The Prosperous Era of Longwan

"His Majesty really decreed that King Jing should become a vassal?"

Wei Guangde suddenly stood up, rubbed his hands and walked back and forth in the room.

"Why are you so excited? I heard the news with my own ears in the main hall. The emperor's golden words will certainly not be false."

Seeing Wei Guangde walking around in front of him, Chen Ju, who was sitting on the chair, said with a smile.

News in the palace has never been concealed. Emperor Jiajing has confirmed that King Jing will accept the vassalship. Naturally, it will soon spread from Xiyuan, and by tonight, all the civil and military officials in Beijing will know about it.

However, Chen Ju still hurried to Wei Guangde's place. The purpose is self-evident, to grab a time difference and let Wei Guangde spread the good news to that person's ears first.

"What did your Majesty say?"

After walking back and forth for a few times, Wei Guangde calmed down a little, turned to Chen Ju and asked.

"What else can I say? Let the Chief Historian of Prince Jing's Palace and the Ministry of Rites plan the establishment of the palace. The Ministry of Works will supervise it. The Ministry of Household will pay for it. We also have Wu Shan, the Minister of Rites, write a memorial to invite King Jing's kingdom."

Chen Ju's face was still cheerful, and he simply repeated Emperor Jiajing's oral instructions.

"Okay, the news has arrived, I have to go back to the palace."

After picking up the teacup on the table and taking a sip, Chen Ju stood up and said goodbye to Wei Guangde.

"Brother Chen, let's take a rest and have dinner at my little brother's place tonight."

Wei Guangde said hurriedly.

"No, I just found an excuse to come out. Thinking about such a big thing, I have to tell my brother first, so as not to worry you outside."

Chen Ju walked out as he spoke, and Wei Guangde had no choice but to follow Chen Ju out.

Wei Guangde stood outside the door and watched Chen Juyuan go away. He did not go back immediately. Instead, he turned around and said to Zhang Ji who was following him: "You arrange for two people to come to the study. I have something for them to give to Lord Gao Gonggao and Lord Yin Shizhen." Go there."

With his words, Zhang Ji naturally knew who to find to deliver the letter.

He had also heard the previous conversation between Wei Guangde and Chen Ju in the room. Naturally, he was well aware of his father's defection to Prince Yu's Mansion.

Finally I can sleep peacefully.

Having been in the capital for several years, he had heard about the overt and covert fights between King Yu and King Jing in the capital, so what he feared most was that in the end, Emperor Jiajing would risk the disapproval of the world and choose King Jing to inherit the great treasure.

Zhang Ji also heard about the fight between the two kings in the market, but he scorned it.

Wei Guangde leaned towards Prince Yu's Mansion, so Zhang Ji, who was following Wei Guangde, naturally knew that the so-called dispute between the two kings was actually just the people around the emperor constantly talking about the rights and wrongs of the two kings in the emperor's ears.

As far as Zhang Ji knows, the most egregious thing done to King Yu by King Jing's lineage was actually the Sui gifts and Lumi from King Kayu's palace, which made King Yu unable to match the money during the Wanshou Festival in those two years. of gifts.

Naturally, people in the palace spread rumors that King Yu's disrespectful words towards Emperor Jiajing were nothing more than an attempt to arouse the emperor's dissatisfaction with King Yu.

However, the reason for this is indeed related to the fact that Prince Yu and his mother and concubine were not favored. What's more, Prince Yu's mother and concubine died of illness early, leaving him even more isolated and helpless in the palace.

Think about the person behind King Jing, that is Mr. Yan Ge, who has received great favor from the emperor and has exerted power over the government and the public.

"Yes, sir."

After receiving Wei Guangde's instructions, Zhang Ji immediately agreed happily.

Although the palace is like a sieve, and people from all sides are inserted to find out the news, the transmission of the news also takes time.

When Wei Guangde sent someone to the Imperial Academy and Prince Yu's Mansion with the letter he wrote, Yan Song finally got the news from Xiyuan in the cabinet duty room.

"Bang."

A white porcelain tea cup fell to the ground and shattered immediately.

At this time, Yan Song's eyes were lifeless, he looked more than ten years older than usual, and his outstretched hand was still trembling slightly.

His hands were shaking. It was not because he was frightened after getting the news. In fact, his hands had often been like this over the years.

Therefore, he handed over the power of voting for memorials and the drafting of decrees by cabinet ministers to his son Yan Shifan or his second assistant Xu Jie.

Yan Song lowered his head and glanced at his hands. He wanted to take a sip of tea to calm down his shock, but he didn't expect that his hands were no longer able to control him to this extent.

Hearing the noise in the room, the clerk outside the door hurriedly ran in. Some people cleaned up the broken pieces of teacups on the ground, while others hurriedly brewed a new cup of tea and brought it to them.

