prosperous age

Chapter 239 Chapter 238
"Grumpy"

The sound of the wheels of the carriage rolling on the ground sounded, and Wei Guangde sat quietly in the carriage.

This time he was going to Xiyuan, and Emperor Jiajing wanted to summon him.

Wei Guangde knew very well that after this summoning, he might have a chance to raise his official position.

But he is not very sure, after all, he has just been appointed as an official, and there is still a qualification in the officialdom.

It is no problem to be promoted if you are capable and meritorious, but you must also have certain qualifications, and you cannot be promoted rapidly.

Of course, when there is interest in these things, as long as they are not too much, the general ministers will not strongly oppose them.

The carriage drove through the bustling market in the outer city of the capital, entered the inner city from Chongwenmen, turned west on Chang'an Street, passed Chengtianmen, turned around after arriving at Baochaosi, and continued along an alley.

In fact, after the carriage entered Chang'an Street, they left behind the bustling market in the capital. Both sides of the street were either government offices or the imperial city. There was no hustle and bustle, only solemnity.

Wei Guangde is very familiar with this place, he just passed by the gate of the Imperial Academy.

And after the carriage turned from the alley next to Baochaosi, a sense of tranquility came over the face.

The windows of the carriage were not sealed, and Wei Guangde could still see the beautiful scenery outside through the window.

Inside the red wall is the legendary Xiyuan, which is also famous in later generations.

The young eunuch delivering the decree was about the same age as Wei Guangde. After chatting with him, Wei Guangde found out that his name was Chen Ju. He was 19 years old, two years older than him, and had been in the palace for ten years.

Those who can be sent out to deliver the decree must be people with backgrounds in the palace.

In the past, when Wei Guangde watched historical dramas, the civil official group talked about the relationship between master and apprentice, while eunuchs seemed to be like godfather and son.

Wei Guangde was very curious, which family was this Chen Ju the son of, and who was Huang Jin?

The two of them were chatting casually along the way, and Wei Guangde also knew about it. After he was selected into the palace, he was assigned to serve under the name of the eunuch Gao Zhong, the supervisor of ceremonies, Bingbi.

Supervisor of ceremonies, this is a popular position in the palace, so it can only be said that this brother is very lucky.

In order to facilitate the inner court to manage eunuchs and palace affairs, many yamen were set up in the imperial palace in the early Ming Dynasty, commonly known as "Twelve Prisons".

The Twelve Prisons consist of Rites Supervisor, Neiguan Supervisor, Imperial Supervisor, Divisional Supervisor, Yuma Supervisor, Jingong Supervisor, Shangshan Supervisor, Shangbao Supervisor, Yinshou Supervisor, Zhidian Supervisor, Shangyi Supervisor, Duzhi Supervisor, etc. Twelve prisons, each with a palm print eunuch in charge.

The internal setup of the Twelve Prisons is actually similar to that of each yamen in the imperial court. There are eunuch titles such as Admiral, Palm Seal, Bingbi, and Suitang.

For people outside the palace, it seems that as long as the servants in the palace are eunuchs, in fact, they are not. Eunuchs can be counted only if they are of high grade. It's the eunuch.

There are three main functions and powers of the supervisor of ceremonies. One is to approve and answer memorials and publicize edicts.

The second is to be in charge of eunuch affairs. The supervisor of ceremonies is not only in the position of "first department" in various eunuch institutions, but also in the position of general manager and in command of other eunuch institutions. In terms of the authority of the admiral, the admiral here is not the admiral of Dongchang, but the admiral of the "Twelve Supervisors".

The third is to take into account other important official positions. At that time, some other important official positions in the eunuch system, such as the admiral of the East Factory, Nanjing Garrison, etc., were either exclusively in charge of ceremonies, or were in charge of foreign missions. important aspect.

It can be said that the Supervisor of Ceremonies is the most important department of power in the palace both internally and externally, and the internal secretary is the seal of the Supervisor of Ceremonies, because he has the right to "approve red".

After chatting with Chen Ju for a long time, Wei Guangde found that this man was quite honest and honest, completely different from his impression that eunuchs should be vicious, vicious and cunning.

During the short chat with him, Wei Guangde had a clear understanding of his godfather Gao Zhong's past experience.

Gao Zhong had been brilliant before, even though he is still a eunuch who is the supervisor of ceremonies and Bingbi now, it can be said that he was an eunuch with palm prints in the past.

In Chen Ju's chat, he seemed very proud when talking about his godfather's previous history.

Gao Zhong entered the palace during the Zhengde Dynasty, but made his fortune in the Jiajing Dynasty.

After Emperor Jiajing ascended the throne in Beijing, Gao Zhong was selected and sent to Emperor Jiajing's side as a close servant, and from then on he began to flourish.

In the second year of Jiajing, a crown hat was given, and in the third year, he was moved to the right supervisor of the Imperial Horse Supervisor. into his hands.

