prosperous age

After a night of heavy drinking, Wei Guangde woke up early the next morning full of energy.

After washing up, I did a set of boxing in the yard, then wiped my slightly sweaty body, got dressed, and went out to have breakfast.

"Master, something has happened in Jiangling. Grand Secretary Zhang is dead."

Just as Wei Guangde picked up his chopsticks but hadn't even started eating, Zhang Ji rushed in and whispered something in his ear.

"When did it happen?"

Wei Guangde was taken aback, put down his chopsticks, and asked.

"Five days ago, last night the person arrived in the capital, but the city gates were closed and they could not enter the city."

This morning, as soon as the city gates opened, I went to the government office to deliver the message.

Zhang Ji replied in a low voice.

"I understand. Let him get some rest and give him a reward."

From Huguang to the capital, it took five days, and they traveled at breakneck speed without daring to delay even for a moment.

Wei Guangde would never cheat his subordinates. As long as they did their best, they would be rewarded handsomely, which is why his subordinates were able to work wholeheartedly for him.

"Yes, sir."

Zhang Ji readily agreed.

"Let's leave this matter here. Keep an eye on things over there, but don't rush to bring the people back."

Wei Guangde continued.

After saying that, Wei Guangde picked up his chopsticks and began to eat his breakfast, but he was also making plans in his mind.

Jiangling will send a message to Wuchang Prefecture, and from there it will be delivered to the capital.

Generally speaking, news should be sent to the Ministry of Rites within the next day or two.

After all, he was once the Grand Secretary, and the imperial court even instructed the Ministry of Rites to prepare sacrificial offerings and send officials to offer sacrifices.

At this critical juncture, Emperor Wanli should approve Pan Sheng's memorial within two days.

"We still need to stay calm."

As Wei Guangde stepped out of the mansion, he said to himself.

In fact, the most important job of the cabinet or officials is not to achieve any results, but to avoid making mistakes and causing a major disaster.

The power vacuum left by Zhang Juzheng's retirement has now split the court into at least three factions. Although one of them has not yet taken shape, the atmosphere of impending turmoil in the officialdom is already evident.

What he, as the Grand Secretary, could do was stabilize the situation in the court and prevent chaos from arising due to the infighting among those people.

When Wei Guangde entered the cabinet and stepped into his office, everything seemed unchanged, just like yesterday.

"Is there anything special about today's memorial that needs to be processed as soon as possible?"

Wei Guangde asked Lu Bu.

All the memorials sent to the duty room had to pass through Lu Bu's hands. He would naturally skim through the memorials and then put them away in order of importance and urgency.

Therefore, when it comes to understanding these memorials, Lu Bu is definitely the first choice.

"They are all ordinary memorials, nothing particularly important."

Three memorials impeaching Lord Pan were delivered today; I don't know if the other duty rooms received any.

Lu Bu bowed and replied.

"it is good."

Wei Guangde nodded, walked behind his desk, sat down, and after glancing at the mountain of memorials, he really had little interest in reading them.

Thinking back to the first time he walked into this place and looked through these memorials reporting to the emperor, he still felt as if he held the power of the world in his hands.

Now that I've seen it so much, I'm tired of it, it's all the same old thing, and I really can't muster any enthusiasm for it.

When Lu Bu brought the tea, Wei Guangde came to his senses and finally reached out to pick up the memorial on the table and began to read it.

Several memorials followed, all from local officials paying their respects to the emperor, mentioning that their jurisdictions had enjoyed favorable weather and abundant harvests this year.

Upon seeing this, Wei Guangde couldn't help but smile.

In fact, although he had received more than ten years of materialistic education, the fact that he could travel here already made him quite skeptical of that system.

Now that he has just taken office, if rumors of continuous disasters in various places spread, it will have some impact on him as the new prime minister.

Believe it or not, some people's fates are like this: before and after taking office, everything is completely different.

