In a blink of an eye, it has been more than a month since Zongzheng Qingqi ascended the throne. Until now, he still remembers his surprise and joy when he walked towards the dragon chair surrounded by courtiers, and he also remembered when he sat on the dragon chair that all the royal brothers longed for. When he went up, the kind of condescending, overlooking the panorama of the Golden Luan Palace, when everyone respectfully surrendered at his feet, the kind of chest throbbing, the impulse of ambition and pride.
To the still young Zongzheng Qingqi, all of this was too unreal, like a dream.
As for the body of the Supreme Emperor, Zongzheng Qingqi did not cause too many waves in his heart. As far as he could remember, he had not seen that father emperor many times. Just like an invisible person, Zongzheng Qingqi couldn't say no to resentment towards this emperor father compared to his favored younger brother Zongzheng Qingde.
But no matter what, Zongzheng Qingqi was still a little grateful for his father's first thought of him after the incident between the elder brother and the third brother.
So he let Concubine Jiang, the most beloved imperial concubine of the father, stay by his side to serve him. I think the emperor will be very satisfied. Concubine Jiang was born as a palace maid, she knows how to serve others best, and her father loves her more than her, so she will definitely serve in return with the most considerate service.
For Zongzheng Qingqi, such a decision could not have been more perfect, and it would save his mother and concubine, the current empress dowager, from suffering from that sickness.
But if there are any unsatisfactory places in life, there are still some.
*****
"Your Majesty, you have endured hardships to become a superior person. Xiao Chuquan has devoted himself to the court, and his party members are all over the court. It is not good for your majesty to tear yourself apart at this time. Now, we can only keep a low profile and save money." Power, wait until the right time to pull that treacherous eunuch off his horse, this is the right way."
Although Zongzheng Qingqi became the emperor, he was young after all, so he still had to take the courses he should have taken.
It's just that there is no need to go to the government school anymore, but the Taifu will teach him one-on-one.
Everyone thought that Xiao Chu would choose his confidant to teach Zongzheng Qingqi, and raise him up while the other party was still young, but who knew that Xiao Chu had never intervened in the selection of the emperor's teacher from the beginning to the end. However, the choice of Taifu was the idea of Zongzheng Qingqi and Empress Dowager Wan Qilan themselves.
Mr. Jiang standing in front of him now is one of the few royalists in the court, and he will always stand firmly on the side of the emperor. He originally resigned because he was dissatisfied with the absurdity of Emperor Chengqing, but now the court is in chaos. In addition, the new emperor was still young, so after receiving the imperial edict, the old censor returned to the court again and became the emperor's tutor.
"Teacher don't worry, Gu knows what to do."
Zongzheng Qingqi nodded. He also knew how powerful Xiao Chu was now. After he ascended the throne, the other party used him as an excuse that he was young and not yet suitable to be in charge of the government, and took over all the government affairs, which made him dignified. The emperor, when he was in court, was like a puppet, and he didn't even have the right to review memorials.
But for such a rebellious thing, there was not a single voice of opposition in the court, and everyone succumbed to Xiao Chu's lustful power.
What the emperor did was really aggrieved. When Zongzheng Qingqi was undecided and complacent, when he encountered such a situation, the dissatisfaction in his heart naturally increased exponentially.
"I also want to ask, what does His Majesty want to do?"
Silently, behind the pair of sympathetic monarchs and ministers, suddenly there was another figure, the Xiao Chu they were talking about, appeared outside the door.
Why didn't the guards outside make a sound
Zongzheng Qingqi and Elder Jiang looked at each other nervously, Xiao Chu should have heard what they said just now, I am afraid that now the other party wants to get rid of them and hurry up.
The Supreme Emperor still has a younger prince. Zongzheng Qingqi knew that the one Xiao Chu really wanted to enthroned was his younger brother. If the other party heard the scheme between him and Elder Jiang, he might give the other party an excuse to let him Pull him, the puppet emperor, from the throne and support Zongzheng Qingde to take the throne.
