With Li Zilong's death, most of his subordinates were arrested, and the White Lotus Sect completely collapsed.
Even though there are still a few fish that slip through the net and go into exile, those people are hard to come by, and they are no threat to the imperial court.
The silver that the White Lotus Sect was going to pack and carry away was intercepted, and Jin Yiwei later found a lot of silver notes from Li Zilong's body.
These bank notes are all stored in several banks by him using the convenience of doing business in the past few years. This way, he can ensure that no matter where he is, he has money that he can use at any time. Because of this, Li Zilong There will always be enough manpower and material resources to oppose the imperial court.
In addition, the Xu family and the Fang family were also copied because of their collusion with the White Lotus Sect. Only then did the Fang family discover that their shrewd, capable and proud head of the family turned out to be the second leader of the White Lotus Sect.
The real Fang Huixue was killed by Li Zilong as early as a few years ago. The latter not only pretended to be Fang Huixue and received everything from Fang Huixue, but also completed for Fang Huixue what he, the descendants of the Fang family, could not accomplish - revitalizing the Fang family. .
With Fang Huixue's identity, Li Zilong became prosperous in Ji'an Mansion. On the one hand, he used this cover to secretly mine and make money, and on the other hand, he donated money to build bridges and pave the way to gain a good reputation for himself. Make things that you do in the dark go more smoothly.
With the support of money, the Fang family's family business will naturally become larger and larger, and the White Lotus Sect's great cause of rebellion can also continue, which can be said to kill two birds with one stone.
Although Tang Fan ruined the good things of the White Lotus Sect several times, and also exposed several layers of Li Zilong's identities, making him a thorn in the eyes of the White Lotus Sect, but in fact, Li Zilong is thoughtful and tricky, and it is very difficult to deal with. It is impossible for him to deal with each other for so many years, and he has repeatedly missed.
If there was no temporary remorse from Ji Min, Tang Fan would have been dead by now, and Li Zilong would have escaped calmly, and when Suizhou arrived, he would have to collect Tang Fan's body.
Tang Fan did not forget his commitment. With his efforts, Ji Min concluded that he died while in office. The court gave him a doctor to advise him, and he corrected Shu Yin. .
On the Xu family's side, due to the inextricable entanglement between the two Xu Fang's businesses, the Xu family was charged with the crime of disorderly party, which is also at risk. Although Xu Bin is far away in the capital, his reaction is very keen, and he sees that the situation is not good. , and immediately took the initiative to donate all the family wealth, and directly donated it to the emperor through Wan Dang, and therefore held a life.
Of course, with Xu Bin's cunning, it is unknown whether all of his family wealth was donated.
Leaving aside the matter of the White Lotus Sect for the time being, Xu Sui and Shen Si were punished for fifty and thirty respectively, and they were not allowed to participate in the imperial examinations for the rest of their lives. This was because of their father’s loss of wealth and loss of office— Because of his merits in reporting and because of Tang Fan's plea for mercy, Shen Kunxiu was demoted to serve as a citizen-for him, it was a great fortune that his son could save his life.
In any case, it all came to an end.
Whether it is the Fang family or the Xu family, they will eventually become history.
Flowers bloom and fall, autumn goes and spring comes. Two or three years have passed in a hurry, and in a blink of an eye, the autumn of the 22nd year of Chenghua has arrived.
The White Lotus Sect is no longer making waves, and the world seems to be much more peaceful, at least for Tang Fan and Suizhou.
After returning to Beijing, the two finally lived a peaceful life where they did not need to be exhausted.
But calm is only relative.
There are no major events in the world, but it does not mean that the court is peaceful.
On the contrary, in the past two years, the emperor's health has been deteriorating, and the root cause is a long story.
Before the name of the current Crown Prince was rectified, the noble concubine Wan had the same strict control over the descendants of the harem because she had nothing to do.
For example, Zhu Youji from Concubine Bai Xian, who is the elder brother of the current prince, was crowned crown prince at the age of two, but within two months of being crowned prince, the little prince died of a sudden illness. At that time, there were many rumors inside and outside the palace, among which most people agreed that the little prince was poisoned by Concubine Wan.
