prosperous age

Chapter 384 Chapter 383

"Master Huang, we offer you a toast."

At this moment, Wei Guangde and several young censors from the Metropolitan Procuratorate stood behind an old man in his 50s, wearing a red official robe, toasting.

This is a restaurant near the Yamen of the Metropolitan Procuratorate. It is noon at this time, and the entire second floor has been booked. Although most of the officials here are green robes, they are Beijing officials, and even all the officials in the world are unwilling to offend. a group of people.

And at this time they gathered here, naturally they were celebrating with wine.

"Don't dare to be, we are all colleagues, let's drink this cup together."

The old man raised his glass with a smile and stood up, clinked glasses with Wei Guangde and the others, and drank it down in one gulp.

"Master Huang has worked hard and made great achievements. The Miao rebels in Sichuan are capricious, but only when he is the governor of Sichuan, there will be no more rebellions after he is calmed down. This is the only one."

Behind Wei Guangde, there was a censor who flattered him loudly.

"That's right, the imperial court has promoted you to be the censor of Youqian Capital, and will take charge of the Miao rebellion in the three provinces of Hu, Gui, and Sichuan. I think the rebellion in the three provinces will soon be completely quelled. If you know the people and do the job well, the cabinet and the official department have chosen the right person this time."

"That's not the result of Mr. Huang's hard work and meritocracy in his tenure."

At this time, Wei Guangde stood quietly on the side, watching Huang Guangsheng's conversation with those people, but his mind was recalling Huang Guangsheng's resume and another thing he planned.

Huang Guangsheng was the right envoy of the Chief Secretary of Jinsi and Sichuan in the 30th year of Jiajing. After that, he successively served as the left envoy and the governor of Sichuan.

During the nine years in Sichuan, I had a clear understanding of the people's conditions and benefits, and tried to recompile the province's Yao records and adjust the dosage. The officials were not able to compete with each other; , then forever as the order.

These practices have gradually stabilized the entire Sichuan society.

In fact, the rebellion of ethnic minorities is not only due to some people's disobedience to Wang Hua, but also the oppression of local officials is one of the important reasons.

When Huang Guangsheng was in office, he focused on resolving this contradiction, so that all ethnic groups in Sichuan gradually settled down.

His actions were naturally seen by the imperial court, so after passing the exam in the ninth year of Sichuan, he was ordered to return to Beijing to report on his duties. Military affairs of Sichuan and Guizhou provinces.

In ancient times, ethnic minority areas were always appointed by the central government and belonged to an autonomous state. Since the Yuan Dynasty, the "Jimizhou" system in the Tang Dynasty was changed to the chieftain system. Chieftains, also known as native officials, were used to stabilize the border areas.

In the Ming Dynasty, the imperial court tried to stabilize the situation in the southwest by combining grace and power, and ethnic minorities checking and balancing each other. However, large and small chieftain rebellions occurred frequently, and the turmoil in the southwest could not be quelled until the Ming Dynasty.

Ever since the Southwest was pacified during the Hongwu period, there have been wars in the southwestern minority-inhabited areas. Therefore, the degree of turmoil in the southwestern region of the Ming Dynasty was no less than that of the northern border. There were often large-scale social conflicts, and sometimes it was even more harmful. A small rebellion, ten years a big rebellion" is not an exaggeration.

In the Ming Dynasty, the emergence of the official position of governor was closely related to the continuous outbreak of ethnic conflicts in the southwest region.

Speaking of it, the official position of Governor of Huguichuan was naturally established because of frequent rebellions in the jurisdiction. The first Governor of Huguichuan was established in Jiajing 27, and the governor at that time was Zhang Yue.

In the 12 years since the establishment of the governor, five governors have been frequently replaced. Huang Guangsheng is the sixth appointed by the court. His purpose is naturally to spread the practice he used in Sichuan to Huguang and Guizhou, and to quell the local minority rebellion.

In fact, Huang Guangsheng, the censor of the Youqian capital, is also on a temporary post, but since he is in the capital, he also has to go to the Metropolitan Procuratorate to recognize him.

No, when he came to the Metropolitan Procuratorate today, it was natural that his colleagues dragged him to the restaurant to congratulate him on his promotion from the Deputy Imperial Envoy of the Right to the Imperial History of the Imperial Capital.

Huang Guangsheng has now been promoted from governor to governor, and he will definitely be a big shot in the palm hall in the future. Although the censors are not afraid of these high-ranking officials, they are not willing to give up this connection easily.

Although the Metropolitan Procuratorate has great power, after all, the ranks are there, and only a very small number of people can be promoted in the courtyard. The ultimate way out for Yushi is to be an official in the Sixth Ministry or a local government.

After the toasting crowd gradually dispersed, Wei Guangde thought about it and finally made up his mind. He went forward to talk to Huang Guangsheng when everyone was slightly drunk.

