PS: Creation is not easy, please support me!
Time flew by. In the blink of an eye, three years had passed. It was now the 24th year of Yongchang, the 2000th year of the Imperial Calendar.
The beginning of winter was the time when the northern land was freezing! This was especially true in this world where the energy source was not based on oil and coal. It was the industrial revolution that originated in the Ming Dynasty during the Jiajing period. Electricity, the great invention that led to the second industrial revolution, was directly born in this world.
In the thirty-second year of Jiajing of the Ming Dynasty, in the year 1553 of the Imperial Calendar, the Ming Dynasty invented electric lamps for the first time with electromagnetic technology as a guide, directly entering the electrical era. Therefore, the world did not have problems such as global warming and carbon pollution. There was no air pollution caused by fossil fuel. While the sky became purer, the term warm winter had long disappeared.
Thus, the cold air from the north of the ridge swept across the north and south of the Yangtze River. The capital was covered in silver overnight, and the world seemed to turn white overnight. From a high place, the entire Forbidden City seemed to be covered with a snow-white quilt.
At this moment, a five-year-old child stood in the garden behind the Palace of Earthly Tranquility. He was wearing a purple jacket, and his long black hair was tied up with a jade hairpin. A pair of deep eyes were embedded in his exquisite face like gems.
"Ha…"
The child exhaled a mouthful of white air into his hands and rubbed his cheeks. For a moment, his fair and tender face was stained with a touch of pink. Then, he looked up at the clear sky and the white snow in the distance. He immediately said,"F * ck, the winter in the north is really freezing to death!”
That's right, this child was the only prince of the current Ming Emperor Zhu Jianyi, Zhu Jingkun. He had just turned four years old this year.
At this moment, a snow-white fur coat was gently draped over Zhu Jingkun's body. He turned his head and saw his gentle and beautiful mother standing behind him with a reproachful look on her face."Kun 'er, it's such a cold day and you're still wearing so little clothes. What if you catch a cold?”
She happily threw herself into the Empress 'arms and said coquettishly,""Mother, my son has already grown up. How can he fall sick so easily?”
Stroking Zhu Jingkun's little head with a somewhat amused expression, Empress Wang said with a doting expression,""It's not that Mother doesn't want you to come out, but at least wear more clothes! If she was sick, nothing she ate would taste good!”
"Not only that! You still have to take injections and medicine!"
Beside Empress Wang, a slim and pretty girl with silver hair and red eyes was deliberately using a threatening tone to scare Zhu Jingkun. This girl was Xue Zhi, the once beautiful loli who had grown into a big girl.
Sure enough, when he heard about the injection and medicine, Zhu Jingkun immediately showed a terrified look and said with a trembling voice,"I…it's a man's sweat. I'm not afraid!”
Both Xue Zhi and Empress Wang found it funny when they saw how Zhu Jingkun was obviously very afraid but still forced himself to be stubborn.
Just as the family of three was feeling warm and harmonious, a "The Emperor has arrived" was heard.
"Welcome, Your Majesty!" Empress Wang, Zhu Jingkun and Xue Zhi immediately bowed to the emperor.
"No need to be polite, no need to be polite! Didn't I say it before? In the future, there was no need to bow in the rear palace.”Zhu Jingkun said unhappily.
Empress Wang pulled the two of them up and smiled.""Your Majesty's etiquette cannot be abandoned. As the master of the harem, ChenQie has to set an example!”
Zhu Jianyi couldn't help but smile bitterly." Wan 'er, I don't know what to say about your personality. It's too estranged for a family to send gifts."”
As he spoke, he turned to Zhu Jingkun and smiled,""When my son grows up, don't learn from your mother. The warmth between family members is the most important.”
"Yes, your son will remember." Zhu Jingkun's tender voice sounded.
This made Empress Wang blame Zhu Jianyi,"Your Majesty, you really are…how can you be so arrogant?”"Why did Your Majesty end the court session so early today?" he asked curiously.”
"Hmph, it's all because of that old bastard Wang Weixin. I don't know what's wrong with him today. Now that it's just the beginning of winter, it's snowing so heavily. Seeing that another snow disaster is coming, I request the Ministry of Revenue to prepare disaster relief materials and go to various places to provide disaster relief at any time. In the end, he actually asked me to burn the memorial to offer sacrifices to the heavens and comfort the gods, saying that the recent disasters in the Ming Dynasty must be due to the emperor's lack of virtue that angered the heavens! We should first offer sacrifices to heaven and pray for the people!”Zhu Jianyi heard Empress Wang's question and couldn't help but say unhappily.
Empress Wang was also surprised when she heard this. What era was it now to still make such a ridiculous statement? Now that the people were in trouble, shouldn't disaster relief be the priority?”
"Isn't that so? The most infuriating thing is that the other ministers in the cabinet actually agreed. I simply didn't expect such absurd words to appear in Great Ming's court. This is simply a joke.”
