prosperous age

Chapter 398
"What is Gao Gong doing?"

After Wei Guangde recounted the plan that Gao Gong told him in the restaurant before, Yin Shizhen's face became ugly, and he said dissatisfiedly.

He is straightforward by nature, but he is not a fool. If he is really stupid, he will not be admitted to the Jinshi exam, he will not be selected into the Imperial Academy, and he will not be sent by Emperor Jiajing to assist King Yu.

"Who told me to do something wrong."

Wei Guangde just sighed and stopped talking, but Yin Shizhen didn't shut up.

"A few days ago, I felt that Gao Gong has changed a lot. He speaks and does things with a high-spirited look. It is not an exaggeration to say that a villain is successful, and he is domineering. I really didn't expect that he would become like this after a good time."

At this time, Yin Shizhen was already a little angry, he got up suddenly and was about to go out, but was stopped by Wei Guangde.

"Brother Zhengfu, where are you going?"

Seeing Yin Shizhen's current state, Wei Guangde felt bad. If Yin Shizhen made a big fuss with Gao Gong, he would really put himself on fire.

Although he could also see that what Gao Gong said to himself, it seemed that he hadn't informed Prince Yu's mansion beforehand, and King Yu might not have known about it.

It's a bit like cutting first and then playing. Let's do things first, and then tell King Yu. At that time, King Yu probably won't say anything, after all, it's already like this.

"You can't be so stupid, let you go to Fujian, and give you the post of governor and governor. This is to cut off your way into the cabinet."

At this time, Yin Shixuan spoke directly.

"Hey"

Regarding this, Wei Guangde just sighed, then let go of Yin Shizhen's hand and sat back on his seat.

"Why don't I know, but what can I do?"

After Wei Guangde sat down, a trace of pain appeared on his face, and he said in anguish.

Yin Shizhen frowned and said, "I'm going to find Gao Gong, how could this happen."

"Don't go, it's not good for me or you."

Wei Guangde replied.

"How dare he let me go to Fujian or Zhejiang?"

Yin Shizhen said immediately.

"Maybe, he really did it."

Wei Guangde glanced at Yin Shizhen, then pointed to the place where he was sitting, motioned Yin Shizhen to sit down, and then continued: "In the name of being good for King Yu, get rid of everyone around King Yu.

In the future, King Yu of the capital can rely on him, Gao Suqing. At that time, we will all be away, and then tell King Yu that we can help him control the world, and my promotion will be under his control. "

"Could it be that he still has the heart of Sima Zhao?"

Yin Shizhen, who was sitting down, frowned even deeper, and spoke uncertainly.

"Whoever lends him courage depends on whether he dares. Sima Zhao doesn't know how to do it, but Yan Song second is hard to say."

Wei Guangde has also put up a fight at this time, he can feel from Gao Gong's changes these days and his attitude towards himself that Gao Gong is a real villain.

Since he is a real villain, naturally there is no need to show any affection, it's just that he doesn't tear his face face to face, so why don't he dare to say it in private.

"No, I have to go back to Prince Yu's Mansion and explain the matter clearly."

Yin Shizhen was about to get up again, but Wei Guangde stopped him with his hands on the armrest.

"What's the use of talking about it now? It's still true. After all, it's for our own good."

Wei Guangde shook his head and said, "I just blame myself for not keeping things secret and making mistakes.

Besides, King Yu will trust you and me, or Gao Gong. "

Before, Wei Guangde used to address Gao Gong as "Su Qing" in front of them, but now he doesn't bother to talk about etiquette, he just calls him by his first name.

"We'll talk about this matter at a later time. Although we plan to do so now, it may not be possible. After all, His Majesty still has the final decision."

At this time, Wei Guangde could only hope that Emperor Jiajing could see through Xu Jie and Gao Gong's tricks. As long as he stopped them when the governor of Fujian was appointed and called him back to Beijing, there was still a chance for everything.

And to achieve the desired plan, Gao Zhong in the palace, and even Huang Jin need him to manage.

No one in the court could help him, and the only ones who could speak for him were the people in the palace.

Wei Guangde has already felt that Emperor Jiajing's character is determined, he can use people like Yan Song and relatively powerful officials, but King Yu's character is not.

As long as Emperor Jiajing discovers Gao Gong's character flaws, and considering the situation of King Yu, he must support someone who can fight Gao Gong, and restrain Gao Gong from dominating the government.

At that time, Wei Guangde would not mind standing openly against Gao Gong, or even Xu Jie.

With the emperor's support, Wei Guangde believes that there will be some people standing by his side at that time, at least most of his fellow countrymen and the same year will choose to lean towards him.

Now is not the time to tear yourself apart, Wei Guangde naturally does not want Yin Shizhen to do bad things, the timing is not right.

