The Prosperous Era of Longwan

After hearing Wei Guangde say that the cabinet should report their opinions to the cabinet, and that the final decision would be made by Emperor Jiajing, King Yu nodded slightly.

"Yes, this is what a cabinet minister should do."

King Yu's casual words let Wei Guangde know that the final cabinet decision might be more complicated than he thought.

"May I ask, Your Highness, how the cabinet was finally voted for?"

Wei Guangde asked curiously. He wanted to know who won the dispute between Xu Jie and Yan Ne.

"The three bachelors in the cabinet, Mr. Xu Ge and Mr. Yan Ge, have expressed their attitudes, and the remaining one, Mr. Li Ge."

Having said this, King Yu couldn't help but shake his head slightly with a wry smile on his face.

"Mr. Li Ge also has his own opinions?"

Wei Guangde was shocked and asked curiously.

In his impression, Li Chunfang was a good-natured person with no decisiveness, a kind of old oil man who was mixed up in the officialdom.

In the situation where Xu Jie and Yan Ne were facing each other tit for tat, he should hide whenever he could and would never get involved in this dispute.

"Do you think Mr. Li Ge won't have his own opinions?"

King Yu noticed Wei Guangde's words and asked.

"That's what Mr. Li Ge is like. He is rather indecisive and hesitant in doing things. He rarely expresses his own opinions anyway. He always follows what others say."

Wei Guangde thought about it and said.

"Mr. Li Ge, it is indeed as you said. I can see it this time. He can be an official, but he cannot be a prime minister."

King Yu said.

The words seemed casual, but when they fell into Wei Guangde's ears, they had another meaning, that is, King Yu would not let Li Chunfang serve as the chief minister of the cabinet.

Among the three assistant ministers in the cabinet, Xu Jie is getting older and has few years left to be active. The next chief assistant will inevitably be born between Yan Ne and Li Chunfang.

Emperor Jiajing has only been in power for two years, so it can be basically concluded that Xu Jie will take office soon after King Yu comes to power, and then Yan Ne will most likely be the first assistant, and Li Chunfang will be the second assistant.

Further down the row, it seems that Gao Gong will definitely be able to enter the cabinet. Chen Yiqin, who is already the right minister of the Ministry of Rites, has a high chance of entering the cabinet, as well as Zhang Juzheng.

Suddenly, Wei Guangde felt like he was lagging far behind them.

Until now, he was still the concubine of Zuo Chunfang in Zhan Shifu, and had not yet entered the core of power in the imperial court.

Although Wei Guangde is younger than them, there is a huge gap in official positions. If he slowly moves up on his own, his advantage will be gone.

But at this time, when Emperor Jiajing didn't have much time, he couldn't leave the capital.

In the early years, Wei Guangde had the idea of ​​leaving Beijing to become an official, but now it is absolutely impossible.

Once a person leaves, when the emperor changes, who will remember him and leave a good place for him.

But without leaving the capital, I can always slowly improve my level.

Sad.

When Wei Guangde felt a little anxious, King Yu was still talking about what happened in the cabinet.

Li Chunfang really didn't have any opinions, but told Xini that Xu Jie and Yan Ne's opinions were both good, and they could discuss it slowly before making a decision.

Harmony is originally the strong point of cabinet ministers. To coordinate the six ministries, doesn't it have to be harmonious?

But when a dispute breaks out among cabinet ministers, such behavior is somewhat inappropriate.

"So, the cabinet has not yet decided how to vote?"

Hearing what King Yu said, Wei Guangde was a little surprised and said?

Can this matter be postponed?

"According to Li Chunfang's wishes, we will discuss it again tomorrow morning. Once confirmed, we will meet directly in Xiyuan."

King Yu spoke.

However, calculating the time, it is only a day's delay, so it shouldn't matter.

However, Wei Guangde always felt that the matter was not that simple.

Suddenly, Wei Guangde thought of something, that is, Li Chunfang and Xu Jie seemed to be from Nanzhili, Xu Jie was from Songjiang Prefecture, Li Chunfang was from Yangzhou Prefecture, and Yan Ne was also from Suzhou Prefecture, Nanzhili.

It can be said that all three ministers in the current cabinet are from Nanzhili, and as a native of Suzhou Prefecture, Yan Ne probably knows a lot about the local seizure of Yan Shifan's family property.

And Li Chunfang should be in a similar situation.

Xu Jie wanted to delay the matter, while Yan Ne wanted to handle the matter strictly. Li Chunfang's attitude was ambiguous, but he obviously favored Xu Jie, because under normal circumstances, he should have proposed to report their opinions to the emperor, but he did not.

Wei Guangde actually now roughly understood what was going on with the three cabinet members. Xu Jie had eaten the meat, and Yan Ne's attitude was not clear whether it was because he didn't eat anything or because he thought he had taken too little, or whether he really Qingfeng has two sleeves, and he can't stand the ugly appearance of Xu Jie and his party.

Li Chunfang seemed to know the official secrets, so she proposed to postpone it for one day, in fact, she wanted to reconcile the matter. What does this mean?

