prosperous age

Chapter 1109 1200 Letter

It’s late at night in the capital of Ming Dynasty.

"Bang bang bang dong."

The night watchman was walking on the street beating his drum. Two lanterns appeared in the distance, followed by a sedan chair carried by four people swaying towards them.

Next to the sedan chair, there were several attendants and guards, all walking in a hurry.

The night watchman tactfully stepped aside, leaving the entire alley empty until the other party passed by him.

Soon, the sedan passed through the alley and entered the alley opposite, and soon stopped in front of a black door.

The attendant stepped forward and knocked on the door knocker, and soon there was a response from inside the door.

"Who?"

"Open the door quickly, the master is back."

Hearing the questions coming from inside the door, the attendants outside immediately reported.

When he heard that it was the master returning home, he hurriedly loosened the bolt and opened the door.

The bearers at the back of the sedan lifted it and tilted it forward. With the help of the attendants outside the sedan, the drunk Wei Guangde finally got out of the sedan.

"Master, we are home, this way."

“Watch out for the threshold.”

Two lanterns were lighting the way in front, and two followers, one on the left and one on the right, supported Wei Guangde as he walked into the mansion.

After entering the Wei Mansion and taking a few steps, Zhang Ji, who had heard the news, came to meet him.

"Master, I have asked someone to prepare the hangover soup."

"Ah."

Wei Guangde agreed vaguely and was then helped through the hall and the room to the backyard gate.

Here, Wei Guangde was handed over to the maid in the backyard for support before continuing to walk inside.

Although Wei Guangde was a little drunk, Zhang Ji still followed closely behind him and reported in a low voice what had happened in the mansion today.

"You said the relatives from Tashanpu have arrived?"

Just at the gate of the courtyard, Wei Guangde suddenly stopped, turned around and asked a question.

"Yes, they arrived this afternoon. Madam has seen them and arranged for them to stay at her house."

Zhang Ji said hurriedly.

The relatives they were talking about were naturally the people who were transferred from the inland garrisons when the Ming Dynasty developed Liaodong in the early years. They were considered to be Wei Guangde's cousins ​​many generations ago.

In the beginning, there was still correspondence between the two sides, but after all, transportation was inconvenient in that era, so over time, the number of letters became less and less, until they completely disappeared.

However, as the main family that stayed in Jiangxi, Wei Guangde still heard his father often talk about the two branches that were separated by his ancestors, one went to Liaodong and the other went to Datong.

In the past, there were no such conditions. The only hereditary position of a thousand households was in the family, and the official influence was not strong, so naturally there was no way to find anyone to look for these relatives.

It’s different now. Wei Guangde is already a cabinet minister, and it’s just a matter of a word for him to ask someone to help find someone.

However, the transfer of military households of the Ming army was rather complicated, especially in Liaodong and Datong, which were both war zones and often underwent changes, so it was difficult to find them.

These are the relatives who went to Liaodong, and it took the Ministry of War several inquiries to confirm this.

According to the Ministry of War, he was first assigned to Guangning, then transferred to Liaoyang, and finally, during the Zhengde period, he was sent to Haizhou and stationed in Tashanpu under Haizhou. It was a garrison guarding the passage from Haizhou to Yingkou and Gaizhou.

It should be said that this location is still good, better than Guangning and Liaoyang. At least it is not on the front line and wars generally do not occur.

The Ministry of War also arranged for people to ask the Wei family in Tashanpu, and confirmed that they were indeed separated from Jiujiang. Their hometown was actually in Mengcheng, which belonged to Huaixi, and the information matched that of the Wei family.

So, the two sides began to exchange letters again.

It is different now. My relatives have become cabinet ministers. Even if they need to send letters, they don’t need to bother finding someone to carry them. Instead, they can send the letters through the channels of the garrison.

Moreover, because of Wei Guangde, the current commander-in-chief of Liaodong is still Qi Jiguang, who is the most capable of dealing with people. The Wei family of Tashanpu is just a hereditary general flag, but now he has squeezed out a merit and reported a hereditary centurion official position to the Ministry of War.

Of course, this relative’s visit was definitely not because of the promotion or to express gratitude.

In fact, Wei Guangde could guess it to some extent, because the first few letters were fine at the beginning, all of them describing the family situation over the years.

There are quite a few members of the Wei family in Tashanpu, and the oldest one now is considered Wei Guangde's grandfather.

However, in the last two letters, he repeatedly mentioned the bitter cold weather in Liaodong and how difficult life was.

Wei Guangde more or less guessed that they wanted him to help put in a word, find someone to make arrangements, and plan to leave Liaodong and return to the interior.

It's not like you have to leave your military household status, so it's actually not that difficult to say.

Speaking of which, the Ministry of War and Ma Fang had asked people to inquire about the branch of the Wei family that went to Datong, but they couldn't find anyone.

After all, Datong has experienced wars and disasters many times over the years, with many people dying and many fleeing.

