……

……

Xuzhou, one of the "Kyushu of China", has been the key to the north since ancient times, the gateway to the south, the place where soldiers must fight, and the center of businessmen, located in the northwest of Nanzhili, the north wing of the Yangtze River Delta, and the border of four provinces, known as the "thoroughfare of five provinces".

When the Southern Patrol fleet entered the territory of Xuzhou, the time was March 19 of the lunar calendar, and it was about to enter the second half of March.

However, now Xuzhou is close at hand, and Xuzhou is only more than a thousand miles away from Yangzhou, if there is no accident, Emperor Deqing wants to "fireworks in March to Yangzhou" wishes, it will definitely be realized.

In this way, Emperor Deqing's mood was not as eager as before, and he thought that Xuzhou was connected to the north and south and the four provinces adjacent to the soil, and the customs and customs were all unique, so he issued a holy decree to let the southern patrol fleet stay in Xuzhou for two days to repair - during this period, Emperor Deqing could naturally take the opportunity to inspect the style and livelihood of Xuzhou.

Now, Zhao Junchen is in charge of all matters of the southern tour, so after Emperor Deqing issued a holy decree, it was still Zhao Junchen who led a group of officials of the Ministry of Rites to take a fast boat to the dock in Xuzhou to prepare for the holy drive with the Xuzhou officials.

However, unlike the previous times, the officials who accompanied Zhao Junchen this time, in addition to the officials of the Ministry of Rites, also had a pivotal second-class member of the imperial court - that is, Su Changyi, the governor of Nanzhili!

Was this supposed to be a given? Of course, although Su Changyi has been in the capital for a period of time, and now he is accompanying him to the south, but at this time, the Southern Patrol Fleet has entered the territory of Nanzhili, and Su Changyi, as a "landlord", naturally cannot be idle. It is necessary to personally deal with all the matters to welcome the holy car, so that he can take the opportunity to curry favor with Emperor Deqing.

But. When he took a clipper boat to Xuzhou with Zhao Junchen, Su Changyi took his daughter Su Xiuning unruly. Obviously, in addition to trying to curry favor with Emperor Deqing, he also wanted to take the opportunity to shorten the distance between Zhao Junchen and Su Xiuning.

It's a pity that unlike Su Changchen, Zhao Junchen has always been clear about public and private when doing things, and he can also distinguish priorities, so on the clipper, although Su Xiuning has been following Su Changzhen's side, Zhao Junchen just discussed with Su Changzhen the preparations and arrangements for Nan Zhili to meet the holy car. didn't say a few words to Su Xiuning, which made Su Xiuning look sad and at the same time, it also made Su Changyi's wishful thinking come to naught.

…………

However, it was said that Zhao Junchen and Su Changzhen were discussing, and time passed, and Xuzhou was already far away.

When the clipper docked at the Xuzhou wharf, Zhao Junchen and Su Changyi went down side by side, looking up, but saw that the wharf was already crowded with Nanzhili officials who greeted the holy driver, densely packed and crowded. A rough calculation shows that there are nearly two hundred officials on the dock alone.

Zhao Junchen turned his head to Su Changyi and smiled: "Compared with Shandong, the weather in Nanzhili is really very different. When we arrived in Linqing, Shandong, all the officials in Shandong also poured out and came to greet them, but they put aside the prefects and counties stationed in various places. It's only a few dozen, but it's far less powerful than Nan Zhili. ”

Su Changyi smiled: "This is nature. Nanzhili does not talk about the wealthy Cheng dù, and the territory under its jurisdiction alone is much larger than that of Shandong. Not to mention that there is also Nanjing in the territory of Nanzhili, and Nanjing, like the capital, has six departments, the Metropolitan Procuratorate, the General Administration Division, the Governor's Office of the Five Armies, the Hanlin Academy, the Guozijian and other institutions, as well as the Caoyun, Yandao and other yamen, so that after calculation, there are naturally more officials. ”

Between Su Changyi's explanations, although he seemed to smile casually, Zhao Junchen keenly noticed that when talking about the yamen in Nanjing, a trace of gloom flashed between Su Changzhen's expressions.

Regarding Su Changyi's thoughts, Zhao Junchen understood very well that the governor should have been the highest governor of a province, but Nanzhili was an exception, precisely because of the existence of the yamen in Nanjing.

At that time, after Ming Chengzu moved the capital to Beijing, for various reasons, he still retained the status of Nanjing's capital and retained a set of central institutions, and the officials who served in these institutions were all retired or excluded ministers, and most of them were only nominal, without actual powers, and their power was far inferior to that of Beijing's yamen institutions.