During the early years of Zhang Juzheng's administration, the court was plagued by disasters in various regions, especially the Yellow River floods, which lasted for many years and only gradually subsided after the sixth year of the Wanli Emperor's reign.

However, Zhang Juzheng may not necessarily take the blame, because there have been floods of varying sizes every year since the Longqing era.

Well, in the following years, the Yellow River suddenly became docile, and floods and droughts in various places seemed to have stopped.

Although there are still local disasters, the local provincial administration can handle them. After submitting a memorial, the government can allocate funds from the treasury to provide disaster relief without requiring the imperial court to mobilize its forces.

For at least the next year or so, Wei Guangde did not want to see any more major disasters occur anywhere.

Suddenly, Wei Guangde's ears twitched slightly.

He has practiced martial arts since childhood, and although he is not a master, his hearing is still very sharp.

Wei Guangde could clearly hear the hurried footsteps approaching from outside.

Without realizing it, I looked up and saw a figure appear outside the duty room door, and then I heard Yu Youding's voice.

"Go quickly and inform the Grand Secretary; this is an urgent report from Huguang."

"Yes, Lord Yu."

Lu Bu agreed and hurriedly went into the room to report.

"Invite him in."

Wei Guangde had already stood up and gave instructions to Lu Bu, who had come in.

"Your Excellency, an urgent report from Huguang."

Yu Youding entered and hurriedly bowed to Wei Guangde.

Although he already had a feeling about it, Wei Guangde pretended to know nothing and asked with a slightly surprised expression, "What happened?"

"Grand Secretary Zhang passed away a few days ago."

Yu Youding immediately replied.

"What? Uncle?"

Wei Guangde paused slightly as he reached out to take the memorial, then continued to reach out and take the memorial, quickly flipping through it.

"The Ministry of Rites just received the news, and the Minister ordered me to come to the Cabinet to report it."

Yu Youding continued.

"sit."

Wei Guangde gestured to the chair next to him and said something. Then he instructed Lu Bu, who followed him in, "Go and invite Grand Secretary Zhang and Grand Secretary Shen over quickly."

Lu Bu agreed, put down his teacup, and ran out of the duty room.

He also heard the news of Zhang Juzheng's death from Huguang, and naturally dared not delay.

Lu Bu went to Zhang Siwei's duty room first, saying that the Grand Secretary invited Grand Secretary Zhang to his duty room.

Zhang Siwei was unaware of the news, but Wei Guangde's urgent summons indicated that something must have happened, so he casually asked what it was. This time, Lu Bu didn't hide anything; even if he said he didn't know, Zhang Siwei would get the news from Wei Guangde shortly afterward.

So Lu Bu answered honestly, "Minister Yu from the Ministry of Rites has arrived and said that he received news from Huguang that the former Grand Secretary Zhang has passed away."

No one knows how Zhang Siwei felt when he heard the news, but he then hurried to Wei Guangde's duty room.

Lu Bu then hurried off to invite Shen Shixing.

Of course, with his words, the news of Zhang Juzheng's death spread rapidly within the cabinet and quickly became known.

Meanwhile, news of Zhang Juzheng's death spread like wildfire throughout the capital's six ministries.

After all, just two months ago, this official was the Grand Secretary of the Ming Dynasty, second only to the emperor, and still held absolute power in matters of state.

Although he was resting at home during that period, he was still very involved in important matters of the court. Whenever he sent a note to Wei Guangde, the cabinet's decisions had to take his opinion into consideration.

Of course, the Ministry of Personnel reacted the most strongly among the six ministries, and Wang Guoguang broke down in tears upon hearing the news.

Wang Guoguang can be said to be a close follower of Zhang Juzheng in the court. He was born in Shanxi, but he had a bad relationship with the second minister Zhang Siwei.

In fact, although Zhang Juzheng brought Zhang Siwei into the cabinet and Zhang Siwei usually showed respect to Zhang Juzheng, their relationship had long been strained in private.

