prosperous age

Although it was a bit embarrassing to meet, but since people came, they naturally wanted to see each other.

Speaking of which, the few people who came this time were the ones with the highest scores in this exam, and the top scores naturally have a great chance of being promoted.

In fact, when Wei Guangde filled out the list, he had already realized that he had a vague impression of these people.

The only regret is that embarrassment.

Opening the post in his hand, there are Zhao Zhigao, Wang Jiaping, Hu Laigong, Yu Shenxing and others. Given the current opportunity, Wei Guangde roughly understands what they mean by looking for him.

Put Yu Shenxing's post at the top, and hand it to Zhang Ji, "Reply to the post for them, arrange two or three people a day."

"Yes."

Zhang Ji took it and agreed with him.

In this group of student posts, Wei Guangde also finds Yu Shenxing a little more pleasing to the eye, mainly because this one is a few years younger than him.

The 23-year-old Jinshi is still ranked so high, it is not an exaggeration to say that he is a genius.

Wei Guangde knew what they wanted, and he also knew that he could do it, that is, to enter the Imperial Academy and choose a good scholar.

Of course, Zhao Zhigao didn't need it, he should just deliberately get closer to him, hoping to help him in his future career.

This is normal, Wei Guangde doesn't think there is anything wrong.

Why do cabinet ministers have to participate in the general examination and be the chief examiner? Isn't it just to give them full wings.

The Imperial Academy, although Wei Guangde is no longer in charge of the Imperial Academy, but the Ministry of Rites is in charge of the Imperial Academy, other than that, the Dashou have already become bachelors in the Imperial Academy, and Tao Dalin is already an attendant.

Of course, their promotion was not as fast as Wei Guangde's, but they worked steadily and steadily, step by step according to the normal promotion, and now they are the main force of the Imperial Academy's errands.

In this selection of the library, if there is no accident, they were the chief and deputy examiners at that time.

It's not difficult to say hello and take care of me.

In the next few days, after Wei Guangde came back from the yamen, he received these disciples of his. Naturally, Wei Guangde did not fully agree to some of them wanting to enter the Imperial Academy.

For those who are well-educated, he will only acquiesce, but will never nod in agreement, and for those who are not knowledgeable enough and have unreasonable thoughts, he will first advise, and if he does not listen, it will be just perfunctory.

Without self-knowledge, accepting such a disciple will only cause him trouble, and he is not willing to recruit him.

After a period of busy official work at the beginning of the year, the errands of the Ministry of Rites were also free, so Wei Guangde was quietly dawdling in the yamen. On this day, he was urgently called into the cabinet by the secretary Zhongshu from the cabinet while he was on duty.

After asking Zhongshu, he didn't know the details, so Wei Guangde had no choice but to pack up the table and leave in a hurry.

In front of the gate of the Ministry of Rites, Gao Yi came out first, and was already standing in front of the big sedan chair. The bearer had already lifted the sedan chair and rolled up the curtain of the sedan chair. Hearing footsteps behind him, Gao Yi turned to look at Wei Guangde.

"Master Gao."

Wei Guangde hastily bowed and saluted.

"Shan Loan, together?"

Gao Yi said with a smile.

Wei Guangde shook his head with a smile. Although he can sit in a sedan chair, he is already used to riding in a carriage, and this habit will not change for a while.

While speaking, the carriage had already arrived.

"Then I'll go first."

Gao Yi smiled, got into the sedan chair, and then the bearer lifted up the sedan chair and walked quickly towards the imperial city.

Wei Guangde stood in front of the gate, waited for the carriage to stop, the driver got off the carriage and put down the horse stool, and then he stepped on the stool to get into the carriage.

After the driver put away the horse stool, he climbed back to the driver's seat and drove behind the sedan chair.

Now that Wei Guangde is already a member of the imperial court wearing scarlet robes, if he continues to climb into the carriage by himself in the original way, he will really lose face in his official uniform.

In fact, horse stools have been used for several years to get in and out of the carriage.

It's not that he can't go up, but that he has to put on airs.

When they arrived at the cabinet, the two were quickly introduced into Xu Jie's office, and all the cabinet ministers had already arrived.

"Zixiang, Shandai, take a look at this decree."

Hearing that it was a decree, the Zhongshu who came to pass the message didn't know it, Wei Guangde knew that it must be the decree of Emperor Longqing, but the cabinet had different opinions, so everything was suppressed for the time being.

Moreover, judging from the news of the blockade, it must be a very bad request.

Gao Yi took a yellow scroll from Xu Jie's hand, looked down and frowned, then handed it to Wei Guangde next to him.

"Shan Loan, you should take a look too."

Wei Guangde took it over and took a look. Emperor Longqing wanted to draft 300 women.

As a draft girl, this is not a big deal in the past, but the problem with this will lies in the timing.