Therefore, not being able to find a person does not mean that he or she has died in the war. He or she may have run away in his or her early years.

However, Wei Guangde also knew that if he really escaped, he would definitely run to Jiangxi. After all, when he was transferred north, he only got an official position as a general flag, which was the same as the one who went to Liaodong.

No one has gone to Jiangxi to recognize their relatives for so many years, so the probability of survival is extremely small.

It was because people in that era had a strong sense of clan, so Wei Guangde asked someone to inquire about them and make contact with them.

"What did they say this time?"

Wei Guangde stopped at the backyard door and asked with a strong smell of alcohol on his mouth.

"Just as the master guessed, they want to move back to the interior and settle down. They don't want to stay in Liaodong any longer."

Zhang Ji whispered, "Madam said that we should wait until Grandpa comes back to make the decision, but she didn't agree to it."

"Inside the Great Wall? Go back to Jiangxi or stay in the capital?"

Wei Guangde shook his head and continued to ask.

"That, they didn't mention it. They just said that we just need to go back to the interior of the country. They also said that the area outside the country is big, but the population is small. There are less than 200 people in Tashanpu where they live. Usually, you don't see anyone except the caravans. It's also troublesome to go into the city, which is very inconvenient."

Zhang Ji continued.

"Well, I see."

Wei Guangde turned around and walked into the backyard with the help of the maid. He just said casually, "You should also go to bed early. Please help take care of the relatives and arrange someone to take them out for a few days and travel around the capital."

Wei Guangde entered the inner house, and naturally someone fetched water for him to wash up, and he also drank sobering soup, but the effect was just so-so.

Nowadays, when officials attend banquets, rice wine is usually prepared. Although rice wine has a light alcohol content and is suitable for long-term drinking, it has a strong aftereffect and one needs a good night's sleep to eliminate the effects.

Although white wine has become popular, it is still of the lower class and is not acceptable at formal banquets.

However, the officials have good personal relationships and drink white wine when they get together.

At this time, Wei Guangde felt dizzy and was fiddled with by a maid before being sent back to his bedroom to rest.

When he woke up again, it was already the next day and it was bright outside.

Fortunately, it is not the first or fifteenth day of the lunar month, so there is no morning court today.

If the person who asked him to serve was the workaholic Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, Wei Guangde would have deserved to have ten heads chopped off.

In fact, since Emperor Zhengde, the emperors of the Ming Dynasty were rather lazy, and not attending court early in the morning had become the norm.

Although officials used this to impeach the emperor from time to time and accused him of being lazy, only they knew what he was thinking in his heart.

Anyway, the lives of officials in Beijing during the middle and late Ming Dynasty were much better than those in the early Ming Dynasty.

"woke up."

Wei Guangde opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling of the bed quietly, then he heard his wife's words.

Wei Guangde turned his head and saw his wife Xu Jianglan sitting there, with her personal maid helping her to dress up.

"Does your head still hurt?" I saw the quilt on the bed moved just now, so I asked in my heart. Seeing that Wei Guangde didn't answer, I continued to ask.

"A little bit, but it doesn't matter."

Wei Guangde finally spoke at this time.

"Drink less next time. You stink when you're drunk."

Knowing that Wei Guangde had been drinking, she did not get up after being sent back last night, and let the maids clean up after him.

"Ah, I was forced to drink by those two bastards Liu Tianxi and Zhao Guobin yesterday. They really made me suffer."

Wei Guangde sighed.

"Just about that field?"

Xu Jianglan learned from Wei Guangde that these two nobles had previously occupied a lot of land outside the city, causing great resentment among the people, and even the government had to report it to the higher authorities.

If Wei Guangde wanted to help broker this matter, it would naturally mean asking others to spit out the fat meat they had eaten, which would certainly be a big deal.

Since the government was in the right, the two dukes naturally couldn't say anything.

If they really have to go to class, they will be the ones who suffer.

In fact, nobles can also intimidate people, but it depends on what the matter is.

If it’s a small matter and you don’t make a big deal about it, officials will naturally protect each other.

But this time the matter is a bit too big to be resolved off stage. Bringing it to the table will only make them more embarrassed.

But admitting defeat is one thing, but you still have to vent your unhappiness.

Therefore, they became concerned about Wei Guangde, the middleman, and took advantage of a banquet to discuss the matter and got Wei Guangde drunk, perhaps to vent their anger.

Wei Guangde had no choice but to accept it.

He has surrendered at the dinner table and agreed to return those lands that were obtained illegally to appease the people's grievances. What else do you want? Do you have to embarrass the nobles?

"Why don't you just hand the matter over to the Duke of Dingguo's Mansion? Those nobles will naturally have ways to suppress them."

Xu Jianglan was still talking to herself.

It was difficult for civil officials to deal with nobles, because many people would be involved, and it might even develop into a fight between civil officials and nobles.

