prosperous age

Chapter 1149 Returning to the Capital without an Imperial Edict
"Master, master, it's not good."

In the Forbidden City cabinet in the capital of the Ming Dynasty, Lu Bu ran into the room in a panic and shouted to Wei Guangde who was dealing with memorials.

"What's the matter? Why are you in such a hurry? It will be embarrassing for outsiders to see it."

Wei Guangde put down the memorial in his hand and glanced at the reed cloth with dissatisfaction.

This is the cabinet, and any slight disturbance will be noticed by Zhang Juzheng and Zhang Siwei.

Zhang Juzheng is easier to deal with, but Zhang Siwei may not be the same.

Although there is no sign yet, Wei Guangde believes that Zhang Siwei must be setting his sights on the position of second assistant.

It was like Wei Guangde actually coveted the position of Prime Minister, but he knew that the Ming Dynasty was facing many internal and external troubles.

He could take up the butcher knife to fight against foreign aggression, but he was somewhat reluctant to deal with internal troubles.

There is no other reason, his family’s interests are also involved here.

As an individual, it is actually very difficult to sacrifice oneself for the sake of career and give up one's own interests to contribute to the Ming Dynasty.

Zhang Juzheng dared to take action against the powerful and even for his own interests. This is actually very admirable.

He can do it if he is given enough support.

Although some aspects may not be fully considered and there are many flaws.

For example, when surveying the land, he only considered measuring and registering the land across the country, and clearing out the hidden land. After the distribution, the taxes and labor service borne by the land would be lighter.

Local officials would have no reason to delay paying taxes to the court, and all arrears could be completely eradicated.

Then, because of the significant increase in land in some places, some taxes could be added outside the court tax system.

After all, the tax amount set during the Hongwu period was very limited given the small population and limited land area at that time, so it would definitely not be suitable now.

In addition, adding new taxes does not count as changing the ancestral system.

However, such a simple principle, but when it came to the local level, local officials, in order to please Zhang Juzheng, actually tampered with the measuring tools to inflate the land area.

The Ming Dynasty had a system of itinerant officials. They were all officials in other places. If they achieved good political achievements, they would be promoted and transferred quickly, so they didn't have to pay attention to the local gentry and common people.

They are the ones who lead the emperor to herd the people.

In response to this, Wei Guangde would naturally remind Zhang Juzheng to instruct the Ministry of Works to manufacture and distribute unified measuring tools, so that local areas would not be required to purchase them on their own.

It’s not that the cost is inflated, but the weights and measures are actually somewhat different in different places.

Wei Guangde planned to let Zhang Juzheng step on the landmine so that he could take advantage of the situation. However, Zhang Siwei might not have this intention, so he had to be on guard against him at all times.

"Tell me, what's the matter?"

Wei Guangde looked at the frightened Lu Bu and said something else. He knew that Lu Bu must have heard some terrible news, which was why he acted like that.

But if we don't know him like this, can the problem be solved?
Apart from adding tension, it does not help solve the problem at all.

"Well, Governor Pan Jixun has returned to the capital, and is now arguing with Minister Zhu at his house."

Lu Bu finally told Wei Guangde the news he had received hesitantly, but Wei Guangde was indeed stunned after hearing it.

"Pan Jixun has returned to the capital? When did it happen? Did the Ministry of Works summon him back?"

A series of questions appeared in Wei Guangde's mind, and he couldn't help but ask them continuously.

"Yes, sir, Master Pan is back today.

After arriving in the capital, he did not go to the Ministry of Works and the Censorate, so I don't know who called him back.

After entering the city, he went straight to Minister Zhu's residence in anger."

Lu Bu said immediately.

In fact, if it were any other official, he would just treat it as a joke and watch the fun.

But for Zhu Heng, Tan Lun, and several other officials who were close to Wei Guangde, this joke was not pleasant to listen to, and the fun was not good either.

Wei Guangde stood up suddenly, as if he was about to go out.

But soon he sat down again.

He could roughly guess why Pan Jixun was looking for Zhu Heng, but there was actually no point in going there at this time.

The most crucial thing is that as the governor of the river, the distance from Jining to the capital is not very short. Who asked him to return to the capital?

Although the governor-general, provincial governors and provincial inspectors were all considered Beijing officials, they were on missions abroad under imperial orders and were not allowed to return to Beijing without imperial orders.

A governor returned to the capital, but he, a deputy prime minister, had no idea about it at all.

This is no small matter, it means something is wrong.

Moreover, there were only two government offices that could summon Pan Jixun back to the capital, one was the Ministry of Works, and the other was the Censorate.

The Ministry of Works would definitely not make such a mistake, so it could only be the Censorate.

The Censorate is a government office that Wei Guangde has always attached great importance to, and he is already prepared to intervene in it.

But up to now, there has been no reply from nearby Lao Kan.

Once Lao Kan agreed to this matter, he immediately took action and transferred the person back to the Censorate to help him watch over it.

