prosperous age

"Your Majesty really ordered King Jing to become a vassal?"

Wei Guangde suddenly got up at this time, rubbing his hands and walking back and forth in the room.

"Why are you so excited? I heard the news with my own ears in the hall. The emperor's words are of course not false."

Seeing Wei Guangde walking back and forth in front of his eyes, Chen Ju, who was sitting on the chair, said with a smile.

The news in the palace has always been hidden. Emperor Jiajing confirmed that King Jing's vassal status will naturally spread from Xiyuan soon, and by tonight all the civil and military officials in Beijing may know.

However, Chen Ju still rushed to Wei Guangde's place in a hurry, the purpose was self-evident, to grab a little time difference and let Wei Guangde pass the good news to that person's ears first.

"What did His Majesty say?"

After walking back and forth a few times, Wei Guangde calmed down a little, turned around and asked Chen Ju.

"What else can I say, let the Minister of Prince Jing's Mansion and the Ministry of Rites plan the establishment of the palace, the Ministry of Industry supervises the implementation, the Ministry of Households pays for it, and let the Minister of Rites, Wu Shanshang, play a memorial to invite King Jing's kingdom."

Chen Ju's face was still cheerful, and he simply said the words of Emperor Jiajing.

"Okay, the word has arrived, and I'm going back to the palace too."

Picking up the teacup on the table and taking a sip, Chen Ju got up and bid farewell to Wei Guangde.

"Brother Chen will rest for a while, and I will eat at my younger brother's place in the evening."

Wei Guangde spoke hastily.

"No, I just found a reason to come out. Thinking about such a big matter, I have to tell my brother first, lest you still worry outside."

Chen Ju went out as soon as he said that, Wei Guangde had no choice but to follow and send Chen Ju out.

Wei Guangde stood outside the door watching Chen Ju go away, and did not go back immediately, but turned around and said to Zhang Ji who was following behind him: "Arrange two people to come to the study, I have something for them to give to Lord Gao Gonggao and Lord Yin Shizhen go there."

With his words, Zhang Ji naturally knew who to ask to deliver the letter.

He had also heard the conversation between Wei Guangde and Chen Ju in the room before, and he was naturally aware of his master's investment in Prince Yu's mansion.

Finally, I can sleep peacefully.

He has been in the capital for several years, and he has heard of the open and secret struggle between King Yu and King Jing in the capital, so what he is most afraid of is that in the end, Emperor Jiajing will risk the world's bad luck and choose King Jing to inherit the great treasure.

Zhang Ji also heard about the battle between the two kings in the market, but he sneered at them all.

Wei Guangde leaned towards Prince Yu's mansion, so Zhang Ji, who was by Wei Guangde's side, naturally knew that the so-called dispute between the two kings was actually nothing more than people around the emperor constantly talking about the right and wrong of the two kings in the emperor's ears.

As far as Zhang Ji knows, among them, King Jing's family has done the most excessive things to King Yu. In fact, it is the Suici and Lumi from King Kayu's mansion, which made King Yu unable to match during the Longevity Festival in those two years. gift offering.

People in the palace naturally circulated that the words that King Yu was disrespectful to Emperor Jiajing were actually nothing more than trying to arouse the emperor's dissatisfaction with King Yu.

However, the reason for this is that King Yu and his mother and concubine were not favored. What's more, Queen Yu's mother and concubine died of illness early, making him even more isolated and helpless in the palace.

Think about the person behind King Jing, he is the old Yan Ge who has been favored by the emperor and invaded the government and the public.

"Yes, sir."

After receiving Wei Guangde's order, Zhang Ji immediately agreed cheerfully.

Although the imperial palace was like a sieve, people from all sides were inserted in to inquire about the news, but the transmission of the news also took time.

When Wei Guangde sent someone to take his letter to Guozijian and Prince Yu's Mansion, Yan Song finally got the news from Xiyuan when the cabinet was on duty.

"Boom."

A white porcelain teacup fell to the ground and immediately shattered.

At this time, Yan Song's eyes were dull, and he looked older than usual by more than ten years, and his outstretched hand was still trembling slightly.

His hands trembled, not because he was frightened after getting the news, in fact, his hands have often been like this in recent years.

Therefore, he handed over the drafting of the memorial to his son Yan Shifan or his second assistant Xu Jie.

Yan Song looked down at his hands, and wanted to take a sip of tea to calm his shock, but he didn't expect his hands to be so out of control now.

Hearing the movement in the room, the scribes outside the door rushed in. Someone cleaned up the pieces of the teacup on the ground, and someone hurried to make a new cup of tea and brought it.

