prosperous age

Chapter 1172 1263 Liu Tai is exiled
"Squeak."

Two vermilion doors opened inward, and Wei Guangde walked out slowly, with two attendants holding lanterns walking in front of him to light the way.

The sedan chair had been parked outside the door for a long time. When Wei Guangde approached, the porters behind him lifted the sedan chair pole, and the sedan chair tilted forward. Zhang Ji lifted the curtain of the sedan chair, and Wei Guangde sat in.

When the bearers worked together to lift the sedan chair, the curtain swayed slightly, and Wei Guangde's face appeared in the window.

"Zhang Ji, arrange for those people to live in another house. Don't let them stay here."

Wei Guangde whispered instructions to Zhang Ji outside.

This house in Baodafang was known to many people in the mansion, and it was difficult to keep it secret.

Wei Guangde didn't want the news to be passed back to the mansion for Xu Jianglan to know, although it seemed that it wouldn't matter even if she knew.

In this era, this kind of thing is actually very common, and the mistresses of each mansion generally don't care about it, but Wei Guangde still doesn't want too many people in the mansion to know about it.

After all, it would be difficult to explain their origins if they were to get out.

"Yes, sir, don't worry, I know what to do."

Zhang Ji answered softly from outside.

"Well, let's go back home."

Wei Guangde spoke again.

"Pick up the sedan chair, and return home, Master."

Zhang Ji shouted to the sedan bearers, and they lifted the sedan again and headed towards Wei Mansion in Nanxunfang.

In the sedan chair, Wei Guangde's face still showed excitement after the joy.

Qi Jiguang was a first-rate warrior, but unexpectedly his gift-giving skills were also improving, and now have reached top-notch levels.

Before this, Qi Jiguang sent a lot of gifts such as ice and charcoal to the Wei Mansion every year, but most of the gifts he sent were gold, silver, and jewelry.

I don’t know whether it was Qi Jiguang himself who came to his senses or someone else’s guidance, but he actually thought of sending a beautiful girl.

Originally in history, Qi Jiguang's rise to power began when he joined Hu Zongxian.

In order to suppress the Japanese pirates, Hu Zongxian gave Qi Jiguang great power and even asked him to recruit soldiers to suppress the Japanese pirates.

Rewards were given based on merits in suppressing the Japanese pirates, that is, rewards issued by the government were collected for the heads of Japanese pirates.

In fact, the amount of profit is extremely exaggerated.

You know, in the late Jiajing period, the imperial court was troubled by the Japanese invasion, so the coastal authorities continued to increase the reward for suppressing the Japanese.

At this time, the heads of Japanese pirates were no longer a military merit, but real silver.

Throughout the history of the Ming Dynasty, the Mongolians have always received the highest reward for their heads.

During the Zhengde reign, according to the regulations at the time, if one captured the head of a Mongolian cavalryman, one could be promoted one rank or receive a reward of 50 taels of silver.

In the 100th year of the Jiajing reign, when Altan Khan personally led his army all the way to Miyun Gubeikou, outside the capital, and was approaching the city of Beijing, Emperor Jiajing no longer cared about practicing Taoism. He ordered all places to come to the rescue and offered a reward of taels of silver for each head.

This was the highest price paid for a Mongol head.

At this time, the government offered a reward of fifteen taels of silver for the Japanese invasion that had never stopped since the founding of the Ming Dynasty.

In fact, this reward is not low.

You should know that the price of a Mongolian head is as high as fifty taels. That's because Mongolians mostly travel on horseback, have strong mobility, and move like the wind. Even if you kill them, it is difficult to get their heads.

But it is different with the Japanese pirates, you can get it by just killing them.

But even so, for a long period of time in the middle and late Jiajing period, the Ming Dynasty had poor record in suppressing the Japanese pirates because of their bad reputation.

Therefore, after Hu Zongxian took office as the governor-general of the Jiangnan Campaign to Suppress Japanese Pirates, in addition to collecting large amounts of wealth by collecting likin and raising taxes, he also directly doubled the price of the Japanese pirates' heads, in other words, he played the game of "there will always be brave men if there is a big reward."

