Volume 1: Birth! Seven time travelers Chapter 169 Busy Wei Zhongxian
"Morning, Young Supervisor Wei."
"Haha, good morning."
"Oh, Wei Shaojian, we are here to greet you."
"Stop it. My master has strictly ordered that our family not to accept godsons in the palace. We can't afford you to call yourselves that."
On the morning of January 4, 1612, the various departments of the Ming Dynasty had just reopened after the Spring Festival. Wei Zhongxian, the head of Xinghua Palace, hurried to the Silijian.
At this moment, Old Wei has many titles: Junior Supervisor of the Imperial Household Department, Head of Xinghua Palace, General Manager of Honghe Industry, Head of Honghe Village, and the title of "General Manager of the Transportation of Food and Pay for the Army to Conquer the Enemy" which was just added in the second half of last year.
Among these titles, the former Junior Supervisor was only to solve the treatment problem of Lao Wei's rank. On weekdays, he would not go to the Internal Official Supervisor to work. As for the person in charge of Xinghua Palace, the Grandson was only eleven or twelve years old at this time, and it was still several years before the wedding. Moreover, the Grandson was away from the capital for a long time. Therefore, the work of Xinghua Palace was quite simple at this time. All Lao Wei had to do was to go there for a round every ten days or half a month to check the cleanliness. In fact, Lao Wei stayed in Honghe Manor most of the time. If the Grandson had not been the commander-in-chief of the expedition this time, Lao Wei would not have easily entered the Sili Supervisor.
"Please inform that Wei Zhongxian, the Junior Supervisor of the Imperial Household Department, wishes to see Eunuch Li En."
"Hey, Wei Shaojian, who are you? Do you need to inform me? Please spare me and go in directly."
"No, the Imperial Household Department is like the cabinet in the palace. They discuss national affairs every day. I dare not break the rules casually. Please let this eunuch know."
After saying this, Old Wei skillfully took out one or two small silver ingots from his thick sleeves and naturally stuffed them into the hands of the young eunuch guarding the gate.
"Thank you, Wei Shaojian." The young eunuch's eyes narrowed suddenly, and then he quickly whispered: "Godfather was in the outer house last night and only came back this morning, so he is not in a very good mood."
"Yeah." Nodding silently, Lao Wei put his hands down properly, then tilted his back slightly forward, as if he was waiting to meet his superior.
"Hey, it's amazing that Wei Shaojian, a man who is my favorite and handles no less than one million taels of silver every year, is so disciplined."
The young eunuchs in the outer courtyard of the Imperial Household Department were full of admiration when they saw Old Wei like this. They also unconsciously sped up the pace of running to pass on the message.
Li En, the current eunuch who succeeded Chen Ju as the head of the Imperial Household Department, came out to greet him personally after hearing the news. Seeing Old Wei standing there like a silly old farmer, Li En quickly ran over and said, "Hey, Eunuch Wei, don't be so polite. The rules are for servants. As for you, you can come to the Imperial Household Department whenever you want."
Of course, Lao Wei repeatedly said that he dared not, and then the two of them politely gave way to each other at the door. Lao Wei still let Li En walk in front, and he still kept his back leaning forward and followed Li En obediently into a side room.
After entering the room and waiting for the eunuch to serve tea and leave and close the door, Old Wei's original humbleness suddenly disappeared. He leaned back on the chair and crossed his legs: "Eunuch Li, the beautiful maid is good recently, right?"
"Excellent, excellent. I have to thank Eunuch Wei. If you hadn't had a say in my place, we wouldn't have been able to find such a pretty girl from the south of the Yangtze River." After saying this, Li En stood up and saluted, saying, "Eunuch Wei, the house you gave me is also excellent. The key is the furnishings inside, not to mention the floor-standing dressing mirror and the large clock. As for the flush toilet, oh my, after using it, I realized that all the shit we had done in the past few decades was in vain."
"Haha, this is something that Fangshan Laboratory only developed in the second half of last year. Right now, only the Qianqing Palace and the Cining Palace have completed their replacement in the entire palace city, and the Ciqing Palace is still being replaced." After saying this cheerfully, Wei Zhongxian's face changed: "Eunuch Li, your child is not very reliable. If he makes trouble again, I'm afraid he will be killed."
"Ah? Eunuch Wei, what do you mean?" Li En, who acted like the top eunuch of the dynasty in front of others, was like a lapdog in front of Old Wei. He stood up hurriedly and added water to the teacup that Old Wei had not touched at all.