However, even so, the Nanjing Yamen still have certain powers, especially the Nanjing Sixth Department, and their powers cannot be underestimated.

The three prefectures and fifteen prefectures under the jurisdiction of the Nanzhili region are equivalent to the two provinces of Jiangsu and Anhui and Shanghai in later generations, but there is no political division, according to the judicial department, and the command department is not set up in the territory, and the functions and powers of the three divisions are all responsible for the six departments of Nanjing.

In fact, why didn't Su Changyi resented this? Even Zhao Junchen felt choked because of the storage of the six departments of Nanjing!

Among the six departments in Nanjing, the Nanjing Household Department and the Nanjing Military Department are particularly powerful!

Among them, the Nanjing Household Department was responsible for the collection of taxes and grain from Nanzhili and the provinces of Zhejiang, Jiangxi, and Huguang—these four regions accounted for almost half of all taxes and grains in the Ming Dynasty—and was also responsible for the collection and management of Cao Yun, the national salt introduction, and the national enslavement of the Yellow Book.

Although the taxes and grains collected by the Nanjing Household Department and the taxes on Cao Yun and salt will eventually be handed over to the Beijing Household Department, the storage of the Nanjing Household Department is still a great decentralization for Zhao Junchen, and now Zhao Junchen has regarded the Household Department as a forbidden body, how can he bear it?

Zhao Junchen has always believed that the reason why the turnover of money and grain in the treasury is so difficult is that it is largely because of the deposit of the Nanjing Household Department, which is responsible for the taxation of the richest places and industries in the Ming Dynasty, but the silver and grain handed over to the treasury every year is always unsatisfactory.

In fact, Zhao Junchen's copy of the "Excerpt of Commercial Tax Reform" handed over to the crown prince Zhu Heyu by Chu Jiayi, in addition to framing the crown prince Zhu Heyu, was also very important to shake the position of Nanjing's households, in addition, Zhao Junchen's support for the Jin merchants to develop Sichuan salt was not only to gain the support of the Jin merchants, but also to divert the attention of the Jin merchants and prevent them from defecting to the Jianzhou Jurchens as in history, but also to weaken the advantages of Nanjing's households.

Arguably. For the power of the household department in Nanjing, Zhao Junchen has been eyeing it for a long time. And for this reason, many plans were designed, and this time I accompanied the south. It is also with the intention of testing the reality of Nanjing's six departments.

Of course, such an idea only flashed in Zhao Junchen's mind, but his expression did not change at all - for the Nanjing Sixth Division, although Zhao Junchen and Su Changzhen have the same position, and there is room for cooperation between the two sides, Zhao Junchen is unwilling to let Su Changchen see his thoughts, compared to the cooperation between the two sides, Zhao Junchen hopes that Su Changchen will ask for help from him. In this way, Zhao Junchen can grasp the initiative.

In officialdom, the so-called "active" and "passive" are often just more patient.

Therefore, Zhao Junchen just smiled and said: "Yes, the prosperous place of Nanzhili, the jurisdiction is large, and there are many yamen in Nanjing, so it is also appropriate for so many officials to come to greet the holy driver." But I don't know how many of these officials came on behalf of Nanjing? ”

Su Changyi shook his head and said, "I'm afraid it's a lot, Your Majesty is coming to Nanzhili." For such a major event, those yamen in Nanjing should have one or two officials as representatives to welcome the holy car. ”

Zhao Junchen asked again: "Then, does Governor Su know." The officials who came to greet His Majesty on behalf of the various yamen in Nanjing would be headed by which lord from Nanjing? ”

Su Changyi still shook his head. A hint of gloom flashed between his expressions, and he said, "I don't know about this. Nanjing's major yamen do business, but they rarely inform me of the news. ”

Zhao Junchen smiled again, but didn't say anything more, firstly, Zhao Junchen had already tried to understand Su Changyi's position and attitude, and secondly, between the two conversations, all the officials on the dock had already greeted him, and it was inconvenient to talk about it at such an opportunity and occasion.

…………

However, it was said that the officials of Nanzhili came to Zhao Junchen and Su Changyi, saluted one after another, and greeted in unison: "I have met Governor Su and Lord Zhao, and the two adults have been fortunate all the way." ”

It seems to have been rehearsed in advance, and the voice is neat and loud, and it sounds like a lot of momentum.

Zhao Junchen nodded slightly to the salutes and greetings of the officials of Nanzhili, but he didn't say anything, just waiting for Su Changzhen to play, after all, this is Su Changyi's "home field", and Zhao Junchen is inconvenient to take the lead.

