prosperous age

"Master Prime Minister, my godfather asked me to tell you something. The master is in his twenties, so he should not play with foreign objects."

Wei Guangde walked back slowly, but the eunuch in the duty room had a unique hoarse voice that was very penetrating, and Wei Guangde heard every word.

Although he was slightly startled, he did not stop, but just returned to his duty room seemingly nonchalantly.

Entering the house, Wei Guangde's mind was still echoing those words, "The master is in his prime, so he cannot play with foreign objects."

What do you mean?
Wei Guangde didn't understand why Feng Bao said such words to Zhang Juzheng. It was really puzzling.

"Master, the tea is cold. I'll change it for you."

After Wei Guangde sat down, Lu Bu followed him in, picked up the tea in front of him, said something, then turned around and left the room.

After seeing Lu Bu's leaving back, Wei Guangde finally realized what the words meant.

Yes, when he saw Lu Bu, Wei Guangde immediately thought of the lotus pond that Lu Bu had mentioned before. Then he thought about the Bai Lian from the lotus pond and the Bai Yanzi from the Hanlin Academy, weren’t they both sent to the Qianqing Palace by Zhang Juzheng?

"hehe."

Thinking of this, Wei Guangde suddenly realized that Feng Bao had sent someone to tell Zhang Juzheng off for giving the little emperor such gadgets for no apparent reason, which would easily make the little emperor lose his ambition due to such gadgets.

After sneering at Zhang Juzheng's self-conceit, Wei Guangde suddenly realized something, and then his face became solemn, and he couldn't help muttering: "Feng Shuanglin is getting carried away."

"Master, what kind of tea do you want?"

At this moment, Lu Bu came in with the freshly brewed tea and heard Wei Guangde say "floating". He subconsciously thought that Wei Guangde was not satisfied with the Longjing tea he brewed for him and wanted to drink some other tea.

The names of teas these days are very culturally and meaningful.

There are several types of tea from the south in the duty room, which are called "Piao".

"No, you go down."

Wei Guangde collected his thoughts, waved at Lu Bu, and asked him to go down.

Only after Lu Bu walked out of the duty room suspiciously did Wei Guangde start thinking again.

The current Zhang Juzheng is exercising the imperial power by using his power as prime minister, but the internal minister Feng Bao actually sent people to lecture Zhang Juzheng. What does this mean?
The chief minister of the outer court and the eunuch in charge of the inner court are called the inner and outer ministers in the court. Feng Bao's actions today are a demonstration to Zhang Juzheng that his position as inner minister should be higher than that of outer minister.

It is very interesting to compare who had the greatest power, the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department or the chief minister of the cabinet in the Ming Dynasty.

In the Ming Dynasty, the eunuch who held the seal of the Imperial Household Department was called the "chief of the inner ministers", and the chief minister of the Cabinet was called the "chief of the outer ministers". Comparing these two positions to see which one had the greatest power was like comparing the inner court and the outer court of the Ming Dynasty to see who had the greatest power.

The cabinet originated during the reign of Emperor Chengzu Zhu Di of the Ming Dynasty. Initially, the cabinet ministers only had the power of advice but not decision-making.

But as time went on, the cabinet ministers gradually participated in decision-making and gained higher status and more power during the reigns of Emperor Renzong and Emperor Xuanzong of the Ming Dynasty.

By the time of Emperor Shenzong of the Ming Dynasty, the power of the cabinet chief had become so great that he was able to suppress the six ministries and even cooperate with eunuchs to take charge of state affairs.

The chief minister of the cabinet had the power to draft imperial edicts, but he had to rely on eunuchs to deliver their approval, which to a certain extent restricted his independent exercise of power.

The eunuch who holds the seal, that is, the eunuch who holds the seal of the Imperial Household Department, although he is called the "head of the internal ministers", his power mainly comes from the emperor's trust and authorization.

The eunuch in charge of the seal was responsible for approving the cabinet's proposals, but he did not actually participate in the decision-making process.

Their power was more formal, relying on the emperor's trust and the support of the cabinet.

To discuss who has more power, we need to understand the Ming Dynasty, the most special dynasty in history.

There is a saying that there was almost no decent emperor in the Ming Dynasty. The only one who could be mentioned was the founding emperor Zhu Yuanzhang. After him, only the Yongle Emperor Zhu Di could be barely mentioned.

Starting from Zhu Qizhen, the emperors of the Ming Dynasty were no longer decent, and every emperor after that did many extremely absurd things.

Emperor Jiajing, Emperor Wanli and Emperor Tianqi all did not attend court for many years, and Emperor Wanli did not attend court for even thirty years.

But even though the emperors of the Ming Dynasty were not decent, the Ming Dynasty remained very stable for a long time.

This actually shows that the person with the most power in the Ming Dynasty was still the emperor.

Therefore, when we discuss which minister has the greatest power, we are actually discussing who the emperor trusts the most.