"We prepared 1,000 dan of cured meat and 3,000 dan of rice and flour before the New Year. We gave them to your nephew on December 20th and asked him to transport them to Tianjin. The freight was not cheap, 300 taels of silver. If it weren't for your honor, Eunuch Li, which freight company in the capital would charge less than this? He patted his chest and promised us that it would arrive in Tianjin within three days. What happened? The old ship owner's fleet waited in Tianjin until yesterday morning, but no one saw the transport team. Eunuch Li, there are 100,000 troops stationed in Liaodong. If they are cut off from food, I'm afraid my head alone will not be enough."
"Yes, yes, yes. I will not be in the palace today. I will ask for leave from the emperor later, and then leave the palace immediately to supervise this matter in person."
"Well, Eunuch Li, it must be shipped today, and must arrive in Tianjin the day after tomorrow at the latest, otherwise we will have to deal with official business."
"Please rest assured, Eunuch Wei, I will definitely handle this matter well. Eunuch Wei, I will take my leave first."
"You are a scum who only eats and does nothing. You want to compete with ordinary merchants for a business worth hundreds of taels of silver, but you can't do it well. We will make you suffer sooner or later!" Wei Zhongxian's eyes shot out cold light as he watched Li En hurriedly leave. But when he looked up at the clock in the room, he suddenly jumped up from his chair, patted his cheeks with both hands, put on a humble and docile expression, leaned forward slightly, walked out of the Silijian in small steps.
At the exact time of Si, the large clock erected on the square in front of the Huangji Hall struck nine times, and Wei Zhongxian appeared in the Qianqing Palace on time.
"This servant greets His Majesty."
"Well, Zhongxian, please sit down for a while. I just got up and need to go to the bathroom first."
"Let me serve you, my servant."
"Hahahaha, no need for that, no need for that. Hey, this flush toilet my good grandson sent me is really good. I can't help but notice that the time I spend on the toilet is getting longer and longer."
This time of going to the toilet was really long. Old Wei waited in the main hall for at least twenty minutes before he heard the rumbling sound of water flowing next door. After a while, Wanli finally came out refreshed.
Then a group of palace maids came over to wipe Wanli's face, help him change his clothes, and comb his hair. A group of young eunuchs also came out and placed various breakfasts on Wanli's dining table.
"Well, Zhongxian, the fireworks for this year's New Year's Eve are very good. I see there seem to be two new varieties."
"Your Majesty is wise and wise. Indeed, there are only two new products."
"Hahaha, my eyesight is not bad. Dong'er keeps sending all kinds of glasses to the palace. I'm not that old."
"Hehe, the emperor is in his prime, so he doesn't need those things."
Old Wei kept talking nonsense while waiting for Wanli to eat. After the eunuchs had cleaned up the table, Wanli got to the point: "Tell me, what's going on in Liaodong?"
"Yes, Your Majesty, Yang Jinglue has a memorial. He was afraid that it would take too long to go through the Tongzheng Department, so he came to me. I asked this servant to deliver it directly to Your Majesty."
"Well, show it to me."
The so-called memorial of Yang Jinglue is actually the embodiment of Zhu Youdong's will. Its general meaning is: after the troops of various military towns gathered together, many problems occurred in this army. If we rush into the army without coordinating these problems, we may not be able to win the battle - in fact, the underlying meaning is that we may lose. So, please give me some time to reorganize the troops in Shenyang before marching. Of course, I promise the emperor that we will finish the battle before April of the 40th year of Wanli. It will never affect the border defense of other towns after the beginning of spring.
Afterwards, Zhu Youdong wrote the eight words "The memorial is true, Sun Chen seconded the proposal" on the memorial written by Yang Hao himself, and then it was sent to Wanli's desk.
"Well, Zhongxian, this war is going to last for so long, will the money in the Crown Prince's pocket be enough to sustain it?"
"Your Majesty, it is certainly difficult, but I said that this is a national war, no matter how difficult it is, I will hold on. At worst, I can just sell some shares and cash them out."
"Hmm..." Hearing that he didn't need to pay from the inner treasury, Wanli breathed a sigh of relief: "Tell the Crown Prince that if it's time to sell the shares, sell them to me first."
"Yes, I obey your command."
"Hahahaha, I was joking. My grandson is willing to spend all his wealth for the country. How can I, as an emperor, be so incompetent? Tell the crown prince that he will be responsible for the money for the war. After the war, the pensions and other things will come from my inner treasury."
"Haha, so that's how it is. I understand."
Walking out of the Qianqing Palace, Old Wei suddenly broke out in cold sweat: My young master, you have to be careful. The army is isolated outside, and you, a member of the royal family, have been hanging out with the generals for a long time. Even the emperor is suspicious!
