prosperous age

Chapter 304 Chapter 303

He told Yan Shifan about the changes in the Minister of the Household Department, and suddenly, Yan Song asked Yan Shifan in a very stern tone: "Did you secretly instigate the suspension of the salary of Prince Yu's mansion?"

At the beginning, Yan Song asked Yan Shifan about that matter, but after he denied it, Yan Song was relieved. He thought it was a test of Emperor Jiajing for King Yu.

He was happy to see the success, King Yu couldn't handle the household department and lost points with Emperor Jiajing.

Yan Song is a Jinshi of Hongzhi for 18 years. Speaking of which, he has gone through three dynasties, so it is naturally far-reaching to see people and things.

At the beginning of the dispute between King Yu and King Jing, he wanted to jump out completely at the beginning, treat the two kings equally, and not participate in it.

But his own son got angry with King Jing, and the two sides began to communicate.

Just when Yan Song wanted to stop the exchanges between the two families, when he was alone with Emperor Jiajing, the emperor hinted that he should walk more with King Jing.

Yan Song didn't know the ancestral system of the Ming Dynasty. According to the system established by Zhu Yuanzhang, King Yu had an absolute advantage. As long as he did not make any mistakes, the throne must belong to him.

So if he had to choose between King Yu and King Jing, of course he would choose King Yu instead of King Jing, but after Emperor Jiajing hinted, he had to follow His Majesty's will whether he wanted to or not. .

It can be said that the Yan family will be tied to King Jing's chariot, and the instigator is Emperor Jiajing rather than others. Otherwise, no matter how clever Yan Shifan is, he would never dare to disobey his father Yan Song's orders.

Yan Song no longer prevented him from interacting with King Jing, and naturally the relationship between the two families quickly became closer. From the outside world, the Yan family turned to King Jing and fully supported him in fighting for the throne.

However, this sign made other strict party members feel strange and couldn't figure out the reason behind it.

In fact, on the night when Yan Song got the hint from Emperor Jiajing, he had a secret exchange with Yan Shifan. He wanted to know why his son would guess what Emperor Jiajing wanted.

Yes, after this conversation with the emperor, Yan Song understood that Yan Shifan should have guessed the emperor's intentions, so he would associate with King Jing.

The reason for Yan Shifan to see through all this is very simple. In fact, it is what Yan Song thought, the great treasure should be inherited by King Yu, as long as King Yu did not make serious mistakes before that.

As the Yan family is the most influential power in the imperial court, Emperor Jiajing definitely does not want the Yan family to fall to Prince Yu's Mansion. To put it bluntly, he may be deprived of imperial power because of this.

As for his association with King Jing's Mansion, the reason is actually very simple, that is, the Yan family may become a touchstone for Emperor Jiajing to test King Yu.

If King Yu does not perform well in the battle with the Yan family, then his inheritance rights may be lost, allowing King Jing to succeed.

Although such a chance is very slim.

For the sake of King Yu, Emperor Jiajing carefully selected Gao Gong as an assistant from the Imperial Academy, because Gao Gong and King Yu had complementary personalities.

Yu Wang is weak and shy, while Gao Gong is strong but able to judge the situation and know how to advance and retreat.

In fact, the hidden ministers are all confidant ministers who will be reused when the new emperor ascends the throne. This is also the reason why Zhan Shifu's errands were fought by the adults of the Hanlin Academy in the past.

But this sudden change in the household department made Yan Song couldn't help but think of Yan Shifan's analysis of himself at the beginning, and then thought of the fact that the household department withheld King Yu's salary and yearly gifts before, which gave Yan Song a new judgment.

This, I am afraid that Yan Shifan made it up on purpose because Emperor Jiajing wanted to sharpen King Yu.

Since Emperor Jiajing wanted to test, Yan Shifan was naturally not afraid to make matters worse, as long as the personal safety of King Yu was not endangered, it should be within the range that Emperor Jiajing could tolerate.

Others may not dare, but Yan Song is familiar with his son's courage. Now that Emperor Jiajing moved the household department, he still asked Jia Yingchun from Yuwang's mansion to be the secretary of the household department.

It's just that although Yan Shifan didn't show panic at this time, his face did become ugly.

He already understood what Emperor Jiajing meant, and the few people who were leaning towards him over there might have to move their positions, otherwise life would be difficult.

But if you lose the control of the household department, how will you get your money in the future?
There is only so much money in the household department, and every yamen needs money, so it makes a big difference who is given first and who is given later.

In fact, Yan Shifan was not an idiot, since he knew Emperor Jiajing's intentions, how could he sit still and wait for death.

Let Yu Wang come to power to clean up himself?

No way, he's not that stupid.

It's just that at this stage, the only thing he can do is to help King Jing stay in the capital, as long as possible, he must keep procrastinating, and he must not let King Jing leave the capital to become a vassal.

