Chongzhen didn't come here to appreciate Qian Qianyi's newly purchased new house, and Qian Qianyi thought the same in his heart. Therefore, a group of people accompanied Chongzhen to visit half of the back garden, and Zhu Youzhen stopped in the pavilion near the pool in the back garden under the pretext of taking a break.

Qian Qianyi had already ordered someone to prepare food and drink, but he didn't expect that the emperor hadn't even entered the main hall, so he couldn't wait to talk to him.

Qian Qianyi had to turn around and give a few orders to the personal old servant, and let the food and drink be sent here, and then accompanied Chongzhen into the pavilion. Wang Chengen obviously knew the purpose of Chongzhen's trip this time, and he stood quietly outside the pavilion and stopped the others from continuing to follow.

Sun Zhiqi glanced at Qian Qianyi's back with envy and followed Chongzhen into the pavilion, but he also knew that with his current identity, it was not enough to hear the conversation between the two.

The pavilion looks elegant on the outside, but the space inside is not small. It is surrounded by bamboo curtains and gauze tents, and on the stone table in the middle there is a yaoqin and a burning sandalwood incense.

When Chongzhen walked into the pavilion, he also smelled a smell of women's fat powder. Apparently before he arrived, there were women here playing the harp. His sudden visit had disturbed a woman's leisure time.

Zhu Youzhen gently flicked his hand on the yaoqin, and after hearing a clear sound, he put away his boundless thoughts.

After he sat down on the stone bench on the side casually, he beckoned Qian Qianyi to sit down, "The new house purchased by Mr. is really good, and it has the taste of a water town in the south of the Yangtze River." After seeing my husband's mansion, I wanted to see the real scenery of Jiangnan. ”

Qian Qianyi could only smile and remain silent about this, and did not dare to provoke Chongzhen's greater interest in visiting the south of the Yangtze River.

Seeing that Qian Qianyi was reluctant to answer, Zhu Youzhen didn't care about himself, skipped this topic, and directly explained his intention.

"Actually, I came to visit Mr. privately this time, and I asked Mr. for two small things, I wonder if Mr. can help me?"

Qian Qianyi said respectfully: "Your Majesty has something, but please just give orders, the old minister will definitely obey." ”

Zhu Youzhen looked into his eyes and said in a gentle tone: "I want to ask Mr. Yang Taichang to serve as the governor of Zhejiang and Fujian at the cabinet meeting, and propose a document secrecy grading system..."

After Chongzhen's explanation, Qian Qianyi finally understood that the emperor wanted to fix the governor of Zhejiang, who had been temporarily served by Hu Zongxian, and set up the post of governor of Zhejiang and Fujian under the pretext of reorganizing Fujian, Zhejiang, and coastal defense.

And the nomination of Yang Hao as the governor of Zhejiang and Fujian suddenly reminded him of an incident that was rumored among officials in Beijing. The emperor asked him to make this request at the cabinet meeting, probably to get Yang Hao out of the next whirlpool of political disputes in Beijing.

The document secrecy grading system is relatively simple, but the various archives and documents that are now open to all officials are blocked to varying degrees according to the rank and position of the officials. Although the emperor's request seems simple, it undoubtedly destroys the old tradition of Ming officialdom.

The purpose of the official documents of the imperial court to all officials was actually that the Ming Emperor hoped to be able to restrain the important ministers of the court with low-level officials, so as to avoid the emergence of a dangerous situation in the court that could control the court alone, thus threatening the imperial power.

However, today, although this system restricts the emergence of powerful ministers. But more often than not, it has become the biggest drag on administrative efficiency.

Even ordinary people know that there are thousands of people in the family, and the person in charge is the only one. If everything decided by the court is made public, the final result is that when the ministers in the court balance the opinions of all parties, perhaps the best time to deal with things has disappeared.

However, in order to change this situation of open government affairs, it is necessary to abolish the right to know of most gentry officials. People may not remember what others have given them, but they will remember who took what from them.

Qian Qianyi immediately realized that this simple proposition he put forward would inevitably become a thorn in the side of a large number of people.

Although he has entered the cabinet, Qian Qianyi does not think that an ordinary cabinet minister is the end of his officialdom career.

In his heart, the chair under Huang Liji was more in line with his taste. As the first assistant of the cabinet, in addition to the trust of the emperor, the reputation of colleagues and scholars is also very important.

In order to gain the emperor's trust, it seemed a bit risky to offend so many colleagues and gentry.

Looking at Qian Qianyi's hesitant look, Zhu Youzhen couldn't help but shake his head a little in his heart. No wonder this old gentleman, in the history of his memory, in a very good situation, actually capsized in the gutter, and was intercepted by Zhou Yanru and Wen Tiren on the way to the first assistant of the cabinet.

As a politician, the old gentleman apparently cares too much about his image in the minds of others.

Zhu Youzhen thought about it, and then asked, "Mr. is so hesitant, but is there anything difficult about it?" ”

Qian Qianyi's face turned red, and he said with some hesitation: "This proposal for Mrs. Yang to be the governor of Zhejiang and Fujian, the old minister is very willing to serve His Majesty."

However, this document classification and secrecy system may violate the officialdom tradition of my Ming Dynasty, and I am afraid that the ministers will arouse the criticism of the gentry all over the world. ”

"Sure enough." Zhu Youzhen thought in his heart, but he still said calmly: "In fact, I introduced this document classification and confidentiality system, mainly for the sake of the cabinet scholars, so that they can concentrate on handling state affairs without interference from the outside world.

