prosperous age

Chapter 1163 1254 Good News Arrives in Beijing
Feng Bao left, but the news about Wei Guangde's duty room spread rapidly in the cabinet.

Zhang Juzheng was fine. He just smiled when he heard the news.

He could roughly guess Feng Bao's intention, but the only mistake this time was that he didn't expect that Feng Bao came here not to tell Wei Guangde the attitude of Ciqing Palace, but that he wanted to intervene in Myanmar's gem mines to make money from those red and green cuties.

But Zhang Siwei felt differently when he heard the news, because before this, he knew that Zhang Juzheng had a close relationship with Feng Bao. Although Wei Guangde and Feng Bao seemed to have a good relationship on the surface, in fact, due to some reasons, the two had drifted apart.

But this time, Feng Bao came to the cabinet not to find Zhang Juzheng, and he left without even showing up.

He had to think about whether the relationship between the three people was really as it seemed.

In fact, when it comes down to it, Zhang Siwei is more like a political speculator and politician.

Seeing that Zhang Juzheng was in power, he naturally took the initiative to join Zhang Juzheng.

Before this, the person who held power in the Ming Dynasty was Gao Gong, and he tried his best to please Gao Gong.

It can be said that during the Longqing period, Zhang Siwei's way of doing things changed greatly.

There was no other way. The Zhang family's business was getting bigger and bigger. The court officials that the Zhang family and the big families around them had relied on in the past were getting old or sick, and they urgently needed new officials to come to the front and continue to protect the family.

Zhang Siwei was the chosen person, and it was they who pushed Zhang Siwei in front of Gao Gong.

From then on, Zhang Siwei could no longer indulge in the mountains and rivers as he did in the past, but could only find ways to climb up.

Now, the only two big mountains left in front of him are Zhang Juzheng and Wei Guangde, but it is difficult for Zhang Siwei to figure out the relationship between these two people.

When he first entered the cabinet, Zhang Siwei thought that Zhang Juzheng wanted to use his power to suppress Wei Guangde.

The first assistant and the second assistant should always be wary of each other.

The Prime Minister should try every means to keep his position, while the Second Prime Minister should try to replace it at all costs.

However, from the time he entered the cabinet, the relationship between Zhang Juzheng and Wei Guangde seemed very delicate.

The most troublesome thing is that Zhang Juzheng doesn't seem to have any intention of taking action against Wei Guangde.

The first and second assistant ministers, plus an internal minister, all came from Yu Ji and were old acquaintances of his. This iron triangle really gave him a headache.

"It seems that I still need to think carefully about how to get along with the second assistant."

Thinking of Wei Guangde's business, Zhang Siwei couldn't help but think of intervening and getting closer to Wei Guangde in private.

The merchants around Wei Guangde now are mainly from Jiangxi, Liaodong, Northern Zhili and Fujian. There is almost no dealings with Shanxi merchants and Lianghuai salt merchants. This is not acceptable.

At this time, outside Fucheng Gate in the west of the capital, a fast horse was galloping on the official road. The postman on the horse had a bamboo tube hanging on his chest and three small red flags on his back. He whipped the horse from time to time, urging the horse to rush towards the city gate along the road.

At this time, Fucheng Gate was bustling with people and vehicles, and there were crowds of civilians and merchants entering and leaving the city, so it was impossible for the soldiers guarding the gate to see them.

I just felt that there seemed to be a slight disturbance on the official road in the distance, and I just looked over there curiously.

Faintly, one could see a fast horse coming.

"I don't know which family this young man is from, but he is riding a horse directly on the road."

A soldier guarding the city gate grumbled in dissatisfaction.

There are too many noble families in the city of Sijiu. No matter who comes, you don’t know whether he has some connection with any noble or powerful family in the city.

Normally, these young masters would ride their horses in and out of the city like this more than once or twice.

Even the censors, who gave the adults a headache, had no way to deal with these young masters.

After all, every family has such a kid. Today it is someone else's family that is watching the fun, but who knows if your own family will go up there tomorrow.

Therefore, the officials of the city were still very tolerant of the guys from these mansions.

"Quick, clear the city gates."

Just as a few soldiers were laughing and talking about the man riding a horse in the distance, the soldier on the city wall above their heads shouted loudly towards the bottom of the city gate.

"what happened?"

Outside the city gate, a soldier heard a shout above his head and looked up at the city wall.

A head popped out from the tall city wall, still shouting at them: "Clear the city gates, there is a military report."

For ordinary documents, there is only one small red flag on the postman's back. Three small red flags indicate whether the document on the postman's back is a military report or an emergency military report.

"It's bad. Stop the people in the city and clear the road."

When the soldier heard the words "military report", he was startled. Then he took a few people around him and started to stop the people and vehicles who wanted to enter the city, blocking them on both sides of the road.

The soldiers inside the city gate also heard the shouting outside, and immediately stopped the people inside the city gate and continued to drive them to both sides of the road.

With the concerted efforts of the soldiers inside and outside the city gate, the pedestrians on both sides consciously separated with the city gate as the center, leaving space in the middle of the road.

At this time, the fast horses in the distance had already rushed to the city gate.

