My father is Jiajing

Chapter 299 "Frozen Sheep" Incident

While Yan Shifan went to impeach Wang Youzhao and Hai Rui on behalf of justice, Zhu Zaigui sat firmly in the palace and talked with Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng.

Zhu Zaigui looked at Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng and said, "This Hai Rui is really something. More than a dozen sheep froze to death and were about to be killed for food, but he actually mobilized a large army to surround them. If you didn't know better, you would think there was a wolf."

Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng were a little at a loss as they listened to Zhu Zaigui's words. Where did this come from?

Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng glanced at each other and asked, "What's wrong, Your Majesty?"

Zhu Zaigui changed his moves and continued, "Last night, Hai Rui went to the workers' dormitory outside Chongwenmen for night patrol and found someone delivering wine to the workers and laborers in the dormitory under the banner of the Urban Construction Bureau."

"Originally, this is a good thing, but I already have an agreement and rules with the Ministry of Works and Shuntian Prefecture that prohibit drinking. As you all know, Hai Rui likes to stick to the rules."

"So, naturally, the wine was confiscated by Hai Rui. You said it would be fine if it was confiscated, but Hai Rui called the person who delivered the wine over and asked him about it. The person who delivered the wine actually said that the wine was related to Prince Jing's brother."

"So, Hai Rui came to me nervously overnight to report the incident. I was almost going to bed at the time, but when I heard that it was Hai Rui, I had to force myself to meet him and listen to his report."

"I thought the matter was over, but he came back early this morning to report that more than a dozen sheep had frozen to death in the mess hall of the workers' shed dormitory. He was worried that these sheep were sick, so he sent people to round them up. Can you tell me what this is all about?"

"Doesn't he know the urgency of the outer city project? Why doesn't he let the workers and laborers go to work first? Can't he just let the cooks take care of the sheep? Besides, it's winter, how can there be any epidemics?"

Zhu Zaigui's words immediately made Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng laugh.

Zhang Juzheng stroked his short beard and said, "Your Highness, don't be angry. This shows that Hai Shen is a careful person. This is a good thing."

Zhu Zaigui said, "How could this prince not know this? If I had not considered that Hai Rui was doing this to fulfill his duty, this prince would not have come to see him in the middle of the night, let alone listen to him talk about the dead sheep so early in the morning."

Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng listened to Zhu Zaigui's complaints and laughed happily again. They felt that Prince Yu was very cute and looked like a young man.

However, Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng soon grasped the key points of Zhu Zaigui's previous remarks.

Gao Gong asked, "Your Highness just said that Hai Rui came to report the wine delivery last night. Was Prince Jing involved?"

Zhu Zaigui and Gao Gong asked this question, and looked at Zhang Juzheng who was equally cautious, and they were also happy in their hearts. These two people's reaction ability is really strong. Their long words hid King Jing so deeply, but they reacted so quickly. They are worthy of being the people who can become the prime minister in the future. Their political sensitivity is really strong!

Zhu Zaigui said, "Yes, if Hai Rui hadn't asked about Prince Jing's brother, he wouldn't have come to me in the middle of the night. After listening to his detailed report, I understood everything and told him directly that Prince Jing's brother was not involved and the person involved might be Yan Shifan."

When Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng heard that it was not Prince Jing but Yan Shifan, they became confused again.

Why is there something about Yan Shifan again?
Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng looked at Zhu Zaigui seriously and asked, "How did the prince know it was Yan Shifan?"

Zhu Zaigui drank a sip of tea slowly, and then said to Meng Chong: "Go add some firewood, the floor heating in the house is not warm anymore, and buy some new tea for the two gentlemen."

After giving these instructions, Zhu Zaigui said slowly, "Because the person who sent the wine said that the person who sent the wine was Luo Longwen. Although this person has sent ink to Brother Jing several times, I have also heard that he is a retainer of Yan Shifan."

"Moreover, based on my understanding of Prince Jing, he would definitely not think of spending money to buy warming wine for the workers and laborers who are expanding the outer city of the capital. Therefore, I have concluded that the matter of sending wine is related to Yan Shifan." After hearing what Zhu Zaigui said, Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng also showed a look of realization. After thinking about it, the two seemed to be making sense.

Gao Gong immediately replied: "Your Highness's analysis makes sense, but I think there are still some questions here."

When Zhu Zaigui heard Gao Gong's question, he also said "oh" and leaned forward slightly to ask, "Mr. Gao, do you have any questions?"

Gao Gong said: "What I am confused about is why the young cabinet minister would arrange for people to deliver wine to the workers and peasants outside Chongwenmen. This is not in line with the young cabinet minister's previous style of doing things. So I suspect there is something wrong here. The court needs to take it seriously and not be careless."

After Zhang Juzheng heard Gao Gong's words, he immediately said, "Your Majesty, Su Qing is right. There must be something else going on here, and we must be on guard."

Zhu Zaigui listened to what the two said and nodded. At this time, Meng Chong also brought new tea to Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng.

While serving tea, Meng Chong casually said, "Your Majesty, I just heard a rumor that the young minister went to the cabinet to report Wang Fuyin and Hai Shenshen, saying that they neglected their duties and concealed the truth. They said that the workers and civilians who froze to death last night were sheep."

Meng Chong's words were also in accordance with the script.

Zhu Zaigui also saw that it was almost time outside, so he pointed Meng Chong out and asked him to find out the current situation.

After Meng Chong understood the situation, he immediately returned to the warm room and casually mentioned the matter while adding new tea to Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng.

When Zhu Zaigui heard Meng Chong's words, he couldn't help but be "surprised", "Really? Yan Shifan is so hateful of evil? He wants to seek justice for the sheep that froze to death last night?"

Meng Chong said, "It's not a sheep, it's a person. What the young cabinet minister meant was that the Haishen Court said people were sheep, so he wanted to report the Haishen Court for concealing the truth and the prefect of the Wangfu Court for neglecting his duty and causing the workers and laborers to freeze to death."

Zhu Zaigui uttered "oh" again, and his face became "tense". "Oh no, I didn't even bother to verify whether it was a sheep or a human. I just listened to Hai Rui's report. If it is really a human, what should I do?"

Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng looked at each other and realized the seriousness of the problem. Gao Gong said to Zhu Zaigui, "I will go to Hai Rui now to find out what happened and make sure whether it was a person or a sheep that froze to death last night."

Zhang Juzheng also said: "I will go outside the cabinet and wait for news, and ask Lord Xu about the situation."

Zhu Zaigui was touched by the initiative of Gao and Zhang, and said to them, "In that case, thank you for your hard work, gentlemen."

In fact, the reason why Zhu Zaigui staged so many dramas early in the morning was to get Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng involved, to have a good fight and turn a small matter into a big one, and a very interesting one at that.

The purpose was the strategy that Zhu Zaigui had agreed with Hai Rui last night to use the enemy's strategy against him, which was to completely kick the Ministry of Works out of the project of expanding the outer city of the capital, so that Zhu Zaigui could better arrange and handle all matters related to the expansion of the outer city of the capital.

Otherwise, with Yan Shifan's character, he would definitely not let the outer city construction of the capital go smoothly. Maybe one day he would use his influence in the Ministry of Works to give trouble to the outer city expansion project.

After all, Zhu Zaigui couldn't keep an eye on the outer city projects all the time, so in order to solve the problem once and for all, Zhu Zaigui didn't mind turning this "frozen sheep" incident into a political storm!
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Asking for monthly ticket

(End of this chapter)