Chapter 681 780 Don't Mind Your Own Business

After Wei Guangde came out of Chen Yiqin's duty room and returned to his own duty room, he did not immediately deal with the backlog of official business, but directly spread out a piece of paper, wrote a note, and then called the secretary to send it to the Censorate.

The content of the note was naturally to meet with the Left Censor-in-Chief and the Censor of Tuntian in the afternoon.

The same operation was done, and another note was written, but it was sent to the Ministry of Revenue, asking Ma Shangshu to come in the afternoon.

Wei Guangde was used to doing things in advance. The nobles had already said hello, and the next step was to say hello to the Censorate and the Ministry of Revenue to let them know about it.

The Ministry of Revenue also had to report the matter of Zhuangtian again, so that no one would jump out to express dissatisfaction.

Generally speaking, the central government's policy plans would be communicated up and down before being announced, and they would never be revised after being released.

In later film and television works, fierce disputes at court meetings are generally difficult to occur. Only when the party struggle is fierce, there will be situations where the audience cannot make sense and the differences have to be put on the table.

Although the Ming Dynasty court had already secretly split into several factions, there were only three factions with the greatest strength.

The first was the strength headed by the old people of Yu Ji. They relied on the trust of the emperor and were headed by the three elders of the cabinet, and they were the most powerful.

The second was Xu Jie's group of people at the time. However, now that Xu Jie has left the court, Zhang Juzheng is still gathering and appeasing these people, so there will be no major moves in the court in the short term.

The last force is not the fence-sitters, but the clean stream, which is a group of people headed by the Hanlin Academy and the Kedao Censors, but there are also many small groups among them, which is very complicated.

If they are twisted into a rope, their strength is very terrifying, because they represent public opinion.

Wei Guangde did not want to cause trouble, and he had to do the things that Emperor Longqing had told him to do, so he naturally had to choose a safe way to handle this matter.

No one can be left out of the nobles, the Ministry of Revenue, and the Censorate. If the work is done, it will pass at one time, and everyone will be happy.

After he made the arrangements, he began to handle official business. He picked up the first memorial on the table, which was the one Chen Yiqin had mentioned before, the memorial of the Ministry of Revenue on the trial implementation of the "One Whip Law" for collecting taxes and labor service in Jiangxi.

He flipped it open and took a look. It was not much different from what Chen Yiqin had said. The Ministry of Revenue discussed that in order to avoid various drawbacks after the trial implementation of this law, it planned to conduct a pilot in Jiangxi and improve this law.

After all, after Gui E proposed the idea and Liang Cai, the Minister of Revenue, summarized it into a specific method, although various places were trying it, local officials were acting according to their own understanding, and there was no unified collection regulations.

This is why the One Whip Law implemented in various places is essentially that local officials act according to their own understanding.

Most of them are to calculate the taxes and labor service and collect them twice in the summer grain and autumn tax seasons, and no taxes are collected at other times. However, there are still great differences in the point of apportionment.

This is also the key to the supporters and opponents of the One Whip Law after various places implemented it.

As a result, many so-called One Whip Laws appeared in various places, most of which were designed by officials according to local conditions and were not unified.

For example, the tax collection method implemented in Jiangnan, the rat tail book in Jiangxi, the ten-section brocade method in the southeast, the equalization silver in Zhejiang and Guangdong, and the Gangyin method in Fujian all have the content of transferring corvée silver to farmland.

This time, the Ministry of Revenue wants to take Jiangxi as an example to perfect a set of practical standard regulations, and then implement them in various places in Jiangnan first, and then gradually expand to the north, so as to achieve the goal of implementing the one-whip law throughout the country.

Although Wei Guangde also felt that the Ming Dynasty was vast and rich in resources, and the environment in various places was very different, it was difficult to form a set of tax laws that could be implemented nationwide, but the idea of ​​the Ministry of Revenue was desirable.

It is hard to imagine that various places in the Ming Dynasty had their own way of doing things in tax laws, which would only lead to chaos in tax laws.

This was actually one of the reasons why Ge Shouli wanted to stop the one-whip law.

Chaos, too chaos.

Wei Guangde did not object to using Jiangxi as a pilot. After reading the memorial of the Ministry of Revenue, he felt that it was very rigorous and immediately put a note on the memorial: OK.

Just as he put away the memorial and prepared to continue handling official business, footsteps sounded outside the door.

Wei Guangde subconsciously looked up and showed a surprised look on his face.

There was a young eunuch outside the door. At first, Wei Guangde thought it was the person Chen Ju called to deliver the letter, but when the person entered the room, it was the emperor's oral order: Wei Guangde was ordered to go to the palace to meet him immediately.

Hearing that it was Emperor Longqing who wanted to see him, Wei Guangde naturally couldn't sit still, and simply folded the memorial he had read and put it back.

