The Prosperous Era of Longwan

The Forbidden City is the central axis of Beijing. At the end of a long straight road outside Chengtian Gate is the Daming Gate. If it continues to extend outward, it is the inner city gate Zhengyang Gate.

The straight road outside Chengtian Gate just divided the important government offices of the Ming Dynasty into east and west parts.

The Yamen in the east is naturally adjacent to East Chang'an Street, and the Yamen in the west is adjacent to West Chang'an Street.

The Hanlin Academy is located at the outermost edge of the official district in the east. It is very convenient to get in and out, but today it is a little far for Wei Guangde.

The General Administration Department is located on West Chang'an Street, backed by the Fifth Military Governor's Mansion. Standing outside the main entrance of the Yamen, you can see the Fengtian Gate.

Putting the Secretary of General Affairs in this position is naturally to enable the Secretary of General Affairs to send the memorial to the palace as quickly as possible and submit it to the emperor for inspection.

The full name of the General Affairs Department is the General Affairs Secretary, and its chief is the General Affairs Secretary, who is in charge of internal and external regulations and sealed complaints from the subjects.

In the early Ming Dynasty, the prime minister had great power and had a subordinate relationship with various central departments. He also had the power to review the memorials before the emperor processed them and select some of them for submission.

Under such an environment, the various government offices in the imperial court actually took orders from the Prime Minister, Hu Weiyong.

Unable to endure it, Zhu Yuanzhang executed Hu Weiyong and abolished the prime minister system that had lasted for thousands of years.

However, after losing the Central Secretariat's ability to classify memorials, the emperor gradually collapsed when faced with a mountain of disorganized memorials every day. Finally, in July of the 10th year of Hongwu's reign, the General Affairs Department was established to handle memorials.

The authority of the General Affairs Department is to divide the prime minister's arrangement and submit various memorials to the emperor. It is responsible for "understanding the situation, guarding against the incoming and outgoing official documents of various departments, reporting memorials to the four directions, fulfilling feudal opinions, expressing feelings and military information." "disasters, disasters and other events"; when the government was in charge of the regular dynasty, the general affairs envoys, the chief of the general administration department, had to report various affairs of the court to the emperor; when discussing major affairs, prisons, and recommending civil and military ministers, the general affairs envoys were eligible to participate .

The General Affairs Department has always been valued by the court during the Hongwu, Yongle, Hongxi, and Xuande dynasties, because it was an important way for the emperor to control the direction of the officialdom under his rule. Whenever there was any trouble, it would inevitably start with the General Affairs Department.

In the early Ming Dynasty, the authority of the General Affairs Department should be said to be very large, especially when facing the emperor for a long time. In addition to submitting normal memorials, in the event of emergencies, the General Affairs Department would often directly meet with the emperor to submit urgent memorials.

However, after Yingzong ascended the throne at the age of nine, the power of the government fell into the hands of the cabinet San Yang. The general envoys lost the right to meet the emperor alone to report, and could only rely on the cabinet to take orders. This gradually became the norm.

On the grounds of the health of the Holy Eucharist, Yang Rong also interfered with the number of reports issued by the Secretary of General Affairs during the regular dynasty, saying that only eight things were allowed to be said every morning in the dynasty, and the cabinet must be informed in advance.

The subsequent emperors of the Ming Dynasty were indifferent to political affairs and rarely reviewed memorials. Everything was handed over to the cabinet and the Supervisor of Ceremonies. The status of the General Affairs Department worsened and gradually became a decoration.

The Qing Dynasty followed the Ming Dynasty, and the General Administration Department system was also retained. However, the status of Jianghu was low and it became a redundant department in the eyes of courtiers. During the Reform Movement of 1898, Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao denounced it as a model of useless departments, and it was abolished during the New Deal in the late Qing Dynasty.

However, these have no impact on Wei Guangde now. Today he is going to send a memorial to the General Administration Department, the Cabinet of Ministers and Xiyuan.

The current general affairs envoy is Yan Song's godson Zhao Wenhua. However, Zhao Wenhua is not in Beijing at this time. Instead, he went to Zhejiang for the second time to direct the war against Japanese invaders.

After Wei Guangde signed in at the gate of the Hanlin Academy, he went straight back to his office and sat for a while. He took out the prepared memorials and papers and read them carefully.

He read it countless times last night, repeatedly refining the wording in the article to make sure it was correct.

In the memorial, Wei Guangde described in detail the incident involving Geng An, who was sued by Lu Yu, and included the attached paper of Geng An's complaint in the memorial to avoid being taken away or lost.

Although Chen Ju said that there should be no one from King Hui in the court, Wei Guangde still took precautions.

After drinking half a pot of tea, he got up and Shi Shiran walked out of the public room, left the Hanlin Academy and walked to the General Affairs Department.

Walking east along West Chang'an Street, the towering Fengtian Gate on the right gradually becomes clearer. There are a large number of guards standing upstairs and downstairs as before, just like the palace half a year ago.

