prosperous age

In the evening, Wei Guangde soaked in the hot spring pool, which was not in the backyard of the main house, but in the hot spring pool in the side courtyard.

Here live several white girls, or rather, young women, sent by Yu Dayou.

They were not allowed to enter the Wei residence or the main courtyard.

However, Xu Jianglan did not reject them.

After all, these were victims of war, slaves captured and sold.

However, Wei Guangde used to be very interested in having a pleasant physical and mental exchange with them, but today he couldn't muster any interest at all.

Having served as an official for so many years, he himself couldn't remember exactly how many people he had written letters to.

This may explain why a large number of people are implicated when there is turmoil in officialdom.

Wei Guangde was unaware that after Zhang Juzheng was purged, the anti-Zhang alliance, based solely on letters found in the Zhang family's records, brought down a large number of officials in the Ming Dynasty, including many high-ranking officials of the second rank.

Lao Kan, a fellow townsman who had a close relationship with Zhang Juzheng, was labeled as an accomplice because of his correspondence with Zhang Juzheng.

At that time, Lao Kan had already risen to the rank of Left Vice Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, responsible for supervising the censorate, and was a highly promising official to succeed him as Left Censor-in-Chief.

Zeng Shengwu was naturally not spared either, and Fu Zuozhou, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, also suffered misfortune.

These were all high-ranking officials of the third rank in the imperial court at the time.

Zhang Xueyan, sensing the unfavorable situation in the court, voluntarily resigned, and with considerable effort, avoided the danger of being purged.

In any case, he had served in the Ministry of Revenue for so many years, so it was no problem for him to contribute some money.

This shows how influential letters were in officialdom during this era.

Fortunately, Wei Guangde was very careful with all the letters he wrote and notes he sent out, and generally did not leave too much evidence against him.

Moreover, all the letters he wrote were recorded.

But that was just his opinion. By this point, he knew that some things were better off disappearing completely.

Before coming here, he had Zhang Ji personally review the letters he had sent out over the years, focusing on those who had served in Jiujiang Prefecture and their current situation.

He wasn't worried that he might get burned if he couldn't protect the Zhang family, since he didn't have much correspondence with Zhang Juzheng.

If there was anything, it was that when he was in mourning at home, he wrote a letter to Zhang Juzheng, expressing some opinions on the Longqing Peace Treaty.

Okay, that seems to be all.

After all, he was a cabinet minister returning to his hometown to observe mourning for his parents. It seemed reasonable for Zhang Juzheng to tell him about important matters of the court and seek his opinion.

Moreover, he not only wrote this opinion to Zhang Juzheng, but also directly to the Longqing Emperor.

Even if the Wanli Emperor saw these letters, he couldn't very well call him a "partisan of the late emperor."

After he came out of the bath and put on a dry garment, the maidservant came to report that the steward was requesting an audience outside the courtyard.

"Tell him to go to the outer living room."

The backyard was where the women lived, so naturally people couldn't be brought in. Therefore, Wei Guangde had to go out to see him himself.

After changing into thicker clothes, he then walked forward.

The clothes he's wearing are made of polar bear skin, stuffed with cotton, making them very warm.

In this era, polar bears were a very rare species. The pelts were not the white bear skins found in Shennongjia, but genuine white polar bear furs hunted by the Mongols from the far north.

Bear skins are not uncommon in the homes of high-ranking officials and nobles, but his polar bear skin is extremely rare.

Of course, only something like this could make him look like the prime minister.

With money and power, what good things can't they get their hands on?

After Wei Guangde, wearing a fur coat made of polar bear skin, entered the warm greenhouse, he looked at Zhang Ji and asked, "Any results?"

“Sir, we have already checked the records. You had correspondence with three people at that time.”

Zhang Ji took out a piece of paper and handed it to Wei Guangde with both hands.

Wei Guangde took it and sat down to read it.

Zhang Ji took the tray from the maid who brought in tea from behind and presented the tea to Wei Guangde.

"Were these two people exchanging ordinary letters?"

Wei Guangde had already seen the information about the people who had contact with him at that time, as well as a brief record of the letters.

"Yes, it was just a regular letter. It was the old master's birthday at the time. The old master's letter didn't mention anything else, he just asked them to go to the mansion."

Zhang Ji said in a low voice.

Wei Guangde vaguely remembered this incident; it involved them secretly replacing official documents and records, but he naturally couldn't reveal it aloud.

It involved arranging for the steward of the government office to return to Jiujiang and directly contact local officials through verbal communication.

The letter was merely to convey his knowledge and to embolden the two officials from Jiujiang.

Another person was the Right Provincial Governor of Jiangxi at the time, who participated in the inventory of the Yan family's property.

