prosperous age

Chapter 711 Chapter 810 Chen Hong
Wei Guangde only thought that the inner and outer courts would unanimously oppose Gao Gong's return to the court because they were afraid of Gao Gong's influence on Emperor Longqing, but he forgot the meaning of the sentence "There are no eternal enemies, only eternal interests."

In the hierarchy of seniority that he considers acceptable, there will eventually be people who can't help but want to challenge those in front of them and surpass them.

Whether it is cooperation or competition, in the final analysis it is all for profit.

When everyone is worried that Gao Gong's return to the imperial court will affect their interests, as long as Gao Gong offers the benefits they want, they will fight back without hesitation.

Although such a high arch was unbelievable before, people will eventually change.

After experiencing the humiliation of impeachment and departure from the Manchu Dynasty, Gao Gong's character and behavior had undergone changes that they were unaware of.

Gao Gong had seen Nafang that day, and after he had the idea of ​​returning to the court, he read the old newspapers and made a thorough understanding of the situation in the court.

However, in his opinion, the high-ranking officials of the outer dynasty should be opposed to his return to the dynasty, so he could only look at those low- and middle-level officials. They still have ambitions and hope to be appreciated by high-ranking officials and nobles, so as to rise to the top.

If these people had the chance, their identities might have been different.

And his appearance gave them a chance, a chance to achieve their goals.

After traveling around the government and the public, Gao Gong decided that he should mainly make friends with middle and low-level officials, and not ask for trouble with high-ranking officials.

Although the changes in the inner court are not written in the newspaper, it can generally be understood that the inner court has not changed much, only Li Fang is unlucky.

It was not because the Di newspaper wanted to record the affairs of the inner court, but because Li Fang was sent to the prison of the Ministry of Justice for trial.

The senior officials actually felt a little sorry for Li Fang, because his personality was very compatible with Li Fang. In fact, both of them were jealous of their colleagues because of this, and they were jointly criticized and overthrown.

If Gao Gong were in court, he would definitely come to the rescue. Unfortunately, it can only be said that Li Fang's life is not good.

But despite this, because he had not seen the news of Li Fang's sentencing, he still made up his mind that if it was still too late for him to return to the court, he would still help.

Although he has already placed a bet, it does not mean that he cannot secretly prepare another move.

As for the most critical person who operates this matter, that is, the internal agent in the palace, Gao Gong has already been determined. Only this person who is behind in the ranking will be willing to take the bait thrown by him and help him out.

At this time, the banquet at the capital Chen Yiqin's house was also entering its second half.

Regarding Naofang, the three of them thought that it would not have much impact after weighing the power of the court. If Gao Gong really had any plans, the worst he could do was follow Xu Jie's example and have the whole court overturn Gong again, and directly ask the emperor to give up this idea. .

"By the way, this afternoon, Governor Tan Lun of Jiliao sent two memoranda to the cabinet, and they have been distributed to me."

Wei Guangde took advantage of the gap between the banquet and spoke.

"What's wrong with Governor Tan?"

Chen Yiqin asked casually.

Fellow Wei Guangde's request is to help as much as possible if you can, so that you can get his support for your own affairs in the future.

In fact, the three people just relied on their friendship in Yuzhuan to form a circle of interest exchange.

It is very difficult for one person to succeed in the cabinet, but if all three of them support him, they can outnumber Li Chunfang and Zhang Juzheng.

"Last year, Governor Tan inspected the Jizhen Great Wall and made plans to build new piers and abutments. The Jizhen Great Wall stretches for more than [-] miles and is very difficult to defend. It is advisable to select key points and prioritize them, dividing them into twelve routes, every hundred steps. Or thirty or fifty steps to build a pier."

Wei Guangde told Chen Yiqin and Yin Shizhen about Tan Lun's memorial. In fact, halfway through the story, both of them frowned because they understood that they were asking the imperial court for financial support.

If you give a policy and agree to it, that would be easy, but if you ask for money, it will be very troublesome.

Although it was the beginning of the year and the imperial court's finances were slightly surplus, they were all old officials and knew that the imperial court's expenditures would be spent in the second half of the year, so they could not just look at the present.

The cost of the piers is actually not very high, at 50 taels of silver each, but Tan Lun built 15 piers, which is a consumption of [-] taels of silver.

"How much can Ji Zhen produce on its own?"

Chen Yiqin asked with a frown.

"10 taels, this is the result of his full efforts in the past two months."

Wei Guangde replied.

In addition to the memorial, Tan Lun also wrote a separate letter to Wei Guangde, detailing the situation in Jizhen.

Now that he has arrived in Jizhou, Wei Guangde and Zhu Heng will have to rely on Wei Guangde and Zhu Heng for many matters in the court. Naturally, there will be a constant exchange of letters on weekdays.

"This matter is a bit difficult to handle. The Ministry of Revenue estimates that it can provide 3 taels, or at most [-] taels of silver. This is the limit."

Chen Yiqin shook his head slightly and said.

