prosperous age

After seeing Feng Bao off, Wei Guangde did not take his leave to return to his own duty room, but instead went back with Zhang Juzheng.

After the two sat down, they chatted casually for a few more minutes before Wei Guangde said seriously, "Uncle, yesterday I looked through the official roster and found that the position of Right Prince of the Imperial Household Department has been vacant."

Because the emperor was young and had no crown prince yet, and the Ming Dynasty's education model for the crown prince had actually broken away from the past reliance on the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, the official positions here, although prestigious, had no real power.

At the beginning of the dynasty, the emperor had already determined the crown prince and selected officials to assist him in the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, thus cultivating a group of confidants for the crown prince.

The recent emperors did not intend to establish a crown prince early, so the Imperial Household Department was left behind.

When Wei Guangde proposed the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, Zhang Juzheng didn't pay much attention at first.

However, when Wei Guangde proposed that Zhang Wei, a lecturer in the Hanlin Academy and the Chancellor of the Imperial Academy, be appointed as the Right Junior Attendant of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, his expression changed slightly.

He still remembered this person; when the "mourning period" was being "deprived," he had followed those people in opposing it.

Such people should have been punished afterward, but unfortunately Wei Guangde intervened and stopped it.

He actually understood Wei Guangde's actions; after all, they were from the same hometown, and it was impossible for him to stand by and watch someone die when it concerned his future career.

Especially since Zhang Wei was one of the few Jiangxi officials in the Hanlin Academy, it was even more impossible for such a person not to get involved.

After a period of back-and-forth with Wei Guangde, Zhang Juzheng had no choice but to back down when he saw Wei Guangde's firm stance.

After all, Zhang Juzheng's position was very sensitive at that time, and the people were in uproar and criticized him.

Zhang Juzheng needed Wei Guangde's support to solidify his position as Grand Secretary.

Is Wei Guangde now trying to push Zhang Wei to the forefront and prepare to challenge for the position of cabinet minister?

“Zhang Wei, Zhang Hongyang? He was only promoted to lecturer in the second year of the Wanli reign, and then transferred to the Imperial Academy as director of studies in the sixth year of the Wanli reign. Now he has been promoted to left vice-minister. Isn’t that too fast?”

Zhang Juzheng replied.

Zhang Wei was a probationary official. Although he passed the imperial examination in the second year of the Longqing reign, he was actually appointed to an official position in the fifth year of the Longqing reign, at which time he was only a seventh-rank official.

In the second year of the Wanli reign, with Wei Guangde's support, he was promoted to the sixth-rank Hanlin Academy lecturer and began to walk in the Wenhua Hall, participating in the daily education of the young emperor.

In previous years, because of the incident involving a prison break, Zhang Juzheng once considered sending him to a post outside the capital.

It is still very difficult to dismiss an official. For officials in the capital, being transferred to a post outside the capital is equivalent to cutting off their chance for promotion and destroying their career, which is the most ruthless thing to do.

Of course, there are some who came from the Hanlin Academy, were sent to other places, and then returned to the capital, but they are extremely rare and most of them faded into obscurity.

Afterwards, Wei Guangde transferred the person to the Imperial Academy. Although he was still on the official post in the Hanlin Academy, his actual position was transferred to the Imperial Academy, and he no longer appeared in front of the emperor in the Wenhua Hall. This was considered to give Zhang Juzheng an explanation.

It was originally just a punishment, and only a few years, three years later, Wei Guangde planned to promote him by one rank, from the sixth rank to the fifth rank. All in all, it had only been a few years.

"Zhang Wei was quite diligent in the Hanlin Academy in his early years. He had worked hard and made great contributions, and should have been promoted to Hanlin Academician. However, he made a mistake and was sent to the Imperial Academy to repent for a few years."

Has he done anything wrong in the past two years?

Uncle, Mingcheng has genuinely realized his mistake. How about you be magnanimous and let him off the hook?
If he dares to cause further trouble, you don't need to worry about it; I'll just kick him out of the capital.