Although civil officials have great influence in the court, the nobles will not give in when it comes to their own interests.

However, there are also hierarchies within the nobility, and it is common for greater nobles to oppress lesser nobles.

There must be someone in your family who wants to get a job in the Beijing camp or somewhere else, so you have to ask for help from the Duke's Mansion.

After all, the military power of the Forty-Nine Cities has always been held in turn by several dukedoms.

The situation of the Five Military Governor's Office is similar. If one wants to get a good job and make money to supplement the family income, one has to give face to those Duke's Mansions.

That is an internal conflict, and there is no need to fight in the court.

"It's ridiculous to leave official business to the Duke Dingguo's Mansion."

Wei Guangde chuckled and said, "It's just a matter of drinking two more glasses of wine. Those two guys didn't end up in a good situation. Don't you know how much I can drink?"

In the past, Wei Guangde could not drink much, but after becoming an official, his alcohol tolerance increased rapidly.

There is no way. If the price doesn’t go up, I can’t do it.

When I was a Hanlin, my colleagues would invite me to drink together every now and then.

The same thing happened when he entered the court as an official. Even if he had to go to another government office to handle some official business, if he met a colleague from the same year, he had to go to a restaurant for a drink together.

Especially since Wei Guangde rose rapidly in career after entering the officialdom, no matter if they were from the same hometown, the same year, or even colleagues, they would always invite him to any drinking party.

"By the way, Qi Jiguang from Liaodong sent you a letter yesterday."

As Xu Jianglan was talking, she remembered something important and asked the maid to bring a letter from the side.

"Leave it there for now. I'll take a look at it later."

Wei Guangde agreed but didn't even get up to read the letter.

"By the way, Zhang Ji said last night that his relatives from Liaodong came and wanted to seek internal transfer?"

Just now, Wei Guangde was still recalling what happened after he got drunk, and he thought of what he vaguely remembered Zhang Ji saying.

"There is no rooster crowing in Liaodong for a thousand miles, and they want to be transferred to the interior.

But I asked yesterday and they didn't know where to go.

Jiangxi, it seems that the whole family has become accustomed to the weather in the north and is afraid that they will not be able to adapt if they return there.

Come to think of it, they have lived in Liaodong for several dynasties, and I don’t know why they are still thinking about transferring to the interior.”

Xu Jianglan continued.

"Liaodong is a war zone after all."

Wei Guangde certainly knew why they wanted to transfer to the interior. Even though they had defeated the Jurchens badly before, they were still strong. They only killed the most erratic Wang Gao.

But some of Wang Gao's ideas actually represented the mainstream thinking of the Jurchens, he was just the first to speak out.

"Well, you can ask them again today. The Beijing camp can be resettled, but that place may not be good."

Wei Guangde hesitated for a moment and then said, "There is also Tianjin, which seems to be a good place. If you are willing to go there, it may be better than staying in the Beijing Camp.

If they are undecided, arrange for someone to send them there for a look, otherwise they can go to Baoding.

Since they are back now, let them walk around and see more and choose a place by themselves.

It’s easy to just arrange a hundred households.”

After all, he just wanted to transfer away from the border to the inland to live a stable life, which was naturally not difficult for Wei Guangde.

"Yesterday I asked them if they wanted to go to Nanjing. It would be easy to place them in the Beijing camp there."

Xu Jianglan smiled and said, "But they said they were afraid they wouldn't be able to adapt, haha."

"How are the two boys doing in school? I've been out socializing these days and forgot to ask about their studies."

Wei Guangde thought of his two sons and asked.

"Mr. said it was fine."

Xu Jianglan smiled and said, "In my opinion, even if I can't pass the imperial examination, it shouldn't be a problem to pass the imperial examination. That's what I heard from you, sir."

Wei Guangde knew clearly that what the teacher said was most likely to mean that the two children were not good at studying, unless they used connections to get a degree.

"Well, it's still early, let's wait and see."

For Wei Guangde, it was not difficult to get the title of Juren by making some connections.

Yes, the imperial examination system had been played to pieces long ago, and even the top scorer was arranged to be Zhang Maoxiu through the back door.

Of course, this is not to say that Zhang Maoxiu was not talented in literature, but it was a bit of a stretch for him to be the top scorer.

Moreover, this thing had not happened yet. It happened a few years later, and Emperor Wanli gave it to the Zhang family as a reward.

However, Wei Guangde did not intend to force his son to take the imperial examination. He just wanted to get the title of scholar or juren and enjoy some political privileges. There was no need to force him into the court.

When they grow up and are interested, they can do it, but there is no need to force them.

He knew exactly what kind of person he was.

"Get some water. The master is getting up."

As Wei Guangde spoke, he sat up from the bed.

It was quarter of an hour later when he opened Qi Jiguang's letter.

However, when looking at Qi Jiguang's letter, Wei Guangde frowned slightly.