Even the current crown prince, Zhu Youji, suffered a lot before he was canonized. He was displaced in the palace several times in his childhood and almost failed to survive. By the time he met the emperor, he was already five years old. The most vulnerable and most vulnerable age, and after that, Concubine Wan seems to have broken the jar, and no longer prohibits women in the harem from giving birth to heirs.
So after the prince Zhu Youji, the descendants of the harem were born one after another. Up to now, there are dozens of princes and princesses under the emperor's knees, not including the unborn ones who are still in the wombs of concubines. How hard did Emperor Chenghua work
Right now, the harem is prosperous, with branches and leaves scattered, and it is no longer the deserted appearance of the early years of Chenghua.
But the consequence of excessive efforts must be that the emperor's Jingyuan lost too much and fell ill.
His body is not strong, but he is not restrained, and even the imperial physician is helpless.
As a result, the emperor saw that medical skills could not completely cure himself, so he began to put his hopes on the illusory magic, and he trusted Li Zixing, Jixiao and others more and more, almost to the point of partiality, and his concern for state affairs and government affairs decreased day by day. It has now reached the point where it is almost completely irrelevant.
The only fortunate thing is that although the emperor refused to work, the cabinet was still working. Although not everyone in the cabinet would work together, but thanks to the system established by the ancestors, the empire was finally able to maintain its daily operations.
But this doesn't mean that it's all right, at least Tang Fan is in the cabinet, and he has a wonderful and exciting life every day, which can be called exciting.
Two years ago, due to the Suzhou case, the fraud case, and the extermination of the White Lotus Sect, etc., after returning to Beijing, Tang Fan was transferred from the Metropolitan Police Court to the Punishment Department due to his merits, and officially served as the left servant of the Punishment Department. By the way, he acted as the Minister of Punishment. Although his name has not been rectified, he is already the de facto Minister of Punishment.
According to Tang Fan's age, the speed of this promotion is already very amazing. In the first year of his life, he took the position of the third-rank servant as the second-rank minister. Looking at the Ming Dynasty, it is estimated that there are not many, compared with other forty or fifty years old in the officialdom. For those who are still struggling in the position of prefect or prefect, it can be said that they are on the rise, young and promising.
At that time, the cabinet situation has undergone earth-shaking changes.
Wan'an, Liu Jue, and Liu Ji, who were originally dubbed "Paper-Papered Three Pavilion Olds" by courtiers in private, were actually left with Wan'an and Liu Ji. As early as a few years ago, Liu Jue was squeezed out by Wan An and Liu Ji.
After Liu Jue left, Wan An successively recommended Peng Hua, Yin Zhi and others to join the cabinet. Liu Ji was weak and weak, and he recommended Liu Jian, Xu Pu, Qiu Jun and others to join the cabinet. This is to compete with Wan'an.
At that time, Tang Fan hadn't returned to Beijing, and his entry into the pavilion had nothing to do with him, but Qiu Jun's entry into the pavilion encountered great resistance.
Because the old man Qiu was upright and would rather not bend when he was in trouble, Liu Ji recommended him to join the cabinet, not because he liked him, but just because he wanted to use him to deal with Wan An. Of course Wan An would not agree to make such a trouble for himself, and the two sides were deadlocked. No less.
Just at this time, Tang Fan returned to the capital after finishing the Ji'an affair, and temporarily took the post of Minister of Punishment. Liu Ji took a step back and said that it would be better to let Qiu Jun's student Tang Fan enter the pavilion. Far more suitable than his teacher.
Since the establishment of the cabinet, due to the limitations of the system, even if it is the first assistant, the power is not as good as that of the prime minister of Tang and Song Dynasties, so even if Wan An is the first assistant, it is also impossible to cover the sky with one hand. This can be seen from the resignation of Shang Ming after the last Suzhou case. When he came out, the so-called slight upper hand was only due to the emperor's favor.
For Liu Ji, he recommended Liu Jian, Tang Fan and others, not because he appreciated Liu Jian and Tang Fan because he had a last resort.