The effect was not obvious at the beginning. After all, the cost of killing the real Japanese was too high, and many people died for it but gained little.

The transaction between Qi Jiguang and Hu Zongxian for the heads of Japanese pirates was thirty taels of silver for each real Japanese pirate head, and five taels of silver for each fake one.

After receiving the silver from Hu Zongxian, Qi Jiguang distributed it to the soldiers in the camp, namely the Qi Family Army.

According to relevant records of the Ming Dynasty, the number of heads captured reported by Qi's army was 7696. This number refers specifically to the real Japanese, and the required bounty was 23 taels.

As for the fake Japanese heads reported by Qi's army, the number was simply impossible to calculate.

After all, there were too many pirates in the south of the Yangtze River at that time, and even many boat people along the coast were pirates.

Therefore, the censors later used this as an excuse to impeach Hu Zongxian and Qi Jiguang, accusing them of falsifying their military achievements but actually embezzling reward money.

Moreover, in addition to receiving rewards for suppressing the Japanese pirates, Qi Jiguang also raided the pirates' lairs many times and obtained extremely rich spoils.

Most of these riches fell into the hands of Qi Jiguang.

This was the source of funds that enabled Qi Jiguang to bribe court officials in the early and middle periods.

As a result, he gained the favor of civil servants and had a successful career.

Tan Lun and Zhang Juzheng were both his benefactors, who constantly promoted and used him.

It is true that Qi Jiguang was a man who was good at calculating, very good at fighting, and even better at making money.

No matter what era, people like this can actually make a name for themselves.

And now Wei Guangde, who was sitting in the sedan chair, became interested for the first time in how much money Qi Jiguang had.

Yes, according to what Qi Jiguang said in the letter, the generous gift sent this time was the spoils obtained from the capture of Hongli Village.

But those four beauties were not hers, but were bought by Qi Jiguang at a huge price.

Most dynasties in ancient China banned human trafficking, but it only targeted the poor, and there were no restrictions on low-class people.

This was the case in the Ming Dynasty. People of low status could be bought and sold, but the price was extremely low.

Generally speaking, it would not exceed ten taels of silver, and most of them would be two or three taels each.

But the beauties that Qi Jiguang brought with him were definitely not priced that high. They were all carefully selected women from humble backgrounds, who had been trained for several years or even longer. They could only be bought at a high price, sometimes even worth a fortune.

At this moment, Wei Guangde couldn't help but recall the news he had read in his previous life, which was not necessarily accurate, but it said that Qi Jiguang once spent a large sum of money to buy a beautiful girl to give to Zhang Juzheng, and also gave him some sea dogs to nourish his body.

Of course, most of this information actually comes from unofficial history of the Ming Dynasty. For example, the original record of Qi Jiguang sending beautiful women and tonics to Zhang Juzheng was actually in the Biography of Zhang Juzheng written by Wang Shizhen of the Ming Dynasty.

According to the book, Zhang Juzheng died of excessive lust. The Minister of War Tan Lun once taught him the art of sex, and the General of Jizhou Qi Jiguang spent a large sum of money to buy the beautiful woman "Qian Jin Ji" and presented her to him.

This incident cannot be verified and is not recorded or acknowledged in other official historical materials.

However, due to curiosity, it was widely spread in later generations.

Wei Guangde believed it now.

Originally these should have been given to Zhang Juzheng by Qi Jiguang, but his master changed in this life.

Wei Guangde was a little curious as to whether Tan Lun knew the art of sex. They were so familiar with each other, but he had never heard Tan Lun mention it.

"I'll have to ask Tan Lun when I have time."

Wei Guangde made up his mind. If he had not seen the beautiful girl sent by Qi Jiguang today, he would have almost forgotten about this matter.

After all, in later generations, he just saw it as a novelty and didn't take it too seriously.

