The Prosperous Era of Longwan

It can be said that the Bingchenke Jinshi in Beijing suffered a collective fate. They participated in this controversy that seemed to have nothing to do with them. The news spread throughout the major yamen in Beijing in an instant.

Those who reacted quickly understood in an instant that Chuan Lu must have summoned him from behind. Those who responded slowly also understood gradually.

Wei Guangde is considered an outstanding person among the Jinshi in that subject. Naturally, this outstanding person does not mean how good his articles are or how talented he is, but how good he is.

On the day when the Chuanlu Ceremony was over, Wei Guangde took the same year to the Yamen of the Ministry of Rites to plead for the victims of the Shanxi-Shaanxi earthquake. After that, he went out with others to patrol the border and won another military exploit, and he impeached the chief military officer. , and ended up being dismissed from office.

As for the subsequent impeachment of King Hui, it doesn't matter. After all, he is just an empty prince.

This time, for the sake of the victims in Liaodong, Wei Guangde immediately asked for sea transportation.

Well, to be honest, many officials first knew that Wei Guangde had written a letter asking for sea transportation, and the next day they found out that the Minister of the Ministry of Finance also proposed the idea of ​​sea transportation to Liaoning at the Imperial Court meeting held in Xiyuan yesterday afternoon.

What's weird, Wei Guangde and Jia Yingchun actually thought of going together, which is also weird.

As for what happened next, Wei Guangde simply took leave and hid at home. In the eyes of others, it was because he didn't want to get involved in the fight between Prince Yu's Mansion and Yan's Mansion, so after seeing someone impeaching him, he simply stayed away.

Such people are considered smart.

Those who have submitted the most letters now, as anyone with a discerning eye can tell at a glance, are mostly officials who favor Prince Yu's Mansion, while those who are opposed are mostly frequent visitors to Yan Mansion.

As for Prince Jing's Mansion, it has been automatically ignored.

These days, although Prince Jing's Mansion is very popular in the capital, it relies more on the power of Yan Mansion, and its own influence is not great. Therefore, many people regard Yan Mansion and Prince Jing's Mansion as having the same status, and They don’t think that the Yan Mansion is a vassal of Prince Jing’s Mansion, and naturally they don’t think that this is a battle between Prince Yu’s Mansion and Prince Jing’s Mansion.

Although in essence, that's what it is.

Many official officials were still applauding and applauding Wei Guangde's retreat, but they didn't expect that his peers would also end up.

The news spread, and someone soon found out that Wei Guangde had summoned his contemporaries to a banquet the night before these new officials were to be appointed.

The timing was too good. It was obvious that Wei Guangde was behind this collective evacuation operation.

"Dad, I've told you before that that kid is a white-eyed wolf. We are so good to him, but he keeps going against us."

At this time, in the duty room of the cabinet, looking at the pile of memorials sent by the General Affairs Secretary, Master Yan became angry, "Everyone else saw what was going on. At first he hid back home and I was still I thought he was a smart guy, but I didn't expect him to be stabbed in the back."

"Donglou, how deeply involved are you with water transportation?"

Sitting in his seat and looking at the memorial in his hand, Yan Song looked helpless and could only sigh and ask.

"I have nothing to do with Cao Yun. Dad, you can't wrongly accuse a good person. Is it someone who talks nonsense in front of you? Let's see how I deal with him."

Yan Shifan replied disapprovingly.

"Although I don't know all of those things, I have heard about some of them."

Yan Song said this, put down the memorial in his hand, rubbed his eyebrows and continued: "Today is different from the past. You can see the situation of the victims in Liaodong by reading the memorial. Relieving disasters is like putting out fires.

As these people said, at least the 50,000 shi of Taicang rice should be transported to Liaodong by sea, and the critical situation there should be controlled first.

It is not easy to immigrate to the border towns. The losses there cannot be too great, otherwise your Majesty will blame you, and your father and I cannot afford it. "

"Dad, you can't open this hole."

Yan Shifan suddenly became anxious when he heard his father say this again, and continued to persuade Yan Song just like he had done the previous two days.

Through the maintenance of the Cao Canal section, Yan Shifan can get a lot of money every year, and even if the canal is in the dry season, other merchant ships are restricted from passing through the locks, but the merchant ships hanging Yan's lanterns still have priority over the canal ships. By passing various river gates, the benefits behind this are also great.

However, Yan Shifan cannot discuss these matters with Yan Song.

In Yan Song's eyes, those yellow and white things are useless. He only likes calligraphy and paintings of famous people.

Yan Shifan does not reject this kind of calligraphy and painting. After all, it is all money, and it is worth a lot of money, but he also attaches great importance to those big businesses that have a steady flow of money.

Now they and Jia Yingchun have changed from arguing about shipping to Liaoning. It seems that the other party has taken a step back, but Yan Shifan is still alert. He feels that this is a way for the other party to retreat in order to advance on the forbidden sea. Open a hole.

