Since the Qin and Han Dynasties, the Great Wall has been an important barrier to resist the nomads in the north. It has been repaired and expanded many times in the past dynasties, and it has been regarded as the first priority in national defense.
The Chongzhen Dynasty was in turmoil due to internal and external troubles, and wars broke out many times on the Great Wall. It had fallen into disrepair and was in devastation due to war damage. Especially the Tatars would open a hole every time they entered the pass. The court had only patched it up for many years.
, unable to make major repairs or overhauls.
Now that the imperial court had just calmed down from the turmoil, someone proposed to overhaul the damaged gates. Many people in the imperial court agreed, and it could even be said that they all agreed. However, the imperial court did not have the money.
So there was endless debate, and they felt that the courtyard wall had to be repaired even if they were selling iron. Otherwise, they would feel uneasy, and thieves could take advantage of it at any time. The other group of people thought that the implementation could be delayed. After all, various natural and man-made disasters have not been eliminated, and the court still needs to
A lot of money for disaster relief.
There were also different opinions within the cabinet, and even the emperor was hesitant.
Fan Jingwen is the minister of the Ministry of Industry. If the court decides on this matter, it will be supervised by the Ministry of Industry. He himself also voted in favor, but it hindered other objections. They have been arguing about this for a long time. Chang Yu suddenly wanted to ask for no reason.
In a word, it was mainly because he had a good personal relationship with Chang Yu. The people who had the best relationship with Chang Yu in the cabinet were Shi Kefa, Ni Yuanlu, and then him.
That's right, Shi Kefa was not only the Minister of the Ministry of War at this time, but also the Grand Scholar of Jianji Palace, that is, one of the cabinet elders. Historically, he was promoted from the Southern Ming Dynasty as a Grand Scholar. At this time, he was just ahead of schedule and directly filled the vacancy when he was the Minister of the Ministry of War.
Why is it said to be filling a vacancy? Because originally Wei Dezao, Chen Yan and others were also bachelors, but after they stepped down, they died in a mysterious manner...
Now that he has stepped down, someone has to fill the gap.
Fan Jingwen and Shi Kefa both support the overhaul of the Great Wall pass. Selling iron will not let the wind leak through the courtyard wall. Moreover, they both feel that Chang Yu will definitely support it. After all, he is also a member of the military and has always regarded protecting his family and country as his own responsibility.
He personally inspected Jiubian, and after the Tatars entered the pass through Gubeikou last time, Wang Yongji, the former governor of Jiliao, resigned and raised funds to repair the destroyed pass to atone for his sins. It is said that it was his idea.
Perhaps he felt that with the great eunuch's current status and power, his opinions could influence the direction, so Fan Jingwen asked this seemingly casual question.
Chang Yu was caught off guard by the question, but since he asked, he just said a few words and coughed lightly: "If you have money, you can repair it, if you don't have money, don't repair it."
Well, this is...
Everyone was stunned. Isn't this nonsense? If they had money on hand, would there still be disagreements?
But Chang Yu is not stupid. Could he be meddling in this kind of thing? If he says he won’t cultivate, some people will criticize him for saying that national defense is such a trivial matter. If he says he should cultivate it, some people will say, “Well, you’re here to make money.”
It's obviously a matter for your cabinet, why do you have to blame it on me?
He didn't want to interfere, but Emperor Chongzhen's face looked a little ugly. It was obvious that he was dissatisfied with Chang Yu's desire to stay out of the conflict.
Chang Yu had no choice but to continue: "Money must be spent wisely, and people's livelihood should be the main priority. Now the national treasury is not rich, and the overhaul will cost millions. It will waste money and people, but it will not help..."
Before he could finish his words, Fan Jingwen interrupted him: "Borders are very important and are the foundation of national defense. How can Eunuch Chang say that repairing them will not help."
