The Prosperous Era of Longwan

Taking the imperial examination was the first step in Zhang Juzheng's reform. When the memorial was approved by the palace, it caused an uproar in the court.

As Wei Guangde and Lu Tiaoyang said, although the examination law is the inheritance of the original system, it also has innovations. Especially in this era of officialdom where exaggeration, deception, and false reporting are prevalent, it is very targeted. sex.

But it is precisely because of this that it was opposed by many people in North Korea and China as soon as it was released.

"Establishing limits to examine things" and "responsible for things", in fact, everyone knows in their hearts that once the examination method is successfully promoted, many people in the court will be in trouble, because this is completely breaking the original environment of officialdom.

According to the assessment of officials according to the examination method, all officials will start to compete, and those who are capable will be promoted and those who are mediocre will be demoted.

But the most important thing is that no matter what mentality and ideals most officials had when they took the imperial examination, when faced with reality and after entering the officialdom, they were surprised to find that they did not know how to be an official.

The knowledge of being an official is not mentioned in the books of sages.

Even though they initially guided their work according to the requirements of the sages' books under the rule, they soon failed in the face of reality and suffered a bloody blow.

In addition to quietly licking their wounds, they all came to terms with reality.

Although the books of sages taught them principles, they did not tell them the means to achieve them. This made many officials who relied on studying to be at a loss when they entered the officialdom, and in the end they had to become mediocre.

There are too many such people.

Although his family knew about his family affairs, at least he had earned his official status by studying hard in a humble period, so naturally it was not so easy to get rid of him.

Although he cannot handle government affairs, he can still be an official if he is an official. At best, he is mediocre. During the inspection, he tried to find loopholes to seek better reviews for himself.

Whether it's the feeling of fellow villagers or the friendship between teachers and students, in short, they are very mediocre in handling government affairs, but they are surprised to find that they still have strengths and are very comfortable when dealing with interpersonal relationships.

As long as you handle the interpersonal relationships in the officialdom well, it seems that not only will you not lose your official position, but you will be promoted step by step. The difference is just fast and slow.

However, when Zhang Juzheng came up with the test method to supervise their work and give scores, their shortcomings were completely exposed.

Especially two months after the implementation of the Six Central Departments, many people already know that their evaluations are not good.

There is no harm in doing it once or twice, but if it happens more often, this evaluation will eventually become one of the main basis for the Beijing inspection, and won't your official position be guaranteed?

How can you survive in the officialdom without an official position?

No, it must change.

Their change was not that they worked hard to learn how to handle government affairs, but that they began to practice deception, which they were already very familiar with.

At the same time, they are racking their brains to find out the omissions in the examination method, hoping to stop the examination method by using the method of memorial.

Although Zhang Juzheng held a high and powerful position at this time and had people inside and outside the palace, he could not reach the height he once had because the souls that had traveled through time and space had completely disrupted the court.

Although their memorial was rejected, it finally gave more people hope, and there were more and more memorials opposing the examination method.

At the same time, forming cliques seems to be a familiar operation for Ming officials. Naturally, they have to find someone with enough weight in the court to lead them to cheer up.

Wei Guangde went to Jizhen for inspection before, maybe he didn't mean to avoid these people.

Because they approached Wei Guangde when Zhang Juzheng began to investigate the fraud and dealt with the matter, hoping that Mr. Wei Ge could help them say something.

Wei Guangde had never expressed his opinion to the outside world before, and there was news in the cabinet that Mr. Wei Ge and Mr. Lu Ge had objections to the entrance examination method, so they regarded them as people who could be used.

When attacking the first assistant, the second assistant is naturally the best.

Wei Guangde deliberately avoided these people and did not become their sword, but it did not mean that he did not understand what was going on. Zhang Juzheng actually understood it too.

Wei Guangde sent someone to keep an eye on Zhang Juzheng, so why not him?

It was just Wei Guangde's behavior all along that made Zhang Juzheng understand that Wei Guangde actually supported him, at least tacitly, but was unwilling to express his position publicly.

In Zhang Juzheng's opinion, this is fine.

If there are major mistakes in the advancement, he will not be able to escape the involvement. Even if he resigns because of this, it will not be too bad if Wei Guangde takes over his position.

The two sides are promoting the operation of the China-North Korea situation in such a state of tacit understanding. Zhang Juzheng can continue to act boldly without worrying about someone stabbing him in the back.

Even in Zhang Juzheng's view, he was in charge of the cabinet in his forties, while Wei Guangde was only in his thirties. Even if he gave up his position, he might not be able to do it safely.

He can still work for at least another 10 to 20 years. By then, Wei Guangde, who is in his 40s and 50s, will almost be able to take over.

