prosperous age

Chapter 1023 1114 Exculpation

The Republic of China, which replaced the late Qing Dynasty, is actually a combination of four symbols.

Because there was no thorough settlement like in previous dynasty changes, the Republic of China was full of chaos and it did not look like a new country at all.

Moreover, these so-called reforms, like Zhang Juzheng's, actually touched upon the privileges of interest groups and were bound to encounter fierce backlash.

Wei Guangde realized long ago that it was impossible for the current Ming Dynasty to bypass the historical development process, skip directly the final stage of the feudal dynasty, and enter the system of a modern state.

All he could do was to make some repairs, just like previous cabinet ministers, to maintain the broken ship of the Ming Dynasty against threats from the West and try to transform the privileged class into capital. This was the greatest contribution he could make.

Wei Guangde really didn't dare to come up with the idea of ​​taking advantage of Zhu Yijun's young age to seize imperial power.

Don't forget that most of the military power in the capital is in the hands of the nobles, and they will not trust the civil service group.

The nobles had to maintain their final dignity by fully supporting the imperial power, and only the emperor could guarantee their interests.

In other words, the soldiers stationed in the capital will still be loyal to the emperor.

The republic will be deeply rooted in people's hearts in the future, but it is definitely not suitable for the current social environment.

As for constitutional monarchy, that would require the Zhu emperor to be willing to accept it.

Therefore, Wei Guangde did not plan to try it, as it would cost him his head, and he could not afford the price of failure.

Wei Guangde had no intention of replacing Zhang Juzheng at the moment. He also wanted to see what kind of shape the Ming Dynasty would become as a result of Zhang Juzheng's reforms that were passed down to later generations.

If the reform was truly successful, he would find a way to maintain the results of the reform and not let it be abandoned halfway, and perhaps he could contribute a little to the continuation of the Ming Dynasty.

If he had made some minor adjustments to its foreign policy, China in this life might have been very different from that in future generations.

Obviously, Wei Guangde had already made up his mind. He intended to stand aside and watch the dispute caused by Zhang Juzheng's students. Not only would he not get involved, he would also urge others around him not to intervene.

He wanted to see what kind of counterattack Zhang Juzheng would take against Liu Tai.

Liu Tai, courtesy name Ziwei, was a native of Xingguo Prefecture, Huguang, and was born in Ba County, Sichuan. He became a Jinshi in the fifth year of Longqing's reign and became a student of Zhang Juzheng.

Liu Tai was initially appointed as the head of the Ministry of Justice. In order to curry favor with Zhang Juzheng, Liu Tai naturally tried every means to get Zhang Juzheng's attention.

However, the Wanli period soon arrived, and Zhang Juzheng was wholeheartedly promoting the reform blueprint in his mind, so he was quite strict with himself.

In the ancient officialdom, no matter how great Liu Tai's achievements were in the Ministry of Justice, Zhang Juzheng might not necessarily see them.

Therefore, in the early days, Liu Tai could only visit Zhang Juzheng's house from time to time in the name of a student. However, the Zhang family would also return gifts for the gifts sent during this period. In fact, he did not accept a lot of filial piety from his subordinates.

There were so many students taking the provincial examination that Zhang Juzheng naturally could not take care of them all. Moreover, his ranking was not that outstanding, as could be seen from the fact that he was appointed as the head of the Ministry of Justice. Naturally, it was even more difficult for him to catch Zhang Juzheng's eye.

To this end, Liu Tai found another way. Since Zhang Juzheng in the capital refused to accept gifts, he took a roundabout way to save the country. He sent someone to send the valuable gifts to Jiangling, which was Zhang Juzheng's home.

Zhang Juzheng was rather reserved and worried that accepting gifts would bring bad reputation and affect the reforms he was promoting, but his family members did not have as many concerns as he did.

So, when Zhang's father was in Jiangling, he accepted all the gifts sent from all over the place.

This is why Liu Tai said in his impeachment memorial that the Zhang family had become the richest family in Jiangling since Zhang Juzheng became the prime minister.

In fact, Zhang's father played a significant role in Liu Tai's transfer from the Ministry of Justice to Liaodong as an inspector.

In his letters to Zhang Juzheng, Zhang's father often mentioned Liu Tai, his generous apprentice. The gifts Liu Tai gave were so valuable that it was hard for him to forget them.

Although the Inspector-General was not a high-ranking official like the Governor-General or the Governor-General, he had considerable power. Not to mention the prefects and county magistrates, even the governor of a province had to be polite to him.

Of course, Liaodong is a special place where the Wei Suo system is implemented with the governor in charge, but his influence on the military generals in Liaodong is also considerable, and his power is enormous.

It can be said that in the three-acre land of Liaodong, Governor Zhang Xueyan ranked first, and Liu Tai was second. As for the Liaodong general, he had to stand behind him obediently.

Such power is not what a seventh-rank official should have.

Since Zhang Juzheng treated him like this, Liu Tai should have been grateful.

"Master, Prime Minister Zhang wants to see you."

Just when Wei Guangde was thinking, Lu Bu walked in cautiously to report.

"He's here, what do you think of his face?"

