Chapter 599 Li Chunfang admits defeat
Li House.

It is not yet early summer, but the capital city in the north is experiencing the best solar terms.

Outside the house, there was lush greenery and towering pines. Outside the courtyard wall, a few peach blossoms rose above the wall and bloomed brightly. Under the pink walls and green tiles, there was green moss all over. A few snails crawled slowly by, leaving clear tracks.

And in the study.

The chief aide had just rushed back from outside with some messages and sat in front of Li Chunfang who was making tea.

The aide glanced out the window.

Everything in Li's mansion is carefully designed. Looking out through the window, the windowsill is the picture frame and the scenery outside is the content.

Fresh and elegant.

The aide looked at Li Chunfang carefully, wondering how to start the conversation.

Perhaps he didn't dare to delay too long, and after taking a silent breath, he finally spoke.

"Master Prime Minister."

"The rumors in the capital are getting more and more unsatisfactory..."

Li Chunfang, who was sipping tea from the teacup, raised his eyebrows and paused for a moment when he heard the words.

Then just a glance.

No sound was made.

The aide-de-camp lowered his head and explained in a low voice, "The impeachment in the court shows no sign of stopping. The momentum is unabated, and the content of the impeachment is getting more and more sharp. If we don't respond, I'm afraid these people will make angry remarks against the Prime Minister. By then, the Prime Minister's situation in the cabinet will be bad, and the slander in the court will certainly be rampant."

After the Jinhang reaped tens of millions of profits from the upright gentry and wealthy families in Jiangnan, the imperial court launched waves of impeachments against Jiangnan, which have continued to this day.

The palace still kept all the impeachment memorials and did not issue them.

But the momentum outside was unabated, and the palace could not keep the matter to itself forever. There was a lot of discussion inside and outside the court, and the emperor and the cabinet had to step in to deal with the matter.

Thinking of the current situation of the Li family in the court, the staff thought about it for a while and sweat broke out on their foreheads.

Li Chunfang squinted his eyes and lowered his head to take a sip of tea. Then he held the teacup tightly with his fingers and placed it on the table. Then he looked up at the staff sitting in front of him.

"Since I won the first place in the Dingwei Imperial Examination in March of the 26th year of the Jiajing reign, it has been more than 20 years since I came here."

Li Chunfang sneered, shook his head and said, "Back then, Zhang Juzheng and I were both Jinshi of the same class, but I was superior to him."

The palace examination was held in the 26th year of Jiajing.

The first place winner was undoubtedly Li Chunfang, while the second and third place winners were Zhang Chun and Hu Zhengmeng respectively. Zhang Juzheng was not on the first place list, and only ranked ninth in the second place.

Now when Li Chunfang says that he had suppressed Zhang Juzheng in the past, it is absolutely true and there is no lie at all.

Li Chunfang added: "After I won the first place in the imperial examination, I was appointed by the late emperor as an editor in the Hanlin Academy. I entered the Western Garden to write Qingci, which was highly appreciated by the late emperor. Nine years later, I was promoted to Hanlin Bachelor together with Yan Ne, and then promoted to Junior Minister of the Ministry of Rites, Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites and Hanlin Bachelor. At that time, I was still on duty in the Western Garden. In those years, my career was extremely noble."

Listening to Li Chunfang's recollections of the past, the staff couldn't help but nod their heads.

Just as he said, from being the top scholar to being an editor in the Hanlin Academy, and then to serving in the Taichang Temple and the Ministry of Rites, his official career was indeed extremely noble.

Li Chunfang shook his head at this time: "I served in the Hanlin Academy and the Ministry of Rites. I was the examiner of the palace examinations many times. Later, I was appointed to the Ministry of Personnel. Finally, I was appointed to the cabinet as a director with a noble position. Now that I think about it, it has been more than 20 years."

The staff were somewhat unsure of what Li Chunfang was planning by saying these words.

He could only lower his head and say with a smile on his face, "The Prime Minister is respectful, gentle, fair, and has unparalleled talent and learning. He is noble and upright, and joining the cabinet is the right path."

Li Chunfang snorted, and then asked with an unclear look: "You said, I have been an official for more than 20 years, and I have never left this city of Beijing. Now I think about it, shouldn't I go to a place and take a look at the people's livelihood and social conditions outside?"

The staff member's heart trembled suddenly.

At this time, it is not good news that Prime Minister Li mentioned leaving Beijing to serve as an official.

Even if it is about understanding the local people's livelihood and social conditions.

But under the current impeachment trend in the court, it seems that this is a way of giving in, retreating to advance, and preserving oneself.

No.

This is a plan to protect yourself!

The staff finally figured out why Prime Minister Li mentioned leaving the capital to serve as an official.

