prosperous age

In the suburbs of Beijing in May, the sun is shining brightly, the grass is green, and the area is full of life.

At this time, in a pavilion a few miles away from Beijing, a small square table was placed in the middle. On the table were several dishes to go with wine, and four figures sat around the table.

They are the current Ming Dynasty Cabinet Assistants Chen Yiqin, Assistant Ministers Yin Shizhen and Wei Guangde, and they are sitting on a man with gray hair and a white face without beard. The people in the capital can recognize it at a glance. This is a eunuch in the palace. .

"We say goodbye today, and I don't know if we will have another chance to meet again. Fang would like to borrow flowers to offer to Buddha. I would like to thank the three of you for helping Fang. Please drink this cup to the full."

That eunuch was naturally Li Fang, who was once considered to be Huang Jin's replacement and deserved to be No. 1 in the inner court.

But who would have thought that in just three years, he would now have no choice but to go to Nanjing to avoid trouble.

Although Wei Guangde and others took care of the prison of the Ministry of Punishment, Li Fang still suffered from the same crime inside. The accommodation conditions were second best, and the food was good, but the biggest blow he suffered came from the palace.

Li Fang thought that she had been working hard for the emperor all her life, but what she didn't expect was this encounter, and she was already disheartened.

Today, when I left the prison of the Ministry of Punishment in a prison car, I felt sad for a moment because I didn't want to see Chen Yiqin and Wei Guangde, who had worked together in Yuzhuan again.

After being comforted by Chen Yiqin and others outside the pavilion, he entered the pavilion and sat down. However, he still couldn't get excited when facing the fine wine and food on the table.

"Oh, Eunuch Li, I remember that I advised you many times back then. Don't act like you did in the palace. You were harsh to your subordinates. There are many people in the palace and they are no more innocent than the people in Yuzhuan."

The four of them drank the wine. Wei Guangde filled the wine glass in front of Li Fang with the wine bottle, and finally couldn't help but say.

In fact, Wei Guangde had some minor complaints about Li Fang.

You know, he placed his bet on Li Fang. He had ignored Feng Bao for a while. It was more than a year before he resumed contact with Feng Bao. From time to time, the two went out to drink and became closer.

But as a person from Yuzhuili, Feng Bao's status in the palace has also improved after Li Fang's fall. The people around him are naturally different from the past. It can be said that Wei Guangde's plan was miscalculated.

At the very least, from what Wei Guangde has heard so far, the relationship between Zhang Juzheng and Feng Bao seems to have been going very well in the past two years and has already moved ahead of him.

"Don't you know what kind of loan Eunuch Li is?

An upright person should not be harshly criticized. Everything he did was for His Majesty. It is a pity that His Majesty was deceived by traitors.

Forget it, don’t talk about it, just eat the food. "

Chen Yiqin was open-minded. There was a time when he had wanted to beg to return home, not only due to physical reasons, but also because of a little disappointment in Emperor Longqing.

But in the end he stayed because Emperor Longqing didn't want him to leave.

"It doesn't matter if Eunuch Li goes to Nanjing, Eunuch Liang will be in charge there, so he won't make you sad.

This time we still have some small gifts, and we need Eunuch Li to send them as well. "

Yin Shizhen laughed.

"That's right. If it weren't for your help, I wouldn't be still in the prison of the Criminal Department."

Li Fang smiled wryly.

"Eunuch Liang still sees things thoroughly."

Wei Guangde also smiled bitterly when he saw Li Fang's current embarrassment.

"Yes, he seemed to have told me when he left, but it's a pity that I didn't listen."

Li Fang knew what Wei Guangde meant, looked at Wei Guangde and said apologetically.

After a few bottles of wine, several people were already drunk, and it was getting late, so they couldn't waste any more time.

Li Fang stood up to say goodbye to them. When she saw everyone in the pavilion stood up, and those outside, including those carrying the sedan chair and those driving the prison van, also stood up, they knew they were leaving.

Li Fang was sentenced to Nanjing, and there were supposed to be only two official escorts to escort her there. Even though she had traveled thousands of miles, it was enough for Li Fang to drink.

However, Wei Guangde exerted his strength below, and Mao Kai also took advantage of the situation, pretending to be confused, and sent a prison car to escort him there, so Li Fang was treated as a public car when he went to Nanjing this time.

Although the conditions were much worse, I was still alive to see the city of Nanjing.

After leaving the pavilion, they sent Li Fang to the prison car and said goodbye to each other.

Chen Yiqin, Yin Shizhen and Wei Guangde stood on the roadside watching the prison car go south.

This time they all came out on leave and were all dressed in regular clothes, so the people who came and went on the official road just regarded it as seeing off friends, but no one recognized that there were three important figures in the Ming Dynasty cabinet here.

On the official road, a caravan consisting of several large vehicles passed by Li Fang's prison car without attracting anyone else's attention.

