prosperous age

Chapter 577 Chapter 576 Woke Up
Verify and report.

In fact, it has already shown Emperor Jiajing's attitude towards this, so it's no wonder that Huang Jin will take a second look.

Dong Fen is going to be unlucky.

The current Emperor Jiajing is no longer the same as before. At that time, he had two sons, King Yu and King Jing. Now there is only one child left, King Yu.

Speaking of being alone, at this age, more or less will consider the aftermath.

If it's hopeful to practice, it's okay to say that you can live forever, so naturally you won't think too much about it.

But after so many years of cultivation, he is very clear about whether he has improved or not.

Although people like Huang Jin and Gao Zhong complimented him for his improved skills, but Emperor Jiajing was not a fool, and he had no savings at all, because he couldn't feel where the immortal way was.

Not to mention that Dong Fen is just a courtier, even if he is a capable minister in governing the world, he is nothing compared to King Yu.

After all, it was related to the blood of the emperor's heir, and Emperor Jiajing had no other choice.

After being impeached, Dong Fen spent a long time in the cabinet trying hard and hard to find a solution to Xu Jie, so he went to find two cabinet ministers, Yan Na and Li Chunfang, but there was still no way to solve the immediate problem.

According to the usual practice, when an official is impeached, he must go home and think about his mistakes behind closed doors. Naturally, he will not continue to run outside.

What's more, with an official of his rank, who else can he ask for?
Looking at the entire imperial court, except for the one from Prince Yu's Mansion, there seems to be no more.

In the past half a day, Dong Fen also understood that the one who wanted to take him down was King Yu. Would it be useful to beg him?

He didn't want to lose his hard-earned official position as Minister of the Ministry of Rites. With what happened today, he had almost no hope of joining the cabinet, let alone lose his official position.

After returning home in the afternoon, he locked himself in his study and prepared to write his own defense, but after sitting all night, he couldn't find the words to explain.

If he pleaded guilty, he would definitely not admit it.

How can it be explained?
In just one night, the Dong family, which used to be able to call the wind and rain in the capital, fell, and Dong Shangshu became a joke among everyone, a big fool who looked down on the situation.

When they saw him taking over Yan Ne's position as Minister of Rites, countless people thought that he might follow in his footsteps and enter the cabinet. What a prosperous scene in front of Dong's mansion at that time, but now it's gone.

As for Xiyuan, Emperor Jiajing got the verification result of the factory guard that night, which was exactly the same as what Ouyang Yijing said in the memorial.

Without this letter of impeachment, even Jinyiwei and Dongchang would have struggled to verify it.

With Ouyang Yijing's memorabilia, the factory guard followed the diagram and easily obtained the relevant evidence.

The evidence for Ouyang Yijing's impeachment is conclusive.

Looking at the secret report sent by Huang Jin, Emperor Jiajing's expression did not change at all, as if everything had been expected.

"Dong Fen's self-defense is handed over to me immediately, and I want to see how he explains it."

Emperor Jiajing ordered casually, without any emotion in his words.

It's just that this wait is two days.

Dong Fen didn't know how to defend himself. According to court practice, Emperor Jiajing had to wait for him to defend himself. If he directly decided that the impeachment memorial was not given a chance to defend himself, it would be a bit like punishing him without teaching.

In this way, all the officials were still waiting to see a good show, but who knew that it would take a day to wait, and no one in Dong's residence came out to defend Dong Shangshu, and there was no order from the palace to dispose of it.

Wei Guangde also looked at the events of this day with some strangeness, but in the afternoon he had a little recollection.

Well, at noon today, the news spread that Dong Fen, Minister of Rites of the Ming Dynasty, planned to play tricks.

However, Wei Guangde is more willing to believe that this is caused by Dong Fen's lack of a reason to defend himself, not necessarily because he thought of this to delay some time.

Although he can't work in the Ministry of Rites, he is still a minister of the Ministry of Rites after all, a second-rank official in the imperial court.

But in this way, how long can it be delayed?

Emperor Jiajing waited for a day and did not wait for Dong Fen's self-defense, so he became angry.

After seeing the factory guard's secret report on this rumor in the afternoon, he was even more furious, "Tomorrow at noon, if Dong Fen still can't hand over his defense, you will go to the cabinet to deliver an order to arrest Dong Fen and order him to interrogate him."

"According to the order."

As soon as Huang Jin agreed, a eunuch ran into the door of Yongshou Palace. Seeing that the clothes were of high quality, no one dared to stop him for a while.

But soon, the servants recognized this person, isn't it Chen Hong, the eunuch, the supervisor of ceremonies?
Chen Hong ran into Yongshou Palace without notification, but he didn't dare to continue to enter the palace gate after passing the palace gate.

After running outside the main hall, he hurriedly called the servant standing in front of the door to come in and report.

