The Prosperous Era of Longwan

Lu Bing died, and apart from his family and close associates, perhaps Xiyuan was the only one who grieved for him.

Emperor Jiajing stood in the garden and looked up at the bright moon in the sky, thinking that the moon was still the same, but things and people had changed.

If he dies, he will never come back.

There were not many friends left who had played together in Anlu Prince's Mansion, who had accompanied him all the way to the capital, and who had walked out of Anlu Prince Xingxian's Mansion.

These people were all his humeral ministers when he faced the intimidation of Yang Ting and those old diehards when he first ascended the throne. They were all his humeral ministers. Without their silent support behind him, Emperor Jiajing would not have been able to survive. I don't know if I could have survived such a chaotic court struggle.

After all, he was only a fourteen-year-old kid at that time.

"Your Majesty, it's midnight, it's time to rest."

Footsteps sounded behind him, and Emperor Jiajing knew who it was without turning around.

He is also old.

He sighed in his heart, "Huang Jin, tomorrow I will pass a decree and order the left governor Zhu Xixiao to handle the funeral and protect his family. Hasn't the cabinet discussed Lu Bing's funeral yet?"

Suddenly, Emperor Jiajing remembered that he had sent an order to the cabinet this morning, asking them to discuss Lu Bing's posthumous title and what kind of treatment he should give.

"this"

Huang Jin hesitated when he answered. Apparently the cabinet had not yet discussed the matter and reported the result to the inner court.

"Forget it, prepare the pen and ink, I will decide it myself."

Emperor Jiajing planned to issue the edict himself without waiting for Yan Song and his gang of old men.

Thinking of the frequent criticisms between Lu Bing and Yan Song, I felt a little upset. Maybe the Yan family was having a grand banquet at this time.

"Check for me, who have invited guests to their houses in the past two nights?"

When turning around to return to the palace, Emperor Jiajing suddenly gave an order.

As he walked quickly to the palace gate, Emperor Jiajing suddenly stood still and almost bumped into Huang Jin, who was following him closely.

"I remembered that the elixir refined this time should not have such a strong effect. Please quickly find someone to take a look at the remaining elixirs and repay them to me."

After practicing for many years, I don’t know how many furnaces of elixirs I have refined. The current Emperor Jiajing is considered a master at it.

To be honest, many folk medicine refining masters are afraid that they are not as proficient in medicine refining as he is, and there are not many people in the world who can refine medicine better than him.

Before, he was only sad because of Lu Bing's death, but when he thought that someone might hold a banquet at home and entertain guests when he was sad, he felt a little uncomfortable in his heart.

In just a few dozen steps, Emperor Jiajing thought of more, and he unconsciously analyzed the medicinal materials of this potion of elixirs before he came up with this suspicion.

It's very strange. Even if the furnace medicine is poorly made, it shouldn't be so powerful.

Hearing Emperor Jiajing's words, Huang Jin instinctively shrank his neck.

He could feel the icy chill from Emperor Jiajing's words. What did the emperor suspect?

Huang Jin felt a little guilty. You must know that he is the admiral eunuch in the palace. If the eunuchs below are really involved, he, the admiral, is also involved, which is the so-called leadership responsibility.

But thinking about it, the emperor's orders must be resolutely implemented. Even if there is something fishy about Lu Bing's death, it must be investigated. They are all people from the palace of Prince Xingxian in Anlu, even though he was once one of the informants sent by the inner court to Anlu to monitor Prince Xingxian. one.

"yes."

Huang Jin just nodded slightly and answered in a low voice.

"In the afternoon, I saw Chen Ju came back?"

Emperor Jiajing turned around and continued walking into the palace, asking as he walked.

"I arrived in the capital this morning. It was almost noon when I entered the palace. I asked him to rest for two days before coming back to work."

Huang Jin hurriedly followed and replied.

"Nanjing did a good job this time and deserves a reward."

Emperor Jiajing walked to the Imperial Book Case. He wanted to personally write an edict for Lu Bing. This was the only thing he, the emperor, could do at this time.

When Huang Jin heard this, he just raised his head slightly and glanced at the emperor's back, but he kept walking and followed him.

Early the next morning, Emperor Jiajing's edict was sent to the cabinet.

Yan Song accepted the imperial edict written by the emperor, but after reading it, his mouth felt a little bitter. Xu Jie stood aside and watched everything coldly.

Lu Bing's unexpected death made Xu Jie feel a sense of danger, although he didn't know where this feeling came from.

In fact, up to this point, even the darkest "conspiracy theory enthusiasts" would never have thought that Lu Bing's death was just a plot, a daring plot.

In this game, the person who set it up has considered everything.

According to the words released from the palace after Lu Bing's death, he suddenly died of illness while in office, and the Jin Yiwei patrolled the streets. This was to prevent the officialdom and the people from talking about the matter, and no one was allowed to mention that the real cause of Lu Bing's death was a new refinery for Emperor Jiajing. He died trying the elixir to preserve the emperor's reputation.

