On the morning of the fourth day of November, Li Jin, the Prime Minister of the Bingzhu Bureau, had breakfast at his house and rode slowly to the Bingzhu Bureau.
As the saying goes, people feel refreshed when happy events happen. Although Li Jin didn't encounter any happy events in the past two days, he was naturally happy as he saw the scale of the Bingzhu Bureau getting bigger and bigger.
In the past, when others talked about Li Jin behind his back, they would always add the phrase "son of Li Huan, Minister of the Ministry of War", because at that time, the position of "Director of the Military Construction Bureau" was not even as prestigious as the official Lang Guan of the Ministry of War.
But now, the scale of the Weapon Casting Bureau is getting bigger and bigger, and Li Jin's status is also rising. What makes him most excited is that the military bosses who once didn't even look down on the Ministry of War are treating
He was extremely respectful.
For example, in the first half of the year, when the Ordnance Casting Bureau under the leadership of Li Jin cooperated with the Smelting Bureau to build new equipment for the Dredging Army, the Dredging Army often went to the Ministry of War because of the reduction of military expenditures, and the Ministry of Household Affairs Department came to scold the general.
They, this time, actually pulled him to call each other brothers, which made Li Jin, a civil servant, feel extremely honored - this was a courtesy that even his father, Li Huan, could not enjoy.
Reminiscing with joy, Li Jin rode his horse to the gate of the Weapon Casting Bureau.
He was somewhat surprised to find that his nephew Zheng Jin was waiting outside the door with an anxious look on his face, looking left and right.
"Uncle, uncle."
After seeing Li Jin arriving, Zheng Jin ran over quickly.
Seeing the anxious look on Zheng Jin's face, Li Jin's first reaction was that this kid might have caused trouble again.
But when he thought about it again, he felt something was wrong. After all, after Zheng Jin was severely punished by Su Wang Zhao Hongrun, Pan Ran realized that he had changed his past and was no longer as public as before.
Although there are still many shortcomings in his character, he has become increasingly smooth in his dealings with others.
Even with that mouth, this kid now has a lot of connections in the Smelting Bureau. Therefore, Li Jin has always put this kid in charge of the handover between the Bingzhu Bureau and the Smelting Bureau.
In this case, what happened today?
With all kinds of doubts, Li Jin got off his horse, frowned and scolded Zheng Jin who ran over: "What's the matter, are you in a panic? Could it be that you have provoked someone else because you have not changed your ways?"
"No, no." Zheng Jin quickly waved his hand to deny it. After all, the experience of being taught a lesson and having his leg broken would be unforgettable for the rest of his life. How could he dare to cause trouble again?
"What happened?" Li Jin asked suspiciously.
Zheng Jin had a strange expression on his face and said in a low voice: "Uncle, we have been impeached by the censor."
"We?" Li Jin was stunned when he heard this. After all, his uncle and nephew had been busy with official duties recently and had not offended the Yushi Yanguan. How could they be impeached?
At this time, Zheng Jin shook his head and explained: "It's not our uncle and nephew, it's our Bingzhu Bureau. Our Bingzhu Bureau was impeached by the imperial censor for disturbing the people and discharging sewage... I don't know the details.
Clearly, in short, it’s quite troublesome.”
"Oh, it turns out it's a matter of the department."
Li Jin suddenly realized this, and his uneasy mind immediately calmed down.
Li Jin had actually heard a little bit about disturbing people.
As far as he knew, the residents in Daliangxi City were very dissatisfied with the noise of banging and hammering at his Bingzhu Bureau all day long.
But then again, what can Li Jin do?
After all, the Weapon Casting Bureau itself is the forging of armaments and the department of armaments. How could it not be hammered out?
As for discharging sewage into the canals in the city, there is no way. After all, the forging of armaments in the Military Casting Bureau requires a lot of water, and the people of the Military Casting Bureau have always discharged the used sewage directly into the river canals. After all, the water is used for quenching.
, and it won’t be too dirty.
However, Li Jin overlooked one point: the water used for quenching is indeed not very dirty, but if the proportion of sewage is too high, the rivers in the city will inevitably be polluted.
Coupled with the black smoke when the Weapon Forging Bureau opened the furnaces to forge weapons, the west city of Daliang was always shrouded in black smoke. It is no wonder that he was impeached by the imperial censor.
However, Li Jin was not worried about this. With his annual output of tens of thousands of weapons, even if he was impeached by the imperial censor, the imperial court would not care too much.
Li Jin thought so at first, but unexpectedly, in the afternoon of that day, he received an imperial order from Emperor Wei to summon him.
At this time, Li Jin was inevitably a little panicked, and he rode his horse to the palace in fear.
Then in the Manlu Hall in the palace, Emperor Wei summoned Li Jin.
Emperor Wei first commended Li Jin, and then he picked up a copy of the impeachment on his desk and said to Li Jin: "Li Qing, I have seen the achievements of the Bingzhu Bureau last year and this year, but this is
… The imperial censor impeached you for disturbing the people at the Military Casting Bureau and polluting the city’s canals with quenching sewage. What do you think of this?”
When Li Jin heard this, he didn't make any excuse. He fell to the ground and confessed, "I know I'm guilty."
It has to be said that Li Jin can be regarded as an old man in the officialdom. Seeing Emperor Wei's pleasant expression when he summoned him, I knew that His Majesty would not blame him too much for this matter.
As expected, not long after he knelt down, he heard Emperor Wei sigh: "Forget it, get up... In the end, I and the court did not consider this matter carefully. Unexpectedly, in just a few years, the scale of the Bing Zhu Bureau has reached
This situation..."
After saying that, Emperor Wei glanced at Li Jin, who had stood up at this moment, frowned and said: "But Li Qing, although you are not to blame for this matter, as the Chief of the Military Casting Bureau, you have unshirkable responsibilities, so you need to think about something.
