prosperous age

Chapter 276 Chapter 275
"Hey, brother, you don't know, because of your official position, the emperor has been a lot of trouble. The blame is that you are too young, and the emperor can't give you an official position. But don't worry, your credit is all Remember, there will be opportunities in the future.”

Chen Ju became a real eunuch, no longer a servant with no rank, and his speech was different from before, and he no longer called the emperor His Majesty, but changed his name to the emperor.

With rank, he can be regarded as a courtier.

Although admirals like Huang Jin called themselves "servants" in front of Emperor Jiajing, they were self-effacing.

Strictly speaking, Huang Jin was a second-rank admiral eunuch, and the memorial to Emperor Jiajing was to use "Chen" to represent himself.

"The emperor is worried about my reward?"

Wei Guangde looked at Chen Judao in disbelief.

"Of course, look, we have saved the 'Yongle original' this time, how much credit is that, let me tell you, many of the books are already orphans, and the original books can no longer be found outside. If the original copy is destroyed, then it is really extinct, no more, you know?"

Chen Ju smacked his lips at this moment, and continued: "What's more, this book was written by the ancestors, it's just like this, if it's burned, can it be worthy of the ancestors?
It's just a pity that several adults argued fiercely about your reward. In the end, the emperor heard Xu Jie's words and said that you were still young and needed training, so he named Zhan Shifu's Zuo Sizhilang.

The emperor doesn't even stand as a prince, and Zhan Shifu still has some bastards, you'd better get your qualifications slowly, if you were born a few years earlier."

Soon, the food and drinks ordered were served, and the conversation between the two moved from the lobby to the dining room.

"Today, the emperor left Xiyuan and went up the city wall, saying that he wanted to see the lives of the people in the capital, hehe."

The two chatted every sentence. Wei Guangde talked about the Hanlin Academy, and Chen Ju told Wei Guangde about the new things in the palace. It can be regarded as a quiet exchange of information between the two.

But no matter how you look at it, the news from the yamen mentioned by Wei Guangde is not as strong as the information from the palace revealed by Chen Ju.

"The emperor went to the Zhengyangmen building, and said that the tower was old and broken, and it should be rebuilt. Maybe it was because of the fire in the palace. Now the emperor said that everything he saw was new."

While drinking the wine in the glass and eating the food on the plate, Chen Ju continued talking about the itinerary of Emperor Jiajing today.

"Has the word been sent to the cabinet?"

Wei Guangde was really shocked at the moment, how much money it would cost to rebuild the three main halls, there was a lot of buzz in the yamen, and the current financial resources of the Ming court simply couldn't support such a large project.

Those corridors are okay, the wood is ready-made, and the craftsmen can be dispatched directly, and it doesn't cost a lot of money, as long as there is an order, the construction can start.

However, the Zhengyangmen Tower is a huge building with several floors, and the amount of building a palace is not much. With that amount of money, it is better to build one of the three halls first.

What's more, the city wall of the inner city is also in disrepair for a long time. In the past few years, all the money for repairing the city wall was poured into the construction of the outer city wall at one time, resulting in no money to repair other city walls in recent years.

After Zhengyangmen was repaired, should the surrounding sections of the damaged city walls also be repaired?

"I sent a message, but there is no reply yet."

Chen Ju said.

In the blink of an eye, another few days passed, and the news that Emperor Jiajing wanted to rebuild the Zhengyangmen Gate Tower had already spread in the court, which naturally caused a lot of discussion among the officials.

The Ministry of Industry, which was very active in repairing such projects in the past, did not make any comments this time, and its attitude was a bit unpredictable.

The current minister of the Ministry of Industry is Zhao Wenhua. In ancient and modern China and abroad, whenever a project is launched, it means that there is a lot of money to be made.

What kind of person is Zhao Wenhua?

Let's not mention this person's ability to handle affairs, but he knows how to be a person, and he is used to following others.

He passed the Jinshi examination in the eighth year of Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty. He was first appointed as the head of the Ministry of Punishment, and then transferred to the Imperial Academy. Yan Song was the Imperial Academy at that time.

He recognized Yan Song as his adoptive father, and set foot on the boat of Yan's family. Later, Yan Song's development also proved that he had a good vision at that time.

Shortly after Yan Song joined the cabinet, Zhao Wenhua was appointed as the envoy. All the memorials had to be read by him before being sent to the palace. Naturally, Yan Song could grasp a lot of information in the first place.

After Yan Song killed Xia Yan and became the chief assistant of the cabinet, all memorials to impeach Yan Song must be sent to Yan Song for review first, and then submitted to Emperor Jiajing. This gave Yan Song enough time to prepare for the response. After all, his son Yan Shifan also It's not covered, and it is very good at grasping the loopholes in the memorabilia to fight back.

Of course, not all the faults were blamed. When it was time to admit his mistakes, Yan Song was willing to admit his mistakes to Emperor Jiajing with his old face, and he was especially keen on taking the blame for Emperor Jiajing, so he continued to favor him, and Emperor Jiajing trusted him even more.

