prosperous age

Wei Guangde hoped to adjust the court's policy towards the imperial clan and gradually align it with the Qing Dynasty. However, Zhang Juzheng was also very astute; the die was cast and could not be changed. Therefore, he directly rejected Wei Guangde's attempt.

The Ming Dynasty's system of titles and hereditary privileges for members of the imperial family was relatively simple, which can be summarized as "born with a title."

Although Wei Guangde's method did not directly break the system, if the title was inherited in a lower rank, the emperor's sons could not remain princes for long and maintain their titles. After two generations, they could only become "generals," and after five generations, they would become "lieutenants."

Who would be willing to accept that?

Moreover, the imperial court has already granted so many hereditary princes and dukes, and how to deal with them is also a troublesome matter.

Zhang Juzheng did not object to the others, but the mention of communicating with the palace actually indicated that he supported the idea.

"You should write up an agreement first, and then we can discuss it further."

Zhang Juzheng concluded by saying, "I will also reconsider the unreasonable regulations concerning the imperial clans that have been submitted by court officials over the years, and try to supplement and improve them before submitting them to higher authorities."

"Alright, let's plan before we act."

Wei Guangde nodded.

The Ming Dynasty had accumulated many problems in various aspects, and many things were intertwined, making them difficult to sort out.

Moreover, there are also problems with the integrity of officials. They often put themselves first and then the court, which makes them have many concerns when doing things.

After returning home from the court session, Zhang Ji whispered to Wei Guangde as soon as he entered the door, "Master, a letter has arrived from our hometown."

"Oh, it's not time for the Jiangxi provincial examination yet."

Wei Guangde was a little puzzled and casually said something.

His eldest son, Wei Fu'an, has already passed the imperial examination at the county level. Regardless of how he passed, he now has official rank.

Next, I plan to take the provincial examination in Nanchang Prefecture and try to become a Juren (a successful candidate in the provincial examination).

After passing the provincial examination, one must then strive for the metropolitan examination and become a Jinshi (a successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations).

In that sense, my family can be considered a family with a long tradition of scholarship and literature.

"I don't know about that, the letter has already been delivered to Madam."

Zhang Ji said in a low voice.

Soon, they passed through the second gate and saw two maids bending over and supporting a little girl as she walked unsteadily in the courtyard.

"Father, Father"

When the little girl saw Wei Guangde enter the courtyard, she excitedly tried to walk over.

"Slow down, don't fall."

This is the child born to a concubine, that is, the child of Xu Jianglan's personal maid. He is over a year old and is at the age of learning to walk.

As she pulled, the two maids who were bending over to support her could only hurry over as well, their movements quite laborious.

Wei Guangde smiled and reached out to pick up the little guy.

Wearing official robes, Ming Dynasty officials' sleeves were quite long, making it inconvenient to hold a small child.

However, Wei Guangde knew that this was an age when everyone hated him, and if he didn't carry him, the little maid behind him would have to keep bending over to support him.

"Why aren't you playing in the garden? You've run out here."

"The garden isn't fun."

After saying a few words, Wei Guangde planned to hire a carpenter to make some toys for children and put them in the garden, along with some cotton mats so that children could be thrown in directly without fear of falling.

Although it was his own child, Wei Guangde didn't have much patience. After asking a few questions, he handed the child to the maid, pinched her little face, and walked directly to the backyard.

Even though the girl kept trying to jump into his arms, Wei Guangde didn't reach out to take her back.

This is a concubine's daughter. Wei Guangde doesn't care much about the distinction between legitimate and illegitimate children, but he still has to be careful here.

When they arrived at the backyard, Xu Jianglan and her maidservants came to help him change into casual clothes and told him about the letter from home.

Before long, Wei Guangde, dressed in casual clothes, sat in the main room, with a covered bowl of tea emitting a faint aroma beside him and a letter from home in his hand.

"Master, don't you think it's time to put some thought into it? Our family should have a generational name."

The letter from my father was very simple. He said that everyone in the family was doing well, but he was getting old. Now that Wei Guangde was an official in the capital, the family had grown and prospered, so we had to follow the example of other families and establish a generational naming system for our family.

After all, he only had the hereditary military title of centurion, which would only be passed down to the eldest son's family.

Actually, the Wei family used to have brothers, but they went to Liaodong and Shanxi respectively. However, they left early and lost contact. In Jiangxi, they have basically been single-line descendants for several generations.

The Wei family originated from Huaixi, but they were poor and not from a prominent family, so naturally they didn't have any family or generational naming conventions.

Wei Guangde actually suspected that his family was not from Huaixi, but that his ancestors had wandered to Huaixi and joined Zhu Chongba's rebel army there.

If they weren't refugees from that era, they should at least be living with their families and clans, and there should be some kind of generational naming system.

However, now that the old man's time is almost up, he's thinking of doing his own thing, just like those wealthy families.