Wei Guangde glanced at the reed cloth and asked casually.

"Not very good. Besides, in addition to inviting the master to go, we also invited Mr. Lu to go as well."

Lubu was very observant and told him everything he had just seen.

"It seems that Uncle Da must have known about Liu Tai's impeachment. He should be planning to explain himself and return to the mansion to wait for the court's decision."

Well, in the Ming Dynasty, it was really easy to temporarily deprive an official of his rights. All he had to do was find an imperial censor to write an impeachment memorial, and the official would have to resign obediently and go home to await his fate.

Or he could secretly contact his comrades to defend him, and also prepare to defend himself in case the emperor asked further questions.

But the emperor is still young, so he naturally won't ask any other questions.

In fact, everything depends on his status in the hearts of people in the palace.

Wei Guangde stood up, straightened his robe, and strode towards the Prime Minister's duty room.

"Uncle brother."

After entering the duty room, Wei Guangde saluted Zhang Juzheng as usual. Zhang Juzheng also stood up to return the salute, and then invited him to sit down.

"Shandai, you know about the memorial."

Zhang Juzheng was obviously in a bad mood. He must have known the news last night, otherwise it would not have been possible.

However, even though he knew it, he still came to the cabinet first and then returned to the mansion to avoid suspicion. It was obvious that he had his own plans.

After all, last night, the memorial only reached the Imperial Household Department at most.

If he showed that he knew about it in advance, he would inevitably be accused of having an affair with the eunuch.

“I heard about it after I came in.”

Wei Guangde nodded and said, his expression was full of color, and he did not mean to gloat over other people's misfortune. "Brother, it's good to have a clear conscience. You don't need to take the slanderous words of villains to heart."

"Shan Dai, you and I have known each other for many years, and I believe you know me.

With the current situation in the Ming Dynasty, I..."

Zhang Juzheng could see that Wei Guangde had no intention of adding insult to injury. In fact, he had already made this calculation after learning the news last night.

Lu Diaoyang had no ability to challenge his position, and the only person who posed a threat to him was Wei Guangde.

However, judging from his understanding of Wei Guangde, Wei Guangde was also very uneasy about the current situation in the Ming Dynasty and hoped to turn the tide with new policies.

Unfortunately, governance is not his forte, so his reforms have always been fully supported.

Even though he was sometimes threatened with the new policies and certain interests were exchanged with him, in fact everyone did the same thing, and Zhang Juzheng did not feel uncomfortable.

If Wei Guangde had no selfish motives at all, Zhang Juzheng would not have dared to cooperate with him.

Therefore, Zhang Juzheng was actually willing to let him stay in the position of deputy assistant, as his influence was large enough and he could cooperate with his work. When he entered the room just now, Zhang Juzheng had been observing Wei Guangde. He was worried that Wei Guangde would not be able to resist the temptation and take the opportunity to attack him.

However, Wei Guangde's words after he entered the room dispelled his worries and even moved him a little, so he choked up when he spoke.

In fact, if Wei Guangde was not from later generations, and simply had the thinking habits of this era, it would be hard to say whether he would have come up with such an idea.

Precisely because of the insights gained from later generations, Wei Guangde cherishes his current position even more and is unwilling to make any mistakes.

Many people become arrogant after suddenly rising to a high position, and even quickly fall into depravity and become extremely greedy. In fact, this is the wrong path.

  As long as power remains, what else can you lack?

Yan Shifan thought he was smart, and he lived a greedy and extravagant life, thinking that he could reassure Emperor Jiajing and that he would not touch him.

The same was true of Heshen in the Qing Dynasty, except that he seemed to have learned from Yan Shifan's experience and lessons, and appropriately concealed his actions instead of exposing them openly, thinking that he was very smart.

But what was the final outcome of these two smart men? The wealth they had worked so hard to collect ended up becoming someone else's meal.

Wei Guangde and Zhang Juzheng were both relatively self-disciplined people. They were not greedy, but they did not care whether their subordinates were greedy or not, as long as it was not excessive.

Zhang Juzheng knew the reason behind the words in the Zhang family's letters, but he still accepted it. However, this did not mean that he would do the same in the capital.

They all cherish their current achievements and status and cannot make mistakes easily.

"Uncle, you are good at lending."

Just at this moment, Lu Diaoyang came into the room and bowed.

The two men stood up to return the greeting and then sat down. Zhang Juzheng soon changed the topic to Liu Tai's impeachment.

"I asked you two to come here to give you instructions. I have to go back to my residence to wait for the court's decision. I will leave all the cabinet affairs to you two."

As he spoke, Zhang Juzheng stood up again and bowed.

Wei Guangde and Lu Diaoyang, who had just sat down, hurriedly stood up to return the greeting. Lu Diaoyang also hurriedly expressed his opinion, saying that he did not believe what Liu Tai said in the memorial at all, and asked Zhang Juzheng to rest assured.

"I remember that I wrote the petition myself years ago. I think Liu Tai's move was intended to be revengeful and he has evil intentions."

Wei Guangde spoke at this time.