What happens in the capital should be done in the capital.

Leaving Beijing and serving as an official in a foreign country without holding a cabinet position would be considered as admitting defeat.

If the crime of treason has not been committed, neither the emperor nor the court can really punish the person too severely.

After all, although many people in the cabinet have been punished by the emperor over the years, the total number is actually not that large.

For most cabinet ministers, they can basically retire with honor.

But now, where does Prime Minister Li want to serve as an official?
The staff thought for a moment and said, "The new policies are in full swing in the court, and the Prime Minister is rectifying the officialdom. Hai Rui's Qing army is inspecting the Nine Borders, and Zhang Juzheng and others are also collecting taxes on land in Nanzhili and Zhejiang. If the Prime Minister wants to do more for the country and rule a place for the emperor at this time, I'm afraid he can only choose Shandong, Henan, Huguang, Sichuan and other places."

It stands to reason.

If it is a normal process, when a cabinet minister takes up an appointment outside the capital, he will basically be the governor of several provinces, and will be in charge of local military and national affairs for the emperor and the court.

For example, the governor of the southeastern provinces was in charge of the suppression of the Japanese pirates.

But now there are no Japanese pirates in the southeast.

Or he could be the governor of the nine border armaments and station troops in preparation for war.

But now that new borders have been established in Hetao and Yinshan, the latest news is that Altan's tribe has retreated from the south of the desert to the north of the desert.

The two people who could have retired from the cabinet with dignity no longer had a good excuse to take up local positions.

Then only Henan, Huguang and other places are left.

But this is really not decent. Anyone who sees it can tell without guessing that Prime Minister Li has lost the battle in the court.

In fact, Li Chunfang was also thinking about this problem at this moment.

If he gave up his seat in the cabinet, perhaps he could be forgiven by the emperor and given a lighter sentence, thus at least saving himself.

As for the old party of clean officials in the court.

I can't even protect myself, so how can I have the energy to settle them down?
As long as he gave up his position as cabinet minister, Gao Gong and others would not hold on to him. Even Yuan Wei, Zhao Zhenji and others would not really break off relations with him.

Then.

Where to go?

It became something I needed to think about. There were also many considerations for this place.

If he goes to Henan, Huguang and other places, he will only be the governor. Although he is also a high-ranking official, he has very little power and needs to be constrained from all sides.

If you have to go, you have to go to a place with a territory, where you hold power and perform important tasks.

in this way.

You can still retain some of your dignity and won't lose so badly on the surface.

For a moment, Li Chunfang fell into deep thought.

The staff didn't dare to say a word.

At this point, he also realized that the Li family might really have to leave the capital.

Although I am somewhat reluctant to leave the affairs of the capital, this has always been the way in the officialdom, with one person taking over and the other taking the stage.

The next day.

Wenhua Hall.

The cabinet and the heads of the six ministries and five temples were waiting for the emperor to attend the court.

Yan Shaoting was among them.

And in the front were Gao Gong, Li Chunfang and others.

Yan Shaoting was standing not far behind Li Chunfang and he took a special sidelong glance at her.

He squinted his eyes slightly and clearly saw that Li Chunfang's sleeves were heavy and hanging down, which showed that he was hiding a memorial.

Yan Shaoting began to speculate in his mind, wondering what Li Chunfang was going to report to the emperor today.

Just when he was daydreaming.

On the other side, the Minister of Industry Lei Li had already come close to him: "Moisten things."

Yan Shaoting's eyes flickered, and he glanced at the old minister with a smile on his face: "Minister Lei."

Lei Li glanced around, then smiled and said, "After the court meeting today, I will wait for you to finish teaching the prince and then leave the palace together?"

Now Yan Shaoting is still in charge of Zhu Yijun's studies. After the court meeting in Wenhua Hall every day, he has to give lectures to the little boy in this hall together with officials from the Hanlin Academy, the Zhanshi Palace and other places.

Yan Shaoting showed curiosity: "What does Minister Lei want to talk to me about?"

Lei Li just smiled and said, "It's not a big deal. It's just the construction of Wuchuan and other cities that Runwu requested earlier. The Ministry of Works has some new ideas recently, which may be used in Wuchuan and other cities. But now the emperor has not specifically assigned any new tasks to the new border. Maybe Runwu will have to work hard. The Ministry of Works thinks it's better to discuss it with Runwu first."

"Oh?" Yan Shaoting became more and more curious. Looking at Lei Li who was conscientiously handling the work of the Ministry of Works, he smiled and said, "Although I am now working in the Ministry of Rites, the affairs of the new border also come from me. If Minister Lei needs any help, of course I can help. After I finish my duty in Wenhua Palace today, I will go to the Ministry of Works with you."

