prosperous age

Chapter 1132 Liu Tai case resurfaces

The military production of the Ming Dynasty began to change as Wei Guangde's note was sent to the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of War.

Although each garrison in various parts of the Ming Dynasty had its own military craftsmen who could forge and repair weapons, all they could forge were cold weapons and repair minor faults in firearms.

Although some craftsmen may be able to manufacture firearms independently because they have been transferred to the weapons bureaus in the northern and southern capitals in the past.

But strictly speaking, they cannot be manufactured privately, and they are all considered privately made.

The firearms of the Ming Dynasty could only be produced in the two capitals of the north and south of the Ministry of Works, and then allocated by the court.

As for gunpowder, it was not the responsibility of the Ministry of Works, but was produced by the Armory of the Inner Court.

Of course, the preparation of gunpowder in this era was no longer a secret, and ordinary people could make their own gunpowder, but the raw materials were rare, and they had to report to the government, otherwise they had to do it secretly and could not be discovered by the government.

In the past, the Ministry of Industry’s Ordnance Bureau’s production was always coordinated with the Ministry of War, so it can also be considered that the Ministry of Industry produced according to the Ministry of War’s requirements.

As the cabinet minister in charge, Wei Guangde has a heavy say in the needs of the Ministry of War.

In the past, the Ministry of War actually had disputes over the production of two types of artillery. However, when the news reached Wei Guangde, he expressed his preference for equipping more falconets.

Well, influenced by the development of later weapons, Wei Guangde prefers the falconet, a weapon that is closer to later weapons. It is actually easy to understand.

It was also because of Wei Guangde's opinion that the Portuguese faction naturally prevailed over the other faction in the Ministry of War.

In fact, it doesn’t matter whether it is right or wrong. Wei Guangde’s opinion is actually very suitable for the current historical environment of the Ming Dynasty.

There were almost no regimes around the Ming Dynasty that could threaten its safety, so even the falconets it was equipped with were considered very advanced weapons in the eyes of surrounding countries.

If the Ming army had not encountered Portuguese mercenaries in the southwest this time, Wei Guangde would not have realized that the Ming Dynasty's weapons actually needed to refer more to the development of Western weapons.

Just because all weapons in later generations were rear-loading, we cannot think that replacing the falconet with the red cannon is a step backward in history.

"Sir, this is a joint memorial from the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Works. It's been sent here specially for you to take a look at."

As soon as Wei Guangde entered the duty room today, Lu Bu picked up the first memorial on the desk and said to Wei Guangde.

Wei Guangde went over, took it and looked through it. It was a memorial submitted by Tan Lun and Jiang Zhi. Although Zhu Heng had not officially retired, the position of the official in charge of the Ministry of Works had been handed over to Jiang Zhi.

So on the document, in addition to the seal of the Ministry of Works, there is also Jiang Zhi’s signature.

Wei Guangde knew what was going on, and when he took a closer look, he found that it was just as he had guessed.

The Weaponry Bureau of the Ministry of Industry and the Armory Bureau of the Inner Court would both reduce the production of Portuguese cannons and instead manufacture more red cannons.

Among them, the red cannon is divided into large and small types. The small red cannon will be equipped with a gun carriage and used as a field gun, while the large red cannon will be transported to the walls of the Sijiu City and important border cities and used as city defense guns.

This part is actually mainly about increasing production. After all, the original production of Red Cannon has been taken away by the navy.

Of course, the number of cannons obtained by the navy was actually insufficient, mainly because the South China Sea Navy ordered too many warships and is now having some indigestion.

However, Wei Guangde and Yu Dayou had actually reached a tacit understanding regarding the extra warships, which was that the South China Sea Navy would transfer some of the warships to the Denglai Navy.

This was also the method that Wei Guangde could think of to improve the northern navy as soon as possible.

After all, the wealth of the Jiangnan provinces is well known to the world, and a considerable portion of the shipbuilding funds for the South China Sea Navy were provided by the Jiangnan provinces.

After reading the memorial, Wei Guangde only thought about it for a moment, then picked up a pen and wrote the word "yes" on a note, and then put it in the memorial, and that was it. He had completed the review of the memorial.

All that was left was to send it to the Imperial Household Department and hand it over to the inner court for approval.

After a short rest, Wei Guangde started his official work for the day and reviewed memorials.

But not long after, after reading a memorial from Liaodong, Wei Guangde frowned slightly, not knowing what to do.

The memorial was submitted by Zhang Xueyan, the governor of Liaodong. However, it was not the official document signed by Wei Guangde, asking Qi Jiguang to seize the opportunity to lead his troops to attack Honglizhai and Shaji City directly. Instead, it was a memorial about Liu Tai, the former imperial censor of Liaodong.

Liu Tai, the one who had previously submitted a memorial to impeach Zhang Juzheng, has now been demoted to a commoner and returned to his hometown.