Li Chunfang was also involved, but the interests were not as great as Xu Jie's.

Today was a debate in the cabinet during the day, so the three of them should have another secret meeting tonight.

Wei Guangde can almost confirm that the fight between Xu Jie and Yan Ne was most likely caused by the uneven distribution of spoils.

Originally, this matter had little to do with Wei Guangde. He should stay out of the matter and even analyze the joints in detail for King Yu.

Although King Yu knew this, he would only be dissatisfied with Xu Jie, Yan Ne and other three cabinet ministers, but it was useless to be unable to influence the overall situation.

But who told his father to covet the house and shop and forcefully drag him into this whirlpool?

King Yu called him, probably because he wanted him to analyze the official orifices, but he couldn't tell.

After thinking for a moment, Wei Guangde looked at King Yu and said: "Your Highness, I think that both Mr. Xu Ge and Mr. Yan Ge are considering this matter for the imperial court.

The reason why Mr. Xu Ge said that probably has something to do with his age. To put it bluntly, Mr. Xu Ge has only been in that position for a few years, so he naturally wants stability. He hopes that in the last few years of his tenure as chief minister, the government and the opposition will be stable. .

In this way, it will naturally be better when you comment on him in the future.

However, Mr. Yan Ge has been in the cabinet for a short time, so he is inevitably a little impatient and reckless in his work.

Jiangnan is an important tax-paying area for the imperial court, and the Yan family must have secretly hidden their wealth from committing crimes to ransacking their homes. If Mr. Yan Ge's advice is followed, then the officials in Jiangnan will probably be too busy pursuing dirty things, and will miss the important events of the imperial court."

Wei Guangde could only reluctantly explain to Xu Jie and Yan Ne, hoping to arouse King Yu's doubts.

However, Wei Guangde didn't want to take the blame, so he finally said: "In fact, Mr. Xu Ge's suggestion is good. The court only needs to instruct Cheng Yushi to recover the dirty silver. Cheng Yushi will be fully responsible for this matter. If there is any If you make a mistake, ask him."

"You are worried that Jiangnan officials will delay their official duties because of this matter and do not agree with Yan Ne's words."

King Yu nodded slightly as he spoke, "I'm afraid that if this matter drags on, it will become an unsolved case that will never be concluded."

King Yu had obviously doubted the integrity of the officials below and was worried that they would steal from themselves, so he was more inclined to Yan Ne's words to cut through the mess quickly and recover the Yan family's wealth.

Despite this concern, King Yu could only reluctantly accept what Wei Guangde said at this time.

Just when Wei Guangde thought that the matter was over and was about to leave, King Yu had already said: "I have wasted a lot of time today, sir. Let's have a banquet at the palace tonight."

Just when Wei Guangde was about to decline, King Yu had already ordered a banquet to be prepared.

King Yu loved the excitement and sent people to inform other officials of the palace, all of whom he knew well.

Under such an operation, Wei Guangde certainly couldn't refuse, so he had to bow down and accept the order.

Wei Guangde went out to Prince Yu's Mansion on the pretext of delivering a letter to his family and told his coachman that he was going to have a banquet at Prince Yu's Mansion.

"Li San, after you return home, find Zhang Ji and ask him to arrange for a few clever men to keep an eye on the whereabouts of the three cabinet ministers tonight, and tell him to be careful not to be discovered."

After Wei Guangde finished talking about the banquet at the palace, he whispered to the coachman to go back and convey his order.

In the evening, after the banquet at Prince Yu's Mansion, Wei Guangde was still thinking about his future while leaning on the carriage.

Now, it seems that I can't continue to be a salty fish, I have to take the initiative to fight for an official position.

In the past, Wei Guangde really didn't care much about promotion, perhaps because he felt that Emperor Jiajing's time was still long.

But just today, the official queue that I accidentally thought of realized that I seemed to have slacked off before.

It's a pity that he was promoted to an official position by Emperor Jiajing just two months ago. Regardless of his achievements in a short period of time, there is almost no hope of being promoted again.

Thinking of this, Wei Guangde couldn't help but sigh in the carriage.

If the fifth rank is not enough, you have to move up to the fourth rank official position. After King Yu ascends the throne, you will have the opportunity to join the Ministry of Rites or the Ministry of Personnel, thus taking the most difficult step to enter the cabinet.

Before that, I had been catering to King Yu, forgetting that the person who promoted me was actually His Majesty.

At this time, the capital city was under night arrest, and the carriage was occasionally spotted and questioned by patrolling sergeants ahead.

However, Wei Guangde had an official position, so after the coachman displayed the Wei Mansion sign, the traffic would still be unimpeded. Even the entrance to Fangshi, which was said to not be opened after nightfall, would still be open for him.

This is what power feels like.

If they were ordinary people, the street patrols and policemen would have driven them away long ago. How could they allow such arrogant people to walk through the streets?

The carriage soon entered Nanxunfang and returned to the gate of Wei Mansion.

Wei Guangde drank some wine and it was a little difficult to get off the carriage. After all, he felt dizzy.

