prosperous age

The old man suddenly asked himself, Wei Guangde knew that he must have wanted to know the inside story.

Wei Guangde already knew about the matter at the household office of the small school before. It is estimated that the purpose of Xu Pengju's questioning him was to think about how to say it, and to see if it was possible to find a way to learn from Wei Guangde's handling methods.

As for Wei Guangde, he didn't feel anything.

He was not present at the time of the mutiny. In order to confuse the random soldiers, what others could say, so he honestly told how he restrained the soldiers.

"Did you come up with the excuse that Huang Maoguan fell to his death over the wall?"

Zhang Jia opened his mouth slightly at this moment. When he heard that the rebels sent Huang Maoguan's body back, he was still wondering how Huang Maoguan died.

Was he beaten to death by the rebels or did he really fall over the wall? Now that he knows the answer, he must have been beaten to death. He was just looking for a decent reason.

But this reason is good, at least it can be perfunctory to the court, and will not make the court feel ashamed.

To deal with the more than 2000 chaotic soldiers, it is absolutely impossible to kill them. We can only find ways to make peace and make big things into small things into nothing.

"Okay, Mr. Zhang. Later, let someone inform the people who are going to the Huang family, so don't talk nonsense."

He Shou was very satisfied with what Wei Guangde did. Emperor Jiajing had a good face. This is something that all the eunuchs know. If they knew that a third-rank official was beaten to death by a gang of rebels, he might not know how much he would be involved for the sake of face. People, even if they are afraid that they will not be too late to go around.

With this reason, the so-called mutiny was a misunderstanding, and Huang Maoguan's death was just an accident.

Xu Pengju nodded slightly, and then said again: "In addition, Mr. Zhang and I negotiated with the rebellious army in the small school grounds in order to calm the turmoil."

Having said that, Xu Pengju paused for a moment, looked around at everyone in the hall, and then continued: "We understand the request of the soldiers of the Zhenwu Camp, and they are very happy with the change of folding colors from 5 renminbi to 4 renminbi since last year. If there were any complaints, they asked us whether the matter had been approved by the imperial court."

Xu Pengju curled his lips and looked at Zhang Jia, which means that it's time for you to talk about this matter, and you are also an insider.

Zhang Jia was stared at by Xu Pengju, of course he knew that the meaning was to ask himself to say a few words, and immediately coughed twice and answered: "As far as I know, the Ministry of Households mentioned this matter in a memorial last year, but there was no After receiving the imperial court’s approval, they changed the color without permission, which is the main reason why the rebels stormed the household department’s yamen this time, and they want to recover the military salary that was deducted by the household department.”

"Last year, then this matter was Ma Kun's idea?"

He Shou suddenly interjected.

"It should be instructed by Ma Butang."

Zhang Jia replied.

"This officer Huang Mao carried out Ma Kun's order, but lost his own life, hehe."

He Shou suddenly laughed lightly, and then shook his head contemptuously, as if mocking Huang Maoguan, who died because of this, for not being able to see clearly the reality.

In the past two years, Nanjing City and its surrounding areas have been seriously affected by disasters.

In a calamity year, they were supposed to help the soldiers, but they reversed them. Not only did they fail to help the soldiers, but they also withheld their meager salaries.

But soon, He Shou put away his smile and asked seriously: "Then what did you and those people say?"

This is the real thing, and He Shou can also hear it. At that time, Wei Guogong Xu Pengju and Shangshu Zhang Jia had no choice but to agree to the conditions of the rebellious army, so they had a chance to escape successfully.

These things have nothing to do with him, anyway, just report what you know to the Supervisor of Rituals afterwards.

The conditions that the rebels could offer were nothing more than getting off the crime and giving money, which were actually not big things in He Shou's view.

If the rebellious soldiers did not wreak havoc on the city of Nanjing, then everything can be dealt with.

"They asked for 10 taels of silver. How could they give so much? Even if we agreed, the court would not agree."

Zhang Jia smiled wryly, "So let's talk it over and discuss it, otherwise it won't be easy to calm down the chaotic army."

At this time, Zhang Ji began to fight for merit. They used the tactic of slowing down the troops to calm down the rebellious soldiers in Zhenwu Camp. Although the rebellious soldiers sent people to chase them later, that was a later thing. Maybe they wanted to keep them as peace with the court. The hostages in the negotiation, fortunately, Wei Guangde stopped them in time.

In fact, the main reason behind the chasers was because they found Huang Maoguan dead, and they knew that the death of a third-rank official of the imperial court would not end well. Even if they negotiated peace with the imperial court, some people on their side would have to sacrifice their lives to understand the matter.