On the first carriage, the curtains moved slightly, and a pair of eyes happened to see the prison car through the gap, and also saw the person sitting in the prison car.

"They all got into the prison car, and they actually exuded official power. They are worthy of being at the feet of the emperor. The people in prison are all high-ranking officials. Ugh."

At this moment, when the two cars were passing each other, Li Fang inadvertently turned her head and looked at the carriage. Their eyes only met for a moment before they were separated.

"Is this a eunuch?"

The moment they looked at each other, the traveler in the car noticed that the prisoner in the car did not have this feature under his jaw.

In the Ming Dynasty, although beards were not popular, no one would shave them cleanly. Adults would more or less keep beards, and at most they would take care of them to make them look more suitable for their status.

In this era, there was only one type of person who had no beard under his chin, and that was the eunuch, who could not grow a beard due to physical reasons.

Shaking his head, he lowered the curtain.

The man in the car was naturally Shao Daxia Xia Fang, who had gone to the capital to work as a broker and persuade the court officials to prepare for Gao Gong's reinstatement.

After sitting in the car for so long, I felt helpless and asked the driver in front of me: "How far is it from the capital?"

"It's at least five miles away to get back to Mr. Shao. We'll be there soon."

He replied, turning his head to the back of the car door.

"Why are there still five miles? It's been a long journey. I didn't say it was far away before. It's only a few miles away."

Nakata was feeling a little irritable at the moment. He saw the prison car when he first arrived in the capital, which always gave him a bad feeling, and his tone was very unkind.

"Come on, come on, pass the pavilion in front, and walk for a while and you will see the capital city, huh."

At this moment, the carriage driver, perhaps because his attention turned to the conversation behind him, almost lost control of the carriage and caused the carriage to shake.

"what happened?"

Nafang was shaking unsteadily on the carriage and asked hurriedly.

"Uu, uh." However, the carriage driver did not reply. He was concentrating on controlling the carriage, as if he was giving in to something.

After waiting for a moment and the carriage becoming smoother, the coachman said, "Mr. Shao, a few large sedans came out of the road just now and almost collided with our carriage."

"Big sedan, what big sedan? It's so unruly."

When Nafang heard the whole story, he was already in a bad mood and said casually.

"Mr. Shao, those sedans are extraordinary. They are definitely the sedans of high officials in the court, and they are all eight-carrying sedans."

The coachman was hired by the government at Tongzhou Wharf. Naturally, you couldn't take a carriage when you came to the capital. You usually took a boat up the Grand Canal to the Tongzhou Wharf, and then hired a sedan to enter the capital after disembarking.

The means of transportation in the Ming Dynasty were mainly cars, boats, and sedan chairs. Of course, they also relied on animal power, that is, horses or donkeys.

Among these means of transportation, the sedan chair is undoubtedly the most advanced means of transportation.

Compared with other means of transportation such as horse-drawn carriages, although the sedan is slow, it is smooth and comfortable to ride, making it easy to walk on narrow and winding paths and mountain roads.

Also, the sedan needs bearers to lift it, which can show the dignity of the rider.

Being served by others can show the dignity of the person sitting in the sedan chair.

Before the Tang Dynasty, most of the people riding in sedan chairs were royal women and old and weak officials.

Since the Song Dynasty, sedan chairs have become widely popular, and various hierarchical systems regarding sedan chairs have emerged.

Among them, there are strict restrictions on the specifications of official sedan chairs and the number of people carrying them.

The name "Sedan" originated from the Song Dynasty, and before that it was commonly known as "Jianyu".

By the Ming Dynasty, the types of sedan chairs were basically fixed.

For example, a sedan that is carried by two people is generally called a small sedan, a sedan that is carried by four people is called a small sedan, and a sedan that requires eight people to carry it is called a large sedan chair. There are also sedan chairs that are carried by sixteen people, and its status is even more extraordinary. , because this person can only be the emperor, not even a prince.

As for whether the legendary sedan chair carried by Zhang Juzheng by 32 people actually existed, it is also worth investigating.

The earliest record of Zhang Juzheng riding a sedan chair with 32 people can be found in the "Biography of the First Assistant Since Jiajing" written by contemporary historian Wang Shizhen.

"If you sit in a righteous place and sit on a walking chariot, you will truly be able to keep the money that Pu created and worshiped.

The front is a heavy pavilion, and the back is a dormitory for sleeping.

There are two verandas next to the wings, and there is a boy standing in each veranda, while the attendants on the left and right are waving baskets and sticks of incense, and 32 pawns are used to scoop them. "

In the Ming Dynasty, where etiquette was strict, if Zhang Juzheng rode in a sedan chair carried by 32 people, there would be no record of Yan Guan participating in his performance. Yan Guan can be described as a "mad dog" in history.