Please think about it, sir, when the cabinet discusses a matter, the outside world only needs to know what decision the cabinet has made, so why is it necessary to make public even those who oppose it and who supports it? If this continues, will the cabinet ministers still be able to speak freely when discussing affairs?

In addition, some officials support the disclosure of official documents and files, not to fill in the gaps for the court officials. However, by taking advantage of this excuse, he turned over other people's old bottoms all day long, and used it as a weapon to attack others, which can be said to be condemnable.

Then again, sir should feel this the most, right? ”

Qian Qianyi didn't react at first, but it took a while to understand what the emperor was talking about.

When he entered the cabinet at the beginning of the year, there was a royal history attacking others for their bad character, such as Qian Qianyi, when he presided over the Zhejiang Dian Examination in the past, he accepted bribes from scholars, and used "once a smooth step to the clouds" as a code word, taking the old things of Qian Qianqiu, a scholar in Zhejiang.

Although in the end, this matter was confused by Chongzhen on the grounds that it was not punished for one thing. But it really made Qian Qianyi disgraced for a long time, although the impact of this matter has finally subsided, but this matter has also become a heart disease in his heart.

The emperor's words reminded him that if this hierarchical secrecy system could be implemented, he could do something to cover up his old case.

When it comes to his own vital interests, Qian Qianyi seems to be much more decisive, he coughed a few times after a while, cleared his throat, and made a firm promise to the emperor that in order to improve the efficiency of the cabinet, even if he offends the gentry of the world, he will never back down.

Seeing that Qian Qianyi finally entered the alley, Zhu Youzhen naturally did not hesitate to encourage and praise a few words. The two then carefully discussed the content of the proposal and filled in the content, and only after thinking that there would be no loopholes, did they stop the discussion.

Qian Qianyi was naturally relieved, and Chongzhen also went to a piece of his heart. Wang Chengen, who was standing outside the pavilion, heard that the conversation in the pavilion had come to an end, so he motioned to the subordinates of the Qian Mansion to deliver refreshments and other food.

In the ensuing conversation, Zhu Youzhen felt that he didn't need to avoid everyone anymore, so he beckoned Wang Chengen and Sun Zhiqi into the pavilion.

Although Wang Chengen entered the pavilion, he consciously stood beside Chongzhen and skillfully distributed tea for him, but Sun Zhiqi sat down tremblingly in front of the emperor and Qian Qianyi.

After the servant of the Qian Mansion served fragrant tea, Zhu Youzhen immediately drank a bowl first, ready to moisten his throat, and then continued to talk about things.

Unexpectedly, after he took a sip, he felt that his mouth was fragrant, and he forgot to say something for a while, but praised it: "Good tea." ”

After Zhu Youzhen praised it, he looked into the bowl, but saw that the tea leaves in the bowl were blue and slightly black, although they were not very green, but the tea soup was as white as jade, and there was a pea fragrance.

Seeing that Chongzhen seemed to be quite interested in the tea leaves in the bowl, Qian Qianyi couldn't help but joke and said: "If Your Majesty loves this tea, there is still about half a catty in the minister's mansion, which can be given to Your Majesty for appreciation." ”

Sun Zhiqi just took a sip, and felt that this tea was very good, so he couldn't help but ask curiously: "Dare to ask Qian Ge Lao, what kind of tea is this, even Ge Lao is reluctant to give more." ”

Qian Qianyi's eyelids jumped and said: "It's not that the minister is stingy, this tea is called Tiger Hill Tea, and it was originally only grown in a small tea garden in the Tiger Hill Temple. The tea garden here is very small, and there are only a few dozen tea trees, and the annual output is less than 100 catties.

It is said that this tea has been very famous in the Song Dynasty, although there have been people who want to introduce it to other places over the years, but it is also strange that once it is introduced to other places, it loses the special fragrance of this tea, so the yield is always small.

In addition, there was an accident in the past few years, which led to the destruction of a lot of tea trees in the tea garden, and now there are only less than ten trees left, and there are only eight or nine catties a year.

It's not that I'm stingy, it's really out of stock. ”

Listening to Qian Qianyi's busy explanation of the reason, Sun Zhiqi realized that he was so quick that he had inadvertently offended this Qian Ge elder, and his face couldn't help but be a little surprised.

Zhu Youzhen looked at the two of them and seemed to be a little embarrassed, couldn't help but smile and put down the tea bowl, and said for the two of them: "I don't know, what happened to make this tea so bad." ”

Qian Qianyi paused, and then explained the reason for Chongzhen. It turned out that this Tiger Hill tea was famous, so the local powerful people asked the monks for tea every year, which became a big burden for the Tiger Hill Temple.

In the fourth year of the Apocalypse, officials in the court went to Suzhou to inspect, and when they heard the reputation of Tiger Hill tea, they ordered the monks to offer tea. After the old monk went back, he let the monks destroy this curse in grief and anger.

After Zhu Youjian listened, his face was a little ugly, and after being silent for a long time, he said sarcastically: "There are such clever and robbing officials, this tea tree has really become the bane of the temple." The tea tree is innocent, and the monk is helpless. The benevolence, righteousness and morality of my Ming officials are really just empty words on my lips. ”