The Prosperous Era of Longwan

On the second day after Wei Guangde returned to Beijing, there was a lot of traffic and people coming and going in front of the Jiujiang Guild Hall, but there was no order to summon him to Xiyuan.

Xiyuan didn't pass the order, but it didn't mean that no one came to Wei Guangde.

Near noon, two sedans stopped outside the Jiujiang Guild Hall. Gao Gong and Yin Shizhen got off the sedans one after another, and entered the Jiujiang Guild Hall with two guards carrying a box.

Wei Guangde did not entertain them in the lobby of the guild hall, but introduced them to the small courtyard where they lived behind.

"Guangde, congratulations. When the news of Baoan Prefecture's victory came out, the prince and we are very happy. It's not easy, it's not easy."

After entering the room and taking a seat, Gao Gong smiled.

But Wei Guangde hurriedly said humbly: "I don't dare to praise you as a high-ranking person. It is because the current emperor is so prosperous that the soldiers at the border can only win with their lives. What the lower officials have done is really insignificant."

"Mr. Wei, you are so humble. How could it be so insignificant? The border officers are really so powerful. The Tatars have not been invading them all these years without a solution. Your credit is your credit, and no one else can take it away. Both the prince and us I know."

Yin Shizhen interjected with a faint smile.

Wei Guangde pretended to be embarrassed and laughed dryly.

Then the two of them asked Wei Guangde about the progress of the battle during his trip to Xuanfu. To be honest, although Wei Guangde reported the battle progress, the written content was still not as intuitive as what the person involved said orally.

"This Liu Dazhang deserves to be damned. When he was in command in Liaodong, he was very brave and good at fighting. How could he be so miserable when he arrived at the Xuanfu? He was a dignified right-hand governor, but he was afraid of the enemy and was too timid to fight. It was embarrassing."

After hearing that Wei Guangde said that the Ma Fang tribe was in deep siege, he planned to take advantage of the opportunity of An Da tribe to mobilize troops to support An Da Khan, capture the An Da military camp with all his strength, and then send out the entire army to rescue Ma Fang tribe, but Liu Dazhang was met by Liu Dazhang. After being stopped, Yin Shizhen couldn't help but cursed.

"Don't be impatient, Guangde won in the end."

Gao Gong couldn't stand Yin Shizhen's irritable temper and stopped him.

Yin Shizhen then shut up angrily. In the palace, Gao Gong was always above him, so no matter what time, Shangguan was still Shangguan.

Afterwards, Wei Guangde asked Dong Yiyuan to take control of Liu Dazhang and suppress the commotion of Liu Dazhang's soldiers. Gao Gong nodded sympathetically, and Yin Shizhen clapped his hands again.

Unconsciously, it was lunch time, and Wei Guangde asked Zhang Ji to inform the guild hall that they would not go out to eat since the food and wine would be brought inside at noon today.

When dealing with people from Prince Yu's Mansion, Wei Guangde thought it would be better to keep a low profile.

Although the arrival of Gao Gong and Yin Shizhen could not be hidden from those who were interested, if they were a little avoided, at least the unintentional people would not know about it.

In fact, after receiving the notification that Gao Gong and the others were coming, Wei Guangde knew that this was Prince Yu's Palace showing favor to him, and perhaps Prince Jing's Palace would also take action in the afternoon or tomorrow.

"It's already lunch time. Look, we've forgotten all the important things while chatting."

Hearing Wei Guangde order food and drinks, Gao Gongcai smiled as if he suddenly realized something, and then called the guards outside the door to bring in a wooden box.

Wei Guangde knew at a glance that it was the money he had lent to them before, and he was paying back the money.

Paying back the money is a matter of course and there is no reason to refuse.

Judging from this, the financial crisis of Prince Yu's Mansion should have been resolved. It seems that the eldest son Yan Shifan is too smart and too greedy for money. He will take any money.

Even Wei Guangde could figure it out, but a very smart person like Yan Shifan would not think of it, and dared to draw chestnuts from the fire. God wanted to make him go crazy first if he wanted to destroy him.

However, Gao Gong's next words stunned Wei Guangde.

"Guangde, here are 2,500 taels of silver. Two thousand taels were lent to you and are now being returned to you. The remaining five hundred taels are the interest given to you according to market practice."

"That's no need. I didn't want to charge any interest from the palace at the beginning. I just wanted to help out."

Wei Guangde quickly declined. It was good that he didn't send money to Prince Yu. He still wanted to make money from others?

Wei Guangde is not a longevity star and does not want to die.

"That's not what you said. Where in the world is there any money that can be borrowed for free? If it is true, Guangde, if you find me hundreds of thousands more taels, I will take it all."

Yin Shizhen said in a joke.

"Ha ha."

Gao Gong just smiled when he heard this, and then said: "Put the money here, I don't care about the rest.

