The weather is getting colder day by day, and Beijing has entered an unbearable severe winter season.
The sky in the capital has been gray all day long since the beginning of winter. People's homes burned charcoal and firewood for heating, and the streets and alleys of the capital were filled with gray smoke. In addition, the Ming Dynasty was not originally gorgeous, and the streets and houses in the capital were not
Basically, the colors are gray and black, so in the severe winter season, the entire capital city presents a chilling and chilling feeling.
The court has been stable for a few months. Since the last major impeachment case, except for the occasional liquidation of dissidents by Liu Jin and others, there has not been much turmoil. Liu Jin also seems to be very cautious in targeting the purges.
For middle- and lower-level officials in the DPRK, this will not cause a big reaction and will not arouse public anger. At the same time, it will demonstrate his authority.
The inner and outer courts have temporarily entered a state of truce, and both sides seem to be keeping a measured distance. For Liu Jin, he wants to consolidate his strength, while for the outer court, he needs to accumulate strength and plan for it slowly.
Of course, it is not without conflicts.
For example, at the end of October, the cabinet, together with the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Household Affairs, discussed the purchase of the best healing drug on the market, First Aid Powder, which involved an annual allocation of up to 500,000 taels of silver.
After the cabinet vote was approved, when it was sent to the inner court for approval by the emperor, Liu Jin put it on hold. The reason was that this was unnecessary military expenditure and there was no need to purchase it.
Li Dongyang and Yang Tinghe naturally refused to give up. It was not that they thought this was a necessary expenditure, but because it was one of the private deals they had reached with Zhang Yanling. If it could not be fulfilled, Zhang Yanling would probably go crazy. In view of this
, two people presented memorials
Arguing with reason is nothing more than saying that the soldiers guarded the border towns and the capital for the Ming Dynasty. There were constant conflicts between the border towns and the Tatars. How many people were injured, disabled and infected every year. There must be good healing drugs to treat the soldiers. This little money cannot
Province, this is a matter of life and death for the soldiers.
Liu Jin did not dare to reject the memorial directly. He just stayed in the inner court without replying and used drag-and-drop tricks to solve the problem. Li Dongyang and Yang Tinghe asked to see Zhu Houzhao several times. Liu Jin arranged the time when Zhu Houzhao was drunk or was in the middle of the night.
When having fun. In this case, things naturally cannot be solved.
Li Dongyang, Yang Tinghe and others understood that if Liu Jin deliberately made things difficult, this matter might not be possible. Only with Liu Jin's consent and through him relaying the matter to Zhu Houzhao could the matter be successful.
So, the two secretly calculated it and informed the Ministry of Revenue to stop allocating a construction fund for the inner court. This amount of up to 400,000 taels was a special amount in addition to the annual palace expenses. It was used for
Constructed the Leopard House and related supporting facilities on Qionghua Island.
At the beginning, after Liu Jin proposed the construction of the Leopard House and other facilities on Qionghua Island, the required silver naturally needed to be allocated from the Ministry of Household Affairs by the outer court. At that time, the impeachment case had just ended with Liu Jin's victory. Liu Jin was at the height of his arrogance.
The outer court barely held on to the situation and was clinging to life. So when Liu Jin proposed to allocate the funds from the Ministry of Household Affairs, neither Li Dongyang nor Yang Tinghe raised any objections.
One hundred thousand taels in the early stage have been allocated to purchase raw materials and supplies. The construction of the Leopard House has also been fully launched. But now, at the critical moment of the project, the foreign court stopped allocating this amount, and the entire project has come to a standstill.
Liu Jin was naturally furious. He had promised Zhu Houzhao that the Leopard House would be completed by the end of the year and that the Emperor would spend the New Year in the Leopard House this year. Zhu Houzhao was looking forward to this.
Liu Jin promised that there would be many interesting things in the Leopard Room, including but not limited to a street market for eating, drinking and entertainment. At that time, she could watch operas and listen to music in the Leopard Room, enjoy fireworks and visit brothels. Watch various sideshows on the streets, and watch palace maids and eunuchs pose.
Selling goods at a stall, you can bargain for the price.
Liu Jin said that when the time comes, people from outside will be invited to enter the palace. The Tofu Xishi from Dongcheng, the top prostitute from Cuiping Tower, Sai Songyu, a famous opera actor in Beijing, etc. will also come to the palace.
That was so much fun.
Now, with such a mix-up in the outer court, wouldn’t everything be in trouble?
After learning about this, Liu Jin led his people to the cabinet office angrily, banging the table and staring. It was a pity that he didn't have a beard, otherwise he would have to blow his beard.
According to insiders, the office of the Chief Minister of the Cabinet was very lively that day. Liu Jin, the eunuch and eunuch in charge of rituals, cursed a lot and smashed several tea cups. However, Li Dongyang, Yang Ting and the other two people in the outer court were unmoved. The new household minister
Shangshu Gu Zuo actually withstood the pressure and refused to let go.
Finally, after the two parties discussed behind closed doors and burned incense, Liu Jin walked out angrily, and before leaving, he kicked over a pot of Gladiolus that was the favorite of Lord Chief Assistant at the door.
The next day, the palace approved the outer court's proposal on purchasing first-aid powder for the military. Soon after, the Ministry of Revenue resumed allocating funds for the inner court's construction. Both parties tacitly completed the deal.
For the foreign court, this was the first test in several months. They caught Liu Jin's weakness and conducted a small confrontation. The result was naturally satisfactory. For Liu Jin, he was naturally more aware of control.