The people the emperor trusts the most have the greatest power; the people the emperor is more wary of have limited power.

The emergence of the cabinet was actually the result of the emperor's wariness of his ministers having too much power.

The chief minister of the Ming Dynasty's cabinet was created and finalized during the second reign of Emperor Yingzong of the Ming Dynasty.

Emperor Yingzong of Ming was a relatively capable emperor, but starting from Zhu Jianshen, the emperors became less and less willing to do things.

Zhu Jianshen's cabinet chief, Wan'an, even offered Zhu Jianshen aphrodisiacs so that he could concentrate on playing in the harem, thereby increasing the power of the cabinet.

From then on, the position of the chief minister of the cabinet was basically finalized, which also meant the position of prime minister.

The cabinet’s greatest power is actually to vote on memorials and thus influence the emperor’s decision.

The so-called "piaoni" means that before the memorials are handed over to the emperor, the cabinet will first give its response to the memorials.

However, the cabinet could not write these opinions directly on the memorial, but had to write them on a small ticket and hand it to the emperor for his reference.

Originally, the cabinet was just looking for reference opinions, but the emperor was too lazy, so he just copied them directly on it.

But since the emperor was too lazy, they were too lazy to even copy it, so they asked someone to write it.

Who to look for?
Naturally, he would look for the eunuchs who served him.

The eunuchs wrote the opinions on the cabinet ministers' receipts on memorials, which was called "red-stroke approval". Such eunuchs were called pen-bearing eunuchs.

But even if the eunuchs helped the emperor to fill in his opinions on the memorials, the emperor was too lazy and difficult to make the final decision, so the final decision was still left to the eunuchs.

The eunuch who makes the final decision is called the seal-holding eunuch.

Only with the consent of the eunuch in charge of the seal will the emperor's seal be stamped on the red edict. Only the printed red edict will have legal effect.

Therefore, we can see that in order for a minister's memorial to finally take effect, the eunuch in charge of the seal of the Imperial Household Department is the one who controls the last step of the procedure.

Obviously, the eunuch who holds the seal has the greatest role, as he can directly decide the final success or failure of a memorial.

Although this series of institutional designs of the Ming Dynasty enabled ministers to check and balance each other, it prevented the ministers from becoming too powerful.

The emperor had an easy time, but his efficiency became very low.

Wei Guangde thought about it and thought that when the young emperor Zhu Yijun was young, perhaps they could have a great influence on him.

But when he grows up and takes power, he will definitely have his own thoughts, and he will trust the people around him more.

What Zhang Juzheng called "the power of the prime minister acting on behalf of the emperor" was actually more of the harem's trust in the cabinet. They would make the final decision and let Feng Bao approve and execute the cabinet's draft.

I only have my own thoughts on issues that have a greater impact.

However, this kind of thinking is more based on the opinions of the cabinet.

Undoubtedly, although Zhang Juzheng was the foreign minister, his status was not as high as Feng Bao.

At this time, Zhang Juzheng was also sulking in his duty room.

Yes, if Feng Bao had someone take him there, it would undoubtedly be like rubbing Zhang Juzheng's face on the floor repeatedly.

What Wei Guangde had just figured out was actually something Zhang Juzheng had already figured out after he took over the position of Prime Minister.

Although he was surprised that Feng Bao was so merciful this time, Zhang Juzheng really couldn't do anything.

It was no wonder that both Yan Song and his teacher Xu Jie were polite to Huang Jin and Teng Xiang at that time. It seemed that Feng Bao was not given a gift during this period of time. This old man must be unhappy. He would have to ask someone to prepare a generous gift for him later.

Yes, Feng Baogang had obtained the famous painting "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" but he treasured it so much that he took it home and kept it in his private vault. He flipped through the account book that recorded the gifts and found that Zhang Juzheng had not given him any gifts for some time.

Then I thought about what I saw yesterday afternoon, Emperor Wanli Zhu Yijun personally feeding the pair of white swallows, which led to what happened today.

Wei Guangde didn't know that in order to be the chief minister of the cabinet, he had to give gifts to the eunuch who held the seal of the Imperial Household Department, because no one taught him to do this.

Of course, Wei Guangde had given gifts to Feng Bao before, but that was all normal personal relationships in the officialdom.

Besides, there was a happy event in Wei Guangde's mansion, so Feng Bao had to send him a gift.

Therefore, if he is not in the position of Prime Minister, what outsiders see is the Prime Minister's status as second only to the emperor.

Only those who are truly in this position will know that the Prime Minister is actually "second only to two people and above ten thousand people."

Of course, if Feng Bao, the eunuch commander, wanted to be safe, he also had to be on guard against other people in the palace.

After all, there was only one such position, but there were more than a dozen eunuchs in the palace, and everyone was watching Feng Bao's every move.

6◇9◇Book◇Bar

Whenever Feng Bao made a mistake in his work, they would attack him together.

Perhaps, this is why people in officialdom are walking on a tightrope and could be doomed if they are not careful.