In the 11th year of Jiajing, the internal officials and eunuchs were changed to be in charge of the supervisors. Because the Jiajing Emperor was an offspring, he did not dare to enjoy himself at first. It was not until the throne was consolidated that the palace was built, and Gao Zhong was the person in charge.

During the construction process, Gao Zhong also did a good job, and was praised by Emperor Jiajing from time to time.

In the early days of Jiajing, Emperor Jiajing once abolished the conferring of titles on Yin officials, but at this time he also began to reward those who had made great contributions to him, and Gao Zhong received constant rewards for this.

Gao Zhong worked as an eunuch in charge of internal officials. Because of the construction of palaces and other projects, he had four times allowed relatives such as his younger brothers and nephews to be conferred by officials. people.

At this time, he was reused by Emperor Jiajing again, and he was appointed to be the admiral of the [-]th Regiment Battalion, and he was also in charge of the Imperial Horse Supervisor Seal and the admiral of the Warriors' Four Guards Battalion.

The three key departments of the Ming Dynasty imperial palace, Silijian, Dongchang, and Yumajian, Emperor Jiajing directly transferred all the armed forces to Gao Zhong, which was very prosperous for a while.

However, everything disappeared after the Gengwu Revolution in the 29th year of Jiajing.

Strictly speaking, the performance of the Jingying at that time was indeed very different from that of the Zhengde Dynasty 30 years ago, but the crux of the problem was not in the hands of the soldiers in charge, but because Emperor Jiajing changed the selection rules left by Emperor Zhengde , causing the combat power of the Beijing camp to decline again and decline rapidly.

However, in the end, someone has to take the blame, and Gao Zhong took the blame, and stepped down from the position of the eunuch in the palm of the horse, and became the eunuch of the pen in charge of the supervisor of ceremonies.

There were three Bingbi eunuchs in the Silijian at that time, and Gao Zhong served as the steward of the prison, so it can be said that Bingbi eunuch No. 1.

Of course, he is not in charge of the chief of ceremonies, because there is Huang Jin on it, he is the eunuch with palm seal, and the eunuch with palm seal must nod for all approvals.

From the palm print to the pen, this can be regarded as a big stumble for Gao Zhong, from the boss of the Yuma Supervisor to the second of the Rites Supervisor.

What Wei Guangde thought of at this moment was Gao Zhong, and the servant Chen Ju in front of him.

It turns out that watching costume dramas, it seems that the foreign ministers of the imperial court have to make friends with a few servants, and sometimes they can help to inform him and let him know the emperor's attitude towards some people and certain things.

Chen Ju is an honest person, and it is estimated that the master who brought him should be similar.

Gao Zhong, in the eyes of Emperor Jiajing, has always been trusted.

As for the stumble, it can only be said that time is fate. Even now, it seems that Emperor Jiajing has treated him well.

The eunuch Bingbi, in fact, Wei Guangde probably understood how to do it when he watched Ming Dynasty dramas.

As soon as Emperor Jiajing sat on the throne, Huang Jin or other eunuchs read the memorial. The emperor knocked on the chime, which represented approval and rejection. Huang Jin stamped it with his seal, sent back what should be sent back, and kept what was left behind.

People around the emperor.

Wei Guangde went through it quickly in his mind, it is worth investing in, you can try it.

Seeing that he was about to reach the gate of Xiyuan Palace, Wei Guangde took out a piece of paper and an ingot of five taels of silver from his arms, quietly handed it to Chen Ju, and said in a low voice, "Come out in a hurry, take this money for my father-in-law to drink some tea, and turn around." Prepare another generous gift for Eunuch, please Eunuch Chen forward this meeting ticket to Eunuch Gao, I heard that Eunuch Gao sent me the memorial, I am really grateful."

This is what Wei Guangde said casually, Chen Ju is honest and outrageous, Wei Guangde judged that this is not a master who will be detained, he is now a eunuch and he doesn't know him, even if he sees Gao Zhong, he doesn't know him, buy it or hand it over to him for trial Try to see if you can understand.

1000 taels is not too much for Wei Guangde.

Although Chen Ju is honest, the common problem of eunuchs is that they don't see money.

Five taels is nothing to a high-grade eunuch, but to a young eunuch like him, it's a lot.

Very pleasantly surprised, he took the silver ingot and meeting ticket from Wei Guangde and put it in his arms, "Don't worry, Mr. Wei, I will definitely pass it on to my godfather."

In fact, who handed over his memorial, does it matter?
It all depends on the emperor's attitude.

Wei Guangde already knew the night before that Liu Dazhang's dismissal was a foregone conclusion, and the position of the Xuanfu's chief military officer was given away, but he was not convicted for it.

Thinking about it, Liu Dazhang committed crimes in Liaodong back then, involving foreign smuggling, and it was also caused by Al Da Khan who made too much noise. The court appointed him as a convicted person to go to Xuanfu when he couldn't find a manpower for a while.

Now that I find it unbearable, it is normal to give up.

As for how much money Liu Dazhang spent on the errand of the chief military officer, and how much money he spent to settle Wei Guangde's complaint memorial, these are not Wei Guangde's considerations.