"I want to know, where is the minister not doing well enough to make His Majesty want to get rid of me so quickly?"
Since Emperor Cheng Qing abdicated, Yan Chu's health has improved a lot, because no one has forced him to take those fatal pills anymore. At this moment, he looks a little less sinister than before, and looks quite handsome.
"Lonely, lonely..."
Zongzheng Qingqi looked at Xiao Chu, her heart was beating like a beating, and she was speechless.
"Your Majesty is young, and those things just now were all instigated by me, Your Majesty. If Dudu Xiao has any dissatisfaction, please come to me."
Elder Jiang couldn't see an eunuch like Xiao Chu intimidating His Majesty, what qualifications did he have, the thing of cutting off children and grandchildren, was too crazy for him to climb to the unshakable position now.
"You are indeed wrong. The Empress Dowager invited you to be His Majesty's teacher, not to let you teach him how to aim high. Before he has learned to walk, he wants to run away."
Yan Chu's accusation made Old Jiang's chest hurt angrily, and it also made Zongzheng Qingqi so embarrassed that she wanted to dig a hole and bury herself in it.
What does Xiao Chu mean by this? Do you think he is useless
"Your Majesty has doubts about my rhetoric. Well, let me ask Your Majesty. There is a severe drought in the Eastern Province, and the grain harvest is less than 30% of what it used to be. In the Eastern Province, tens of thousands of people starved to death, and how many people from the merchants were displaced. Let His Majesty handle the matter, what kind of decision will His Majesty make?"
What Yan Chu said was the most heated debate in the court not long ago.
"The imperial court allocates funds to urgently transfer grain from the major grain-producing provinces in the south to the eastern provinces, and then ask the local county magistrate to open granaries, so as to appease the hearts of the people before the relief grain arrives."
Zongzheng Qingqi saw that this was Yan Chu's test for him, thinking about some rescue measures that he had heard in the early court these days, integrating them, and then combined with his own thinking, he said confidently.
Elder Jiang listened on the sidelines, his expression softened a lot. According to the age of the new emperor, it is already remarkable that he can say such a move.
"Then I would like to ask Your Majesty, do you know how much the food prices are now, and how much the treasury needs to allocate to relieve the disaster victims in the Eastern Province?" Yan Chu's face could not distinguish between joy and anger, and he did not have any comments on Zongzheng Qingqi's political opinions. .
"Does Gu need to know this? Are the officials of the Ministry of Household Affairs just for show?" Zongzheng Qingqi felt that Yan Chu was making things difficult for him, and his face immediately collapsed.
A ten-year-old child can't hide his thoughts very well, Yan Chu sighed in his heart, the future Mingjun is just an ignorant doll now.
"Eastern Province is usually a major grain-producing province. Because of the drought that broke out in Eastern Province this year, food prices in other regions have soared, including the price of grain in Beijing, which has also been affected by the drought in Eastern Province. Wen has risen to the current 800 Wen, while the price of grain reported by the officials of the household department is 1,300 Wen per stone."
This price is two or three times the original grain price.
Zongzheng Qingqi was stunned when she heard Yan Chu's words. At the court this morning, Xiao Chu challenged the Minister of the Ministry of Officials. He originally thought that the other party was someone who wanted to support him to come to power, but he didn't know there was such a reason.
The people in the Eastern Province are struggling to make a living, so why are there still corrupt officials making money for the country at this time
Zongzheng Qingqi felt that her chest was stuffy, partly because of her ignorance, arrogance and dullness, and partly because of her shame and indignation at making a fool of herself in front of his greatest enemy, the mixture of several emotions made her Zongzheng Qingqi's face was particularly ugly.
"And what His Majesty said about the allocation of disaster relief funds. Your Majesty knows that the Wuhuan flood disaster three years ago, the imperial court allocated three million taels, and the relief funds that finally reached Wuhuan were only 150,000 taels. In the end, the people of Wuhuan Simply turning grass into bandits has become a problem that has not been resolved in the west of the lake so far. Your Majesty allocated funds easily, but have you ever thought about how to ensure that the disaster relief funds can reach the people in the disaster-stricken areas?"
