prosperous age

Chapter 310 Chapter 309
On the second day after returning to Beijing, he was summoned by Emperor Jiajing. Wei Guangde did not expect to be so eager.

Well, influenced by later generations, he felt that no matter how corrupt the Ming army was, he should not be surprised.

In fact, during this trip to Jizhen, Wei Guangde saw that the life of the frontier guards seemed to be better than that of the mainland, especially the guards in the south of the Yangtze River. It's just that they have to go to the battlefield from time to time, and there is a possibility of losing their lives at any time. .

Wei Guangde is not sure whether the generals in the north are more conscientious than the generals in the south, but what is certain is that if Wei Daddy was really sent to rescue the capital back then, the Jiujiang Guard at that time would have been killed by me. The cavalry swamped.

After leaving Xiyuan, both Tang Shunzhi and Wei Guangde kept silent about the summons in Xiyuan. After they left the gate of Xiyuan, they hugged each other, got into the car and left here, returning to their respective homes.

Emperor Jiajing did not forget to give the two people a holiday, which is also a common practice. This time, each of them had ten days of rest, and ten days later they went to their respective yamen to do their work.

Going home to rest for two days, Wei Guangde asked Zhang Ji to collect gifts early in the morning, so he naturally wanted to visit Yan Ge's old mansion today to prepare.

The 500-year-old mountain ginseng can only be found in rare items, and the ordinary yellow and white items are actually not in the eyes of Mr. Yan Ge. Perhaps only the Yan Shifan Yan Dagong, who is known as the talented man of the Ming Dynasty, likes it.

Zhang Ji also took some of the peppers that Wei Guangde collected from Nanjing and put them in the gift list, but Wei Guangde deleted them.

He doesn't have much of peppers in stock now.

Comparison is a kind of ornamental plant, which also determines that Nanjing's Gonghoubo and other dignitaries will not plant too much.

However, after Wei Guangde took the pepper back and put it in the dish, the whole family couldn't eat it at first, and it was only after eating it a few times that they gradually accepted the spicy taste of the pepper.

Now, the Wei family's farm near Jiujiang Mansion has started experimenting with pepper planting, using more than ten mu of land at a time.

Now, Wei Guangde is reluctant to take out the peppers as gifts, and secondly, because others don't know how to use them, that would be a shameful waste.

After having lunch and resting in the backyard for a while, Wei Guangde went out and got into the car to go to Yan's Mansion.

Under normal circumstances, before officials visit each other, they have to send greeting cards to each other's house, and then wait for the other party to reply, that is, they can only come to the door after the visiting time is confirmed.

However, who made Wei Guangde and Yan Ge old fellows?
In the past few times, Wei Guangde still followed these rules, strictly speaking, and then he was ridiculed by Yan Shifan for a long time, until he stopped sending greeting cards.

Going to the Yan Mansion today, Wei Guangde naturally followed the usual practice, prepared gifts and went straight there.

According to the usual way of sending people over to the mansion, from the reception on the opposite side, we can see whether Yan Mansion's attitude towards him has changed, and from this we can also speculate whether Yan Mansion will take actions against him in the future.

Wei Guangde still values ​​his own life very much.

As expected, when Wei Guangde's carriage stopped outside the side gate of Yan Mansion, the concierge of Yan Mansion had already come out to greet him.

This is also their usual routine. When a familiar car arrives, they have to report directly inside, and on the other hand, they have to come out to greet the distinguished guests, so that the other party can feel the courtesy of the Yan Mansion, and then when they are happy, they shake their hands. The purse flew out.

The seventh-rank official in front of the Prime Minister's gate, the concierge of the Yan Mansion seems to be only half a rank lower than Wei Guangde.

Wei Guangde got off the carriage, threw a purse over, smiled and cupped his hands at the man, and said, "Which master is there?"

"So that Mr. Wei can know that the two masters are busy with official duties in the cabinet and are not at home."

The concierge smiled happily when he received the red envelope Wei Guangde threw to him, and quickly put it into his arms.

Of course, he didn't get this bag of money alone, it was divided equally by the concierge in the end.

The family rules in the Yan Mansion are strict, although there are no specific regulations on the concierge collecting red envelopes, but if the master doesn't say it, it doesn't mean that the servants can do whatever they want.

If the servants make a fuss in front of the guests because of such a trivial matter as the red envelope, then the Yan family will lose face.

Wei Guangde nodded and sighed, "Xiangye's family has worked hard on state affairs and devoted themselves to the court. They are really role models for our generation. Guangde is ashamed of himself."

The concierge has already bowed to invite Wei Guangde to come in, so naturally Wei Guangde would not linger in front of the door, he raised his legs and walked up the steps, walking in, with only Zhang Ji following behind him to serve him.

As for the carriage and guards, the Yan family will not lose them.

There is a whole row of horse-drawing posts on the outside side, which can park dozens of carriages or sedan chairs at the same time. The Yan Mansion also has special guards. As for the coachmen and guards, they will also be greeted for tea, and there will be a sumptuous meal at mealtime.