At this critical juncture, Wei Guangde had to consider the possibility that the Censorate might get out of control.

"Go ask the Censorate right away what's going on. Why is it that the Cabinet has no idea about such a big thing as the transfer of the Governor of the River? If they don't report it, what are they going to do?"

Wei Guangde suppressed his anger and gave the order.

Only after Lu Bu hurried out did he feel a little panic in his heart.

Yes, he was a little scared.

Don’t think that the emperor is young now and the power is handed over to the cabinet. The chief minister and the second chief minister seem to be in power and can rest easy.

In fact, it is not the case at all.

If Zhang Juzheng really had such great power, would he still need to cooperate with Feng Bao?
Would Gao Gong be taken directly back to Xinzheng?

Is the situation back then any different than it is now?
But the Prime Minister was forced out of office so quietly.

He was afraid. He was afraid that one day, for some unknown reason, he would lose control of the various government offices in the imperial court, and someone would take advantage of the situation and drive him out of the capital like Gao Gong had done.

After that, Wei Guangde had no intention of handling government affairs, but was thinking about how to keep the Censorate firmly in his hands.

Now, because the cabinet supervises the six departments, the restrictions on the cabinet have been greatly reduced. Originally, the cabinet was responsible for helping the emperor to watch over the cabinet, but now the situation is completely reversed.

Such changes made Zhang Juzheng's influence on the six departments increase rapidly, and it could even be said that he was close to controlling the six departments.

Although he was the second assistant and had the right to supervise the six departments, there was still a level between the first assistant and the second assistant.

He had already felt the pressure from Zhang Juzheng. Although he had thought about it before, he could not fully understand the feeling without experiencing it personally.

Half an hour later, Lu Bu appeared at the door of the duty room again.

Wei Guangde looked over and saw Lu Bu quickly enter the duty room. He bowed in front of him and said, "Master, we have already checked it out. Lord Pan was not called back by the Censorate."

"What? Is it the Ministry of Industry?"

Wei Guangde lost his voice.

If the Ministry of Works recalled Pan Jixun, Wei Guangde would doubt Jiang Zhi's ability.

"It wasn't the Ministry of Works. No one summoned him back to Beijing. They didn't seem to know either. Pan Jixun came back on his own."

Lu Bu quickly told Wei Guangde the result and did not let him guess.

"No imperial edict to return to the capital?" Wei Guangde was sure that there would be no imperial decree issued from the capital to allow Pan Jixun to enter the capital. Only the Ministry of Works and the Censorate were his superiors and could issue an order to recall him.

No one else, not even Zhang Juzheng, had this right.

Now all roads back to Beijing are blocked, this is the only possible option.

"should be."

Lu Bu whispered, "According to gossip, a colleague in the Ministry of Works who had a good relationship with Lord Pan told him about the situation in the capital. It may be because his method was rejected by the Ministry of Works, so he hurried back to the capital, and he went straight to see Minister Zhu when he entered the capital.

"It is said outside that the two of them had a very unhappy quarrel in Zhu's mansion, and Lord Pan said that Minister Zhu was seeking revenge for personal gain."

When Wei Guangde heard this, he instantly understood the whole story.

It can be said that Pan Jixun was quite confident in his idea of ​​"using water to attack sand", because in theory it was completely impeccable.

This is also the reason why Pan Jixun was praised to the sky on the Internet in later generations.

Although in reality, this method is simply not feasible and has produced many bitter consequences.

But the gap between ideal and reality is so great that it would be difficult for people to find flaws even in later generations, let alone people today.

6◇9◇Book◇Bar

Wei Guangde supported the "water-control and sand-attack method" from the bottom of his heart at the beginning, but after Jiang Zhi talked about the Qingkou Dam and its impact on Hongze Lake and the impact on the Ming ancestral tombs, he realized that this was actually a "poison".

Moreover, according to the test results, it is also very obvious that this method is only effective in scouring the river channel near Qingkou. The closer to the Yellow River estuary, the worse the scouring effect is, almost to zero, and it is easy to block the estuary.

It's funny that Wei Guangde initially thought that this could increase the land area of ​​the Ming Dynasty.

The Yellow River does have a certain effect of "reclaiming land from the sea", but if we ignore the soil erosion in the middle and upper reaches, even in the lower reaches, most of the land has become saline-alkali land, and it will take a long time to improve the land and turn it into arable land.

"Is he still in Zhu's mansion?"

Wei Guangde asked.

"He has left and gone to the Ministry of Industry."

Lu Bu whispered.

"Mr. Deputy Assistant, Mr. Deputy Assistant."

Just then, there was a shout from outside the door.

Wei Guangde didn't say anything. He just glanced at the reed cloth and went out tactfully.

In the past, if someone came looking for something, they would definitely negotiate with the reed cloth at the door.

But now I'm in the house and there's no one outside, so naturally I can only shout twice first. Otherwise, it would be too abrupt to appear at the door directly.

