prosperous age

Chapter 722 821 Beijing Camp Gate
Wei Guangde was still thinking about Chen Yiqin's words on the way home. Zhang Juzheng's statement in front of the emperor was directly directed at Chen Yiqin and their small circle and was full of hostility.

Although everyone does have their own ideas in handling government affairs, and Zhang Juzheng suffers a bit in the distribution of some benefits, there is no need to step out and compete with them.

Don't you know that returning to the court with high authority will not be beneficial to them or Zhang Juzheng?

Do you want to teach him a lesson?
This idea grew in Wei Guangde's mind and made Zhang Juzheng know the disadvantages of being their enemy?
The swaying sedan seemed very quiet. Although there were people coming and going on the street outside the sedan, Wei Guangde's heart was very calm. He was thinking about Zhang Juzheng's weakness.

If you don't take action, that's all. Once you do, you must beat him painfully to let him know what's going on. If you have nothing to say, you can only suffer the loss of being dumb.

wrong.

Suddenly, Wei Guangde realized a problem, that is, since Emperor Longqing had blown the wind to them to recall Gao Gong today, the order should be issued soon.

If he takes action to rectify Zhang Juzheng on his own, Gao Gong should be able to figure out the reason soon after he comes back, and he will help Zhang Juzheng when the time comes.

We can't let Zhang Juzheng and Gao Gong mend their relationship. We have to find a way to split them up and let him, Zhang Juzheng, make wedding dresses for others, and he has to swallow a bitter pill.

Wei Guangde felt a little tricky, how to operate this matter.

The method was used not only to make Zhang Juzheng feel uncomfortable but have nothing to say, but also to satisfy Gao Gong without interfering, thus achieving the purpose of dividing the two people.

Closing his eyes slightly, Wei Guangde leaned back on his chair and began to think.

This may be the so-called political skill, but after all, his time in the cabinet was too short and he still lacked experience. He really couldn't think of a good solution for a while.

In a blink of an eye, the next day came. Wei Guangde got up in the morning, had breakfast at home, and left the house with his entourage.

However, there was no sedan waiting outside the mansion today. Instead, there were more than ten war horses being led by their reins.

When they saw Wei Guangde coming out, the people around him immediately went over and brought Wei Guangde's horse over.

Although he often rides in a sedan, Wei Guangde never loses his horse skills. He hooks the reins with his left hand, puts his hands on the saddle, steps into the pedal with his left foot, exerts force on his right leg and uses both hands at the same time, and his body suddenly rises and sits on the saddle. superior.

After receiving the riding whip from his entourage, Wei Guangde looked back. After everyone else got on their horses, he clamped his legs around the horse's belly and waved the riding whip.

"Snapped".

After the sound of the whip, the horse quickly ran forward.

Wei Guangde controlled the reins, and the sound of horse hooves gradually began behind him. The horse team soon left Nanxunfang and entered Andingmen Nei Street and continued heading north.

Riding a horse is much faster than riding a sedan or a car. Today's weather is not bad. There are white clouds in the sky and a gentle breeze. It is a good day for an outing.

The cavalry left the Anding Gate and continued along the avenue. Soon they turned into a fork in the road. Not far ahead was the Jingying Gate.

When the cavalry arrived, there was already a group of guards waiting outside the gate. They surrounded a large car and did not allow anyone to approach. Even if the gatekeeper of the Beijing camp came to inquire, he would immediately return to the camp after seeing the other party's waistband. Door.

The cart was covered with a red cloth so that no one could see what was on the cart.

But the more mysterious it is, the more people's attention it attracts.

At this time, the soldiers from the Beijing camp who were guarding the gate gathered together in twos and threes, whispering about what was in that cart.

"I heard he's from the Ministry of Industry. He probably didn't come here with military pay."

"Gunpowder. Firearms are being released all day long on the school grounds. It's all a waste of money."

"Shouldn't the gunpowder be sent by an internal official? How could it be the Ministry of Works?"

The officers and soldiers in the Beijing camp are not completely ignorant. After all, after guarding here for a long time, they know that the imperial court has extremely strict control over gunpowder. Although the Ministry of Industry has gunpowder, it cannot make it on a large scale. That is the responsibility of the gunpowder bureau of the inner court.

All the gunpowder in Jingying was manufactured and distributed to Jingying by the Gunpowder Bureau under the Military War Bureau.

Just when the soldiers were discussing, regretting that they were not coming from the Ministry of Revenue, they also noticed the cavalry rushing from a distance. The crowd that was still together quickly separated, and the soldiers returned to their respective posts to perform their duties and monitored them closely.

Of course, this cavalry team was brought by Wei Guangde. Although there were only a dozen or so cavalry, they still created the momentum of a charge of dozens or hundreds of cavalry. They were all veterans who had been working as soldiers beside Father Wei for more than ten years.

These people usually have a very high status in Jiujiang Prefecture. In the past, military households like them might have been afraid of local civil servants, but since Wei Guangde entered the Ministry of Civil Affairs as a minister, the Wei family has become agitated in Jiujiang Prefecture.