Originally, we should have given you a reception banquet when you returned to Beijing with the order, but now that we are here today, we have no intention of paying for this meal. "

After the banquet, Gao Gong and Yin Shizhen said goodbye and left.

In the afternoon, as expected, someone from Prince Jing's Mansion also sent gifts and warmly invited Wei Guangde to come over to have a talk. However, Wei Guangde naturally wanted to find a way to refuse at this time, but the conversation naturally involved the need to wait for Xiyuan at the guild hall. News over there.

After not being summoned by Emperor Jiajing for one day, Wei Guangde felt breathless. He didn't know what the emperor was thinking, so he had to start to speculate about the emperor.

In fact, trying to figure out the emperor's heart is a very taboo topic. After all, no matter who is the emperor, they don't like their subordinates to know their own temperament, especially the current emperor who thinks he is very smart.

However, as a minister, there is no one who does not try to figure out the superior's intentions, unless he no longer wants to be an official, or he is simply waiting to die and does not want to make progress.

Wei Guangde had just entered the officialdom at this time, so he naturally had no idea of ​​finding a place to retire. The cabinet was his current goal.

Wei Guangde began to carefully recall the Tang newspapers he had read before, hoping to sort out the temperament of Emperor Jiajing, so that he would be able to suit his liking in Xiyuan.

But after thinking about it for a long time, it seems that he is no different from ordinary emperors. If so, he is ruthless enough and never shows mercy in killing.

Yes, Wei Guangde discovered after recalling that the minister who seemed to have died in the hands of the current man was really not rare.

Let’s not talk about the Dali Conference incident, but how many people were beaten to death with the royal stick.

After fighting with the ministers, the people behind him were still using their tricks. They cut off all the chief ministers and assistants at the time. This seemed to be the first to create the Ming Dynasty. The dignitaries Zhu Yuanzhang killed at that time could not compare with those behind him. There is no comparison, the purpose is different.

At the noon banquet, Wei Guangde had a few words with Gao Gong and Yin Shizhen, intentionally or unintentionally, but it was obvious that they also kept secrets.

In fact, it is not surprising that most courtiers only discuss the current temperament privately with familiar and trusted officials.

Gao Gong and others wanted to win over Wei Guangde, but after all, the contact time was too short, so they were not completely reassured. They could talk openly. Moreover, Emperor Jiajing moved to Xiyuan after the "Renyin Palace Change", so naturally nothing major happened in the morning. Even if it is useless.

The courtiers had little contact with the emperor, and naturally their familiarity was greatly reduced. That is to say, the cabinet and the six ministries and nine ministers could still meet with the emperor when they had something to do. Also, during the fasting ceremony, they needed to submit Qingci, and the bachelor of the Hanlin Academy They also had the opportunity to meet the emperor.

Fortunately for Gao Gong, he was also an expert at writing poetry. Yin Shizhen, who could only write poetry and articles, was not very popular with Emperor Jiajing.

However, Gao Gong was not willing to talk more about this at that time, and instead directed the topic elsewhere, Wei Guangde was helpless.

This means that they haven't fully accepted you yet. Showing goodwill now is just an expression of intention, and the performance will depend on it later.

In the end, Wei Guangde found that apart from knowing that Emperor Jiajing loved Taoism and Qing Ci, he seemed to have thought of nothing else. Then think about Yan Song. He must be outstanding because he was so liked by Emperor Jiajing.

Yan Song's experience is very interesting. He was born in the 16th year of Chenghua. In the 18th year of Hongzhi, he passed the imperial examination of Yichou Division and ranked second in the second class. build.

At this time, Yan Song suffered a serious illness, which forced him to retire from office and return to his hometown. During the ten years that Yan Song returned to his hometown to recuperate, it was the time when the eunuch Liu Jin became the most powerful person in the world.

This couldn't help but remind Wei Guangde of another person. Wei Guangde had heard people mention him before, but he had no impression of him at all. He didn't know about the person until he entered the Hanlin Academy, and that was Zhang Juzheng.

In the Ming Dynasty, when Wei Guangde first heard about Zhang Juzheng, Zeng Shengwu was talking about Mr. Taiyue. At that time, Wei Guangde thought he was an old Hanlin who retired to work and returned home to retire when he was old, so he didn't think much about it.

Only after entering the Hanlin Academy did I realize that Mr. Taiyue whom Zeng Shengwu was talking about was actually the famous Zhang Juzheng.

Zhang Juzheng's courtesy name was Shuda, his nickname was Taiyue, his childhood name was Zhang Baigui, and he was born in Wei in Jingzhou, Huguang. In the 26th year of Jiajing's reign, Zhang Juzheng was ranked ninth among the top two Jinshis and was selected as a shujishi. He was 23 years old that year.

The three years when Zhang Juzheng was a Shujishi happened to be the years when the political struggle in the Ming Dynasty was the most intense. Yan Song defeated Xia Yan and became the chief minister, and Xia Yan died in the street.