Without stopping, the postman on horseback urged his horse through the city like a gust of wind and entered the Sijiu City.

It follows the straight Fuchengmen Street all the way to Guangji Temple before turning south, almost circling the imperial city to West Chang'an Street.

He continued to gallop along West Chang'an Street, causing chaos in the inner city of Beijing.

Finally, the postman quickly rushed to the Ministry of War on Chang'an Street.

When the fast horses rushed over, the person in charge of receiving documents at the yamen gate had already left the Ministry of War.

After all, this is Chang'an Street. Even the sons of princes and ministers in the capital do not dare to act recklessly here.

The only ones who could come on horseback were postmen delivering urgent documents.

"Southwest War Report, Great Victory."

The horse galloped to a few steps outside the gate of the Ministry of War. The postman reined in his horse and jumped off. He took the bamboo tube in front of his chest while running, half-knelt on the ground, held the bamboo tube in both hands above his head, and shouted.

The person in charge took the bamboo tube and first checked the seal of the bamboo tube. Then he took out a sign from his pocket and handed it over, saying, "Here."

This means that the document has been delivered and the postman's job is completed.

The official had heard the southwest war report, which was good news of a great victory, so he immediately turned around and ran to the yamen.

As soon as the person in charge went in, the gatekeepers gathered together to discuss the matter.

"Hey, it looks like Burma has won the war."

"Myanmar is nothing, a tiny country, why would it fight against my Ming Dynasty?"

"Don't say that. I heard from the adults inside that Burma has mobilized 300,000 troops."

"Myanmar has 300,000 troops?"

"Not that many. It is said that there are more than 200,000 people. I heard that from Master Liu from the Ministry of Personnel."

"No wonder the adults seemed so nervous a while ago. With so many soldiers in Burma, this war is going to be a big one."

"That's right. In the past, the Northern Barbarians, who were the most powerful, only sent out tens of thousands of troops each time. One hundred thousand was already their limit. Who would have known that a small chieftain like Myanmar could mobilize more than 200,000 troops? It's really a small trick. It's really eye-opening."

The guards at the entrance of the Ministry of War were discussing in low voices, while the news spread rapidly inside the Ministry, and soon the situation became heated.

Officials from various departments of the Ministry of War temporarily put down their work and rushed to the lobby.

The reason why the news was transmitted so quickly was that the person in charge jogged all the way in to deliver it. He shook the bamboo tube in his hand whenever he saw someone and said that good news had arrived from the southwest.

For two days, the atmosphere in the Ministry of War was actually quite depressing, because the court was fighting two wars at the same time. It seemed that before this, the Ministry of War had not seen such a situation for a long time.

Not to mention that Wei Ge Lao was in charge of the Ministry of War, this situation of fighting on two fronts can be traced back to the time when Jiajing was suppressing the Japanese pirates, fighting the Japanese pirates in the south and the Japanese cavalry in the north.

As for where else the Ming Dynasty was fighting at that time, apart from the war in the southwest, it was naturally the battle in Liaodong where Qi Jiguang led his troops to attack Honglizhai and Shaji City.

Wang Gao had died a long time ago, but his two sons still refused to submit to him. In the name of revenge for their father, they continued to recruit soldiers in Liaodong and occupied Honglizhai and Shaji City.

The Ming army in Liaodong had discovered the clues long ago, but kept it secret. They quietly sent people to hold the two cities to see which of the Jurchen tribes in Liaodong had any dealings with them.

Rather than wiping out a group of scattered people, it would be easier to let them gather the anti-Ming Jurchen tribes and then wipe them out in one fell swoop.

So Zhang Xueyan and Qi Jiguang chose to "tolerate the traitors" and let them run wild in Liaodong.

The capital has already issued a document asking them to handle the matter on their own.

Now, feeling that the time was ripe, Qi Jiguang led three troops to launch a siege and annihilation campaign against the two cities, vowing to wipe out all the remnants of Wang Gao.

The latest battle report from Liaodong has not come back yet, but unexpectedly, Myanmar in the southwest, which is considered the most difficult to fight, has sent the victory report to the Ministry of War first.

6◇9◇Book◇Bar

Inside the lobby of the Ministry of War, Tan Lun sat high up in the hall. He took the bamboo tube handed to him by the chief official, first checked the seal, then opened the tube and poured out the rolled-up military newspaper inside.

Putting the bamboo tube on the desk, Tan Lun quickly unfolded the military newspaper and began to read.

This military report is actually just reporting the battle results to the capital. The detailed military report will probably take a few days to arrive.

After all, a battle involving 100,000 people required a lot of time to count the results, especially to identify the identities of senior Burmese officials.

Although the imperial court never announced it, high-ranking officials in the court and important generals in the army had actually heard one thing, that is, the identity of Zhang Lian, the so-called bandit leader of the Feilong Kingdom, who was encircled and suppressed by Yu Dayou, might be fake, and the real Zhang Lian died in Southeast Asia.

This was a big scandal. In order to capture Zhang Lian for the so-called first merit, there was a big conflict between the Ming army in Fujian and Guangdong and the Jiangxi Garrison led by Yu Dayou.