Although Zhang Jia tried his best to describe the conditions that they were forced to accept at that time as a strategy to stop the Zhenwu camp rebels from rebelling, but the room was full of smart people, so he naturally knew that the truth at that time might not be as simple as Zhang Jia said.

But thinking about it, if it was me at the time, I'm afraid I can only pinch my nose and admit it first, just hoping to get away.

As for the explanation after the event, we agreed, but the court did not agree, what can we do.

"I won't talk about those things, let's talk about what conditions are given to them to solve this matter."

He Shou didn't want to hear Zhang Jia and the others shirk their responsibilities. This matter had nothing to do with him. He just wanted to calm down the anger of the rebels in Zhenwu Camp.

Regarding He Shou's proposal, Zhang Jia did not answer right away, but looked at each other with Wei Guogong Xu Pengju, and seemed to reach an agreement after eye contact, and then Wei Guogong Xu Pengju ordered to the subordinates waiting around: "You go down first. Well, no one told you all to stay away from here."

This is the garrison mansion, except for the two little servants brought in by He Shou, the others are all his people.

After Xu Pengju's voice fell, the guards and book office standing around hurriedly exited the hall.

"Bangrui, you should go down first, and stand guard outside the door to prevent others from approaching."

After speaking, Xu Pengju looked at Wei Guangde again, but then exchanged glances with Zhang Jia. After Xu Bangrui exited the hall, he didn't say anything else.

Originally, Wei Guangde thought that he would be able to go out by himself, instead of getting involved in the muddy waters of Nanjing City, but unexpectedly it turned out like this.

Now Wei Guangde feels that his position is a bit awkward, whether he is leaving or staying, the key point is that no one has said this, and he is not sure whether he should take the initiative to get up and leave.

However, neither Xu Pengju nor Zhang Jia looked at him again, obviously they didn't intend to let him leave, and now both of them were staring straight at He Shou.

To put it bluntly, apart from Wei Guangde who was wearing a green robe, there were only the two little servants in gray inner servants in the room, and everyone else was dressed in red official robes, showing their power in Nanjing City.

"You go out too."

He Shou was suspicious, wondering what they were going to do after sending everyone away, but Xu Pengju and Zhang Jia ran out together before, so there was probably some haggling on the way.

When the two servants led the order out of the hall, Xu Pengju still sat calmly in the upper seat, not intending to speak, but Zhang Yan coughed twice at this time, attracting the attention of everyone in the room, and then He opened his mouth and said: "The issue of the discount of the soldiers' salaries, it was a violation of the system for the Ministry of Households to change without the approval of the court. I think it should be changed back."

After Zhang Jia finished speaking, Xu Pengju nodded in agreement and said, "This is as it should be."

The following Wei Guangde, He Shou, Li Sui, and Li Tingzhu also felt that Zhang Jia's words were reasonable at this time. Restoring the old system of folding colors should be able to quell some complaints from the rebellious soldiers.

"In addition, although no Japanese pirates have ever attacked Nanjing, there are Japanese pirates in Jingjiang, Zhenjiang and other places all the year round, and the Zhenwu Camp is also the guard post with the highest dispatch frequency, and it is deployed along the river all the year round.

In this, there is no credit but also hard work. I mean, give them some compensation, and also take care of the matter of color folding last year. "

Zhang Jia continued to speak.

"It's not easy for the soldiers, especially last year, when the Japanese pirates made a lot of trouble. If they hadn't set up defenses by the river, we don't know if the Japanese pirates would come down to Nanjing again to make trouble."

Xu Pengju made another assist on top.

At this time, Li Sui, the servant of the Ministry of War, had come to his senses. He looked at Xu Pengju and then at his immediate boss Zhang Jia.
Li Sui figured it out, and He Shou and Li Tingzhu naturally understood it too, and only Wei Guangde was a little bit ignorant at the moment. Although he was already alert in his heart, he still didn't understand what medicine Zhang Jia and Xu Pengju sold in the gourd. .

"Although the turmoil is short, the secret report that Jin Yiwei wants to come has already been sent out."

At this time, Li Tingzhu suddenly interrupted.

"It's something, you can't hide it."

Zhang Jia nodded.

"They want 10 taels, how much should we report?"

Li Sui didn't want to continue playing charades at this time, and just pointed out the key points. This should be the reason why Zhang Jia and Xu Pengju didn't know how to speak, so let him point it out.

"What else can I give, just repay the arrears of military pay, last year's discount?"

He Shou said something disdainfully, but hesitated again when it came to the Zhese dispute, and did not continue.

