?"

"What's wrong with Xia Guan?" Wu Chunfu smiled and said, "Even if the money distributed to the Ministry of Works is not on Xia Guan, it's just... there are many complaints in and outside the court and the country now."

As he said that, he lowered his voice and then said, "Let's talk about the Jinyiwei. The Jinyiwei used to be in your hands. Now... But what does it have to do with you? The Jinyiwei is like this, and the same is true for Lushun. Have Jiu Qiansui ever thought that if this continues, you and the people like Xiaguan will come from now on..."

He didn't continue, but the meaning of this was self-evident!

Wei Zhongxian sighed and said, "We know what you mean. In the past few years, you have really made a big splash with us. Which of you people is not a success or a leader? But now... we also know that you are from Quanzhou, and the Fujian Provincial Administration Commissioner, I am afraid you have to prepare to clear the land. How much land does your Wu family have in Quanzhou?"

After hearing this, Wu Chunfu lowered his head and refused to answer.

Wei Zhongxian said: "We heard that there are many people and few lands in Fujian, and many people have to go to the sea secretly, or even go to the West... You see, our country in the Ming Dynasty should have been the richest place, but what is the result? The people of the Ming Dynasty have to go through a lot of hardships to make a living overseas. Tell me, this... is this central country in the Ming Dynasty not as good as the Western vassals?"

"Of course we know. If you use these words to persuade you, you will definitely not be happy. After all,... we are a person with no descendants, and we are not like your Wu family. We are a gentry and have a family property. We naturally cannot advise you to be generous. But now Your Majesty is determined to implement the new policy, and it has reached this point, it cannot be changed. You are the Minister of Works, and you have to agree, and if you don't agree, you have to agree! As for that old Zhang..."

I originally wanted to call Brother Zhang, but Wei Zhongxian quickly realized that the dog seemed to be notorious now, and his reputation was even worse than his nine thousand years old! So he changed his words: "That Zhang Jingyi... is just sharing the worries for Your Majesty. You said that Your Majesty favored him, that's right, but this is the emperor's heart. At this time, opposing Zhang Jingyi is to oppose Your Majesty. Do we, the slaves and ministers, really go to the rioters? You have seen the consequences of those generals in Liaodong, and you have no knowledge of the consequences of those rioters in Jiangnan? Just listen to us and do your own thing well... Don't learn from some people outside..."

After hearing this, Wu Chunfu nodded and said embarrassedly: "Yes, yes, Jiu Qiansui is right."

He stopped mentioning this matter, sat down for a while, then stood up and said goodbye.

After leaving Wei Zhongxian's mansion, he immediately got into a sedan chair. His face became awkward, and then he ordered the sedan chairman to say, "Go to Liu's mansion."

Half an hour later, he arrived at a mansion, but couldn't help but grit his teeth and said: "It's not human to persuade people to be generous!"

…………

Wei Zhongxian smiled and asked his son Wei Liangqing to send Wu Chunfu out, and waited for Wei Liangqing to come back to report his life.

He saw that his father Wei Zhongxian could not sit upright at this time, and was playing with a string of rosary in his hand.

Wei Liangqing said obediently: "Dad, I've sent it away."

Wei Zhongxian said lightly: "What did you say before leaving?"

"Don't say anything, just say that your son will take care of his father more, for fear that you will be in bad health." Wei Liangqing said honestly: "He has been thinking about it..."

Wei Zhongxian sneered, with a shrewd look in his eyes, interrupting Wei Liangqing's words: "You are too young after all, and you don't know what it means."

"This...this..." Wei Liangqing was stunned for a moment, with a gloomy eyes.

Wei Zhongxian closed his eyes, sighed, and said a little tiredly: "They are forcing us..."

So Wei Liangqing said in confusion: "But I see that he is still obedient to his father, how can it be..."

Wei Zhongxian then opened his eyes slightly and said, "You don't understand that power is both top-down and bottom-up. How do you think we are from the nine thousand years old? For the best... Your Majesty believes in us, so we can master national strategies in the Sili Supervisor. But what about the best? Just relying on the Sili Supervisor, even if you add an Dongchang, do you think... you can really take power for a while?"

"You are wrong. The reason why we have today is because there is a large group of people who have defected to our disciples for whatever reason to solve our problems. So... the imperial decree issued by the court can be lip service, but people are rushing to do what we have to do. Do you know why?"

Wei Liangqing obviously had never thought about these things. At this time, he looked at Wei Zhongxian in shock and said, "For... why..."

Wei Zhongxian sighed and said, "Even if the affairs of the court are done, it is the duty of a minister. Even if they cannot do it well... But if they cannot do it well, others may not be able to do it well. At most, they will be scolded. Therefore, the imperial edict may not be effective. But what we have assigned is different, because no matter what we have explained, everyone knows that we will think of his love, know that he is capable of doing things, and appreciate him. Naturally, everyone rushes to do it."

Wei Zhongxian said: "So, as long as someone does anything, we will give them any benefits. In this way, everyone knows that there will be rewards for doing things for us, so more and more people are willing to do things for us. But now..."

Wei Zhongxian looked at Wei Liangqing speechlessly, and then said, "Now... the situation is very different."

…………
Chapter completed!