Half a year ago, he was just a commoner, or a distinguished scholar.

Half a year later, he was already a minor official.

Now, what he wants to gain is naturally to gain greater rights so that he can live a better life in the Ming Dynasty.

Wei Guangde would not do anything that would displease Emperor Jiajing. That would not be right but stupid, at least not if he had no chance of winning.

Wei Guangde has already thought about how to live a stable life in this Ming Dynasty, just like Hai Rui, who is one of the few celebrities from the Jiajing Dynasty that Wei Guangde remembers.

Hai Rui made a promise about "Jia Jing, Jiajing, every house is clean". Wei Guangde didn't remember the specific name, but he only knew that Emperor Jiajing shouted to kill him after reading it.

Of course, the killing was not successful in the end.

Wei Guangde had already thought about this matter. He would not do anything at the beginning. At that time, Emperor Jiajing was in a rage. Even if he knew that Hai Rui would not die in the end, he could not plead for mercy in anger. That was his own fault. Knife hit.

It is better to wait until Emperor Jiajing's anger subsides before writing a letter to plead for mercy. Only by grasping the timing well can we maximize the benefits and gain a clear name.

This is also one of the few opportunities that Wei Guangde has available to take advantage of, and he cannot afford to miss it.

Now that King Hui is being impeached, although Wei Guangde doesn't know what the final result will be and whether King Hui will fall because of this, he only hopes to achieve his goal, which is to become an official of the Metropolitan Procuratorate.

With the censor brand, his official authority should be much stronger in the future. At least if he was the censor at the beginning, Liu Dazhang would not dare to oppose his opinions and could only be obedient to him.

When he arrived at the gate of the General Affairs Department, Wei Guangde walked straight in without hesitation. Naturally, the guards outside the door would not stop him. This was the General Affairs Department.

Entering the lobby, this is the place where officials submit memorials, but there seemed to be no one at this time today. When Wei Guangde entered the room, he saw that it was empty, and he was the only one here to submit memorials.

"Hey, Master Wei is here."

Wei Guangde is now quite well-known in the official circles of the capital. Even those who did not know him before, after Wei Guangde returned to the capital from Xuanfu, they all looked for opportunities to visit the Hanlin Academy to see what he looked like.

The person who spoke was Huang Dacheng, the right counselor of the General Administration Department, and the others were a few scribes waiting on the side.

"Master Huang."

Wei Guangde hurriedly handed over his hand. Needless to say, he came here to submit a memorial.

According to the procedure, after an official submits a memorial, the General Affairs Department will give him a note recording the time of submission, the name of the person who received the memorial, and the main content of the memorial.

Wei Guangde handed over his memorial and stood quietly aside without saying a word.

Wei Guangde had been here once last time, and it was a thank you note given after being awarded a reward.

However, in Wei Guangde's opinion, the excerpt was not considered a memorial, but a procedural thing. When receiving a commendation from the emperor, one had to express gratitude.

The impeachment memorial he submitted when he came here this time, in Wei Guangde's opinion, is something meaningful and can be regarded as a real memorial.

Huang Dacheng took Wei Guangde's memorial and opened it, and the memorial paper inside came into his eyes. He was surprised, but he quickly browsed the memorial paper, and then read Wei Guangde's memorial.

The impact is a bit strong.

Wei Guangde started impeaching people again.

Well, the first time Wei Guangde entered the door, Huang Dacheng actually had such a premonition in his heart.

The first memorial of Wei Guangde that Huang Dacheng saw was naturally sent by Weng Pu. It was the memorial to impeach the right governor, Liu Dazhang, the chief military officer of the Xuanfu, and impeach a general from the first rank to a minor official of the seventh rank.

Looking at the memorial in my hand again, it has been upgraded. It has really been upgraded. This time, it is a prince who is impeached as a seventh-grade sesame official, and he is still King Hui, who is extremely favored by the current Emperor Jiajing.

This Wei Guangde is so bold.

The story of Emperor Jiajing's stay in Xiyuan is now only spread among the court officials who are in contact with the emperor's servants. For most officials, they still don't know that the emperor once cursed King Hui.

In their impression, they still believed that King Hui was a minister who was highly trusted by Emperor Jiajing.

In fact, most officials in the capital have more or less connections in the palace, but most of these connections are not with the chamberlains around the emperor.

News in the palace spread quickly, but not so fast that it filled the Forbidden City in an instant.

The chamberlains around the emperor also knew how to behave appropriately. Except for a few channels, most of them would only spread after a period of time.

Then it was passed down by word of mouth among the servants, and finally it was generally known to all the civil and military officials in the outer dynasty.

At this time, only the officials with intelligence around Emperor Jiajing knew that King Hui had fallen out of favor.

However, for those officials, whether or not to impeach a prince was not important to their career, so most of them did not take any action.

To be able to establish contact with the emperor's close ministers, naturally he will not be an ordinary official in the court, but must be at least fourth grade.