After thinking about it, he took the memorial from the Ministry of Revenue that had been drafted, and followed the young eunuch out the door.

"This eunuch, is His Majesty summoning only me?"

After leaving Wenyuan Pavilion, Wei Guangde asked in some confusion.

In his opinion, Emperor Longqing summoned him at this time, most likely because of Li Fang's matter.

After all, Chen Yiqin went to plead for mercy early in the morning, and he and Yin Shizhan ran to Tianlao to see people, and brought in a doctor to treat the disease.

Don't underestimate the ability of the East Factory and the Jinyiwei. Perhaps their conversations in the prison have been well recorded and handed over to Emperor Longqing.

Wei Guangde was the first to disbelieve that there were no spies from the Jinyiwei in such a sensitive place as the Ministry of Justice.

Chen Yiqin said that His Majesty seemed to believe those words, that is, Li Fang was dissatisfied with him and said bad things about him in private.

For Emperor Longqing to mind, I think Teng Xiang, Meng Chong and others must have painstakingly thought out words that would make Emperor Longqing unable to let go.

All I can say is that it’s impossible not to admire these people. Within one year, they figured out Emperor Longqing’s temperament and knew what kind of words could irritate him.

"I don't know. The order I received was just to summon Mr. Wei Ge to the palace to meet him."

The waiter was also very polite and immediately bowed and said.

"Oh, okay."

Wei Guangde smiled and continued to follow the young chamberlain.

The two of them soon arrived outside the Qianqing Palace. Wei Guangde had to wait for orders at the palace gate before he could enter, while the young chamberlain entered the palace to report.

After a short wait, the waiter hurried out again and asked Wei Guangde to come in.

Emperor Longqing met Wei Guangde in the side hall. This is where he usually handles memorials. At this time, after Wei Guangde entered, the door of the main hall was closed from the outside.

When the door is closed, the light in the room becomes dim.

At this time, Emperor Longqing did not deal with the memorial. Instead, he sat on the throne with some boredom and looked at Wei Guangde who came in.

Although the palaces in the Forbidden City are the crystallization of the ingenuity of skilled Chinese craftsmen, after all, they are limited by technology and materials, and the indoor lighting is not very good.

In particular, the palaces of the Ming Dynasty were built very grandly, in a heavenly style, with long-span columns supporting the roofs. This layout limited the amount of natural light that could enter the palaces.

In fact, when Chinese people build houses, they mostly choose to face north and south, which is the so-called orientation, because this layout is most conducive to building lighting.

Most ancient buildings in my country are laid out in this way. For example, the pre-Qin document "The Book of Songs·Xiaoya·Sigan" records, "Kuai is upright, Kua is dark. Gentleman You Ning", which means that only the main hall (North Room) is spacious and bright. , the side hall is magnificent, which is conducive for the king to rest.

The eaves of the roofs of ancient buildings in the Forbidden City project outwards and have a slight upward curve, forming a graceful curve called eaves.

The upturned eaves of this curved roof block less sunlight and are conducive to lighting inside the building.

There are obvious differences between the methods of overhanging eaves in ancient buildings in the Forbidden City and modern buildings. Modern buildings generally do not have large overhangs. Sunlight enters the room directly through the window glass, making the room bright. However, in summer, excessive light entering the room will also bring in A large amount of heat leads to an increase in air conditioning energy consumption, and because the window brightness is high, it causes direct glare and reflected glare interference to people indoors.

In comparison, the large overhangs of the ancient buildings in the Forbidden City block a large amount of direct light from entering the palace through the doors and windows. A small amount of direct light enters the building ground and is diffusely reflected through the ground to other parts of the palace. External direct light is filtered by the overhangs. and occlusion softened.

Not only that, the overhanging eaves of ancient buildings in the Forbidden City help prevent sunlight from entering the interior at noon in the summer, while in winter the sunlight can penetrate into the deepest part of the building at noon to obtain the best lighting effect inside the building.

The materials inside the building can reflect the light source, and the building materials can have a significant impact on the lighting. The ancients used materials with higher reflectivity to introduce light into the internal space of the building more effectively.

For example, "Guihai Yuhengzhi" written by Fan Chengda in the Song Dynasty contains: "The natives used lime to build the walls and wiped them with talcum powder when they were still wet, and they were as shiny as jade." This means that after smearing talc on the walls of the building's interior, , the walls will sparkle.

Li Yu in the Qing Dynasty wrote "Li Weng Occasion Collection·Bedroom Department": "The lime chalk wall is polished to make the aurora shine; secondly, paper is used to paste it, and the paper paste can make the roof pillars and window lintels all of the same color", which means Paint the walls with white ash and then paper them to increase the light in the room through reflection.

The lighting of the Forbidden City palace buildings is inseparable from the reflection of light inside the building, and this reflection is mainly carried out through wall and floor materials.

