The Prosperous Era of Longwan

Of course King Jing didn't know how scary Fengyang High Wall was, and he wasn't interested in knowing. He just needed to know how scary it was there.

The farthest one is naturally Zhu Wengui. He was the second son of Emperor Jianwen Zhu Yunwen. He was two years old. After the "Battle of Jingnan", his father Zhu Yunwen and his brother Zhu Wenkui were nowhere to be found. His mother, Queen Ma, burned herself to death. .

Emperor Yongle imprisoned Zhu Wengui in the "High Wall" in Fengyang. Although there was no such thing as a high wall prison at this time, it was managed according to the later high wall model, that is, completely closed and isolated from the world.

It was not until Ming Yingzong Zhu Qizhen was restored from Nangong that the restored Ming Yingzong Zhu Qizhen deeply sympathized with Zhu Wengui, who had been innocently imprisoned for fifty years based on his own experience as a prisoner. In the same year, Zhu Wengui was released, already fifty-seven years old. He was 55 years old. He had served behind bars for fifty-five years. After his release, he didn't even recognize an ox or a horse. He died soon after.

The nearest one is naturally King Hui, who was deposed and demoted to a commoner a few years ago. He would rather commit suicide than go to Fengyang High Wall.

Naturally, Wei Guangde was unaware of the conversation that took place in Prince Jing's Mansion. Under the influence of Chen Ju, he returned to the box, ate and drank for a while, then said he had something to do at home and left in a hurry.

He was going to, of course, Prince Yu's Mansion, to remind them that at least during the period before Prince Jing left the capital to join the feudal clan, Prince Yu's food safety must be strictly ensured.

In fact, since Wei Guangde reported that there was something wrong with Lu Bing's death, at his reminder, eunuch Li Fang personally took charge of supervising King Yu's diet and daily life.

Wei Guangde naturally knew about these situations, but after all, it had been a long time, and he was still worried that Li Fang would become careless and make a big mistake.

When the carriage was approaching Prince Yu's Mansion, it passed by an oncoming carriage, but Wei Guangde didn't care about that at this time and didn't even know that the carriage was passing by.

When they arrived at the side entrance of Prince Yu's Mansion, Wei Guangde was an old acquaintance here, so he naturally entered without any obstruction.

As a freshman in junior high school, Wei Guangde felt something was wrong when he entered Prince Yu's Mansion.

He called a familiar servant next to him and told him: "Go and ask Eunuch Li Fang to come to the study. I need to see him for something."

"yes."

The people in Prince Yu's Mansion were naturally familiar with lecturers like Wei Guangde and others. They immediately agreed to Wei Guangde's instructions and quickly went to find Li Fang. However, Wei Guangde did not continue walking in, but circled around to the study room where they usually teach. .

Wei Guangde went to his check-in room and didn't ask the waiter to bring tea. He just sat in the room and waited quietly for Li Fang to come over.

Today was not the time that they and the officials had agreed upon to come and pay New Year greetings to King Yu. Their appointment was for tomorrow, but something happened suddenly, so he could only come now.

"Master Wei, what are you doing today?"

Not long after waiting, Wei Guangde saw Li Fang entering the house carrying a front pendant.

Originally, no one was supposed to come here today, so there was no brazier in the room before. It was only after Wei Guangde came in that the chamberlain hurriedly brought a brazier. At this time, Wei Guangde was reaching out to light the fire.

When Li Fang entered the house, she felt that it was still a little cold. She immediately stopped at the door, turned around and shouted to the outside: "Who is outside? Hurry up and bring in a few more braziers."

"There's no need to shout. Eunuch Li, come quickly and sit and warm yourself by the fire. I just got some news, so I took the liberty to come here. I'll go back after I finish talking."

Wei Guangde said hurriedly.

Hearing what Wei Guangde said, Li Fang waved her hand outside, "You guys go and guard outside the yard. Don't come over unless I call you."

It was not clear what news Wei Guangde was talking about. Out of caution, Li Fang called out all the servants in the courtyard. After watching several people leave and stand at the entrance of the courtyard, she turned around and walked to sit next to Wei Guangde. She also followed Wei Guangde's example. He leaned forward and stretched out his hands to warm himself to the fire.

"Master Wei, what news are you talking about?"

After sitting down, Li Fang asked bluntly.

"The prince has gone to Xiyuan today."

"Yes, I went there early in the morning, but the emperor still didn't summon me. He just knelt down outside the palace gate and was invited back."

Li Fang's expression was a little sad. He was the chamberlain who was sent to work by Concubine Du Kang. Because he was smart and conscientious, Concubine Du Kang sent him to Prince Yu. After so many years, he naturally knew a lot about the prince's affairs.

The prince has only seen the emperor a handful of times since he was a child. When he was a child, King Yu had to tell him what his father looked like.