For a low-ranking official like the Councilor of the General Affairs Department, there is naturally no door.

However, they also have an advantage, that is, when accepting memorials from officials, they can immediately learn about changes in the officialdom.

As long as there are two or three memorials to impeach King Hui after Wei Guangde, they will be smart enough to understand what it means.

It was just that at this time, after Huang Dacheng read Wei Guangde's memorial, his face was expressionless, and he wrote a note step by step and accepted Wei Guangde's memorial.

Wei Guangde took the note and read it once, folded it and put it in his arms. He bowed his hands to Huang Dacheng and thanked him before turning around and leaving.

The moment he turned around, Huang Dacheng's previously calm face twitched slightly, and he looked at Wei Guangde's leaving back like an idiot.

In fact, it is not that the General Affairs Department has never received a memorial to impeach King Hui for his illegal activities.

Ever since the third King of Hui, Zhu Houjuan, gained favor by Xianfeng Emperor Jiajing, he had framed some local officials for his friends, and was impeached many times by local civil servants and the censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate.

However, after these memorials reached the General Affairs Department and were sent to the cabinet, most of them ended in vain.

As time passed, everyone began to realize that King Hui’s background was a little too big to be sued.

The current King of Hui, Zhu Zai, like his father, fell into the favor of Emperor Jiajing, recommended alchemists and donated elixirs, and then was impeached by the civil servants. Naturally, there was no result. His position as prince is still secure. Keep doing it.

Therefore, in the eyes of the officials in the capital, King Hui really couldn't touch him.

Over time, no one paid attention to King Hui's illegal activities anymore. If he couldn't sue him, continuing to stare at him would be a waste of time.

Huang Dacheng did not expect that he would actually receive the memorial to impeach King Hui today. After hesitating for a moment, he saw that Wei Guangde had already left the gate of the General Affairs Department. He stood up and walked into the Yamen with Wei Guangde's memorial in his hand. go.

Of course he would not do anything to help King Hui, but he had to tell his superiors, the left and right general officials, that Zhao Wenhua, the general official in the yamen, was not in the yamen now, so the yamen affairs were handled by Zuo Shenzheng.

Whether to hand it over or not and when to hand it over are all important.

Of course, you can't hide it. It just depends on when it will be submitted to the cabinet for processing, and whether it needs to be sent to a certain adult separately.

"Impeach King Hui?"

"Yes, sir, this is Wei Guangde's first successful impeachment, so he thinks he is the best lawyer, hehe."

"Don't worry about it. Just handle it according to the rules and send it to the cabinet. Whoever handles it has nothing to do with us."

"yes."

Wei Guangde's memorial did not cause much trouble in the General Affairs Department, and just a few dialogues solved the problem he was most worried about.

In Wei Guangde's opinion, no matter how arrogant and fearful a person like King Hui is, he still knows that apart from the emperor, the most powerful person in the dynasty is Yan Ge. Don't he know how to send gifts to the Yan family to keep them safe?

What Wei Guangde was most worried about was that Yan Shifan would suppress the memorial. Regardless of whether Yan Song took away the benefits of King Hui, he would not deliberately suppress the memorial, but would choose the right time to deal with it.

However, Yan Shifan was much more courageous and had a reputation for collecting money to do things. Wei Guangde thought that King Hui would ask the Yan family to take care of him. After all, King Hui did have a dirty butt.

But what made Wei Guangde miscalculate was that King Hui really had nothing to do with the Yan family. Perhaps in the eyes of King Hui Zhu Zai, it was enough for him to just handle the relationship with the emperor.

He is a prince, and only Emperor Jiajing can decide his future.

The Yan family's power was overwhelming, but that was only for civil servants.

As long as Emperor Jiajing still favors him, no matter how the civil officials impeach him, will he still be afraid of these people, the grand prince of the Ming Dynasty and the prince and grandson of the Zhu family?

Wei Guangde's memorial was sent to the East Pavilion together with other memorials at noon. After a simple screening by the scribe, it was sent to the public rooms of Yan Song and Xu Jie respectively.

Wei Guangde's memorial was sent to Xu Jie's room. When he was reading the memorial in the afternoon, Xu Jie naturally saw it.

However, Xu Jie did not directly make any instructions on the note. Instead, he picked up the memorial and went to Yan Song's house.

After reading Wei Guangde's memorial, Yan Song was silent for a moment, and then said to Xu Jie: "Just look for the convention and have a department check it.

I remember there were many memorials to impeach King Hui in the past few years, but I haven’t seen them in recent years, haha

Anyway, it’s nothing more than staying in China, we can do whatever we want. "

"What Mr. Ge said is that I worry too much."

Xu Jie whispered to the side, then said goodbye to the Yan family and his son and returned to his public room to draft the votes, and the matter was settled.

In fact, Xu Jie couldn't tell whether the Yan family and King Hui were connected, so after seeing Wei Guangde's memorial, he sent it there as soon as possible. Since the Yan family didn't care, he could just follow the rules.