prosperous age

Chapter 288 Chapter 287
It has been two years since Wei Guangde left Jiujiang. When the boat passed through Madang Town, he looked at the Bengshan Fort by the river in the distance, and Wei Guangde had mixed feelings in his heart.

He lived here for several years when it was first passed on, and he always thought that Jiujiang Mansion might be his destination.

It is unimaginable for a modern person to appear in ancient times and become an official through the imperial examination. After all, what he has learned is completely irrelevant.

However, it seems that people who travel through time really have a heavenly family, and fighting all the way actually made him pass the exam and become a glorious Jinshi master in the Ming Dynasty.

Thinking of Mrs. Sun in the town, as Wei Guangde's teacher, Wei Guangde was filled with emotion. If it wasn't for Mr. Sun's slapping of the ruler to beat the hands, Wei Guangde might not have achieved what he is today, and there is a high probability that he would be rejected in the hospital examination. .

Mrs. Sun should know the news that I am a Jinshi. I don’t know how happy I will be.

Thinking of this, Wei Guangde couldn't help but smile.

Wei Guangde's ship finally arrived at Jiujiang Wharf, and the merchant fleet had already returned to Jiujiang Mansion early, and brought back the news that Wei Guangde was stranded in Nanjing.

Although Wei Guangde didn't inform his family in advance when he came back this time, he was quickly seen by the servants who had been waiting here after the boat arrived at the pier, and several carriages approached quickly.

Wei Guangde finally returned home. He set off for Beijing to take the exam at the end of October in 34. After two years, he finally returned to his parents in Jiujiang Mansion.

But at this time, the Wei Mansion doesn't have time for him to rest, and he will start preparing for the big wedding next.

Of course, at this time Wei Guangde also played a trick and didn't visit the magistrate's yamen on the second day after returning to Jiujiang Mansion.

According to the system, his leave slip needs to be signed at the local government office, that is, to fill in the time when he arrives home and stamp the magistrate's seal, which is the beginning of his two-month vacation.

Wei Guangde's return to Jiujiang Mansion naturally spread quickly, and Wei Guangde's holy family's grandeur had already been publicized in Jiujiang Mansion.

Even so, the prefect of Jiujiang Prefecture did not look for Wei Guangde. In fact, such deceitful things are commonplace in the civil official group. As long as everyone has a vacation, they will often delay the time to go home as much as possible, so they can also reasonably extend the vacation.

It was November, and Wei Guangde went to the magistrate's yamen to visit the current magistrate ten days after he arrived home, gave him some gifts, and went through the necessary procedures by the way.

And on this day, a huge fleet was moored outside Cen Harbor in Zhoushan, and the center of the fleet was a huge sea-going ship.

On Zhoushan Island not far away, a group of people are boarding a sea boat.

"Lord Xia, you have to think twice, the opposite is the great pirate Wang Zhi, who kills without blinking an eye."

At this moment, the last official among the group boarding the ship, wearing the military uniform of the fourth rank of the imperial court, was saying goodbye to the person who was seeing him off.

The person who spoke was the county magistrate of Dinghai County. At this time, he was also wearing a seventh-rank official uniform, but he just stared at Mr. Xia, and he wanted to continue persuading him, but Mr. Xia waved his hand.

"Lord Dutang has an order, I must take this trip."

Master Xia smiled and said to the magistrate of Dinghai, "Besides, I have met this Wang Zhi before, if it is really dangerous, I will not survive now."

After saying a few words, Master Xia still stepped onto the steps and boarded the ship.

The sea boat left the pier, turned around and sailed towards the fleet outside the port. At this time, Dinghai Zhixian's expression changed, showing a slight chill, and the corner of his mouth twitched disdainfully, "This Xia Zheng really doesn't know how to live or die, what? Lord Dutang, he can’t even understand what kind of person Hu Zongxian is, heh heh.”

After sneering a few times, Dinghai County Magistrate turned around and ordered his subordinates: "Bring the sedan chair over here, let's go back."

For the middle- and lower-level officials and local gentry in this era, Hu Zongxian's reputation was completely stink when he wiped out Xu Hai, a big pirate.

Most of the people's dissatisfaction with Hu Zongxian before was due to his additional taxes and business taxes, but because it was approved by the court, they could only curse a few words from the bottom of their hearts.

But after his cunning tricks to deceive Xu Hai, especially after Mrs. Xu Hai threw herself into the sea, the moral stain became Hu Zongxian's black history that could not be erased in his life, and finally gave the people below an excuse to talk.

It should be said that Hu Zongxian was really rebellious and shameless in his treatment of Xu Hai. Although there are rumors that the person behind it was Zhao Wenhua, who designed this matter in order to take credit for the extermination of the great Japanese pirates, but in any case, the person who actually operated it was Hu Zongxian .

In fact, at this time, most of the lower-level officials no longer trusted Hu Zongxian, and only those generals who had left their names on the credit book, because they were rewarded for this matter were still very humble in front of Hu Zongxian and obeyed.

