On this day, Yunxi returned to Kunning Palace in the evening and asked Xiyao casually: "What did you say to Xi Yang when he entered the palace yesterday?"
Xiyao suddenly felt nervous: she couldn't let Yunxi know that she persuaded Xiyang not to become a military commander.
So Xiyao also pretended to be casual and replied: "I didn't say anything, just chatting about home affairs. I only see him once every year in the first month of the year, so I called him to talk."
After listening to Xiyao's words, Yunxi didn't expect that she would say something inappropriate to Xiyang, and said: "Then I will allow you to meet your family every month. Whether you leave the palace and return to your natal family to visit relatives, or let them You can come to the palace to see me."
Xiyao shook her head and said with a smile: "I go home every month to visit my relatives, so what's the point? Even a married daughter-in-law in the folk has no reason to go back to her parents' home every month. If my father and younger brother are allowed to enter the palace, my father is the most important person. , I’m afraid he won’t come.”
Such things that are very inconsistent with etiquette and tradition, that is, Yunxi could not care and said it casually. Although Xiyao has been hearing such unruly words from Yunxi these years, she is still not used to it. But having said that Back when Zhu Yuanzhang was still alive, Yunxi still paid attention to his daily speech. After the death of the well-behaved Zhu Yuanzhang, he became more and more outspoken. Fortunately, he was only like this in the harem.
Yunxi seemed to have thought of something again and said, "I see that there is an enshrinement to Manjushri Bodhisattva in your room. Why have you started to believe in Buddhism too?"
Xiyao said: "That's not the case. It was my mother who asked me to put up the statue of Manjushri. I saw that my mother was sincere in her words, so I put it up."
Yunxi said: "If you do something good above, you must do it below. If everyone knows that you worship Manjushri Bodhisattva, then everyone will probably worship Manjushri Bodhisattva if they ask you what you like. Don't let others know that you worship Manjushri Bodhisattva." Otherwise, the monks in the capital will start to tremble again."
In fact, Yunxi was not very satisfied with Xiyao's mother worshiping Manjushri Bodhisattva, but Buddhism was an officially recognized religion, and he could limit the total number of monks. Anyway, Zhu Yuanzhang had such a policy; but forcing a certain person not to worship was not conducive. Uniting the monks will also affect his policy of using Buddhism, so he can only admit it.
Xiyao said: "I know."
Yunxi asked again: "Is Xiyi okay? It has been two months since she gave birth to the baby. Why is she still sick?"
Xiyao sighed: "Hey, giving birth to a child is inherently harmful to the body, and since she has redness, she will need to be raised longer."
"But the imperial doctors said that she is much better, and she will probably be fine by the first month of the year."
Yunxi said: "I was supposed to stay at Xiyi's Jingren Palace tomorrow. Although Xiyi can't serve me now, I will go to see her tomorrow and come to your place again."
Of course Xiyao supported it. Yunxi still cared about her biological sister. How could she not support it? But she said softly: "I know."
Yunxi talked to Xiyao for a while, and then went to bed with Xiyao.
But Xiyao did not fall asleep when Yunxi fell asleep, but her eyes flickered as if she was thinking about something.
The next day, Yunxi went to court. After talking about several important things, Yunxi said loudly: "Yesterday I saw a document, and I want you to listen to it too." After saying this, he turned to the little eunuch on the side.
The young eunuch on the side opened the fold and read: "I believe that Liu Rongjie, the magistrate of Yangzhou,... got chestnuts in the field on October 10th, which were more than twice as big as ordinary chestnuts. I regard this as auspiciousness and report it to Your Majesty."
Yunxi waited for the eunuch to finish reading, and then said to the ministers below: "What do you think?"
The officials represented by the six ministers all looked at the expressions of the people on the left and right. It was obvious that although Yunxi's anger was not obvious, everyone knew that this official was flattering and flattering him.
Chen Di, the Minister of Rites who was still a civil servant, stood up. Although the power of the Four Auxiliary Officers is not small now, among the six bureaus, the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel still has more power than the Four Auxiliary Officers, and they are still close ministers of the emperor, but the Fourth Auxiliary Officers are just
The third-rank official, the sixth-rank official is the second-rank official, and according to the rules, he precedes the fourth-rank auxiliary officer; among the six ministers, although the Ministry of Rites has no important power except for the imperial examination, according to tradition, it is the first among the six ministers, so only Chen Di came forward.