The cards that Xiangfu should have are available in Yanfu.

There is no change in the entrance section.

But Wei Guangde didn't expect all the servants of the Yan Mansion to know about his affairs, otherwise, the rumor that he had written memorials for the Xuan Mansion's affairs would have spread in the capital long ago.

Wei Guangde walked in with a smile on his face, and before reaching the second gate, Yan Xin, the second housekeeper of the Yan Mansion, had already stepped out of the gate to welcome him.

"Forgive me, forgive me for being late."

Yan Xin and Wei Guangde are also old acquaintances. Yan Nian, the housekeeper of Yan's house, is quite trusted by Yan Song and Yan Shifan's father and son, but he is a bit older, so ordinary guests will not come out to receive guests like Wei Guangde, he only meets Yan Song And Yan Shifan and his son.

And the third housekeeper, Yan Dong, was rebellious and defiant. Even if he received fellow Jiangxi fellows like Wei Guangde, he sometimes had to act like the third housekeeper of Yan's mansion, so naturally he couldn't be sent out to receive distinguished guests.

Wei Guangde once heard privately from people in Yan's mansion that two third-rank officials from the Metropolitan Procuratorate came to Yan's mansion to ask Yan Shou to help him with a painting of calligraphy, but it happened that Yan Song was not there, and Yan Dong, the third housekeeper, asked them to wait outside the pavilion. for more than an hour.

It was cold winter, and the two senior officials who were the third-rank officials in the court were almost frozen there. It was the butler Yan Nian who passed by and found out that he sent someone to bring the two adults into the house, and arranged for someone to bring hot water. Tea.

So in the current Yan Mansion, of course the chief steward, Yan Nian, is in charge, while Yan Xin is actually in charge of the mansion, and Yan Dong is mainly in charge of affairs in the mansion.

Entering a flower hall with Yan Xin, Yan Xin arranged for someone to bring tea and cakes, and he sat with Wei Guangde under the Prime Minister's company.

"Is there a lot of North Korea-China affairs recently?"

Wei Guangde asked a little puzzled, in the past, Mr. Yan Shifan Yan would only go to the cabinet office with Yan Shoufu in the morning, and usually slip out in the afternoon to play with his own affairs.

But today the concierge said that the eldest son has not come back and is still working in the cabinet, which is a bit strange.

"Hey, Mr. Wei, you are a nobleman and forget things."

Yan Xin took a look at Wei Guangde, and then said slowly: "You just came back from Ji Town, and I have read all the content of the memorial in the newspaper, so shocking, is it not a big deal?
In the past two days, the officials of the six departments were recruited to the cabinet every day to discuss the follow-up matters. I heard that the Long Live Lord was very anxious after seeing it. He said that this is the case in Ji Town, what about the other military towns on the Nine Sides?

I heard that people from the Ministry of War will be arranged to inspect other military towns together with the censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the Sixth Division. This time, we will conduct a detailed investigation, just to get the same results as your trip to Jizhen. You need to know the vacancies of military towns in various places. , To grasp the truth to deal with. "

"oh, I see."

Wei Guangde nodded. Most of the military households in Jizhen had fled, and there was a serious shortage of sergeants. The situation in the other military towns would only get worse.

Although Ma Fang didn't mention this matter to him, it was probably because the involvement was too wide, and it wasn't from the top that most people really didn't dare to uncover this layer of window paper.

"Other military towns will send court ministers to investigate, and the affairs of Ji Town are not just over. It is said that the Ministry of Households will take the lead, and people from the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the Ministry of War will investigate the food and salaries that have been fraudulently claimed over the years. The officer probably couldn't sleep well, hehe."

Yan Xin continued.

"Is the impact so great? I thought it was just a reprimand, and no one has ever made a mistake."

When Wei Guangde heard what Yan Xin said, he immediately knew that this time the imperial court's board was not only aimed at the military generals, but those who were in charge of money and food, the principals, and the civil servants of the military, military and military departments were probably all for this. take responsibility.

In fact, from the beginning, he and Tang Shunzhi knew that many people would be unlucky, after all, there were too many vacancies, but in the past, generals were responsible for such things.

They lied about the number of sergeants and defrauded the money and food officials to get excess money and food for themselves, but this time it was obviously going to be a heavy blow, and beat the border officials so that they would not feel that the sky was high and the emperor was far away, so they could do whatever they wanted in the local area.

"It's really hard for Mr. Shoufu to make so many personnel arrangements."

Wei Guangde said with emotion, "Those officials in the border towns are also not worried at all, so they can't do things well, so they don't have to bother Mr. Shoufu who is over 70 and still working hard for the affairs of the world."

"Whoever says no, I don't know who Ji Town will replace as governor. I guess the masters will come back very late today. I heard from the eldest son yesterday that today is to determine the governor of Ji Town."

Yan Xin said with a smile.