"Master Huang, this time Governor Hu Guichuan, I don't know how His Excellency plans to quell the rebellion in the three provinces. Is it to implement the reorganization of corvee in Sichuan?"

Wei Guangde felt that one of the important reasons why he was able to quell ethnic rebellions in Sichuan was that he restricted local officials from exploiting ethnic minority villages.

One province did this before, and now the three provinces will naturally do the same.

However, the cost of doing so is very high, and it is very easy to offend the local gentry and chieftains, because it is not only the local officials who have accepted the fate of the imperial court who exploit the common people, but also the chieftains.

Wei Guangde personally thinks that Huang Guangsheng's method is good, but it is very difficult to implement it, and it needs strong force to deter Xiaoxiao.

Huang Guangsheng looked at Wei Guangde with slightly drunk eyes, and replied with a smile: "In fact, most of those Miao people are not barbarians in our eyes, and what they ask for is food and clothing. As for those who have ulterior motives, we still have to suppress them by force."

"Exercise kindness and strength?"

"Yes, let the Miao people bathe in the court's kindness, use force to deter Xiao Xiao, and the world will be peaceful, haha."

Huang Guangsheng replied with a smile.

"My lord is from Quanzhou, Fujian?"

Wei Guangde also echoed with a smile.

"Yes, from Linzhang, Panhu, Jinjiang, Quanzhou, and Mr. Wei?"

Huang Guangsheng asked with a smile.

"I'm from Pengze, Jiujiang Prefecture."

Wei Guangde laughed, "I don't know if my lord has heard of Yu Dayou."

"You talk about Zhifu, he is also from Jinjiang County, and I am a fellow villager, but he is a military household of Quanzhou Wei."

Hearing Wei Guangde mentioning Yu Dayou, Huang Guangsheng narrowed his drunken eyes, wondering what Wei Guangde was doing when he mentioned Yu Dayou.

Speaking of which, Huang Guangsheng knew Yu Dayou. Yu Dayou was three years older than Huang Guangsheng, and Yu Dayou's books were not read for nothing. He was considered a celebrity in Jinjiang County back then. After all, he was a scholar when he was a teenager.

Jinjiang County is so big, so Huang Guangsheng naturally got to know Yu Dayou, but later Yu Dayou took over his father's position and joined the army, while he passed the imperial examination, and had different paths in civil and military affairs.

He naturally knew before that Yu Dayou was involved in suppressing Japanese criminals in Zhejiang, but now he just won the battle in Datong. Although the imperial court's reward was a bit short, after all, he resumed hereditary military duties, and he did not feel sorry for his ancestors.

Huang Guangsheng didn't know why Wei Guangde mentioned Yu Dayou here, so he became cautious, but soon he was relieved.

"My father once fought against Japanese with General Yu in Zhejiang, and I admire him very much"

Wei Guangde briefly talked to Huang Guangsheng about his relationship with Yu Dayou, and then introduced Yu Dayou's achievements in moving from Fujian to Guangdong and Guangxi, then to Zhejiang, and finally to Shanxi.

Huang Guangsheng nodded slightly while listening. He naturally knew a lot about this old classmate. Although he had never met since he became an official, his name was often heard in the residence newspaper and in the official circle.

Speaking of which, Yu Dayou has fought countless battles, large and small, but now he has returned to become a hundred households, which is really embarrassing.

".With General Yu's ability, he is absolutely more than enough to be qualified as the commander-in-chief of a province."

At this time, Wei Guangde had almost finished speaking, and then looked at Huang Guangsheng to see his reaction.

At this time, if Huang Guangsheng didn't understand Wei Guangde's meaning, his job as an official would be in vain. This is a self-recommendation for Yu Dayou.

Huang Guangsheng hadn't known Wei Guangde before, if he hadn't met him at the Metropolitan Procuratorate this time, he would have only heard his name and didn't know him.

"After a while, let's find a place to talk about this matter."

Huang Guangsheng understood Wei Guangde's meaning, nodded slightly and responded in a low voice.

After all, it is now the banquet of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and they have been standing aside and whispering for so long, which has already attracted some people's attention.

"it is good."

Wei Guangde nodded with a smile, and whispered back.

While everyone in the Metropolitan Procuratorate was drinking and connecting with each other in the restaurant, the atmosphere in the main hall of Yongshou Palace in Xiyuan was very depressing.

Ordinarily, Datong won the battle and completely resolved the crisis in the northern frontier. The Alda Department has already withdrawn from the Great Wall Pass. At this time, the ruling and opposition parties should have a festive and peaceful atmosphere. cheerful atmosphere.

"I told you to come here, you should have guessed the reason."

At this time, under the throne, the cabinet ministers Yan Song and Xu Jie stood on the left, while Gao Yao, the Minister of the Household Department, stood on the right.

After Emperor Jiajing finished speaking, all three of them bowed slightly.

"This time, I thought the situation would be very bad, so the Ministry of Household Affairs raised more than 30 taels, and there are still 10 taels left.

