Yan Shifan became the protagonist at the table, while Zhu Pingan was reduced to a supporting role. Several people from the Hanlin Academy came to toast Yan Shifan from time to time and Yan Shifan accepted all the toasts. The atmosphere at the table gradually became better.
"I'm telling you, Zihou. The emperor has approved the memorial submitted by Zhejiang Censor Dong to relax the maritime ban. The maritime ban has been temporarily relaxed. The Maritime Customs Office is already preparing, and official ships can sail along the coast."
When Yan Shifan was slightly drunk, he told Zhu Ping'an this news.
Zhu Ping'an was a little surprised by this. He had the impression that although the maritime ban had been somewhat repeated during the Jiajing period, he had never heard that it was relaxed to the extent of allowing people to go out to sea. However, since it was an official ship, it was understandable.
Official ships are allowed to sail, and seeing how smug Yan Shifan is, it is estimated that Yan Shifan will turn this into official smuggling.
However, Yan Shifan will surely be disappointed later. Emperor Jiajing's maritime ban policy has always been inconsistent, especially with the recent rampage of Japanese pirates on the southeast coast. It is estimated that this slightly relaxed maritime ban policy can only be maintained for a short period of time.
The maritime ban cannot be relaxed unless the Japanese pirates are eliminated!
However, Zhu Pingan knew all these things in his heart, but he didn't say anything. Yan Shifan was just thinking about making money, so why pour cold water on him? Besides, no matter what Yan Shifan's starting point was, it was always great to have someone set his sights on overseas.
The mutton served by the proprietress tasted really good, especially the fish and mutton dish, but the only downside was that it was a bit expensive.
When Zhu Pingan went out to pay the bill during the meal, he had spent almost all the money he had in his pocket, and after paying the bill, he had less than ten coins left. After paying the bill, Zhu Pingan told the shopkeeper in advance that if he ordered more wine and food later, it would be temporarily recorded in the account, and Zhu Pingan would come back to pay tomorrow.
No wonder so many Ming Dynasty officials were corrupt. The salaries they received were simply not enough to cover their social interactions, let alone support a large family.
It's time to think about how to make money. If this continues, I will be left with nothing. Zhu Ping'an touched his empty wallet and returned to the table with a wry smile.
Really, if you want to be an official, you have to make money first.
When Zhu Pingan returned to the table, our Master Yan was already eighty percent drunk. Yan Shifan boasted to everyone about his great achievements in the imperial court at the table. He was extremely bold. He was really arrogant and didn't care about being known.
By the way, if Yan Shifan lived in modern times, thinking about the Lao Bi incident, he would probably not dare to be so arrogant even if he was beaten to death.
It was dark outside. It was pitch dark, but Master Yan was enjoying his drink, so no one dared to leave.
When everyone was drinking, a servant came in from outside and looked for Yan Shifan anxiously, with a look of anxiety as if his butt was on fire.
"Gu... ... What are you in such a hurry for?" Yan Shifan burped and asked with a thick tongue.
"Young Master, Young Master, the Prime Minister sent a note from the palace, urging you to answer quickly." The servant said as he handed the small note in his hand to Yan Shifan.
Well
Watching the servant hand the note to Yan Shifan, combined with what the servant said about the note that the Prime Minister sent from the palace, Zhu Pingan thought of an interesting story recorded in unofficial history:
It is said that once Yan Song and other cabinet ministers were on night duty in the duty room of Xiyuan, and they received a note from Emperor Jiajing, which asked Yan Song and other cabinet ministers to deal with an important current event. Yan Song and other cabinet ministers discussed for a while on duty, and then each of them drafted a handling opinion. After writing, the cabinet ministers revised it several times, but they all felt that the opinions were not in place and did not dare to submit them to Emperor Jiajing.
Emperor Jiajing sent eunuchs to urge them several times, but there was nothing they could do. Yan Song and others had no choice but to revise their opinions again and again and then hand them over to the eunuchs.
"Your Majesty is dissatisfied. Please re-draft the bill." Soon the eunuch came back and expressed the dissatisfaction of Emperor Jiajing. He returned the draft.
The draft was altered a lot by Emperor Jiajing, one place after another, and one could see his dissatisfaction from the alterations. Yan Song and others were terrified and had to reconsider the draft again, but this time they still had no idea how to draft it.
"My Lords, please hurry up. The Emperor is waiting and looks angry." The young eunuch was very anxious.
The young eunuch came to urge several times, but Yan Song and others had learned from the lesson of Jiajing's dissatisfaction last time, and they did not understand what Emperor Jiajing meant. Yan Song and others were embarrassed and did not dare to present it to Emperor Jiajing.
At this time, Yan Shifan came to Xiyuan on the orders of his mother to deliver medicine to Yan Song. This was also a favor from Emperor Jiajing. Yan Song was ill at that time, so Emperor Jiajing graciously allowed Yan Song's son to come to the palace to deliver medicine to Yan Song for treatment.
Yan Shifan saw his father and several cabinet ministers, looking panic-stricken like headless flies in the duty room, and couldn't help but ask curiously what had happened.
"Haha, this is easy to hear."
When Yan Shifan read the small note sent by Emperor Jiajing and the revised draft opinion in Emperor Jiajing's reply, he could not help but chuckle, and then without saying anything, he picked up his pen and quickly wrote a draft opinion.
Yan Shifan wrote his draft opinion fluently and in one stroke. In a few minutes, he finished it and threw the pen on the table.
"Donglou, why are you causing trouble..."
Seeing Yan Shifan being so reckless, Yan Song could not help but complain. The other ministers were also indignant about this. They said, "You are just a young boy, why are you so arrogant?"
After complaining, Yan Song took the draft written by Yan Shifan and read it. He was a little surprised. The angle of Yan Shifan's writing was something they had not thought of. It was quite innovative. After reading it, Yan Song passed it to several other cabinet ministers to have a look.
"The emperor is dissatisfied with the delay and looks angry, and requires the ministers to report immediately." At this moment, another young eunuch came to urge with the order of Emperor Jiajing.
Report immediately means that you must report to Emperor Jiajing right away without wasting a second. It is too late to write now, so I have no choice but to send the draft written by Yan Shifan to deal with the matter first.
However, after submitting it, Yan Song and others regretted it very much, thinking that it was a bit too rash to submit Yan Shifan's draft opinion.
However, to their surprise, Emperor Jiajing's reply came very quickly.
"I am very pleased. I approve your request."
After this incident, Yan Song and others were really impressed by Yan Shifan. From then on, whenever Emperor Jiajing had any difficult problems or notes, which Yan Song and other cabinet ministers could not answer or solve, they would send a note out of the palace and ask Yan Shifan to answer it. Yan Shifan was able to solve the problems successfully and every time he received praise from Emperor Jiajing.
“No worries!”
Thus, a routine was formed. Whenever the Emperor Jiajing asked a difficult question, Yan Song would always comfort everyone, then write down what the Emperor Jiajing asked on a piece of paper, have someone pass the paper through the crack of the West Garden Palace gate, and have it delivered to Yan Shifan by horse, asking Shifan to answer it immediately.
This is also the reason why people in the court and the public called Yan Song the "Great Prime Minister" and Yan Shifan the "Little Prime Minister".
I guess the reason why the servant came to see Yan Shifan this time is the same. (To be continued.)