Daming: My boss Zhu Yuanzhang

Chapter 361 There is no banquet that lasts forever

Lan Yu was breathing heavily, feeling a lot of anger in his heart. Although Sun Ke, Zhang Wen and others were not as angry as him, they were still resentful.

The few servants stood aside with their heads lowered, not daring to express their anger, but they remained silent and could not escape the disaster.

Lan Yu glanced around and found these servants, and immediately found the direction to vent her anger: "You losers, you can't even handle this little thing, what use do I need from you!"

"Master Marquis, please spare my life, Master Marquis, please spare your life..."

Several servants trembled in fear and quickly knelt down and begged for mercy.

But Lan Yu was not a kind person, and ignored their begging at all. He swung his horsewhip and hit them. Suddenly, several domestic slaves who had been extremely arrogant just now were beaten until they screamed, and the people around him were so frightened that they backed away far away. I was afraid of offending these big shots.

While Lan Yu was beating the slaves, several people among the surrounding people silently wrote down what happened, and then reported the matter. In less than half an hour, the detailed records of the matter were in Mao Xiang's hands.

"Lanyu and others rode their horses and collided with the Duke of Han. The Duke of Han ordered him to dismount, and then whipped the slaves in the street..."

In the Qianqing Palace, Mao Xiang reported to Zhu Yuanzhang respectfully.

Li Wei felt a little apologetic in his heart. Although he was not a playboy, now that the matter had come to this, he could not choose one or the other. He could not let go of either Xiaoqing or Anqing.

Mao Xiang lowered his head and listened silently to Zhu Yuanzhang's anger. Zhu Yuanzhang cursed for a while before calming down.

"Is that all?"

Li Wei grabbed her little hand with both hands and said softly: "Your Majesty has agreed to let me take a concubine. I will pick a good day in two days and you will officially become mine!"

On the contrary, Li Wei must make some arrangements!
After Li Wei returned home, he called Xiaoqing and Anqing over. Although there was a little incident on the way, this happy event could not be delayed.

An Qing opened it and looked at it. She had a lot of jewelry. She was not surprised by the treasure that Li Wei bought.

Needless to say, although Li Wei acted recklessly in the past and did not care about human relationships or accidents, his daily behavior has never been as arrogant as other nobles. Just like this time, although he went out with a guard, he was still among the crowd. They walked as honestly as the common people, unlike Lan Yu and others, who drove the common people out of the way at every turn.

She had planned to be a maid for the rest of her life. Even though Li Wei had privately said many times that he would give her a status, she never thought that she could really serve the same husband as the Ming Dynasty Princess.

The first step is to apply to the clan office. The princess and the consort belong to the royal family, and marriage matters are managed by the clan office, and ordinary officials are not qualified.

In the past, the only people with such prestige were Xu Dadang and these old princes, but now, Li Wei, a newly promoted young duke, could achieve this level, which made him a little uneasy.

Li Wei smiled: "Of course it's more than that. I just stopped saying that we will be a family from now on!"

"Yes, thank you, sir, thank you!"

Seeing Li Wei's face beaming with joy and looking solemn, An Qing asked curiously: "Why did you ask us to come?"

When Zhu Yuanzhang heard Li Wei's scolding, he asked generals such as Sun Ke and Zhang Wen to dismount obediently, and couldn't help being a little frightened.

But Lan Yu's performance today not only disappointed him!
But he was disappointed. For the time being, he had not found any other way, and he would not deal with this blue jade for the time being.

Although it was rare for Li Wei to give a small gift, and she was a little happy, it seemed that it was not worth the effort to call them all.

Xiaoqing said that she was about to bow down again, but Li Wei quickly pulled her hard to stop her: "I've already said it, the whole family doesn't need to be polite!"

Li Wei noticed something strange about her out of the corner of his eye, chuckled slightly, and reached out to take her into his arms.

Xiaoqing was pleasantly surprised, but couldn't believe it.

After saying that, he turned around and left with the wet nurse and the child.

"Hey, we are all a family from now on, no need to be polite." Li Wei smiled and stretched out his hand to help her up.

With Zhu Yuanzhang's permission, the concubinage matter became much smoother.

Upon hearing his definite answer, Xiaoqing's eyes suddenly turned red.

An Qing put the lid on the egg and asked still with some doubts.

"really?"

Hearing him repeat this sentence emphatically, Xiaoqing suddenly trembled slightly and looked up at him in surprise.

Xiao Qing's words were incoherent, her expression was joyful, but there were tears in her eyes.

Even if she is a concubine, it is still a great joy!
"Thank you, sir!"

An Qing on the side pouted unhappily. Although she had been prepared for this, she still felt a little uncomfortable when the day came.

Li Wei nodded heavily: "Of course!"

After An Qing left, he and Xiao Qing were left alone in the room hugging each other. At this time, he could only take care of Xiao Qing. After all, she had suffered much more injustice than An Qing.

