The Prosperous Era of Longwan

Wei Guangde, the instigator of the impeachment storm, has become famous in front of his colleagues these days.

He casually impeached two of them, and both of them were successfully impeached. Wei Guangde was naturally very proud, but Chen Ju never sent any further news.

This news is naturally whether he can go to Junzhou to investigate King Hui's misdeeds.

If it continues to rise, Wei Guangde has no hope.

In this era, he is already considered a cadre promoted by rocket, so he is just pursuing the position of a seventh-grade censor of the same grade. His goal should not be ambitious, but it is still possible to achieve.

Geng An quietly set off back to Junzhou two days ago. He has to go back to prepare more evidence of King Hui's wrongdoing. After all, many families were forced by King Hui to leave their homes and hide out.

Today's Junzhou is half an empty city, and it was all destroyed by King Hui.

Those who study and have daughters at home have already left.

King Hui likes to play tricks on scholars too much. Scholars have a good reputation and are afraid of being entangled by King Hui and losing face, so they can only hide, because even if they sue the government, it will be useless. The magistrate has to go around Prince Hui's palace.

The other thing is to arrange and establish the evidence of King Hui's transgression. Some of them are acceptable, and some of them he has to go back to check first to find the evidence.

However, when leaving the Wei family, Geng An knelt down in front of Wei Guangde and thanked him profusely. He also said that as long as Wei Guangde went to Junzhou, Geng An would contact relatives, friends and local noble families to jointly give Wei Guangde an umbrella.

Think about it, if the people of Junzhou really get rid of the great harm of King Hui, it seems that it is not impossible to give umbrellas to the people. Although Wei Guangde is not in charge of Junzhou, he naturally cannot protect the people of Junzhou.

Over the years, when officials leave office, whether they are promoted to official positions or promoted, it is common for people to gather to see them off, but it seems that I have never heard of people sending them umbrellas or plaques.

Wei Guangde couldn't help but feel a little itchy when he thought of this. What a face-saving thing.

The so-called Wanmin Umbrella is actually a large umbrella with many small silk strips on it, and the name, birthplace and birthplace of the giftee are written on it.

In ancient times, when local officials left office, the local gentry and merchants had to show some intention of retaining them. A more common way was to send "Umbrellas of All Peoples", which meant that the official, like an umbrella, covered the common people in the area. The more umbrellas there are, the more respectable the official is.

If when the official is dismissed or demoted, there are still people in the local area delivering umbrellas or even stopping the sedan chair, it means that the official is definitely an upright or good official, and the local people are kind and righteous at the same time.

Of course, such a ritual will definitely deteriorate in the later stages.

In fact, in the beginning, in the land of China, in order to commemorate the upright officials who left, the people often asked local famous teachers to write inscriptions and carve monuments to commemorate them.

However, when it developed into the Tang Dynasty, for the sake of vanity and to show merit to their superiors, local officials often forced local gentry and common people to build merit monuments for themselves to show their political achievements of loving the people like their own children and benefiting the people of that area.

When things developed to this point, things completely changed, and the Tang Dynasty regime at that time had to issue a decree to the world, prohibiting officials from carving steles and leaving their names.

Since we couldn't engrave a monument, the people wanted to express their reluctance to the officials, so the Ten Thousand People Umbrella and Merit Plaques came into being. If we couldn't engrave a monument, I gave them umbrellas and plaques.

Of course, for local officials who were really worthy of commemoration, local gentry would often write to the court and request special permission for the local government to carve a monument to commemorate them, but the procedure was very troublesome.

At this time, the Wanmin Umbrella and the Merit Plaque had not yet been ruined by the civil servants of the Ming Dynasty, so they still attracted a lot of attention to Wei Guangde.

But back to reality, Wei Guangde has learned in the past two days that many people in the court have begun to seek the position of the imperial envoy to investigate the case.

Wei Guangde's hope of being the first to win this position failed. Chen Ju said that Emperor Jiajing had no intention of cutting off the mess quickly, so neither Huang Jin nor Gao Zhong dared to take the imperial position at that time. This matter.

By now, Wei Guangde's advantage was definitely gone.

In the past, most of these errands would fall on people from the Ministry of Rites and the Metropolitan Procuratorate. After all, it was their job. Wei Guangde from the Hanlin Academy had little hope of being selected.

Based on this, Wei Guangde didn't bother to find ways.

There might be a glimmer of hope in sending money to Yan Shifan, or getting a deputy envoy or something, but Wei Guangde didn't dare.

It's not that you don't dare to give money, but you gave money and got a deputy envoy's job. When you came back from Junzhou, the envoy didn't get the Wanmin Umbrella, but you, the deputy envoy, got it. Isn't that a slap in the face?

Wei Guangde didn't want to do anything that offended others. Naturally, at this time, he became more rational and didn't want to argue.