It has been said before that the most frequently impeached officials in the court and the public are not Shoufu Wan'an, but Liu Ji and Liu Ge. Because of his thick skin and black heart, Liu Ji was even named "Liu Mian". the "reputation".
But no matter how thick-skinned Liu Ji is, in the face of the continuous impeachment and sparseness, his heart is also melancholy and sad. As a minister, who doesn't want to have a good reputation
Therefore, this time he recommended Liu Jian and others to join the cabinet, in fact, because Liu Jian, Xu Pu, Tang Fan, and the others have a clean and honest official voice, and they are well-received.
Liu Ji recommended the virtuous, and naturally, he could also wash away his not-so-dignified reputation by the way.
In order to avoid losing both sides, Wan An finally agreed with Liu Ji's proposal, so after the court push, Tang Fan also joined the cabinet.
However, his ranking is still behind Liu Jian and Xu Pu.
That is to say, in the cabinet, Tang Fan is the youngest at the bottom.
But the youngest is better than not being in the cabinet.
As the power core of the Ming Empire, the cabinet has always been the ultimate pursuit of all courtiers.
Don't care how seniority is ranked in the cabinet. From the outsiders' point of view, being able to join the cabinet means that you will become the Daisuke of the Ming Dynasty. Since others call Tang Fan, you have to use "Tang Ge Lao" to be more respectful. Like Tang Fan, he stood at a young age. The cabinet of Saisuke is also unique.
At this time, it had only been five or six years since he had served as a small chief in the punishment department.
The speed of Tang Fan's promotion is truly astounding. It seems that the Ming Dynasty can have such an opportunity.
However, as long as others think about what Tang Fan has done, they don't seem to be surprised.
What kind of position a person wants to go to, he must have the corresponding ability to match.
Otherwise, even if his luck is sky-high, there will still be times when he will not be able to shine.
In the dragon pool and tiger's den like the cabinet, mediocre talents can only be reduced to fish and meat on the sword, and they can be slaughtered by others.
Tang Ge Lao, who was envied and envied by his colleagues, actually did not live as well in the cabinet as outsiders imagined.
When you didn't enter the cabinet, everyone looked up here, and it was inevitable that they would bring a sense of mystery due to ignorance. When they were really in the middle, they would find that this day and the taste of it were really not enough for outsiders.
In the absence of the emperor, the cabinet needs to deal with important documents from all over the country every day and make corresponding decisions and instructions. The Ming Dynasty has a vast territory, which means that every day, there will be urgent reports that need to be dealt with urgently like snowflakes. On the desks of the elders.
Sometimes the river in the east floods the farmland, and often the people of a certain prefecture in the west are under the ravages of drought and locusts. The local government is crying and crying, and it is impossible for the ministers of the cabinet to inspect in person, so no matter which report is written, it looks so pitiful. , that would require assistance, but the national treasury is limited in terms of money and food. Which side should be allocated for relief first, and which side can be put aside first, all these need to be judged by the cabinet. Sometimes if the judgment is wrong, it means that there will be thousands of Tens of thousands of lives were lost because of their mistakes.
After Tang Fan and others joined the cabinet, the staff of the cabinet increased accordingly, and each person shared a part of the work. It is reasonable to say that the workload has been reduced as much as possible, but everyone still enters the value every day before dawn, until the afternoon after each yamen disperses the value. , most of the time the cabinet members have to stay here to discuss business affairs and review the memorials, and the hard work cannot be explained in a few words.
Although he has been criticized by many, Wan'an, as the first assistant, is not as ordinary people imagined. As long as he flatters the emperor every day, and then does nothing, he will be able to secure his position as the first assistant.
When the cabinet ministers are discussing political affairs, the first assistant needs to preside over the meeting, and it is even more necessary to summarize and make final decisions on matters that are not resolved by everyone and have different opinions; some important matters, even if they have been approved by other ministers, Shoufu still needs to review it again to confirm that the opinions are feasible and correct.
