prosperous age

“黄金2400两，白银157700两，金器3710余两、金首饰900余两、银器5200余两、银首饰10000余两，以及玉带16条、蟒衣、绸缎、珍珠、玛瑙、宝石、玳瑁等财宝60余箱，其中夜明珠9颗.”

In the Forbidden City of the Ming Dynasty, in the cabinet, in Wei Guangde's office.

Wei Guangde sat in a grand chair in the reception area, holding an official document that had been urgently sent from Huguang.

Below him, Vice Minister Shen Shixing, Assistant Ministers Yu Youding, Xu Guo, and Wang Jiaping were all present.

In addition, Zeng Shengwu, Minister of Justice, Chen Jingbang, Minister of Rites, and Chen Kai, Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, were also sitting there.

However, in the quiet duty room, Chen Zi's coughing, which vibrated his chest, could be heard from time to time.

"In addition, the Zhang family also owns three residences with more than 1000 rooms, fully furnished with all kinds of furniture and fabrics."

When Wei Guangde read out the next paragraph of the document, "Zhang's family owns more than 20,000 mu of land," a slight commotion arose in the duty room.

Apart from Zeng Shengwu, everyone else seemed surprised that the Zhang family owned so much land.

When Wei Guangde's voice faded, he slowly put down the document, looked around at everyone present, and said calmly, "Everyone has heard Imperial Censor Hai's memorial, right? No artifacts from the Liao Prince's Mansion were found in the Zhang residence."

In other words, the impeachments made by Yang Keli, Yang Sizhi, and others were purely based on hearsay.

At this point, Wei Guangde looked at Chen Kai, who had his left hand on his chest and his right hand covering his mouth, seemingly trying his best to suppress the cough that was about to erupt.

Wei Guangde's mouth moved, and after a moment, he finally spoke: "The Censorate is still too lenient with its censors."

I remember during the Longqing era, His Majesty issued an edict criticizing the Censorate, stating that censors were accustomed to reporting rumors and gossip, which was detrimental to the country.

If there is evidence, even if the facts are found to be different from the report, it is still acceptable.

But this time, their impeachment was based entirely on rumors.

Chen Kai looked in Wei Guangde's direction with his cloudy eyes, then lowered his head slightly and said, "The Censorate will impose restrictions on all censors and reiterate the imperial decree."

Chen Kai readily accepted Wei Guangde's criticism, but Zeng Shengwu suddenly interjected, "Since the impeachment was fabricated, shouldn't Yang Keli and others be punished?"

The newly appointed Minister of Rites, Chen Jingbang, frowned, then looked at Zeng Shengwu and said, "Minister Zeng, you are mistaken."

If censors are punished for making mistakes in their impeachments, how will the censors of the Censorate be able to conduct their duties in the future?
Moreover, Yang Sizhi had previously stated that Chief Minister Zhang had been accused of embezzlement and bribery during his tenure.

Although the memorial did not mention embezzlement or bribery, it would be inappropriate to say that the Zhang family's seizure of such a large sum of money was entirely without evidence.

"That's normal social interaction in officialdom. Can't you gentlemen understand that?"
Hai Gangfeng did not mention these sums of money, which implicitly acknowledged that they were exchanges of favors within the officialdom.

Otherwise, given his temperament, wouldn't he have impeached the perpetrators for this being illegally obtained wealth?

Zeng Shengwu immediately retorted.

"Stop arguing, Ru Mo. Take a look at the memorial and then tell me your opinion on Ru Xian's memorial."

Wei Guangde mediated the argument between the two and handed the document in his hand to Shen Shixing.

The duty room fell silent again, with only the occasional, suppressed, shrill cough from Chen Zi.

After Shen Shixing carefully read the entire memorial, he finally looked up and handed the memorial to Yu Youding beside him.

"Tell me, what do you think of Hai Rui's memorial?"

Before the other cabinet ministers could finish reading, Wei Guangde directly asked Shen Shixing about his attitude.

After a moment of silence, Shen Shixing spoke up: "Skilled in governing the country, but inept at self-preservation, Hai Gangfeng actually expressed his attitude at the end of the article."

This was Hai Rui's assessment of Zhang Juzheng, but it clearly failed to convince the assembled ministers.

What they wanted was whether the memorial indicated that Zhang Juzheng was suspected of involvement in the case, not only in the embezzlement of the Liao Prince's property, but also in corruption and bribery.

He was adept at planning national affairs, which was naturally known to everyone.

However, his lack of skill in planning his reputation before and after his death is none of anyone else's business.

It must be said that although none of the people present seemed to have offended Zhang Juzheng, their attitudes were mostly ambiguous.

After all, according to the rumors that occasionally circulated in the palace, Emperor Wanli's attitude towards that Master Zhang was not very good.

Needless to say, this was a message deliberately spread by Zhang Jing.

With the investigation in Huguang about to yield results, as long as the rumor that the emperor dislikes Master Zhang is spread, whether you are on Zhang Juzheng's side, opposed to Zhang Juzheng, or even an official who intends to stay out of it, you will more or less have your own ulterior motives.

If you want to appear before the Wanli Emperor, you should naturally say and do what the emperor wants.