Many of the Yan family's assets are reflected in the Yan family's accounts, and these accounts were copied during the processing.

Naturally, some things were eliminated. There were quite a few people who wanted a share of the pie. Apart from those assets that had already been attached to the Yan family and no one dared to touch them, many other things had actually changed hands in secret.

Many people are involved in these things, but most of them don't contact each other; they only communicate with the person in charge of the raid.

"That Jiang Zemin is dead?"

Wei Guangde frowned slightly as he looked behind him and said...

"Yes, he died in the third year of the Wanli reign, and no one in his family entered officialdom. However, he still enjoyed the benefits of his family's influence. It is said that he still owned thousands of acres of land in his hometown and was a large landowner."

Zhang Ji said in a low voice.

"Have someone investigate and search the area thoroughly, making sure nothing is left unsaid; it would be best if it turned out to be an accident."

Wei Guangde whispered to Zhang Ji, "As for the other two, let's just leave them be; they're not important."

After a slight hesitation, Wei Guangde finally shook his head and said, "Let's do it all together. Let's find a way to destroy all of their master's belongings and leave no paper behind."

Wei Guangde thought that although he had not corresponded with these people about those matters, it was possible that they might have mentioned them in their correspondence.

Only by making all these correspondence disappear can a single piece of evidence be of little use.

The worst thing is when there's a huge amount of evidence that can be linked together; that would be a real problem.

As for the letters he wrote to people like Yu Dayou and Qi Jiguang, with him around, no one would provoke them, so naturally he had nothing to fear.

Zhang Ji understood what Wei Guangde meant: he wanted him to find a way to destroy these letters, preferably along with his own and others' letters. Once he understood, he would know what to do.

"I know how to arrange it, so I'll go and make the arrangements now."

Zhang Ji immediately said.

"Be mindful of the time, and don't crowd together and cause an accident."

Wei Guangde simply gave him a brief reminder.

It was just a precautionary measure, so I'm not worried about being discovered.

In fact, the matter of the Yan family's assets was kept completely secret even in later generations, and no one ever brought it up again.

Ultimately, there are too many people involved, and ordinary people simply wouldn't dare to even consider getting involved in this.

Wei Guangde even had a vague feeling that Grand Secretary Xu was probably also deeply involved.

Given his shrewd and calculating nature, he naturally kept the matter very well covered up.

However, if someone could use this incident to bring down a prime minister, the potential profits would be enormous, and they might very well take the risk.

"Yes, sir."

After bowing respectfully, Zhang Ji turned to leave.

"wait."

At this moment, Wei Guangde was thinking about who would be the main instigator if someone wanted to bring him down. Who would be the biggest beneficiary if the Grand Secretary were to fall?

Without a doubt, the current second-in-command is the one qualified to take this position.

"Have the people from Pingyang Prefecture been withdrawn?"

Some time had passed, and Wei Guangde suddenly remembered the original arrangements.

"Most of them have already been evacuated and arranged to go to Nanjing."

Zhang Ji was taken aback, and after thinking for a moment, he answered.

"So you mean there are still people over there?"

Wei Guangde frowned slightly and asked.

“Master, it’s really not easy to leave the Zhang residence without a suitable reason.”

Otherwise, even the slightest mistake could expose their wrongdoing.

Zhang Ji hurriedly explained that it didn't mean they would just leave as soon as the job was done.

If you really do that, you'll cause trouble even if nothing's wrong, and you'll inevitably arouse suspicion.

"How much do the remaining people know?"

Wei Guangde asked in a low voice.

“Those on the periphery don’t even know about the household’s connections; they are the intermediaries who pass on the materials.”

Zhang Ji immediately said.

Those who entered the Zhang residence have definitely already left; those people know too much.

There are actually quite a few ways to leave, such as doing something wrong, getting a beating in the mansion, and then being dismissed.

It was because this person had some connection with the Zhang family, but didn't know much, that Zhang Ji didn't arrange for them to evacuate.

We must take it one step at a time. As the old man often said, don't cram everything together, or people will notice something is wrong.

"In addition, there is another line of communication, which is only responsible for gathering information."

Zhang Ji added.

"Send some new people over there, and it's best to withdraw all the people who were there before."

Wei Guangde originally intended to continue sending people to the Zhang family through the original line, but after hearing Zhang Ji say that there were still people lurking, he naturally saw no need to keep them there any longer.

"Just have them find out Zhang Ziwei's lifestyle habits, especially his health condition. As for the rest, wait for orders."

Wei Guangde spoke up.

The simplest way to solve a problem is to get rid of the person who caused it.

No wonder everyone did this in later generations; Wei Guangde also felt at this time that it seemed to be a good way to solve the problem.