Since the emperor now focuses on cultivating immortals rather than political affairs, the responsibilities and workload of the cabinet have increased a lot. After many decisions are implemented, once the courtiers are dissatisfied, they will think that the responsibility lies with the cabinet. , Wan An must bear more accusations than other cabinet ministers.
These are the other sides that Tang Fan has never seen before.
Originally, when he was outside, he always felt that Wan Dang was idle all day and had nothing to do with him, but now he has seen with his own eyes that Wan An was able to become the first assistant. stronger than others.
And he also knew that the core of Wan Dang was not Wan An.
To be precise, the reason why Wan Dang was able to stand still in the Chenghua Dynasty largely depended on the emperor's favor for Wan Guifei.
Without Wan Guifei, there would be no Wan Party.
Although the Wan family did not directly intervene in the state affairs, her influence was everywhere. The most direct manifestation was that Concubine Wan was extremely unhappy with the current prince and wanted the prince to be replaced all the time. Therefore, Wan Dang has always been opposed to the prince. of.
However, at best, these things just made Tang Fan understand Wan'an more deeply, which did not mean that he had a good impression of Wan'an, Liu Ji and others.
Due to Concubine Wan's huge influence, in order to consolidate her position, Wan An did not hesitate to let go of her stature as a civil servant, and climbed up with her sister and brother, Concubine Wan Tong. Their interests are firmly tied to the Wan clan, and they act with the joy of the Wan clan as their joy and the evil of the Wan clan as their evil. They have completely lost the principle and measure of Minister Zaisuke. This is why everyone hates the Wan party and secretly The real reason for slandering Wan An and others.
Not to mention that the cabinet sounds beautiful, but the office environment is actually worse than that of the Sixth Department. Everyone is shrunk in a small Wenyuan Pavilion, and the duty room where the cabinet ministers work alone is a small one, which is connected to each other and is the same as the Sixth Department. The spacious and bright ministries and yamen are completely incomparable.
Moreover, Tang Fan is now also the minister of the punishment department. Not only does he have to deal with the affairs of the cabinet, but he also takes time to return to the punishment department every day, which can be said to be busy.
Fortunately, there are not many things that the Punishment Department needs him to decide now. Most of them are done by Peng Yichun, the right servant. As early as when Tang Fan was still the director of the Punishment Department, the old gentleman had a good relationship with him. Later, Tang Fan had a good relationship with him. After leaving the Department of Punishment, he still kept in touch with him.
After Tang Fan returned to Beijing and re-entered the punishment department, the reason why he could get started so quickly was inseparable from the support of Peng Yichun, so after he entered the cabinet, he recommended Peng Yichun as minister of the punishment department, so that he could never end his official duties. part of the liberation.
The position of the Ministry of Punishment in the six departments is not very important, so Tang Fan entered the pavilion and also served as the minister of the Ministry of Punishment, and no one raised any objection.
Ordinary people have several positions, I am afraid that it is too late to be happy, and Ba has to hand over power. It is just that the cabinet and the six departments are responsible for both ends, but Tang Fan has not even taken the position of acting minister, so he hastily recommended others to share it, even Wang Zhi. They all laughed at him in the midst of bliss and did not know the bliss.
Even so, the cabinet meeting every three days is still a headache for Tang Fan.
Tang Fan was not the only one who felt this way, all the cabinet members felt the same way.
Like today.
In the conference hall of Wenyuan Pavilion, the first assistant was at the top, and everyone sat in two rows.
Seeing that the hourglass had reached Shen Shi, the matter to be discussed was almost over, and everyone secretly breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that they should be able to disperse the value on time today.
Wan An said: "Finally, there are two things that I would like to discuss with you."
Upon hearing this, everyone subconsciously straightened their backs and waited for the first assistant to follow.
Wan An said: "The Wenyuan Pavilion has four duty rooms, and there were not many cabinet ministers in the past, one per person was just right, but now the number of people has increased, and it seems a little crowded. When the Taisukes were working hard for state affairs, and even the place of duty was so narrow, they had to allocate funds from the inner treasury to repair and expand the Wenyuan Pavilion."
When everyone heard what he said about this, they couldn't help but nodded.