Well, at this moment Wei Guangde was still in his duty room thinking about the trivial matters between the Prime Minister and the eunuch in charge of the seal. He already had some guesses, but he was not quite sure.

Thinking of this, Wei Guangde took out a piece of paper and wrote quickly. After the ink dried, he folded it immediately and deliberately made a hidden mark.

"Lubu, come in."

After finishing all this, Wei Guangde shouted to the outside.

"Master, here we come."

Lu Bu walked in quickly from the door, stood down and bowed in front of the desk.

"Take this note outside the palace and ask them to take it back to Zhang Ji."

Wei Guangde handed the folded paper to Lu Bu, then waved his hand and told him to get back to work.

After everyone left, Wei Guangde couldn't help but look towards the Prime Minister's duty room.

Half an hour later, Zhang Ji received a piece of paper folded into a special shape, and he knew that this was an important matter instructed by Wei Guangde.

For general matters, I just take out the note and don’t worry about others seeing it.

The folded note means that you don't want others to know the content on the note, which means it is very sensitive.

After checking the seal, Zhang Ji opened it and looked at it carefully.

"Monitoring Yuchi?"

However, after reading the matters Wei Guangde instructed him to handle, Zhang Ji was a little puzzled.

Of course he knew who You Qi was. It could be said that among the most famous people in the capital today who were not in official circles but had immense influence, You Qi was definitely one of them.

And without being modest, Zhang Ji is also one of these people.

Everyone knows that Xu Jue, the chief steward of eunuch Feng Bao's house, You Qi, the chief steward of Prime Minister Zhang Juzheng's house, and Zhang Ji, the chief steward of Second Prime Minister Wei Guangde's house.

There is a seventh-rank official in front of the prime minister's door. Look, the gatekeeper is like a seventh-rank official. He, the chief steward, should at least be comparable to a second-rank official.

Although Zhang Ji was puzzled, he knew that he had to keep a close eye on You Qi for the next two days to see what he did.

Thinking of this, Zhang Ji immediately called a few people and gave them careful instructions.

Soon, several people went out of the Wei Mansion. Without anyone knowing, a large net had been cast, and the surveillance of all the actions of the Zhang Mansion's butler had quietly begun.

Wei Guangde was just curious and wanted to verify his guess.

After that, Wei Guangde gathered his thoughts in the cabinet and continued to review memorials and prepare drafts.

When he returned home after the court session, Zhang Ji came to greet him at the door and only whispered that he had arranged for someone to go out.

Wei Guangde just nodded slightly and didn't ask any further questions.

After all, he only wants the result, and it is up to him to decide what Zhang Ji does.

In fact, the surveillance of Zhang Juzheng's mansion had been going on all the time, but they rented a house near Zhang's mansion and arranged people to record the people entering and leaving the mansion.

After all, they are all officials in the same dynasty. If they go too far and conduct more in-depth investigations into other people's residences, that would be a bit over the line.

Once discovered, he, as the deputy assistant, would not be able to continue his work.

It is just observing the number of people coming and going, which is still within the acceptable range for each company.

In fact, there were spies planted by other people around Wei Guangde's mansion.

But Wei Guangde didn't expect that his sudden idea would be rewarded in the evening.

In the study of the Wei Mansion, Wei Guangde asked in surprise, "Are you saying that someone saw You Qi carrying six large boxes into the Feng Mansion's courtyard?"

"That's right. Those boxes were not moved out of Zhang's house, but from the Jishun. You Qi took them directly to a house of Eunuch Feng in the inner city."

Zhang Ji whispered.

"Who owns the Jishun?"

Wei Guangde asked curiously.

"It was opened by a businessman named Lu from Huguang. He often interacts with the Zhang family. It may be one of the Prime Minister's businesses outside. We have noticed this business before."

Zhang Ji replied.

"Six boxes. How big are they? Can they hold five thousand taels of silver?"

Wei Guangde laughed jokingly.

When something was sent to Feng Bao's house in a box, one could imagine what was inside.

To say that all six boxes were filled with jewels and valuables would be too much of a compliment to Zhang Juzheng.

It’s not that the Zhang family can’t fill the six large boxes with valuables, but even if it’s a noble family, it won’t be able to fill them up in a short period of time without using up their savings.

Therefore, the most likely scenario is that those boxes are filled with gold and silver.

"Five thousand taels should be no problem. Those six boxes might really be worth thirty thousand taels."

Zhang Ji said this in a low voice, but he did not say whether the thirty thousand taels was silver or something else.

Indeed, they didn't know.

However, Wei Guangde would not think that the box that Zhang Juzheng gave to Feng Bao would be filled with silver. It was most likely thirty thousand taels of gold.

"Have you ever noticed that the Zhang family usually sends things to Eunuch Feng? Go down and check the records and report to me."

Wei Guangde suddenly felt a little bored, for no reason, he just felt uncomfortable all over. (End of this chapter)