We're quite a large family, so having a generational naming system will help distinguish between generations.

"Hmm, I'll flip through the book in a bit and see how to start."

Wei Guangde spoke first.

My eldest brother's family has three children, two sons and a daughter. He himself has two sons, but he also has a son and a daughter from other families. The next generation already has seven children.

However, the branch found in Liaodong is still a single lineage.

"After deciding on the generational names, we also need to write to Gaizhou to explain the situation."

Wei Guangde spoke up, "In terms of seniority, the person over there is from the same generation as my father, so he is also my elder."

"I've already secured a position as a centurion in Gaizhou, so things shouldn't be too bad for me in the future."

Xu Jianglan said from the side, "Besides, Liaodong is now under the command of General Qi. Didn't he say in his last letter that he was helping them accumulate merits? Once they have accumulated enough merits, he will petition the Ministry of War to grant them a hereditary position as a centurion."

With hereditary military merit as a foundation, their family wouldn't be too poor.

In the Ming Dynasty, the lowest rank of hereditary military officer was a centurion. Although the ranks of general and junior officers below them also had a tradition of succession, it was mostly through close relationships that their sons obtained positions from the centurion.

"This letter is asking about Shanxi again. Last time, the Ministry of War had already gone to Shaanxi to clean up the archives."

I think that branch was probably wiped out in the war.

Wei Guangde sighed. He had contacted that branch of the family in Liaodong before and asked if they wanted to transfer their family out.

After all, he had influence with the Ministry of War, so changing a military household to civilian status wasn't actually that difficult.

It was all done in private; even a common soldier could be transferred to civilian status without needing the emperor's approval.

However, once one has earned a military honor, it will be difficult to change one's status back to civilian.

But they thought being a soldier wasn't so bad, at least it was a secure job.

Moreover, they weren't on the Liaodong border; they were in the heart of the region, so there was no danger. All Wei Guangde could do was find someone to help them advance in their official ranks, from a general to a centurion, and then secure a hereditary title, so they would have no worries about the future.

These actions all need to be done step by step. He could have done it directly, but Wei Guangde still cared about his reputation. Moreover, in a time of peace, it wasn't so easy to obtain a hereditary official position.

Unlike the civil service system, the military service system is divided into official positions and hereditary positions. Official positions are those that are promoted based on military merit, while hereditary positions are those that are inherited and can be passed down through generations.

In the civil service system of the Ming Dynasty, there was no such thing as hereditary official positions.

If one had to name one, it would be the Yin-Yang Officials within the Imperial Observatory.

In earlier years, the Ming Dynasty's border defenses were in a state of disrepair and were practically non-existent. Mongol cavalry could attack the Great Wall passes at will, causing immense suffering to the border residents.

Many military garrison areas were attacked, and civilians and soldiers scattered and fled for their lives, with many going to the Shanxi and Shaanxi areas to seek survival.

Wei Guangde had initially asked the Ministry of War to help search, and the rosters of refugees accepted in various places in Shanxi were checked, but no one from the Wei family was found.

The Ministry of War actually did a good job, and also helped Shaanxi to investigate, and accepted the resettlement of refugees who had fled from the Xuanda area.

Dinner was ready in no time.

At the dinner table were Wei Guangde, his wife, and their youngest son, Shou Kang. As for their two illegitimate sons, they ate in their own courtyard.

"I'm planning to build a play area for the children in the garden. Have the carpenter come tomorrow."

Wei Guangde described the place to the mischievous children of later generations, saying it was suitable for children under a few years old to play, mainly because the mats were well-made so that the children wouldn't have to worry about falling and getting hurt.

"Hehe, I saw Yaya in the front yard today. The little girl said the garden wasn't fun and was running around looking for something new, so I thought I'd get her a place to play."

Wei Guangde briefly explained the cause and effect. Since both sons were born to Xu Jianglan's personal maid, there was no such petty strife between legitimate and illegitimate children that often occurs in wealthy families.

Although Xu Jianglan wasn't particularly good to her two illegitimate sons, she certainly wasn't bad either. She treated them with the same care and attention that young masters and ladies should receive, assigning dedicated people to look after them and take care of them.

In the past, the two concubines would have to come over to serve them when they ate, and be responsible for serving tea and water. Now they don't need to come over anymore; they can eat in their own courtyard.

After dinner, Wei Guangde went straight to his study to consider how to properly arrange the generational names.

Generation names, also known as generational names, refer to the characters used in names to indicate the generational ranking within a family.

Its meaning is to cultivate oneself and manage one's family well, bring peace and stability to the people and the country, and achieve good fortune, health, prosperity and development.

Generation names are an important naming system in China that has been passed down for thousands of years. It is also a special "ritual" system in ancient China that continues to this day.

For various reasons, generational naming conventions have become unfamiliar to the public since the 1950s and 1960s, a phenomenon that is even more pronounced among the younger generation.