Ordinarily, if this battle is won, the extra money is naturally useless, it should be handed back to Taikuang, and it can also be used to subsidize the court's expenses in the future, but why are so many yamen reaching out to grab it away?

Tila left now, what if the court wants to use silver in the future?Continue to pay IOUs? "

Emperor Jiajing frowned and looked at the three people below with a very displeased expression.

Yesterday the Ministry of Household Affairs issued a memorial. At the beginning, it collected money from many provinces for the war. The first batch collected nearly one million taels, all of which were coerced by officials to force local governments to recover the tax arrears over the years.

As a result, the battle was won all at once, so naturally there was no such a big expense.

There is silver in the accounts of the household department. Although it has not been transported to the capital, many yamen have made up their minds.

The original use of this batch of money was to prepare for the southern invasion of the Anda Ministry. The various yamen wanted to take it away, but the Ministry of Households did not dare to agree easily. After all, it was reported to the emperor.

In order to deal with this battle, Emperor Jiajing had to send his servants to the household department to watch the payment process every day, and he had to personally review the transfer of this batch of money.

But people came to the Ministry of Accounts with a note, and the Ministry of Accounts couldn't keep delaying it. Seeing the pressure gradually put on the Ministry of Accounts, they had no choice but to hand over the conflict and let Emperor Jiajing decide whether to use this batch of money first What should I do to make up for the deficit over the years?
At this time, Yan Song, the chief assistant of the cabinet, took two steps forward slowly, bowed first and then said: "Your Majesty, I know about this matter. The notes issued by the major yamen are all previous expenses. It's over, the IOU was issued only because the household department has no money.

Now that the Tartars have retreated, there should be no major actions in a short time. The yamen may also think that those bills have been owed for a long time, and they just pay some money first if they have such a sum of money. "

Yan Song stepped forward to answer, but Xu Jie who was standing behind him took a peek at Gao Yao.

In other words, he also sent someone to look for Gao Yao two days ago, because some related households wanted to withdraw money from the household department, but he didn't expect that Gao Yao would go directly to the emperor in the end.

In Xu Jie's mind, when the money arrives, he should pay some first. Even if the emperor finds out, the money has been given and it is a legitimate expenditure, so there is nothing to say.

"If you give it, you will be able to cancel the account? This year the treasury will not be short, and there will be next year, the year after next."

When Emperor Jiajing said this, everyone in the hall already knew that the emperor had taken a fancy to this batch of money, and he planned to continue to hold on to those accounts.

Although I don't know what Emperor Jiajing is going to do with the money, but thinking about his annual training expenses, not only Yan Song and Xu Jie, but even Gao Yao feels toothache, and feels like he has done something stupid.

Emperor Jiajing didn't notice the thoughts of the three of them.

Because, he really cared about this batch of silver. After knowing that Datong might win the Tartars, and knowing that the north could usher in a short period of peace, he was planning the use of this batch of silver.

However, what he said next surprised the three people below.

"No one can move this batch of money, the Ministry of Accounts must take it all back and temporarily store it in Taicang."

Speaking of this, Emperor Jiajing had already got up, and continued to say: "The cabinet will come down and meet with the Ministry of Rites, and the Ministry of Households will look at where to build a palace, and come up with a plan as soon as possible."

"Your Majesty, this is the new palace."

Yan Song looked up at Emperor Jiajing, opened his mouth and asked, but was interrupted by the emperor before he finished speaking.

"The prince's mansion is naturally the prince's mansion, and my son should be ready to become a vassal."

After saying this, Emperor Jiajing looked at Huang Jin next to him, and he also looked horrified at this time.

I have been with the emperor in the Yongshou Palace for the past few days, but I have never heard of the matter of the emperor from the mouth of the emperor. In other words, this is the arbitrary decision of the emperor.

Waving his hand, he said to Yan Song and Xu Jie, "You guys go down first, and you should come up with a result of this matter as soon as possible, and report it."

Yan Song and Xu Jie's hearts were shocked at this time, and no one thought that it would be at this time that the battle between the two kings would be decided.

Emperor Jiajing didn't say who the new palace was for. Although the two wanted to ask, they both kept their mouths shut. They only bowed slightly and then left the hall with Gao Yao.

Both Yan Song and Xu Jie had their own concerns at this moment. After all, at the last moment, the two supported different objects. It can be said that from this moment on, it was impossible for the two to maintain their previous intimacy.

But Gao Yao was overjoyed at this time, in his opinion, the new palace was naturally prepared for King Jing, and it could only be King Jing.

His unintentional move actually contributed to this major event, and asked King Jing to complete it as soon as possible. At this time, he had already made up his mind, mainly to set up a place, and immediately handed over the money to the Ministry of Industry, so that they could start work as soon as possible, and the money from the fan Although it is troublesome, no matter how difficult it is, it must be squeezed out.

(End of this chapter)