Wei Guangde laughed.

In recent years, Zhang Juzheng has faced impeachment from his colleagues, primarily regarding his reforms, where opposition has been constant.

However, Zhang Wei has been behaving himself during this period.

Of course, Zhang Juzheng would not actually change his attitude towards Zhang Wei because of this.

He believed that officials from Jiangxi should all be aware of Wei Guangde's attitude towards his reforms.

Nima, many of the decrees were actually drafted by him, only they were issued through his mouth.

Officials in Jiangxi naturally had no objections to the reforms of the dynasty.

Even if you do, you have to keep it to yourself.

Moreover, the effects of the reforms have gradually become apparent over the past two years.

In the two years before the eighth year of the Wanli reign, the imperial court still had to rely on accounting to maintain a balance between income and expenditure, but from the eighth year of the Wanli reign onwards, it truly achieved a surplus of more than 100,000 taels of silver.

This year, the surplus is expected to exceed 300,000 taels, while the silver reserves in Taicang have long remained around one million taels.

Later generations praised Zhang Juzheng's reforms, saying that the reforms enabled the Ming Dynasty to save one million taels of silver in just two or three years. This was actually based on this data.

In reality, during Zhang Juzheng's last three years, the Ming Dynasty's actual surplus did not exceed 500,000 taels of silver. The remaining hundreds of thousands of taels of silver were to be transferred out in batches later, forming temporary reserves, rather than the court's surplus.

Even so, it's still good.

For decades before, the imperial court had been in deficit every year.

Initially, the deficit was covered by the old treasury of the Ministry of Revenue. Later, when the old treasury was gone, silver was borrowed to make up the deficit. The following year, the deficit was distributed to various prefectures and counties across the country to make up for it through additional taxation. This is how Hai Rui came to say, "Jiajing, Jiajing, every household is clean."

Ultimately, it is the common people who pay the price for the government's deficits.

Now that the court has achieved a real surplus, it is naturally a great joy. Although officials discuss it privately, they only dare to talk about it behind people's backs.

"Cough cough."

At this moment, Zhang Juzheng coughed, and Wei Guangde was startled.

"Is Uncle Brother unwell?"

Wei Guangde still asked a question out of concern.

"It's nothing serious, I just haven't been resting well these past few days and have a bit of a cough."

Zhang Juzheng waved his hand and said.

"Let's ask the imperial physician to come and take a look, and give him two doses of medicine to regulate his condition."

Wei Guangde advised, "After all, we are not as young and strong as we were when Yu Zhi was born."

Upon hearing Wei Guangde's words, Zhang Juzheng turned his head to look at Wei Guangde. From his more mature face, one could still vaguely see the image of him from when he was in Yuzhi.

"Twenty years have passed in the blink of an eye."

Zhang Juzheng sighed.

The first time I met Wei Guangde was around the thirty-seventh year of the Jiajing reign. He had recovered from his illness and returned to the capital when we met at the Hanlin Academy. At that time, Wei Guangde was just a young man in his early twenties, but now he was middle-aged.

As for myself, I'm already over fifty.

Wei Guangde nodded slightly, indeed more than 20 years had passed, and he deeply felt the same way.

In fact, over the years he would occasionally think of his original ideal: to go to Jiujiang Prefecture and become a customs clerk to live out his life. Who knew that fate would play tricks on him and he would unknowingly become a person of high position and power.

Time is a cruel butcher's knife, each cut hastening our aging.

Unconsciously, Wei Guangde recited a sentence that would later become popular online. It was simple and straightforward but made a lot of sense. Zhang Juzheng smiled when he heard it.

By this time, Zhang Juzheng finally understood that Wei Guangde was arranging for the next cabinet minister, preparing for his retirement twenty years later.

Not everyone wants to be like Yan Song or Xu Jie, lingering in the cabinet even in their seventies or eighties. Yan Song's energy was clearly failing after seventy, and if it weren't for Yan Shifan supporting him, he probably wouldn't have made it past eighty.