Chang Yu smiled bitterly and said: "Over the past thousands of years, there have been countless tinkerings, but have they ever really been able to stop the Northerners' cavalry? Let's not talk about the previous dynasties, let's talk about this dynasty. How many times have the Tatars come and go?
, the Great Wall is dead, but people are alive!”
As soon as these words were said, the pot was boiling!
Regardless of whether those who originally agreed or opposed the overhaul, all firepower was directed at Chang Yu. This was no longer a question of whether to repair or not, but a question of whether the Great Wall was necessary.
That was really vomiting and the crowd was angry.
But Chang Yu's psychological quality is not comparable to that of ordinary people. He sat firmly on the fishing table without changing his expression and his heart skipped a beat, letting them flip through and bombard them randomly. He even felt a little bored and secretly opened the note in his hand. There was a line on it: "I read it yesterday."
I wrote a poem, it’s very good, I’ll copy it for you to read. One mountain, two mountains. The mountains are far away, the sky is high, the smoke is cold, the water is cold, I miss the red maple leaves.
The chrysanthemums are blooming, but the chrysanthemums are withered. The wild geese are flying high and the people have not returned, but the wind and the moon are idle behind the curtain."
It turned out to be a song called "Sauvignon Blanc, a Mountain" by Li Yu of the Southern Tang Dynasty.
Chang Yu smiled.
No one could have imagined that under the emperor's eyes and under the fire of all the ministers, the eunuch was actually reading the love letter sent to him by Princess Kunxing of the dynasty.
"Eunuch Chang, what are you laughing at?" Wu Sheng's implicitly angry words brought Chang Yu back to reality. He secretly stuffed the note into his sleeve and straightened his expression: "We are laughing at the ridiculousness of you adults."
There was suddenly silence in the hall.
Chang Yu stood up and sighed: "The ancestral rules of this dynasty state that eunuchs are not allowed to interfere in politics. Whether the Great Wall is repaired or not is your business. It has nothing to do with our family. Master Fan asked, and our family replied, "You
If you don't ask, our family won't even fart. Since you all just listen to it happily, how can you get angry and make arrangements for our family?"
Quiet, quiet.
Chang Yu looked around at everyone and smiled coldly and said: "If people are not good enough, it will be useless no matter how high the wall is built, so use the money in the treasury to improve people's livelihood. As for building the city wall, hey, from our perspective, it is not as good as
Let’s repair the imperial city first, it’s already in such a dilapidated state, it looks much shabby compared to some adults’ mansions, what’s the point of such a royal face!”
This is a big deal again.
"Since we know that the national treasury is empty, it is said that money is used wisely, and national defense is not as important as the royal face?" Another person started to get angry.
Chang Yu smiled faintly: "The renovation of the imperial city was done with internal funds, not a penny from the treasury. How about using your own money to decorate your face and make people and gods angry?"
The ministers looked at each other in silence, and the hall was completely silent again.
The prince who was listening secretly clenched his fists to relieve his anger.
Emperor Chongzhen picked up the tea cup with a smile on his face, awesome!
Because what Chang Yu said was true to his heart, in fact, he had wanted to repair and renovate the imperial city for a long time. A few years ago, he didn't dare to do it if he had no money, otherwise he would be scolded by the cabinet. This year, he is ready to take action, but he is still a little timid.
Now it’s okay, Chang Yu will move out directly!
"As for the matter of building the Great Wall, it belongs to the government. We are not allowed to lie. But since you have asked, we will talk to ourselves. It is not an opinion or a suggestion. Don't take it seriously. Just listen. Between
The current situation and capabilities of our family do not support the construction at this time. Our purpose of leaving the border this time is to entangle the Tatars so that they cannot distract themselves from the harassment. Therefore, there will be no worries at the border for a year and a half. You adults can also take advantage of this opportunity.
During this period, we will raise funds for repairs by ourselves. Yes, our family does not recommend using the national treasury, but rather raises donations. We do not agree with recruiting people to work for them. We can use the border troops to train themselves and increase their pay to encourage them."
