On the sixteenth day of the first lunar month of the eleventh year of Hongde, the court, which had been suspended for more than half a month, began to recover again.
On this morning, a large court meeting will be held as usual, and all officials of fifth rank and above in Beijing will be present.
Mr. Shen is naturally no exception.
Early in the morning, before dawn, the maid Lian'er tiptoed to Shen Yi's bedside, gently pushed Shen Yi's arm, and said cautiously: "Master, it's five o'clock, it's time."
…”
Lian'er was Lu Ruoxi's personal maid. After Lu Ruoxi got married, except for taking care of the children, she had been living in the same house with Shen Yi and his wife, but she slept on a small bed most of the time.
Because Shen Yi was going to court, Lian'er asked Lian'er to wake him up early the night before.
Lian'er rarely gets up so early. After all, Shen Yi and his wife usually don't get up early.
In order to prevent Shen Yi from being late, Lian'er barely slept all night. After hearing the sound of the clock outside, she immediately came to Master Shen's bedside to wake him up.
Shen Yi, who was sleeping soundly, opened his eyes in confusion. Because it was not yet dawn outside, Master Shen became a little angry and said angrily: "What time is it..."
Lian'er had a bad temper when she was with Lu Ruoxi, but now that she's married, and Shen Yi's career has been going smoothly in recent years, she didn't dare to be as presumptuous as before. After hearing this, she lowered her head aggrievedly and spoke.
Said: "Young Master, you asked me to call you..."
"You said you were going to morning service today..."
Shen Yi finally woke up at this moment. He rubbed his eyes and was about to speak. Lu Ruoxi, who was sleeping next to him, also yawned and stood up. She glanced at Lian'er and said softly: "Go and prepare food for the young master. I
Come and help him get up."
Lian'er responded, put on her coat, and went out to prepare breakfast for Shen Yi.
Lu Ruoxi put on a coat, and then found all the inner clothes and official uniforms that Shen Yi would wear. Then she looked at her sleepy husband and couldn't help but smile: "Husband is so sleepy, I will have a court meeting every five days from now on."
, there is a court meeting every ten days, but you will suffer a lot."
Mr. Shen yawned and reluctantly left the bed, his eyes bleary.
“I don’t know who created the rules.”
Mr. Shen complained quite a bit: "In the morning and in the evening, I changed it to Chen time to go to court."
The beginning of Chenshi is seven o'clock in another world, and the time of Chenshi is exactly eight o'clock.
And Da Chen's current rule is that when the imperial court meets, it is almost Mao Shizheng when entering Deqing Palace.
too early.
Even if it is a morning meeting, it is also the beginning of the morning, which is really painful for people like Shen Yi who are eager to get out of bed.
Lu Ruoxi found it a little funny and said softly: "Why are you so childish, husband? There are so many ministers, but I have never heard of anyone wanting to change the time of the court meeting because they are unwilling to get up early."
"They are just pretending."
Mr. Shen hummed while putting on his clothes: "It's such a winter, I don't believe they don't want to sleep in bed for a while."
Lu Ruoxi smiled and did not answer, but carefully helped Shen Yi get dressed.
After putting on the inner clothes, Lu Ruoxi took out a crimson official uniform and carefully helped Shen Yi put it on. After the clothes were put on, Lu Ruoxi took two steps back and looked her husband up and down.
With a smile on his face: "My husband is dressed in a uniform that looks much more heroic than the fifth-grade official uniform he wore before."
The official uniforms of the fifth to seventh ranks are cyan.
The fourth grade to the first grade are crimson official uniforms, but the patches on the official uniforms are slightly different.
Shen Yi is currently a fourth-grade official, and a fifth-grade official, and can be regarded as a highly qualified military doctor.
Shen Yi also looked at his outfit in the bronze mirror, and then yawned loudly: "It looks better than before."
Lu Ruoxi stepped forward and helped him straighten his collar, her voice gentle.
"My Qilang is now also a distinguished nobleman."
Shen Yi smiled slightly: "But he doesn't have an extra eye or an arm compared to ordinary people."
Lu Ruoxi gave Shen Yi an angry look.
"I wish I had an extra eye."
"Isn't that scary to death?"
…………
In the early morning, when the first ray of light shone on the palace gate, the gate of Deqing Palace slowly opened.
Following the great eunuch Gao Ming's loud singing, hundreds of civil and military officials filed in.
Mr. Shen yawned as he followed the queue of civil servants and walked into Deqing Palace.
Although this was not his first time to go to court, it was his first time to go to court in an actual capacity, and he was still somewhat excited.
After entering the main hall, Shen Yi consciously stood in the position of the Ministry of War, standing with the other three doctors of the Ministry of War.
However, it is worth mentioning that the other three people, who are also doctors in the Ministry of War, are all wearing fifth-grade green robes. Only Shen Yi himself is wearing a fourth-grade red robe, which looks particularly conspicuous.
From this perspective alone, Mr. Shen is really the fourth in command of the Ministry of War.
Soon, His Majesty the Emperor arrived at the main hall, and the civil and military officials shouted long live. After a series of procedures were completed, the formal discussion process began.
It was the first court meeting in the new year, and the court had been suspended for more than half a month, so there were naturally a lot of things going on.