After getting Yan Shaoting's agreement, Lei Li immediately nodded with a smile.

He glanced at the people present.

Lei Li couldn't help but sigh: "Our Ming Dynasty hasn't been so prosperous for many years. This is largely due to the good fortune of the government. Just this year, because of the efforts of the gold bank, the court has received tens of millions of taels of revenue, and the money and grain for the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of War are much more abundant than in previous years. The emperor trusts me and has given so much money to the Ministry of Works. Naturally, I can't let the court's money and grain go to waste. Even if I have more money, I have to be thrifty and do my job well."

As soon as these words came out.

The people around naturally had different expressions.

Li Chunfang, who was standing in the front, was not far away and could hear it clearly.

After listening to it, I just felt like there was a breath of turbid air in my chest, which I couldn't breathe out, and I felt very suffocated.

This old Leitou really talks about things that are not related to the topic.

This is not intentional to make things difficult for myself.

Gao Gong turned his head and looked at Yan Shaoting and Lei Li at this time: "Yesterday, Uncle Da submitted a memorial from Suzhou, saying that the land survey in Nanzhili and Zhejiang is going more smoothly. Although there have been many hidden secrets about the population and land in the two places in recent years, and many people were forced or voluntarily to donate their registered land, but this time they have been investigated one by one. In a few months, probably within the year, the two places will be fully investigated. By then, the court can re-establish summer taxes and autumn grains, and the Ministry of Works will have to ask Minister Lei to work hard and make some preparations. Next year, the two places will also have to repair the river to benefit the people's livelihood."

Yan Shaoting glanced at Gao Gong, bowed his head and said, "Thank you for your hard work, Prime Minister."

Lei Li waved his hand and said, "It's the Ministry of Works. I'd like to ask the Prime Minister. Recently, the two shipyards in Qingjiangpu and Longjiang reported to the Ministry of Works, saying that they want to supervise the construction of treasure ships and that iron boat. I don't know what the Prime Minister thinks. If the Prime Minister thinks it's feasible, the Ministry of Works will also send people out to see it with their own eyes and get it done."

As soon as the word "treasure ship" came out, it instantly attracted the attention of everyone present.

This is probably because no new treasure ships had been built in the Ming Dynasty since the Xuande period, and the treasure ships that had passed through the city gradually became old and unusable over the years, so they had to be dismantled and their wood borrowed for other uses.

Now the Ministry of Industry seems to want to rebuild the treasure ship.

This hasn't happened in many years.

Yan Shaoting glanced sideways at Old Leitou and felt secretly happy.

Although he did not intervene in the treasure ship matter, he was the one who instructed Xu Wenbi to secretly contact the Qingjiangpu and Longjiang shipyards and the Nanjing Navy at the Tax and Military Office to propose the iron ship.

Gao Gong was more cautious when facing this matter. After pondering it silently for a while, he slowly spoke: "The court has not built a treasure ship for many years. Can the shipyards now build such a huge ship? Although I don't know, I think the keel used in the treasure ship must be the same as the wood used in the three main halls. It must be made of large wood. As for the iron-skinned ship... Is it a warship covered with iron? Is this to strengthen the defense of our navy warships against the enemy?"

When Lei Li proposed the treasure ship, Gao Gong asked about the materials used in the treasure ship.

Li Chunfang raised his eyebrows.

He immediately interrupted, "The court stopped building treasure ships because it was very expensive and the court had no need for them overseas. Secondly, it seems that the keel wood needed to build treasure ships was too scarce, so they had to stop this project. If the court wants to rebuild treasure ships now, I'm afraid it can only find large wood from the deep mountains in the southwest, and then use the ancient method to cross the Yangtze River to the Nanjing Longjiang Shipyard."

After saying this, Li Chunfang couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

I didn't expect that I had just decided yesterday on how to leave Beijing to take up an official post, and now this group of people gave me an excuse.

Yan Shaoting looked at Li Chunfang strangely.

Lei Li smiled and replied, "The construction of treasure ships does require large wood to make the keel, otherwise it will be impossible to withstand the turbulent waves overseas. Although no new treasure ships have been built in recent years, the Ministry of Works can still try to find a way. Now it's just that there is a lack of large wood. As for this iron-skin ship, I think it's a good idea. Once the navy uses the iron-skin ship, as Yuan Fu said, the iron sheet can be covered on the outside of the warship, and it will be more reliable when fighting the enemy."

Gao Gong looked around.

Seeing that no one else spoke.

He looked at Lei Li and Li Chunfang with a deep gaze.

Then he looked outside again.

Let out a light sigh.

Gao Gong asked with a puzzled look on his face: "It's already this time today, why hasn't His Majesty come to attend the court yet?"

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