prosperous age

Chapter 245 Chapter 244
Now Wei Guangde lives a leisurely life, every day he goes to the Hanlin Academy to sign in the roster on time, and if he is bored, he goes to the Taichang Temple.

During this period of time, there were no major festival activities, and Taichang Temple was also very leisurely.

In fact, Taichang Temple has not always been so idle. During the two months when Wei Guangde was away, Taichang Temple was responsible for organizing the death anniversaries of Empress Xiaozhuangrui, Empress Xiaomu, and Empress Ren Xiaowen. .

At the same time, there is also the death anniversary of Emperor Cheng Zuwen, which is also a sacrificial activity held in Fengxian Hall.

It can only be said that Wei Guangde was sent to Taichang Temple, which happened to be the most relaxing time for Taichang Temple, and there were no activities to be held.

Of course, these three empresses have nothing to do with Emperor Jiajing, just talk about Empress Xiaozhuangrui, and when talking about her husband, all fans know that he is the famous Emperor Yingzong.

Speaking of which, Empress Xiaozhuangrui was the first empress to be carried from the Daming Gate into the Forbidden City since the founding of the Ming Dynasty. She also had a good relationship with Yingzong, but she did not give birth to a son, so her old age was very miserable.

Of course, this involves the previous feud between Empress Qian and Zhu Jianshen's mother and son. Times have changed. As a person with a clear status in the Yingzong's edict, he is still eligible to enjoy the Taimiao, even though it also experienced a political storm.

The daily life of Taichang Temple is to reveal one's face at the grand court meeting and the grand ceremony ceremony, and the rest is such sacrificial activities.

After receiving the imperial decree of promotion, Wei Guangde wrote a letter to the shopkeeper of the trust club to find someone to bring back to Jiujiang.

After being appointed as an official before, I left in a hurry, and I didn't have time to write a letter to go home. Now is the time.

In fact, there was nothing in the letter, it just said that I was promoted again, and I wished my family well-being by the way.

When a Jiujiang businessman’s fleet departed from Tongzhou Wharf and went south along the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, a fast boat from Nanjing docked at Tongzhou Wharf. A burly man disembarked in a few steps and quickly disappeared into the crowd On the raging pier.

In the afternoon of the same day, a small sedan chair quietly appeared in a corner not far from the back door of Yan Mansion. It was a pawnshop, but few people came to it on weekdays, and it seemed very deserted.

After the sedan chair landed, the occupants of the sedan chair got out of the sedan chair, looked left and right, and found that no one had noticed them before stepping into the shop. The bearer carried the sedan chair to the side of the street and waited.

Not long after, the door of a house next to the pawn shop opened, and a man who looked like a servant hurried out of the house and turned into an alley, and soon appeared at the back door of Yan Mansion.

He knocked lightly on the wooden door rhythmically, and the door was opened after a while, and the servant walked in immediately.

It took another quarter of an hour before a man who looked like a butler came out from the back door of Yan Mansion, and the servant who had just entered was right behind him.

"Are you sure that person is from the Imperial College?"

When he was about to walk out of the alley, the butler suddenly stopped and asked sideways.

"Second Lord Xin, you can't be wrong, I have seen him in the Imperial College before."

The boy hastily walked two steps closer and said respectfully.

"Then what is he doing here at this time? The Imperial College has no official position for him to be promoted? Even if he wants to be released as an official, he is just a small official. How can he get so much money when he is a recruiter?"

The butler who was called Second Lord Xin said suspiciously, but then shook his head again, who cares, as long as it is delivered in vain, everything will be easy to talk about.

Thinking of this, Second Master Xin no longer struggled, walked out of the courtyard and walked towards the pawnshop.

It was already dark, Yan Shifan was drunk outside, and returned to his yard with the help of two tall and pretty little maids, but at this time, there was already a person standing quietly waiting in front of the yard gate.

"Who is there?"

Although he was very drunk, under the light of the lantern in the hand of the maid in front, Yan Shifan still vaguely saw someone at the gate of the courtyard, so he asked a question.

In the past, other people were not allowed to approach near my own yard.

"Young master, it's Yan Xin, the slave."

The man quickly bowed and answered.

"Steward Yan, is there something wrong?"

Yan Shifan just came back from the outside, and Yan Xin was standing here, naturally he knew that something must be wrong, but he didn't know how big it was, the second butler of the Yan family was still waiting for him so late.

"It's about the pawn shop."

Yan Xin simply mentioned the source, and stopped talking. Looking at Yan Shifan's shaky appearance at this time, he knew that the young master was very drunk, and he didn't know if he could tell the young master about this tonight. thing.

With the support of two maids, Yan Shifan barely stood still, "Is there anything I can't do?"