"There should be a sum of horse-price silver at Taipu Temple of the Ministry of War, about 5000 taels. When the time comes, I will pressure Huo Yi and ask him to take out the silver. Liu Tigan of the Ministry of Husband will ask Taicang to put 5000 taels of silver. This way we can make up the shortfall of 5 taels of silver."

In fact, according to Tan Lun's letter, the labor cost does require 15 taels of silver. However, Tan Lun planned to collect corvee labor and use the border people to perform corvee labor. This would probably convert 7 to 4 taels of silver, so Ji Zhen actually only needed to collect [-] taels of silver. , [-] taels of silver is enough.

And the big head will eventually end up in the court.

"Liu Tigan? Huo Yi?"

Chen Yiqin murmured a few words softly, then looked at Yin Shizhen, and when he saw him nodding slightly, he chuckled and said, "That's it. This matter will be discussed by the cabinet tomorrow. Let's see what Zhang Juzheng says."

Liu Tiqian has a relationship with Zhang Juzheng, Huo Yi is with Yang Bo, and Yang Bo has a close relationship with Xu Jie, and now he has a close relationship with Zhang Juzheng. Therefore, during cabinet discussions, Li Chunfang will choose to stay out of the matter, and his main opponent is Zhang Juzheng.

As long as the cabinet decides on this matter, it will not help even if Yang Bo and Huo Yi are dissatisfied.

Because after the memorial was submitted, Emperor Longqing would directly approve it, and would not convene the Minister of Household Affairs and the Ministry of War to discuss the issue of money.

"Shandai, didn't you say two things? Besides building piers, what else can you do?"

Yin Shizhen asked again.

"The smaller matter is that when Governor Tan inspected the Shanhaiguan city wall, he discovered that this is the beginning of the Great Wall and guarding the extension of the Liaoxi Corridor. It is actually an important place, but only one guard was stationed and there were only a few soldiers.

Governor Tan means that since this place is a strategic point, it should be garrisoned by garrison generals and increase the number of troops to be ready. "

Wei Guangde said again.

"Shanhaiguan Chengguan is not big."

Yin Shizheng said.

"In the past, when there was a war in Shanhaiguan, we would always ask for help from the guards of Santun Camp and Yiyishiguan. Santun Camp was far away and beyond our reach.

However, there are many passes in a stone pass. If there are traces of captive cavalry, the rescue will inevitably be affected. "

Wei Guangde replied, "According to his wishes, he will cut several passes from one stone to three customs for defense, and let him recruit soldiers and horses for defense."

"Self-recruitment?"

Chen Yiqin and Yin Shizhen frowned. This recruitment would mean sending troops every year, which would increase expenses.

"Two thousand new loyal and shun troops have been selected from Ji Town, and [-] new war horses have been added to the second battalion of Baoding and Dingzhou. They will all be transferred to the Shanhaiguan Office to strengthen the local troops, so there will generally be no additional expenditures for the imperial court."

Wei Guangde explained.

"Has this newly selected soldier been approved by the Ministry of War?"

Yin Shizhen asked.

Wei Guangde nodded, "It has been approved and will be included in the salary of the Ministry of War. This was also given after checking the vacancies before."

"Let's wait until the Ministry of War approves it. If the Ministry of War reconsiders, the matter will be a matter of course."

Chen Yiqin nodded and said.

"With the promotion of official positions, there may be disputes within the Ministry of War, and things will not get done if it is not allowed."

Wei Guangde just reminded.

"Come up with the memorial and mention it when the vote is drawn up." Chen Yiqin saw that Wei Guangde was planning to facilitate this matter and did not want to offend him, so he added.

"It would be best if we can talk to Huo Shangshu at the canonization ceremony in two days."

Wei Guangde said again.

The canonization ceremony two days later was actually to convene the ministers in Beijing to read out the canonization decree. It was not from the harem, but the imperial court sent envoys to canonize King Longde of Qin Mansion Jingrong Wu as Princess Qin, King Anfu of Xiang Mansion Zaiyao as King Xiang, and Han Mansion The eldest son Langqi was the king of Han, his wife Song was the princess of Han, the military commander Jie Wenkui's daughter Jie was the concubine of Ji Wang Yizhen, and the Tang Dynasty Prince Shunzhuo of the Tang Dynasty was the prince of the Tang Dynasty.

They are all reported in the past year. After the Ministry of Rites sends someone to approve them, they are submitted together for sealing.

"The Ministry of Rites has been busy lately. I heard that 300 girls were selected for the Zhili draft, which caused a lot of noise down there."

Yin Shizhen suddenly laughed.

At the beginning of last year, Emperor Longqing was about to issue an order for a female draft. However, due to the impact of the Nanjing draft case, Xu Jie's liaison ministers jointly stopped it.

But at the end of the year, Emperor Longqing thought of this again.

This time there was no obstruction from Xu Jie. Although Li Chunfang tried to persuade him a few times, he did not have the courage to go back like Xu Jie did.

After all, Xu Jie knew at that time that Emperor Longqing's view of him had changed because of Gao Gong's defeat, and after serving as chief minister for so many years, he no longer cherished the position of chief minister, so naturally he didn't take it seriously.

