My father is Jiajing

Chapter 349 Prince Yu’s Careful Scheme

Yan Shifan was very dissatisfied with Lu Bing's warning, but under Lu Bing's rage, Yan Shifan did not continue to show off his arrogant personality.

Because Lu Bing is not an ordinary person. He can act like a junior minister in front of others, but in front of Lu Bing, he still has to be honest and behave himself.

So, in the end, Yan Shifan lacked confidence and argued for a few sentences before falling silent.

Looking at Yan Shifan, who looked strong on the outside but was actually weak on the inside and felt guilty even for being a bad guy, Lu Bang's eyes flashed with disappointment.

If I had known that Yan Song's son was such a despicable person, I should not have let my daughter marry Yan Shifan's son.

Now the two of them are tied together by this marriage relationship. I don’t know whether it will be a blessing or a curse for the future.

Lu Bing didn't care about Yan Shifan anymore. He finally said, "Take care of yourself!"

Then he left Yan Shifan's east building without looking back.

Looking at Lu Bing's leaving back, Yan Shifan was so annoyed that his eyelids were twitching, but he could not vent his anger on Lu Bing who did not give him the slightest face.

However, Yan Shifan was not a person who would just accept things passively. Since he couldn't deal with Lu Bing, he would take it out on Lu Bing's subordinates to get back at them. Otherwise, Yan Shifan felt that he would not be able to sleep well.

After the dust settled on the fire in Xiyuan, Prince Yu's Mansion finally started to take new actions.

Zhu Zaigui sat in the study and looked at Gao Gong, Zhang Juzheng and Hai Rui. At the moment, Zhu Zaigui was in a good mood and did not feel sad at all because his father's house was burned down and he was left homeless.

Zhu Zaigui looked at Hai Rui who was sitting beside him and said, "The matter of Xiyuan has been settled. Your Majesty's Wanshou Palace has been destroyed. Although you are now temporarily living in Yuxi Palace, the size of Yuxi Palace will definitely not make your Majesty feel comfortable."

"So, the reconstruction of the new Wanshou Palace is imminent. Previously, Yan Shifan had figured out your majesty's intention and wanted to build a larger and more magnificent palace for your majesty, and your majesty was very interested. Now that the Wanshou Palace is gone, there is naturally no reason to stop your majesty from building a new palace."

"Therefore, it will become an established fact that the construction funds for the capital's outer city will be misappropriated by the Ministry of Industry. However, as the chief official of the capital's outer city project, I naturally cannot watch the outer city project being stopped and left unfinished just after it was started."

"So, today I called you here to discuss how to raise funds for the outer city project of the capital. Hai Rui, you are the project supervisor, so you go first."

Finally, Zhu Zaigui called Hai Rui's name and asked Hai Rui to come up with a method.

After hearing Zhu Zaigui's questions, Hai Rui felt helpless. The people and facts in the capital were too complicated. Hai Rui originally thought that as long as he strictly followed the established rules and regulations to supervise the construction of the outer city of the capital and ensure that the outer city construction could proceed in an orderly manner, he would be considered to have fulfilled his duties.

However, as things developed, Hai Rui gradually discovered that there were too many things to do in the court, and the money the Ministry of Revenue could get was too little. Once the construction of the outer city of the capital began, it might be a long-term project lasting decades.

However, such a long-term and important project was facing the risk of being suspended and unfinished just one year after it started. This made Hai Rui feel powerless. He also wanted to argue about the right and wrong, but the affairs of the court could not be resolved in a few words.
Moreover, if it had been before, building a palace for the emperor, it might have been possible to get some praise.

But now the emperor's palace has been burned down, and people can only live in a small side hall. Hai Rui, who was deeply educated in Confucianism's ideas of Heaven, Earth, the Emperor, Parents and Teachers, is also a traditional scholar-official who regards the emperor as his father. How could he disobey this biggest principle and criticize the emperor for not building a palace?
Obviously, this is against morality and it is something that cannot be achieved at the same time.

Therefore, at this time Hai Rui was like a defeated rooster, somewhat decadent and powerless.

Zhu Zaigui looked at Hai Rui's situation and couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

If following the established historical trajectory, Hai Rui should still be studying in Hainan or working as a teacher in Fujian. Although such a life trajectory is a bit insignificant, at least Hai Rui would not encounter such difficult things as he does now.

Therefore, Zhu Zaigui was also worried that his early intervention might cause Hai Rui's character to change in the future.

If Hai Rui later became a man without fighting spirit and the spirit of an indomitable sharp sword, it would be a major historical accident for Zhu Zaigui.

Hai Rui said with guilt: "I am incompetent and cannot think of a way to solve the current problem."

Zhu Zaigui looked at Hai Rui like this and comforted him, "This is not your incompetence, this is the court's problem. The court's annual tax revenue is so little, even if it is spread out, it is not enough. The problems encountered by the outer city project of the capital are actually the same as the problems encountered in repairing the nine-border Great Wall in the early years."

"In the one or two hundred years before the Tatars' rebellion, the Nine Frontiers had always been the Ming Dynasty's defense line against the Mongols, and it was also the most important line of defense. However, due to the financial constraints of the court, the Great Wall often had to be repaired and built on and off."

"Moreover, sometimes the imperial court would even default on the salaries of the soldiers from the Nine Frontiers. In order to appease them, the imperial court could only turn a blind eye and tolerate these soldiers from the Nine Frontiers bullying the good people."

"But this is not a long-term solution. It makes the lives of the people in the north of the Ming Dynasty increasingly difficult. Many people have no choice but to either seek stability with the Tatars in the north, or be brainwashed by rebellious groups like the White Lotus Sect and passively join them in an attempt to resist the management of the imperial court."

"So, the problems you are facing now are nothing compared to the problems you faced before."

Hai Rui felt ashamed when he heard Zhu Zaigui's words. "Your Majesty, I know the court is in a difficult situation, but the construction site of the outer city has been under construction for a year and we have to stop now. If we really stop now, it will cause chaos inside and outside the capital.

"In the history books of the ages, my Ming Dynasty may be laughed at by future generations. It doesn't matter if I become a sinner for all eternity, but I cannot let the prince and His Majesty also bear this infamy."

Zhu Zaigui also understood Hai Rui's mentality. Zhu Zaigui said, "I understand your feelings, but the problem now is how to solve the problem, not to talk about the reputation after thousands of years."

"I called you here today to solve the problem. Since the court is unable to move forward, please help me think about other ways to continue the construction of the outer city of the capital without affecting the current situation."

(End of this chapter)