The Prosperous Era of Longwan

"I understand what the eldest gentleman means."

Wei Guangde thought carefully before speaking to Xu Huai below. Now that his marriage to Xu Jianglan has only been arranged, and the procedures of three media and six appointments have not been completed, naturally he can only call Xu Bangrui the eldest son.

"You go down and rest first. I'll talk to Xu Huai here."

At this time, Wei Guangde turned around and said to his servant. Zhang Ji, who was beside him, showed him the way very wisely. Wei Guangde and Xu Huai were the only two people left in the room.

"What the eldest son means is that he wants me to do some activities in the capital to clear things up, or what?"

Wei Guangde wanted to find out Xu Bangrui's true thoughts, and then he could decide whether to do it and how to do it.

"Master Wei doesn't know something. I have something else to talk about this time."

At this time, Xu Huai suddenly stood up and approached Wei Guangde and whispered.

Wei Guangde was startled by his mysterious appearance. What did he think he was going to do?

After hearing the meaning of Xu Huai's words, I was shocked again. Could it be that I had guessed wrong, and didn't I want to build momentum for him in the capital and get his imperial edict back?

"Master Wei, don't think too much, this matter has nothing to do with the imperial edict.

My young master is the eldest son of the Duke's family. This is unshakable. Even if there is a dispute in the future, the court will send people to investigate. If the court determines that the second young master is the legitimate son, our eldest son will naturally have nothing to say. "

Hearing what Xu Huai said, Wei Guangde knew in his heart that Xu Bangrui didn't want to make a fuss about that order.

This is the palace of the Duke of Wei. What is the use of an imperial edict? In the end, it has to be heard by Heaven. Only when the emperor approves it can it be truly effective.

Obviously, only then will Xu Bangrui come out to fight against his second brother. After all, his mother's identity cannot be changed.

"Then the eldest son asked you to come, what do you want to tell me?"

Wei Guangde didn't like this kind of communication very much. He said whatever he wanted, and it was so mysterious that he thought he was going to discuss rebellion.

"Master Wei doesn't know something. After the imperial edict arrived in Nanjing, my young master didn't pay attention to it, but he didn't expect it."

When he said this, Xu Huai paused slightly and his face became very ugly.

When Wei Guangde saw this, he laughed in his heart. Who was this acting for? Didn't he do this deliberately to express the seriousness of this matter in front of himself?

Wei Guangde said nothing and pretended to look at him with concern, waiting for the next step.

Although the effect was not ideal, Xu Huai recovered quickly and continued to talk about what happened in Nanjing a few days ago.

It turns out that on that day, Wei Guogong Xu Pengju found Liu Cai, the Minister of War in Nanjing. The purpose was actually to send his youngest son Xu Bangning to the War Department to learn Tao strategy and prepare for the future attack on Jue's army.

Liu Cai's yamen was in Nanjing, so he had naturally heard of the nonsense that happened in the Duke of Wei's mansion.

Although he and Xu Pengju had a good relationship on the surface, civil servants never paid much attention to nobles. He also had his own standards for judging Xu Bangning's affairs.

Liu Cai did not agree with the imperial edict sent by the capital.

In fact, no civil servant who knew the ins and outs of the incident would agree to grant a royal title to Zheng.

Obviously, the imperial edict in the Duke of Wei's palace was actually obtained by deceiving the court.

Seeing that it was a done deal, the adults in Nanjing's official circles all chose to remain silent. After all, the matter mainly involved the inheritance of the Wei Dukeship.

At present, Xu Pengju is still alive and kicking, and there is no way he can be involved in that.

When it comes time to determine the eldest son of Wei Guogong, it will be fine as long as the court does not recognize Xu Bangning's identity as the legitimate son, and Xu Bangrui, the eldest son of the concubine, will still inherit the title.

Xu Bangrui was not anxious about Zheng's appointment, mainly because he already knew the officials' plans.

But now he is becoming a little anxious, and it is precisely because of the subsequent fermentation of this matter that it is beginning to be a little out of his control.

After Wei Guogong Xu Pengju met Liu Cai and hoped that he could open a back door for Xu Bangning and arrange for him to enter the Nanjing War Department Yamen, he did not get the results he wanted. Liu Cai sternly rejected his request.

Not only did he refuse Xu Pengju's request, Liu Cai even persuaded him to change his mind and follow the imperial patriarchal system. He warned him that if he really loved his youngest son more, he should plan earlier and arrange a suitable position for him. Don't let him go. The two brothers got into trouble over the inheritance.

Faced with such an embarrassing situation, Wei Guogong Xu Pengju had no choice but to retreat temporarily and agreed to send his two sons to study at the Ministry of War.

Liu Caicai nodded in agreement to this result.

But after Xu Pengju returned home and called his two sons, Xu Bangrui was okay with it, but Xu Bangning clearly refused.

Due to his brother's character, he is not as domineering outside as him. Now most of the young men in Nanjing City are running behind him, and he is very impressive.