Yan Shifan still had a deep impression that his father took an elixir that Emperor Jiajing took daily, and he lay on the bed for several days, almost dying.

But what about the emperor?
After taking those pills, I am still alive and kicking every day.

Yan Shifan naturally asked many people, and concluded that Emperor Jiajing's body was not as good as it looked on the outside.

Now that Xungui is in charge of city defense in the capital, and Lu Bing and Huang Jin are in charge of Jinyiwei and Dongchang respectively, he naturally dare not have other ideas.

But as long as the time is delayed until the onset of Emperor Jiajing's erysipelas, then he will have a lot of room to manipulate. Anyway, his father is still the chief minister of the cabinet.

At the critical moment of the transfer of imperial power, the right to speak is very important.

At the very least, the letter of succession should be drafted by the cabinet ministers.

Yan Shifan was not worried about Emperor Jiajing's arrangement, he was just worried that it would not be easy to transfer money from the Ministry of Households in the future, and Yan Song was naturally not concerned about this, but worried about the future of the Yan family.

Some things, Yan Shifan didn't dare to say to his father, after all, the matter was a bit involved.

Today when Dad asked about that matter again, Yan Shifan knew that he might not be able to cover it up, but he still couldn't admit it.

"No, I told you the truth when you asked before, there is absolutely no such thing."

Yan Shifan swore at this time, and he almost swears to God, denying any connection with this matter.

Yan Song's reaction to Yan Shifan was actually within Yan Song's expectations, but this is not important anymore, he already has the answer in his heart.

If it was arranged by Emperor Jiajing, there is no need for him to make such an arrangement suddenly today.

Shaking his head, Yan Song looked at Yan Shifan and said: "I am afraid that the time I will be in this position as a father will not be long, but it will be three to five years, maybe it is time to give up the position. You can do it yourself, you need so much yellow and white. What to do with things, what life does not bring and death does not take away."

At this time, Yan Shifan bowed to be taught, but his head was lowered, and his mouth was curled.

If it wasn't for the money he received, how would the expenses in the mansion come about? I'm afraid that the happy life of my parents would be greatly reduced, and it would be impossible to live so delicately like they are now.

As for the paintings and calligraphy that Yan Song likes, some were sent by the officials below to please their father and son, but some were bought with money.

Of course, for any calligraphy and painting that they fancy, someone will naturally buy it, and if they don't want to sell it, they will buy it by force, and they will always take it back to the mansion.

At this time, Xu Jie in the cabinet had already received the message from Yan Song, knowing these things, although he was very surprised, he did not dare to neglect at all. Then send six subjects.

The palace has already issued driving stickers to the Sixth Division, and after stamping, it was passed on to the Jinyiwei North Town Fusi. Even if it was getting dark, Tiqi would still be dispatched to the Xuandana people, and there would be no delay.

As a brigade of cavalry poured out of the Fusi gate in Beizhen, the news that Emperor Jiajing issued an order to arrest Xuanda governor Yang Shun and Xuanfu patrol censor Lu Kai to return to Beijing spread rapidly in the official circles of the capital.

But only a few people know that with Tiqi dispatched to Xuanfu, Hubu Shangshu, it should be said that the former Hubu Shangshu Fang Dun was transferred to Nanjing to work, and the new Hubu Shangshu was Jia Yingchun who had just arrived in Beijing from Nanjing.

And he was not the worst, because Xu Lun, Minister of the Ministry of War, was directly dismissed from his post, and the current errands of the Ministry of War were temporarily acted by the Minister of the Ministry of War, and Jiang Dong even left for Xuanda overnight to take over the rights that Yang Shunkong had vacated.

That night, the restaurants and teahouses in each major square city were thriving, and people kept coming in and out. Without exception, most of them were officials in Beijing.

The sudden reshuffle of rights had no warning before, and naturally made everyone very curious.

However, apart from the eunuchs around Emperor Jiajing, very few people knew the details of this matter, and naturally no one would have thought of Wei Guangde's pusher role in it.

However, during their discussion, Jin Yiwei's name was mentioned repeatedly.

Just as Yan Song thought at the beginning, the only one who has the ability to inform Emperor Jiajing is the Governor of Lu Da.

At this time, Wei Guangde had arrived not far from Baoan Prefecture, and it was still two days away.

On the one hand, he sent two people to contact Ma Fang, and on the other hand, he sent two teams to search for the officials who escorted Shen Xiang between Huailai County and Baoanzhou City.

Of course he didn't intend to rob people, Zhang Ji's bad idea is absolutely unacceptable.

But since he had already chosen to save people, he still had to take action.