"Last year, it was enough to reissue one or two taels of silver to each person. They should be satisfied. Tell the people below not to do anything with this money, and send it directly to the soldiers. They should be satisfied."

Li Tingzhu is the admiral of Caojiang. He led the soldiers to deploy defenses by the river several times. He also knows a little about the Zhenwu camp. It's about silver."

Hearing his words, Xu Pengju couldn't help raising his eyebrows, and then stretched them out again. Obviously, he had already approved Li Tingzhu's meaning in his heart.

"I'll talk about this later, let's talk about how to report this to the court."

At this time, Zhang Jia suddenly stroked his beard, and said calmly.

Obviously, Zhang Jia also accepted Li Tingzhu's suggestion. The court should be able to accept the matter of several thousand taels of silver. Now the main thing is to discuss how to report this matter to the higher authorities.

Seeing this scene, Wei Guangde understood that this was to drag him into the water as well.

He returned to Beijing from Hangzhou, and there were records along the way, which post he rested at.

When he arrived in Nanjing and encountered the Zhenwu Battalion mutiny, it was impossible for him to say that he knew nothing about it after he returned to the capital, so Xu Pengju's intention for keeping him was roughly the same. Naturally, he wanted to lie about this for the Nanjing officials.

Thinking of this, Wei Guangde couldn't help looking at Xu Pengju above. No one spoke, maybe those adults were communicating with each other with their eyes.

Sighing in his heart, he never thought that he would not be able to get out of the mud without being stained. Maybe this is the officialdom of this era, Wei Guangde thought so.

While the main officials in Nanjing were discussing how to report the Zhenwu Camp to the imperial court, a team of captains in Jinyi, who was protecting Lu Bing in a python suit, also arrived at the gate of the Yan Mansion.

Lu Bing and Yan's family didn't deal with it very much, and naturally they rarely communicated on weekdays, that is, they only walked around on special days like New Year's and holidays. Of course, it was just for the sake of everyone's face, after all, they were all ministers in the same palace. .

However, before today, Lu Bing had already sent someone to send greetings to the Yan family, and only after receiving a reply from the Yan family did he confirm today's itinerary.

Lu Bing controls Jinyiwei and monitors the world. Naturally, he has a lot of secret information, and there is also a lot of information that is not very noticeable. He also recorded a lot of seemingly irrelevant information.

After receiving Wang Zhi's confession from Hangzhou, Lu Bing checked all kinds of information collected by hundreds of Jinyiwei households in Hangzhou in the past two years. Two large boxes were taken, and the boxes were then loaded on a ship, which may be shipped to Beijing or directly to Jiangxi.

After all, after the ship left the dock, it would be very difficult for Jin Yiwei to keep track of it. There are countless boats sailing on the Jiangnan Canal every day.

However, this was enough for Lu Bing to confirm some information and make him more confident about the trip.

Lu Bing dismounted in front of the gate of the Yan Mansion, and Yan Shifan and Yan Xin were already standing outside the gate to welcome them. After all, they were first-rank officials from the imperial court. Although they didn't know the purpose of Lu Bing's trip, the Yan family still had 120 cautions. , At the two ends of Fumen street, servants were sent to intercept the approaching of idlers.

Soon Lu Bing walked into Yan's mansion, where Yan Song was still waiting.

Lu Bing will not aim at nothing, he must have a purpose for coming here, and Yan Shifan also guessed that it may have something to do with the person who is locked in the prison.

After all, the relationship between the Lu family and the Yan family is not harmonious now, but the one who can really bring the two families together is Yu Dayou.

I don't know what the relationship between Yu Dayou and Lu Bing is, so that Lu Bing has been maintaining it until now.

Perhaps, this is also Lu Bing's last effort to rescue Yu Dayou, and today he is here to negotiate terms.

It is precisely because of this that Yan Shifan did not go out today, but planned to see what Lu Bing could offer in exchange for his own loose mouth.

At this time, in a house in Anfufang not far from Yan's house, an official in green robes was sitting behind a desk in the room and sighing.

"The Yan family is really not a thing, but it's still a fellow villager. If you are so helpless, don't you think that the old man didn't send money to their family, hum?"

Sighing for a long time, the man said bitterly.

The official was Guo Xiyan, who was once a child prodigy in Jiangxi Province. He was elected at the age of 13. Before that, he went to Zuo Chunfang Zuo Zhongyun in Zhan Shifu.

During the assessment by the Ministry of Officials last year, Guo Xiyan was designated as a subordinate because of "fallacy and harassment" in discussing etiquette. Now she has been dismissed and is staying at home, so she is depressed.