Even the prefects, Bingbeidao and county magistrates must treat each other with courtesy when they see the Wei family.

These soldiers sent to the capital by Father Wei have an opportunity that only the soldiers who are loyal to the Wei family have.

So when we were in Jiujiang, these people relied on their background and proficient skills to be valued by Father Wei and stayed by his side to protect them. Although they were not domineering in their hometown, they gradually developed an awe-inspiring and inviolable aura.

When he was sent to the capital, he thought he was going to be a good person with his tail between his legs, but Wei Guangde's status suddenly improved after he entered the cabinet, and these people who were not very peaceful gradually regained the arrogance they had in Jiujiang.

In the past, when they were in the capital, they would ride horses to guard the sedan chairs. It was no longer possible for them to gallop like this. Even if they caught the opportunity, they would still fail to do so.

As they drove their horses toward the gate of the capital, many people unconsciously raised their hands and waved their whips like sabers, and from time to time some people made strange whistling sounds.

The gatekeeper was only a hundred households, so he was naturally shocked when he saw such a cavalry coming.

He thought that some prince and grandson came to the capital camp to show off his power. In the past, such things happened occasionally. He cursed secretly and asked people to guard the camp gate, but he did not dare to let these people rush into the camp.

In previous years, there were unlucky ones who were rushed into the camp, ran rampant and whizzed through the Beijing camp, and were finally punished by Lord Rongzheng.

But those princes and grandsons left in a swaggering manner, only saying that they were sending people to notify each family to strictly control them.

After all, they are not ordinary people, otherwise they would have been beaten to death at the gate of the camp.

When Wei Guangde came to the gate of Jingying and saw the convoy, he guessed that it was someone from the Ordnance Bureau of the Ministry of Industry. He just raised his left hand to signal the people behind him to go over and negotiate with Jingying.

As a minister of the DPRK, he would certainly not lead a team to attack the Beijing camp. That would be making himself uncomfortable.

He turned his horse slightly and ran towards the convoy, while a man from the cavalry team behind him also came out and headed towards the gate of Jingying. He just approached the gate and started to control the speed of the horse to slow down.

"Which one is the gatekeeper? My lord wants to see Prime Minister Qi Jiguang Qi, please let me know."

In front of the camp gate, the followers of the Wei family shouted loudly inside, and soon an official wearing a hundred cotton armors came out, nodded and bowed to him and said: "I don't know which family is here, I will send someone to report it right away."

"Master of the Cabinet, Wei Guangde, Minister of Civil Affairs, Wei Ge Lao wants to see Premier Qi."

While he was talking, the attendant took out the Wei Mansion badge from his waist and waved it in front of the hundred households.

The episode at the camp gate did not distract Wei Guangde. He had already arrived in front of the motorcade.

"Meet Mr. Wei Ge."

The person who took the lead yesterday was the director of the engineering department of the Ordnance Bureau. In order to express himself in front of the adults, he got up early today and personally delivered the cannon to the Beijing camp.

However, for this errand, I did not have documents from the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of War, so I could not enter the camp and could only wait outside the camp gate.

Perhaps because he had not gotten up so early for a long time after taking charge of the Arms Bureau, when Wei Guangde approached him, although he forced a smile, his face could not hide his fatigue.

Wei Guangde actually saw a lump of eye droppings still hanging in the corner of his left eye.When it comes to things like ordering, for the cabinet, six ministries and other yamen, because of the existence of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, officials really don't dare to be late.

But for extremely low-level yamen like the Ordnance Bureau, the Metropolitan Procuratorate is too lazy to take care of them, so the officials in these small yamen are better off than the big officials in the imperial court.

Every day, he ate plenty of food and fish, listened to music, and slept until he woke up naturally. The way he lived made Wei Guangde envious.

So what if you just know?
To rectify these people, only the Metropolitan Procuratorate can come forward, but when the Metropolitan Procuratorate wants to take action, strong winds will blow, and everyone is very tight-lipped. They can get the news in advance and tuck their tail when the trend arises.

The rectification movement cannot go on forever. There will always be a break, and then things will return to normal.

Therefore, whether it is Li Chunfang, Chen Yiqin or Wei Guangde, everyone actually knows that many officials in the court are tired, but there is no good way to deal with them.

It doesn't matter if you catch a few typical ones, but for a month the old fritters will still be doing what they are supposed to do.

This is also the reason why Zhang Juzheng strongly recommends the test method. As long as you do the errands at hand, don't worry about other things. If you read too much, you will get upset.

In response to the chief's attentive salute, Wei Guangde just said "hmm" and his eyes turned to the large car behind which was covered with red cloth.

"Lift the red cloth and let me take a look."

Wei Guangde opened his mouth and ordered.

There were several craftsmen beside the carriage, and the manager was considerate and attentive. He brought the craftsmen with him so that if Wei Guangde was dissatisfied with anything, he could immediately correct it.

