Shi Kefa, the chief minister of the cabinet, was so angry that he reported illness at home.
The person currently presiding over the cabinet work is Takahiro Takato, the second assistant.
That morning, Gao Hongtu summoned Zuo Guangxian, the censor of Zuoqiandu, to his duty room.
"The lower official Zuo Guangxian, please see the second assistant." Zuo Guangxian bowed to the ground respectfully.
Zuo Guangxian was able to advance six levels in a row from the seventh rank of the thirteenth-rank censor, to the fourth rank of Zuoqiandu censor, all because of the strong recommendation of his second assistant, Gao Hongtu.
Because of this, he almost turned against Shi Kefa.
So Zuo Guangxian was also grateful to Gao Hongtu.
This time Gao Hongtu asked Zuo Guang to find fault with Ma Mingluan first, and Zuo Guangxian also worked very hard.
"Get up." Gao Hongtu asked without raising his head as he continued to write the draft, "How did you check the accounts of the Ministry of Internal Affairs? Did you find any errors?"
Good guy, I dare not listen to Shi Kefa at all.
When Shi Kefa asked the Metropolitan Procuratorate to suspend the investigation of the internal affairs accounts, Zuo Guangxian did not stop at all.
"Second Assistant, we haven't found any errors yet." Zuo Guangxian lowered his voice and said, "But I believe that the accounts of the Ministry of Internal Affairs cannot be without problems, and I don't believe Ma Mingluan's expenditure of several million taels of silver.
You can resist taking a bite out of it, so as long as you keep investigating, you will be able to find out the problem."
The brush in Gao Hongtu's hand couldn't help but pause in the air.
Is this because the problem was not detected? Ma Mingluan really didn’t reach out?
After a while, Gao Hongtu asked again: "Ma Mingluan is fine, but what about the Ministry of Internal Affairs?"
"Ministry of Internal Affairs?" Zuo Guangxian didn't understand what Gao Hongtu meant and was stunned.
Gao Hongtu's face immediately fell, and he said angrily: "There are now more than a hundred people in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. There is no problem with Ma Mingluan, the deputy chief, and there are no problems with the officials below, including Zhang Gu and recording things?"
"With so much money, food and bonds passing through, can everyone be as honest and self-sufficient as Ma Mingluan?"
"Even if everyone is honest and self-responsible, doesn't the Ministry of Internal Affairs have problems with excessive payment of salaries and annual salary?"
After saying this, Gao Hongtu hated the iron and said, "Do you need me to teach you these things?"
"I understand, I understand!" Zuo Guang's eyes lit up first, then he turned around and left.
Before going out, Zuo Guang thought to himself, after all, it was Mr. Ge who had a higher vision and could see further than him. He found the breakthrough point of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in one fell swoop. Ma Mingluo, Ma Mingluo, you can't escape this time.
.
As soon as Zuo Guang walked away, Jie Xuelong stepped into Gao Hongtu's check-in room.
"Mr. Gao Ge," Jie Xuelong asked in a low voice, "Is Zuo Guangxian still investigating the Ministry of Internal Affairs?"
"It turns out it's Mr. Xie Ge." Gao Hongtu put down his writing brush, took off his reading glasses from the bridge of his nose, and sighed, "Since I sit in this position, I have to take on this responsibility. I can't do it without checking."
As the Prime Minister and Assistant of the Cabinet, how could Xie Xuelong fail to hear the overtones of Gao Hongtu?
Although they are cabinet ministers, the entire Ming Dynasty's political power comes from the hands of these four cabinet ministers, but in fact, like people drinking water, they know whether they are warm or cold, and there is also a lot of helplessness hidden under the scenery of the cabinet elders.
The entire officialdom is like a big net, and they are just people in the net.
But there are some things that can be done and some things that cannot be done. There must be some relief, right?
At that moment, Xie Xuelong advised: "Mr. Gaoge, it would be a bit too hasty to act like this."