The importance of the outer court. However, the two sides did not go to war because of this, and things quickly returned to calm this time.
Zhang Yanling was naturally very happy when she got the document on purchasing first aid. She took the official document and showed it off in front of Tan Ruqing and Xu Wanyi. Xu Wanyi and Tan Ruqing were naturally happy, but they soon became worried.
Got up.
With the current pharmaceutical capacity, it is impossible to produce 50,000 cans of first-aid powder. If they want to complete the purchase order from the imperial court, Tan Ruqing and Xiaozhu will never have time to rest in the future.
But Zhang Yanling had already thought of countermeasures. He told Tan Ruqing to break down the pharmaceutical process, from purchasing raw materials to final configuration, into more than a dozen steps, and use large-scale separate operations. In this way, there will never be any prescriptions.
Possibility of disclosure of proportions and pharmaceutical preparation methods.
In addition, the other three government governments naturally cannot take advantage of it in vain. Since it is a shareholding, there must be some blood. Zhang Yanling has already discussed with the three government governments that the cost of the site, artificial medicinal materials and other expenses for the new pharmaceutical workshop will be shared in proportion.
.Zhang Yanling even rejected their offer of manpower
Zhu Lin didn't have any other ideas, but the two old foxes Ding Guogong and Ying Gong couldn't be trusted. Who knew if they would take advantage of the opportunity of sending people to steal the pharmaceutical prescriptions and processes. By then, the two people would be
If there is no exchange of information, even if the pharmaceutical process is separated, it may be difficult to prevent leaks.
It's not that Zhang Yanling is being cautious, the pharmacy is currently Zhang Yanling's source of stable and large income. The small amount of income from the manor cannot cover the expenses of the manor.
After this arrangement, the first-aid powder can be produced in large quantities, and the people who purchase the medicine are naturally members of the Zhang family. They only need to inspect and check during the production process. Xiaozhu can do this. Tan Ruqing
Participate in the final production and proportioning stage of each batch of drugs to control the final product. This way it only takes less time.
Hearing what Zhang Yanling said, Tan Ruqing and Xu Wanyi were relieved. In fact, Tan Ruqing didn't mind even if she was a little busier. Her idea was naturally to make the first-aid powder benefit more people. Whether it was
Common people are still soldiers. As a doctor, she naturally hopes that this medicine can solve more illnesses and save more people. Of course, if her husband wants to make money from this medicine, she has no objection.
The small building at the back of the Zhang family has also started construction. This matter finally fell to Xu Youtang. In Xu Wanyi's words, there will be a place for her in the small building in the future. If she doesn't contribute, who will? Besides, she is building a house.
She is also an expert. In this way, even the big craftsmen save money.
Zhang Yanling was too lazy to take care of these things. Xu Gao had already agreed to his request at Xishan Manor that day and agreed to join the Wild Dog Ridge Arsenal as the chief technical engineer. Xu Youtang did not have to stay in Wild Dog Ridge every day. Xu Gao took his wife there
, the couple lived in Youtang Villa, Xu Youtang appeared
Now that she has openly lived in the Zhang family, this is of course an advantage for Zhang Yanling. This little girl is not as arrogant as Xu Wanyi and Tan Ruqing in this matter, which makes Zhang Yanling very satisfied. Zhang Yanling has many shameless thoughts.
Xiao Nizi accepted all orders, which satisfied Zhang Yanling's many perverted needs.
Of course, Zhang Yanling had already asked someone to propose marriage in October. Xu Gao and his wife also agreed to the marriage. Zhang Yanling only married Tan Ruqing, so she hoped to hold the wedding until next year, so as not to appear too dissolute and shameless. Xu Youtang passed
He was only eighteen years old and not very old, so Xu Gao and his wife agreed to this request.
In mid-November, heavy snow fell, and the weather in the capital was as cold as an ice cellar.
In such a cold time, Zhenwei Battalion, one of the 12 regiment battalions, ushered in the period of March. In the early morning of November 17, on the snow-covered training ground, the military training and assessment operation began in full swing.
.
The sun had just risen after the snow, and the reviewing stand set up in the middle of the cathedral stood in the cold wind. The yellow green dragon flag of the Zhenwei camp was flying in the wind.
Amidst the sound of cannons, Zhang Yanling and other senior generals in the army climbed onto the high platform in the cold wind. Zhang Yanling was fully armed, wearing black armor, with a purple cloak flying behind him, and the red tassel on his helmet was burning like a ball of flame.
jump.
Under the stage, nearly ten thousand regiments and soldiers stood in formation, standing on the cold snow,
Many people are now suspecting that Mr. Zhang is deliberately harassing people. In fact, the three-month deadline has long come. The weather was sunny and sunny a few days ago, but Mr. Zhang did not decide to take the assessment. After the heavy snow today, it is bitterly cold in the north.
The wind is freezing, but he wants to conduct an assessment. Isn't this intentional?
More than three months ago, when the sun was scorching, he left everyone exposed to the sun for a long time. Today, he chose such weather again, with cold weather and heavy snow on the ground to conduct the assessment. It is hard to believe that this is just a coincidence.
rather than deliberately.
However, even if it is suspected that Mr. Zhang is deliberately harassing people, all the soldiers no longer show laziness compared to more than three months ago. Whether it is forced or voluntary. At this moment, even if this group of people is
Even though their whole bodies were freezing due to the cold, they stood with their chests straight and motionless, maintaining the appearance that a soldier should have.