After Wei Guangde finished speaking, the chief commanded the craftsmen beside the carriage to work, removed the red cloth from the carriage, and a bright yellow cannon was displayed in front of everyone.

Although I know this is a fake, it is still domineering enough.

Big, really big, far larger than any firearm equipped by the Ming army in this era.

Although there are all kinds of Ming military weapons, the top ones are definitely the type of firearms called general cannons, but the largest general cannon Wei Guangde has ever seen is only six feet long, which is about two meters.

Even this kind of cannon has been seen on the walls of the capital city. The cannons seen on the Great Wall passes in Ji Town are shorter. Many of them have a barrel two or three feet long.

But the length of the big guy in front of me is more than ten feet, nearly four meters. It looks majestic and eye-catching.

The moment the red cloth was pulled away, Wei Guangde seemed to hear a gasp of cold air coming from the gate of Jingying in the distance.

Wei Guangde dismounted, walked quickly to the cannon, and walked around the cannon.

The cannon now no longer has only one barrel as seen yesterday, but is mounted on a gun carriage.

The gun carriage supports the gun body with two large iron-clad wheels on the left and right, and then a bracket extends to the rear of the gun, and a small steering wheel is installed at the rear end.

It is made to facilitate 360-degree adjustment of the muzzle on the battlefield.

As for the design of controlling the height, there is no design on this gun truck. After all, the real gun has not yet been released.

Iron rings were cast on both sides of the muzzle and barrel, which was also requested by Wei Guangde. They were used to fix the cannon, but he did not dare to bear all the force on the gun carriage.

It would be a big joke if it fell apart when firing.

Wei Guangde returned to his original position after completing a circle. He was quite satisfied. He was nodding his head at this moment.

The current appearance of this cannon is very similar to the Western cannons of this era that will be seen in later generations.

"Well done, I will inform Zhu Shangshu later and give you a reward."

Wei Guangde said to the director of the Ministry of Industry next to him.

Not only do you want the horse to run, but you also have to feed the horse with grass.

The reward given by the Ministry of Industry has little to do with him, it's just a matter of one sentence.

Moreover, Wei Guangde and even the Ministry of Industry are actually very fat.

Although various government offices complain about poverty all day long, the Ministry of Industry has more money than the Ministry of Household Affairs. After all, the Ministry of Industry has its own taxes.

Of course, the richest and poorest yamen must still be the Ministry of War.

The reason for being poor is that the Ministry of War has always been in arrears with the military salaries of various military posts. Many of them are distributed on a proportional basis, and it is almost impossible to have sufficient salaries.

Owing so much money, of course it is the poorest yamen.

But the Ministry of War is in charge of Taipu Temple, and here is the richest bank in the Ming Dynasty - Changying Treasury.

The Ministry of Industry also has its own warehouse. The one in the Ministry of Household Affairs is called Taicang, while the Ministry of Industry has its own warehouse.

As a result, the Ministry of Works has also become the second-largest government office in terms of revenue after the Ministry of Household Affairs. The amount of money and profit there is is staggering, but everyone expresses a tacit understanding that they don't know.

After all, whether it is the construction of the Forbidden City or other royal buildings, or even various government offices, the Ministry of Works is responsible.

What if the Ministry of Works is really sucked dry and the emperor wants to build a courtyard or a tower?
If there is a leak in your own government office, wouldn’t you still have to ask the Ministry of Works to do the work?
Here Wei Guangde is still criticizing the new cannon. The gate of the Beijing camp is wide open, and the horses are quickly moved away by the soldiers. Qi Jiguang has arrived here with his generals.

When they left the camp, they did not see Wei Guangde and his party, but were attracted by the extremely huge artillery among the crowd in the distance.

"What kind of cannon is this?"

Qi Jiguang had a question in his mind, and immediately rushed over.

The sound of horse hoofbeats sounded, and Wei Guangde also looked back in the crowd. When he saw Qi Jiguang coming with someone, he didn't care.

Qi Jiguang only had eyes for the cannon at the moment, and didn't pay attention as it approached.

"General Qi, Mr. Wei Ge is here and has not yet dismounted."

Qi Jiguang came over on horseback regardless of this. Wei Guangde's followers would not let him do this. Two or three people immediately came out and blocked the way.

Hearing the words "Wei Ge Lao", Qi Jiguang suddenly realized that he came out this time because he heard that Wei Guangde was coming.

Of course he knew that Wei Guangde's purpose of coming to the capital camp was to watch the border troops' joint training, but he was distracted by the artillery fire in front of him and actually forgot about the important matter.

Qi Jiguang also knew from that person that Wei Guangde might have brought the cannon.

After he dismounted, he was led through the surrounding crowd to the front. He did not dare to look at the cannon anymore, but knelt down on one knee in front of Wei Guangde and saluted.

"The general will see Mr. Wei Ge at the end."

"Get up, Yuan Jing, what do you think of this cannon?"

Wei Guangde smiled and waved his hand casually to signal him to get up and talk.

(End of this chapter)