Chen Di said: "Your Majesty, although the theory of auspiciousness is illusory, it is always your good intention. Your Majesty can just reprimand him with a few words."
After hearing Chen Di's words, Yunxi said, "Is this what you think?" He glanced at the ministers and said, "You all think so?"
Qi Tai came out and said: "Your Majesty, although this matter may not be auspicious, but if Liu Zhizhou is not lying and the chestnut that is more than twice the size of the ordinary chestnut does have this thing, it is better not to take it seriously."
"If Liu Zhizhou is just making it up, your majesty's chief minister thinks it's appropriate."
Yunxi glanced at Qi Tai. What Qi Tai said should be without selfish motives. This is indeed what he thought in his heart. According to common sense, as long as the thing does exist, it cannot be said that Liu Zhizhou is wrong. It is unreasonable for everyone.
When explaining the reason for the appearance of such abnormal fruits, can that person completely deny that auspiciousness really does not exist?
But Yunxi could be sure that the Zhizhou named Liu Rongjie must be doing this to flatter him. Yunxi had received a report from Jinyiwei before, saying that Liu Zhizhou had publicized the existence of auspiciousness in the local area, but the locals were not allowed to do so.
The magistrate of Luoshan County also made excuses, which made it clear that he wanted to take credit.
Yunxi said sternly: "Now that the late emperor has passed away only six months ago, how can there be any auspiciousness? It is clearly this magistrate who lied!"
"It is my decree to demote this magistrate to the ninth rank, and the Ministry of Civil Affairs will re-elect him."
Yunxi added: "The real auspiciousness is to manage the country well. This is what Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty said."
"From now on, local officials are not allowed to report auspiciousness with similar things. Violators will be severely punished!"
"Not even Jiahe! How much more grain can be harvested by one Jiahe! If..." At this point, Yunxi wanted to say that every acre of land in the county can produce several percent more grain. This is called auspiciousness.
.
But he immediately remembered the famous allusion about the yield per mu of thirty thousand catties, so he decided not to talk about it.
Yunxi said a few more words and announced the next court.
After leaving the court, he returned to the Qianqing Palace. Not long after, the four auxiliary officers came over. Chen Xingshan said to Yunxi: "Your Majesty, I think the punishment for Liu Rongjie is a bit harsh."
"Since your Majesty has succeeded to the throne, you have not offered any auspicious omens. This is the first time. Your Majesty should give a slightly lighter sentence and let the local officials know that there is no need to retaliate. If there are still auspicious omens,
It’s never too late to get into trouble again.”
Seeing that all the civil servants present were relatively familiar people, Yunxi sighed and said, "I don't want to deal with you seriously, but I have to do it."
"In a country as big as the Ming Dynasty, there are so many things to do every day. Even with your help, I still find it difficult. How can I still have time to deal with these small things over and over again? Let them remember it after a serious punishment, so as to avoid repeated similar memorials.
"
"Back then, when Yu Yu was writing a memorial in the history of the imperial court, he wrote more than 4,000 words and went thousands of miles off topic. Your Majesty beat him up in court. After that, the ministers did not dare to write eloquent and rambling memorials."
Yunxi glanced at the expression of the fourth auxiliary officer, and then said: "Of course, it is against etiquette to fight in public, so I will never do it. But it also shows the role of being a responsible person."
In fact, apart from this, Yunxi had other reasons for insisting on punishing Liu Rongjie. Although he demoted the person who submitted the memorial, Liu Chuan, thousands of miles away to Shazhou in the northwest because of a memorial asking for the reduction of land tax in the five prefectures of Jiangsu and Zhejiang.
Wei has shocked those who want to fish in troubled waters.
But there are still people who want to fish in troubled waters. Yunxi has dealt with several people during this period, but he cannot guarantee that he has not missed anything.
Moreover, officials, especially local officials, appeared to test Yunxi's preferences. Yunxi was very annoyed by this. This official named Liu Rongjie was actually testing Yunxi's preferences.
So Yunxi decided to focus on it.