Liu Ji even added: "Your Majesty has a benevolent heart and never forgets to be considerate to your servants. It really makes me admire these servants!"
Wenyuan Pavilion was built in the Yongle period. It was originally used to store books. Later, an additional function was added, and it became a secret place for cabinet officials to work on duty.
Today, with the increasing power of the cabinet, the Wenyuan Pavilion is still the small Wenyuan Pavilion. There are now seven members of the cabinet, Wan An, Liu Ji, Peng Hua, Yin Zhi, Liu Jian, Xu Pu, and Tang Fan. In addition to the first assistant's single duty room, the rest of the people, including the second assistant Liu Ji, can only have two people.
Outsiders only know the beauty of Saisuke, but they don't know the bitterness of Saisuke. If they can take a look at the duty room of Wenyuan Pavilion, they will probably be stunned.
So the emperor's words really touched the hearts of everyone.
Who wouldn't want to change to a more spacious duty room? Everyone's eyes lit up, waiting for Wan An's next words.
Wan An intentionally paused for a moment, waiting for everyone to digest this sentence before continuing: "But now everything has to use money, and the internal treasury is not rich, we are courtiers, and we should share our worries and solve problems for Your Majesty, not To make things worse, I asked Your Majesty to allocate money from the treasury instead of the internal treasury for repairs."
Everyone: "… "
See, that's one of the reasons Wanan is so annoying.
If the money in the inner treasury is separated from the treasury, the emperor can use the inner treasury at will, but if he wants to use the money in the treasury, it must be approved by the court.
Daming treasury has a certain amount of money every year, which should be allocated to the Ministry of War for funding, and which should be kept for disaster relief. After distribution, there is not much left. It is basically impossible to spend more money to repair Wenyuan Pavilion. .
Although the Wenyuan Pavilion is inhabited by ministers, in the final analysis it is still a building in the palace, and it should be repaired with the money from the inner treasury, but the emperors of all dynasties rarely mention this. , but was rejected by Wan An.
You said it doesn't matter if you want to please the emperor, but you have to pull everyone into the water and refuse this rare benefit. Can you not be hated
The most depressing thing is that everyone can't raise objections yet, and you have to say that Wan Shoufu is good at rejecting it, because there has never been a courtier who forced the emperor to pay for repairing his office space.
Therefore, everyone looked strange, but they were speechless, with mixed feelings in their hearts, and they didn't know how many times they had greeted Wan An.
Wan An looked around: "Why, do you think it's wrong?"
He was waiting for someone who couldn't help but jump out and say something was wrong, and then he could label the other person as unfaithful and sue him in front of the emperor by the way.
However, it is a pity that everyone present is more calm than the other, no matter how uncomfortable it is to live in a cramped room on duty, they are determined not to stand out.
Liu Ji even said with a smile: "What Yuan Weng said, we should be ministers to share the worries of Your Majesty. How can you cause trouble to Your Majesty? I wonder what the second thing you want to say is?"
Wan An coughed lightly: "This second matter is also related to money. Your Majesty wants to rebuild the Chongzhen Longevity Palace."
This Chongzhen Longevity Palace is actually a Taoist temple. It was as famous as the Baiyun Temple in the Yuan Dynasty, but now only Baiyun Temple remains. pasture below.
However, the emperor wanted to rebuild on a whim, and there was a reason for it. Everyone present did not need to ask, and the encouragement of Li Zixing and others must be indispensable.
Since the emperor was in poor health, he has become more and more obsessed with the art, and this is not a matter of a day or two.
What's good for the top, what's better for the bottom, people like Li Zisheng and Zhao Yuzhi have been reused because of this, and they have even been placed in important positions like the Secretary of General Affairs and Political Affairs.
Today, among the cabinet, there are not a few people who collude with him. The reason why Peng Hua can sit here is because he got to know Wan'an through his acquaintance with Li Zisheng.
Liu Ji asked, "Dare to ask Yuan Weng, why have I never heard His Majesty say this?"
Wan An said, "I only heard His Majesty mention this when I entered the palace yesterday."