The interior of the Forbidden City building has a smooth jade-like gold brick floor, vermilion columns and light yellow walls. The surfaces are all shiny and have high reflectivity; while the turquoise ceiling inside the building has no luster and low reflectivity.

Then there is the best Korean paper used for the doors and windows of the palace. This kind of window paper is of high quality and has good lighting and windproof and cold protection effects. The Forbidden City Palace is already the best-lit building in the country at this time. But the moment the palace door is closed, Wei Guangde feels His eyes were completely dark, and it took him a while to see anything.

After just a brief moment of confusion in front of the palace gate, Wei Guangde realized that he had lost his etiquette in front of the emperor. He hurriedly walked towards Emperor Longqing and knelt down in front of the imperial book case to salute.

"Your Majesty, Wei Guangde, has seen you. Long live, long live, long live."

"Ai Qing, please be fine."

On the throne, Emperor Longqing spoke.

Wei Guangde stood up, his body still hunched, maintaining a respectful look.

When he got up just now, Wei Guangde had confirmed again that no one else was present in the hall, at least publicly. Perhaps His Majesty was secretly playing against him again.

"What's going on with Li Fang now?"

Wei Guangde had just calmed down when Emperor Longqing's questioning voice reached his ears.

"Your Majesty, the doctor said that Eunuch Li's injury will take half a month to heal."

Wei Guangde didn't dare to lie and answered directly.

"Li Fang, this slave, I am too good to him."

When he first heard that Emperor Longqing was concerned about Li Fang's injury, Wei Guangde had a hope in his heart that maybe he would have a chance to convince His Majesty to spare him once.

But the cold words that followed made Wei Guangde feel as if he had fallen into an ice cellar.

"Your Majesty, you still have to cherish your body and don't get angry because of Eunuch Li's behavior."

Wei Guangde had no choice but to say.

"I was so kind to him in vain. I didn't pursue any of the wrong things I did before. I just let him shut up at home and think about it for a while. Unexpectedly, he became dissatisfied with me because of this and made disrespectful remarks."

Emperor Longqing said with still some annoyance in his tone.

Wei Guangde wanted to ask him what he heard, but in the end he remained silent.

There are some things where the less you know the better, especially when it comes to the emperor.

In fact, Wei Guangde was not sure whether the Li Fang in front of him was the Li Fang in the palace. As the saying goes, you know the person but not the heart. This is the truth.

Wei Guangde understood what he said before. Li Fang made a mistake and Emperor Longqing did not pursue it.

However, this idea was shattered in an instant. He was not sure about Li Fang's behavior in the palace, but there were onlookers.

At least the Chen Ju he knew had never said anything bad about Li Fang. Does this mean that he still needs a postscript?

Those wrong things should be reported by those people behind their backs.

Wei Guangde had an idea in his mind, but he couldn't say it out loud. The more he explained it, the harder it became clear, especially the inner court matters.

"Your Majesty's kindness is a blessing to my ministers."

After a while, Wei Guangde spoke, and then he bowed to Emperor Longqing and continued: "But Eunuch Li is an old man who has served His Majesty for many years after all. He made a mistake, and it is just a matter of His Majesty's words whether he should be beaten or scolded. I should not be too harsh." Word.

I just think of the time we spent together in Yu Zhuan, and I really can't bear to see him being imprisoned and suffering.

I beg your majesty to forgive him once more and let him out of prison. If your majesty is still not relieved, why don't you just let him go to Nanjing City to retire, and it will be a good relationship between you and your majesty. "

"Hmph, you and Chen Yiqin are from the same group. I knew you would plead for that slave."

Emperor Longqing said displeased, "Stop pleading for mercy. You also said before that I have the final say whether he should be beaten or punished. Now I am going to punish him.

Let him sober up in prison first. Don't think that you can boss me around after serving me for many years. "

Hearing Emperor Longqing's words made Wei Guangde stop wanting to rescue Li Fang, but he could also tell that the emperor had no intention of killing him.

I'm just annoyed that he often points in front of him, saying this is wrong and that's wrong, and I don't want to see him.

"Can"

Wei Guangde just started to raise his head and then shut up.

No, I originally wanted to ask if we can release people after they are locked up in prison. People on the outside would see how bad it would be.

But then I thought about it, whether they were in the prison of the Ministry of Punishment, at least it would be more convenient for them to do something. If they were transferred to the imperial edict prison, although they would be able to go in and see people, it would be quite troublesome.

"I called you here today just to tell you not to worry about Li Fang's business."

Emperor Longqing said unhurriedly from his throne.

"yes."

In this situation, Wei Guangde would not argue with Emperor Longqing over Li Fang. There was really no need. He could just follow the emperor's wishes first and then look for another opportunity.

"The affairs of the cabinet are complicated. Don't be distracted by unimportant things. This is the purpose of calling you here."

"I understand."

"How is the Zhuangtian matter handled?"