Zhang Siwei ultimately had a large and powerful family, and many times his considerations were for the benefit of the Zhang family rather than for the country as a cabinet minister.

This was a major reason why Zhang Juzheng disliked him.

If someone holds a position but doesn't fulfill its responsibilities, how can Zhang Juzheng trust him to entrust power to him?

This is also why Zhang Juzheng recommended Pan Sheng at the last moment.

Wang Guoguang was different. When Zhang Juzheng was in power, Zhang Siwei, although nominally a Grand Secretary, had no real power and was subject to the constraints of Zhang and Wei in everything he did.

Although Wang Guoguang was not a cabinet minister, he held the prestigious position of Minister of Personnel, wielding real power over a ministry.

Everyone could see that Zhang Juzheng's position as Grand Secretary was as secure as a rock. Not only did he have strong support from people in the inner court, but he also had the assistance of Wang Guoguang and Zhang Xueyan in the court, especially in the Six Ministries, which ensured that his decrees could be transmitted from top to bottom and implemented in a timely manner.

These two people were actually the ones who helped Zhang Juzheng's reforms the most.

However, Wang Guoguang was more straightforward, while Zhang Xueyan, perhaps due to his long-term assignments to local areas, was better at assessing situations.

When he saw that Zhang Juzheng could not hold on any longer, he decisively jumped ship to save himself.

Wang Guoguang, on the other hand, never sought a new patron and continued to act according to Zhang Juzheng's instructions.

In fact, his personality had already shown itself long ago, which made his official career much more difficult than Zhang Juzheng's.

Wang Guoguang, courtesy name Ruguan, was a native of Nanyang, Shanxi. He became a Jinshi in the 23rd year of the Jiajing reign (1554), and was a "senior" who entered officialdom three years earlier than Zhang Juzheng.

Wang Guoguang did not rank well in the imperial examinations, so he was sent to a local area to work as a county magistrate to maintain local peace and was considered a capable minister.

Wang Guoguang's association with Zhang Juzheng began when Zhang was transferred to the Ministry of War as the Chief of the Examination and Evaluation Department.

At this time, Zhang Juzheng was still a minor Hanlin scholar with no power or position in the Hanlin Academy. Wang Guoguang was not only capable, but also good at poetry and prose, and he and Zhang Juzheng hit it off immediately.

This was during Yan Song's reign, when the country was in dire straits. Wang Guoguang had witnessed too much of the corrupt and despicable behavior of Yan Song's faction. Being upright and outspoken, Wang Guoguang clashed with them many times and was often reprimanded.

Later, Zhang Juzheng wrote to him, advising him to "hold back and not force the issue, and not to argue forcefully."

When Yan Song fell from power, Wang Guoguang was promoted to Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue. In the fourth year of the Longqing reign, at the age of 58, Wang Guoguang was finally promoted to Minister of Revenue of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhang Juzheng put in a lot of effort behind the scenes; otherwise, he would not have been able to make the leap from principal to minister.

It can be said that without Zhang Juzheng, there would be no Minister Wang. Naturally, he resolutely carried out Zhang Juzheng's orders. After a rift developed between Zhang Juzheng and Zhang Siwei, he decisively stood on Zhang Juzheng's side and opposed his fellow townsman.

Now that his old friend, who had been so kind to him, has passed away, Wang Guoguang is naturally heartbroken.

While Wei Guangde was on duty, he first asked if there were any other important matters to attend to that day.

The answer was, of course, no.

So Wei Guangde arranged for Bingzhong to return to the Ministry of Rites to prepare a memorial requesting the bestowal of sacrificial offerings and a posthumous title.

Since there are no major matters to attend to in the Cabinet today, I will make a trip to the Qianqing Palace to report this news to His Majesty.

Yu Youding had no objection, and immediately got up to take his leave and return to the Ministry of Rites to make preparations.

