Brocade clothing as the country

Chapter 242
On March [-]th in the sixth year of Wanli, Zhang Juzheng, the chief assistant of the cabinet, set off from the capital, returned to Jiangling, Huguang, and returned home to bury his father.

Before leaving, the little emperor Wanli said to Zhang Juzheng:
"Although this trip, sir, is not a long time away, we still need to pay attention to state affairs."

And a silver medal was specially given, engraved with "Emperor Bestows Loyalty", allowing him to seal the matter, and the empress dowagers of the two palaces also rewarded him.

The little emperor Wanli also sent Zhang Hong, the eunuch who was in charge of ceremonies, to hold a banquet in the suburbs to see him off, and all the officials in the capital lined up to see him off. Apart from such honors, everything in the cabinet was arranged by Zhang Juzheng.

Zhang Juzheng's party disciples Li Youzi, Zhang Siwei, Shen Shixing and others are already in the cabinet.

According to the rules, the first assistant left the cabinet temporarily, and the second assistant came up as a substitute, but Emperor Wanli repeatedly told the ministers of the cabinet when Zhang Juzheng was about to leave, if there was a major event, Xu Kuaima reported it to Zhang Juzheng, and the first assistant made a decision. Dedicated.

When the second assistant Lu Tiaoyang saw him off, everything was normal, but when he returned to the mansion, he looked miserable. He looked at his white hair in the bronze mirror, and was speechless for a moment.

He also knew that Zhang Juzheng was going to return home to bury his father in March, and he thought it was his chance, so he always behaved quite well, focusing on Zhang Juzheng in everything, and he didn't dare to do anything out of the ordinary.

But Zhang Siwei said at the court meeting that day that the food and payment became a rule, and he couldn't help but say a few words of righteousness for a while. It is said that out of ten things, you can ask him about one thing out of three or four. Since that time, there have only been one or two things, and they are all insignificant and trivial matters.

This time when Zhang Juzheng left, Zhang Juzheng made arrangements before his departure. Zhang Siwei made decisions about minor internal affairs, and Emperor Wanli asked to report to Zhang Juzheng for major matters, and the cabinet members were not allowed to intervene.

This is completely elevating one's own family. To be an official requires power. Without power, what kind of official is there? Lu Tiaoyang can feel the indifference and alienation of people in the government and the public towards him.

"Zhang Siwei, you are a good means..."

It is said that some servants of the Lu Mansion heard Mr. Lu hatefully say this sentence in the room, but no one admitted it, and no one pursued it, because after March [-]th, the second assistant Lu Tiaoyang went to the school one after another. After requesting to become an official, Emperor Wanli agreed to his request after he had done enough courtesy to retain him.

On March 22, Kuai Ma caught up with Zhang Juzheng's fleet. Knowing that the first assistant Zhang Juzheng had no objection to this matter, Lu Tiaoyang returned to his hometown as an official.

Next, the focus of everyone in the capital is who will be the second assistant. Li Youzi is the Minister of the Ministry of Officials and has the highest status among the cabinet scholars, but he is not Zhang Juzheng's direct line. The candidate for this position is nothing more than Zhang Siwei, the Minister of the Ministry of War He is one of the two ministers of the Ministry of Rites, Shen Shixing.

In fact, the situation has become obvious. In the government affairs of the cabinet, the important Zhang Juzheng and Zhang Ge old rulings, and the unimportant Zhang Siwei and Zhang Dashi's rulings, who will be the assistant this time.

The common people in the capital are narrow-minded, and they all call Zhang Siwei "Xiaoge Lao". When Yan Song was in power, Yan Song's son Yan Shifan was the minister of the Ministry of Industry, and he exercised power in the government and the public with great momentum.

Now Zhang Juzheng is also surnamed Zhang, and Zhang Siwei is also surnamed Zhang. Zhang Siwei obeys Zhang Juzheng's orders in everything, so he naturally got this name. The poor two are only less than five years old, but they are called father and son.

Although Emperor Wanli did not give a clear attitude, Feng Youning, the nephew of the eunuch Feng Bao, the supervisor of ceremonies, revealed the tone of Eunuch Feng, saying that Zhang Siwei was reliable.

As a result, Zhang Siwei's position as the second assistant seems to be a certainty, and Shen Shixing, as a competitor, is extremely modest. He has repeatedly said in the cabinet meeting that he has no morals and incompetence, and he is absolutely unable to take the position of the second assistant. Zhang Shangshu is the best choice.

Since the cabinet came into being, the ministers in the DPRK and China have fought fiercely over the matter of joining the cabinet. Whoever enters and who does not will often form enmity for several generations. It is rare to be in harmony at this time.

Zhang Juzheng boarded the ship from Tongzhou and went down the river to the south, and he went very low-key until Tianjin, because this side was still in the territory of Shuntian Prefecture, and it was too close to the capital.

After arriving at Hejian Mansion, the officials of Hejian Mansion’s magistrate’s yamen and the officials of prefectures and counties on both sides of the canal greeted them in person. These prefects and prefectures are not even qualified to sit down in front of Mr. Zhang Ge, and they must be respectful outside. kneel down.

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When Zhang Juzheng was passing through the border, all the yamen in Tianjin were also very busy, because Tianjin happened to be the intersection of Shuntian Mansion and Hejian Mansion, so Zhang Gelao didn't disembark from the boat.