Yan Chu didn't let Zongzheng Qingqi go just because of this, he questioned Zongzheng Qingqi one after another, hitting Zongzheng Qingqi's heart word by word, just now he was full of complacency, as if it was just a joke.
"Also, I just got the secret letter from the admiral of the Eastern Province. The county magistrate of Ryukyu County in the Eastern Province took pity on the people and opened the granary without permission. Knowing that he had committed a serious crime, he hanged himself in the county government office."
In the face of natural disasters, not everyone can maintain their humanity. They are so hungry that they can't do anything.
It’s good that the granary is not open, but when the granary was opened, no strict preparations were made. Seeing the full granary, the hungry victims could ignore the court’s laws. Looting is just a prelude. Those who grab the food, and those who grab the food, will inevitably be another bloody battle.
As for other townships and counties, seeing what the people of Ryukyu County have done and being extremely hungry, will they be inspired to imitate their actions, and by then, there will be no peace to talk about in the Eastern Province.
Presumably the county magistrate also realized this, and realized that he had done bad things with good intentions, which caused great disaster, and felt ashamed of the court, so he hanged himself.
This is why, for example, when opening a granary to shake the grain, you need to notify your superiors first, because when it is time to open the granary to shake the grain, it must be when the disaster is at its extreme. Before opening the granary, the imperial court will send troops to guard outside the granary , to ensure that food can be distributed to every victim in an orderly manner, and to prevent riots as much as possible.
The garrison also acts as a deterrent, reducing the occurrence of tragedies such as food robbing and cannibalism in townships and counties.
The more Zongzheng Qingqi heard, the redder his face became. He didn't know that behind the good policy he had heard from all the officials, there were hidden dangers of all sizes that needed to be compensated by other methods.
"Civil riots broke out in Ryukyu now. Do we need to send troops to suppress them?"
Zongzheng Qingqi put aside her embarrassment in advance, the most important thing now is to deal with the disaster in the Eastern Province. If this small natural disaster is not handled properly, it is very likely to turn into a big chaos.
"Four days ago, I ordered the admiral of the Eastern Province to dispatch troops to the towns and counties that were seriously affected by the disaster. The chaos in Ryukyu was only due to the fact that the troops had not arrived. Thinking about it now, those riots have been suppressed. Soon, His Majesty will be able to I have received a secret letter from the admiral of the Eastern Province."
Yan Chu's words made Zongzheng Qingqi even more ashamed. Four days ago, after the court had just learned about the drought in Eastern Province, the other party had already thought of the civil unrest at that time. , it really is not far away.
Compared with such a scheming traitor, can he really win
Zongzheng Qingqi suddenly became a little uncertain.
"Mr. Jiang, I agree with the queen mother's choice because I believe that you can teach an outstanding emperor. Now it seems that you have let me down. Do you also think that the current majesty can handle political affairs above the court?" ?"
Yan Chu shook his head at Mr. Jiang, and then looked at Zongzheng Qingqi: "I know you are dissatisfied with me as a eunuch regent, so you can prove it to me, and I will wait for you to take back your Zongzheng Jiangshan from me." one day."
After speaking, Yan Chu turned and left with the hand warmer in hand, leaving only a thin and lonely figure in fox fur for them.
That's the end
Both Zongzheng Qingqi and Elder Jiang were a little surprised, especially Elder Jiang. He thought that after Xiao Chu listened to his teachings to the new emperor, he would dismiss him as the grand tutor. With such power, he could even confiscate his Jiang family and exile them.
Jiang Lao was not sure whether the other party was suspicious or it was really as he showed, so he didn't even bother to attack him.
But I have to admit that Yan Chu's performance just now gave him a new view on this treacherous eunuch who was mentioned more in rumors.