"What is Chen Honglai doing?"

After receiving the report from the servant, Emperor Jiajing asked strangely.

Huang Jin is also a little strange, it's not the time for him to send the memorial.

Thinking so, Huang Jin lowered his head and replied: "I report to the emperor, I don't know."

"Call him in."

Emperor Jiajing immediately ordered.

Not long after, Chen Hong entered the gate of the palace, handed a memorial to the imperial book table with both hands, and then stepped back and said: "My lord, I just received the urgent report that the young master, the crown prince, the grand master, and the minister of the household department built the pole hall. University scholar Yuan Wei and old Yuan Ge returned to Anshan due to illness."

"died?"

Emperor Jiajing looked at Chen Hong and asked subconsciously, his hand had already reached out to the memorial.

This is the news reported by the local officials in Anshan, and it was delivered by the official post, so naturally it cannot be faked.

"Maozhong is less than [-] years old, I didn't expect people to disappear."

Emperor Jiajing said after reading the memorial.

Having been an emperor for more than 40 years, he has long been used to seeing his subjects suffer from birth, old age, sickness and death, but for some reason, this time he felt uncontrollably sad, as if...
"Leave it to the cabinet, determine the posthumous title according to the usual practice, and reward sacrifices."

Push the memorial forward and give instructions to Chen Hong.

"Yes."

With a promise, Chen Hong picked up the memorial and slowly exited the hall.

After Chen Hong left, Emperor Jiajing suddenly asked again: "What's the situation with Yan Song now?"

Hearing the emperor's question, Huang Jin was startled, and after thinking about it, he replied: "The last secret report that mentioned him said that he was in good health, and he was not plagued by diseases."

"A person in his 80s is blessed."

Emperor Jiajing said inexplicably, "Tell the people below, don't make things difficult for him."

"Yes."

At this time, Huang Jin felt inexplicably sad.

"Dong Fen just said, there is no need to go to jail, he is deposed as a citizen, and he just leaves Beijing immediately."

Emperor Jiajing continued.

Afterwards, the two monarchs and ministers in the main hall chatted for a long time before Huang Jin left the main hall of Yongshou Palace. Emperor Jiajing still had to practice.

On the way out of the hall, Huang Jin finally realized that the emperor was getting old, and he might die.

From Yuan Wei's death, he may have seen himself in the near future, which is why he is like this.

In the Imperial College, in the school records hall, Wei Guangde was not surprised to hear the news of Yuan Wei's death, after all, he had expected it.

"After all, I still haven't returned to my hometown."

Sighing softly, Wei Guangde lost his interest and didn't want to read the book, he just threw it on the table, and was about to go home when he was going to Sanya, and stayed with his family.

I don't know how long it took, suddenly Lu Bu from outside ran in quickly and bowed to Wei Guangde and said: "Master, the angels from the palace outside have arrived, and there are also old Li Ge and old Yan Ge."

"Is something wrong?"

Wei Guangde asked subconsciously.

"Already summoning all the branch school officials to prepare to receive the order, the master should go to the front as soon as possible."

Where could Lu Bu answer, he just said.

"Okay, here we go."

Wei Guangde nodded, then got up and quickly walked out of the room to the front hall.

When he arrived, the incense case and other items to receive the order were all ready, and Yan Ne and Li Chunfang, who had only been here twice, were there.

Wei Guangde and Zhang Juzheng stood together, but now was not the time to talk, the two of them just made eye contact, knowing that they didn't know what was going on, so they simply stood still and waited for the eunuch to announce the decree.

Not long after, the branch school officials from the School Records Hall arrived, and everyone knelt down under the leadership of Yan Na and Li Chunfang, listening to the inner court angel read out the emperor's will after the incense case.

The decree can be passed here, naturally it is related to the copying of "Yongle Dadian".

Emperor Jiajing was actually dissatisfied with their copying speed, and wanted to add more scholars to copy.

More than 100 scribes, this number is quite a lot.

Unexpectedly, Emperor Jiajing was suddenly dissatisfied with their transcription speed at this time, and wanted to add people to it.

After the decree was read, Yan Na took the imperial decree and put it on the incense case, and then turned around and tried hard to all the school officials, and at the same time asked them to call the transcribers as soon as possible to complete the transcribing work according to His Majesty's wishes.

After finishing the matter here, Wei Guangde and Zhang Juzheng came out one after the other.

"Uncle, where are you going?"

Seeing that Zhang Juzheng was not going to the back yard, but going forward, Wei Guangde called Zhang Juzheng and asked.

"There are still some things in the Imperial College that I have to arrange first. By the way, I can see that the text in it is acceptable. If the family conditions are not good, I will give priority to making up for the scribes."

Zhang Juzheng replied.