Although Li Chunfang had similar thoughts, she was still not at the point where she couldn't continue, so she had no choice but to accept the order.

Anyway, the decree is to go down to the Ministry of Rites, and Gaoyi, the Minister of Rites, will do the work.

"Ugh"

Chen Yiqin did not laugh, but sighed: "After Your Majesty ascended the throne, these changes..."

He didn't continue talking, but kept shaking his head to express his attitude.

Wei Guangde suddenly said: "If Gao Suqing is in court, can he stop this?"

"This is a harem matter. It is difficult for the outer court to stop it. If it hadn't been for the trouble that happened in Nanjing last year, Xu Chieffu would not have been able to stop it."

Yin Shizhen said.

"I will talk to Huo Yi about this matter after the court meeting in two days."

After Chen Yiqin sighed, he put away his thoughts and started talking again.

"So best."

Wei Guangde nodded and smiled.

"How are the preparations for the Grand Parade? I heard that Qi Jiguang wants to go to Jizhou?"

Chen Yiqin answered again.

"This matter has been determined. I will conduct a drill next month. If there are no mistakes, I will release people to Jizhou."

Wei Guangde laughed.

"Then how does Guo Hu, the current chief military officer of Jizhou Town, plan to relocate?"

Chen Yiqin asked.

After all, Ji Town is the gateway to the capital, so there can be no mistakes.

Obviously, replacing Guo Hu with Qi Jiguang was the plan of Wei Guangde, Tan Lun and others, but replacing the general soldier of a town without making any mistakes is no small matter.

"There are two ways for him to choose. Either move the town to garrison elsewhere, or go back to the city and join the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion for a casual job."

Wei Guangde didn't care.

In fact, he had already arranged all of this. Before the Grand Parade, Qi Jiguang was transferred and Xun Guizhong sent someone to take over. As compensation, in addition to supporting Qi Jiguang's official duties in Jizhou, he also needed to securely arrange Guo Hu and not let him Making trouble out of anger.

Seeing Wei Guangde's attitude, Chen Yiqin and Yin Shizhen just looked at each other and both knew that Wei Guangde was fully prepared.

They had no intention of continuing to dwell on this matter, so they all nodded.

This nod actually indicates that if the Ministry of War has other different opinions on this appointment, they will still have to express their support for Qi Jiguang.

Time flies, time flies, and another month has passed in the blink of an eye.

During this period, the government was operating normally, and Tan Lun's memorial was approved smoothly.

The soldiers under the command of the army paid the horses for the money. Because Tan Lun had already prepared, there was no accident and he paid it off happily.

Only then did Wei Guangde know that the horse-priced silver of 5000 taels was actually deliberately withheld by Tan Lun, otherwise it would have been allocated to the towns of Ningxia and Yansui.

It was just that when I arrived at the Ministry of Finance to withdraw money from the warehouse, it caused a small disturbance.

No matter what, the 5 taels of silver were finally allocated to Ji Town.

With the money, Tan Lun was finally able to govern stably in Ji Town, issue orders one after another in an orderly manner, and start the construction of the piers.

"Yuan Jing, are you ready for tomorrow's drill?"

There is still about a month left before Emperor Longqing's grand review. Tomorrow, Wei Guangde will review with Chen Yiqin and Zhang Juzheng of the Cabinet, Yang Bo, Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, Huo Yi, Minister of the Ministry of War, and a minister of the Ministry of Rites.

All other preparations have been made, but Qi Jiguang was still called in for questioning.

"Please rest assured, Mr. Wei Ge, I have made thorough preparations and will not make any mistakes, otherwise I will let you be punished."

Qi Jiguang stood up, bent down and cupped his fists and said.

"Everything is done according to the etiquette notes of the Ministry of Etiquette?"

Wei Guangde asked again.

"Yes."

Qi Jiguang replied.

"So good."

Wei Guangde nodded with satisfaction, a smile on his face.

Just when Wei Guangde's attention shifted to the Jingying side, Xing Fang also started to make moves.

Just when he met Qi Jiguang, there was a private room in a restaurant not far from the imperial city.

With a "creak" sound, Nafang nodded and bent down to push open the box door, inviting the guests to walk into the room first.

The person who entered the door was a man with a thin face and a pale beard. He was wearing a flying fish suit that showed his extraordinary status.

"Eunuch Chen, please take a seat."

After welcoming the guests into the box, Nafang took the initiative to invite the guests to sit at the top, completely lowering his body.

"Haha, Mr. Shao, you're so polite. Why should I overshadow the guest?"

Chen Hong is not young, he has been pampered for a long time, and he still looks like a middle-aged man.

Perhaps because he was in charge of Dongchang, he had developed an aura of calmness and self-reliance.

For such a person, that smile looks a little penetrating.

In fact, the emperors of the Ming Dynasty may have some psychological problems. Thinking about dealing with these eunuchs all day long, their wry smiles are really not something ordinary people can bear.

(End of this chapter)