If it's an ordinary matter, Yan Xin can actually make the decision. As long as he collects the money, he, Yan Shifan, will naturally help him with the matter, and he will not just smash his own brand.

Yan Shifan, Mr. Yan, is still very trustworthy.

"Yes, yes, this is what the young master said, it's just this time"

Yan Xin wanted to speak again, but was interrupted by Yan Shifan waving his hand, "Go inside and talk."

Soon, a group of people walked into the yard.

"You mean it's Wei Guogong who asked you this time? Please explain clearly what's going on."

After entering the room, Yan Shifan understood from Yan Xin's intermittent words after the screen backed away. Seeing Yan Xin's appearance was very uncomfortable. He was drunk at the moment and didn't want to care about these trivial matters at all.

However, if it is the request of Wei Guogong in Nanjing, it seems to be another matter.

No matter how you say it is a founding nobleman, he still has a lot of influence in the south. He is making money in the south now, so he will not be offended if he doesn't offend him, not to mention that he is here to give him money.

"Mrs. Wei Guogong passed away early, and now his concubine Zheng Shi is the most favored. What he wants to entrust this time is to ask the court to make her his wife and get an imperial order."

When Yan Xin said this, he looked up at Yan Shifan. At this time, Mr. Yan was lying on the chair, his head was nodding, and he didn't know if he was drunk or what.

Just when Yan Xin didn't know whether to continue talking, or to call the maid outside the door to serve Yan Shifan to rest, he heard Yan Shifan's dissatisfied voice, "Continue, why are you hesitating today? What did you find out? Say it all together.

In the past, I didn't realize that you were so timid and afraid of getting into trouble, that you couldn't explain everything clearly. "

"Yes, yes, the son taught you the lesson."

Yan Xin hurriedly nodded and bowed in agreement, and then continued: "The one who came is Wang Jihuai, the assistant teacher of the Imperial College, and he should be the eyeliner of the Wei Guogong in Beijing.

After he left, I found someone to inquire about it, and the matter here is a bit complicated, it's not a simple matter of sealing an order."

Following Yan Xin's narration, Yan Shifan gradually understood that Wei Guogong Xu Pengju was playing a trick to keep things secret.

His original spouse died early, and at this time, asking the court to make his concubine his wife naturally means to strengthen the righteousness, so the son of this concubine will no longer be a concubine, but a descendant, and he will be able to inherit the Dukedom of Wei in the future Yes, because the original wife did not give birth to a son and a half for him.

"What do you mean, his favorite concubine gave birth to the youngest son, so he can't win in a fair way?"

Yan Shifan is such a smart person, he already had a premonition when he heard Yan Xin say that the concubine was appointed as the royal order.

Sure enough, as he had guessed, there was a fight in the backyard.

However, the title of Wei Guogong is worth fighting for.

"His two sons, the eldest son Xu Bangrui, and the younger son, the son born to the concubine Zheng's name is Xu Bangning."

Yan Xin immediately introduced.

"Hmph, concubine's eldest son, what a big deal, you're still afraid of this."

Yan Shifan looked at Yan Xin, feeling a little dissatisfied.

"My lord, there is a lot of involvement behind this matter. After all, it involves the inheritance of the Duke of Wei, and there is something else in it, which is completely deceiving the imperial court. No matter how favored the Zheng family is, they are still concubines after all."

Yan Xin wiped the sweat from his head and said to Yan Shifan.

"You think everyone in Beijing knows about things in Nanjing."

Speaking of this, Yan Shifan cheered up and sat up straight, "Your concerns are also justified, it's not a big deal, but it's more troublesome, and it needs to be done quickly.

Also, how much silver did he give? "

"Send a meeting ticket of 5000 taels of silver."

Yan Xin replied immediately.

"Tsk tsk. He, Xu Pengju, is quite generous. He is willing to spend so much money for a concubine."

Yan Shifan sneered, "5000 taels silver, how many beautiful girls can you get, and you still care about a concubine, cut~~"

"What the young master said is that the servant will return tomorrow, can he do it?"

Yan Xin listened to Yan Shifan's tone, this matter can still be done.

Well, he really hasn't seen anything that Mr. Yan Shifan can't do.

However, this matter is always a deception. According to the court system, concubines cannot be named wives.

"Go back, it's not a big deal, I'll make arrangements."

Yan Shifan didn't take this matter seriously at all, it was just an edict, and the imperial court issued many such edicts every year, it was really not difficult.

It's just that this matter involves the succession of the dukedom of Wei, so it's a bit out of line, and it's easy to be attacked by those guys who call themselves Qingliu.

Seeing that his work was done, Yan Xin hurriedly said goodbye and left Yan Shifan's yard.