After the first time, there will naturally be a second and third time. In the end, sea transportation will completely replace water transportation. Will he still have the money he earned from water transportation by then?

It is unlikely that the imperial court will continue to spend money on repairing rivers. The sea is vast and there is no need to repair it at all. As long as you find a waterway, you can run the boat. How much money will be saved.

The two talked for a long time in the check-in room, but Yan Song finally refused his son's persuasion and just decided to vote on these memorials as "violating the ancestral system."

"By the way, Dad, if you look at the position of the General Secretary, how about letting Hanzhang take over? He also has the title of Zhongshusheren now. Anyway, nothing can happen to the General Secretary. We also need reliable people to keep an eye on us when sending and receiving memorials."

At the end of Yan Shifan's life, he suddenly remembered the request from his friend Luo Longwen a few days ago.

Yes, Luo Longwen's promiscuity with Yan Shifan was not without gain. The money he spent put him in official clothes, but now he is a little dissatisfied with the empty title of Zhongshusheren and wants to do a practical job. officials.

Tongzhengshi Si Tongzhengshi has a high official position but has nothing to do. It is said that he was one of the Nine Qings back then, but now he has no status, but it is still quite bluffing to say it.

"He wants to be the general ambassador?"

Yan Song turned to look at his son and asked.

"Yes, Dad, look at Hanzhang. He was as filial to you and his mother as a child. He is a trustworthy person. Look."

Yan Shifan hurriedly said with a smile that his father was convinced by him and he was in a good mood now.

"I know, let's take a look."

Yan Song replied.

Yan Song likes calligraphy and painting by famous people, and there is actually another one that is his favorite. These are the four treasures of the study that all literati need.

Well, this Luo Longwen happened to be a famous ink-making craftsman in the Ming Dynasty at this time. He did not make it by his craftsmen, but made the ink himself.

Such things are naturally Yan Song's favorite things.

Youdao is to be soft-handed and short-tongued. When he heard that Luo Longwen wanted to go to the General Affairs Department to be the general affairs envoy, Yan Song really couldn't bear to refuse him.

As Yan Shifan said, the General Affairs Department is really not a dangerous yamen, because their job is to collect official memorials. After copying and filing them, they send the memorials to the cabinet and that's it. Don't make life too easy, even if you give it to him It's hard for him to make a mistake.

The debate over whether to open sea transportation to deliver grain to Liaodong continued to expand. Jia Yingchun, the Ministry of Household Affairs, sent two memorials in three days asking for sea transportation, claiming that all 50,000 shi of Taicang rice had been collected and could be shipped to Tianjin at any time.

After a lot of quarrels, the Metropolitan Procuratorate finally settled down and selected the officials who would go south to purchase disaster relief food.

Now that all parties have completed preparations, they are waiting to see the court and see which side Xiyuan will choose in the end, whether to transport disaster relief money and food by land as usual or to open a sea route directly to Liaodong as Jia Yingchun said.

The debate continued. With the addition of those from Wei Guangde in the same year, the number of memorials supporting the opening of sea transportation in a short period of time overwhelmed the opposition, but as before, no news came out from Xiyuan.

It's not like Wei Guangde didn't send someone to contact Chen Ju, but nothing happened and Chen Ju didn't reply to him.

Over the past six months or so, Wei Guangde has had less and less contact with Chen Ju. Even though Wei Guangde sent him meeting tickets twice, it did not change Chen Ju's attitude at all, which made Wei Guangde panic.

In fact, Chen Ju's attitude towards Wei Guangde is similar now.

On the night of the Lantern Festival, Chen Ju followed Emperor Jiajing and held a lantern to light the way. Emperor Jiajing suddenly asked, "Wei Guangde and Prince Yu's Mansion are very close", which shocked Chen Ju.

These days, all the eunuchs and servants know that Emperor Jiajing seems to favor King Jing more, and the rewards he gives are more abundant and better than those given to King Yu.

As for going to the city tower to see King Yu during the Lantern Festival, in fact, this kind of behavior was also done to King Jing in the past, so the servants like them couldn't tell who the emperor was pretending to be?

In fact, let alone them, even Huang Jin couldn't understand it.

It is said that the emperor loves King Yu, but in the past, it didn't seem like this.

Anyway, in Huang Jin's view, Emperor Jiajing seemed to be almost the same on both sides, but he was a little more partial to King Jing, and King Yu's mother-in-law was still a concubine who had fallen out of favor.

Like Wei Guangde, they have not skipped the prince and thought of the emperor's grandson. After all, both King Yu and King Jing are only in their twenties and are in their energetic years. No one will think about them. There is a problem of having a future but not having a future.