Don't look at Su Changyi's always cautious appearance in the capital, and he is also very polite in front of Zhao Junchen, but in front of these Nanzhili officials, he has changed to another appearance, not only straightening his waist, but his expression is even calmer and calmer, and there is a taste of not being angry and arrogant between raising his hands and feet.

"You don't have to be polite, Your Majesty is coming soon, Lord Zhao and I came here in advance, just to fight the front station and inspect all the matters that greet the holy car here." Su Changyi dragged his official tone and said slowly: "I have been accompanying the Holy Driver in the capital these days, and I don't know much about the recent situation of Nanzhili. ”

A Nanzhili official came out and said: "Back to the governor, in order to welcome the holy driver, Xuzhou has prepared all kinds of matters such as the palace, procurement, defense, etc., and there is nothing missing, please rest assured." ”

Su Changyi nodded, and turned his head to Zhao Junchen and said: "This person is Jiang Wenshan, the prefect of Xuzhou, who has been working under me for many years, and has always been prudent and cautious. ”

After explaining, Su Changyi turned his head to the officials of Nanzhili and asked, "Xuzhou is in order, but what about other places?" ”

"Back to the Governor, all the matters for Huai'an to welcome the Holy Driver have been prepared, and please rest assured."

"Lord Governor, all the matters of Yangzhou's welcome are well prepared, waiting for His Majesty to come at any time, and please rest assured."

"Back to the governor, I am also well prepared in Suzhou, and please rest assured."

As Su Changyi opened his mouth to ask, the officials of the state capitals of Nanzhili came out one after another to answer, and their attitudes were all respectful and abnormal.

Obviously, most of these local officials are Su Changyi's people, otherwise they would not be so courteous and obedient to Su Changyi, and they will answer all questions.

Originally, it was enough for Su Changyi to only ask about the situation in Xuzhou at this time, but Su Changzhen specially inquired about the situation in other state capitals, obviously to show his strength to Zhao Junchen.

Obviously, although the power in his hands was controlled by the six departments of Nanjing, Su Changzhen still had far-reaching influence in the territory of Nanzhili, at least most of the local officials everywhere were the only ones who looked ahead.

Sure enough, after the officials finished answering, Su Changyi explained to Zhao Junchen again: "Lord Zhao, these officials are all reliable people like Jiang Wenshan, I have always been at ease with them, since they said so, it means that the driving matters in all parts of Nanzhili are already worry-free, and the two of us can also worry a lot in the future." ”

Zhao Junchen nodded and smiled: "Since there is a guarantee from Governor Su, then I will be relieved......"

However, just halfway through Zhao Junchen's words, there was a sudden commotion behind the officials of Nanzhili, and then all the officials avoided both sides and withdrew from a road.

Then, two old men wearing second-grade official uniforms walked slowly and passed through it.

The two old men looked to be in their early fifties, one was slender and long, with a stern expression and not angry and arrogant, and the other was rich and squinted, always with a smile on his face.

Seeing the two old men getting closer and closer, Zhao Junchen asked Su Changchen softly, "Oh? These two adults have a lot of pomp, but I don't know who they are? ”

Obviously, these two old men had been resting in the room at the back of the dock just now, and they did not wait on the dock like other officials.

After Su Changyi saw these two people, his face sank, and he said slowly: "Didn't Lord Zhao ask me just now, who will lead the officials in Nanjing?" It's these two adults. Lord Zhao, you see, the old man with a rich figure and a smile on his face is Tang Zhen, the secretary of the Nanjing household department, and the other old man with a thin body and a dignified expression is Wang Baoren, the secretary of the Nanjing Ministry of Officials......"

"Wang Baoren?"

Originally, after the appearance of Tang Zhen, the head of the household department in Nanjing, Zhao Junchen should have focused on him, after all, Tang Zhen was Zhao Junchen's biggest enemy in power in a way.

But after hearing Wang Baoren's name, Zhao Junchen couldn't care about Tang Zhen anymore, but just focused on Wang Baoren and looked at it carefully.

Because, Emperor Deqing has already made up his mind to appoint Wang Baoren as the next crown prince and prince to assist the prince Zhu Heyu! Only after arriving in Nanjing, the will will will be announced!

If Tang Zhen is Zhao Junchen's biggest opponent in power, then this Wang Baoren will be Zhao Junchen's great enemy in politics for a period of time, and Zhao Junchen naturally attaches great importance to it!

At this time, these two people actually appeared at the same time!

……

…… (To be continued......) I1292