Zhang Ji and Li San finally managed to get down without his help and enter the house.

When Zhang Ji helped Wei Guangde walk to the backyard, he reported to Wei Guangde in a low voice: "Master, I asked someone to check the message you asked Li San to bring back, but I didn't find that the three elders visited each other. occur.

but"

"It's nothing. It doesn't matter if you just say it. Don't hesitate to me at home."

Wei Guangde was drunk now, and his speech was a little stiff.

Zhang Ji did not speak immediately, but helped Wei Guangde into the study and asked his servants to prepare the sobering soup. Only when no one was around did he whisper in his ear: "At night, there was a small sedan in the house of the three pavilions. After leaving the mansion, the person sitting in the sedan was covered with a cloak and his face could not be seen clearly.

The three sedans all went to Tianyin Pavilion in Goulan Hutong, and they stayed there for about half an hour before leaving.

If they didn't confirm, it would be the three pavilion elders who went there. "

"Well, if you don't confirm it, don't confirm it."

Wei Guangde shook his head and said casually: "I know about this. Go and ask someone to prepare hot water for me. I want to take a bath."

After Zhang Ji went out, Wei Guangde slowly opened his eyes.

Is it necessary to confirm whether those three are going?

As long as he feels it is.

However, Wei Guangde still rubbed his temples, actually feeling a little regretful in his heart.

When I was greedy for that little bit of land, I dragged myself into this whirlpool, which was a bit outweighing the gains and losses.

Originally, since Wei Guangde was watching, he really dared to say that he was a breeze with both sleeves and was not greedy for even a little money from the imperial court.

What I earn, at least from the perspective of future generations, is clean hard-earned money.

What you earn from doing business is not shabby.

But this time, it seems that because of a mistake, he became one of the corrupt officials of the Ming Dynasty.

After coveting those fields, he also took the house, shop and money.

Although it is the property of the Yan family, it is money that is to be confiscated after all. Strictly speaking, it is already the money of the imperial court.

Thinking about it today in Prince Yu's Mansion, I didn't dare to elaborate on the inside story.

Wei Guangde doesn't know what he will look like in the future.

In the past, he felt that with his advanced knowledge and official position, it was not easy to make money, so he made up his mind not to be greedy.

But somehow, before Yan Shifan came to Beijing, he managed to do this by some strange combination of circumstances.

One misstep leads to eternal hatred.

Only now did Wei Guangde understand the meaning of these words. It was still too superficial before.

At the end of the dynasty, are all officials like this, cheating on others and making money?

Wei Guangde couldn't help but think of this. It was only in the middle of the Ming Dynasty that officials dared to hook up and make money in units of one million taels. It was so terrifying.

Wei Guangde felt that he had really suffered a big loss. He didn't get tens of thousands of taels of money, but he got into trouble.

One night passed, and on the afternoon of the second day, Lu Bu inquired about the news. Sure enough, the cabinet finally reported the matter in accordance with Xu Jie's opinion.

In Xiyuan, both Yan Na and Li Chunfang thought that what Xu Jie said about old ministers seeking the country was a good way to deal with the recovery of the Yan family's property.

The cabinet all expressed their position, and Emperor Jiajing did not delve into the matter. He agreed to follow Xu Jie's words and appoint the censor Cheng Shojie as the imperial envoy to take charge of this matter. Within three years, all the Yan family's property must be confiscated and put into the treasury.

Three years, who knows if Emperor Jiajing will still have these three years.

"Sir, a letter from Mr. Zhang has arrived today."

On this day, Wei Guangde returned to the mansion. As soon as he entered the mansion, the housekeeper Zhang Ji came up with a letter in his hand.

"Master Zhang? Which Master Zhang?"

Wei Guangde wondered, took the envelope and looked at it, then a smile appeared on his face.

The letter was sent by Zhang Ke, the censor of the Zhejiang Direct Patrol. After Hu Zongxian stepped down, Zhejiang's anti-Japanese military was dually managed by Zhang Ke and the Zhejiang governor.

However, the governor of Zhejiang still has to manage the civil affairs of Zhejiang, so in the past two years, Zhang Ke has actually become the top commander of the Zhejiang Ming Army.

In fact, as far as fellow villagers like Wei Guangde are concerned, Zhang Ke is the only one who has shown the qualities of a military and civilian official. If his official career is smooth, he will be a candidate for the governor of a town in the future.

Not only Wei Guangde but also the Ministry of War had never noticed Zhang Ke's ability in this area before. However, after the imperial court arrested Hu Zongxian, Wang Yingqi, the guerrilla battalion general of Hu Zongxian's department, led more than 10,000 troops to flee the martial arts world and took risks to launch a military mutiny in an attempt to blackmail the imperial court. .

Zhang Ke used his plan to lead his troops to capture the rebel general Wang Yingqi alive in the middle of the night. After interrogation, he drafted a memorial and sent it to the court to quickly stabilize the situation.

However, in the study, Wei Guangde took out Zhang Ke's letter and looked at it carefully, but he frowned because Zhang Ke seemed to be in trouble.