"Ji Town? Didn't Governor Yang Boyang transfer to Ji Town, the things we found out now have nothing to do with him, should he be dismissed?"

Hearing Yan Xin's words, Wei Guangde couldn't help but tremble in his heart, this implicates innocent people.

It has only been more than a year since Yang Bo transferred to Jizhen from the position of governor of Xuanda. It is because of the discovery of the following big problems that Wei Guangde and his team made this inspection, and because of Yang Bo's past achievements, he can be regarded as Jane in the heart of the emperor. It should not be a crime.

"Master Wei has lost his mind. It's not a dismissal, it may be a good thing."

Yan Xin shook his head with a smile and said: "Last time, Your Majesty condemned Xu Lun, Minister of the Ministry of War, because of the Xuanda matter. Now the position of Minister of the Ministry of War is still vacant. Naturally, someone has to take it up. Someone suggested that Yang Bo be promoted to Minister of the Ministry of War. .”

When Yan Xin said this, he stared at Wei Guangde without blinking, observing the subtle changes in the expression on his face.

Wei Guangde felt it, although Yan Xin chatted with him as usual, with the same expression as before, but those eyes kept observing him, obviously Yan Xin knew much more than other people in the Yan Mansion.

Yang Bo should not belong to the Yan family. Yan Xin mentioned that Yang Bo might be promoted to the post of secretary of the Ministry of War in front of him at this time. No matter what he thought, he seemed to be playing tricks on himself to see if he was secretly hooked up with Yang Bo.

That's right, after all, I went to Xuanda when Yang Bo was the governor of Xuanda, and when he was the governor of Jizhen, I visited Jizhen and found that the border town was a big mess. The Yan family wouldn't suspect that I had secretly contacted Yang Bo.

Of course, Wei Guangde was just thinking about it in his heart.

"Aside from Governor Yang, are there other candidates?"

Wei Guangde didn't go to see if Yang Bo could take the position of minister of the Ministry of War, but asked other candidates.

"There are definitely candidates, but I don't know who else is."

Yan Xin said with a laugh.

"Actually, the official position is a radish and a hole. Governor Yang was removed, and you still have to find someone to be the governor of Ji Town. It is a good thing for everyone to have the opportunity to move, haha."

Wei Guangde echoed with a smile, but winked at Yan Xin.

"Haha. Master Wei, what kind of eyes do you have, haha"

Yan Xin knew the meaning of Wei Guangde's words. Doesn't it mean that moving a Yang Bo will cause a series of personnel changes, and the official positions of many people will change from top to bottom. It depends on whether you have found the right person.

Yan Xin also helped Yan Shifan manage the pawnshop business on weekdays, and he mentioned it when chatting with Wei Guangde in the past, but in fact, this is no longer a secret in the capital.

He knew the meaning of Wei Guangde's eyes, that is, his pawn shop business was about to boom again.

Yes, whether it is a Beijing official or a foreign minister, knowing that there is such a good position, it is natural to fight for it with all your strength.

Yan Shifan, Mr. Yan is very moral when he takes money to do things. If he takes money, he has to do things.

It is conceivable that as long as the news spreads, those officials who are interested in furthering their careers will definitely send money here. Even if they can't benefit from this personnel change, it would be good to have a relationship with the Yan family.

Sure enough, it was already late when the Yan family and his son returned home, Wei Guangde was just called over to chat for a few words before serving tea to see off the guests.

However, although they didn't spend long time together, Wei Guangde still saw a trace of tiredness on the faces of the two of them. This kind of look is often seen in Yan Song, but it is the first time he has seen it in Yan Shifan.

And two days later, the exact news about the position of Minister of the Ministry of War quickly spread among the Beijing officials. Yang Bo was changed to Minister of the Ministry of War, and Wang Yan was appointed Governor of Ji Town.

When Wei Guangde heard the news, he thought of the meaning of Yan Xin's words that day, and the rare expression on Yan Shifan's face. There was probably a fierce debate in the cabinet that day because of the candidates for the Minister of the Ministry of War and the governor of Jizhen. The Yan family did not achieve their goals.

And the news that came out now also indicated that the final result of the cabinet discussion was to submit the ministerial proposal to Emperor Jiajing. Emperor Jiajing did not choose people who supported the strict party, but chose a result that they did not like.

Yang Bo was appointed Minister of the Ministry of War. In fact, there was nothing controversial about it. Yan Shifan's expression at that time was probably caused by his defeat in the post of governor of Jizhen.

Wang Ying, styled Minying, nicknamed Sizhi, was a Jinshi in the 20th year of Jiajing. Datong.

In the Metropolitan Procuratorate these days, there are a few censors who have not impeached Yan Song. As long as the words are not too violent, the Yan family will take it seriously. Only those impeachment words that have something to say and pose a threat to the Yan family will be taboo hatred.

After the promotion this time, Wang Yan became the right servant of the Ministry of War and Governor Ji Liao, which naturally displeased the Yan family.

(End of this chapter)