In such a living environment, of course he would not agree to let him study in the yamen.

If you don't be a good dandy, why should you be a sesame official?

Xu Bangning was unwilling to go, and Xu Pengju had no choice but to put the matter aside for the time being. Naturally, Xu Banggrui could not go to the Ministry of War to learn strategy.

It's just that Xu Pengju chose another method to operate at this time, still sending his children to improve.

The highest institution of learning in the Ming Dynasty was naturally the Imperial College. The capital was divided into the northern and southern capitals. There were also two sets of teams for each government office. Naturally, the Imperial College also existed in Nanjing.

If Xu Bangning doesn't want to go to the Ministry of War, then we can smoothen the relationship and let him go to the Imperial College. In fact, there is no need to go, the main thing is to show his name.

He could see that Liu Cai was seriously dissatisfied with his choice to cultivate his younger son as his successor.

If you can't afford to offend me, can you still afford to hide?

However, after what happened before, Xu Pengju became more thoughtful in operating the Imperial College, and he still asked both brothers to report to the Imperial College.

But secretly, he found another person to control all this. This person was the sincere uncle Liu Shiyan, who was also a distinguished noble.

Wei Guogong and Chengyi Bo, one is a descendant of the founding hero and military general Xu Da, and the other is a descendant of the civil servant Liu Bowen.

Xu Da and Liu Ji (Liu Bowen) were both important figures who assisted Zhu Yuanzhang in establishing his power. They originally had a good relationship. They worked together for a long time during his lifetime and were close friends in life and death. However, something changed in Xu Pengju's generation.

After Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty, he implemented two systems that influenced the Ming Dynasty for more than two hundred years.

The first is to enfeoff the princes into vassal kings in various places, and to live with the country from generation to generation, as an auxiliary guarantee for the imperial power.

The second is to make the founding heroes kings and marquises, so that their descendants can inherit their titles from generation to generation and enjoy eternal wealth, so as to inspire future generations.

After Xu Da's death, his title of Wei Guogong was passed down from generation to generation, while Liu Ji's title of Bo Cheng was interrupted for some reason, but was eventually passed on.

In the thirteenth year of Zhengde, the title of Wei Guogong was passed to Xu Pengju. He was appointed by the imperial court to guard Nanjing, the accompanying capital, and to be in charge of the Chinese Army Governor's Mansion.

In the twelfth year of Jiajing, after many years of suspension of the earldom of Chengyi, Liu Yu succeeded him. Liu Yu was in charge of the former military governor's office in Nanjing and was in charge of training matters.

After Liu Yu and Xu Pengju believed that they were both virtuous ministers, they refused to obey the other and finally clashed.

In the 18th year of Jiajing's reign, during a review of the soldiers' parade, Xu Pengju and Liu Yu had a huge quarrel because they were competing for the priority seats.

Liu Yu was so angry that he led his troops and left without hesitation, causing an uproar for a while.

Afterwards, Wei Guogong Xu Pengju impeached Liu Yu, causing Liu Yu to be dismissed, and the two families became enemies from then on.

In fact, as far as this matter is concerned, Xu Pengju was the admiral at the time, and Liu Yu was the admiral of Caojiang. He was indeed one level lower than Xu Pengju. There was nothing improper in the court's handling.

Since then, the Xu family and the Liu family have been at odds with each other in Nanjing, causing many disturbances.

At least, in the eyes of the outside world, the relationship between the two families was completely broken.

However, the Liu family, which was once "my son" in Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes, has changed from a family of civil servants to a family of military generals, and has been leading troops in Jiangnan for a long time.

Whether they are willing or not, in the eyes of the emperor in Beijing, the Liu family is a force that restrains the influence of the Wei Guogong family in Jiangnan.

It's just that after the Liu family transitioned from civil society to military affairs, members of the family may have been in the military all year round, but they gradually became arrogant, domineering, unruly, and often caused trouble.

Every time a crime was committed, the Liu family would be dismissed. After a period of time, the emperor thought of the use of the Liu family and found a reason, or directly reinstated the Liu family's duties on Xu Da's memorial day.

Liu Yu, the sincerity uncle of the previous generation, was eventually dismissed from his post because of the training strike incident with Xu Pengju, and he also died of illness two years later.

Since Liu Yu's son Liu Hong died early, only his grandson Liu Shiyan was left in the Liu family after Liu Yu's death. According to the law, Liu Shiyan should inherit the earldom of Chengzhi, but he was young at the time and pretended to wait for a few years to succeed him. He won't be crowned until he reaches adulthood.

But obviously, Liu Yu had an affair with his grandson Liu Shiyan before he died of illness.

Although the Liu family was not considered the top dignitary of the Ming Dynasty at this time, their privileges were very heavy. Liu Ji was of great help to Zhu Yuanzhang back then. Even though Liu Ji was eventually poisoned because Hu Weiyong was unjustly accused, his sons were also poisoned many times. The succession was even interrupted during subsequent regime changes.