At this time, Wei Guangde mentioned that the storm could be used to severely punish officials who were unfavorable in water control.

In the past, in the capital, for the capital officials, most of them just let them know the evaluation results, hoping to serve as a warning to make them realize their shame and be brave enough to stand up, but now it seems that the effect is not very effective.

If he deals with them rashly, he is worried about the backlash from Beijing officials.

Taking advantage of this flood control incident, we should first deal with local officials and let them see the power of it. It seems feasible.

Zhang Juzheng quickly understood what Wei Guangde meant and nodded slightly to him.

Give him a peach and give him a plum in return. Zhang Juzheng pondered for a while and then said: "You can discuss with Tan Zili about the changes in the Wei Institute. I will not object.

As for the voyage to Nanyang, I have no objection, including the restoration of the Xuanwei Department in the old port.

Just don't mess around. "

After coming out of the cabinet office, Wei Guangde directly sent a message to Tan Lun, asking him to come and talk in the evening.

At first, Wei Guangde only wanted to ask the Ministry of War to do this inspection of the guard station, but after meeting Ge Shouli in the afternoon, Wei Guangde had other ideas.

To deal with the people below, it seems that you can hold the knife of the Metropolitan Procuratorate in your hand. There is no shortage of young people in the Metropolitan Procuratorate. They are all new people who entered the official career in the last imperial examination. Those who were elected to the Metropolitan Procuratorate are not Shaodu still hopes to create peace for all generations.

When inspecting the guard station, the Ministry of War took the lead and took the censor from the Metropolitan Procuratorate. Local resistance was directly thrown to the Metropolitan Procuratorate and asked them to investigate and impeach. The Ministry of War just tried its best to deal with the generals and military households. .

Not to mention the gentry and officials who were afraid of those mad dogs in the Imperial Procuratorate, even the nobles and nobles in the clan were a little numb.

However, Wei Guangde was not sure whether Ge Shouli was willing to take the bait.

Ge Shouli was also a man who had experienced the ups and downs of the officialdom for a long time, so he would not be able to see through their thoughts, so Tan Lun had to discuss this matter with him.

At nightfall, Wei Guangde invited Tan Lun into the study to talk, and made it clear to Tan Lun what he was thinking today.

After a long while, Tan Luncai hesitated and said: "Will Brother Yuli agree? This is asking them to take on the task of offending others."

Wei Guangde was not surprised by Tan Lun's hesitation. He chuckled and said, "Can't you see what kind of person Ge Yuli is in the past year?

He is a real person who has thoroughly read the books of sages and practices the essence of the books.

The changes planned by Hyobu Wei this time are a great thing for the court, and he should choose to support it.

Moreover, I see that his beard and hair are all white today, and he will not stay in the court for too long. "

After Wei Guangde said this, how could Tan Lun not understand that he just wanted Ge Shouli to completely burn the last bit of his value and squeeze it all out?

Seeing that Tan Lun was still hesitating, Wei Guangde chuckled and continued: "In the future, I will take more care of him and his descendants in the court.

I think Ge Yuli would be happy to cooperate with us. "

As long as Wei Guangde doesn't make any big mistakes, he can stay in the Ming Dynasty for at least 20 to 30 years. He has already reached the throne of Second Assistant. In fact, many people understand what this means.

Although Zhang Juzheng is still the family now, and Zhang Juzheng is also in his prime, investing in Zhang Juzheng is still a bet on Wei Guangde. In fact, many people in the court still have their own opinions.

Those people who only know how to sneak into the camp have always wanted to join the Wei family and become Wei Guangde's disciples. Isn't that their idea?

When the second assistant was covering him, the first assistant also had to give him three points of thin noodles.

Don't think that Zhang Juzheng is an impartial person. In fact, his handling of things is more slippery, no worse than his teacher Xu Jie, or even worse.

During the thirty years of Jiajing, during the later period of Yan Song's reign, Wei Guangde and Yan Mansion became sparse because Wei Guangde had already sided with Prince Yu's Mansion, which made Yan Shifan extremely unhappy.

At this time, Zhang Juzheng was still a guest of the Yan Mansion.

Of course, Gao Gong is not bad either, especially after he quit Prince Yu's Palace and entered the Ministry of Rites, he was courted by Yan Shifan in every possible way.

They are all good at dancing and naturally know how to deal with things.

At that time, Wei Guangde calculated that the Yan family didn't have much time, so he decisively abandoned ship, but Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng didn't know.

You know, Yan's ship sank, but a lot of people were killed with one shot.

In the end, Tan Lun nodded and whispered: "I understand. I'll talk to him about it when I have time and see what he means."

"Also, last time I talked about the Ministry of War raising military funds to build ships, do you have any clues?"

Wei Guangde asked again.

