prosperous age

Chapter 395 Chapter 394
Regarding the bomb that Wei Guangde planted unintentionally for himself, Gao Gong is still very active in seeking a solution. Now Wei Guangde can be regarded as a banner in the palace of Prince Yu, and there must be no mistakes.

That night, after Gao Gong and Wei Guangde had a secret talk, although they didn't have a clear idea of ​​what to do next, they had a general idea, that is to find an opportunity to take the initiative to expose the matter in front of Emperor Jiajing, so as to avoid being reported to the emperor in private by political opponents.

The reason why we didn't immediately decide on a response strategy was also because the incident happened suddenly. Both Wei Guangde and Gao Gong still hoped to find a better way. What kind of punishment will be made is hard to guess.

In the next few days, Wei Guangde did not relax because of the preparation plan, but instead sought other ways to break the situation.

And during this period of time, because no major events happened in the court, Xiyuan no longer summoned ministers, but the cabinet's memorials were sent to the palace step by step every day, and the next day, they were approved by the supervisor of ceremonies and returned to the cabinet. handle.

Because of this, although Wei Guangde knows that some things cannot be left behind just because of luck, he is not so anxious.

After such a delay, ten days passed.

In half a month, Wei Guangde didn't do nothing, he asked Chen Ju to meet secretly, and told about Qing Ci in detail.

Although no final countermeasure has been decided, Wei Guangde felt that no matter active or passive, it is best for people in the palace to know in advance.

There are people in the palace, whether it is to support Gao Gong, or to prevent someone from making a personal complaint, at least the palace knows what is going on, and will not be caught off guard and do not know how to deal with it.

Those who are familiar with Emperor Jiajing are actually the people around him, except for those important officials in the court, they are the eunuchs around the emperor.

To be able to achieve the position of an important minister in the Jiajing Dynasty, in addition to being valued by the emperor for his ability or integrity, he must also be a sensible person, at least not to annoy the emperor, otherwise it would be impossible to achieve that position.

As for the eunuchs around the emperor, in addition to ability and vision, they can understand the emperor's meaning, understand the emperor's preferences, do what he likes, and serve the emperor comfortably, and they must also be loyal.

Wei Guangde explained the matter clearly, and also wanted to see how Chen Ju and Gao Zhong behind him viewed this matter. Based on their understanding of the emperor, Emperor Jiajing was furious or just laughed it off after learning about it.

But within two days, Wei Guangde received a note from Chen Ju's messenger. To his disappointment, there was no answer in the note.

The matter of Qing Ci happened in Wuyi Palace at that time, there was a servant outside the palace, so naturally he listened to every word in the conversation in the palace.

That is to say, eunuchs like Chen Ju who are not of high grade don't know about it. Huang Jin and Gao Zhong already knew about it that night.

But they knew that they had no obligation to help Wei Guangde, so they all adopted a laissez-faire attitude, at least until Wei Guangde took the initiative to find him, they would not go up to the pole.

If Wei Guangde had a deeper understanding of the situation in the officialdom and the palace, perhaps he could also analyze it from the clues.

In fact, from Huang Jin and Gao Zhong's point of view, Wei Guangde's youthful Ci was not good enough, but what they were worried about was not Emperor Jiajing's heart.

In other words, even if this matter was directly stabbed in front of Emperor Jiajing, it would normally mean a few words and a slight punishment. Of course, the prerequisite was that there were no other incidents.

In fact, in court battles, even if you really make a mistake, the timing is also very important.

If the timing is right, even if you make a big mistake, it may become small or even invisible. If the timing is not right, maybe a small mistake will be caught and magnified infinitely, and eventually it will be irreversible.

However, these are beyond the comprehension of Gao Gong, who was new to the palace ban, and the current Wei Guangde.

Although Gao Gong has had a lot of glory in the past two years, don't forget that he was just an official of Prince Yu's Mansion for more than ten years, without much real power, and he was very unfamiliar to the court.

Although Prince Yu's Mansion and King Jing's Mansion have been fighting openly and secretly, in the eyes of such powerful figures as Yan Song and Xu Jie, those battles are no different from children's play house.

Seeing that the two kings seemed to be fighting in full swing, in fact, it had no impact on the government at all.

But just as they were worried, when someone else made this mistake, perhaps no one was willing to mention it, but if it was the opponent's person and Yan Shifan was behind the scenes, it would be a different matter.

As for Xu Jie, he actually caught these things keenly when Gao Gong visited the door, but he didn't tell Gao Gong the truth, but simply agreed.

From Xu Jie's point of view, it was just a matter of favor, and when the emperor summoned him one day, he would just find an opportunity to talk about it casually.

It's just that nothing seems to be going according to their ideal plot.