Wei Guangde didn't know whether the experience during that period taught Zhang Juzheng a lesson. Anyway, Zhang Juzheng returned to his hometown in Huguang a few years ago in the name of recuperating.

Thinking of this, Wei Guangde couldn't help but think about whether he should learn from Yan Song and Zhang Juzheng and go home to recuperate if he wanted to stand out and take the position of chief assistant.

Yan Song is powerful enough. In fact, in my impression, it seems that he is not as fierce as Zhang Juzheng. He is a powerful person. It seems that in the articles and novels I have read, this Zhang Juzheng directly even disciplines the emperor, just like he disciplines his son.

He was quite vigorous when he was alive, but he seemed to be miserable after his death, causing harm to himself and his family.

However, I have the impression that later generations will definitely praise him. Although he made mistakes, his merits far outweighed his faults. Some people even directly said that this man was responsible for extending the life of the Ming Dynasty for another hundred years.

As for the reforms carried out by Zhang Juzheng, Wei Guangde couldn't remember clearly. Anyway, they must have touched the interests of the powerful. Although he dealt with some aspects very tactfully, they were touched once they were touched, and in the end they were counterattacked.

Let’s talk about Yan Song, this man has the ability to govern. You can see that the imperial treasury is still running under insufficient expenditure, which shows that he still has a way, whether it is demolishing the east wall or anything else, anyway The imperial court was able to maintain operations despite a serious deficit, and there was also relief from natural disasters in various places, but it was definitely not enough.

However, Wei Guangde felt that Yan Song's greatest strength was in delivering money to Emperor Jiajing.

Even though the imperial court was underfunded, it seemed that whenever Emperor Jiajing asked for money, Yan Song would find a way to satisfy it.

All this money was eventually used for the emperor's religious undertakings, either for fasting or to build Taoist temples.

Emperor Jiajing liked money and liked being patted on the back. As long as his needs were met, he would say anything.

Thinking of this, Wei Guangde's eyes suddenly brightened, and then dimmed again.

The money that person wanted was not a small amount, and it had to have a name. The emperor would not plunder people's wealth, and his reputation was not good.

Besides, the little money I have will probably be spent in just two fasts.

Thinking of this, Wei Guangde looked at the box at his feet and curled his lips. It was still a bit too small.

For one night, Wei Guangdejing thought about how to please Emperor Jiajing and please him, how to pat the dragon's butt well, and how to solve the problem of insufficient treasury. This was a bit troublesome and difficult to solve.

To solve the treasury problem, we must find ways to collect money.

But the reality is that if the taxes of the rich are not raised, the taxes of the poor cannot be raised, and they will rebel if pressed.

Rebellion has always been linked to exorbitant taxes and corrupt officials. Unless the common people are driven into a hurry, they really would not think of rebelling. It is all about food. In fact, rebellion is also about food.

But having said that, because no one introduced Emperor Jiajing's preferences, Wei Guangde still didn't think of what to say to him to make the emperor happy and reward him more.

In the end, Wei Guangde could only grit his teeth and feel at ease. Let's talk about it after seeing the emperor.

If you take advantage of your own strength, show off your tricks at first glance, and just follow the emperor's words, you can't believe that you will make the emperor unhappy.

Besides, as a seventh-rank sesame official, I would not make the emperor angry. After all, he had picked it up with his own hands. This time, he had lost face.

Disciple of the Emperor, hehe.

Wei Guangde felt that as a protégé of the Emperor, he seemed not to have benefited from the Emperor's glory, but rather had brought glory to Emperor Jiajing himself.

The next day, all morning, no one from Xiyuan came to see him, which made Wei Guangde think that it would be like this again. Emperor Jiajing had forgotten about him. Perhaps he was busy with his great cause of cultivating Taoism, and it would be easy for him to go crazy if he was interrupted a little bit.

But in the afternoon, a carriage drove outside the gate of Jiujiang Guild Hall, followed by two guards on horseback.

After the carriage stopped, a young waiter jumped out of the carriage. He looked up at the plaque with the four characters "Jiujiang Guild Hall" directly above the door, and then stepped in.

"This father-in-law, I don't know whether he is eating or..."

The shopkeeper saw the carriage outside the door early and came over to greet him. He thought it was a gentleman from some family, but he saw a palace servant coming in. He immediately thought of Wei Guangde, but he was beaten before he could finish his respectful words. break.

"Please come out, Master Wei Guangde of the Hanlin Academy, I have something to do with him."

The waiter was not polite to the owner of the club, but his words were quite gentle.

Eunuchs are the best at observing words and expressions. If the emperor looks good to Wei Guangde, they will never offend him.

When he heard that he was looking for Wei Guangde, the shopkeeper immediately moved a chair for the waiter to sit down, arranged for people to serve tea, and then ran to the backyard to find Wei Guangde.

"Servant, they are here."

Hearing what the shopkeeper said, Wei Guangde finally breathed a sigh of relief. The emperor had not forgotten him.