If one wins the emperor's favor, a promotion would be within easy reach.

Overt strategies can sometimes be very effective and have no negative consequences.

Its impact is far more intense than those who resort to intrigue and trickery.

As long as you clearly know what others want.

"Although the memorial stated that the Zhang family indeed possessed a great deal of wealth, it did not mention any discrepancies in these assets throughout the entire document."

"Minister Zhang has served as an official for many years, and has cultivated numerous personal relationships within the officialdom. His hard work over thirty years is certainly commendable."

Shen Shixing spoke up.

To be honest, for a cabinet minister like Zhang Juzheng, who had served for more than ten years, accumulating a fortune of several hundred thousand taels of silver was not a lot.

If he hadn't lived for more than a few years, the money he'd made from social interactions over the years would have amounted to two or three hundred thousand taels of silver.

Of course, in terms of cultural foundation, it still falls far short of Zhang Juzheng.

But if we're talking about gold and silver specifically, the difference is about the same.

If Zhang Juzheng's wealth was questionable, wouldn't that be admitting that his "social interactions" were obtained through bribery?

As for currying favor with the emperor and doing things according to his wishes.

This is naturally what a cabinet minister should do, but it doesn't warrant flattery.

Shen Shixing was well aware that to secure his position, he needed to keep a close eye on the government affairs handled by the cabinet, and if there were any mistakes, he should subtly bring them up when he met with the emperor alone.

The second-in-command was essentially a tool for the emperor to supervise the chief minister's governance.

When he replaced Wei Guangde and became the Grand Secretary.

The second-in-command, whether it was Yu Youding, Xu Guo, or anyone else, would treat him the same way.

This was the political maneuvering employed by the Wanli Emperor in the court.

He couldn't contradict the Prime Minister in everything, and he had to fully cooperate with his work, but most importantly, he had to keep his eyes open.

As for Chen Jingbang, he had just taken office in the Ministry of Rites and urgently needed to demonstrate his abilities to solidify his position in the court.

Chen Jingbang, courtesy name Gongwang, style name Su'an, was a native of Putian, Fujian. He was a Jinshi (successful candidate in the highest imperial examination) in the 44th year of the Jiajing reign of the Ming Dynasty (1565), and was selected as a Shujishi (a probationary official) and appointed as a compiler in the Hanlin Academy.

When Emperor Shenzong was the crown prince, he served as a lecturer in the Eastern Palace. After Emperor Shenzong ascended the throne, he lectured on the classics and was awarded the imperial calligraphy "Criticism and Appreciation of Goodness". Through hard work, he rose to the position of Minister of Rites.

However, such a person seems to have a change in mentality after officially entering officialdom, especially after taking up the position of Minister of Rites, who is known as half a cabinet minister.

In fact, every official who takes up the position of Minister of Rites is like this, eager to make a good impression on the emperor so that he can overcome that hurdle and truly become a Grand Secretary, rather than just a "half-Grand Secretary".

Wei Guangde didn't speak, but waited until Xu Guo and Wang Jiaping had both read the memorial.

He knew that the person in the Qianqing Palace was probably also reading the memorial at that moment.

Although according to procedure, he should only see the memorials submitted after the Grand Secretariat has drafted them, the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs would naturally make a copy of what the Emperor cared about and send it to the Emperor first. No matter what they thought or how they drafted the memorials, the final decision still rested with the man sitting high in the Qianqing Palace.

Even if they object, at worst they can just block the emperor's edict in the palace and leave it there, but it still won't have much effect.

The key issue is that such consequences would only make the emperor's dissatisfaction with Zhang Juzheng more concrete, and at that time, any official in the court who wanted to scheme and opportunize would step in to impeach him.

Even if Wei Guangde manages to block it, he cannot stop the overall trend.

In the end, he might even get burned, and those people might turn against him.

So, let's wait now.

See if any imperial edict is issued.

If, at this point, the person in the Qianqing Palace were to issue an edict impatiently, citing the Zhang family's wealth as grounds for punishment, Wei Guangde would have no choice but to bow his head and accept it.

At most, they would say a few good words for Zhang Juzheng in front of the emperor, and then instruct the people below to treat Zhang's family a little better, so that it wouldn't end up like in the original history, where the family was destroyed.

The only things the cabinet and the six ministries could truly stop were imperial edicts that harmed the interests of the civil service.

Unless it involves collective interests, arguments rarely yield good results.

After the cabinet ministers finished reading the memorial, and considering their own interests, they naturally came to a similar view as Shen Shixing.

Hai Rui did not believe that the Zhang family was guilty, nor that Zhang Juzheng was suspected of corruption and bribery during his tenure; instead, he cleverly glossed over the matter.

The memorial recorded the Zhang family's wealth, which was beyond normal circumstances, but avoided mentioning it, only saying that no old items from the Liao Prince's Palace had been found.

The memorial was accompanied by the signatures of Chen Ju and others, indicating that the vast majority of the officials involved in handling the case had reached a consensus.

If you shift the blame to the capital and the emperor decides to punish you, that's your problem.

They investigated the things the suspects had confessed to, but found nothing.

