My father is Jiajing

Chapter 506 Something big happened!

Although Emperor Jiajing, who did not go to refill the coal, felt that the temperature in the carriage was as warm as a greenhouse, he also thought that it was hot enough to make people sweat.

So when he saw Huang Jin and Teng Xiang with dusty faces and sweating profusely, he couldn't help but ask this question in return.

Huang Jin and Teng Xiang were asked by Emperor Jiajing "Is it so hot?" and they felt really sad when they heard this question, but they couldn't say it.

Therefore, in the end, Huang Jin found an angle to respond and once again showed Teng Xiang the art of speaking.

Huang Jin said: "The Emperor has an immortal body, and we two servants are mortals, so we get nervous easily on the rail car. This nervousness makes us sweat."

When Emperor Jiajing heard this, he laughed. "Then you have to practice more. Otherwise, when the railway is really built in the Ming Dynasty, I will ask you to ride on the railway as an imperial envoy. Won't you two sweat until you collapse in your homeland?"

After Huang Jin and Teng Xiang heard Emperor Jiajing's joke, they immediately replied, "We will definitely exercise diligently."

Emperor Jiajing laughed heartily and was in a very good mood.

Then he said, "Then go down first."

Huang Jin and others responded immediately. At this time, the guards outside who saw the railway car stopped also ran over immediately to prepare to welcome the emperor.

When Janwatt and Marton saw Emperor Jiajing about to get out of the car, they immediately came over, moved the closed door handle away, and then moved aside.

At this time, Huang Jin also came over immediately, poked his head out of the car door, looked at the situation outside, and then he immediately pointed at a guard, "Come here and bend over."

The guard who was pointed at did not show any hesitation and immediately came over and leaned over in front of the car door to serve as a human ladder. At this time, Huang Jin also carefully came down from above, and then made all preparations to receive and support the Emperor Jiajing who followed behind and safely brought him to the ground.

Then the guard who acted as a human ladder stood up and stepped back to the side, while Teng Xiang, Zhan Watt, Marton and others who were still in the carriage could only jump out of the door.

Fortunately, the height of the car door was limited, only about fifty or sixty centimeters, so Teng Xiang and the others did not feel much discomfort when they jumped down.

Emperor Jiajing, who finally stepped on solid ground again, couldn't help but look back at the steam railway car behind him. He was really satisfied!

Although Zhuge Liang's wooden ox and flowing horse are also magical, they are more of a legend. Even if the wooden ox and flowing horse could be passed down to this day, their speed would not be better than the steam railroad car in front of us.

Also, in Zhu Zaigui's memorial, it was stated that if this steam railroad car was successfully developed and put into practical use, it would be able to pull at least a dozen carriages that were longer than the locomotive. If these carriages were used to carry cargo, each would be able to carry at least hundreds of thousands of kilograms of supplies.

Imagine that one carriage can carry 100,000 catties of grain, wouldn't 10 carriages be 1 million catties? With such a carrying capacity, would the capital still need to transport grain from the south every day through the canal?
The total amount of food that can be transported by these rail cars in a day is more than the amount of food that can be transported through the canal in a month.

Therefore, after experiencing the real thing, the excitement in Emperor Jiajing's heart was beyond words!

As soon as Emperor Jiajing was happy, he said to Huang Jin, "I will issue an order. I want to appoint Zhan Watt as the head of the Ministry of Works. He can receive a hereditary salary and will not be responsible to the Ministry of Works. He will be responsible for the Xishan Steam Plant! The rest of the people will be given 100 taels of silver and 10 pieces of cloth!"

When Jan Watt and others heard about the reward from Emperor Jiajing, they were so excited that they forgot to kneel down to express their gratitude.

At this time, Huang Jin smiled and reminded Zhan Watt and the others, "Master Zhan, why don't you thank God for his grace?"

When Zhan Watt heard Huang Jin's reminder, he came back to his senses with a start. He quickly knelt on the ground with Marton and others, "Thank you, God!"

When Emperor Jiajing heard the term "Fairy Master", he felt even more happy. He loved this title so much.

After everyone finished thanking him, Emperor Jiajing said, "You must do your best to bring glory to Xishan in the future. As long as you can create a magical object like a steam rail car, I will not be stingy with any reward!"

After hearing what Emperor Jiajing said, everyone bowed excitedly. It was obvious that they really did not expect happiness to come so suddenly.

Although Zhu Zaigui had given them very generous rewards and gifts in the past, he could not give them hereditary wealth and official positions. So at this moment, these people truly felt what it meant to be the great grace of heaven and what it meant to be the golden words of God.

After rewarding Janwatt and others, Emperor Jiajing left with satisfaction.

