prosperous age

Chapter 631 Chapter 630
Zhao Bingran, Shangshu of the Ministry of War, went out to play a mission and knelt down in the room. Wei Guangde behind him was full of surprise.

He didn't see Li Chunfang's movements, so he thought that the Ministry of War really had something to play.

Looking up and seeing Emperor Longqing on the throne also looked surprised, he couldn't help but feel a sinking heart.

"Play."

Surprised only for a moment, Emperor Longqing quickly came back to his senses, opened his lips slightly, and said a word.

"Qizou Your Majesty, last year the Xuanfu reported that the captives from the Wanquan Right Guard had entered the bandits. The first emperor ordered Xuanda and Jiliao to prepare for the battle, and the Ministry of War reported the victory to hear about it. It is said that the Ministry of War has received the actual document, and plans to reward Ma Fangdu, the chief soldier of the Xuanfu, Pu Yuhan, Jiao Ze, Wang Chen, Zhang Yanhou, etc., who have made outstanding contributions in this battle. Guard Wei Dong, Zhang Chen, Hao Jin, Li Ying, guerrilla Hei Yunlong, etc. and punish them."

Zhao Bingran is quite old, but now he is kneeling in the palace to play a role, which made Wei Guangde feel worried, worried that one day he will become a big official, and he will be required to play a role for Emperor Longqing.

In front of so many people kneeling and playing, Wei Guangde felt a little embarrassed.

Fortunately, for court meetings, the emperor and court officials are becoming less and less welcome, and most government affairs are handled through memorials.

Yes, don't look at the Jiajing Dynasty, the officials all accused the emperor of not going to the court early, but that was just talk, if the Jiajing emperor was diligent, the ministers were afraid that they would cry again.

It has to be said that the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty has actually begun to follow the double standard.

Zhao Bingran's memorandum naturally got the reply of Emperor Longqing's "Zhun Zou". The border soldiers fought bloody battles and won the victory. Naturally, what they want is to confer their wives and sons and high officials and generous salaries, which are indispensable no matter what.

As for Zhao Shangshu's Wan Quan Youwei battle, Wei Guangde had received a letter from Ma Fang last year and knew something about it.

More than 3 cavalry, led by Xin Ai, wanted to attack Ma Lianbao, and Ma Fang's personal reinforcements entered the fort to defend against the enemy.

The city wall of Ma Lianbao has been in disrepair for a long time, and a part of it unexpectedly collapsed at this time. A general wanted to send troops to repair it urgently, but Ma Fang refused.

Ma Fang dared to do this because he knew that Xin Ai was more cautious in doing things. He led his troops to help but could not hide the truth from the Tartar scouts. weak.

Based on the impact of the first battle in Gyeonggi, Ma Fang was sure that Xin Ai would not take the opportunity to attack the city because she was worried that it was a trap.

Sure enough, Xin Ai fell for the trick, and hesitatingly sent only a small number of troops to harass the Ming army in Malianburg. When it was getting dark, he chose to return to the camp with a large army, and sent scouts to the surrounding area to investigate the situation of the Ming army.

That night, Ma Fang led his troops out of the city to attack the Tartar barracks at night, smashed them, and chased and killed them for more than a hundred miles.

This battle seemed a bit of a joke, but in later generations, because of the sentence "Xin Ai entered the West Road with [-] cavalry, Fang Ying's Ma Lianbao" in the "History of the Ming Dynasty", it was mistakenly thought that Ma Fang defeated [-] captive cavalry in this battle.

One hundred thousand is just an imaginary number and is not trustworthy at all.

If there were really [-] cavalry, it would take almost all of Altan's troops and horses, and it would be unreasonable for him not to conscript himself.

Moreover, the results of this battle were not great, and no more than a thousand cavalry were killed, so later generations boasted a lot about the "Marienburg War", but they were mostly vague about the record.

Even though this matter is recorded in Ma Fang's biography, it is mostly because of the "empty city strategy", which has some elements of romance. I don't know if Ma Fang's doing this was inspired by watching "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms".

Moreover, this battle was not all smooth sailing. Apart from the border fort that was lost by the captive cavalry attack at the beginning, many Ming troops also suffered failures in night raids and pursuits, losing troops and losing generals.

Fortunately, this battle finally allowed Ma Fang to regain his lost title of Left Commander.

In the 44th year of Jiajing, when the Tartars entered the Kou Xuan Mansion, Ma Fang was too late to sit on the captives and join the bandits. Afterwards, he was prosecuted and was demoted by the Emperor Jiajing to the rank of Governor and Tongzhi, and he was fined for three months.

What Zhao Bingran had said was over, so he naturally got up and went back to the train.

"You have something else to do, so hurry up and play."

Emperor Longqing on the dragon chair spoke again.

Li Chunfang, the second assistant, coughed softly again, and then went out to kneel down and said: "A few days ago, the governor of Fujian and the censor of Qiandu, Tu Zemin, asked to open the market ship. The smugglers are public peddlers. Hundreds of officials in the court and the central government have different opinions on this. Today, Tan Lun, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, and the deputy of the right, invited the opening of the market ship, saying that the people in Fujian are small and their lives are not easy, and most of them make a living by handicrafts and trade."