One day, Xu Jie was processing the memorials on the case files in the cabinet, when a clerk hurried in outside and whispered something in Xu Jie's ear.

"Let him in."

Xu Jie immediately put down the things in his hand and sat upright.

After a while, a servant came into the room, saluted Xu Jie and said loudly: "Master Ge, Your Majesty invites you to Xiyuan for an audience." '

"I see."

Immediately, Xu Jie got up, and the clerk next to him quickly helped him clean up the memorials on the table, as if he wanted to sort out the already approved memorials and send them to the palace together.

"Old Xu Ge, Your Majesty is still waiting."

The little servant said again.

The subtext of these words, of course, is not to waste time, these things will be discussed later.

Xu Jie glanced at the waiter, there was no expression on his face, he couldn't see anything, and Xu Jie couldn't understand what happened in Xiyuan, so he nodded in response.

Immediately, he took a step and went out after the servant, and saw the back of Yan Song who got into the sedan chair at a glance.

I was a little startled, something must have happened, otherwise he and Yan Song would not have been sent to Xiyuan.

For ordinary trivial matters, only one of him or Yan Songzhong will be picked to go, and only when the matter is serious will both of them be called.

Not long after, the sedan chair arrived in front of the gate of Xiyuan, the two got off the sedan chair, exchanged a few pleasantries, and entered Xiyuan one after the other.

When the two entered the Yongshou Palace, they felt that the atmosphere was not quite right. All the eunuchs, large and small, were orderly and did not dare to make any big noises. It was obvious that the emperor was not in a good mood at the moment.

Before receiving the news of the summons, the clerks around him only said that there might be something wrong in Xiyuan, and a few servants were sent out from the Yongshou Palace, but they don’t know what exactly happened. Looking at the situation now, what happened seems to be not small.

When they stopped in front of the palace gate and waited for the servant to go in to report, Yan Song and Xu Jie looked at each other, but this was not the place to talk.

"Two elders, the emperor let you in."

The little servant who went in to report had already come out quickly, gesturing to them.

Yan Song and Xu Jie stepped into the main hall, Emperor Jiajing was not sitting on the throne, and no one was seen in the main hall, but soon they saw Emperor Jiajing sitting in the side hall.

At this time, Emperor Jiajing was sitting there with a serious face, and Huang Jin was standing respectfully on one side with lowered eyebrows, and on the other side was Zhu Xizhong, the Duke of Cheng, who was wearing the official uniform of the state, and his head was drooping slightly at this time, Like Huang Jin, he didn't even look at them.

The two immediately walked over to salute, but after bowing down, they didn't get the words of "Pingshen" from Emperor Jiajing.

"Can Hu Zongxian wipe out the Japanese pirates? How long will I give him?"

Asking questions continuously, Yan Song and Xu Jie, who were still bending over, were stunned for a moment.

It's not easy to wipe out the Japanese pirates. Those people's bases are overseas, and their movements are erratic.

"Your Majesty, has something happened in Jiangnan?"

Yan Song is the chief assistant, so he is the only one to speak at this time.

"In order to pay him military expenses to suppress the Japanese, I promised him to send more taxes and labor. In order to collect military expenses, I also promised him to collect lijin, but how many years has it been?"

Speaking of this, Emperor Jiajing got up, walked back and forth in front of the throne twice, and then stood still and said: "Before, there were memorials from various places in the south of the Yangtze River, saying that taxes and lijin would be levied. The people in the south of the Yangtze River are already miserable. I'm afraid it's not easy to maintain the levy, what do you say?"

When Emperor Jiajing said this, Yan Song and Xu Jie knew that something must have happened on the Jiangnan side, but they just saw how big the loophole was, and could it be plugged.

Unknowingly, the two bowed their bodies and pressed down even lower.

"At the beginning of the year, Wei Guangde came back from Jiangnan and said that the people in Jiangnan could last for another year. After a year, something unbearable would happen. Unexpectedly, after only half a year, Jiangnan would not be peaceful."

After Emperor Jiajing finished speaking, he turned back and sat down on the throne, and waved to Zhu Xizhong next to him, "Let them see it."

"According to the order."

Zhu Xizhong agreed, and then at some point, he had an extra document in his hand, walked up to Yan Song and handed it to them.

Xu Jie, who was behind Yan Song, also stood up at this time, and his eyes fell on Yan Song's unfolded document.

They are no strangers to the paperwork sent by Jinyiwei to the palace. Although they rarely see it, they have seen it before, not to mention Zhu Xizhong is here.

But soon, they frowned.

At the junction of Fujian and Guangdong, there was a bandit uprising. It was not as simple as establishing himself as a king. He actually held a ceremony to worship the heavens.

