Chapter 10 A shining debut
Yan Shaoting's arrival added a bit of doubt to the tense atmosphere in Yuxi Palace.

Everyone present knew that Yan Shaoting was the grandson of Lord Yan.

He also knew that when Zhou Yunyi caused trouble in front of the Meridian Gate last year, it was Yan Shaoting who ordered his men to break his legs.

Everyone looked sideways, looking towards the depths of Yuxi Palace.

Inside the palace, Jiajing was walking around from time to time. When he heard Yan Shaoting coming and asking for an audience outside the palace, the corners of his mouth slightly raised.

He was still wearing the inappropriate Taoist robe, and was walking towards the front hall with square steps.

The sound of faint Taoist chanting also came from deep within the hall.

"I have practiced until my body is like a crane, and I have two boxes of scriptures under a thousand pine trees."

"I came to ask Wu Yu said, the clouds are in the blue sky and the water is in the bottle."

In the front hall, Yan Song and everyone from the cabinet and the Imperial Household Department were already kneeling on the ground.

Jiajing, wearing a golden crown and with disheveled hair, walked to the throne, glanced at the ministers kneeling on the ground, and then looked outside the palace where snow was falling.

"Tell him to come in."

This is to approve Yan Shaoting's audience.

The eunuch waiting for the emperor's order stood at the palace gate. When he received the emperor's order, he immediately shouted outside.

outside the temple.

Yan Shaoting, who had been waiting for a long time, wearing the flying fish uniform of the Jinyiwei, looked up at the back of the dark palace door.

A lot of snow fell on his body because he stayed there for too long.

Behind him, from Xi'an Gate to outside Yuxi Palace, on the wide Xiyuan Avenue, there were nearly two hundred carts pulling large boxes.

The sound of Jiajing reciting poetry in the palace naturally reached Yan Shaoting's ears.

Old showoff!
Yan Shaoting complained in his heart, but after receiving the order to enter the palace, he smiled slightly, walked into the palace, shouting loudly.

"Your Majesty."

"Your Majesty, I, Yan Shaoting, have been doing business overseas under the order of the Emperor. This year, I have earned three million taels of silver, which have now been transported to the outside of Yuxi Palace. Your Majesty, please have the officials of the inner court inspect them, seal them up, and keep them for use in the imperial treasury!"

Three million taels of silver.

If he didn't do any overseas business, he wouldn't have filled the huge financial hole of the Ming Dynasty.

For this moment.

Inside the Yuxi Palace, whether it was Jiajing himself, or Yan Shifan, Xu Jie, Gao Gong, Zhang Juzheng, and even Lu Fang and others, all looked surprised.

Yan Song, who was kneeling on the ground, squinted his eyes and seemed to have fallen asleep again.

I and others have been fooled!

Gao Gong raised his eyebrows, knowing in his heart that today might not be good.

I had planned everything, but I never expected that I would be tricked by the kid from the Yan family today.

At this time, Yan Shaoting had already walked into the hall with his head held high and his chest puffed out, with an imposing manner.

He glanced at the people kneeling in the hall, then stood still and bowed to Jiajing.

"Your Majesty, I, Yan Shaoting, have fulfilled the Emperor's orders and now come to report back."

Today, in front of so many people, he openly stuffed three million taels of silver into Zhu Houcong's pockets.

Jiajing, standing in front of the throne, glanced at the young man who was bowing and clasping his fists in front of him, and just smiled slightly.

"Just now, I was listening to your discussion inside. You mentioned that Zhou Yunyi slandered the court and had a backer. At that time, it was Yan Shaoting who broke his legs and threw him out of the palace. You should know whether he has a backer or not."

Jiajing asked this question, staring at Yan Shaoting indifferently.

Yan Shaoting and everyone else naturally felt it.

He immediately said, "Your Majesty, Zhou Yunyi has no backing. The court's accounts have always been clear. He is probably a confused man and doesn't know how to calculate, so he thinks the court is at fault." At the moment, Jiajing did not want to let his Ming cabinet fall into chaos. Wouldn't this disrupt his plan to concentrate on practicing Taoism?

And this is also the fundamental thing that Yan Shaoting is clear about.

really.

As Yan Shaoting denied that Zhou Yunyi had a backer, Jiajing immediately hummed.

He then asked, "Just now in this palace, your father and others said that there are treacherous ministers in the court. What do you think?"

Yan Shaoting raised his head slightly and glanced at Yan Shifan.

Yan Shifan no longer had the anger he had at home a few days ago. Instead, he was worried whether this rebellious son would cause trouble again today.

Yan Shaoting just said softly: "Your Majesty was reading a poem by Li Ao of the Tang Dynasty. The last line, 'The clouds are in the blue sky and the water is in the bottle', explains it."

Got here.

There was finally a bit of anticipation in Jiajing's eyes.

This expectation was far greater than the three million taels of silver that Yan Shaoting had just stuffed into the palace.

"Then tell me what he has to say." Jiajing sat down slowly and looked at the people kneeling on the ground: "Listen to what he has to say."

Yan Shaoting nodded and said, "I obey your order. I guess that what your majesty meant by reading this poem is that some officials of our Ming Dynasty are like the clouds in the blue sky, while others are like the water in the bottle. They just do different things. They are all loyal officials of our Ming Dynasty. There are no treacherous officials."

Inside Yuxi Palace, as Yan Shaoting finished speaking, silence fell.

Yan Shifan was somewhat annoyed. Today was clearly a great opportunity to suppress Xu Jie, Gao Gong and others, but this rebellious son actually said that there were no treacherous ministers in the Ming Dynasty.

For a moment, Yan Shifan was really disappointed with his friend.

Xu Jie and Zhang Juzheng, the teacher and student, glanced at Yan Shaoting indifferently.

Gao Gong was holding back his anger, thinking that among the three generations of the Yan family, there was not a single loyal and honest person, and all of them were flatterers to their superiors!

Jiajing waved his hand and said, "Everyone, get up. Yan Shaoting, help your grandfather get up."

At the emperor's command, everyone stood up.

Yan Shifan, who was about to step forward to help Yan Song up, was stunned when he heard the emperor's words.

Yan Shaoting obediently stepped forward and helped Old Yan sit back on the stool.

Jiajing then spoke again: "Years ago, Zhou Yunyi said that it was the court that was immoral if there was no snow. Yan Shaoting insisted that the snow would fall soon. Now that the snow has really fallen, it shows that he is really a confused person as Yan Shaoting said.

At that time, I was worried that my subordinates might not be careful enough and if they beat him to death, it would be a pity for me.

You only broke his legs and threw him out of the palace, which saved me some regrets and also saved the court from some bloodshed."

Jiajing said the last sentence to Yan Shaoting.

This was done in front of the cabinet and everyone in the Imperial Household Department, praising Yan Shaoting in public, and it also exposed the fact that Yan Shaoting had arbitrarily broken the legs of an official in the court.

From now on, no one can use this incident to accuse Yan Shaoting of wrongdoing.

Yan Shaoting immediately bowed again: "Thank you, Your Majesty."

My three million taels were not wasted, and now I’m getting a reward.

Although Jiajing was a little greedy and selfish, he was still kind-hearted.

Just like the Yan family was able to stand in the court for twenty years.

Gao Gong was unhappy at this moment.

He is said to be straightforward, but in fact he has a bad temper.

Gao Gong immediately bowed and said, "Your Majesty, why have we never heard of the three million taels of silver that Yan Shaoting mentioned before?"

(End of this chapter)