These were all mentioned repeatedly in the cabinet yesterday. Fujian opened the sea to make a living for the common people. Although Li Chunfang answered ambiguously, he also had the intention of opening the sea in his heart, but as a secondary assistant, he Cannot take the lead in revising the ancestral system.

To put it bluntly, he had the same concerns as Xu Jie.

"It is difficult to reach an agreement in the cabinet meeting, so I can only respectfully request Your Majesty's holy order."

Finally, Li Chunfang finally said.

"Your Majesty, the ancestral system cannot be violated."

After Li Chunfang finished speaking, Gao Yi, Minister of Rites, had already left the class and knelt down, shouting loudly.

"Sir, second."

After that, Huang Guangsheng, Shangshu of the Ministry of Justice, also went out and knelt down, and he knelt by Gao Yi's side.

Wei Guangde sighed inwardly. Gao Yi was from Zhejiang, and Huang Guangsheng was from Fujian. Most of the officials who opposed the opening of the sea were from Jiangnan, and they could even be said to be officials from Zhejiang, Fujian, and Guangdong.

Those who supported Kaihai were mostly officials from Henan and Northern Zhili.

To make it clearer, it is that officials in the north support the opening of the sea, while officials in the south support the ban on the sea.

Ministers of the Ministry of Rites and Ministers of the Ministry of Punishment took the lead in opposing Kaihai, and the quiet Huangji Hall erupted in an instant, and a large number of officials in the hall suddenly appeared, all of whom supported Gao Yi's remarks.

Wei Guangde took a sneak peek, and even Zhu Heng was on the list of objections. He is now the minister of the Ministry of Industry. Although he is not in charge of the Ministry, he focuses on river engineering. People of the highest rank.

Of course, how could Zhu Heng be the only official in the Jiangxi court? In fact, Lei Li, the current minister of the Ministry of Industry, is also from Jiangxi, but now he is less in charge of affairs due to health reasons and is ready to beg for a rest, so he generally does not participate in these battles in the court. It means to retreat to the second line.

Wei Guangde was worried about being retaliated against, so he never revealed his feelings, and his fellow villagers couldn't figure out his position, so most of them chose which side to support based on their own interests.

Now it seems that Zhu Heng also has a close relationship with Jiangnan merchants.

Although the Emperor Longqing on the dragon chair knew that the courtiers opposed him fiercely, he could see it from the memorabilia, but in truth, sitting in the main hall and seeing a group of ministers kneeling on the ground against Kaihai, the emperor still felt a little shaken in his heart. .

In fact, the aura created by this group of people was a bit frightening, occupying almost half of the court.

Wei Guangde felt a little more at ease at this moment, secretly glad that he did not show his support for Kaihai, if these people knew that he had picked up this matter, they would not know how they would hate him.

Officials' positions are mostly based on their own interests, and the so-called "ancestral system" is just an objection they find for themselves.

Seeing that Emperor Longqing seemed to be intimidated by the aura created by the officials, Gao Gong also stood up at this time, and sternly reprimanded him: "What are you doing, are you trying to force His Majesty to be the king who puts people's lives at risk?"

Speaking of this, Gao Gong also knelt down and said in a loud voice: "Qi Zuo Your Majesty, I dare you to ask Your Majesty to put Fujian, Jiangnan, and the livelihood of millions of people in the world as the most important thing, and ask Your Majesty to issue an order to open the sea." .”

"Your Majesty, please put the world's common people first, and order to open the sea."

As a supporter in the cabinet, Guo Pu was the first to go out of class and knelt down and shouted, followed by Chen Yiqin and Yin Shizhen
Wei Guangde glanced sideways at the officials who were still standing behind him, gave some of them a bad look, and then he got out of the train after Yin Shizhen fell to his knees, walked up to Yin Shizhen and knelt down beside him, and shouted: "Your Majesty, please put the world's common people first, and order to open the sea."

Following him were Taichang Temple Shaoqing Wang Ning, Guanglu Temple Shaoqing Yin Leshun, Shangbao Siqing Liu Fenyong, Shaoqing Wu Zitong and others.

Anyone who is a little bit smarter can see that the people kneeling behind Gao Gong are all old Yu Yu, except Guo Pu.

It's too obvious. Although there are not as many people who support Kaihai as those who oppose it, the marks on them are too strong. They are all the old people in the Yuwang Mansion. Although their every move may have the influence of Gao Gong, it has fully reflected Long Qing Emperor's will.

Without the emperor nodding before him, it would be impossible for the people in Prince Yu's mansion to line up so neatly.

In the main hall, he suddenly saw more than a dozen people he was familiar with unanimously. Emperor Longqing, who was intimidated by the aura of opposing officials before, seemed a little panicked and calmed down instantly.

Before, Wei Guangde didn't even say hello to the fellow villagers in the court, but just sent a note to the old man Yu Yu, informing him of today's attitude.

This is enough.