"What do you mean by that?" Gao Hongtu said with a frown, "We must seize the day to punish corruption and eradicate evil. How can we delay the plan?"
Jie Xuelong didn't know how to answer the question. He wanted to say that the gentry and merchants in Jiangnan were no longer of the same mind, but he was afraid that Gao Hongtu wouldn't listen and would even doubt his position.
Well, the fact is that Jie Xuelong's position has indeed changed.
The entire Jiangnan gentry and merchants are no longer as monolithic as before.
Although the market exchange and bond trading conducted by the Holy Spirit caused many Jin gentry merchants to lose their fortunes, there were also many Jin gentry merchants like their Xie family who made a huge fortune from it.
So now many people recite the blessings of the Holy One.
Because the Holy Spirit can bring more wealth and opportunities.
In the past few days, he has made old friends one after another, and fellow villagers and even classmates came to him to reminisce about old times. His words of support for the Holy Spirit were undisguised and even contained a warning.
Xue Long naturally understands what these people mean.
They had obviously noticed something.
So I hope he, Jie Xuelong, can come forward to stop it.
But looking at Gao Hongtu's attitude, Jie Xuelong knew that talking too much was useless.
Obviously, Gao Hongtu and the group of people behind him have made up their minds. To them, changing the emperor is nothing. Even the country's title can be changed, but their vested interests cannot be touched.
If the Holy One wants to equalize the acres of land, that means digging up their roots, which is absolutely not allowed!
At that moment, Xie Xuelong turned around and exited Gao Hongtu's check-in room.
…
"Master? Master!"
Kang Wanwan was awakened from his deep sleep.
When he got up and looked, he found that it was the old housekeeper Kang Fu.
"Uncle Fu, what's the matter?" Kang Baiwan yawned.
"It's so late at night, and you're not letting anyone sleep?"
The old housekeeper whispered: "Master, Mr. Xie San is here to visit."
"Excuse the Third Young Master?" Kang Wanwan frowned and asked, "Which one will resolve the Third Young Master?"
The old housekeeper continued: "The third young master from Xie Ge's hometown, Xie Xianyou."
"Third Young Master Xie Ge's hometown?" Kang Baiwan was stunned for a moment, thinking to himself that I have no friendship with Xie Ge's hometown. What does Third Young Master Xie Ge want to do with me? Could it be that he wants to buy bonds? But the Jie family didn't lose money either.
By the way, the market has completely turned around.
After the news that Yan Yingyuan killed nearly 10,000 Jiannu in the Battle of Shanyang spread back to Nanjing, those merchants and merchants of the Jin gentry who had been crying and clamoring for the stock exchange to buy back their bonds were filled with regret.
And now they are crying and shouting that they want to redeem the bonds.
But this does not include the Jie family. The Jie family had all been liquidated before the bond price avalanche, and it was said that the blood profit was as much as hundreds of thousands of taels of silver.
The old housekeeper said again: "Master Jie San said that there are urgent matters."
"Is it urgent?" Kang Wanwan suddenly became calm and said, "Please ask Mr. San to wait in the flower hall."
At that moment, Kang Baiwan changed his clothes, washed his face again, and then entered the flower hall through the side door.
I saw a young man in his early twenties sitting and drinking tea.
Seeing Kang Baiwan, the young master quickly stood up and bowed: "I have met my uncle Guo."
"You're welcome." Kang Wanwan replied, "Third Young Master Yin Ye is here to visit. What's the important matter?"
Xie Xianyou glanced at Kang Fu, and Kang Bo consciously exited the flower hall.
Xie Xianyou then said in a low voice: "Uncle Guo, hurry up and find Mr. Shi Ge and ask him to come back to take charge. Go now, otherwise there may be big trouble in the court!"
"What's the big deal?" Kang Wanwan said solemnly.
Xie Xianyou said: "The Metropolitan Procuratorate wants to raid the Ministry of Internal Affairs!"
"What?" Kang Wanwan was startled immediately, "You want to inspect the Ministry of Internal Affairs?"