However, thinking of the arrogant behavior of Lan Yu and others, he was still very angry: "This bastard, you dare to be so arrogant even before you are granted an official title. If you are granted an official title in the future, you will not be able to go to heaven!"

But Xiao Qing was different. She was very happy when she received the hairpin, and she quickly saluted: "Thank you, Master."

Li Wei felt a little uncomfortable when he saw this, and held him in his arms distressedly.

The Zong Ren Ling of the Zong Ren Mansion is now held by Qin King Zhu Ping, but he has already been a vassal, and the Zong Ren Ling is only in name, and the actual person in charge is the following experience.

Among the young generals in the army now, Lan Yu and Mu Ying are the best. Mu Ying is stationed in Yunnan and cannot come back for the time being, and to contain Li Wei, Lan Yu, who has a deep grudge with him, is the best candidate.

Originally, according to the rules, there were many rules for a prince-in-law to have a concubine. Either the princess died or the princess was infertile. Only when the prince-son-in-law was 40 years old and had no children could he meet the requirements. However, with Zhu Yuanzhang's permission and Li Wei's current status, naturally there was no need for it. People dare to stop it.

With that said, he took out the specially bought gifts and handed them to An Qing and Xiao Qing respectively.

Li Wei said with a smile: "It's a happy event."

An Qing broke away gently. Although he was unhappy, he still said generously: "Okay, I understand. You can spend more time with her these days."

Xiaoqing and Anqing came to the lobby together, and the nanny also followed with the child in her arms.

Taking a concubine is not as formal as marrying a wife. It is as simple as buying a maid. You pay the money and bring it into the house. It is over. At most, you can have a drink with relatives and friends to celebrate.

But Li Wei didn't want to be so perfunctory. After successfully completing the affairs of the clan's mansion, he ordered people to send out invitations and hold a grand banquet. Although there were not as complicated etiquette as when he married An Qing, it was still possible. of great excitement.

Taking a concubine was originally a small matter, but under Li Wei's operation, it was held very grandly. And because his status is different now, the banquet this time was more popular than the last time his son's full moon wine was held. There are many, the most obvious of which is the military commander.

In addition to people like Song Zhong and Zuo Wei, Sheng Yong and several other generals who accompanied the army to conquer Japan also came. Not only that, due to Xu Da's influence, many generals who had nothing to do with him in the past also showed up to show their respect. congratulate.

For a time, all the civil servants of the dynasty gathered in this small Prince Consort's Mansion just to congratulate Li Wei on taking a concubine.

Although Xiao Qing's status is very important in Li Wei's heart, this is not the case in the eyes of outsiders. His actions inevitably caused a lot of rumors, and some well-intentioned people even suggested that he formed a clique for personal gain and had evil intentions.

The noisy banquet ended. Before Li Wei realized the impact of his actions, he returned to the backyard drunkenly and got into the new house arranged for Xiaoqing. This night Li Wei clearly felt that some of the previous barriers between him and Xiaoqing had disappeared. Although Xiaoqing was very obedient in the past, she was by no means enthusiastic and proactive, but today she is passionate...

The day after the banquet ended, the list of civil and military personnel who participated in the banquet was handed over to Zhu Yuanzhang.

Although he would not easily believe the rumors outside, his face was still livid when he saw the list of nearly half full civil and military officials!

He had been preparing to weaken Li Wei's power, but now he was even more eager and quickly took action.

In the morning, the ministers announced their affairs.

"Your Majesty, there are a total of 4,117 chief secretaries, governors and prefectural, prefecture and county pilgrim officials in the world. After assessment of their political performance, 435 are qualified and 2,897 are ordinary. There are 471 people who are incompetent, 171 people who are corrupt, and 143 people who are mediocre..."

On behalf of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, Wu Bozong reported the evaluation results of officials from various yamen across the country.

Although Yu Xu is the boss of the official department, under the influence of Li Wei, his authority as a minister is somewhat greater than that of Yu Xu.

Zhu Yuanzhang took the memorial submitted by Xu Shou and browsed through the list. After Wu Bozong finished speaking, he asked: "Are there only one hundred and seventy-one people who have been corrupted?"

"This……"

Wu Bozong was slightly stunned. Since the assessment method stipulated cross-examination by various ministries, and the assessment results were reported by each ministry and compiled by other officials, he was not sure whether these were correct.

"According to Jinyiwei's investigation, there are no less than 200 people with evidence of corruption. How did you assess 171 people!" Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly shouted angrily.

Wu Bozong's heart sank. Although he could not be blamed for this matter, he was the one who submitted the final result. If Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to blame him, he could not shirk it!
"I have neglected my duties, please forgive me!" Wu Bozong bowed down and begged for punishment.

"Huh, you can't handle this. I think you don't need to be a servant anymore. Go back to the Hanlin Academy and continue to study!"