After the cleaning was completed and the others exited the check-in room, Yan Song asked, "Have you found the east building?"

"Master, there is no news yet, it should be soon."

The scribe who stayed in the house at this time was actually a servant of the Yan family. He was arranged to take care of Yan Song in the cabinet, and was also responsible for running errands and delivering news.

"You go out first, and let him in as soon as he comes back."

Yan Song only said one sentence, then leaned back on the chair, closed his eyes slightly and began to think.

The day finally arrived.

At this time, Yan Song was filled with emotion.

King Yu came to power. This was his judgment long ago. At the beginning, he just wanted to find a way to escape unscathed, but how did the situation evolve into what it is now?

In recent years, he has been mentally and physically weak, and it has become difficult for him to discipline Yan Shifan.

Thinking of Yan Shifan, Yan Song not only had a wry smile on his face.

Maybe I should have retreated earlier?

As soon as this thought came to mind, the face of Emperor Jiajing appeared in Yan Song's mind, and he couldn't help but feel a twitch in his heart.

Xia Yan was arrested by the Jin Yiwei on his way back home after leaving office, and was eventually guillotined by himself.

Mean and unkind.

Suddenly, Yan Song's eyes opened wide, and he had no way out.

At this time, Yan Song felt that Yan Shifan seemed to be looking further than him.

He had only considered that Emperor Jiajing might let him linger and end his life because of nostalgia, but he had forgotten the blame he had shouldered for the emperor. Can it be settled by just deposing him?

Over the years he has been an official, he has offended many people. Will these people let him go?

After all, it was the people below who broke the rules and killed those people. It was impossible to escape unscathed.

Only by electing the person least likely to come to power as emperor would the Yan family be able to continue to exist.

I no longer have the energy to plan anything anymore, so I can only let Donglou do it. Maybe there is still a glimmer of hope.

In the early days of Shen Dynasty, when it was time to disperse the yamen, officials in twos and threes left the yamen, went home, or called friends to restaurants and flower shops. At this time, a shocking news came out from the palace, which quickly spread among the official circles. Spread in China.

"Brother Donglou, what do you think we should do now? Should I just go to Huguang and become a vassal?"

At this time, in an elegantly decorated small courtyard in the capital, a handsome young man wanted to say something to a fat man opposite him.

"Your Highness, don't be anxious."

Although the big fat Yan Shifan's face was full of worry, his tone of voice was not very anxious, "There will always be a way, and now we have to build a new palace. Don't worry, the Ministry of Industry will only do the work but not the effort. We If you put it off for a year and a half, you can always find a way."

"What else can we do? The decree will come down tomorrow. With this clear signal, Gao Gong has not been stuck in the cabinet all day long, urging the vassal affairs to be handled."

The handsome young man is naturally King Jing, and now he is in a state of chaos.

After the death of Prince Zhuang Jing, he had set his sights on that position. For this reason, he did not hesitate to lower his status and make friends with the Yan family.

As the younger brother of King Yu who is one month younger, King Jing should not have wanted to compete for the throne. After all, the Ming Dynasty's training clearly stipulates: There is no direct successor.

At that time, King Yu and King Jing were twelve years old, and their relationship was still quite good. After all, there was a second brother above them, who had determined their status as heirs early.

However, it was also because of his familiarity that he discovered one of the third brother's shortcomings at that time, which was laziness, which resulted in a lack of ambition.

The third brother had a dull temperament, but others said that he was cautious, and since he knew the inside story, he naturally had thoughts that he shouldn't have. What's more, he was more favored than the third brother in the palace at that time, and he had the support of his mother and concubine in the harem.

Therefore, even though he knew he shouldn't, facing his father's decision to refuse to establish another crown prince, King Jing still chose to take a chance and compete for that position.

"Gao Gong, Prince Yu, as long as they are gone, who can still compete with you?"

Just as King Jing was recalling his experiences over the past ten years, Yan Shifan's sinister words suddenly came to his ears.

In shock, King Jing suddenly raised his head and looked at Yan Shifan.

"Brother Suqing, come here, please drink this cup to the full."

In a restaurant in the capital, Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng came out of the Imperial College and found a restaurant to start drinking.

"Uncle, please."

Gao Gong raised the wine glass in his hand slightly towards Zhang Juzheng, and then both of them drank the wine in one gulp.

Before going off duty today, Gao Gong received the note sent by Wei Guangde. Of course, he could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Of course he knew about the memorial that the cabinet sent to the palace yesterday. For this reason, many yamen had personnel deployed by Prince Yu's Mansion, and the cabinet was no exception.

Correspondingly, Prince Jing's Mansion also has it. Their channels for obtaining information are no longer limited to officials. Even the following Zhongshu and ordinary scribes will bribe some people.