Because last year, Emperor Jiajing confirmed that King Jing would leave the capital and become a vassal, King Yu thought that he would be able to see Emperor Jiajing when he entered the palace this year. However, he did not expect that when he arrived at Yongshou Palace, he was still blocked from entering.

Although I heard that King Jing was blocked back in the same way later, King Yu felt uncomfortable at the moment.

Wei Guangde didn't have much affection for King Yu. In his opinion, everything he did to King Yu was just for his own bright future after King Yu came to power, so he didn't feel the sadness in Li Fang's voice.

"I came here today because I heard about something that happened in Xiyuan. When King Yu left Xiyuan, did he meet any concubines from the harem who came to pay their respects?"

Wei Guangde said immediately.

"Yes, when we were at the palace gate, the concubine was about to leave Xihua Gate. What happened?"

When he said this, Li Fang's tone suddenly became a little urgent.

Now among the concubines of Emperor Jiajing, there is one person with a high status, and that person is the biological mother of King Jing. Could it be...

No wonder Li Fang didn't think too much. In fact, before and after accompanying King Yu to the palace today, King Yu's mood changed a bit, and he was more or less affected by being around King Yu.

"no."

Wei Guangde waved his hand hurriedly and said: "Today, when concubine Lu Jing was greeting His Majesty, she suddenly brought up something. She wanted to change the fiefdom for King Jing and find a place around Beizhili to build King Jing's fiefdom."

"What, how is this possible?"

Li Fang immediately screamed and lost her voice.

Fortunately, Wei Guangde immediately continued: "Your Majesty did not agree and reprimanded Concubine Lu Jing on the spot."

Later, Wei Guangde told Li Fang exactly what he heard from Chen Ju, and Li Fang's face became increasingly happy as he listened.

"Haha, okay, this is a good thing, I have to tell Prince Yu."

Before Wei Guangde finished speaking, Li Fang was already overjoyed. She clapped her hands and stood up to leave, but was held back by Wei Guangde.

"Eunuch Li, I didn't come to you to deliver this good news."

Wei Guangde said seriously: "Although King Jing's idea of ​​changing the fiefdom was rejected by His Majesty, this also completely forced him to a dead end.

Now there are only two paths before King Jing, either to go to De'an and join the feudal clan, or to make a desperate move. I am actually here to remind you, don't blame me for nagging, King Yu's safety is more urgent than ever now. "

"Huh? Oh."

Li Fang came back to her senses and understood what Wei Guangde meant.

He is not a fool, and his future depends entirely on King Yu.

Although Wei Guangde brought up this annoying topic again, the current situation looked good.

A dog jumps over the wall in a hurry, and a rabbit kicks off an eagle. The most fearful thing is that King Jing will fight for his life when he sees that there is no hope of succeeding to the throne.

Wei Guangde told Li Fang at the beginning that if King Yu really had a problem, Emperor Jiajing would most likely not dare to have it, because he only had one son left and would never be punished.

"Mr. Wei, I understand your pain, don't worry, I will be keeping an eye on this matter during this period, and there will never be any mistakes."

Li Fang still stood up and bowed deeply to Wei Guangde.

"Well, I'll leave now and come back tomorrow to pay New Year's greetings to His Highness."

Wei Guangde smiled, then stood up and said goodbye to Li Fang.

Li Fang escorted Wei Guangde out of Prince Yu's Mansion, and waited until he got on the carriage before hurriedly returning to the inner courtyard of the Prince's Mansion.

In more than a month's time, King Jing will leave the capital, and the only prince in the capital is King Yu. Even if others have other thoughts, they are beyond their reach.

King Yu is in a bad mood now. Although Wei Guangde came to remind him, didn't he also bring good news?

Then tell King Yu about this and make him happy too.

The current King Yu is still worried about gains and losses. Although his status seems to have been established, Emperor Jiajing did not make him the prince after all.

At this time, King Jing, after Zheng Huiren left, sat alone in the side room for a long time, and then called in a close servant.

"Forget it for today, go to Yan Mansion tomorrow and inform Yan Donglou that I am ill and won't go there to play these days."

"yes."

The chamberlain hurriedly bowed and agreed, and when King Jing waved his hand, he slowly exited the side room.

"The Yan family is finished, don't have too much contact with them."

At this time, King Jing was still thinking about Zheng Huiren's advice when he left.

Just after being reminded by Zheng Huiren, King Jing suddenly realized that the purpose of Yan Shifan getting close to him and making suggestions for him was not because he was frightened by his domineering aura and surrendered. Just trying to survive from death.

With Yan Shifan's reputation in the capital, he will definitely be liquidated in the future. Zheng Huiren even bluntly said that either King Yu would liquidate him or he would do it himself. Yan Shifan was actually not allowed to stay.

What he did was destined not to be like other ministers who could cut off those ties by becoming an official.

