In the imperial palace in the capital, Emperor Hongzhi is reviewing a mountain of inscriptions and memorials. As an emperor, he enjoys the most supreme honor in the world, but he also bears a burden that ordinary people cannot bear.
Not to mention anything else, the number of memorials that Emperor Hongzhi reviewed every day was at least several hundred, sometimes thousands. Emperor Hongzhi got up early every day to prepare for the morning court. After the morning court, he would keep important ministers to continue the meeting.
, discuss state affairs.
In the afternoon, Emperor Hongzhi would hold a late court meeting and once again convene ministers to discuss national affairs. In the evening, he would review various memorials. Many times at the end of the day, he would have very little rest time.
Although he is only in his 30s, which will be the golden age for being able to do sex seven times a night in later generations, the current Emperor Hongzhi is already showing signs of aging. In addition, due to his poor health since childhood, Emperor Hongzhi looks like he is in his fifties.
people.
Emperor Hongzhi rubbed his eyes. His shortsightedness was already quite severe due to his long-term workload. He often had to look very close to read memorials, which made his eyes very tired.
"Your Majesty, it's time for you to take a rest."
Xiao Jing, who was always at the side of Emperor Hongzhi, also came over to remind him in a low voice.
"Hey, there are so many memorials that I haven't read yet. I'm going to take a rest here. What I might be delaying is a major event that affects the people of this area."
After hearing this, Emperor Hongzhi sighed and shook his head. He also wanted to rest, but when he thought of the responsibilities on his shoulders, he steeled himself and continued to read the memorial.
"Your Majesty, why don't you let me read it to you?"
Xiao Jing looked at Emperor Hongzhi. He had served Emperor Hongzhi for many years. He had to admit that he was a qualified and good emperor. He was diligent and caring for the people, thrifty, frivolous and meritocratic. All the words used to describe him could not be overstated.
.
"It's okay~ My eyes are getting blurry."
Emperor Hongzhi closed his eyes and nodded. Then he suddenly thought of a magnifying glass, a magical thing that can magnify objects. Thinking of a magnifying glass, he thought of clairvoyance, and immediately asked: "There is no Bianzhen these days.
Any news?"
"To reply to Your Majesty, I have not received any news from the border town in the past few days."
Xiao Jing was the personal secretary of Emperor Hongzhi. Memorials from all over the country basically passed through his hands for classification and sorting. Important things and matters that the emperor cared about were naturally placed at the top and in the most conspicuous place, so he was very
Clearly understand the memorials from various places.
"No news yet?"
Emperor Hongzhi frowned slightly, then stood up and went to the window, and ordered someone to open the window. Suddenly a sharp cold wind blew in, making Emperor Hongzhi shiver.
Emperor Hongzhi looked outside. The sky was gloomy, very depressing, and very cold. The cold wind was howling, and when it blew on his face, it hurt like a knife.
"It's snowing again~"
Soon, it started to snow in the groggy sky. At first it was just a little bit of millet snow, but it soon turned into heavy snow. In an instant, the sky and the earth turned into a vast white world.
Emperor Hongzhi's vision was gradually shrouded in white, becoming blurry and monotonous. Looking at the heavy snow in front of him, Emperor Hongzhi had no mood to recite poems and lyrics, and his mood became heavier.
He knew that the heavier the snow fell and the colder the weather, the harder it would be for his people. More importantly, his neighbors in the north would definitely not be content and would inevitably move south frequently. There has been no news yet.
This made him very worried.
"Your Majesty, Cabinet Scholars Liu Jian, Xie Qian, Li Dongyang, Minister of Household Affairs Zhou Jing, and Minister of War Ma Wensheng are already waiting outside the palace."
Just when Emperor Hongzhi was staring at the heavy snow outside in a daze, someone from the Xiaohuangmen came in to report.
"Xuan~"
Emperor Hongzhi came to his senses and said immediately.
Soon, Liu Jian, Xie Qian, Li Dongyang, Zhou Jing, and Ma Wensheng arrived at the warm pavilion of Emperor Hongzhi. Emperor Hongzhi also asked people to sit down and serve hot tea.
"Your Majesty, I wonder if there is any news from the border town recently?"
A few people drank a cup of tea to warm themselves up, and Zhou Jing was the first to ask.
"No~"
Emperor Hongzhi looked at Zhou Jing and said.
"Your Majesty, the matter of the border town is a major military and state matter. Since ancient times, soldiers have lived and died, and the way of survival and death cannot be trivial. But that day, Your Majesty insisted that I spend 20,000 taels of silver to buy the so-called clairvoyance."
"Almost a month has passed, but no relevant news has come. It can be seen that the 20,000 silver was wasted."
"The national treasury is already empty, and there are many places across the country that need money. If these 20,000 taels of silver are used wisely, I will naturally not have any complaints. But now, there is not even a sound."
Zhou Jing mentioned the matter of clairvoyance as soon as he came, talking about 20,000 taels of silver. At the same time, he had an extremely angry look on his face. He almost spit at Emperor Hongzhi. He said everything in his words that Emperor Hongzhi used it indiscriminately.
How can treasury funds be used to buy clairvoyance?
This was also a common phenomenon in the Hongzhi Dynasty. Emperor Hongzhi was a good old man, good-tempered, and very kind. These ministers had already figured out Emperor Hongzhi's character clearly.
Therefore, when it comes to some major matters, these courtiers are all justified, and they are not afraid of offending Emperor Hongzhi at all. Sometimes they even scold the emperor in front of him like Zhou Jing did, especially when they feel that they are justified.
He has an air of being unreasonable and unforgiving.
Hearing Zhou Jing's words, Emperor Hongzhi's face suddenly turned ugly. This Zhou Jing had already scolded himself bloody last time, and now he comes again. It seems that he is the only one who cares about this country and himself.
Just like a prodigal son.
"Master Zhou, it's only been a month. Isn't it too early to say it's useless?"
Liu Jian looked at Zhou Jing, then at Emperor Hongzhi, thought for a while and said.
This purchase of clairvoyance was not only agreed by Emperor Hongzhi, but also by him, Xie Qian, and Li Dongyang, the three cabinet ministers. They had been talking about it over and over again this week, which made the three of them look bad.
"It's too early to tell?"
"I think it's getting late. It's been more than a month. If this clairvoyance is really useful, there should be good news already."
"With 20,000 taels of silver, it can buy 60,000 shi of grain and more than 100,000 pieces of cloth, but it only buys 2,000 so-called clairvoyances that have no effect. This money is really not worth it."
"Your Majesty, this money must come from Your Majesty's internal funds no matter what. The money from the treasury must be used for national affairs. To spend it on such children's toys is to disgrace the people of the world."
Zhou Jing, however, shook his head and objected. After much hesitation, he finally asked Emperor Hongzhi to come up with the money from his internal funds.