It's just that the memorial has been sent, but it's not known what the palace's final response will be. The most important thing of course is who the Emperor Jiajing will photograph to leave the capital and become a vassal.

It's fine now, King King's Kingdom, haha.

In addition to being happy, I packed up the check-in room and prepared for check-in. When I left the check-in room, I met the manager Zhang Juzheng.

He is now serving as a minister of the Imperial College, so naturally he has a lot of contact with Zhang Juzheng, the Secretary of the Imperial College.

It should be said that Zhang Juzheng left a good impression on him. He was upright and diligent at work. When the two chatted in private, he also found that Zhang Juzheng had a unique vision and ideas, and was not cynical like most scholars.

Both of them were very dissatisfied with the current official administration, and especially hated Yan Shifan's behavior of using Yan Song's influence to sell his officials and titles in the capital.

After you buy an official with money, you must find a way to get the money back and make another fortune after you sit on it.

Undoubtedly, this will increase the burden on the people at the bottom.

Zhang Juzheng has complained to Gao Gong more than once. While he was recuperating in Huguang, he also walked around the countryside a lot and knew the living environment of the lower class people.

The taxes and servitude set by the imperial court were not actually harsh, but the actual burden that the people had to bear was much higher than the standard set by the imperial court, that is, additional funds were allocated for local administrative needs. Except for a small part of this money, it was used for Most of them are favored by officials at the local level and abroad.

And because the taxes and duties set by the imperial court are very complicated, for the people at the bottom, they have no idea whether the taxes and duties they bear are paid to the country or to a group of officials.

When officials are corrupt, people naturally become resentful.

Gao Gong's view is similar. Corrupt officials are rampant, the people at the bottom are suffering, and if the mediocre people steal the center, it will be strange that the world can be good.

However, Gao Gong did not have a deep understanding of the subject of taxes and servitude. He just felt that the inspection of officials should be strengthened. If the officials govern the government clearly, the people will live and work in peace and contentment. If the people are rich, the world will be peaceful.

After the officials are selected, they will naturally not be greedy and privately send additional taxes and services to satisfy their own selfish desires.

Under such an environment, it seems that the scene of the prosperous Tang Dynasty, where the house was not closed at night and people did not pick up lost things on the road, could not be reproduced in the Ming Dynasty.

Relatively speaking, Gao Gong was more inclined to govern by inaction and focus on official governance, while Zhang Juzheng took a more comprehensive view. He had realized the shortcomings of some policies in the early Ming Dynasty and wanted to find a solution.

However, at the moment, the two people have the same thing in common about the current situation, which is to rectify the officialdom, especially to clean up the group of people who came to Yan Shifan to buy officials, and then the officials of Yan Song's line.

But this is actually not difficult to understand. Gao Gong represents Prince Yu's Mansion, and Zhang Juzheng is Xu Jie's student. Naturally, he represents Xu Jie's interests. What they have in common is that they are Yan Song's enemies.

Therefore, they can be regarded as natural allies.

Today we met in front of the check-in door. Zhang Juzheng came forward to chat very affectionately, and then invited him to drink together.

Gao Gong was very happy today after reading the news sent by Wei Guangde.

According to the past, he should have gone to Prince Yu's Mansion to celebrate at this time, but now that he is no longer an official of Prince Yu's Mansion, it seems inappropriate to go to the Prince's Mansion often. He simply agreed after thinking briefly.

But soon, Gao Gong realized that Zhang Juzheng should also have received news from Xu Jie, and he was probably aware of Xiyuan's response to the memorial sent in by the cabinet yesterday.

Do you think Zhang Juzheng is snobbish?

Of course not. In fact, although yesterday's memorial was the result of discussions between Wu Shan and Gao Yao, Xu Jie also gave strong support at the cabinet meeting and was successfully sent to the palace.

Although Yan Song did not strongly object, in the memorial, Yan Song also clearly expressed his opinion, that is, he felt it was inappropriate.

What does it mean that the proposal that the chief minister felt was "inappropriate" was successfully passed by Emperor Jiajing?

This was one of the reasons why Gao Gong felt excited. If the chief assistant could not be consistent with the emperor, it would not be far away from him falling out of favor. Considering Yan Song's age, it was only a matter of time before he resigned.

Therefore, in Gao Gong's view, Zhang Juzheng should be excited, because his teacher may gradually replace Yan Song and become the chief assistant of the empire. As a student, he will naturally rise with the tide, and his future is limitless.

Thinking of Xu Jie's age and looking at the people at the banquet table opposite, Gao Gong had already predicted that he might enter the cabinet with Zhang Juzheng in the future and work hard for the Ming Dynasty.

If you think so, maintaining a good relationship with him will be of great benefit to the implementation of government affairs.