After the cleaning was completed and the idlers left the room, Yan Song asked, "Have you found the East Building?"

"Master, there is no news yet, it should be soon."

The clerk who stayed in the house at this time was actually a servant of Yan's mansion, who was arranged to take care of Yan Song in the cabinet, and was also responsible for running errands and delivering news.

"You go out first, let him in immediately when he comes back."

Yan Song only said one sentence, then leaned back on the back of the chair, closed his eyes slightly and began to think.

The day finally came.

At this time, Yan Song was full of emotion in his heart.

King Yu is in power, this is his long-standing judgment. At the beginning, he just wanted to find a way to get out, but how did the situation turn into what it is now.

These years of poor mental health and poor health, it is already difficult for him to discipline Yan Shifan.

Thinking of Yan Shifan, Yan Song not only had a wry smile on his face.

Maybe he should have retreated earlier?

As soon as this idea came up, the face of Emperor Jiajing appeared in Yan Song's mind, and he couldn't help but twitched.

At the beginning, Xia Yan was arrested by Jin Yiwei on his way back to his hometown after leaving office, and he was sent to the guillotine by himself in the end.

mean and unkind.

Suddenly, Yan Song's eyes opened wide, and he had no way out.

At this time, Yan Song felt that Yan Shifan seemed to see further than him.

At the beginning, he only considered that Emperor Jiajing might let him linger on his last breath because of nostalgia, but he forgot all the troubles he had borne for the emperor. Could it be over just by dismissing him?

】

Over the years as an official, he has offended many people. Will these people let him go?

In the end, it was the people below who broke the rules and killed those people, and it was impossible to escape unscathed.

Except for pushing the person who is least likely to rise to power to be the emperor, the Yan family can continue to exist.

I no longer have the energy to plan anything, so I can only let Donglou do it, maybe there is still a glimmer of life.

At the beginning of Shen, when it was time for San Yamen, officials in twos and threes left the Yamen, or went home, or called friends to go to the restaurant and flower shop. Spread the word.

"Brother Donglou, what do you think we should do now? I'll just go to Huguang and become a vassal?"

At this time, in an elegantly furnished small courtyard in the capital, a young man in a well-dressed man wanted to speak to a fat man facing him.

"Your Highness, don't worry."

Although the big fat man Yan Shifan's face was also full of worry, he spoke in a calm tone, "There will always be a way, and now we have to build a new palace. Don't worry, the Ministry of Industry will only work and not work hard. We If you drag it on for a year and a half, you can always find a way.”

"What else can I do? The decree will come down tomorrow. With this clear signal, Gao Gong will not be stuck in the cabinet all day long, urging the handling of the affairs of the vassal."

That Mr. Huafu is naturally King Jing, and now he is in chaos.

The ten-year arrangement came to nothing. After Prince Zhuang Jing passed away, he set his sights on that position. For this reason, he did not hesitate to lower his status to make friends with the Yan family.

As a younger brother who is one month younger than King Yu, King Jing shouldn't have the heart to fight for the throne. After all, the Ming Dynasty's regiment clearly stipulates that there is a heir and no heir.

At that time, King Yu and King Jing were 12 years old, and their relationship was quite good. After all, there was a second elder brother above him, who had determined the status of heir early.

However, it was also because of his familiarity that he discovered a shortcoming of the third brother at that time, that is laziness, and from this came the lack of ambition.

The third brother has a dull temperament, but others say that he is cautious. He knows the inside story and naturally has thoughts that he shouldn't have. What's more, he was more favored than the third brother in the palace at that time, and the harem was backed by his mother and concubine.

Therefore, even though he knew that he shouldn't, King Jing still chose to fight for that position when faced with his father's decision to refuse to make another crown prince.

"Gao Gong, King Yu, as long as they are gone, who can fight with you?"

Just when King Jing was recalling the experience of the past ten years, Yan Shifan's dark words suddenly came from his ears.

Shocked, King Jing suddenly looked up at Yan Shifan.

"Brother Suqing, come, please fill up this cup."

In a restaurant in the capital, Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng came out of the Imperial College, found a restaurant and started drinking.

"Uncle, please."

Gao Gong slightly raised the wine glass in his hand towards Zhang Juzheng, and then both of them drank the wine in the glass.

Before leaving duty today, Gao Gong received a note sent by Wei Guangde, of course he can finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Of course, he knew about the memorials sent by the cabinet to the palace yesterday. For this reason, many yamen have staff from Prince Yu's mansion, and the cabinet is no exception.

Correspondingly, King Jing's Mansion also has them. Now their channels of obtaining information are not limited to officials. Even the following Zhongshu, ordinary scribes will bribe some people.