Before leaving, Emperor Jiajing said to Teng Xiang, who was also serving him diligently, "You have done a good job in Xishan. From today on, you will also be appointed as the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department. In the future, you must guard Xishan with all your heart and soul, and do not let others discover the secrets of Xishan."

When Teng Xiang heard that Emperor Jiajing wanted to promote him to be the chief eunuch of the Imperial Household Department, he was extremely excited. Although the status of the chief eunuch of the Imperial Household Department was not as noble and prominent as that of the eunuch with seal, it was also a position that countless eunuchs could not even dream of achieving.

Now the Emperor Jiajing was so happy that he made him the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department. How could Teng Xiang not be so excited that his eyes turned red and his nose felt sore?
Teng Xiang knelt on the ground excitedly, "I will definitely live up to your expectations and guard the West Mountain well, and will not let even a fly fly into it."

Emperor Jiajing laughed and said, "Okay, then keep working hard."

After saying these words, Emperor Jiajing left with Huang Jin. However, this time, Emperor Jiajing did not return to the palace directly. Instead, he went to the Divine Medicine Palace and discussed Taoism with Lei Dezi and Nuo Dezi, two Taoist masters from the Chemical Engineering Department, for two hours.

During these two hours of discussion, Emperor Jiajing also had a flash of inspiration in his trance. It turned out that there were so many strange reactions in alchemy. No wonder sometimes the elixirs he made were not strong enough and always made people feel unsatisfactory.

It turned out that when refining the elixir, the subtle reactions between the medicinal ingredients were ignored.

Therefore, after gaining inspiration from this discussion, Emperor Jiajing decided that after returning, he must collect materials again to refine a furnace of elixir, and strive to make a step closer to the direction of the elixir!
Therefore, judging from these "harvests", Emperor Jiajing made the right decision to come to Xishan this time. At the same time, Emperor Jiajing couldn't help thinking that it was no wonder that San'er came to Xishan every now and then. It turned out that the people here already had another set of knowledge and cognition, which was much better than those who could only talk big and talk nonsense.

So on the way back to the palace, Emperor Jiajing couldn't help but ask Huang Jin, "What has San'er been doing these past two days?"

When Huang Jin heard Emperor Jiajing asking about Zhu Zaigui, he immediately found the secret reports sent from the palace in the past two days and handed them to Emperor Jiajing.

"Emperor, according to the secret report, Prince Yu has ordered the Ministry of Justice to conduct a strict investigation into the case of Wang Bengu's family members abusing their power to bully the people. At the same time, the Censorate has also stated that it will conduct a serious internal investigation."

Emperor Jiajing looked at the secret report in his hand and then at Huang Jin's words. He could not help but hum, "It seems that Wang Zhi's matter will soon be settled."

Huang Jin said: "Yes, Wang Zhi has been imprisoned in the East Factory's prison for more than half a year. If he is detained any longer, even if he is not executed, it will affect Hu Zongxian's overall situation of suppressing the Japanese pirates in Zhejiang. After all, these pirates are all desperate criminals. If they are leaderless for a long time, they will really cause trouble."

Emperor Jiajing nodded in agreement, "Then this matter must be dealt with quickly. When Wang Bengu's case is almost settled, you can ask the East Factory to produce a confession of Wang Zhi's interrogation. I will close the case immediately." Huang Jin replied, "Yes, I obey your order."

After saying this, Huang Jin couldn't help but sigh in his heart at Wang Zhi's good luck. You know, a pirate leader like him, who had usurped the title, would be severely punished if he was caught, even if he didn't die.

But now Emperor Jiajing not only will not kill him, but will also reward him. This shows that Wang Zhi's luck is really extraordinary!

I’m so envious!

Just as Emperor Jiajing was on his way back to the palace, a very sudden event happened in the capital, which made Zhu Zaigui a little stunned and surprised.

Zhu Zaigui looked at Gao Gong who had hurried over to report the news, and couldn't help but raise his voice, "What did you say? Zhou Yan is dead?!"

When Gao Gong heard Zhu Zaigui's extremely surprised question, his heart could not calm down for a long time.

Gao Gong replied: "Yes, Your Majesty, Zhou Yan is dead."

After Zhu Zaigui confirmed it again, he couldn't help but take a breath and said, "Isn't he fine? How can he just disappear like that? When did he die?"

Gao Gong sighed and said, "I heard from his family that he died in his sleep last night. When he was found this morning, he was already dead."

When Zhu Zaiqi heard this, he couldn't help but sigh, "Ah, life is so unpredictable! How is the Censorate now?"

Gao Gong said: "The current Metropolitan Censorate has not officially started work yet. Only a few assistant censors have been called over to temporarily manage Zhou Yan's funeral. The Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Rites have also sent people over."