Even if someone is suspicious, they would never dare to jump out and say anything at this time, not to mention that from the perspective of people who know the details, is it weird to kill people with pills? It's not like things like this have never happened in the palace before.

Of course Xu Jie would not think that Emperor Jiajing poisoned Lu Bing. He was just sad because there was one less helper in the court who dared to confront Yan Song.

"His Majesty praised Wenfu for his service to the country, exposing the traitors, fulfilling his duties, and writing Qingci. He posthumously awarded him the title of Uncle Loyalty and the posthumous title of "Wu Hui" (which means "defending against insults, working hard and selflessly"). This is easy to say.

But he was given sixteen altars of sacrifices, which was a bit over the limit. He was also given fifty stones of linen cloth for fasting and ordered the Ministry of Works to prepare a coffin and build a tomb for him.

As for asking the Ministry of War to appoint his son Lu Yi as the commander of the bodyguard, and to ask Zhu Xixiao to take care of his family, these are what they should be. "

When the edict reaches the cabinet, the cabinet must reach a consensus before the six subjects can be issued with a seal. This is the imperial edict.

Emperor Jiajing sent this edict to the cabinet first instead of issuing it directly to the Sixth Section. Naturally, he was worried that the people in the Sixth Section would pretend to be crazy and deliberately cause trouble during the period, so he wanted them to do a good job of appeasing them first.

"Everything else is fine. It's just the sixteen altar sacrifices. I wonder if anyone in that group will cause trouble."

Xu Jie naturally knew the meaning of this, but the sixteen altar sacrifices were the emperor's specifications. If used on Lu Bing, it would indeed easily arouse criticism from the people below. If it was rejected by the Sixth Section, it would be another storm in the court.

"We will send them there in person. If anyone is dissatisfied, we will directly write a note and ask the officials to send him away. We have worked with Wenfu for many years. In this last step, nothing can go wrong."

Yan Song stroked his pale beard and said to Xu Jie.

Xu Jie nodded slightly, and that was all he could do, forcing Liu Ke to pass the decree.

The meanings of using imperial edicts to issue messages and using Zhongzhi edicts to issue messages are completely different.

In any case, since the person is gone, the emperor has given this bit of decency, so the people below them should stop messing around.

Sure enough, the people in the Six Sections still had some opinions on the honors the emperor gave Lu Bing after his death. The main issue was the sacrifice of sixteen altars. They were all firmly opposed to it at the beginning.

Although Yan Song claimed to have invaded the imperial court, he was often helpless against the subordinate officials of the Sixth Section and the Metropolitan Procuratorate, let alone the second assistant Xu Jie.

I had no choice but to come up with the discussed countermeasures and directly threaten them with official positions. Those who objected could just wait for the documents from the Ministry of Personnel, so they could go home and pack their bags and immediately set off to become the king of the mountains in the southwest.

Even though the first and second assistants made such threats, they were sent to remote areas like the southwest, where they would never be able to return to the prosperous Central Plains.

In fact, there are some people from them in the six subjects, but after all, there are not many, just a few people.

But it also played a huge role at this time. When he saw the two cabinet elders coming over, he knew it and hurriedly came out to act as peacemaker and persuaded the most determined opponents.

"Master Lu's matter has already been delayed for a day. We can't delay it any longer. After all, it is a posthumous honor. Your Majesty gave it to you. It's decent."

Despite the constant persuasion, the previous threats from Yan Song and Xu Jie are still in my ears. Thinking about it, why are we still fighting when they are gone?

Finally, Li Ke took the lead in nodding his head in agreement, and the edict itself was deemed to be passed with Li Ke’s nod.

Others saw that the Li Ke had already made concessions and could not continue to object, so the edict was quickly archived and printed.

After the imperial edict was issued, the Left Governor Zhu Xixiao hurriedly left the Zuo Army Governor's Mansion and rushed to the Lu family to take care of the Lu family's funeral.

In fact, this edict should have been issued yesterday, but the cabinet never came up with a charter, and Emperor Jiajing fell into grief again, so it was issued one day late.

Zhu Xixiao was the younger brother of Zhu Xizhong, the current Duke of Chengguo, after Zhu Neng, king of Dongping. He got the official position because of Zhu Xizhong's relationship.

Lu Bing was the governor of the Zuojun Governor's Mansion, but he was in charge of everything related to Jinyiwei. Emperor Jiajing naturally trusted his brother more than others.

Zhu Xixiao was also a person who was good at making friends, had good abilities, and was related to his brother Cheng Guogong Zhu Xizhong, so he had a prosperous official career after becoming an official, and became the person in charge of the Zuo Army Governor's Mansion.

Of course, at this time, most of the powers of the Fifth Army Governor's Office had been emptied out by the Ministry of War, and the actual power to command the troops had long been lost, leaving only an empty shelf, but it could not hold up a high level.