The Ministry of Rites and the Supervisor of Rituals only received a piece of news from Nanjing last month. Zhang Jinchao, the envoy of the Nanjing Weaving and Dyeing Bureau, claimed that he was ordered to go to Hunan, Guangnan, Zhili and other places to select beautiful girls. The news spread, causing a huge disturbance in the whole of Jiangnan. .

Families in Zhili, Hunan and other places all had women of the right age, and they all tried to find ways to marry their daughters off.

In those two months, as the news spread, families with girls searched everywhere for families with men to marry them, lest the marriage would be suspended after the court order came, and their daughters would be chosen away.

When the news reached the Huzhou government, the whole Huzhou immediately fell into a "bridegroom battle" against time.

All families, as long as there are girls over eleven or two years old and under 20 years old, will all bravely join this battle.

Fearing that the government would ban them, most marriages are done in the dark. Every family with a daughter is afraid that the dawn will break and the daughter will stay in her boudoir. The crowing of a rooster will break the hearts of many parents.

Tian Yiheng once described the situation after the draft rumors spread in Yidi: "The sound of singing, laughing and crying, loud and loud, thousands of miles away!"

And all bachelors, regardless of whether they are beautiful, strong, sick, or scumbag, "no matter how big or small, young or old, beautiful, evil, rich or poor", "shipment" is cleared.

Even if it is a secluded village in a valley, a family of poets and rites, no matter how aloof from the world or abiding by ethics, no one can calm down at this time.

From time to time, there are nursery rhymes circulating that say: "When there is chaos on the first day of the first lunar month, the big and small daughters marry their husbands."

However, someone inadvertently added fuel to the already chaotic situation. At that time, a general arrived at Beiguan, Huzhou to take up his post. According to the rules, three cannonballs were fired at Beiguan, which was both a notice and a welcome. Unexpectedly, the people in the city heard the loud cannon Wow, it was said that "the imperial court sent eunuchs here", and immediately those families who had not yet married their daughters began to flee in all directions, fearing that they would not be able to escape.

With such a mess, the local government naturally passed the news to Nanjing for inquiries. After all, they did not receive any documents for the palace draft.

Nanjing officials also waited for some time and asked around before they learned the news.

Nanjing has not received an imperial edict or document, so it is natural to be skeptical.

Because the source of the news was the envoy of the Nanjing Weaving and Dyeing Bureau, they didn't know whether the eunuchs acted according to the imperial order.

Although it is not in compliance with the rules, it is the emperor's order after all, so he wrote a document and sent it to the capital to inquire about the Ministry of Rites and the Supervisor of Rituals.

Obviously, this is actually the action of the internal envoy Zhang Jinchao to rob the women of good families in the name of the draft, and openly blackmail the people, because the inner court has never given such an order to Nanjing.

It is completely different from the movies and TV dramas of the later generations. How could the daughter of a good family be willing to send someone into the palace as a slave? This slim chance.

In fact, from ancient times to the present, the so-called talent show essentially uses this name to blatantly plunder ordinary women among the people.

Television in later generations made people think that the emperor was the object of many women vying to marry, because getting the emperor's favor meant gaining power and money, which is pure nonsense.

Although there may be such families with speculative purposes, they are definitely very rare and heterogeneous.

Why are the folks so afraid of the palace drafts? Ordinary women entering the Deming Palace are equivalent to being deprived of their freedom for life. In order to keep the secrets in the palace, most women have to wait to die in the palace.

Because the regulations formulated by the emperors of the Ming Dynasty strictly prohibited people outside the palace from delivering letters or items to the maids, once the prohibition was violated, "everyone will be punished with death."

Ye Luo returns to her roots, after she gets old, the palace ladies must be able to leave the palace. In order to prevent the palace people from revealing the forbidden things, the old palace ladies are imprisoned in the "Ni Yi Bureau" and are still not allowed to leave the palace.

The Hongzhi Dynasty once released a group of elderly court ladies, what kind of folks are grateful for their gratitude!

When a woman enters the palace, if she is not a concubine with some status in the palace, it means that she will never see her relatives again in this lifetime, and it will even be difficult to pass on news.

Just imagine, after the "Lalang match", no matter how unhappy the marriage is, you can still see a few sides, which is better than being sent to the palace to die.

Moreover, after entering the palace, the treatment of the court ladies in the Ming Dynasty was extremely low, and they were left to fend for themselves when they got sick and had no medical treatment.

This is the main reason why the people refuse to send women into the palace, and another frightening thing is the many folk rumors about Emperor Longqing's father, Emperor Jiajing.

Although the Renyin Palace Change is a secret story in the palace, it has actually been spread among the people since it involved the emperor after it happened.

A group of court ladies secretly conspired to do such a big thing as assassinate the king. There are also various versions circulated among the people, but most of them are extremely obscene.

As for this palace change, the inner court also concealed and was unwilling to disclose the truth. There are indeed many unspeakable things among them, which further fueled the suspicion of this among the people.