Xu Jie knew he was past his prime when he was over seventy and no longer had the energy to manage the affairs of the court. After eliminating Gao Gong, who posed the greatest threat to him, he decisively withdrew from the political arena.

And what about him?
Thinking that there was only Zhang Siwei behind him, it was fortunate that Gao Gong had passed away, so he was not afraid of being schemed against. However, it seemed that he should also consider arranging for a fellow villager from Huguang to be more secure.

"Very well, let Zhang Wei be appointed as Right Vice Minister."

Although His Majesty is still young, the concubine in the palace is already pregnant, so it is time to get to work on the affairs of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices and make preparations as soon as possible.

Later, I will also see if there are any suitable candidates to be placed in the Court of Imperial Sacrifices.

Zhang Juzheng's words were actually a way of greeting Wei Guangde, as he also wanted to arrange for someone to go in.

"That's how it should be."

Wei Guangde smiled and nodded, saying that it was best for everyone to divide the official positions harmoniously to avoid unnecessary trouble.

Influenced by Xu Jie, Zhang Juzheng only considered arranging candidates from among his own students, unlike Wei Guangde who took care of his fellow students. However, he still focused on his fellow townsmen.

Actually, neither side is reliable, but relatively speaking, fellow villagers are more trustworthy than those born in the same year.

After all, if you target someone from your hometown, the students there will definitely curse you, regardless of whether they are right or wrong.

Despite Yan Song's terrible reputation, most students in Jiangxi still treated him fairly well, as he was someone they could rely on for their official careers.

The reason why his fellow townsmen who served in the same court mostly turned a blind eye and did not fight with him was because of this.

As long as their own interests are not affected, they will let things slide.

The day was quite ordinary for the cabinet, almost uneventful, except for the rare visit of Feng Bao to the cabinet.

Wei Guangde, as was customary, went to his post and left when it was time to leave.

However, in the Qianqing Palace, after looking at the memorial written by Wei Guangde and asking Feng Bao a lot of questions, the Wanli Emperor did not leave any words on the memorial.

"Let's set this matter aside for now and allow me to think about it some more."

Fortunately, the mission has not yet returned to Beijing, so there is still time.

Selling weapons that the Ming Dynasty no longer wanted to its vassal states, especially the firearms that had been the main fighting force of the Ming army in recent years, was a decision that Emperor Wanli had to seriously consider.

"Yes, the old slave knows."

Feng Bao's face remained expressionless as he bowed his head and agreed, revealing no indication of his attitude towards the matter.

"By the way, send someone to check if it's true, as Master Wei said, that Korea, Ryukyu, and Sulu don't have enough materials to manufacture gunpowder."

Firearms are actually made of iron, and strictly speaking, they are not as effective as knives, spears, or clubs.

However, if they could find all the materials for the gunpowder formula in their country, the situation would be quite different.

Wei Guangde said that it was difficult for the Three Kingdoms to collect large quantities of gunpowder preparation materials. After the Three Kingdoms acquired firearms, they could only continue to purchase gunpowder from the Ming Dynasty. The court could also use gunpowder to further control the Three Kingdoms, which was very attractive to Zhu Yijun.

However, this is on the premise that everything Wei Guangde said is correct.

"As you command, this old servant will immediately arrange for Liu Shouyou to investigate."

The intelligence that the emperor needs to know is certainly within the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

Even if they can't produce it immediately, they certainly know how to gather information as quickly as possible.

Feng Bao left the Qianqing Palace, and the young emperor put Wei Guangde's memorial into a small box and then went to a side hall.

There, several muskets hung on the high wall, three of which were clearly well-made, with their shafts inlaid with a large number of colorful gemstones.

These were firearms that were not made by the Imperial Workshop, but were presented as tribute by foreigners.