After listening to Yunxi's first reason, the officials below felt that it was not in line with the way of the Holy King, but they would not remonstrate, including the most principled Chen Xingshan. If they all remonstrated on such matters, then Chen Xingshan would not remonstrate.
Xingshan had no choice but to resign when Yunxi was still the emperor's grandson.
After talking about this matter, everyone started to deal with political affairs. Yunxi opened the memorial, and Yunxi paid attention to the first memorial, because it was from the Ministry of Industry's Battalion and Maintenance Department, and the matters mentioned were prepared for middle and low-level officials in Beijing.
'Public rental housing' has been built.
It is said that the construction of public rental housing for middle and low-level officials in Beijing was ordered by Yunxi after he officially started to handle the government affairs and defeated Liu Chuan. The original intention was that Yunxi learned from Qitai's daily life that the salary of the Ming Dynasty was very important to those in Beijing.
For officials, it is very low, so it is for the benefit of middle and low-level officials in Beijing. As for high-ranking officials above the third rank, they can have official residences, so there is no need to worry about them.
Because there are so many officials in Beijing, even excluding the military attachés, there are also many civilian officials and miscellaneous officials. In order to show fairness, Yunxi could not build a place for certain officials to live in first, so it was not until recently that all the officials were completed.
Report to Yunxi.
Yunxi approved from above: Officials in Beijing are allowed to move in on the following day. The public rental housing is divided into four blocks, one for fourth- and fifth-grade officials, one for sixth- and seventh-grade officials, one for first-grade officials, and one for non-local officials.
They live in one area and live in separate areas. However, each area can communicate with each other, so you can't go out at night.
After Yunxi finished approving this sentence, he did not put the memorial in the pile of memorials returned to the General Affairs Department, but put it in his own hand.
And Yunxi told the eunuchs around him: "Let Qin Song, the commander of the Jinyi Guards, come to the Qing Palace at noon!"
Then Yunxi continued to criticize and answer the memorial. With such busy work, it seemed that it was noon in a short time. Yunxi stood up and said to the auxiliary officers below: "My dear friends, it is noon now, so you should rest first.
Let’s continue after having lunch in a while.”
This was a normal way of saying something when you were talking, so the assistant minister didn't think there was anything wrong. Hearing this, he finished drafting the article in hand and stopped writing, or rested for a while before eating, or went directly to eat.
Yunxi himself came to the side hall. When Yunxi arrived at the side hall, sure enough, Qin Song had already arrived. Qin Song saw Yunxi coming, saluted and said, "Why is your Majesty summoning me?"
Yunxi said: "The public rental housing for officials with official positions below the fourth rank in Beijing has been built, and these officials can move in at a later date."
"Now I want you to find some restaurant owners who everyone definitely doesn't know are Jinyiwei's agents, and open restaurants in places where public rental housing has been built for officials in Beijing with official positions below the fourth rank."
"When I was building public rental housing, I deliberately allowed a very late curfew in this area and allowed them to come out after dark just to get information."
"It's getting dark earlier and earlier now, and it's still very early after the daily low limit, but there will be a curfew after dark."
"For officials who want to party, in order not to violate the curfew, it is best to party in a restaurant in a place where public rental housing has been built for officials with official positions below the fourth rank in Beijing; and since they want to party outside, they will not want to go home
It’s hosted by family members, so they’ll probably gather there.”
"The method of sending a detective to each family is too easy to expose, and many officials are poor and cannot afford to support their servants, so this is not feasible."
"But it's different in restaurants. Not to mention that there are many secret ways to know what they are talking about in restaurants; just to say that many officials have no clues at all, they only serve as spies pretending to be servants.
You can know a lot of things..."
"And it also saves a lot of people. The only problem is that we must pay attention to keeping it secret. There can't be rumors like 'there are spies from the Jin Yiwei in the restaurant'. If there are such rumors, all the efforts will be wasted."
Yes, another purpose of Yunxi building public rental housing is to get what officials say among themselves. This was not what he thought of when he made the decision to build public rental housing. But it was not long after he made the decision.
Therefore, Yunxi specifically ordered the curfew in public rental housing areas to be very late on the grounds that "all public rental housing is occupied by officials, so what would be wrong?" The only place where officials wanted to gather outside was in restaurants near the public rental housing.