This time, Zhang Xueyan impeached Liu Tai for accepting bribes while serving in Liaodong.

Liu Tai has been away from Liaodong for nearly a year. Now that the case has happened, to be honest, Wei Guangde can't say for sure whether there is any other trick behind this matter.

However, as the governor, since the impeachment had been submitted, Wei Guangde had to take it seriously.

Now Zhang Xueyan takes good care of Qi Jiguang in Liaodong and responds to his every request. The two of them cooperate well with each other.

Wei Guangde still had to give him this little bit of face.

Wei Guangde couldn't help but feel a toothache at this time. As the saying goes, killing is not enough. Now Liu Tai is already an ordinary citizen. Is it still worth pursuing him so relentlessly?
Providing convenience for several officials to get promoted, such things actually happened every day in the Ming Dynasty. Generally speaking, as long as the promoted people did not commit a serious crime, such things would not be pursued.

However, Zhang Xueyan's accusation obviously criticized and educated the bribers but did not hold them accountable. Instead, he submitted a memorial to impeach Liu Tai for accepting bribes.

Liu Tai accepted the bribe, and Wei Guangde believed it was most likely true.

As a touring censor, he was responsible for supervising the officials in his jurisdiction. In other words, whether they were promoted or demoted, and whether they were good officials, all depended on the censor's pen.

Therefore, the position of Censor is low in rank but has great power, and there is no local official who does not try to curry favor with him, so giving gifts is normal.

Why did Zhang Xueyan do this?
Judging from the official ecology of the Ming Dynasty, Zhang Xueyan's impeachment was actually a fabrication of charges.

Although, Liu Tai may have really committed these "crimes".

Suddenly, Wei Guangde raised his head and looked in one direction, which was where the duty room of Prime Minister Zhang Juzheng was.

Yes, if we were to say who Liu Tai offended the most cruelly, to the point where he was still not satisfied even after being dismissed from office, it might be that person.

Perhaps, it was his instruction?
A thought suddenly appeared in Wei Guangde's mind. Otherwise, would it be necessary for Zhang Xueyan to treat a colleague who had been dismissed from office to death in this way, even if he had offended him in the past?

Because of its special status, Liaodong was automatically classified as a border area by the imperial court, so most of the memorials from Liaodong were sent to him.

However, at this time Wei Guangde hoped that this memorial would be submitted to Zhang Juzheng rather than to him.

According to previous rules, Wei Guangde should have asked the officials to assist in the investigation, asked the Liaodong Governor's Office to hand over the confessions and other documents they had, and the Censorate should have sent people to Huguang to find Liu Tai before making the final judgment.

The guilty will be punished, the innocent will be pardoned.

Thinking of this, Wei Guangde shook his head and murmured softly: "Forget it, leave him alone, let him make a fuss as he wants."

Wei Guangde immediately drafted a bill, "Instructing the officials to verify and investigate." When this bill was shown, no one could say "no". If someone accused an official of corruption, it would be right for the officials to investigate and handle the case.

If people are not allowed to investigate and verify, that would be called favoritism and abuse of power.

The left and right were students that Zhang Juzheng did not acknowledge, so they could do whatever they wanted.

After writing the draft, Wei Guangde couldn't help but smile. At first, the young emperor Zhu Yijun wanted to severely punish Liu Tai, but Zhang Juzheng wrote a petition to plead for him.

It seems that he had already made plans to settle the score later, but he just pretended to be righteous and benevolent in the court.

He thought so, but after all, the memorial was in his hands, and it was hard to say whether Zhang Juzheng knew about it.

It is also possible that Zhang Xueyan deliberately "framed" Liu Tai in order to please Zhang Juzheng.

In any case, it was impossible for Wei Guangde to take Zhang Xueyan's memorial to Zhang Juzheng for advice, as that would make him seem too ignorant.

There is no time to avoid suspicion, so who would dare to come up to you?

However, this incident reminded Wei Guangde of the case in which the King of Liao was deposed in his early years.

Wei Guangde had just come out of his desk job and finished copying the Yongle Encyclopedia, and was still a newcomer in the officialdom.

At that time, the imperial court deposed the King of Liao Zhu Xian and imprisoned him behind high walls in Fengyang. Wei Guangde also heard about this matter and it seemed to involve Zhang Juzheng.

I vaguely remember that among Zhang Juzheng's ten major crimes, one of them seemed to be the dethronement of the King of Liao, which was considered as evidence of his oppression of the royal family.

For no reason, Wei Guangde suddenly became interested in this case and wanted to find out the truth.

So Wei Guangde shouted to the outside: "Lu Bu, come in."

"master."

As soon as Wei Guangde finished shouting, Lu Bu heard him walk into the duty room.

"Come here, I have something to tell you."

Wei Guangde said in a low voice.

Lu Bu was stunned for a moment, then he quickly walked over and bowed to stand aside.