The three muskets next to it are also quite exquisite. They were made by Ming Dynasty craftsmen. They are not inlaid with any shiny things. They are made of high-quality wood and the workmanship is also quite exquisite.

Each musket also had a yellow cloth bag hanging below it, containing gunpowder, bullets, and other items.

Although Zhu Yijun never fired a gun himself, he had seen others use them and naturally knew how to load them.

It's a pity that he, as the emperor, cannot touch these things and can only keep them in his study for his own enjoyment.

However, today his gaze was no longer on those muskets, but fixed on the bags below.

There was enough gunpowder inside for several firings. He went over, took out the gourd containing the gunpowder, opened the gourd lid, and poured it onto the table next to him.

The black, unevenly sized granules are said to be the latest product from Wang Gong Factory. In addition to the traditional three parts of yellow saltpeter, saltpeter, and charcoal, some other things have been added, which are said to help with combustion.

The little emperor picked up a larger one, crushed it into powder with a little force, stuck it to his hand, and then smelled it. There was no strange smell.

"Can this thing really control other countries?"

Zhu Yijun looked puzzled. The gunpowder formula had been circulating among the common people for a long time, but the young emperor was unaware of it. Knowing the formula was one thing, but whether he could collect the materials was another.

Charcoal is easy to obtain, but sulfur and saltpeter are not so easy to collect.

Most of the sulfur in the Ming Dynasty came from Shanxi and other places, but the quantity was not large. After the opening of the sea, a large amount was transported back from Ryukyu.

A portion of these were naturally purchased by the imperial court and delivered to Wanggong Factory for gunpowder production.

Sulfur is actually widely distributed in East Asia, but it is mostly found on coastal islands. Japan, Ryukyu, and even Southeast Asia have large amounts of sulfur available for mining.

However, saltpeter was an extremely difficult material to collect in this era. Many time-travel novels chose to extract saltpeter from toilet soil, but in reality, the amount was far from enough for an empire.

The Koreans have always coveted the gunpowder-making technology of our Ming Dynasty. Of course, the Ming Dynasty was open-minded and simply told them that "one part saltpeter, two parts sulfur, and three parts charcoal" was the gunpowder formula. But so what?
The Ming people were open-minded and told him the recipe, but they never revealed the source of the crucial saltpeter.

The Koreans were naturally unwilling to give up, so they searched far and wide and collected a large number of messy secret recipes. After repeated screening, they finally became convinced of a reliable method—saltpeter needed to be extracted from seawater.

However, the Koreans spent hundreds of years painstakingly researching how to refine saltpeter, but ultimately to no avail; in short, it was all in vain.

They boiled pot after pot of salt, but they were never able to extract qualified saltpeter.

Wei Guangde dared to sell firearms to foreign countries, even to neighboring vassal states, mainly because they had difficulty obtaining large quantities of saltpeter.

Nitrate deposits are extremely unevenly distributed globally, with abundant reserves found only in a few countries such as Chile, India, and the Middle East.

Fortunately, there were such saltpeter mines in the Ming Dynasty, such as the Laojun Mountain Saltpeter Mine in the Sichuan Basin.

The high cost of gunpowder during the Ming Dynasty was mainly due to the high cost of transportation.

A small amount of saltpeter is nothing, but transporting large quantities of raw materials was extremely troublesome in the days before airplanes and trains.

Even at such high prices, mining in Laojun Mountain's salt caves has never stopped, because this type of mineral cannot be found anywhere else, and no matter how high the cost, it can only be mined here.

The Laojun Mountain area, located at the border of Sichuan and Gansu, became a heavily guarded area of ​​the Ming Dynasty, where all vehicles entering and leaving the region were subject to search and registration.

Feng Bao learned of this information later from the Embroidered Uniform Guard and immediately sent it to the palace.

Meanwhile, Wei Guangde was already hosting a banquet at his residence for Jiang Zhi and other fellow townsmen, and the atmosphere was lively with toasts and laughter. (End of Chapter)