Countermeasures are coming... As far as I know, the people in the west of the city have been lamenting about this."
Hearing this, Li Jin's heart moved slightly.
In fact, in his opinion, there is a very good way to solve this problem once and for all - to move the Bing Zhu Bureau away from Daliang.
Just like the Smelting Bureau.
Even though there is still an official office of the Smelting Bureau in Daliang City, in fact, it is just the office space of the civil officials in the department, such as studying the "Secret Records of Lu Gong", designing equipment, drawings of parts, etc., like forging iron.
Ah, steelmaking has long been moved outside the city.
However, the problem is that the Smelting Bureau is not short of money. They build furnaces outside the city, and there are three or five furnaces built at one time. Because the Smelting Bureau has its own treasury, all it takes to pay for the financial expenditure is a word from King Su Zhao Hongrun;
The Bureau does not have this right, and any payment must be reported to the Ministry of War.
Although Li Huan, the Minister of War, is Li Jin's father, the problem is that it is not Li Huan who calls the shots now, Qing Wang Hongxin is the one who holds the power.
Li Jin certainly hopes that his Bingzhu Bureau can move outside the city. After all, his Bingzhu Bureau now occupies a very large area in the west of the city, and has annexed a lot of open space, so that it is adjacent to residential buildings. This means that Bingzhu Bureau
There is no way for the bureau to expand any further unless it seizes people's homes.
But will King Qing Hongxin agree to this?
As far as Li Jin knew, Qing Wang Hongxin's finances were also quite tight. He had just spent a large amount of money to replace the equipment for the Second and Third Northern Army, which is the batch of armaments that the Military Casting Bureau is currently rushing to forge.
.
After bowing and leaving the palace, Li Jin returned to the Bingzhu Bureau while thinking about how to operate this matter.
While having dinner at home that night, Li Jin's father, Li Huan, the Minister of War, asked his son: "Did His Majesty summon you today?"
"Yes, father."
Li Jin was not surprised at all when his father learned about this.
"What happened?" Li Huan asked.
After hearing this, Li Jin told his father everything about his meeting with Emperor Wei today, including the fact that his Bingzhi Bureau was impeached by the imperial censor.
At the end of the day, Li Jin said in a somewhat indignant tone: "Probably some people are jealous of the current prosperity of our Bingzhu Bureau, and they are jealous, so they sued our Bingzhu Bureau at the Yushitai."
However, after hearing these words, Li Huan remained silent and said after a while: "After dinner, you follow me to the study room, and the instructor will talk in detail."
Li Jin glanced at his father in surprise, not daring to disobey: "Yes."
After about a while of burning incense, the Li family finished their dinner, and Li Huan led his son Li Jin to the study.
After arriving in the study, Li Huan closed the door and said to his son: "Jin'er, today's matter is not that simple... As far as I know, a big event happened at King Qing's banquet two days ago. Can you tell me
Heard?"
Hearing this, Li Jin showed a somewhat strange expression on his face.
It’s no wonder that although Emperor Wei and the clan deliberately blocked the news about the “fight between the four princes”, it was no secret to courtiers of Li Huan and Li Jin’s status.
"It seems that you have heard about it too." Li Huan nodded, stroking his beard and said: "The Yushitai did not impeach him earlier, but he did not impeach him later, but he impeached you Bingzhu Bureau after that incident. There must be something in this
Weird."
"What does father mean... King Su?" Li Jin asked tentatively.
Hearing this, Li Huan stroked his beard and said calmly: "King Su Zhao Run has always had a clear distinction between grudges and grudges, and everyone has his own reward. Recently, King Qing invited powerful people to plot the "Four Orders in the East of the River". This move harmed King Su, and this is why
The incident in Prince Qing's Mansion two days ago... Now these two highnesses have broken their skin. According to King Su's temper, he will not wait for King Qing to retaliate... If nothing else happens, your military strategy will be for King Su to strike first.
"
At this point, he chuckled and added: "Just watch... Right now we just want your Bingzhu Bureau to move away from Daliang. The next step is to get your Bingzhu Bureau out of the jurisdiction of the Ministry of War. Once this happens,
, the batch of armaments that King Qing asked you to forge at the Weapon Casting Bureau is in the hands of King Su. When the time comes, King Su can find any reason to drag this batch of armaments and force King Qing to obey..."
"It is in line with King Su's character." Li Jin said with a smile.
At this time, Li Huan pondered for a moment, and after a while he asked his son in a low voice: "Jin'er, my father wants to ask you one last question, do you still want to be promoted to the headquarters of the Ministry of War? Or do you want to continue to stay in the Bureau of Military Affairs?
?…Given the current situation, you cannot have your cake and eat it too.”
Hearing this, a flash of realization flashed across Li Jin's face, and he said in shock: "Father, you..."
Having said this, he lowered his head and pondered for a moment, and finally decided: "Father, my son believes that after the establishment of the 'Shangjiang Mansion', the status of the Ministry of War has been far from what it was before, but our Military Casting Bureau is thriving and has great potential."
picture."
Hearing this, Li Huan nodded with both relief and sadness, looked at his son and said earnestly: "A wise choice... Jin'er, from now on, my father will no longer be able to protect you from wind and rain. I, Mrs. Li,
One door, it’s all up to you.”
Li Jin's face was moved when he heard this, and he bowed his hands respectfully: "Father, please don't worry."
A few days later, two major events happened in Daliang.
First, the Prime Minister of the Bingzhu Bureau petitioned the imperial court to move the workshop outside the city on the grounds of "convenience to the people."
Secondly, Li Huan, Minister of the Ministry of War, wrote a letter begging for the bones.