They have been dead for hundreds of years. What's the point in exploring these things? They are all forgotten history.

Oh, there’s one more person that needs to be taken seriously.

Suddenly, Wei Guangde thought of the source of these records, that is Wang Shizhen. This person's book seems to be too widely circulated in later generations, so Zhang Ji should pay attention to it. Don't write about Zhang Taiyue and write about himself, making a "Biography of Wei Guangde" and turning Qi Jiguang's sending of beautiful women and sea dogs to Zhang Juzheng into writing about himself, which would not be beautiful.

Wei Guangde likes to read other people's gossip, but that doesn't mean he likes to let others read his own gossip. What's more, if he does something wrong, his name will be recorded in history.

Early the next morning, Wei Guangde had breakfast in his mansion and then took a sedan chair to the imperial city.

After returning to the duty room, Wei Guangde waited for Lu Bu to serve the tea and then asked, "Lu Bu, do you know Wang Shizhen's officials?"

"Wang Shizhen?"

Lu Bu shook his head slightly.

Seeing this, Wei Guangde knew that Wang Shizhen was definitely not serving as an official in the capital.

He always felt as if he had seen it somewhere, but he couldn't remember where.

I don’t know if it’s because he’s overworked, but he used to have a good memory and could remember anything he saw.

"Then ask someone to go to the Ministry of Personnel to check, and if you find anything, write a copy for me."

6◇9◇Book◇Bar

Wei Guangde gave an order.

This is the advantage of being an official. He doesn't need to do anything personally. He just needs to say a word and someone will do it.

Of course, when you become an official, you have to take responsibility for the decisions you make.

However, for Wei Guangde who came later, it was difficult to make mistakes since he was standing on the shoulders of giants.

As for government affairs that have no reference, the worst that can happen is that we should just keep silent. As the saying goes, it is better to do nothing.

Anyway, we now have Zhang Juzheng as the Prime Minister, leading the way.

They could keep silent, but Zhang Juzheng could not. He had to make a decision, and of course he would be captured and bear the consequences.

It is not easy to go to the Ministry of Personnel to check on someone, even if it is the person Wei Guangde is looking for.

I only know a name, and I don’t know if there is anyone with the same name. I estimate that the results will not be delivered until the afternoon at the earliest.

Wei Guangde naturally began to handle government affairs. He couldn't just sit in the cabinet duty room and do nothing.

After flipping through two memorials, Lu Bu suddenly came in from outside with a memorial in his hand.

It was obviously sent in by the government office in Beijing, and it might be a matter of great urgency.

Otherwise, it would not have fallen into his hands, but the Secretariat would have classified all the memorials and then distributed them to three duty rooms.

"what's up?"

Wei Guangde asked casually.

As he spoke, his hands kept moving. He finished the draft in a flash, and put it directly between the memorials and put it aside.

"Sir, this is a memorial sent by the Censorate. It is a document about the case of Liu Tai in Huguang."

The reed cloth was held in both hands and handed to Wei Guangde. Wei Guangde sighed, took it and looked through it.

The memorial was submitted by Wang Zongzai, the governor of Huguang. It recounted the process of his trial of Liu Tai and basically confirmed the fact that Liu Tai accepted bribes during his time in Liaodong.

In fact, after Yu Yingchang sent the memorial back from Liaodong, the Liu Tai case had actually become an ironclad case and there was no way to overturn it.

Not to mention other things, just the fact that Zhang Juzheng was in power, even if the people below were dissatisfied, no one would raise it at this time.

That would definitely offend the prime minister of the dynasty. Who would be so stupid as to study the books of sages so hard?

Hai Rui might, but even if he did not resign, he would only be an official in a certain department in Nanjing. He had the right to submit memorials but not the right to interfere in cases.

"Sent to exile in Guangxi."

Wei Guangde saw the content of the memorial, which was a report of the results of the case in Huguang to the Censorate, and the Censorate naturally submitted a memorial in accordance with this meaning.