In any case, the first person to bombard King Hui was himself, and everyone saw this achievement, although it was a bit like a dog taking advantage of a mouse.

At this time, the political trend in the capital had spread everywhere. The news spread to Henan, and the officialdom of Henan was also shaken up.

Over the years, Henan officials have regarded the magistrate of Junzhou as a dragon's pond and a tiger's den, and no one is willing to take office.

There is no other, because it is the territory of King Hui.

Although the imperial court restricted the clan's right to interfere with the local area, King Hui did not interfere with the local area, but he violated local laws and regulations, and the local officials had no way to deal with it.

To deal with the princes of the clan, the emperor's imperial edict is required.

Since the previous generation of Hui Wang Zhu Hojuan had a conflict with the prefect Chen Ji due to the "Qin Beheading" case, and wrote to the court to impeach Chen Ji, at that time the imperial censor Luo Ang and the censor Wang Sanpin both stated the facts and wrote to defend Chen Ji. Emperor Shizong He was furious and arrested them all. Among them, Luo Ang was killed with a stick, and Wang Sanpin and Chen Ji were demoted to the border guards.

Later, the current Hui King Zhu Zai was also impeached many times, but the results were all in vain. From then on, the Henan officialdom had to choose to go around King Hui, unable to defeat others.

Now the trend in the capital has changed. King Hui has obviously fallen out of favor with Emperor Jiajing, so he will naturally have to settle old and new grudges together.

Soon, officials including Pan En, the governor of Henan, also began to write letters to impeach King Hui for his illegal activities. They wanted to uproot King Hui at once. The opportunity now was not to be missed.

Henan's impeachment memorial was sent to the capital and handed over to the cabinet. At this time, several cabinet ministers were debating who should go to Henan to investigate the case.

Watching the Minister of Rites and the Censor of the Imperial Court debating on candidates, Yan Song and Xu Jie looked through the newly delivered memorials.

"Pan En? This person seems to have been the governor of Junzhou?"

Yan Song suddenly put down the memorial in his hand and said to Xu Jie next to him.

"Paine, Governor of Henan?"

When Xu Jie heard that Yan Song seemed to be asking himself something, he put down the memorial in his hand, took Pan En's memorial from Yan Song, took a look at it, and said with a smile: "He used to be the magistrate of Qizhou, and he was transferred to Junzhou because of his diligence. , I have this experience.”

"You are already the governor of Henan, and you still care so much about Junzhou, haha"

Yan Song smiled pointedly.

"I guess I was angry with King Hui in Junzhou, so I took advantage of the opportunity this time."

Xu Jie approached Yan Song and whispered.

Yan Song just smiled when he heard this and didn't answer.

"The Metropolitan Procuratorate proposed that You Qian, the censor of the capital, should go to Yi Ping, and the Ministry of Rites suggested that Yan Na, the right minister, should go. It would be better to just report the names of the two people and see what the emperor chooses. There is no point in arguing like this all the time. Both of them are qualified. .”

Xu Jie looked back at the officials arguing below, then turned back and whispered to Yan Song.

"Ordinarily, it is only right to hand this kind of matter over to the Metropolitan Procuratorate. You should give me a memorial. It won't work if you keep putting it off."

Yan Song nodded in response.

"Yes, you should put the proposals proposed by the Metropolitan Procuratorate first, and the Ministry of Rites at the back?"

Xu Jie nodded knowingly and agreed.

In his opinion, to investigate and deal with the prince of the dynasty, one must at least be an official of fourth rank or above to be worthy of the status of imperial envoy.

The other party is a high-ranking prince, and he may not be able to suppress him if his official position is low.

But when Xu Jie finished speaking, he saw a hint of ridicule in Yan Song's yellow eyes.

Upon discovering this, Xu Jie felt a sudden change in his heart.

He understood that as an official, he did not have to be very poor in his ability to do things, but he just lacked understanding of Emperor Jiajing.

Perhaps Yan Song had seen Emperor Jiajing's true wishes, so he had that look in his eyes at that moment.

But at this time, Xu Jie could only bury his thoughts in his heart, nodded and sat back down.

The debate in the East Cabinet was still going on, but the two ministers in the cabinet did not pay attention to their arguments. The two of them dealt with the memorial sent in a leisurely manner.

After resigning from the cabinet, Xu Jie was still thinking about the momentary change in Yan Song's eyes.

Xu Jie had realized that he seemed to have made some mistake, so he wrote the question book. Although he didn't hand it in immediately, there must be something wrong.

After carefully thinking about the people in the question book, whether it was Yan Ne or Dang Yiping, they seemed to be very suitable candidates.

If there is any problem, it is that Dang Yiping is also from Henan and has the same nationality, but this is not an unavailable official.