Wei Guangde whispered something in his ear. Lu Bu was shocked at first, then he nodded.

This is an old case and not a big deal, but it involves the royal family after all.

The most important thing is that when Wei Guangde mentioned this matter, Lu Bu naturally thought of the rumors of that year.

From Jiajing to Longqing, only a few princes were punished.

The next day, all the files on the case of Liao King Zhu Xian were placed on Wei Guangde's desk in the duty room.

There was definitely no time to copy it, so Lu Bu asked someone to secretly take out the document. Anyway, Wei Guangde would send it back after reading it, without anyone knowing.

If we really need to find someone to copy it, we will inevitably have to find an outsider, which will increase the risk of exposure.

Wei Guangde finished reading all the files in one night, and handed them over to Lu Bu the next day, asking him to send them back.

Anyway, after reading all the files, Wei Guangde was certain that the evidence against Zhu Xian, the King of Liao, was irrefutable, and there was no sign that Zhang Juzheng had any involvement at all.

After all, this case was not Zhang Juzheng's responsibility from beginning to end. He might have known the officials investigating the case, which affected their judgment, but there was no sign that Zhang Juzheng had any involvement in the case as a whole.

King Zhu Xian of Liao, like other vassal kings of the Ming Dynasty, committed the same mistakes that all vassal kings made in his fiefdom.

During the Jiajing period, in order to please Emperor Jiajing, he also started to practice and learned some evil witchcraft. He once wanted to obtain a "living" human head, so he ordered the captain Shi Youyi to cut off the head of Gu Changbao, a resident who was drunk and sleeping on the street. The whole city of Jingzhou was shocked.

This incident caused a huge uproar at the time and was known to everyone in the city.

Other common practices include occupying houses and fields, and abducting women and boys. Of course, it is also inevitable to keep some male favorites.

Of course, there were many similar behaviors in other princely palaces of the Ming Dynasty. Local officials were mostly helpless in dealing with them and could only discuss solutions with the prince's chief historian as much as possible.

For Wei Guangde, he was rather disgusted by the practice of princes keeping male favorites.

In fact, there have been homosexuals in every dynasty in China, but most of them were married. After all, in the ancients' concept, it is absolutely unacceptable to have no offspring.

In ancient times, there were more elegant names for this behavior than we have now, such as "Duanxiu's habit of sharing peaches" and "Longyang's love".

The earliest record of homosexuality appeared in the Warring States Period and has existed in every dynasty for thousands of years.

It is recorded in "Strategies of the Warring States: Strategies of Wei": He replied: "There are many beauties in the four seas. When I hear that I have been favored by the king, I will definitely wear colorful clothes and go to the king. I am just like the fish I caught before. I will also throw it away. How can I not shed tears?"

This is a story about the King of Wei and a man named Long Yang. There is no record in historical records about who Long Yang was, but he was named "Lord Long Yang" by the King of Wei, and was considered a famous figure.

Later generations called this behavior "Longyang's love", which actually originated from this.

The King of Wei and a man named Long Yang were in love and had deep feelings for each other, which started this conversation. Therefore, "Long Yang's addiction" was later used to describe a love story between men.

There are two other adjectives, namely "Duanxiu" and "Fentao". "Duanxiu" refers to Emperor Ai of Han Dynasty, Liu Xin, and Dong Xian, while "Fentao" refers to the story between Duke Ling of Wei in the Song Dynasty and Mi Zixia.

As for the preference for homosexuality in the Ming Dynasty, it can be said that every class, from the emperor and nobles to the common people, was keen on it, and it became a very common social phenomenon.

Moreover, as an important ruling class, homosexuality was popular among the literati, and this trend was generally accepted. At the same time, it was regarded as a romantic affair and they talked about it with relish and enjoyed it.

In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, many scholars and literati came out to criticize the hypocrisy and ugliness of Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism.

Isn’t it because of the rise of Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism that not only degraded the status of women, but also imposed physical and psychological oppression on men, the so-called "preserving the laws of nature and eliminating human desires"?

This concept is essentially an extreme restriction on human nature. As the saying goes, everything will turn into its opposite when it reaches its extreme limit. Suppression to the extreme will lead to extreme backlash, but the backlash of the scholars was a little too intense.

By the middle and late Ming Dynasty, homosexuality was prevalent in the south of the Yangtze River. Even at the end of the Ming Dynasty, scholars in the south were still competing to dress like women.

Wei Guangde had no choice but to deal with this.

Those who like this trend are mostly from wealthy families, that is, gentry families. Even if they want to change it, they don't know where to start.

Thinking that this was somewhat of a personal matter, Wei Guangde naturally did not ask about it.

He put the matter behind him, but the memorial he drafted was finally noticed when it was approved by the Imperial Household Department and sent to the Censorate, and it soon spread throughout the officialdom in the capital.