I only blame myself for being blinded by the throne in the past. Maybe it’s not that I didn’t understand it, but I just didn’t think about it deeply. I haven’t even achieved the status, so how could I give up a helping hand?

When did you first start thinking about competing for the throne?

King Jing not only fell into memories. When he left the palace, he and King Yu were treated the same. At that time, someone outside speculated like this, but he just laughed it off. It seemed that it was after he met Yan Shifan that he started to have some feelings for each other. idea.

King Jing has completely given up now. He doesn't want to continue fighting for that position. If he continues to order that person to find opportunities to poison King Yu, maybe Jin Yiwei will take him to Fengyang with a driving sticker.

Thinking of this, King Jing stood up suddenly, called the attendant beside him, and whispered a few instructions, asking him to pass on the news as soon as possible, and then sat down again.

In a blink of an eye, it was the fourth day of the Lunar New Year. Early that morning, Wei Guangde dressed up and hurried to the Hanlin Academy. According to the calculations of Qin Tianjian, the second quarter of Mao Shi on the fourth day of the Lunar New Year was an auspicious time, so all the yamen in the Ming Dynasty would be there. At this time, the "opening of seal" ceremony is held.

According to the time of later generations, it was not even seven o'clock, and it was not even working time, but in the Ming Dynasty, officials had already started work.

Wei Guangde had nothing to say, so he went to the Hanlin Academy to attend the ceremony. After that, he naturally sat around for a while, and then went to Prince Yu's Mansion with Zhang Juzheng.

Similar to the sealing ceremony, Hanlin Academy officials under the leadership of Yuan Wei asked for the seal again, and firecrackers were fired again in the yard.

The opening of the Yamen seal does not mean that the officials' New Year is over. In fact, it is just a ceremony. Don't forget that the capital will organize the Aoshan Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the year. Only after the Lantern Festival is over, in the eyes of officials and people, This year is truly over.

"What did you say to Scholar Wu just now?"

After leaving the Hanlin Academy, Wei Guangde invited Zhang Juzheng to ride a carriage with him to Prince Yu's Mansion. Zhang Juzheng asked on the carriage, "Look at how surprised you were at that time."

Wei Guangde smiled and said: "When I entered the Hanlin Academy, I was a disciple of Bachelor Wu."

"oh."

Zhang Juzheng responded lightly.

"I heard from him that after the year, the head of the Hanlin Academy may be replaced by Li Chunfang and Bachelor Li, while Yuan Wei will specialize in ministerial affairs."

Wei Guangde continued.

"Yuan Wei is going to fully devote himself to the government and worry about the country, haha."

Zhang Juzheng smiled.

In fact, he was much more sensitive to news about Yuan Wei's job changes than Wei Guangde. After all, his news came from his teacher Xu Jie. The reason why he asked Wei Guangde was actually because he was curious about his relationship with Wu Qing.

Although Wu Qing is also a bachelor, he is destined to have little future, and he is very surprised that Wei Guangde is friends with such a person.

"You should have known that beforehand."

At this time, Wei Guangde spoke again.

"I've heard of it before."

Zhang Juzheng nodded. He was more informed about the news in the court than Wei Guangde, but during his stay in Prince Yu's Mansion, he also knew that Wei Guangde had someone in the palace and was very well-informed about the news in the palace.

When he was in the second grade of junior high school, he didn't even know what happened in Xiyuan yesterday, but Wei Guangde knew it yesterday, and he even knew it an hour after the incident.

Not to be underestimated.

Speaking of this, Zhang Juzheng remembered something again. He only heard about it when he visited Xu Jie's house two days ago. Since he was free anyway, he told Wei Guangde to pass the time.

"In addition, I heard that after the year, His Majesty will summon Qu Jingchun, the head of the Nanjing Hanlin Academy and the Imperial College to offer wine, back to Beijing. The specific arrangements are not yet clear."

"Um?"

Wei Guangde was surprised at first, and then joked: "Brother Uncle, you don't want to want to be in Nanjing to serve as the head of the Hanlin Academy."

"If I could be the head of the courtyard, I really want to do it, haha."

Zhang Juzheng said cheerfully.

In fact, if he really had the chance, he wouldn't mind going around Nanjing.

I am young, and I am not going to retire. It is just a transitional period. If I really go, I will definitely be promoted to a Hanlin bachelor. Anyway, there are teachers in the capital, and if a good official position is vacated here, I will definitely be able to move back. .

"How old is Mr. Qu?"

At this time, Wei Guangde could not tolerate the transfer of such a senior Hanlin bachelor from Nanjing.

"About fifty years old, ranked second in Jiajing's 23rd year."

"oh."

Wei Guangde agreed. No wonder Zhang Juzheng knew that Qu Jingchun was one year ahead of Zhang Juzheng. When he took the examination, he must have paid attention to the previous subject.