Emperor Jiajing sent Zhu Xixiao to take charge of Lu Bing's funeral. Naturally, he was also raising the status of the Lu family. Don't let unscrupulous bullies come to your door just because Lu Bing is gone.

After all, when he was in charge of Jinyi Weishi, Lu Bing offended many powerful people.

News spread very quickly in the capital, and Wei Guangde got the information at noon that day.

"Tsk, tsk."

Wei Guangde lamented Emperor Jiajing's favor for Lu Bing and treated him as a nanny with imperial standards, but then he shook his head, saying that Lu Bing was not worth it to him.

Wei Guangde thought that Emperor Jiajing's summons might be postponed for a few days until the Lu Mansion announced the funeral, but this time he thought wrong.

That night, a young chamberlain came to convey the news from the palace, and he would go to Xiyuan early tomorrow morning to have an audience.

Regarding this summons, Wei Guangde also guessed that it was a routine interview. After all, he was an imperial envoy sent by the imperial court to ask about his errand. By the way, he might also talk about what he saw and heard among the people along the way, especially the Nanjing Zhenwu incident in which Wei Guangde was involved. camp incident.

However, Wei Guangde also thought that Emperor Jiajing probably had no intention of talking about this at this time. He should just ask casually and end the summons, and then let Wei Guangde rest for a while.

Sure enough, during the summons the next day, Emperor Jiajing was more interested in the current situation of Nanjing City and asked about some of his experiences in Nanjing City.

As for Zhenwu Camp, it was not touched at all.

Also, the information from Zhenwu Camp and the report sent from Nanjing have been explained in great detail, not only the cause but also the development process and final disposition of the situation.

When he learned from Wei Guangde that the city of Nanjing had suffered from successive disasters and the business in the market had declined, he remained silent for a long time.

The whole interview process was very short. Emperor Jiajing didn't speak much. He mostly asked questions, and then Wei Guangde answered them.

When Wei Guangde withdrew from Yongshou Palace, he was given a half-month vacation by Emperor Jiajing, allowing him to have a good rest at home.

Although he did not receive a reward from the emperor in Xiyuan, Wei Guangde knew that before the holiday was over, an imperial edict would definitely be given to him, just to see where he would go with this promotion.

If he continues to stay in Zhan Shifu for promotion, it means that the emperor seems to have no intention of releasing him yet, and may still stay in the Hanlin Academy to polish and wait for opportunities.

Such an official position is naturally what Wei Guangde hopes for. Whether he stays in the Hanlin Academy or the Zhanshifu, he still has the opportunity to impact the cabinet. If he is released, whether he goes to the Metropolitan Procuratorate or the Sixth Ministry, or even to another place, it means It seems that he has lost the opportunity to become a cabinet minister.

Wei Guangde was still very uneasy when he left Xiyuan. The emperor didn't talk much, so Wei Guangde couldn't see any clues.

After returning home, Wei Guangde took the time to go to the Lu Mansion to pay homage to Lu Bing. Because of the high standards given by the emperor, many officials came to pay homage in front of the Lu Mansion. Wei Guangde's appearance was also inconspicuous.

Entering the mourning hall, Wei Guangde paid homage in a junior manner according to the rules. Lu Bing's third son, Lu Yi, was waiting for guests in the mourning hall.

Lu Bing had four sons, the eldest son Lu Jing died young, the second son died young, the third son Lu Yi is now the head of the Lu family, and the fourth son Lu Cai is still young, so naturally he will not be arranged.

Wei Guangde only met Lu Bing three times, but never with the rest of the Lu family. What's more, on such an occasion, he didn't expect that he would be invited to the side room by Lu Yi after they just exchanged a few words.

After a while, Lu Yi saw off the guests and entered the wing. He cupped his hands at Wei Guangde and said, "Yi often hears my father mention Wei Chuanlu, but it's a pity that he has never seen him before. But on such an occasion, he met with my dear brother." Meet."

Wei Guangde was slightly stunned when he heard this. He didn't expect that Lu Bing had mentioned him in front of Lu Yi. It seemed that he really didn't know anything about it.

"I never thought it would be like this. It's really disappointing."

Wei Guangde made a mournful expression and said, which naturally revealed his true feelings. Although he did not have a close relationship with Lu Bing, after all, he was missing a channel to obtain information, and the loss to him was huge.

"My father passed away suddenly, and many things were not explained. In the future, please ask Shandai to take more care of me."

Having said this, Lu Yi suddenly bowed deeply to Wei Guangde.

Although he has been promoted to the rank of commander of the Imperial Guard, he also knows that his father is gone, and his relationship with the palace is separated by a layer after all. He needs someone in the court to help him.

Lu Bing also had arrangements in the court. After all, Qian Jinyiwei had offended too many civil servants.

It's a pity that none of these preparations were handed over to Lu Yi.

When I saw Wei Guangde today, I naturally remembered that I had heard my father say that this man was trustworthy, and that was why this happened.