As long as it's done discreetly enough, it can be accomplished.

Those active people now are just waiting for their masters to return to the capital and be reinstated.

As long as the big tree remains, the monkeys will naturally not scatter; in fact, they will continue to do things to flatter their master.

The simplest way to deal with this group is to cut down the big tree. Without their leader, they will immediately seek new support instead of sticking together, especially since a favorite of the emperor is involved.

Wei Guangde had already realized that directly attacking them would be somewhat unjustified.

But if they join that man's faction after the big tree falls, they will suddenly become what the civil officials call the eunuch faction, and it will be easy to deal with them again.

It can only be said that Zhang Siwei's political strategy was actually to emulate Zhang Juzheng and find a capable ally in the inner court, and he chose Zhang Jing as that ally.

However, after Zhang Juzheng passed away, how many of his former allies turned to Feng Bao?

Only Wang Zhuan, most of whom chose to choose a good tree to perch on, and some who remained aloof and focused on self-cultivation.

However, this person is no longer a force to be reckoned with, and it's only a matter of time before he leaves the court.

The reason he didn't take action against him was that Wei Guangde didn't want to break ties with Zhang Jing, lest the conflict be brought before Emperor Wanli.

We won, that's only natural.

If he loses, where will Grand Secretary Wei put his face?

It would be better to let him be and let others challenge him while he just chimes in from the sidelines.

To outsiders, they would say that Grand Secretary Wei was mindful of the bigger picture, understood the bigger picture, and didn't stoop to the level of a eunuch.

Although Zhang Jing clearly had no good intentions towards him.

Wei Guangde knew even better that eunuchs were nothing; everything depended on his master's attitude.

If someone has the emperor's favor, even if they commit murder or arson, they will only be punished behind closed doors in the inner court, so that the outer court will not have the opportunity to interfere.

Without the emperor's favor, even coughing once could be considered an act of disrespect for the emperor.

After giving his instructions, Wei Guangde saw Zhang Ji still standing at the door, bowing as if awaiting orders. He immediately realized that Zhang Ji was unsure whether he had finished speaking and therefore could not leave.

Just as he was about to raise his hand to let him do it, he thought of the Zhang family in Jingzhou, and after thinking for a moment, he reached out and called Zhang Ji back.

When Zhang Ji walked up to him, Wei Guangde whispered in his ear, "Arrange for someone you trust to go to the Zhang family in Jingzhou, Huguang, and tell Zhang Jingxiu that someone wants to reopen the old case of the Prince of Liao. If there is anything unclean in the mansion, deal with it as soon as possible."

When arranging this matter, the person in charge must be careful not to do it under the guise of the government office.

It needs to be done quickly; just make up any excuse.

Also, the accents of the people going there should absolutely not be those from Beijing or Jiangxi; it would be best if they could speak Shanxi dialect.

Once the matter is settled, arrange for him to go to the chamber of commerce in Guangdong and not come back.

Wei Guangde could never bring himself to kill someone to cover it up.

Generally, people are placed far away.

Anyway, the family's businesses are located in various places.

If it's really that urgent, then send them directly to Myanmar.

These were the best ways Wei Guangde could think of to conceal his identity.

As for obtaining fake household registrations or travel permits, they are nothing in front of Grand Secretary Wei.

In fact, even he himself had Zhang Ji help him obtain several identities in his spare time, all of which included household registration and travel permits.

In other words, influenced by the fact that people with a little power in later generations might prepare several identity cards for themselves, Wei Guangde also did the same thing in the Ming Dynasty.

Of course, he didn't register these household registrations to get a passport or prepare to flee, but rather to register some of his properties under his name.

"I've finished speaking, go and do it."

After thinking it over, Wei Guangde felt there were no flaws and then spoke to Zhang Ji.

Later, if Emperor Wanli still wanted to take action against the Zhang family, there was nothing he could do.

He had done everything he could; the emperor was determined to do his thing. He could stop him for a while, but not forever.

If the Zhang family had truly seized the Prince's property, even destroying the evidence wouldn't have been fast enough; it would have only bought them time.

However, if the Zhang brothers were smart, they would know what to do: arrange an escape route for their family as soon as possible and find a place to hide.

After Zhang Ji left, Wei Guangde stood at the door, glanced at the backyard, and lost all interest in going over.

"Is Madam resting? We'll head over now."

Wei Guangde said something to the servants around him, and without drinking a drop of tea in the room, he led his men directly to the backyard of the main house to rest.

He's going back to Beijing tomorrow, so he needs to get some rest.

Having just emerged from the hot spring, Wei Guangde was also feeling a bit sleepy. (End of Chapter)