After Wei Guangde and Yu Youding left, he led Zhang Siwei and Shen Shixing out of the cabinet and headed towards the Qianqing Palace.

Inside the Qianqing Palace, the Wanli Emperor was in a fit of rage. He threw a small booklet on the ground and shouted, "Nonsense! Spreading heresy and misleading the public!"

The other eunuchs serving him were now huddled in the corner, as silent as cicadas in winter. Only Zhang Jing, with a fawning expression, picked up the books on the ground and advised, "Your Majesty, please calm down. Since that scoundrel Gao Gong is talking nonsense, let's just not read his wicked books."

"Get out of here, all of you."

The Wanli Emperor roared at the other eunuchs and palace attendants around him. After they left, he stared at Zhang Jing and asked, "How long has this book been circulating in the capital?"

"I heard it's been going on for over a month now. It's been circulating privately among scholars. The Eastern Depot and the Embroidered Uniform Guard only discovered it recently and sent the information in."

Zhang Jing replied with a fawning smile.

Perhaps having grown accustomed to his demeanor, the Wanli Emperor wasn't angry. He simply asked casually, "What's said in the book, do you think it's true or false?"

"Your Majesty, how would I know such a thing?"

This time, Zhang Jing put away his smile and replied with trepidation, "However, it is said that a dying man's words are good, and I cannot think of any reason why Gao Xinzheng would speak nonsense."

"Both inside and outside the palace, I often hear people say that Prime Minister Zhang and Eunuch Feng have a very good relationship; one manages the internal affairs, and the other manages the external affairs, and they have governed the country well."

Suddenly, Zhang Jing saw that Emperor Wanli's expression had changed drastically, so he decisively shut his mouth and said nothing more.

Zhang Jing's words just now really hurt Emperor Wanli's already fragile heart.

Don't assume that just because someone has been an emperor for many years, they must be mentally strong.

But don't forget, the Wanli Emperor was different from ordinary people; he was "disabled".

From a young age, he knew he was different from ordinary people; he was lame. Although he tried his best to maintain the demeanor of an emperor, he could not sit, stand, or walk like an ordinary person.

Such people are often extremely sensitive to the outside world.

The Wanli Emperor's anger intensified when he recalled the book's slanderous claims that Master Zhang and Empress Dowager Li might have had an ambiguous relationship.

He kept repeating the names of Feng Bao and Zhang Juzheng in his mind, but dared not think of his mother.

According to Gao Gong, Zhang Juzheng had already colluded with Feng Bao when he was still a prince, and through this contact, he was able to get in touch with Empress Dowager Li, which made it impossible for Gao Gong to continue reading.

Just then, an attendant outside the hall reported that three Grand Secretaries of the Inner Cabinet were requesting an audience.

"Please tidy up and invite Master Wei and the others in."

Emperor Wanli quickly composed himself and gave Zhang Jing some instructions.

Soon, Zhang Jing quickly tidied up the messy imperial desk, then strode over to open the palace door and said to the eunuch outside, "Please, Grand Secretary, come into the palace for an audience."

Before long, Wei Guangde, Zhang Siwei and the other two entered the main hall. After bowing, they stood up, and the Wanli Emperor asked them what their purpose was.

The fact that all the cabinet ministers arrived at once must mean something's up.

However, Emperor Wanli was still wondering if the three cabinet ministers had come to inquire about the situation because he had accepted Pan Sheng's memorial.

After all, barring any unforeseen circumstances, Pan Sheng will become their colleague.

When he first saw Ke Daodu say that Pan Sheng was "forming cliques for personal gain," he didn't believe it. However, Xu Xuemo's memorial made him doubt it.

When Pan Sheng arrived in Tongzhou, he submitted a memorial requesting to resign, which made the emperor even more suspicious.

In his anger, he hadn't yet thought of how to handle the matter, but now that he saw all three cabinet members had arrived, he couldn't help but think of him, and his previous anger rekindled in his heart.

Then let him go. (End of Chapter)