Fortunately, this time everyone chose to keep quiet and kept the matter under wraps, preventing the news from spreading.

After all, the person is already dead, and died overseas, so there is no evidence.

"Sir, what does the battle report say?"

When Tan Lun was slightly stunned after reading the battle report, Yin Du, the assistant minister of the Ministry of War, asked from the side.

"Oh, the battle report, of course it's a victory report. Li Chengliang's son Li Rusong captured the traitor Mang Yinglong in one battle. Later, Li Chengliang's commander captured his son Mang Yingli. Most of the main forces of the Burmese army have been wiped out. Now the main officials and chieftains of Burma have either been killed or captured alive."

Tan Lun shook the battle report in his hand and then handed it to him, asking everyone to pass it around.

After Yin Du took the battle report and quickly glanced through it, his face was filled with excitement.

When Tan Lun was stunned just now, he was scared and thought there was something wrong with the battle report.

"You can take a look too."

After Yin Du finished reading it, he happily handed the battle report in his hand to others and asked them to take a look as well.

"Send a copy to the Cabinet."

At this time, Tan Lun, who was at the top, gave orders.

"Yes, Master Tan."

Yin Du agreed.

Because of Zhang Juzheng's earlier memorial, the rotation of assistant ministers in the Ming Dynasty's Ministry of War is now relatively fast. Generally, an assistant minister will not be in office for more than a year and a half before being sent out to take over the post of governor-general or governor-general.

This is also the reason why Zhang Xueyan, the governor of Liaodong, wanted to go to Beijing. In theory, he was also qualified to enter the capital from Liaodong and serve as a minister in the Ministry of War.

However, he was certainly not content to be the second-in-command in the Ministry of War, so he thought of pursuing Liu Tai relentlessly, hoping to win Zhang Juzheng's favor and promote him when he came to Beijing to be assigned a position.

If you don't want to be a minister, then you can aim to be a minister.

Zhang Xueyan was also a shrewd man. Because of this policy, he had arranged a number of people in the capital to gather information from the court early on. He learned that the Minister of Personnel Zhang Han had retired, leaving a vacant position for the Minister.

Although the Ministry of Personnel was not something he could interfere with, there was always a hope that it would not be the case after officials were transferred between each other.

At this time, Zhang Juzheng, the cabinet minister, was in the room. He called Wei Guangde here and was also discussing the candidates for the Ministry of Personnel.

Since Feng Bao was there last night, it was of course difficult for him to tell you his final decision.

"Shandai, I plan to let Wang Guoguang replace Zhang Han as the Minister of Personnel."

"Brother Uncle, what arrangements does the Ministry of Revenue have?"

Wei Guangde frowned slightly and asked in a low voice.

To be honest, he didn't expect Zhang Juzheng to replace Zhang Han with Wang Guoguang.

But thinking about it makes me feel relieved. The Ministry of Personnel is obviously more important than the Ministry of Revenue. It is the place that controls the official hats.

Wang Guoguang has been completely dependent on Zhang Juzheng in the court over the years and is considered one of Zhang Juzheng's most trusted people.

"Yin Zhengmao."

Wei Guangde was curious about how Zhang Juzheng would arrange the candidates for the Ministry of Revenue, but he didn't expect Zhang Juzheng to say a name without even thinking.

"He."

Upon hearing that Zhang Juzheng was planning to make Yin Zhengmao the Minister of Revenue, Wei Guangde frowned even more.

There is no way. It is said that Yin Zhengmao is greedy for money. If he is placed in the Ministry of Revenue,
"hiss"

Wei Guangde took a deep breath and didn't dare to think any further.

"Why, Shandai is also worried about Yangshi's character."

Zhang Juzheng asked with a cheerful smile.

"Haha, uncle, you are too kind."

Wei Guangde relaxed his brows and smiled.

The Ming people's evaluation of Yin Zhengmao was polarized. Some people firmly praised him for his integrity and honesty, while others criticized him for his greed and cruelty.

The two groups each hold their own opinion and it is unclear which one is right.

However, Wei Guangde had heard many stories about Yin Zhengmao's greed for money, but he mostly treated them as entertainment. However, it still subtly influenced him to have some prejudice against Yin Zhengmao.

"Brother, if you give him the power to establish a border, I will have no objection, but the Ministry of Revenue."

Wei Guangde and Tan Lun actually both recognized Yin Zhengmao's military talents, especially Yu Dayou, who had worked under him.

However, like Hu Zongxian, Qi Jiguang and others, Yin Zhengmao was also very greedy for military pay.

Yu Dayou was not greedy in the past, but he will take some now. He wants to be humble and modest.

"That's different. If he is put in charge of the Ministry of War, he will handle things in the same way as Zi Li. The same is true if he is put in charge of the Ministry of Revenue.

But if you're worried that he will move Taicang back home, you're worrying too much, he's not that stupid."

Zhang Juzheng laughed.

The Ministry of War and the Ministry of Revenue are both places where money is provided, and losing it is an unspoken rule.

The meaning of Zhang Juzheng's words was very clear. Yin Zhengmao would take the silver within the rules, but would not touch things that should not be touched.