Although the emperor has changed, who knows what will happen to the daughter after entering the palace?
"The last time a girl was drafted was in Jiajing's 42nd or 43rd year?"

Wei Guangde asked.

He still has some memories, after all, only four or five years have passed.

"Decreed in 42, drafted in 43."

Gao Yi said that at that time he was already in the Ministry of Rites, and although he was not in charge of this matter, the Ministry of Rites would directly participate in the selection of candidates for the palace, although the final decision was made by the inner court.

The selection of women in the palace of the Ming Dynasty is usually every three to five years, and each time a hundred to a thousand people are selected according to the needs.

There are actually many types of draft girls. Sometimes they are just ordinary court ladies, and sometimes they are for marriage.

Who let Zhu Yuanzhang set the tone, the wives of the princes, princes and other royal descendants should be searched among the people, and try to avoid the opportunity for the relatives to take the opportunity to become big.

"Considering the time, this decree is not inappropriate, even if the Nanjing incident happened, it is really a little bit to issue this decree at this time."

Wei Guangde said in a difficult way.

"We are also worried about this. We just wrote back to Nanjing and asked them to dispel the rumors. But if we are drafting girls for the palace again at this time, alas."

Xu Jie said with a look of embarrassment.

"Old Xu Ge, I'm afraid I can only invite you into the palace, and tell His Majesty about this matter."

Wei Guangde glanced at Chen Yiqin next to him, saw that he also looked embarrassed, and continued: "The matter of drafting girls can be delayed a little bit.

First let the Nanjing Judiciary arrest and behead Zhang Jinchao as soon as possible, severely sentence his party members, and declare the official punishment.

If the decree is issued before the end of the year, it will be too late to start selection in February next year.

After all, even if the decree is issued now, the draft will have to be delayed until February next year. "

The Ming Dynasty also had rules for the selection of maids in the palace. At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the selection was in the first month, and later it was changed to February.

Now it's April, and even if a decree is issued, the women who are selected in the local primary election can only wait until February next year before being transferred to the palace.

"That's very good. First calm down the incident caused by Zhang Jinchao in Jiangnan, and then slowly figure it out."

Zhang Juzheng immediately agreed.

Wei Guangde's procrastination formula is excellent, as long as it can be delayed, Emperor Longqing may forget about it by the end of the year, and it is not impossible to delay it for another year.

"Master Shoufu, the idea of ​​a good loan is good. When His Majesty explained this matter before, I only thought of the current situation in Jiangnan, and forgot to use this matter as an excuse to shirk it.

His Majesty attaches great importance to reputation, so we will let His Majesty agree to it according to this rhetoric. "

Chen Yiqin also spoke at the right time.

When Wei Guangde spoke, his complexion turned from cloudy to clear.

He brought this decree from the palace. At that time, he just felt that the timing was not right, but His Majesty wanted to draft a girl, and the palace hadn't recruited newcomers for several years, so he couldn't find a reason to refuse.

Now Wei Guangde's words turned into a very good reason.

"Okay, with this reasoning, it would be easier to talk to His Majesty if you want to."

Xu Jie agreed with Wei Guangde's words after thinking for a moment.

In fact, they just fell into the habit of thinking. In fact, if the emperor wants to draft girls, as long as they don't choose them every year, the ministers really can't find a reason to refuse.

Youdao means that as the son of heaven, in the whole world, is it the land of the king, the shore of the land, and the ministers of the king, and it is also known as the wealth of the world, sitting in the world's wealth and glory.

With such an identity, what's wrong with choosing a few beauties?
It's just that the timing was not right, so several of their cabinet ministers sat together to discuss, but they still didn't come up with a charter for a long time.

Disturbing the people, too disturbing the people.

With Wei Guangde's idea, Xu Jie happily went to the palace to revive the order.

Because it not only meets the needs of the emperor, but also does not intensify the contradictions in the south of the Yangtze River, and there is room for maneuver in the middle, which is really a great good.

Something happened here, several cabinet ministers went back to their respective offices, Wei Guangde and Gao Yi said something and went straight to Chen Yiqin's room.

"Let's just leave it at that about Eunuch Li. If he doesn't change his attitude, we won't be able to help him."

In Chen Yiqin's duty room, he said this to Wei Guangde.

"Two days ago, Eunuch Huang's nephew came to my house to look for me, so you should go there too."

Wei Guangde rubbed his eyebrows and said.

"You have to think about it carefully. Eunuch Huang helped me wait a lot back then, and he can't let his family go on like this."

Chen Yiqin also nodded in agreement.

"I have an idea, how about I ask Teng Xiang to try?"

Wei Guangde spoke, so Wei Guangde simply said that Teng Xiang was worshiped under Huang Jin's sect.

This was the news leaked by Chen Ju, otherwise Wei Guangde would not have thought that the two had such a relationship.