More than ten days later, a letter of imperial edict flew out of Beijing.

According to the grades, the wives of the Ming Dynasty can be divided into first-rank ladies (first-rank), madams (second-rank), Shuren (third-rank), respectful people (fourth-rank), and pleasant people (fifth-rank).

In addition, there are six ranks of Anren, seven ranks and below are Ruren, and no seals and no ranks are called Niangzi. These two ranks are not imperial seals, but royal seals, so naturally they cannot be regarded as imperial wives.

However, in the folks, it is better to collectively refer to the wives of officials who have obtained ranks as Mrs. Gaoming.

As for the privilege of the imperial wives, the first privilege, all the imperial wives have a "salary", the amount varies according to the grade, but they have no real power.

Second, imperial wives in the capital, especially those of the first and second grades, have the opportunity to be invited by the queen to attend the banquet, which is definitely a status symbol.

Thirdly, Madam Gaoming, when she sees someone of lower rank than herself, she does not have to kneel or pay her respects, while officials of lower rank must salute when she sees Madam Gaoming of a higher rank, even if she has no real power, she has to salute. This is the rule.

What was sealed on this imperial edict document was nothing more than the title of a second-rank wife, which was naturally low for Wei Guogong's status as a super-rank duke.

However, the officials who had read the edict did not think there was any problem.

It's just a concubine, and the edict given to a second-rank lady is also appropriate, so no one in the court noticed that there was anything wrong with this edict, and the relevant yamen happily let this edict go.

There are also some officials in the capital who are watching all directions and listening to all directions. Among them, there are quite a few who know the details of Wei Guogong's family, but no one has said it at this time.

Wei Guogong's own housework, there is no need to offend a hereditary noble for such trivial matters.

For these people in the officialdom, they have to be tactful, not because they can't "uphold justice" in this matter, but because they need to have enough interests, or someone has already rushed to the front, and the matter has been broken before they can will follow up.

No one understands better than them the principle of shooting the top bird.

Wei Guangde also saw this imperial order, he just smiled, and sighed in his heart that these high-ranking officials and nobles are really good, he has a super-class hereditary title, and even his wife can get the imperial order.

For low-level officials, orders are a bit far away.

If he got married before then, maybe with the merits of Baoanzhou this time, he could also get the title of a child.

Regardless of whether it is an imperial order or an edict, it is based on the rank of the official. Generally, there will be no wife whose rank is higher than that of an official. Therefore, if Wei Guangde has a wife, he will only be awarded the imperial edict of the seventh rank.

At this time, Xu Pengju, the Duke of Wei in Nanjing City, had already known the news before the order was delivered, and the 5000 taels of silver were not in vain.

Now that his favorite concubine is named wife, he naturally becomes the hostess of Wei Guogong's mansion, and Xu Bangning can be regarded as his son.

So now is the time to start implementing the second step of the plan.

After Mrs. Zheng was conferred the title of wife by the imperial court, although she was regarded as the main wife, there was still a bit of trouble after all, and that was during the inheritance assessment.

Inherited by the honorable ministers of the Ming Dynasty, it was jointly inspected by the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies, the Ministry of Rites, and the Ministry of Officials. Xu Pengju has already taken charge of the affairs of the Nanjing Central Military Office. Only when the officials of the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Officials in Nanjing are settled, the matter will be finalized.

Xu Bangrui and Xu Bangning have two sons. Xu Bangrui naturally has an inherent advantage when inheriting the title. Although he is not the son of the first son, he occupies the title of the eldest son.

Although Xu Bangning is now considered a son-in-law, the Zheng family has always been rightful, not the original spouse.

If the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Officials insist that he is only the second son of the concubine, then Xu Bangrui will have the last laugh.

Xu Pengju had already spent a lot of money on this matter, so he naturally didn't want to make any troubles, so he had to settle the matter firmly.

At this time, he was about to use his crooked thoughts from before. What he did back then was just a whim, but he didn't expect it to have such a miraculous effect at this time. It's really wonderful.

More than a dozen days later, Xu Pengju went to the Yamen of the Ministry of War in Nanjing in a sedan chair. Xu Pengju wanted to send his second son to Xu Bangning to learn military strategies in the Ministry of War, so as to prepare for the future attack on the prince.

He has some connections with Liu Cai, Minister of the Ministry of War in Nanjing, so he naturally hopes that Liu Cai can open a back door for him.

At this time, Wei Guangde also moved into his new home. After the hustle and bustle of the previous two days, he finally calmed down today.

Knowing that Wei Guangde moved to a new residence, his colleagues and colleagues naturally wanted to sit together and have fun, not only from the Imperial Academy, but also from the Taichang Temple.

(End of this chapter)