Kang Wanwan knows better than anyone what it means to raid the Ministry of Internal Affairs, it is to dig up the Holy Emperor's roots!
The food, wages, equipment, gunpowder, lead, cotton armor and other baggage on the Xuzhou front line were all prepared by the Ministry of Internal Affairs from Nanjing, and then hired caravans to continuously transport them to Huai'an Prefecture, and then transferred from Huai'an Prefecture to Xuzhou through the naval fleet.
If the Metropolitan Procuratorate were to raid the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the food, salary and baggage shipments to Xuzhou would be immediately interrupted.
If this is the case, what will the more than one million soldiers and civilians trapped in Xuzhou City as slaves eat and use? It is estimated that there will be no problem for two or three months, but if it exceeds four months, there will be a big problem.
What's worse is that once Jian Nu detects the news, it will be even more troublesome.
This is not to inspect the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but to bury the Holy Emperor, the Ming Dynasty, and the ancestral temple and the state!
Thinking of this, an inexplicable anger surged from Kang Wanwan's chest, and he said angrily: "Do they really dare?"
Hearing this, Xie Xianyou just shook his head, stood up and said, "Uncle Guo, I've already brought you the next message. You'd better go find Mr. Shi Ge quickly. Only Mr. Shi Ge can stop them now."
After a pause, Xie Xianyou said again: "I haven't been here tonight."
Watching Xie Xianyou leave, Kang Wanwan's face fell and he shouted: "Uncle Fu!"
The old butler Kangfu walked in quickly and said respectfully: "Master?"
Kang Baiwan said in a deep voice: "Prepare the car!"
…
At this time, we are at Yanziji Pier.
A batch of bird muskets and squatting tiger cannons just produced by the Ming Dynasty Arsenal are busy being shipped.
This batch of bird cannons totals 1,000 pieces and crouching tiger cannons include 50 pieces, ready to be sent to Huai'an Prefecture.
Also sent to Huai'an were 300 barrels of gunpowder produced by the gunpowder factory and hundreds of thousands of lead pieces.
According to the arsenal's supply plan, this batch of muskets, squatting tiger cannons and gunpowder lead should have been sent to Huai'an Prefecture to be delivered to Xiangyong two months ago, but it was delayed until today.
So Zhan Yangzhi's face looked a little anxious.
"Hurry, move faster." His personal follower Zhan Da saw that Zhan Yangzhi was very anxious, so he also became anxious, and then kept urging the porters on the pier.
"What are everyone doing?"
"Have you not eaten? Do you still want your wages?"
After yelling at the porter, Zhan Da said to Zhan Yangzhi: "Sir, the wind is strong on the riverside, please go back first."
"Leave me alone." Zhan Yangzhi waved his hand and warned, "Ada, this batch of ordnance is related to the safety of Huai'an Mansion. No mistakes are allowed. You must be careful."
"Don't worry, sir." Zhan Da said with a serious face.
"I will definitely deliver the weapons to Shanyang City on time."
While the two were talking, the porter over there finally finished loading the goods.
Zhan Da immediately said: "Master, please come back, I will leave now."
After saying that, Zhan Da immediately took about a hundred guys from Zhan's caravan on board the ship.
Soon, more than a dozen of Zhan's merchant ships left Yanziji Pier and disappeared on the river.
It wasn't until more than a dozen merchant ships were no longer visible that Zhan Yangzhi left the dock with a heavy heart and prepared to return to Zhan's house.
But for some unknown reason, Zhan Yangzhi always felt his right eyelid twitch wildly. Is something bad going to happen? Ordinarily it shouldn't be. Jiannu didn't attack Jiangnan, so what kind of trouble could happen? It's strange.
When I walked to Jinchuan Gate and called the door, I was told by the city gate guard that there was a curfew and I was not allowed to enter the city!
"Curfew?" Zhan Yangzhi was stunned when he heard the words. What's the situation? What's the curfew?