As for the fleet outside Hong Kong, it is naturally Wang Zhi, the largest force of Japanese pirates in the Daming Sea today.

Since the 34th year of Jiajing, Hu Zongxian asked to send Ningbo students Jiang Zhou, Chen Ke and others to Japan to persuade Wang Zhi to surrender. Of course, the students would not make the trip in vain, and do some business along the way. This is also a project approved by the government.

Jiang Zhou, Chen Ke and others met Wang Zhi himself through Wang Zhi's adopted son Mao Haifeng, and successfully persuaded Wang Zhi to submit to the imperial court and allowed him to continue to trade tribute with Japan.

Afterwards, the contact with Wang Zhi, including Wang Zhi's revelation of the whereabouts of Xu Hai and other Japanese pirate forces to the Ming court for early deployment and prevention, was all contacted by the commander Xia Zheng.

This time Wang Zhi led the fleet back to the Ming Dynasty, of course not to plunder, but to surrender, but after the fleet arrived at Cen Port, Zhoushan, Wang Zhi hesitated.

Speaking of which, Wang Zhi and Hu Zongxian are still fellow villagers, both from Huizhou Prefecture. Jiajing went to sea for 19 years to operate smuggling trade, and gradually developed into the No.1 armed maritime merchant in Ming Dynasty.

During the period when Japanese pirates were raging, Wang Zhi's family was naturally arrested and imprisoned by the court. When Hu Zongxian became the governor of Zhejiang, he sent someone to release Wang Zhi's family and arranged to live in Hangzhou.

This is actually one of the main reasons why he gained Wang Zhi's trust.

Seeing that the opportunity to disintegrate the largest group of Japanese pirates in the Daming Sea was at hand, Hu Zongxian couldn't sit still, and immediately sent Xia Zheng to persuade Wang Zhi, so that Wang Zhi could go to Hangzhou with peace of mind.

That's why the scene just now happened.

What Xia Zheng didn't know was that Hu Zongxian sent him to persuade Wang Zhilai to surrender, and on the other hand, he also secretly mobilized General Qi Jiguang and other departments to be on strict alert to prevent Wang Zhi's false surrender from attacking coastal counties in Zhejiang Province.

Xia Zheng's boat sailed out of Cen Port and approached Wang Zhi's fleet. After raising the flag to reveal his identity, he was naturally introduced into the fleet quickly.

Wei Guangde didn't know all this, at this time he was chatting with Jiujiang magistrate.

Although Wei Guangde is only a sixth-rank official, and a few ranks behind the fifth-rank magistrate, but anyway, he still has a sign of the emperor's favorite minister on his head, and he is still a noble Hanlin. For such a young man with a bright future As an official, the prefect of Jiujiang would naturally not put on airs of a superior official in front of him, since he is a Beijing official.

As for Wei Guangde's status as Wei Guogong Xu Pengju's future son-in-law, in fact, in the eyes of civil officials, he really doesn't take it seriously.

They didn't know what was going on at sea thousands of miles away, and the trapping and final beheading of Wang Zhi would also lead to a larger and bloodier Japanese invasion along the coast of Daming in the future.

Xia Zheng's trip was of course fruitless. Wang Zhi has power at sea, and there are countless sea merchants secretly providing him with information on land. In fact, Wang Zhi had already received it when Qi Jiguang and other generals were secretly transferred. information.

Seeing that the officers and soldiers were on guard, Wang refused to go ashore, but sent his adopted son Mao Haifeng to follow Xia Zheng to meet Hu Zongxian.

Hu Zongxian couldn't sit still in the face of the great achievements at his fingertips, so he arranged for Lu Ting, the chief soldier of Zhejiang Province, to go to and from Wang Zhizhou. Taking Commander Xia Zheng as a hostage.

Wei Guangde followed his elder brother to leave Jiujiang Mansion again for Nanjing to get married, to marry Xu Jianglan, the daughter of Wei Guogong's mansion, and in the Governor's Palace in Hangzhou, Jiangnan Governor Hu Zongxian finally met the great pirate Wang Zhi himself in his own territory.

Before the high-ranking official Hou Lu and the pardon edict, Wang Zhi finally let go of his last worries, and brought his subordinates Ye Zongman and Wang Qingxi to pay homage to Hu Zongxian.

Overjoyed, Hu Zongxian not only immediately arranged food and drinks, but also invited local officials from Hangzhou to accompany him.

At this time, Hu Zongxian saw it as a great achievement to recruit Wang Zhi. Since then, there have been no large groups of Japanese pirates in the Ming Dynasty, and the great cause of fighting Japanese pirates seems to have been accomplished.

Overjoyed, while entertaining Wang Zhi and the officials in Hangzhou, Hu Zongxian took time to go to the back hall to write a letter of merit, claiming that he had captured the leader of the pirates, Wang Zhizuo.

As for Wang Zhi and his party outside, Hu Zongxian released Wang Zhi from polite custody, arranged a room in the governor's courtyard, and ordered the local officials to take turns to have banquets with him.