So after hearing Emperor Jiajing talk about the relationship between Prince Yu's Palace and Wei Guangde, according to Gao Zhong's wishes, he began to distance himself from Wei Guangde, fearing that his bet would go wrong in the end.

For an eunuch like Gao Zhong, it doesn't matter if he presses the wrong treasure, after all, he is not young, but for Chen Ju, that is something that cannot be lost.

In the officialdom of Beijing at this time, officials from both sides not only wrote memorials and memorials to accuse each other, but also constantly lobbied their colleagues and friends to support their opinions. Officials were constantly being dragged into this controversy.

It was in such a political environment that at night, a small sedan quietly appeared at the back door of Xu Jiexu's mansion, a cabinet minister of the current dynasty. A servant went over and knocked on the door knocker. When he opened the door, a man in a cloak appeared in the sedan. He hurriedly got out of the sedan, looked around before stepping into the Xu Mansion.

Knowing that a visitor was coming, Xu Jie just smiled and shook his head. Naturally, Xu Jie had already guessed the purpose of his visit, and also knew that such a day would come.

Like the Yan family's attitude towards Prince Jing's Mansion, Xu Jie was also relatively independent and did not rely entirely on Prince Yu's Mansion, although he had never refused a request from Prince Yu's Mansion.

In terms of official duties, Xu Jie chose to fully support Yan Song's political views most of the time. Although many ministers in the court were dissatisfied with him, Xu Jie also had his own difficulties.

Until now, he has not seen that Emperor Jiajing is too dissatisfied with Yan Song. Yan Song's holy family is still untouchable, so as the second minister of the dynasty, he can only choose to compromise.

However, the prerequisite for being wronged is that Yan Song did not seriously offend his interests. He would also fight with Yan Song when his interests were damaged, otherwise the acting would be too fake.

In fact, Yan Shifan tested Xu Jie's limits many times and constantly touched Xu Jie's interests. Only after confirmation did he gradually let down his guard.

Therefore, Xu Jie did not know about many matters discussed by Prince Yu's Mansion, as long as he was not required to do so, and he did not want to know.

Like Huang Jin and others, Xu Jie has not yet felt the pulse of Emperor Jiajing.

Perhaps, in this world, only Yan Song and Yan Shifan knew what Emperor Jiajing was thinking.

Starting from the second day, more officials who had not participated in the debate before began to leave, but this was not surprising to the officials and nobles who had been watching the fight.

In the past, Xu Jie would choose to support King Yu's faction. In fact, it has been rooted in everyone's hearts for a long time.

Perhaps, this is also a kind of balance, although it is very fragile.

Prince Yu's Mansion has the support of Xu Jie, the second assistant of the dynasty, and Prince Jing's Mansion has the support of Yan Song, the first assistant of the dynasty. When Xu Jie fully supports Yan Song's rule, Xu Jie will be cautious when encountering matters involving Prince Yu's Mansion. He will even openly oppose it, although his influence is far less than that of Yan Song's group.

By this time, everyone in this fight has come to an end, and all we can do is wait for the final decision from Xiyuan.

At this time, in the Yongshou Palace, on the huge imperial desk in front of Emperor Jiajing, there were stacks of memorials on one side and one on the right, which made one's head feel heavy just looking at them.

There are several more piles on the left than on the right. There is strength in numbers.

Why did Emperor Jiajing's Ministry of War value the so-called ancestral system? In fact, almost all Ming emperors did not value this. They weighed the pros and cons more.

Regarding the Liaodong matter, they naturally have their own weighings.

Time can't be delayed.

"As Wei Guangde's memorial said, it is less than 200 miles from Haikou to Youtun River and Tongbao. Among them, Caobodian, Yuetuo, Sangtuo, Jiangnufen, and Taohua Island can all be anchored, and they are only four or five miles apart. Ten miles away, you can avoid troubles and thieves."

Hearing Lu Bing's answer, Emperor Jiajing nodded slightly, but then he heard Lu Bing continue: "It's just that according to the investigation, the remaining ships of the Denglai Navy in Shandong are insufficient and many are old and unusable."

After Lu Bing finished speaking, he lowered his head slightly.

"Is there any solution?"

Emperor Jiajing on the throne frowned slightly when he heard this, and then asked.

"There are not enough sea-going ships, but the disaster is urgent. We can only use disaster relief money to spend some money to build sea-going ships first. The most urgent task is to send the 50,000 shi Taicang rice to the Tonghe River in Tianjin and other places to attract merchants and traffickers, and to supervise each other and not to bring in private goods." goods."

These were all discussed by the clerk and others in Jinyiwei, so Lu Bing answered immediately.

Emperor Jiajing nodded when he heard this, and his brows relaxed.

Although he did not express his position on the spot, he did not directly shake his head and refuse. After all, it was a matter of life and death for the people of the town. He was the emperor, so he naturally had to shoulder this responsibility.