Zhu Yuanzhang snorted coldly.

When the ministers heard this, there was a sudden commotion.

They all knew the relationship between Wu Bozong and Li Wei, but now that he was easily dismissed from the post of minister for just such a mistake, they couldn't help but feel a little uneasy.

Wu Bozong himself did not expect to be punished suddenly, but after a moment of silence, he accepted it calmly.

"The minister obeys the order!"

After Wu Bozong respectfully accepted the order, he stood up and returned to the court.

His demotion was just the beginning. Later, Zhu Yuanzhang found out about Ru Taisu's fault when he presented the memorial. He was demoted from Shangshu to Peking Inspector and was directly kicked out of the capital.

Immediately afterwards, Yang Jing from the Ministry of Punishment, Wu Chen from the Ministry of Rites, and others were also dismissed or transferred. Although the charges ranged from minor to serious, none of them could escape.

When the ministers saw this, they immediately realized the problem. These demoted people were all backbone members of the Li Party. Your Majesty was going to take action against the Li Party!
Those who survived the struggle with Li Party saw the hope of turning over, and began to actively impeach Li Party. Zhu Yuanzhang did not ask for evidence. As long as there were sufficient reasons, he demoted or transferred these people in accordance with the law.

Of course, some positions cannot be moved, such as Wang Jie who is in charge of the banking department. The matter of treasure banknotes is of great importance. This matter is inseparable from Li Wei's management. Naturally, Wang Jie cannot be transferred easily.

Similarly, Jiang Shouqing, Jiang Quan and others from the Ministry of Works cannot move. Without Li Wei's guidance, others cannot easily replace these skilled workers. If they are forcibly transferred, I am afraid it will also cause huge losses to the Ministry of Works.

After some adjustments, more than half of the official positions in the six departments were transferred, and the power of the Li Party among the civil servants was sharply reduced.

But even so, no one dared to look down upon the remaining Li party members, especially the leader Li Wei, and no one dared to touch him for a while.

At the end of the court meeting, Ru Taisu, Wu Bozong and others returned the seals in groups, losing the power of the six ministries.

Wu Bozong was fine and just returned to the Hanlin Academy again, while Ru Taisu not only lost his position as minister, but also wanted to leave for Peiping as soon as possible.

In addition to him, so did a number of other officials.

The Li Party has developed to this day and has spread all over the court. Even Zhu Yuanzhang is very troublesome to deal with it, especially since there are many really talented ministers in the Li Party, which makes him unable to take action.

After all, Ru Taisu was old, and he would be demoted if he was demoted, but he was a little reluctant to let go of others like Wu Bozong, and just took back the Hanlin Academy.

What happened in the court quickly reached Li Wei's ears. Although Chen Su listened to his words and left Jinyiwei, the news about him did not delay much.

After listening to Chen Su's words, Li Wei frowned and remained silent.

This was going to happen sooner or later, he just didn't expect it to be so soon.

Fortunately, people like Ru Taisu usually work for the public. Although they occasionally make mistakes, they are not too sinful. So this time, most of them are just demoted, and there is no fear for their lives.

Li Wei sighed softly and said, "Ask Ru Taisu when they will leave, and I will see them off then."

Chen Su was slightly stunned when he heard this, and said unwillingly: "Master, don't you beg for mercy on their behalf? After all, they are all...all your friends!"

He originally wanted to say Li Dang, but then he changed his words.

Li Wei chuckled lightly and said: "It may not be a bad thing for them to stay away from the court, so there is no need to force it."

After all, being with you is like being with a tiger!

Li Wei added in his heart.

Chen Su had no choice but to nod lightly and agree.

Three days later, Ru Taisu and others packed their bags and set off with the transfer documents.

Li Wei got the news and sent it off in person.

Everyone walked slowly, feeling a little disappointed. Only Ru Taisu had a smile on his face, chatting and laughing with Li Wei, and did not look like he had been demoted.

"Okay, just send it here, please come back, Duke!"

Ru Taisu stopped and cupped his hands to Li Wei.

Li Wei nodded lightly, paused for a moment, feeling a little guilty after all, and said: "I am the one who has caused trouble to you all this time, I'm sorry!"

"Haha, why did the Duke say this?" Ru Taisu chuckled, "It is your credit that we were promoted to high positions. Now that we are returning to our original positions, there is nothing wrong with it. You don't need to mind."

He was very satisfied to be able to hold the position of minister for a while, and he would be indispensable in the history books in the future.

The others were not as generous as him, but they still hoped that one day they could rely on Li Wei to be promoted again, so they all echoed his words.

Li Wei can also guess what these people are thinking, but he knows that this is basically impossible. After all, he will fly far away in the future.

There is no such thing as a banquet that lasts forever, and some people have to part ways after all.

Li Wei cupped his hands and said "take care". After watching them go away, he turned around and returned alone.

(End of this chapter)