It was so easy to lure Wang Zhi to the shore, Hu Zongxian naturally would not let him go easily.

Although the memorial also stated that Wang Zhi was willing to commit crimes and meritorious deeds, and expressed his willingness to be loyal to the court and fight against the Japanese with the army, but what would happen if the memorial arrived in the capital, Hu Zongxian himself had no idea.

Along with the memorial, there is also a letter to Yan Song, the capital. Now that Zhao Wenhua has fallen, as a former hardcore supporter, no matter what interests link Hu Zongxian and Zhao Wenhua together, the previous relationship has been invalidated.

Fortunately, through Zhao Wenhua, Hu Zongxian also got in touch with Mr. Yan Ge. Otherwise, he, the governor of Zhejiang, would not have easily become the governor of Jiangnan and controlled the entire military affairs of suppressing Japanese.

Wei Guangde's wedding fleet arrived in Nanjing on time the day before the wedding, and the journey went smoothly.

Live in the other courtyard of Wei Guogong's mansion outside the city, and wait until the next day to enter the city to get married.

The last time he came to Nanjing, Wei Guangde's whereabouts were always behind Wei Guogong Xu Pengju, so naturally he can't continue to hide this time.

On the day of arriving in Nanjing, Wei Wencai took Wei Guangde to pay a visit to Wei Guogong Xu Pengju.

Xu Pengju was in his forties, when Wei Guangde saw Xu Pengju for the first time, he secretly praised Xu Pengju in his heart, old handsome guy.

Most of the later generations who wrote about Xu Pengju laughed at his Pengju name and tarnished Yue Fei's reputation, because his talent is really beyond words.

However, when Wei Guangde saw the old man this time, he seemed to be very orderly in what he said and did, and he couldn't see his lack of ability at all.

It was also the first time for Xu Pengju to see his son-in-law, and he was generally satisfied. After a few pleasantries, he introduced his family members to Wei Guangde one by one. Naturally, his daughter Xu Jianglan was not included.

At this time, the young couple cannot meet each other.

It was also the first time that Wei Guangde saw Xu Pengju's concubine, Zheng Shi, who insisted on being his wife.

The reason Xu Pengju arranged for Mrs. Zheng to appear on this occasion was also because she was also the stepmother of Xu Bangrui and Xu Jianglan in name.

Although the two brothers and sisters did not recognize Zheng's identity, they still did not dare to act presumptuously under the order of the court.

Afterwards, brothers Xu Bangrui and Xu Bangning met Xu Bangrui. The two also pretended to meet for the first time, saluted each other, and treated Xu Bangning with the same attitude as Xu Bangrui, and did not show any abnormalities.

On the second day, with the sound of firecrackers and the sound of suona, a large group of welcoming parties dressed in red festive clothes set off from a courtyard outside Nanjing City and entered Nanjing City, and arrived at the gate of Wei Guogong's mansion.

At this time, outside the gate of Wei Guogong's mansion, the ground was already covered with red marks left by the setting off of firecrackers.

Both the Wei family and the Xu family had plenty of time to prepare for this wedding, so it was naturally very lively and festive, with wedding money wrapped in red paper being thrown to the crowd of onlookers, and almost all the officials in Nanjing City came to Wei Guogong's mansion , even Liu Shiyan, the sincerity uncle who was extremely at odds with Wei Guogong's mansion, also came, but looked at Wei Guangde who was full of smiles with an unfriendly expression.

He came here in person, of course not looking for trouble. At this time, he had a quarrel with Wei Guogong's family, not to mention Nanjing, even if he arrived in Beijing, he would not be able to do well. What's more, some things were just acting.

I came here in person because everyone is honorable, and they can play a full set of plays, but they can't be too much.

With Wei Guangde's favor in front of Emperor Jiajing now, I am afraid that if something really happens, Emperor Jiajing will sack his title for a few more years.

Wei Guangde didn't know what happened in the inner courtyard, anyway, he successfully picked up his bride, Xu Jianglan, from Wei Guogong's mansion, and sent her into an eight-carried sedan chair.

Amidst the noisy firecrackers, the welcoming team returned.

Of course they would not go back to the other courtyard, but went directly to the riverside, where several big boats accompanying Wei Guangde had already been prepared, and the wedding party and the bride's dowry were carried onto the big boats in an orderly manner.

Wei Guangde stood behind his brother-in-law Xu Bangrui with his eldest brother, looking back at the Nanjing city that was gradually going away.

Xu Bangrui was going to see off his relatives, it was impossible to just hand over the girl to Wei Guangde and it would be over. The family had already arranged a wedding banquet, which was hosted by his father Xu Pengju himself, and the second son Xu Bangning greeted him.

"Brother, don't think too much, no matter what they do, the last position will always be yours."

Wei Guangde whispered in Xu Bangrui's ear.

"Ok?"

Xu Bangrui was a little surprised why Wei Guangde was so straightforward.

"Before, I was still worried about my father-in-law's poor health, but seeing you today, hehe"

Wei Guangde smiled lightly.

(End of this chapter)