Liu Jing, the second son of Liu Ji, wrote to Emperor Jianwen in the early days of the "Jingnan", but it was not accepted. After Zhu Di usurped the throne, he recruited Liu Jing into the court. Jing said: "Your Highness will not be able to escape a single word of usurpation for a hundred generations."

Zhu Di arrested Liu Jing and put him in prison. Liu Jing chose to commit suicide in prison. Zhu Di considered Liu Ji's contribution and did not pursue his descendants. He just stopped the attack on the earldom in good faith.

Although he no longer had the title of Earl of Sincerity, Zhu Di still frequently summoned the Liu family and gave them rewards. It was not until the Jingtai period that Liu Lu, the seventh grandson of Liu Ji, was awarded the post of hereditary doctor of the Five Classics, and he could once again enjoy the benefits of being a noble.

In arranging for his son to enter the Imperial College, Xu Pengju secretly found his "dead rival" Liu Shiyan to secretly help him.

I have to say that the nobles of the Ming Dynasty are not all brainless. At least these two people still know that if they are in Nanjing city, hello, me and everyone, then the emperor in Xiyuan may not be able to practice the way of immortality with peace of mind. .

Nanjing City controlled the most prosperous place in the Ming Dynasty. It is not an exaggeration to say that it controlled half of the country.

In order to eliminate that person's worries, the two families were obviously working together to make a plan, and it was self-evident for what reason.

It's just that Wei Guogong Xu Pengju never expected that his son was even better than him and had planted an informant around him early.

He only secretly monitored Wei Guogong's every move and secretly informed him, but he never helped Xu Bangrui do anything.

After Xu Bangrui learned the news in advance, he still chose to pretend to be deaf and dumb, showing that he had no knowledge before.

Life is like a play, it all depends on acting skills.

Everyone was performing hard on the stage of Duke Wei's Mansion, just waiting for the chance to seal their throats with the last sword.

The two people left Nanjing city at the agreed time, met quietly in a temple outside the city, told Liu Shiyan what they wanted to do, and asked him to secretly help with the matter.

Liu Shiyan, who knew the household affairs of Duke Wei, naturally would not refuse and agreed to Xu Pengju's request.

From Liu Shiyan's point of view, the Chengxinbo family can get along with each other about such matters. After all, who in the Ming Dynasty didn't know that the relationship between the two families was bad. Even if someone reported that he and Xu Pengju secretly colluded in this matter, he would just die. Just don't admit it.

Liu Shiyan wrote to his colleague and friend Jiang Bao in the Ministry of Rites, telling him not to receive Xu Bangrui when he came to the Ministry of Rites in the future. In order to prevent Jiang Bao from refusing, Liu Shiyan even threatened him with the evidence he had of Jiang Bao's crimes.

Faced with this situation, Jiang Bao was coerced into agreeing and ordered his officials to do so.

As long as Xu Bangrui is unable to register in the Ministry of Rites, he will naturally not be able to go to the Imperial College.

But his brother Xu Bangning did not have such a problem. He easily registered at the Yamen of the Ministry of Rites and then went to the Imperial College to report. As for whether he would go to the Imperial College on time in the future, that was naturally another matter.

Not only that, Wei Guogong Xu Pengju also arranged for his men, Zheng Rujin, who served as an assistant in the Imperial College, to spread rumors to slander Xu Bangrui. These rumors were all aimed at Xu Bangrui, the eldest son of Xu, who escaped from the battle and ran to Jiujiang Prefecture when the Japanese pirates invaded Nanjing last year.

As for why such rumors are spread, the reason is actually very simple. There must be a justifiable reason for the Nanjing Ministry of Rites to refuse Xu Bangrui's registration.

The rumors spread by Zheng Rujin naturally became the best excuse for the Yamen of the Ministry of Rites to refuse Xu Bangrui's admission to the Imperial College.

At the same time, in order to prevent other officials of the Ministry of Rites from rebelling, Zheng Rujin bribed the officials of the Ministry of Rites with the property given by Wei Guogong Xu Pengju, so that everyone could remain silent in the face of Xu Bangrui.

For such a move, Mr. Xu Bangrui was obviously caught off guard and suddenly lost his bearings.

Seeing victory in sight, Xu Pengju also let down his guard and agreed to marry the Wei family of Jiujiang Prefecture.

In fact, this was not because Wei Guogong Xu Pengju felt that his eldest son was helpless or that Wei Guangde couldn't do anything even if he helped, but because the Wei family sent someone to Nanjing to ask for an accurate letter.

Either agree or give up on the marriage in disgrace.

When Xu Bangrui was asked to go to Jiujiang Mansion to discuss his daughter's marriage, Xu Pengju nodded and agreed. Naturally, he didn't want to slap himself in the face at this time, not to mention that his daughter was indeed older and it was time to talk about marriage.