Liu Ji smiled and said: "How to use the money from the inner treasury is naturally up to Your Majesty to decide. If His Majesty wants to use this money to repair the Chongzhen Longevity Palace, we cannot stop us as ministers. Should I talk about this?"
Wan An secretly scolded the pretentious old fox, with a calm expression on his face: "Your Majesty means that rebuilding the Chongzhen Longevity Palace is not an easy task, it must be a big project, and the money in the internal treasury may not be enough, so I would like to ask you what you mean. Yuzhi, you are in charge of the Household Department. As you see it, how should we reply to His Majesty?"
To put it bluntly, the emperor wanted to use the money from the treasury to cultivate Taoism, but he was too embarrassed to open his mouth, so he asked Wan An to ask the cabinet for advice.
As soon as Wan An said it, everyone looked at Liu Ji.
Liu Ji didn't want to agree, because he was paying more and more attention to his own reputation. If he nodded and asked the emperor to take money from the Ministry of Household to practice Taoism, his cabinet minister in charge of the Ministry of Household would be scolded to death by the officials. If you do not agree, you will offend the emperor.
Thinking of this, he smiled and said: "Although I am in charge of the household department, but this matter is very important, but it is not me who can make the final decision. It has to be decided by Yuan Weng and everyone."
Wan An was very dissatisfied with his evasive attitude of practicing Tai Chi: "How much silver does the treasury have at the moment?"
Liu Ji said: "Less than a million."
Wan An said: "That's not too little. Since his enthronement, His Majesty has been frugal everywhere, and he has never done anything to hurt the people and money. Now it is rare to want to rebuild a palace, this is not a big deal, can't we allocate 500,000 taels? ?"
Liu Ji smiled bitterly: "Your Majesty's business is the subject's business. If Chongzhen Longevity Palace can be rebuilt with 500,000 taels, how can I not agree? But Haojiao Yuanweng knows that the money was already ordered by the Ministry of War. I said that I want to buy winter clothes for the garrison in the north, but I can't be the master!"
Liu Jian, who was in charge of the military department, heard the words and said: "Yes, there is indeed this matter, Yuan Weng, the 500,000 taels were agreed with Liu Gong half a year ago."
Wan An did not speak with a sullen face, and finally Peng Hua said: "Yuan Weng, why don't you let everyone go back and think about it, and then discuss it tomorrow?"
After being refuted by Liu Ji and Liu Jian one after another, Wan An was very unhappy. He glanced at the crowd, left the sentence "Then let the meeting go", and walked away angrily.
This kind of meeting is neither efficient nor meaningful, but Tang Fan respected the last seat, and was in charge of the most unspeakable punishment department. Under normal circumstances, it would not be his turn to express any opinions. Seeing everyone left, He also packed up his things and walked out after Liu Jian.
After leaving the palace gate, Liu Jian took the first step. Seeing that it was rare for Tang Fan to leave early today, he wanted to go around to the wonton stand he frequented to buy some scallion pancakes and go home. He heard someone calling to stop him just after walking a few steps.
"Old Tang Ge!"
Tang Fan looked back and saw that it was Wei Mao.
"Old Tang Ge!" Wei Mao hurried over a few steps.
Tang Fan said with a smile: "I said Lao Wei, it's okay for others to call Tang Ge Lao, whatever you follow, I'm embarrassed to say yes to you!"
Wei Mao also laughed: "That's the way to show respect. To tell you the truth, the villain came under the order of Duke Wang. Duke Wang said that he would invite you to eat the dishes from Xianyun Restaurant in the evening, and asked you not to leave after you leave your job. , go directly to Xianyun Pavilion to wait for him."
In a different day, Tang Fan's eyes were sure to shine, but at this time he smiled and said, "I'm sorry, I have to go back to eat tonight, otherwise the family He Dongshi will get angry and I will kneel on the washboard. of!"
Wei Mao was stunned for a moment, thinking that you are not married again, where did He Dongshi come from, and then he thought about it, and couldn't help but be speechless.
But before he could react, Tang Fan turned around in the sedan chair and left.