Seeing that Zhu Jianyi was getting angrier, Empress Wang quickly comforted him,"Your Majesty, don't be angry. There must be something fishy about this matter. We have to investigate it clearly before we can conclude.”
At this moment, a tender voice rang out." Father, could it be that the chief is deliberately delaying the speed of the disaster relief?”
The other three couldn't help but look at Zhu Jingkun in surprise. They saw this little guy nervously fiddling with his fingers. "Oh, my son, why do you say that?" Zhu Jianyi smiled with interest.”
Seeing his father's encouraging smile, the nervous Zhu Jingkun also mustered his courage and said,""My son thinks that even a five-year-old child like me doesn't believe the words of the chief assistant, let alone those Langguan from various departments who are high up in the court. So your son guessed that the chief wanted to cover up something, which was why he said such absurd words. And those who agreed should also mean this, right?
Zhu Jingkun, who had finished speaking in one breath, looked nervously at his father. Zhu Jianyi was surprised, but he quickly smiled and walked up to Zhu Jingkun, patting his head and saying,"I didn't expect that my son would have such insight at such a young age. My son, if you have any thoughts in the future, just say it. I promise you'll be innocent.”
He looked at his father's kind face and then at his mother's encouraging gaze. Zhu Jingkun looked at Tian Zi with his gem-like eyes and said,""Yes, Imperial Father. Your son will not disappoint Imperial Father!”
Zhu Jianyi looked at his son's eyes and swept away the dissatisfaction in the court. Because at this moment, he saw a young dragon gradually growing up. One day, it would shock the world.
……
A chill ran down his spine and spread throughout his body. Gao Hai grabbed the heater in fear and stared at the people in front of him. For the first time, this extremely illustrious Grand Eunuch of the ceremonial department felt that his death was approaching!
How could this be? Speaking of which, it had to start from the previous emperor. At that time, the Ming Federation, which was at its peak, suddenly began to implement the "egalitarian system" under the decision-making of the emperor and the important ministers. Especially the "equal wealth" was implemented with a tough attitude that could not be changed. As a result, in just two years, Ming had an unprecedented economic crisis. At that moment, the eunuchs regained power, and the local aristocratic families took the opportunity to invade public resources. The emperor's power fell to others. The eunuchs who held the power of finance treated the national treasury as a backyard for corruption and embezzled public funds, causing the Ming Dynasty's financial shortage. It only improved slightly after the death of the former emperor and the ascension of the new emperor.
As a result, the sudden snowstorm had completely exposed the already ruined finances. Usually, they could still make up for the deficit, but no one expected such a thing to happen when the finances were at their most tight. Pianpian had used everything she could use before, and now she could not make up a single cent. In fact, there was no need to be so nervous. After all, Tian Zi had just sent 1.5 million kilograms of gold into the national treasury four years ago. It was not a problem for him to use it for disaster relief.
However, it could be said that one would not die if they did not seek death. A few days after the gold was stored in the warehouse, it was quietly moved out and transported to the homes of the eunuchs and the noble families in various places. Now the national treasury was so empty that rats could run!
The scene from the morning court assembly at the Extreme Emperor Palace flashed through his mind. If Wang Weixin had not interrupted the court assembly in time, his men would have been beheaded long ago. But when he thought of the Emperor in his rage, the Great General and the Minister of War who were watching this farce with ridicule, Gao Hai felt even more uneasy. What should he do? He had to find a way to gather this money! While Gao Hai was deep in thought, a voice sounded.
"Eunuch Gao, why don't we use the military funds first? "Uh…" Before Tong Lun could finish his sentence, he was frightened by Gao Hai's murderous gaze.
"Are you brainless? How dare you use military funds at this time? And how are you going to make up for it in a short period of time? Once the Ministry of War and the General Staff Department find out, won't we die even faster?”Gao Hai, who was almost driven mad, roared.
Taking a deep breath to suppress his emotions, Gao Hai said to everyone with a cold face,""At this time, we can only pay for it ourselves.”
As soon as he finished speaking, everyone fell silent. They looked at these guys with pained and reluctant expressions. Gao Hai could no longer suppress the anger in his heart and scolded,""You are all ignorant people. You are still stubborn even at the end of your lives! When the Emperor beheads us, this money will still be in His Majesty's hands. It's simply hopeless…"
Seeing that Gao Hai's scolding was getting more and more unpleasant, Xia Wang, who was beside him, quickly interrupted him and said,""Eunuch Gao, calm down. This isn't just our problem. Those noble families have always benefited from us, so how can they ignore this incident?”
That's right. Xia Wang's words reminded Gao Hai that he was really too angry. How could they bear such a serious matter? Gao Hai looked at Xia Wang gratefully and quickly said,""Hurry up and contact the various clan heads. Everyone has to contribute to this matter. Otherwise, if something happens to my family, they won't be able to live well!”
An ordinary snowstorm almost caused a serious political change in the Federation. The pure white snow seemed to reflect the filth hidden deep within!
……
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