In the next few years, although the impeachment of Yan Song continued, the position of the chief assistant of the cabinet was still secure.

The relationship between Zhao Wenhua and Yan Shifan is also good. After all, they are the same kind of people, greedy for money, and living in extravagance.

In recent years, the Japanese plague in the south of the Yangtze River has become more and more serious. This is seen by Zhao Wenhua as an opportunity for promotion. He not only actively advises, but also goes to Zhejiang twice to supervise the war.

When dealing with the former governor of Jiangnan, Zhao Wenhua secretly impeached Zhang Jing for cowardly fighting and colluding with Japanese pirates, and finally put Zhang Jing to death, and his military exploits were successfully snatched by him.

Then, after overthrowing Li Mo, Shangshu of the Ministry of Officials, and forcing Wang Yongbin, Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites, to leave two official positions in a row, he finally succeeded in being promoted to Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry.

Rebuilding the Zhengyangmen tower was such a huge project that Zhao Wenhua was not tempted. This made the people in the yamen below wonder if there was something wrong with Yan Song.

Naturally, the first thing everyone guessed was the court's financial problems. Perhaps it was so bad that even Yan Song, who had always followed the orders of Emperor Jiajing, did not dare to follow blindly.

After all, even if the city tower is rebuilt, the money will be paid by the imperial court. For the officials and gentlemen of the Ministry of Industry, there is no loss for themselves, but only benefits.

But soon, a news quickly spread throughout the major yamen offices in Beijing, Zhao Wenhua, Minister of the Ministry of Industry, Mr. Zhao fell ill due to overwork due to continuous missions to Jiangsu and Zhejiang to fight against the Japanese.

The decree passed from the palace to the cabinet is very clear. The reconstruction of the Zhengyangmen tower will be supervised by Zhao Wenhua, Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry. Now that the person in charge falls ill, the natural project can only be delayed.

However, due to the ingenious timing of Zhao Wenhua's illness, naturally not many people really believed that he was really ill. Although there was an endorsement by the imperial doctor of the Taiyuan Hospital, the jokes circulating in the capital could not be believed as "the prescription of the Taiyuan Hospital".

The drastic change in the wind direction of the court caused all the low-level officials in Beijing to be a little confused and not clear about the situation. Perhaps only the cabinet ministers and the six ministers and nine ministers knew the reason.

Wei Guangde naturally knew about these things, but he didn't care.

The officials of the Ming court are like a radish and a pit. Even if the radish is pulled out, he will not be able to wait for him to replace it.

As Chen Ju said, he was too young.

Thinking about the time when Shang Dynasty or Xiyuan was playing the right role, there were a group of officials in their [-]s, [-]s, [-]s, [-]s, all of them with white hair and beards standing beside him, a young man like him, I guess everyone would feel uncomfortable.

According to the qualifications, maybe that's how it came about.

Zhao Wenhua hasn't offended Wei Guangde yet, so naturally he doesn't want to offend him either.

When I visited Yan's mansion before, I would be dragged to drink when I met Yan Shifan, and Zhao Wenhua was often seen during the banquet.

The two have dealt with each other, but they both entered the water and did not violate the river water.

Wei Guangde didn't know what would happen to Zhao Wenhua's open disobedience to Emperor Jiajing's will, but his heart trembled when he thought about it. Wei Guangde would never do such a stupid thing, even if it was Yan Song's order.

If not, this is to face Thunder's anger.

However, although Zhao Wenhua said that he was sick and unable to do things, the Ministry of Industry continued to operate effectively under the management of the left and right ministers.

During the discussion on the reconstruction of the three main halls, the Ministry of Industry requested to inquire about the restoration plan for the three main halls in Yongle from the 19th Yongle Disaster to the Zhengtong period, and also requested to calculate the huge reconstruction project and all expenditures.

Naturally, such memorials were quickly approved by Emperor Jiajing, and he sent an order to the Second Ministry of Rites and Workers saying that there is no reason for the palace to be restored, and only when it is loyal and loyal, it can only be respected, otherwise it is afraid of disaster. also.

Minister of the Ministry of Rites, Wu Shan, Minister of the Ministry of Industry, Zhao Wenhua, jointly signed a letter stating that important sites in the imperial court should be repaired urgently, but the work is heavy and costly, and there must be a sequence of operations.

However, the memorials entered Xiyuan, and Emperor Jiajing directly gave the order of construction. The Chaomen and Wulou should be built first, and the construction of the three main halls can be postponed.

However, these had little to do with Wei Guangde, because he received a letter from Ma Fang, who was already the deputy commander in chief of the Xuanfu, asking for help in asking the court for a batch of military pay for the Xuanfu.

After the First World War in Baoanzhou last year, Ma Fang was promoted to the general of the Xuanfu, assisting the generals to guard the front line of the Xuanfu, and added a guest army to nearly 3000 troops.