These people had all received hints from Li Fang earlier that they would listen more to Wei Guangde's words in the court. This was also the help that Emperor Longqing planned to support Wei Guangde.

Gao Gong has Guo Pu's support in the court, and his strength is already strong enough.

I don't know if it was Emperor Jiajing's reminder, but Emperor Longqing seemed to have the intention of multi-polarizing the power of the court, because he even hinted to Wei Guangde that next year the Ministry of Rites will be the second assistant Li Chunfang, and the deputy chief examiner will be him.

Of course, these were just wild thoughts of Wei Guangde, because with the ability of Emperor Longqing, only by dividing civil servants into several forces to check and balance each other like the previous dynasty can the stability of imperial power be guaranteed.

After the old man Yu Yu expressed his attitude in the main hall, it fell silent instantly, and the officials standing on both sides were also at war with each other at this time, thinking about which side they should choose to support.

In some people's opinion, the reason why this drama was staged at the court meeting today was that Emperor Longqing was judging who supported him.

Yes, use Kaihai to test their loyalty to the emperor.

Perhaps in the end, Emperor Longqing would not choose to open the sea, but his statement at this time is very important, because Yu Yu has actually made his attitude clear.

Wei Guangde knelt down at this moment, but looked back, and then looked at the long stretch beside him, feeling that his side seemed to be alone and lonely.

Although soldiers are more expensive than elites, it seems that less than half of their supporters and opponents of Kaihai are indeed a bit shabby, even though there are three cabinet ministers at the front.

Wei Guangde turned his head to one side, and the person standing beside him was exactly the fellow, Minister of Industry Lei Li, no matter whether he could see it or understand it, Wei Guangde winked at him.

When looking sideways, Lei Li really didn't pay much attention, but he still saw Wei Guangde in the blink of an eye.

Lei Li didn't have much contact with Wei Guangde. When he was in the Ministry of Industry, he was mostly on foreign business. He didn't return to Beijing until Ouyang Bijin left the Ministry of Industry.

But at this time, Wei Guangde had already entered Prince Yu's Mansion, and the chaos was flourishing.

Lei Li is still a person who cares about face, so it is naturally impossible to take the initiative to contact Wei Guangde again at this time.

After that, Emperor Jiajing arranged for Wei Guangde to enter the school record library to copy books. The contact between the two was a ritual walk around the festivals and festivals, and a celebration banquet held for Jiangxi Gongsheng students after the examination two years ago.

And this year, both of them were busy with the late emperor's affairs, so they hardly met each other a few times.

Now Wei Guangde blinked at him, although Lei Li wasn't sure if he was dazzled, but he could guess one or two based on the current situation.

Perhaps, this is Yu Yu's attempt to test the current court, and Wei Guangde's blink of an eye naturally means to let him take his side.

Seeing Zhu Heng who was already kneeling in the middle, Lei Li didn't want to get involved in this matter at first, but he thought that he planned to recommend Zhu Heng's palm after he became official. Li also had a calculation in his heart.

Immediately, in the quiet hall, the civil and military officials standing on both sides saw Lei Li, Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry, also come out, standing on the side of the official Yu Yu, and seconded the opening of the sea.

Lei Li's choice seemed to be a signal. Zhang Yi, Wang Xilie, Yu Chaoqing and other officials from North Korea, Jiangxi and Jiangxi also came out and knelt behind Lei Li, shouting in support of Kaihai.

Wei Guangde smiled wryly in his heart. The party struggles in the Ming Dynasty seemed to have appeared a long time ago, but at first it was the township party, which supported one or two when there were disagreements in the court, and then gradually evolved into the interests of a certain person or a certain purpose. group.

By this time, Zhao Zhenji and other Sichuan officials could not sit still. Kaihai and Banhai had little to do with them, but the cabinet minister Chen Yiqin was from their hometown, especially the royal court. Among them, Chen Yiqin contributed a lot.

What he does seems to be fair on weekdays, but when it comes to critical moments, he knows that he should take the other side.

Soon, Wang Ting, the censor of Zuodu, and Zhao Zhenji, Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of Officials, also came out to support Kaihai. They were just the beginning, and officials from Henan also came out one after another.

It’s as if the Manchu officials disliked Yan Song back then, but the Jiangxi officials still smiled when they saw him. Now the Manchu officials don’t like Gao Gong, but the Henan officials still hope that he can withstand Xu Jie’s offensive and continue to stand tall. Church.

If the villagers are in power, they will more or less benefit.

It is not obvious at ordinary times, only when there is a vacancy in the official position, the weight of the status of the cabinet minister will be revealed.

So soon, the supporters of the Kaihai faction quickly knelt down a large group, and did not argue at the court meeting like on TV, because everything that should be said was handed over through memorials.

The discussions in the cabinet yesterday were well known to all the officials present, and there was no need to dispute them.

Both factions have reasons and are easy to accept, so it depends on which side has more supporters and has a greater influence on the emperor.

At this time, there were not many people still standing on both sides, Zhang Juzheng turned sideways slightly, frowning slightly at the current situation.

To be honest, it was a bit beyond his imagination.

(End of this chapter)