"However, Brother Zhengfu, you have to remind Brother Xia Yifu in private to be cautious in what you say and do, so as not to be plotted by villains.

No matter it is for King Yu or the world, people like Yan Song must never appear again. "

At this time, Wei Guangde had already compared Gao Gong to Yan Song.

After listening to Wei Guangde's words, Yin Shizhen sat there quietly for a long time before gradually calming down.

I don't know what he thought of, and finally just nodded slightly.

Everyone has their own ideas, and Wei Guangde didn't want to delve into it, he just hoped that his words could remind Yin Shizhen.

According to the normal historical trend, Chen Yiqin entered the cabinet in the early years of Longqing and served as a cabinet minister for four years. However, in the first two years Gao Gong and Xu Jie fought in the cabinet, Gao Gong naturally wanted to win Chen Yiqin to fight against Xu Jie.

Two years after Xu Jie's downfall, Chen Yiqin was also squeezed out of the cabinet by Gao Gong and forced to retire.

It was Yin Shizhen who replaced Chen Yiqin, but Yin Shizhen had been in the cabinet for less than a year, and he and Gao Gong were forced to resign because of "differences in political views", and there was a "cabinet boxing" incident.

However, civil servants in the Ming Dynasty seem to be used to it when they disagree with each other, so most people are not surprised by this.

After sending Yin Shizhen away, Wei Guangde began to think about his own plan. Of course he couldn't sit still and wait for his death. He had to go through the eunuch's way. He thought about waiting for two days to ask Chen Ju to have a chat. Anyway, there is no hurry now. It will take at least half a month before the decision is made.

This can only be done when the imperial court operates extremely efficiently, but Wei Guangde does not doubt that this decision related to himself will be delayed, whether it is the first assistant Yan Song or the second assistant Xu Jie, or even half a foot into the cabinet Gao Gong wanted to send himself away.

I didn't expect that I was so annoying.

Wei Guangde sighed in his heart, thinking that he was popular, but in the end he offended all the dignitaries of the dynasty without a sound, the officialdom is really not easy to mess with.

Wei Guangde remembered some things he had seen in later generations, saying that being an official is not easy, and that career is like sailing against the current, if you do not advance, you will retreat.

When you set foot in the officialdom, you can only think about continuous improvement, unless you just want to be a transparent person in the system and be a petty official at the grassroots level all your life.

In the past two years in the capital, most of the money originally given by the family has been spent. Except for the 2 taels that were used for lending, and the interest was charged every year, the rest were used to buy ginseng from the previous year. Even in the entire Ming Dynasty, the price of ginseng in the previous year rose sharply.

Wei Guangde didn't care much about the money lent out, but he can probably guess that it was borrowed from his hometown in Jiujiang.

Of course they are not short of money, but they have to send interest to Wei Mansion every year.

With such an income, Wei Guangde's life in the capital can be considered comfortable, at least he won't worry about money.

Thinking of the matter of money, Wei Guangde was naturally thinking about how much he should give to Chen Ju and the people in the palace. The relationship must be maintained without the bond of interest.

Chen Ju is a well-behaved person, but he also likes money, but he knows what money he can take and what money he can't take, and he is more cautious than most people in the palace.

But this time, Wei Guangde had some other ideas.

I'm afraid it won't work to send money directly. It's better to form a closer relationship of interests, so that even if I go to Fujian, the relationship between the two parties will not be unfamiliar.

As for how to strengthen the connection, Wei Guangde has long been considering this matter.

To be honest, Wei Guangde didn't know as many famous officials of the Ming Dynasty as the eunuchs of the Ming Dynasty. Among the eunuchs of the Ming Dynasty, there were really many famous people in later generations.

Zheng He who sailed to the West, Wang Zhen who lived in Tumubao, Liu Jin who was headed by the Eight Tigers of Zhengde, Huang Jin who was next to Emperor Jiajing, and eight thousand female ghosts under Emperor Carpenter.

Bah, it looks like I have the same surname as him, if I end up on the list of treacherous ministers of the Ming Dynasty, maybe I will be arranged like this.

Wei Guangde sat in the valet room, thinking wildly, but Wei Guangde's original plan, so far, from the news Zhang Ji inquired, seems to be a bit lacking, and it seems inappropriate to play finance now.

Yes, Wei Guangde intends to set up a bank.

Since those businessmen are willing to take money from him and pay him interest, why not make it bigger and stronger?

At this stage, the financial industry in the Ming Dynasty has not developed at all. Apart from pawnshops, there is only private lending.

Private lending is actually usury, but the reason for its formation cannot be blamed on others. It is really caused by the limitations of development.