Back at the Xu Mansion, there was no need to go to Xiyuan to check in tonight, and it was rare for Xu Jie to have time to rest.

Not long after he returned to the inner courtyard and sat down, the housekeeper came over with a letter in his hand.

"What's the matter?"

Xu Jie asked casually.

"Sir, I've received a letter from home. This year, all the tenant farmers said they suffered from Japanese pirates and were added to the corvee service by the government. They couldn't bear it anymore and asked the government to reduce their rent."

While talking, the housekeeper handed the letter in his hand to Xu Jie.

Xu Jie said nothing, took the envelope, opened it, took out the letter paper and read the contents of the letter, and then sneered: "This is all the decree of the imperial court, what can I do.

I went down and wrote a letter telling my family that those who could not afford the rent should stop planting next year.

The few in the family have no respect at all. Do you want me, a dignified cabinet scholar, to explain to those tenants? It's not like I want to join their corvee, so I can complain to Hu Zongxian if I can. "

"Yes, yes, the master said so."

Naturally, the housekeeper would not have any disagreement with Xu Jie on this matter. Although he felt that the tenants were indeed suffering enough, the rent could not be reduced. If the rent was reduced, Xu Mansion would not have anything to eat or drink.

"You bother me with even the smallest of things. If it happens again in the future, you can just reply."

Xu Jie said casually.

Seeing the housekeeper go out with the letter, Xu Jie withdrew his gaze and looked at the bookshelf.

For scholars, reading has become a habit.

When I was on duty at the cabinet, I read memorials from various places all day long. When I got home, my hands and eyes were still a little itchy, and I always wanted to read something.

But just as his eyes were scanning back and forth on the bookshelf, something suddenly clicked in his heart. Xu Jie seemed to understand the meaning of Yan Song's eyes.

In the eyes of these ministers, dealing with a prince's clan seems to be a big deal in the world, but in the eyes of Emperor Jiajing?

When the tenants at Songjiang's hometown asked for a reduction in land rent, the housekeeper felt very embarrassed. The same must have happened at home, so letters were sent.

But when I reached my own level, I saw more things and thought about the evil Hu Zongxian had done. Why should I, the Xu family, be responsible for it, so I flatly refused.

So for the emperor, is it a big deal to deal with a King Hui?

Is it really necessary to dispatch fourth-grade or higher-level officials to deal with it as they thought?

The prince has a noble status, but the prince these days is like a phoenix with no feathers. In addition to being able to dominate in the palace, what does it matter outside the palace?

The local government should respect them and let them go, because they are afraid of being impeached by the prince for being unreasonable. However, if they make unreasonable troubles or even make excessive demands, the local government will often not give them face, and at worst they will ask for a holy judgment.

King Hui dared to cause trouble in Junzhou, mainly because the evil deeds of King Hui's palace had not been punished before, so that everyone was afraid of King Hui's favor, knowing that they would be retaliated if they failed to sue him.

The situation is different now. The emperor's previous attitude towards Hui Fan, and yesterday's blunt warning to the alchemist not to speak to King Hui, actually conveyed his meaning very clearly.

Asking the censor of Qiandu or the right minister to investigate King Hui's crimes is not a bit high.

If Emperor Jiajing wanted to attack the clan, he probably wouldn't want to see the court take this matter too seriously.

Sending a small official over to capture King Hui would have a stronger deterrent effect on other clan princes.

Recalling that a few years ago, clans from all over the country had collectively met with Emperor Jiajing to lament his poverty and talk about the arrears of the lumi distributed by the imperial court.

In fact, for those clans, they are all their relatives. They only need some soup and water flowing out from the cracks of their fingernails, which is enough for their clansmen to live a good life. There is no need to rely on the imperial court for a little money.

The Emperor Jiajing at that time was very embarrassed by their complaints about poverty, so he forced the cabinet and the Ministry of Household Affairs to squeeze out a lot of money and grain to repay the outstanding debts.

Thinking of this, Xu Jie's heart suddenly trembled. He dealt with King Hui and warned the clan.

The courtiers thought that the court would send high officials to Junzhou to investigate King Hui's illegal activities, but they rejected the candidates decided by the court and sent low-level officials there. This was actually a warning to the ministers that they were not doing things well and had no discernment. .

If he hadn't seen Yan Song's strange look, Xu Jie would not have realized Emperor Jiajing's possible state of mind at all.

Thinking of Yan Song asking him to submit a memorial to recommend the candidates selected by the six ministers and nine ministers, isn't this a trick to himself?

The memorial he wrote gave the emperor the impression that he was ignorant and confused.

Xu Jie was still a little unsure whether the emperor really had this intention, but after careful consideration, he found that he still had no way to solve the problem, so he could only bite the bullet and follow Yan Song's wishes.

I just hope that I am overthinking it.