In the memorial, not only Liu Tai was guilty, but his father Liu Zhenlong and his younger brother Liu Guo were also implicated and sentenced to exile together.

Wei Guangde was a little surprised at this result. The family members could not be held responsible unless there was solid evidence to prove that their relatives were involved in these crimes.

Shaking his head, Wei Guangde would naturally not offend Zhang Juzheng for the sake of Liu Tai. Even if he was not the instigator of this matter in the beginning, he would definitely have acquiesced at this time.

If we ask someone to investigate further, Zhang Juzheng would definitely be unhappy.

Wei Guangde thought for a moment and took out a piece of paper and wrote the four words "verify and investigate" on it. As for how the Ministry of Justice and the Censorate verified it, he didn't care.

When it comes to accepting bribes, Liu Tai is not really wronged.

Thinking this way, Wei Guangde felt better.

"You will not live if you do your own evil."

Wei Guangde just muttered softly and put the memorial aside.

In the afternoon, Lu Bu finally sent Wang Shizhen's information. Wei Guangde suddenly realized that he had some impression of him.

This great writer is now serving as the Right Governor of Jiangxi. He has close contacts with Jiangxi officials. Although he has no correspondence with this official of Jiangxi, he is mentioned in other people's letters.

Wang Shizhen was actually from the same class as Zhang Juzheng, but his official career was much worse than Zhang Juzheng's.

In the 26th year of Jiajing, he passed the imperial examination and became a Jinshi. He successively served as the Left Assistant to the Dali Temple, the Deputy Director and Director of the Ministry of Justice, the Deputy Censor of Shandong, the Military Commissioner of Qingzhou, the Left Councillor of Zhejiang, the Censor of Shanxi and the Censor of Huguang. He is currently the Right Governor of Guangxi.

In fact, this is the career path of most Jinshi scholars. After serving as officials for decades, they can only reach the fourth or fifth rank.

Putting the paper aside, Wei Guangde continued to deal with official documents and soon forgot about Wang Shizhen.

But there seemed to be a lot of things to do today. After a while, Lu Bu brought a more detailed battle report on the southwest war copied by the Ministry of War.

This time, the entire process of the Battle of Ava was described in detail, and the news that tens of thousands of Burmese troops at Tiebi Pass had surrendered was also reported.

Nowadays, there are no organized Burmese troops in the southwestern border, and the victory of the Ming Dynasty is certain.

After reading the battle report, Wei Guangde called Lu Bu, handed him the report and said, "Send it to the Prime Minister's duty room, let him be happy too."

"it is good."

Lu Bu took the battle report with both hands, agreed respectfully, and was about to leave when Wei Guangde asked again, "Has anyone from other government offices come to the cabinet today?"

"My Lord, Minister Wang of the Ministry of Revenue has just arrived, and I don't know if he has left yet."

Lu Bu immediately stopped and answered in a low voice.

"Oh, then go over there later, after he leaves."

Wei Guangde rolled his eyes and immediately changed his way.

Wei Guangde could more or less guess the reason why Wang Guoguang came to the cabinet. It must be for money.

The Cabinet decided only yesterday to temporarily follow the Ministry of Works' instructions and overhaul the embankments on both sides of the Yellow River to prevent floods.

Although neither the Ministry of River Resources nor the Ministry of Works has a good solution to the Yellow River flood problem, prevention work cannot be delayed. Repairing river embankments is the simplest and most direct solution.

Of course, what is different about this river embankment repair is that flood channels will be reserved on both sides of the river bank, or in other words, the one large embankment in the past will now be built into two inner and outer embankments. At the same time, suitable places must be found to build sluices for temporary flood discharge.

In short, just use all the methods proposed by Wei Guangde. As for whether they are effective or not, you will only know after trying them.

Not only that, Pan Jixun also proposed to reinforce Gaojia Weir and renovate the embankment of Hongze Lake.

For such a large project, the money from the Ministry of Works is definitely not enough, so 30% needs to be paid by the Ministry of Revenue.

Wang Guoguang came to the cabinet naturally for this matter.