Now, Yan Song and Xu Jie knew where Emperor Jiajing's dissatisfaction came from.

Although Zhang Lian's proclaiming the emperor mentioned in the document is not justified, but after all, he has played the banner. The emperor of the Feilong Kingdom, and also changed the Yuan calendar. This is no longer an ordinary bandit, but a rebellion, a rebel.

And the description of Zhang Lian's power behind the document shocked the two of them.

This Zhang Lian was originally a bandit who defected to Zheng Ba in Da Po. After Zheng Ba's death, he was elected as the new leader. Later, he joined forces with Xiao Wan to attack nearby counties and counties. Gradually, Zhang Lian and his group became famous and became powerful.

After growing in power, they joined forces with Lin Chaoxi from Chengxiang, Luopao and Yang Shun from Dapu, Zhang Gongyou and Lai Ci from Xiaojing, and Li Dongjin from White Rabbit. Now they have gathered 100,000 people, constantly harassing Fujian Longyan, Counties such as Shanghang and Longjing and Chaozhou Prefecture in Guangdong.

Nearly 100,000 people?

Seeing this number, Yan Song and Xu Jie felt a bit bitter in their mouths, this is no longer a group of petty thieves.

But the key point is that the governor of Fujian did not report this matter. It seems that Jinyiwei's letter was sent by Qianhu of Jinyiwei in Guangzhou.

Cover the lid.

At this moment, both Yan Song and Xu Jie thought of the reason why the Fujian government did not dare to report.

Perhaps at the beginning, Fujian sent troops to suppress it, but it must have failed.

If you lose, you naturally dare not report the matter.

"What do you think Liu Tao is doing now?"

Before the two could answer, Emperor Jiajing asked coldly again.

Liu Tao is the governor of Fujian. Judging from the official documents, most of the activities of this rebel group are in the south of Fujian, and they also have activities in the north of Guangdong. Obviously, the Fujian government should send troops to suppress it.

Both of them lowered their heads and didn't dare to chew, it was really difficult to answer this question.

In fact, Yan Song and Xu Jie also felt wronged about this matter, and the cabinet did not receive reports on this matter from Fujian and Guangdong at all.

The prefectures in the south of the Yangtze River are unstable, so they have heard about it. In fact, not only in the south of the Yangtze River, but also in the north. Over the years, there have been many thieves, but they did not expect that the people in the south are more daring, and the situation is more serious than the north. There are already tens of thousands of people.

If the cabinet had known about this earlier, of course there would be no delay, and it would immediately issue an order to suppress it quickly.

However, after Yan Song quickly glanced at the official letter in his hand again, he immediately thought of an excuse, bowed and said to Emperor Jiajing: "Your Majesty, September and October are the period of Japanese pirates' harassment. At this time, Governor Liu should focus on exterminating the Japanese pirates." In fact, it may be a bit powerless for Zhang Lian and the gang of rebels."

"Your Majesty, judging from the official letter, Zhang Lian is from Guangdong, and he also committed crimes in Guangdong at first. It is best for Guangdong and Fujian to jointly suppress this matter. If Fujian alone sends troops to encircle and suppress, and if the rebels harass Guangdong or even Jiangxi, it will be difficult. Destroy them quickly."

Xu Jie also spoke at this time.

"What you mean is that Liu Tao has nothing to do with it, and he has also contributed to the suppression of the Japanese."

Emperor Jiajing said with a sneer on the corner of his mouth.

"Don't dare. Judging from the official documents, the rebels are mainly the cellar people in Dapu, the boat people in Nanwan, the mountain people in Youxi, the miners in Longyan, and the refugees in Nanjing and Yongding. Of course, we can't take them lightly. It should be wiped out quickly.

Now it is November, the Japanese pirates along the coast have retreated, this is the opportunity to mobilize troops and horses to encircle and suppress them, Liu Tao should quickly order Liu Tao to mobilize troops to exterminate them. "

Yan Song replied immediately.

Emperor Jiajing was noncommittal about the solution proposed by Yan Song, and glanced at Cheng Guogong Zhu Xizhong next to him.

At this time, Zhu Xizhong just lowered his head, wondering if he was thinking about it.

Emperor Jiajing looked back at Xu Jie again, as the second assistant, he should have his own opinion at this time.

Seeing Emperor Jiajing's gaze, Xu Jie knew in his heart that it was time for him to express his opinion, so he hurriedly walked half a step and bowed and replied: "In the past year, there have been frequent occurrences of Japanese pirates in Zhejiang, Fujian, and Guangdong. On the suppression of the Japanese, there may be a slight slack on the rule.

The achievements of Fujian Yuwa are outstanding, and the contribution of Governor Liu is indelible, and he can be allowed to commit crimes and make meritorious deeds."

(End of this chapter)