Soon, Lu Bu came in and said, "Master, the Prime Minister has summoned you to talk about Master Pan's return to the capital."

Wei Guangde was not surprised. If Zhang Juzheng still didn't know about Pan Jixun's return, he would probably not be able to sleep tonight.

"Haha, I guess he sent someone to get some information before calling me over."

At this time, Wei Guangde had a relaxed and happy smile on his face, which was in sharp contrast to his previous seriousness.

Pan Jixun was recommended by Zhang Juzheng. Now that such a big mess has happened, Prime Minister Zhang must be somewhat involved.

Although he thought so, Wei Guangde was not slow in moving. He stood up and walked out.

As he walked, he was thinking about what to do when he saw Zhang Juzheng.

There was no need to lose face for Zhang Juzheng at this time, as Zhang was a bit proud.

As for Pan Jixun, it seems that no one in the Ministry of Works is willing to take on the hot potato of water control, so Wei Guangde has no intention of replacing him.

In order for the imperial court to manage floods, there must be at least one official in the river office.

If there is a contribution, it belongs to everyone; if there is a mistake, you have to take the blame.

Remaining silent is no good, we have to do something to give him a tough time.

Wei Guangde thought as he walked. The imperial court was helpless in controlling the flood. As the official who was most familiar with the river, he had returned to the capital. It was a good opportunity to gather ideas. He might as well give them a good scolding and then discuss with the people in the Ministry of Works who stayed in the capital to see if there were other ways to control the flood.

Yes, just do it.

Wei Guangde had already thought of a plan on his way to Zhang Juzheng's duty room.

He had no prejudice against Pan Jixun, although he bore the imprint of Zhang Juzheng.

He likes pragmatic officials and dislikes those who only talk big.

Zhu Heng also said that although he and Pan Jixun had conflicts, they were actually mostly differences in solution when they were surveying the river on site.

The conflicts between the two were mostly caused by others. That is, after the conflicts arose, their respective friends helped to speak in the court to gain support, which then developed into mutual impeachment.

Although Yan Song had fallen at that time, Jiangxi officials were still in power, and Pan Jixun was no match for them.

"Uncle brother."

After entering the Prime Minister's duty room, Wei Guangde bowed and said.

In the cabinet, outsiders called them the First Assistant and the Second Assistant, but the two of them were addressed by their courtesy names to show their intimacy. They were old acquaintances and had worked together for quite a long time during the reign of Emperor Yu.

"Shan Dai, sit down. I know why you are called here."

Zhang Juzheng did not beat around the bush and spoke directly.

Wei Guangde nodded to show that he understood.

"I have already checked it out. In the end, Pan Weiliang went to the capital on his own, which is considered to be a violation of the court's rules. How do you decide how to deal with this matter?"

At this time, there were only him and Wei Guangde in the room. Zhang Siwei didn't know whether he didn't inform them or came too late, but he didn't see anyone.

Perhaps Zhang Juzheng felt that this matter was somewhat shameful and that he was also involved, so he did not want Zhang Siwei to see it.

In the end, the chief minister and the deputy chief minister of the cabinet reached a consensus, and the opinion of one assistant minister was just that.

"If you break the rules, the court has the freedom to enforce the law, so we can do whatever we want."

Wei Guangde also said that if Pan Jixun dared to come, he must be prepared to accept punishment from the court.

However, the punishment for this kind of thing can be light or heavy.

For serious cases, they would be dismissed from office and expelled directly; for minor cases, they would be fined and ordered to apply for imperial decree. Wei Guangde did not want to get involved. Since Zhang Juzheng understood it, he would let him speak himself.

As expected, Zhang Juzheng continued to speak without changing his expression: "Although Pan Weiliang broke the rules, I heard that it was also because of the flood control issue, so I think it would be better to fine him and issue an imperial decree.

The most important issue for the court now is water control. Since he has returned to the capital, it would be a good opportunity for him to discuss with his colleagues in the Ministry of Works to see if there are other ways to control the Yellow River after punishing the offenders.

I have been thinking about the method he proposed before, which is to use water to attack sand. It is indeed inappropriate.

If we give up river transport directly, I am afraid the backlash will be fierce. "

"Brother Uncle, of course I know this matter clearly, which is why I said we should proceed step by step.

As for the canal transportation, the proportion of sea transportation has been increased year by year, and there is no fixed number anymore, so the canal transportation and water conservancy have been separated.

In recent years, the imperial court will continue to invest a large amount of money to support river transportation. At the same time, I am considering increasing the water fees of the banknote customs and each sluice gate year by year, and all this money will be used to subsidize the expenses of water conservancy. "

Wei Guangde said.

Unexpectedly, Zhang Juzheng's ideas seemed to have changed and he no longer insisted on river transportation. This was a good thing.

After that, Zhang Juzheng just said that he needed to think about it and never mentioned the matter again.

His statement today actually indicates that he has also realized that if water management is mixed with too many factors, there will be no good results in the end.

"So good."

(End of this chapter)