But this person is also very powerful, and he was able to get away with dismissal.

Not long after, the carriage stopped outside the gate of Xiyuan, Wei Guangde followed Chen Ju to get off, and followed the procedure to show the palace card to enter Xiyuan.

Not far from the gate of Xiyuan is the Xihua Gate of the Imperial City. In the past, Emperor Jiajing used to go directly from the Xihua Gate when entering and leaving the palace.

Wei Guangde and the others couldn't do it, so they could only come in from Chang'an Street.

When Wei Guangde entered Xiyuan, he was immediately fascinated by the beautiful scenery here.

When he arrived in the capital, Wei Guangde had heard long ago that the construction of Xiyuan cost Emperor Jiajing a lot of money, and the inside was also beautifully built with money.

Walking into Xiyuan today, I finally know how the money was spent.

The buildings in Xiyuan are all carefully designed, not to mention the careful construction, even the exotic flowers and plants planted on both sides of the palace road cost a lot of money.

Here, Wei Guangde actually saw a few white cranes playing in the garden. He continued to move forward and soon arrived at the Taiye Pool, bypassing Longevity Mountain and continuing on.

Contrary to what Wei Guangde thought, this time Emperor Jiajing did not summon him in Yongshou Palace where he lived, but in Ziguang Pavilion beside Taiye Pool.

"My minister Wei Guangde has met His Majesty, long live my emperor, long live long live."

After entering the main hall, Wei Guangde looked at his nose, his nose and his heart, and without any distraction, he directly saluted Emperor Jiajing on the throne. As for whether he would kneel in the wrong direction or there was no one on the throne, that was a joke.

Before Wei Guangde entered the door, he peeked at it. There was a Taoist priest sitting on the throne.

Yes, a priest.

Different from what Wei Guangde had seen in ceremonies such as the Chuanlu Ceremony before, the Emperor Jiajing at this time was not wearing a dragon robe, but was completely dressed as a Taoist priest.

What does a Taoist priest look like?
You can refer to the stills of the Hong Kong film Nine Uncles as Ghosts.

At this time, Emperor Jiajing was wearing an apricot-yellow Taoist robe, and Wei Guangde was able to recognize that it was a Taoist robe instead of a dragon robe, because it was embroidered with gossip patterns.

A bit of a rare shape.

Wei Guangde thought in his heart, the only difference from Uncle Jiu's dress was that Emperor Jiajing was not wearing a black Tai Chi Pure Yang Scarf, but a hat made of green yarn more than one foot high, with the words embroidered on it. Tai Chi pattern.

In Wei Guangde's mind, he couldn't help but think of the plot in the "Da Ming Dynasty" TV series he watched back then. It seemed that several people put a wreath on their heads, and he didn't know if it represented this thing.

The hat on Jiajing's head, Wei Guangde has really heard people say, this thing should be the fragrant leaf crown.

Don't underestimate this fragrant leaf crown, most people can't get it.

As far as Wei Guangde knows, there are only two people who have obtained Fragrant Leaf Crown, one is the former chief assistant Xia Yan, but he didn't cherish it, and he didn't know where he lost it, and then he was chopped off.

The other person who got the fragrant leaf crown is the current chief assistant Yan Song. According to what Wei Guangde heard from his colleagues, this fragrant leaf crown was not made by others, but by the emperor himself.

From design to manufacture, it was all done by Emperor Jiajing, which shows the value of this green hat.

However, what happened next was beyond what Wei Guangde could have imagined.

After kneeling and saluting, he knelt down on the vacant room, pricked up his ears and waited for the sentence "Ai Qing is flat" from above, and then he could stand up logically.

However, the ears were pricked up, but no human voice was heard.

At this moment, Wei Guangde's attention was highly concentrated. Although he was not considered a martial arts master and could see all directions and hear all directions, even if a needle dropped in the palace at this moment, he might be able to hear the sound.

The Ziguang Pavilion was eerily quiet, without the slightest sound.

Wei Guangde didn't dare to stand up, he was facing the king now.

As the saying goes, being with the emperor is like accompanying a tiger. Staying by the emperor's side for a long time is definitely beneficial, but it is also risky. If you don't pay attention to angering Long Yan, you can't eat and walk around.

I don't know how long he knelt, Wei Guangde felt that his feet were a little numb, but the pain on his feet was still a trivial matter, and now he was feeling uneasy in his heart.

Wei Guangde didn't know what the Emperor Jiajing was going to do, did he not offend him?

Everyone else is gone?

Is it to punish myself for leaving myself here alone?

Thinking of this, Wei Guangde became even more flustered, unconsciously he began to raise his head slightly, he didn't dare to look left and right, he just lifted his head slightly, a little bit, his eyes rolled up as much as possible.
I saw that Emperor Jiajing was still sitting there.

Unlike before entering the door, Emperor Jiajing was leaning on the throne at this time, staring at him with a playful face.

(End of this chapter)