Lending behavior is only private behavior in the contemporary era. Because there is no credit system, the lender cannot guarantee to collect money from the borrower. Therefore, private lending is all loans from large households of the same clan in the same village to small households. Because the loan channels are narrow and the risks are extremely high, the interest rate is naturally not low. .

As for pawnshop lending, although they will collect collateral, they are naturally unwilling to let the money fly away when they see the interest of private lending, so the interest of pawnshops is also the same as that of private lending, which is high.

Because of the high interest rate, during the Song Dynasty, Wang Anshi's reform came up with a "green crop law". The original intention was naturally to reduce the burden of borrowing on the bottom of the people, especially for earmarked funds, and loans could only be used for agricultural production.

Naturally, the bank that Wei Guangde envisioned was not run by him alone. He also wanted to introduce some shareholders, which naturally included the eunuchs in the palace.

Those people really have a lot of money in their hands.

What Wei Guangde wants to do is naturally to run a pure bank. In addition to the business of exchanging money and lending money, he also wants to absorb deposits for lending and earn the difference.

As for the cowhide banknotes that he saw on TV before, Wei Guangde doesn't have the guts to do it now.

Although the folks already have meeting tickets with functions similar to silver tickets, meeting tickets are not the main business of shops, because most of the issuing of meeting tickets are pawnshops, and there are not many meeting tickets issued by them, and most of them rely on real transactions.

In other words, from the perspective of pawnshops or shops, the issuance of meeting tickets is very risky, and it is not their main business. The reason why this function is retained is mainly to facilitate customers' transactions.

Wei Guangde felt that the anti-counterfeiting technology was too troublesome when issuing bank notes in the bank, and he didn't have that power. Even if the use of bank notes was limited to the local area and not allowed to be used in other places, he didn't have that strong credibility.

To do lending business, the commodity economy has developed unprecedentedly. Although the economic development of the Ming Dynasty was not bad in the past few years, the business in the south was not easy due to the Japanese invasion. Many merchants are actually shrinking, and they can only go to the north. The merchants are still operating, but they dare not expand the scale easily.

Just wait and see.

Wei Guangde thought in his heart, after reading the report from Fujian, he decided whether to recruit people from the palace to set up a bank. , the main purpose is nothing more than to maintain a good relationship.

Wei Guangde was still waiting on the sidelines. After Gao Gong returned, he sent news to Xu Jie in the cabinet. Wei Guangde agreed to go to Fujian to serve as the inspector censor.

Xu Jie would not pay attention to what Wei Guangde thought, as in his opinion, it was all about Prince Yu's mansion.

Before the people in the court adjusted, Gao Gong was going to be the right servant of the Ministry of Rites, and the position of Jijiu in the Imperial College was vacant. He originally wanted his student Zhang Juzheng to take over Gao Gong's position.

It's just that Zhang Juzheng's grade is not enough, so Xu Jie took the second place and sent his idea to Yuwang's mansion, planning to send Zhang Juzheng to Yuwang's mansion as Yuwang's lecturer.

This time the positions of officials in the DPRK and China have changed a lot. Zhang Juzheng's current official position in the Imperial Academy is not enough to look at. Naturally, he aimed at serving as a student or serving as a bachelor, and raised his rank by half a level, from the fifth rank.

That night, Xu Jie hosted Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng for a banquet at his residence.

"Today, I have drafted the memorabilia of the two ministers, Wu and Gao, and sent it to the Supervisor of Rites."

At the banquet, Xu Jie seemed to speak casually.

Wu Gao Ershangshu, of course, refers to Wu Shan, the Minister of Rites, and Gao Yao, the Minister of Hubu. They are now discussing the affairs of Prince Jing’s Mansion with Ouyang Bijin, Minister of Industry, and the Chief History of King Jing’s Mansion. The renovation project of the palace.

The current situation is that King Jing's family is deliberately delaying the construction period, and the court and Prince Yu's mansion naturally hope to cut the mess quickly and send King Jing away as soon as possible.

Therefore, Gao Gong became energetic immediately after hearing what Xu Jie said.

"Elder Ge thinks, how will His Majesty approve?"

Xu Jie's proposal would definitely not say that Wu and Gao were wrong, but he would never blame King Jing's mansion. Naturally, the target could only be aimed at Ouyang Bijin, the minister of the Ministry of Industry.

Anyway, some time ago, Ouyang Bijin also submitted a memorial to resign, but was rejected by Emperor Jiajing.

Ouyang Bijin, now among the six officials in Yan Song's line, besides him, there are only two officials, Wu Peng and Shangshu, Yan Song's power can be said to be greatly reduced.

"It should be completed within a time limit for the Ministry of Industry, Ouyang Shangshu probably won't be here for long."

Xu Jie glanced at Gao Gong and said lightly.

(End of this chapter)