Chang Yu said in one breath what he wanted to do, which was to raise money, then increase the wages of the border soldiers and let them repair it by themselves.
Then he turned to Chongzhen and said: "Your Majesty, I am involved in military affairs, so please retire first."
He didn't like this occasion at all, and he was even more anxious to leave without making any comments. Emperor Chongzhen hummed and was filled with joy. This guy really knew how to save money and trouble. This was a good idea. We could have a good chat later and said, "I'll give it to you."
"As he stood up, Chang Yu declined politely and bowed to thank him.
As soon as the ministers saw the emperor, they all stood up to see him off. It was not shameful to sit alone. They all got up and followed Chongzhen out of their thoughts.
After leaving the room, Chang Yu deliberately looked back at the oracle on the door and smiled. Everyone followed his gaze and looked at him with different expressions.
"It's bitterly cold outside the Pass, please wear more clothes to keep warm, and come back safely." Emperor Chongzhen patted Chang Yu on the shoulder. Whether it was a show or from the bottom of his heart, in front of the ministers, he was already quite arrogant.
"I am in very good health, and I am not afraid of the cold!" Chang Yu smiled, bowed to leave, suddenly stopped after walking a few steps, looked up at the sky, and said loudly: "The mountains are one step away, the water is one step away, and the body is like an elm pass.
Walking by that side, it’s late at night, the lights of thousands of tents are changing, the wind is changing, the snow is changing, it breaks the heart of my hometown, my dream cannot come true, there is no such sound in my hometown.”
It exploded again, and all the ministers behind him, including the emperor and the prince, were stunned.
This is a long love song.
The first part talks about marching out of the Pass and staying overnight, and the second half talks about the homesickness outside the Pass...
This momentum and artistic conception make people feel like they are in the scene.
This eunuch... was said to be unparalleled in both fists and feet, and his literary talent was said to be unrivaled in the Tang and Song dynasties in Beijing. He had several amazing songs that were circulated, and even the majestic military song was written by him.
During that time, the literary world was in a state of shock. Some were amazed, while others were skeptical.
While everyone was talking about it, the eunuch paid no attention to it and went off to fight in the north and south.
Now, on the occasion of parting, he blurted out something that surprised all the cabinet ministers, but they couldn't help but clapped their hands and applauded. Those who can enter the palace, who are not rich in education, who are not leaders in the literary world, are all experienced in the world, that is, because
After seeing the world, I was even more shocked.
This poem was definitely not written by predecessors. If it had been written by predecessors, it would have become famous all over the world.
"Eunuch Chang, this poem..." Chief Assistant Li Banghua was trembling a little.
Chang Yu turned around and smiled calmly: "I expressed my feelings before leaving, which will make you laugh."
"Articles are made by nature, but they come by chance." Even Wu Sheng sighed from the bottom of his heart: "Eunuch Chang, what a wonderful Sauvignon Blanc!"
"Let's just call it Shan Yi Cheng." Chang Yu sighed, bowed to everyone and turned around to leave!
The emperor, prince, and ministers were left swaying in the autumn wind with emotion, envy, jealousy, and speechlessness...
This boy is really a genius. Li Banghua sighed, "It's a pity, it's a pity." Then he sighed, "Fortunately, fortunately."
Chang Yu, who was moved by emotion, has already left the palace. Yes, this guy stole something from Nalan Xingde again. By coincidence, it happened to be a Sauvignon Blanc poem card, which was also a feeling of longing. It happened to match Li Yu's song.
But the reason for showing off in public is, firstly, to show off in front of the ministers, and secondly, to convey it to Princess Kunxing. Hey, as soon as this poem appeared, it still plucked the heartstrings of the princess who was just in love.
Swinging from side to side.
What's more, conveying it in front of the emperor and all the cabinet ministers was simply... so exciting!