It's just that the memorandum was sent up, but it's unknown how the palace will approve it in the end. The most important thing is of course that Emperor Jiajing will photograph who will leave the capital and become a feudal vassal.

It's all right now, Kingdom of King Jing, hehe.

When I was happy, I packed up the value room and prepared to go to the value room. When I left the value room, I met Siye Zhang Juzheng.

He is now the Imperial Academy Jijiu, so naturally he has a lot of contact with Zhang Juzheng, the Imperial Academy Secretary.

It should be said that Zhang Juzheng left a good impression on him. He was upright and diligent at work. In the private chat between the two of them, he also found that Zhang Juzheng had a unique vision and a lot of ideas, and he was not cynical like most scholars.

Both of them were very dissatisfied with the current administration of officials, and especially hated Yan Shifan's behavior of using Yan Song's influence to sell officials and nobles in the capital.

Officials bought with money must find a way to get the money back after sitting on it, and make another fortune.

Undoubtedly, this will increase the burden on the people at the bottom.

Zhang Juzheng has complained in front of Gao Gong more than once. He also walked around the village a lot during his recuperation in Huguang, knowing the living environment of the low-level people.

The taxes and duties set by the imperial court are actually not harsh, but what the people actually have to bear is much higher than the standard set by the imperial court, that is, additional distribution, which is used for local administrative needs. Except for a small part of this money, it is used for Local and foreign, most of them are laughed at by the officials in office.

And because the taxes and duties set by the imperial court are very complicated, for the people at the bottom, they don't know whether the taxes and duties they bear are handed over to the state or to those officials.

The government is corrupt, and the people are naturally full of grievances.

And Gao Gong's views are similar, corrupt officials are rampant, the people at the bottom suffer, and if there are mediocre people stealing the center, it will be a wonder that the world will be better.

It's just that Gao Gong didn't have a deep understanding of taxes and labor. He just felt that the investigation of officials should be strengthened.

After the officials are selected, they will naturally not be greedy for ink, and send additional taxes and servants privately to satisfy their selfish desires.

Under such an environment, the scene of the prosperous Tang Dynasty, where the door was never closed at night and the road was never picked up, seems to be possible to reproduce in the Ming Dynasty.

Relatively speaking, Gao Gong is more inclined to govern by doing nothing, focusing on the administration of officials, while Zhang Juzheng has a more comprehensive view. He has realized the drawbacks of some policies in the early Ming Dynasty and wants to find a solution.

However, at the moment, the two have the same common ground in dealing with the current situation, that is, to rectify the administration of officials, especially the group of people who asked Yan Shifan to buy officials, and then the officials of Yan Song's line.

However, it is not difficult to understand that Gao Gong represents Prince Yu's Mansion, while Zhang Ju is Xu Jie's student, and naturally represents Xu Jie's interests. What they have in common is that they are both Yan Song's enemies.

Therefore, they are also natural allies.

Today we met in front of the guard's house, Zhang Juzheng came up to chat very affectionately, and then invited him to have a drink together.

Gao Gong was very happy after reading the news sent by Wei Guangde today.

According to the past, he should go to Yuwang Mansion to celebrate at this time, but now he is no longer an official of Yuwang Mansion, and it seems inappropriate to often go to the Wangfu. He just agreed after simple thinking.

But very soon, Gao Gong realized that Zhang Juzheng must have also received news from Xu Jie, and he probably already knew Xiyuan's reply to the memorial sent in by the cabinet yesterday.

Do you feel Zhang Juzheng is snobbish?

Of course not, in fact, although Wu Shan and Gao Yao discussed yesterday's memorial, Xu Jie also strongly supported it in the cabinet meeting, so he was successfully sent to the palace.

Although Yan Song did not strongly object, but in the memorial, Yan Song also clearly expressed his opinion, that is, he felt that it was inappropriate.

The proposal that Shoufu felt was "inappropriate" was successfully passed by Emperor Jiajing. What does it mean?
This is also one of the reasons why Gao Gong feels excited. If the first assistant cannot keep up with the emperor, then he will not be far from falling out of favor. Considering Yan Song's age, it is only a matter of time before he resigns.

Therefore, in Gao Gong's view, Zhang Ju should express his excitement, because his teacher may gradually replace Yan Song and become the chief assistant of the empire.

Thinking of Xu Jie's age, and looking at the people at the opposite wine table, Gao Gong already expected that he might enter the cabinet with Zhang Juzheng in the future and devote himself to the Ming Dynasty.

If you think about it this way, maintaining a good relationship with him will be of great benefit to the implementation of the government.

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