Hearing what he said, Wei Guangde remembered that Zhang Juzheng still had an errand for the Imperial Academy to sacrifice wine, and it would be a great favor for him to select scholars from the Imperial Academy.

"Then help me take a look, pick a few more, I need them too."

Wei Guangde said.

"it is good."

Zhang Juzheng agreed and went directly to the Imperial College.
Wei Guangde slowly returned to his room, and he had already figured out the taste along the way.

He didn't know when Emperor Jiajing died, but this year is the 44th year of Jiajing, and he has been emperor for almost 45 years, so it should be about the same.

Maybe this year?

Wei Guangde was thinking wildly, and he couldn't help thinking about Dong Fen. If he wasn't greedy for small profits, Gao Gong would have no chance at all.

Even if King Yu succeeds to the throne, it is impossible to dismiss the former ministers without reason in the short term, especially officials at the level of Shangshu.

The emperor might be finished this year, that is to say, Wei Guangde thought in his heart, but he dared not go out and talk nonsense.

On the second day, Dong Fen still did not submit his defense. The focus of the courtiers did not shift because of Yuan Wei's death, but each household arranged for people to go to Yuan's mansion to express their condolences and offer sacrifices.

In this matter, Prince Yu's Mansion was directly involved by Yin Shizhen, and was no longer worried about Wei Guangde and others.

It was expected, and it was not a big deal.

"Dong Fen was deposed as a citizen."

Dong Fen's failure to defend himself does not mean that the court will not take action. After waiting in silence for two days, Emperor Jiajing finally decreed that Dong Fen should be dismissed from his position as Minister of Rites, deprived of all his titles and rewards, and become an ordinary citizen.

After receiving the order that day, Dong Fen left the mansion in embarrassment and left the capital under the escort of the wolf-like captain in Jinyi.

Emperor Jiajing was kind to Dong Fen, and he didn't confiscate his home just because he took bribes. Instead, he allowed him to leave the capital and return to his hometown with his accumulated wealth.

In the morning of the same day, there was also a secret order signed by Zhu Xixiao, the commander of the Jinyiwei, which was sent from the capital to the Jinyiwei in Nanchang, Jiangxi through the secret transmission channel of the Jinyiwei.

In less than two days, Emperor Jiajing made another decree from the Xiyuan, and Gao Gong, the left servant of the Ministry of Rites, was promoted to Minister of the Ministry of Rites.

Gao Gong finally got his wish and became a member of the second rank of the Ming Dynasty, only one step away from entering the cabinet.

And Wei Guangde and others also wantonly expanded their manpower to speed up the transcription of "Yongle Dadian".

It's just that there are too many volumes of "Yongle Dadian", there are tens of thousands of volumes.

At the beginning, when Xie Jin presided over the compilation, the scale was no more than a hundred people, and a year later the book "The Great Completion of Documents" was completed.

However, Ming Chengzu Zhu Di was very dissatisfied after reading it in person, so he appointed Yao Guangxiao as the supervisor, and at the same time the editing team expanded to a scale of 3000 people.

There are just so many people. After the book was finalized, it took more than a year to complete the transcription of the original copy.

Don't look at Wei Guangde and the others have been transcribing the Grand Ceremony for nearly three years, but there are no more than a hundred of them. At this rate, it will take at least 30 years to fully transcribe it.

Even if the number of transcribers is more than doubled by decree, there are already 300 people involved in the transcribing work, but according to the current transcription speed, Wei Guangde estimates that it will take about ten years to complete all the work.

He has nothing to do about it.

Later generations are simple, just scan and print.

But in this era, it can only be book by book, copying word by word on paper and then binding.

Even if the handwriting is even slightly messy, it will be invalidated, and it must be copied in regular script, which is the printed style of later generations.

This is also the responsibility of these branch school officials, not only to ensure that the transcription is accurate, but also the handwriting is neat.

"At first I thought it was a free gift, but now it reminds me, hey."

On this day, Wei Guangde and Zhang Juzheng met at the gate after leaving the yamen, they simply went to a restaurant to eat and drink together, and complained.

"The cabinet is also under a lot of pressure. Your Majesty wants the court to increase the appropriation. After all, it is necessary to recruit people to transcribe, and the writing fee is indispensable. Your Majesty will recruit 3000 people in one go, just like the Yongle period. How can the current court afford it? up."

Zhang Juzheng sighed.

Wei Guangde knew that what Zhang Juzheng said should be true, but the conversation should have taken place in Xiyuan at that time, so the outside world still knows little about it.

He has the answer in his heart, but Wei Guangde will not say it casually.

"Do you know how much money the Yan family has accumulated?"

After three rounds of wine and five flavors of food, Zhang Juzheng asked suddenly.

"Cheng Shoujie sent back the report?"

Wei Guangde was suspicious when he heard this.

He didn't know anything about this, so it's no wonder that it happened.

(End of this chapter)