After the Bingbei Dao Yamen came forward, presented a heavy gift with various prominent figures, and made various supplements to the fleet, it just passed away.

Wang Tong also followed with a gift of 200 taels, which is a fair amount, not too much, not too little.

Everything inside and outside the city of Tianjin was as usual, and Wang Tong's own work was also going on normally. Whether it was Panda, the military guard, or Wan Dao, the eunuch who supervised grain, there was always a rotation of servants in the family.

Whoever committed a crime was kicked out of the mansion, and whoever had something to do at home had to leave, so there was no need to do anything special, the mansion needed to be replenished.

The people Zhang Shiqiang brought over from Tongzhou were also the servants of the Zhang family at the beginning. They had served people, so they were naturally the best candidates. Jin Yiwei beat around the bush and exerted some influence unnoticed. Then entered the various mansions.

Before they entered each family, they did not receive any task of inquiring about news and spying on privacy, and those who had not received this training could easily reveal their flaws.

It's just that there are a few more fellow villagers from Tongzhou in Tianjin, who come to visit from time to time, chatting about the short stories of their parents, inadvertently, the person being asked will not notice, chatting about anecdotes and situations in the mansion, everyone enjoys it And scattered, no one will think there is anything wrong.

For Jinyiwei's real core organization, Wang Tong is an outsider, and it is impossible to hand over some things from the East Factory to him, and it is also separated by a layer. Wang Tong's intelligence and surveillance are often obtained from that life. Experience gained from customer analysis and so on.

There are many useless trifles and trifles, but for Wang Tong, the analysis and deconstruction of these seemingly useless information is important, so that he can make accurate judgments.

But this ability cannot be acquired by word of mouth in a few months, and Wang Tong is the only one who can do it in Tianjin. Fortunately, there is not much information, and there are only a few people who need to be monitored.

When he was in the capital that day, Lu Wancai and the eunuchs in the palace almost all had similar abilities, but this was also an instinct honed by processing a large amount of information for many years.

It took less than ten days for people to be inserted in, and Wang Tong came to a conclusion that the relationship between Panda, the military guard, and Wan Dao, the eunuch who supervised the grain, was definitely closer than he imagined.

Although these two people don't have much contact with each other, there is a Chai owner of Tonghai Warehouse who has very close contacts with their two families. If there is such an intersection, there must be something involved.

But I can't find out what to talk about specifically. It is said that every time we meet, even the close-fitting long-term follower will be dispatched. It is said that Chai Dong's family has a lot of money. Every time they visit the door, many people can get rewards. What.

The time is still short, and there is little information that can be obtained. Wang Tong also reminded himself not to worry, but to calm down and do things slowly.

After nearly two months of training at the recruit training camp, Yu Dayou finally got involved. What he did every day was different from other instructors. Yu Dayou used a spear without a point as a crutch to train Walking casually in the field, he often does not disturb the three battalions who are training, but chooses among the laborers working outside.

The shack has been turned into a house, and the entire school grounds have been made very flat, and deep trenches have been dug inside and outside with wooden fences made of sharpened rough wood. Now the work of these laborers is to move the training camp to the nearest official road. Build wider roads in between to make it easier for supplies to get in and out.

It is also rare to have such a salt flat. The surrounding area of ​​the canal is the so-called commercial land, and almost everything that can be developed has been developed. The boot camp is already considered a very remote place.

The people Yu Dayou chose were not necessarily sober, nor were they the ones who were caught up in the bombing of the camp that night, but the young men who were the most hardworking and least willing to speak up among these laborers.

Regarding Yu Dayou's actions, Wang Tong has always obeyed, asking money for money, and people for giving. Yu Dayou himself selected 400 people from the labor force and organized them into the fourth battalion and the fifth battalion. The three battalions are the same, and the training intensity is the same, but the work to be done is still to be done, which is very hard.

Nearly a thousand soldiers practice hard in the training camp every day, and it has become a scene around here. There are often idlers and tourists who come to watch nearby. Wang Tong's attitude is very simple. Going out to drive people away is also counted as daily training, and it is used as an assessment according to the speed and effect of each battalion's actions.

Everything Wang Tong did was recorded in detail, and then sealed in an iron box and sent to the capital for the little Emperor Wanli to watch. Except for that time when he scolded the guards on the river, Wang Tong felt nothing about the rest I am also worried about whether Wanli will feel bored with such boring government affairs.

However, the capital's reply letter dispelled his worries. No matter what the emperor said, try to be as detailed as possible, and the interval between letters should be as short as possible, or what Zhang Cheng said. Wanli often urged him to see if the secret music from Tianjin had come. , which shows that Emperor Wanli was in high spirits and liked to watch it very much.

On the second day of April, as soon as Wang Tong's house opened, someone came outside to ask for an audience, and the invitation letter handed in said that it was Gu Zibin, the owner of Wang's warehouse outside the city.

"Come in, please. The owner of Wang's Warehouse is named Gu. It's really interesting, but this Gu owner came a bit late!"
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The Mid-Autumn Festival holiday is over, Lao Bai celebrated his birthday on one of the days, and now he is 33 years old, haha
(End of this chapter)