Zhu Zaiqi said, "What about His Majesty?"

Gao Gong hesitated for a moment and said, "The news was delivered to Xiyuan early in the morning, but His Majesty has not responded yet."

Zhu Zaigui couldn't help but wonder when he heard this. Zhou Yan was the Left Censor-in-Chief, a high-ranking official in the imperial court at the same level as the six ministers. How could the Jiajing Emperor still be so calm when he suddenly died? The emperor's heart was really as deep as the abyss!

Zhu Zaigui sighed again and said, "Then let's call the cabinet first. After all, Zhou Yan is the Left Censor-in-Chief of the court, and one of the Seven Ministers at the same level as the six ministers. The cabinet must also have rules."

Gao Gong replied: "Yes, I will arrange it right away."

Zhu Zaigui hummed lightly, waved his sleeves, and did not keep Gao Gong.

After Gao Gong left, Zhu Zaigui began to try hard to recall what happened to Zhou Yan.

It’s a pity that Zhou Yan’s presence in the history of the Jiajing period was too low. Zhu Zaigui thought about it for a long time but couldn’t figure out what the historical records after Zhou Yan were.

At the same time, Zhu Zaigui couldn't help but wonder how Emperor Jiajing could keep his composure?

The one who died was not a small fish or shrimp, but the leader of the Censorate, the big brother who was the head of the censors in the two capitals. Although his sudden death had little impact on the court, it had a significant impact on the entire censor system.

You have to know that the Ming Dynasty was a two-capital system. Although the six ministries in Nanjing were mostly just for show, the Censorate in Nanjing was by no means a mere formality. The favorite thing of these censors was to collude between the north and the south. When something happened, both sides would respond together, which was very annoying.

But at the same time, there was no way to deal with them, because they were all censors. Although censors had no real administrative power, they had the right to report on matters based on rumors.

If they unite and act as troublemakers, no one can stand it.

So now that Zhou Yan is dead, if one wants to quickly stabilize the Censorate, one must either immediately transfer the Chief Censor of the Nanjing Censorate to Beijing to take charge of the overall situation, or quickly find someone with certain qualifications and who is easy to manage to be assigned to a position in the Censorate.

Otherwise, if troublemakers arise, no one will be able to live in peace.

But at such a critical moment, Emperor Jiajing did not utter a word. Zhu Zaigui admired his composure, but at the same time he could not help but sigh, "The emperor's heart is as deep as the abyss!"
But is the emperor's heart really as deep as the abyss this time?
Apparently, this did not seem to be the case. Emperor Jiajing was still on his way back to the capital from Xishan. Apparently, the secret reports from the capital had not yet been delivered to him in time.

Otherwise, given Emperor Jiajing's extreme control over power, he would definitely make a decision at the first opportunity.

So the current situation is that a small power vacuum has inadvertently appeared, and when this vacuum occurred, no one inside or outside the capital noticed it.

From this we can see how much influence and misunderstanding the mysterious image of Emperor Jiajing had on the world in the past, so that when major events happened, everyone's first reaction was not that something went wrong with the emperor, but that the emperor was thinking something that was impossible to guess.

While all the officials in the capital were discussing the impact of Zhou Yan's death, Emperor Jiajing's carriage finally returned to the Western Garden.

Just as Emperor Jiajing got off the carriage and was about to return to Yuxi Palace to bathe, change clothes and put on a new Taoist robe, Chen Hong hurried over.

When Chen Hong arrived before Emperor Jiajing, he immediately bowed and said, "Something bad has happened to your Majesty! Zhou Yan is dead!"

Emperor Jiajing, who was getting off the carriage, stopped moving when he heard Chen Hong say that Zhou Yan was dead. He looked up at Chen Hong and asked seriously, "When did it happen?"

Chen Hong immediately added: "I heard from his family that it should have happened last night, but it was already late at night when the incident happened. Zhou Yan's death was not discovered until the next morning. By the time the imperial physician and doctors from the Academy of Medical Sciences went to see him, he was already dead."

When Emperor Jiajing heard this, he couldn't help but feel a little sad. He didn't expect that less than three days after leaving Xiyuan, a second-rank official of the court would die. It really caught him off guard.

Emperor Jiajing asked again: "How is it being handled now?"

Chen Hong immediately said, "Several deputy censors from the Censorate and people from the Ministry of Rites and Personnel have gone over. They are temporarily helping to take care of Zhou Yan's funeral affairs. The cabinet is also discussing countermeasures now."

Emperor Jiajing hummed, "I see. You can go down first and come back to report if you have anything else."

------

Asking for a monthly ticket~~
(End of this chapter)