In October, the Alda Department invaded Datong, and Ma Fang was ordered to support him to make another contribution. In November, he was promoted to the deputy commander of the Xuanfu.

And since December last year, the food and salaries that should be allocated by the imperial court have never come again, and the soldiers have not received military salaries for nearly half a year.

Even if Ma Fang's troops obtained some food by retaking the occupied military fields, it was only enough for his soldiers to make ends meet, and now he couldn't sustain it anymore.

Even Xuanda Governor Yang Bo, Datong, and Xuanfu Chief Military Officer kept asking for payment from the court but to no avail.

At this time, asking for payment from the imperial court, Wei Guangde felt like a big head when he thought about it.

What happened at the end of last year? According to Wei Guangde's knowledge, the Ministry of Household Affairs almost couldn't even get the salaries and yearly gifts of officials in Beijing.

Now that Ma Fang finds her here, if she can't help Ma Fang handle things, she guesses that Ma Fang should underestimate her, but the problem is that she really doesn't have this ability, after all, her foundation is too shallow.

After receiving Ma Fang's letter, Wei Guangde sent someone to settle down Ma Fang's messenger, and sat alone in his study to find a solution.

The only relationship that can be used now is Gao Zhong's side, talk to Chen Ju.

The governor of Xuanda and the generals of the two towns have all submitted the memorial. It is estimated that they have been suppressed in the cabinet or the supervisor of ceremonies. At this time, someone has to dig out the memorial and send it to Emperor Jiajing.

Come to think of it, with Emperor Jiajing's temper, he would still urge the court to deal with the border matter as soon as possible.

Serving as a soldier to eat food, if the frontier army cannot get the military salary, the consequences can be imagined. Emperor Jiajing absolutely does not want such a shameful thing like the "Gengxu Change" to happen again.

Call Zhang Ji and tell him to wait for Chen Ju outside the gate of Xiyuan, and invite him to drink in the mansion.

Now Wei Guangde's family still has several thousand taels of silver in deposit, and Xu Bangrui in Nanjing alone sent 5000 taels of silver to let Wei Guangde establish a good relationship with the palace.

The money was only delivered after Li Bin fell from power after the year, and two letters were sent urgently.

Xu Bangrui was thinking of giving money to help get Li Bin down, and the money was sent out, and the first letter was taken away along the way.

But when the news came that Li Bin was imprisoned, he naturally understood that Wei Guangde had already made a move, so he hurriedly wrote another letter and sent it to the capital as soon as possible.

The second letter was naturally about money, since Wei Guangde had defeated Li Bin, Xu Bangrui wanted to give him the money so that he could continue to befriend the nobles in the palace.

Now Xu Bangrui has completely trusted Wei Guangde, and also believes that Wei Guangde must have found a backer in the palace.

Regarding his own future, whether he can inherit the title of Duke Wei depends largely on the emperor's heart. As the eldest son, he has a great chance. After all, Xu Bangning is not a true son in the true sense. behind him.

Now that money is still in the treasury of his own house, and it is time to send some to Chen Ju and Gao Zhong, so as to get closer, and help me to ask about the military salary at the Xuan Mansion. It is still in the cabinet.

If it is in the Supervisor of Rituals, it should be easier to handle, after all, it is a business.

If it is in the cabinet, it will be a little more troublesome, after all, he has nothing to do with the cabinet.

After thinking about it, it seems that if Zuo Shu is not in the Supervisor of Rituals, he can only talk to Gao Gong to see if Prince Yu's Mansion has arranged an eyeliner in the cabinet.

King Yu should also have the heart to fight for the position. At least after getting in touch with Gao Gong and others, Wei Guangde could feel the vigor in them. Although King Yu's mansion was in a difficult situation, they were still full of confidence.

Zhang Ji's actions were very fast. At noon the next day, Wei Guangde received the news. During the lunch break, Wei Guangde went straight into the restaurant that he had a better relationship with Chen Ju.

In front of Chen Ju, Wei Guangde didn't hide anything. He entered the private room and sat down after saluting Chen Ju. After the restaurant delivered the food and drinks, everyone left. Wei Guangde told Chen Ju about Xuanda's military salary. .

"I knew it from the last time I met with you. The emperor didn't take the matter of your connection with Ma Fang to heart at that time."

In front of Chen Ju, Wei Guangde didn't bother to hide anything, since Emperor Jiajing knew about it, who should he hide it from, but what Chen Ju said next surprised Wei Guangde a little.

"At that time, Ma Fang's official position was different from what it is now. It's a big taboo for the officials of the court and the border town to have contacts. Of course, you are quiet now, and the emperor doesn't worry about you. If you can be in a high position in the future, I'm afraid it will not be a good thing. Son."

After eating and drinking enough, when the two got up and left the restaurant, Chen Ju whispered, "I'll ask my godfather when I get back to see what's going on."

(End of this chapter)