In Wei Guangde's plan, he only needs to delay the time for Shen Xiang to arrive in Bao'an Prefecture, and his memorial has already been handed in. According to Wei Guangde's analysis of Emperor Jiajing's character, the dead will not attract his attention, but once the border town becomes unstable , he will use thunderous means, including but not limited to substitutions, using people he trusts, and may even transfer Yang Boyang, the governor of Ji Town, who was just transferred to Jizhen last year.

As long as Governor Xuan is replaced, Shen Xiang's life will be saved.

Of course, the premise is that the newly appointed Governor Xuanda is not from Yan Song.

However, with Emperor Jiajing's shrewdness, he probably wouldn't continue to arrange Yan Song's people.

At this time, Wei Guangde and a dozen people stopped on the side of the official road to wait for the news. As for if Shen Xiang had already been sent to Baoanzhou City, then he could only mourn in silence, this is life and death.

More than a dozen other people were sent by Wei Guangde to find someone. As for how to delay, Wei Guangde also had a mind, that is to prescribe medicine.

The medicine he took before pretending to be sick was really powerful, and it made him lie on the bed for a few days.

Wei Guangde planned to repeat his old tricks. Before leaving Yongning, he asked a doctor in the city to prescribe a medicine. Although he would not be as bad as Wei Guangde's before after taking it, he would still suffer from vomiting and diarrhea for a few days, and then he would gradually get better.

As long as they slow down, Wei Guangde has achieved his goal.

While waiting for the news, Wei Guangde felt that he was busy. If he didn't care about this mess, he would be able to catch up with Tang Shunzhi's team in Jizhen now.

The point is that the fact that he came to Xuanfu cannot be exposed yet, he has no identity now.

The person who contacted Ma Fang came back first, because there was a specific station, so it was easy to find, and Ma Fang came with the guards.

The current Ma Fang is not much different from the previous year. Although his official position has been promoted from guerrilla to deputy commander in more than a year, he still leads his men and horses to fight fiercely with the Tartars on the border.

Last year, the Alta Khan tribe led troops to attack Datong. As the deputy general of the Xuanfu, he commanded the Xuanfu army to rescue, and fought fiercely with the Alda tribe several times around Datong City.

However, in his current official position, it is not easy to take credit and continue to be promoted. It is really a radish and a pit, and he will not be promoted until the people above him leave.

However, Ma Fang seemed very satisfied with her current position, and when she saw Wei Guangde far away, she got off her horse and hurried over to salute.

After seeing the ceremony, Ma Fang still looked puzzled and asked Wei Guangde why he came to Xuanfu, "My lord, I read the Dibao, which said that you accompanied Master Tang to inspect Ji Town, and I was scared when I received your letter." jumped.

Here, you shouldn't be here. "

Although Ma Fang is a military general, she is not a rough person, so she naturally guessed that Wei Guangde came to Xuan Mansion without status.

It doesn't matter whether your official position is big or small, as long as you don't have a reasonable reason to go to a place, that is the reason for the officials to attack, not to mention that Wei Guangde has an errand to patrol Jizhen, but he ran to Jizhen.

"You don't need to worry about this. Although not many people know about it, there will definitely be no officials."

Wei Guangde shook his head and said, "Since Yang Shun was in Xuanda, border towns fought against the Tartars, did dozens of military fortresses really break down?"

"Wan Quan's left and right guards are pretty good. If the Tartars dare to come, I dare to beat them back. The main reason is that the loss of the Xuan Mansion is a bit big."

Ma Fang replied.

"Relying on the military fort, how could there be such a big loss?"

Wei Guangde was still a little puzzled. The Mongols were not good at attacking cities. The military forts on the border were all built with walls. Although they were not tall, they were not so easy to climb, let alone attack.

"The reasons for this are quite complicated."

However, Ma Fang said a little dejectedly: "There is a factor of going back to the people. Most of them are members of the White Lotus Cult, so after sneaking into the military fort, they will often become internal agents when the Tartars attack the fort."

Hearing "go back to people", Wei Guangde naturally knew what it was.

"Those who belong to me will live in China forever, and those who betray me will flee outside the Great Wall", this is the imperial edict issued by Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, actively recruiting people from outside the Great Wall to migrate to the Central Plains in order to stabilize the frontier.

Of course, the main object of Zhu Yuanzhang's surrender was the Mongols, and he used this to build a powerful cavalry.

People who walk back can be roughly divided into two categories, namely, those who go actively and those who go passively. Many of the people who go away voluntarily defected to the outside of the Great Wall in order to find a new way out because they could no longer survive. They accounted for an absolute majority. Some of them fled voluntarily because of their religious beliefs, so they are naturally members of the White Lotus Cult.

In addition to this, there is a special group of spies sent by Jin Yiwei.

The passive ones were mainly some Han Chinese who were taken away by the Tartars during the war and some deserters who wanted to survive and turned to the enemy.

(End of this chapter)