Even if they write the best memorials, it's useless if someone wants to frame them.

In fact, Emperor Wanli had long been aware of the confiscation of the Zhang family's property while in the inner court.

After Chen Ju finished taking inventory and producing a detailed list, he sent someone to deliver a copy of the list directly to the palace.

Emperor Wanli was also hesitant about whether to punish the teacher who had deceived him.

If Hai Rui's attitude was somewhat ambiguous before, the delivery of this memorial now fully reveals his true feelings.

Even though Zhang Juzheng had suppressed him, Hai Rui might not have been able to bring himself to take action against him because of Zhang Juzheng's actions in order to advance the country.

In fact, the opinions of the court officials regarding Zhang Juzheng were mixed, with some praising him and others criticizing him.

Many officials and their relatives who had been suppressed by Zhang Juzheng naturally belittled him after they became officials themselves.

However, some officials who supported Zhang Juzheng's policies praised him highly.

Wang Huazhen publicly commented on Zhang Juzheng on several occasions that he was "arrogant and full of ambition, which made him a target of petty people," while many others called him "a hero of his time in Jiangling" and "the most famous prime minister during the Longqing and Wanli periods."

In fact, the best way to evaluate Zhang Juzheng is to step outside the Ming Dynasty, that is, to look at the opinions of people of his time, and to look at the views of people in later generations.

The Shunzhi Emperor of the Qing Dynasty commented on Zhang Juzheng: "At that time, the emperor was young and the country was in doubt. If the governor did not hold the reins of power, who would build the house by the roadside? It is not appropriate to accuse Zhang Juzheng of seizing power."

Emperor Shunzhi's assessment actually hit the nail on the head. For the court, the charges of "corruption and bribery" were actually a very minor matter. What really affected his reputation was the "powerful ministers".

Was Zhang Juzheng a powerful minister or a criminal?

As for the wealth acquired while serving in office, it was never within the scope of the rulers' considerations.

In the eyes of ordinary people, corrupt officials should be punished.

However, in the eyes of the rulers, "powerful ministers" are the most dangerous, as they can undermine their power.

While he was still hesitating in the Qianqing Palace, Wei Guangde had already sought the opinions of the three cabinet members.

"Since Hai Rui has not found any evidence that Minister Zhang has embezzled any property from the Prince's residence, this case should naturally be closed."

These were Yu Youding's words; he didn't want to continue the argument.

His attitude was also recognized by Xu Guo and Wang Jiaping.

"So it seems that only the Ministry of Rites has objections to this matter?"

Wei Guangde then looked at Chen Jingbang and asked seriously.

Chen Jingbang lowered his head, but it seemed he was also weighing his options.

Finally, he gritted his teeth and insisted, "In my opinion, although no evidence has been found that Minister Zhang has embezzled any property from the Prince of Liao's residence, we should still thoroughly investigate the origins of the Zhang family's wealth."

Wei Guangde stared at Chen Jingbang for a long time, and seeing that he had no intention of changing his attitude, he nodded slightly, "Then draft the proposal based on the facts. Ru Mo, you write it."

At this point, Chen Jingbang's newly appointed Minister of Rites was already destined to end his official career.

Although his attitude may have pleased the emperor, it also alienated him from the officials.

Yes, especially local officials.

Wei Guangde knew that if he knew Chen Jingbang's attitude, many people would become hostile towards him.

This included not only those who were loyal to Zhang Juzheng, but also officials who had once given lavish gifts to the Zhang family.

Overthrowing Zhang Juzheng was not only a threat to Zhang's faction, but also to those who had given the Zhang family generous gifts, whether for official positions or other reasons.

If the source of the Zhang family's wealth is really investigated, who knows how many people will be implicated.

Stablize?

Clearly, this major purge will plunge the imperial court into turmoil.

When Emperor Wanli summons him, Wei Guangde only needs to point out this matter. Although punishing Zhang Juzheng will please Emperor Wanli.

But if he knew that fulfilling his wish would cause turmoil in the court, he might change his mind.

Wei Guangde believed that Emperor Wanli would not make a decision on such an important matter based solely on the cabinet's draft proposal.

It is highly likely that he will summon officials to the palace repeatedly in the next day or two to inquire about the situation.

Wei Guangde glanced at Yu Youding. Although Yu Youding had his head slightly lowered, his expression was clearly not good.

After all, Chen Jingbang was the one he recommended.

I just didn't expect this person to be so inexperienced. There were so many people in the room, and he was the only one who insisted on his own opinion.

I don't know how such a "monopolistic official" has managed to survive in the officialdom for twenty years.

Meanwhile, outside the palace, the contents of Hai Rui's memorial were circulating accurately in official circles.

Compared to the millions of taels of gold and silver confiscated from Yan Song's family, the hundreds of thousands of taels of gold and silver from the Zhang family were not much, but they were still enough to make them gasp.

After all, most of them don't have that kind of wealth.

Envy, jealousy, and all sorts of other emotions were present.

However, while some people were considering whether or not to get involved, most people turned their attention to the huge shop on Chongwenmenli Street.

News of the Ming Dynasty's money exchange had already begun circulating within official circles. (End of Chapter)