Although shipbuilding was under the control of the Ministry of Industry, it was a naval warship builder after all, so Wei Guangde also hoped that the Ministry of War could squeeze out a sum of money to build ships for Yu Dayou.

Although he knew to some extent that the Yi people were not very strong near the Daming Sea. Even if they summoned all the ships from all the countries in the Far East, they would still have less than a hundred ships, including their armed merchant ships.

But so what?

There are none in the Far East. In the Western Ocean and across the sea, there are also many Spanish, Portuguese and other barbarian ships, but it takes time to gather them.

If the other party really plans to have a war with Ming Dynasty, they can still gather a large number of warships in a year and a half.

Wei Guangde knew that at this time, not to mention other European countries, Spain alone could muster hundreds of large warships.

Note that we are talking about large warships here, not the armed merchant ships that can be seen everywhere in the Far East.

Even with Wei Guangde's meager historical knowledge, he also knew the legend of the Spanish Armada.

The Spanish Armada in the late sixteenth century consisted of more than 150 warships, more than 3,000 cannons, and tens of thousands of soldiers.

This is not all of the Spanish navy. The Spanish maritime fleet had more than a thousand ships at its peak, and the fleet traveled across the Mediterranean and the Atlantic Ocean.

Britain was able to become an empire on which the sun never sets, and it was precisely because of its defeat of the Spanish Armada that it gained the opportunity.

Although it was once challenged by the Dutch, the sea coachmen, in the end because of its success in acquiring more colonies from the Spanish, the emerging Netherlands was unable to replace their position again.

"It's a bit stressful, but I will try my best to get some money to spend."

Hearing Wei Guangde ask about the situation of the Ministry of War, Tan Lun replied with some embarrassment.

The military salary that the Ministry of War now receives every year is actually not enough for normal payment. Many military posts can only be allocated military salary for ten months, and they have to raise the rest by themselves, or they are simply in arrears.

In the early years of Jiubian Fenghuo, the Ministry of War gave priority to supplying military pay to border towns. After all, there were wars and deaths there. If military pay was not allocated, how could you expect the soldiers to use their lives?

Tan Lun's subtle expression was fully visible to Wei Guangde.

After pondering for a while, Wei Guangde said: "I was originally planning to write a letter to Wang Zongmu to ask him to prepare early in Huai'an."

"What preparation?"

Tan Lun interrupted Wei Guangde out of curiosity and asked.

The two of them are very familiar with each other. It may be rude to others, but to them it is an insignificant detail.

Therefore, Wei Guangde told the officials from the Ministry of Rites and what happened to the cabinet in the afternoon. Although the cabinet would send a special letter to the Governor's Yamen, Wei Guangde would still write a letter alone to explain some things clearly.

"Are you planning to ask Yu Dayou to dispatch more warships to go north to Huai'an to help transport grain? One hundred and twenty thousand dan is already a permanent amount, and you still want to break it."

Tan Lun hesitated for a moment, but finally asked.

"Just preparation."

Wei Guangde smiled and continued: "But now I have a new idea. The Caosi Company applies to the Ministry of Industry to build a canal ship every year. It seems that the money can be transferred directly."

"Ah? Are you planning to build sea ships directly instead of river ships for the Caosi County?

Is this appropriate? "

Tan Lun said in surprise.

"It doesn't matter whether it's suitable or not. Since we already have a permanent quota for grain and sea transportation, we can't always use the Nanyang Navy's warships for transportation.

And you don’t know, Yu Dayou wrote to me before. He mentioned in the letter that after he learned about the Fushan Island shipwreck, many questions could not be answered. He suspected that the Fushan Island shipwreck was man-made and his purpose was to stop it. Shipping grain by sea.

This time I wrote to Wang Zongmu to remind him of this matter. All sea routes use large naval vessels, forgetting Caosi's flat-bottomed boats. I'm afraid there will be another problem. "

Wei Guangde revealed another shocking news to Tan Lun, which shocked Tan Lun.

"It concerns the Cao Army. Do you want the Ministry of War to send someone to conduct a secret investigation?"

Although Tan Lun felt frightened, he still asked.

"What can we do if we find out? It's just letting people take the blame. Let them make trouble."

Wei Guangde smiled disdainfully and said, "This time I plan to ask Dayou to bring most of the navy's warships to transport the grain. The Caosi also withheld half of the shipbuilding silver and gave it to the navy to build sea-going ships. This can be regarded as a lesson to them.

Next time if you dare to play conspiracy and tricks again, I will just flip the table and everyone will stop playing. "

"What does that person mean?"

Tan Lunchi asked a question.

Wei Guangde just chuckled and said: "Haha, uncle is not a fool. I have always supported him secretly. It's time for him to repay me." (End of Chapter)