Indeed, when Wei Guangde first heard that it was Liu Tai who impeached Zhang Juzheng, he was shocked and came to this conclusion after thinking about it.

Liu Tai’s current achievements are naturally all due to Zhang Juzheng’s support.

At the beginning, Liu Tai was grateful to Zhang Juzheng and was quite loyal to him.

Unfortunately, after Li Chengliang won a great victory in the encirclement and suppression of Wang Gao last year, his tricky operation went wrong.

The Ming Dynasty won a great victory in the encirclement and suppression of Wang Gao. The other Jurchen tribes outside the Great Wall did not dare to say a word and just watched the Ming army annihilate Wang Gao's troops.

Even other Jurchen tribes had to contribute.

Wang Gao ran to someone else's territory to hide, but was surrounded by the Ming army.

Not only did his fellow tribesmen not rescue him, they also helped the Ming army to surround him, leaving him no chance to escape.

After the Ming army won a great victory, other Jurchen tribes would bring cattle and sheep to reward the Ming army.

  Don’t they understand the principle of “the lips and teeth are interdependent”?

Of course not, but they were afraid of the powerful Ming army.

It is true that many people do not get along with Wang Gao, but they do not want the Ming army to take action. With Wang Gao in the front, their lives will be easier.

  What did Liu Tai do in such a situation?

After he got the news, he immediately sent someone to report the victory to the capital, making it seem as if he had fought the battle.

  He was an inspector, not a governor. The war was not his responsibility. His duty was to inspect the officials in Liaodong. Why did he get involved when the battle was won?

After receiving the good news, Zhang Juzheng was not happy at all. Instead, he thought that he was not doing his job properly.

So, after discussing it with Wei Guangde and Lu Diaoyang, Wei Guangde finally wrote an official document to request the imperial edict and sent it to Liaodong.

Wei Guangde didn't know whether Zhang Juzheng wrote a letter to Liu Tai to scold him privately.

However, today, when he learned that Liu Tai, this traitor, actually impeached Zhang Juzheng and even impeached him to death, he had some guesses.

The relationship between Zhang Juzheng and Gao Gong can be seen from a series of actions taken by Zhang Juzheng after he came to power. Liu Tai's first memorial was "Our ancestors promoted and dismissed ministers with courtesy", accusing Zhang Juzheng of using the case of Minister Wang to expel Gao Gong.

The title of king after Zhu Xizhong's death was pinned on Zhang Juzheng. In fact, Zhang Juzheng was involved in this matter, but it was mainly done by Feng Bao, and Zhang Juzheng agreed only because of Feng Bao's relationship with him.

In short, Liu Tai exposed almost all the things Zhang Juzheng had done in recent years that were not allowed to be made public, in order to prove that Zhang Juzheng did not follow the laws of his ancestors, and thereby to negate the performance evaluation system introduced by Zhang Juzheng.

The performance evaluation system was Zhang Juzheng's fate. How could Zhang Juzheng not hate Liu Tai to death?

What's more, she is his nominal student.

Just imagine having a record in history books of a scandal unprecedented in China's thousands of years, where students impeached their teacher.

Now, Wei Guangde is in the cabinet, giving Zhang Juzheng a way out and telling the outside world that the reason why Liu Tai impeached Zhang Juzheng is that last time Liu Tai reported a victory and was reprimanded by the cabinet, so he holds a grudge and is waiting for an opportunity to take revenge.

Defeat him morally first, then talk about other things.

Wei Guangde had no doubt that Liu Tai was completely doomed and not even the gods could save him.

What Wei Guangde said cannot be refuted.

"Liu Tai's evil ambitions are obvious. I will write a memorial to impeach him when I return. We must not let this villain succeed."

Lu Diaoyang was very tactful and immediately responded.

In fact, before coming here, he was very worried that Wei Guangde and Zhang Juzheng would fight over this.

At that time, the imperial court was in chaos, which was definitely not a blessing for the Ming Dynasty.

But when he heard Wei Guangde's excuses for Zhang Juzheng, he realized that he was worrying too much.

To outsiders, Wei Guangde and Zhang Juzheng seemed to be always at odds with each other, but on some national affairs, their attitudes were surprisingly consistent.

It has to be said that the people who came out of Yu Ju were united, with the exception of Gao Gong.

This is Lu Diaoyang's understanding of the two people's attitudes towards things. He feels that the two are actually in the same group.

I said this today because I can see their attitude. I am just going along with it.

"Okay, Brother Heqing will write it, and Shandai will second it."

Wei Guangde immediately said that he was willing to sign Lu Diaoyang's memorial, which would also be a signal from the cabinet to the outside world.

"Shan Dai, He Qing, you..."

Zhang Juzheng was soon moved again.

After arranging the trivial matters of the cabinet, Zhang Juzheng returned home. Wei Guangde and Lu Diaoyang also sent him to the outside of Chengtian Gate before returning to the cabinet to do his work.

Their actions instantly silenced the debates in the various government offices in the capital.

At first, everyone discussed the matter with a mentality of watching a joke, and then they analyzed what the attitude of the Deputy Prime Minister of the Cabinet would be and what they should do.

Now, there are results.

(End of this chapter)