The generational names belong to a poetic form because they do not always adhere to strict rules of parallelism and tonal patterns like poetry. They are mostly in four- or five-character lines.

Besides the poetic form, there are also generational names in the form of couplets, but this form is not very common.

There are also generational names determined purely by the mutual generation of the five elements. For example, the descendants of Gao Ganggong, from the 36th to the 45th generation, are named "Chimingquanshubing,tangjinzhujixuan".

Another type is simply a generational naming convention based on radicals. For example, the Yiqiao Genealogy records that the generational naming convention for the 8th generation of the Han family in Xiaoshan, as set by Han Xiuqing, a senior official of the Song Dynasty, is: Xin Zhi Yan Ke, Shan Wen Ri Shi. The first four characters are generally used as radicals.

Another usage is as recorded in the "Yuehan Genealogy". Han Bangwen, the Minister of Justice of the Ming Dynasty, set the following 16 generational names for the Han family in Shaoxing: Ren Chun He Pu, Jin Xin Shui Zhen, Huo Ming Tu Yong, Mu Mao Zhu Cheng.

This set of generational naming rules stipulates that the generational names of descendants are alternated between single and double characters. For example, the character "人" (person) actually refers to the character with the radical "人" (person).

The generational names are an indispensable part of a complete family genealogy; they are the imprint of a family.

In fact, generational names are a relatively casual literary form. Its casualness lies in the fact that although there is a certain format, it does not adhere to strict rhyme like regulated verse, nor does it have to follow existing titles like lyrics and songs.

Using generational names can bring two strangers together and create a sudden sense of intimacy between them.

It can enhance the cohesion between different groups. As a part of surname culture, generational names should be well inherited and carried forward.

The Wei family used to consist of soldiers, and since they were all single-son families, they naturally did not have the tradition of establishing family generational names.

Now that Wei Guangde has made a name for himself, he should indeed seriously consider this issue.

As for the issue of the imperial clan that I discussed with Zhang Juzheng this afternoon, let's put it aside for now, since there's no rush.

Now that Wei Guangde is an official, his every move is being watched.

Although the naming of generations is a private matter, even a slight misuse of a character could lead to gossip and political storms.

Wei Guangde naturally couldn't use words carelessly; he still had to express his loyalty to the emperor and his patriotism.

Well, the family earned military merit through military achievements, which is a blessing from our ancestors and a favor from the imperial court. The family must continue to multiply and develop.

Soon, Wei Guangde laid out the paper and began to slowly grind the ink himself.

Once the ink was ground, I had a plan in mind for how to arrange it.

He reached out and picked up a pen, writing the twenty characters "The nation preserves the ancestral blessings, the foundation is yours to build, benevolence and filial piety are the foundation of our ancestors, may our family prosper forever" directly on the paper.

It's very orthodox, nothing out of the ordinary, and it expresses all the hopes and desires it wanted to convey.

After the generational names were determined, Wei Guangde began writing letters back to his hometown, but he had to get his father's permission first.

After writing the letter, Wei Guangde didn't rush to put it away. He left it there to wait for the ink to dry before getting up and walking out of the study with his hands behind his back.

Not just anyone could enter the study. The Wei family had strict rules, and apart from a page responsible for cleaning the study, no one else was allowed to come in.

In the following days, under Zhang Juzheng's instructions, the Ministry of Personnel began to select and dispatch officials on a large scale to prepare for the upcoming land surveys in places such as Palembang, Luzon, and Burma.

At the same time, the Ministry of Revenue also began planning the large-scale compilation of the Yellow Registers the following year.

Zhang Juzheng was in charge of all of this, so Wei Guangde didn't need to worry about it. With the assistance of Zhang Siwei and Shen Shixing, things were progressing very quickly.

Half a month has passed in the blink of an eye, and news has finally come back from the grasslands.

The letter was written by the imperial physicians and sent back through the secret channels of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. The main point was naturally about Anda Khan's physical condition after their diagnosis and treatment.

Upon receiving the news, Liu Shouyou immediately delivered the petition to the cabinet.

"According to the book, Anda Khan will not last more than two years, and it is very likely that he will be around the middle of next year."

Upon entering the duty room, Liu Shouyou briefly reported the intelligence gathered on the grasslands.

Wei Guangde didn't speak, but simply looked through the notes on Anda Khan's condition written by the imperial physician.

These are all age-related illnesses, and there were no signs of anyone tampering with them.

"What are his sons doing? Are they preparing for war and vying for the Khanate?"

Wei Guangde looked at Liu Shouyou with a smile and asked.

“Several Taijis had been making some moves in secret, but after Madam Shunyi wrote to them, they all stopped for the time being.”

Liu Shouyou replied.

"Oh, so it seems that Anda Khan has already made arrangements."

Wei Guangde laughed and said, "That's fine too. Let's wait and see whether Anda Khan favors Huang Taiji or Bahannaji." (End of this chapter)