In fact, even during the period when Zhang Juzheng was extremely powerful and he had complete control over the Metropolitan Procuratorate, Ke Dao Yanguan still sent memorials to impeach him from time to time. Even if he knew that such memorials were sent to Emperor Wanli, it would be of no use. The emperor would not deal with Zhang Juzheng for this at all. .

However, when it comes to Zhang Juzheng riding a sedan with 32 people, there is no record of any official participating in his performance in history. Until Zhang Juzheng’s downfall, there was no record of any official participating in his performance. This is extremely unfair. reasonable.

You know, after Zhang Juzheng's fall, officials from top to bottom of the court tried their best to accuse him. If Zhang Juzheng really took a 32-person sedan to return home, those officials would never miss this opportunity, and Zhang Juzheng's charges would definitely increase. A rule for riding a sedan chair.

At that time, as long as one of Zhang Juzheng's crimes could be found and confirmed, most of the impeachers would be favored by the emperor and get a chance to be promoted.

It can be seen from this that it is a myth that Zhang Juzheng was carried in a sedan chair by 32 people, and the emperor was only carried by 16 people.

As for why Wang Shizhen wanted to slander Zhang Juzheng, it was naturally because the two of them had a grudge.

Wang Shizhen's official position was dismissed by Zhang Juzheng, so his account of Zhang Juzheng is worthy of study.

To elaborate, Wang Shizhen and Zhang Juzheng were of the same year, and both were Jinshi in the 26th year of Jiajing.

Of course, in ancient times when etiquette was strict, people could also use the "eight-carrying sedan", but it needed to be used on important occasions such as welcoming a bride.

Eight people carry a large sedan chair, which is gorgeously decorated to create a festive atmosphere, and the government will not consider it to be excessive.

The sedan that the carriage driver mentioned was naturally the sedan that Chen Yiqin, Yin Shizhen and Wei Guangde were riding in.

If the coachman accidentally got into a traffic accident, they might not have a chance to meet in advance.

But even if they meet, Wei Guangde will not know that Shao Daxia is a person, because in his consciousness, Gao Gong is finished. No one between him, Chen Yiqin, Yin Shizhen, and even Li Chunfang hopes that he will come back.

As for Zhang Juzheng, Wei Guangde never considered that Zhang Juzheng would support Gao Gong's return to the court. You must know that Zhang Juzheng's teacher Xu Jie was the mastermind of expelling Gao Gong.

The three of them returned to the city, and Ma Fang's convoy also entered Beijing. After settling in their residence, they quickly started taking action.

Bringing gifts and following the list given by Gao Gong, Xian Fang successively visited Gao Gong's disciples and officials in Southern Zhili, and began to test their attitudes.

However, there was another letter on his body, which was written by Gao Gong himself, and the recipient was none other than Chen Hong, the eunuch in charge of the royal palace.

After Gao Gong thought about it all night in the study, he finally bet on Chen Hong.

As for the reason, it is actually very simple. According to the records in "History of the Ming Dynasty", "Teng Xiang, Meng Chong and Chen Hongfang all had favors, and they competed with each other to please the emperor by displaying strange and obscene skills. They made Aoshan lanterns and led the emperor to drink for a long night. "

It can be seen that at this time, Chen Hong was among the three most favored people in the inner court.

It was just a new arrival, and Xie Fang did not plan to meet Chen Hong first. Instead, he wanted to establish a broad mass base and gain the support of more officials before looking for an opportunity to meet Chen Hong and send Gao Gong's letter.

Zhang Juzheng, who was still busy in the cabinet, was actually very troubled. He wanted to integrate into Yu Zhuan's old people, but he couldn't find the way. In the end, he was isolated by Chen Yiqin, Yin Shizhen and others.

And he considered bringing back Gao Gong as a support to break the control of Yu Zhuan's old man on the cabinet, but looking at the inner and outer courts, he could not find anyone to help.

Even officials who have a good relationship with him now, or political allies such as Yang Bo, Feng Bao and others, found after his testing that they did not want Gao Gong to be recalled.

It was really because Gao Gong had such a great influence on Emperor Longqing that it frightened everyone.

However, such worries were relieved after a few days. Yes, he had received secret reports from some officials and knew that there was a man named Nakata in the capital who was jumping up and down, constantly visiting and inviting officials in the DPRK to banquets, and inviting them to eat and drink. .

And his purpose seemed to be to ask them about their attitude towards the impeached cabinet minister Gao Gong.

Although most of the disciples still supported Gao Gong's return to the court, some people chose to join other forces in the court after he left, and Zhang Juzheng's family was naturally one of them.

However, after sending people to investigate, Zhang Juzheng also had deep doubts.

Why do people from Danyang, Nanzhili, get mixed up with Gao Gong?

Unable to figure it out, Zhang Juzheng could only continue to send people to observe secretly to confirm his purpose.

However, judging from the information obtained at the moment, Zhang Juzheng has realized that it seems that the Xinzheng man can't sit still and wants to come back.