Although some very confidential things are generally not discussed in restaurants, just some general information is also very valuable, and many things can be inferred from it.
After listening to Yunxi's words, Qin Song said: "Your Majesty can really think of things that I can't think of. I admire you very much."
"Haha," Yunxi smiled. Qin Song was from his vassal. If ordinary people said this, he would think it was flattering, but when Qin Song said this, he would think it was true.
And, this may indeed be the truth from the bottom of my heart! Well, that’s it.
Qin Song then said: "I will go down immediately to make arrangements."
Yunxi said "hmm", and then seemed to remember something and said, "What do you think about asking Boss Tang from Shandong Noodle House to open a noodle restaurant here?"
"In my imagination, there is at least one restaurant with Jiangnan cuisine, one with northern characteristics, one from Bashu, Huguang, and one from Xingjian, Guangdong."
"Boss Tang's family makes Shandong specialties. Besides noodles, Shandong cuisine is also good. At most, we can change the name. Instead of calling it a noodle shop, call it a restaurant or a restaurant. What do you think?"
Qin Song thought for a while and said: "Your Majesty, Boss Tang of the Shandong Noodle House helped your Majesty six years ago. Although he was not a member of the Jinyi Guards, not many people knew that he had copper pipes in his house that could eavesdrop on the conversation. But because of his relationship with Your Majesty has connections, and most people won't discuss political matters in his restaurant. So I think it's inappropriate."
After hearing what Qin Song said, Yunxi thought about it carefully and said, "You are right, but I was wrong."
Then Yunxi suddenly remembered a restaurant and said, "Then there is another one I would like to recommend."
"Did you know that there is a restaurant in the capital that does very good Caojiang cuisine, called Qiantang Restaurant?"
Qin Song thought for a moment and said, "I don't know."
Yunxi said: "It's on a small road from the west to the palace. It's not big. But I tasted it last time and thought his food was good."
"I remember that the owner of his shop is named Jin Chengzhu. Although he is from the capital city, his family has passed down the cooking method of Caojiang cuisine, which is unique in that area. It is easy to find it if you find the right place." (Page 23o. chapter)
Qin Song asked, "Does this family have anything to do with His Majesty?" Qin Song asked cautiously.
Yunxi said: "It has nothing to do with it, it's just that I had a meal somewhere again and thought it was good, so I told you."
"The restaurants prepared for public rental housing for officials with official positions below the fourth rank in Beijing must not have bad food. If it is not as good as what they cook at home, then who will come back to the restaurant to eat? So the food must be good. People come to open restaurants.”
Yunxi was afraid that Qin Song thought he had designated Jin Chengzhu's family, so he added: "I just asked you to go and have a look. If it is possible and they are willing, let him move to that place to open a restaurant; if it is not suitable, that's it. .”
Qin Song breathed a sigh of relief and said, "I understand."
Yunxi gave some more instructions and asked Qin Song if there was anything wrong. Of course, Qin Song replied "nothing". Then Yunxi let Qin Song go down.
The matter of public rental housing is indeed a matter related to the welfare of the majority of middle and low-level officials in Beijing. The officials of the General Affairs Department noticed it when delivering the memorial. Then, although they did not dare to leave their posts without authorization when they went to work, they also communicated with everyone who came to report. The officials working in the Department of Political Affairs talked about it; and the officials who heard about it would talk about it with other people in their departments when they returned to their departments. So by the time they got off work, almost all the officials in Beijing had knew.
This is how Xie Jin knew about this matter. Although he is now wearing the title of Zhongshu Sheren, his main business is compiling "Taizu's Records", especially recently, "Taizu's Records" is about to be completed, Xie Jin will update I don't even bother to have lunch every day.
Xie Jin returned to the residence of Dong Lun, the Minister of Rites, in the evening, and said excitedly to Dong Lun: "Your Majesty loves us so much, and it is really difficult for us to repay him in return."
Although Dong Lun was not as excited as Xie Jin, it might be because the previous emperor Zhu Yuanzhang suppressed officials too hard, so he felt that Yunxi really took good care of the ministers, and said: "Then I will try my best to serve your Majesty. "