In addition to the issue of expenditures in the Ministry of Revenue, basically every other yamen has reported this chapter.
Each government office had finished its round of performance, and it was already noon.
Although Mr. Shen has been fishing and basically said nothing during the whole process, he has been standing here for most of the day without water and rice, and he has not slept well, so he is now a little drowsy.
Fortunately, he was standing relatively close to a pillar. When he really couldn't bear the sleepiness, he leaned against the pillar and squinted for a while.
Near noon, Zhao Changping, the Minister of Household Affairs, began the second round of memorials.
After all, the God of Wealth in the imperial court had been in officialdom for decades. Although he had spent a whole morning here, he still looked very energetic. He stepped forward with the imperial wat in hand, bowed to the emperor and said: "Your Majesty
In the ninth year of Hongde and the tenth year of Hongde, the imperial court established five new shipping departments in the southeast to clarify the commercial taxes in and out of the coast..."
"I heard that these shipping companies have already made some progress."
The Minister of the Ministry of Revenue bowed his head slightly and said: "According to the rules of the imperial court, all levels of Dachen, including land tax, Ding tax, commercial tax and passing taxes, are collected by the Ministry of Household and deposited into the national treasury. If there is any withdrawal, it will be withdrawn.
Called from the treasury.”
Zhao Shangshu lowered his head slightly and said: "Your Majesty, is this city's shipping company's commercial tax..."
After a pause, he continued: "Should it also be put into the national treasury to replenish the national treasury..."
His Majesty the Emperor, who was sitting there for most of the day, was already a little tired. After hearing Zhao Changping's words, His Majesty the Emperor became much more energetic and even subconsciously frowned.
He glanced at Zhao Changping and said in a somewhat unhappy tone: "Zhao Qing, we are establishing a shipping department in the southeast, but your household department has not sent anyone there."
Zhao Changping lowered his head slightly and said calmly: "That's because Your Majesty has not transferred the officials from the Ministry of Household Affairs, otherwise everyone in the Ministry of Household Affairs will die without hesitation..."
The emperor frowned again and asked: "I remember clearly that when your Ministry of Revenue reported just now, it was said that the national treasury still had more than two million taels of silver that had not been used up last year, and the granaries in various places were mostly full. Since the money and grain are enough
,Why is Zhao Qing asking me for money?"
Zhao Shangshu lowered his head slightly, and his tone was neither urgent nor slow.
"Back to Your Majesty, there was a surplus of silver in the treasury last year and a surplus of grain in the granary. It was saved by the ministers and the officials of the Ministry of Household Affairs, one coin at a time. If the treasury has additional income, it can be spent in another way..."
"For example, if the national treasury is rich and the dozen or so mansions in Hongde were hit by disasters in ten years, His Majesty can be kind and exempt them from tax for three years..."
"There are still some river embankments that are in disrepair. The Ministry of Industry has reported them for several years, but they have not been repaired. If the national treasury is sufficient, many river embankments can be repaired this year."
Zhao Shangshu bowed his head deeply and said: "Your Majesty, there are many places where the Ministry of Revenue needs money."
At this point, Zhao Changping seemed to realize that something was wrong with his words. He paused and continued.
"If there is a need in the palace, your majesty will order it, and the Ministry of Revenue will naturally do it..."
His Majesty the Emperor's face is indeed a bit unsightly.
After all, no emperor could withstand the moral kidnapping of these civil servants.
He was upset, then looked at the sky outside and waved his hand: "Okay, it's already noon. Today's discussion will be here for now. The palace is in charge of food today. After all the ministers have eaten, let's discuss it again.
Let’s continue the discussion here.”
After saying this, the emperor waved his hand without waiting for the officials to respond: "Gao Ming, prepare meals for all your beloved ministers and let them eat in this palace."
Eunuch Gao responded quickly.
The emperor stood up directly and returned to the apse.
As soon as the emperor left, the hall was like a private school without his husband. It immediately became chaotic. All the ministers gathered together in twos and threes and made a lot of noise.
Eunuch Gao Ming, on the other hand, passed through the crowd and found Shen Yi, who was dozing off against a pillar. Eunuch Gao patted Shen Yi on the shoulder, woke up Mr. Shen, and then coughed: "Mr. Shen, Your Majesty has called you to speak.
"
Shen Yi woke up from a dream.
"ah?"
He looked around and was speechless: "Your Majesty is looking for me?"
"yes."
Eunuch Gao nodded and said, "It's in the back hall. Mr. Shen is coming with us."
Shen Yi had no choice but to follow Gao Ming all the way to the back hall of Deqing Palace, where he saw the sulking Emperor.
The emperor glanced and saw Shen Yi coming in. Before Shen Yi could speak, he snorted: "Well, Shen Qi, I'm talking from above, and you sleep below!"
Mr. Shen was stunned and shook his head quickly: "Your Majesty, I am not sleeping..."
The emperor sneered.
"I am from a high place and can see everything clearly!"
After saying this, the emperor looked at Shen Yi, lowered his voice and gritted his teeth: "What's going on with your uncle!"
Shen Yi scratched his head.
"Your Majesty, my uncle has always acted impartially and uprightly..."
"I don't care."
The emperor was a little angry.
"We will discuss the matter in the afternoon, you..."