prosperous age

Chapter 459
Wei Guangde did not expect that Dong Yiyuan's letter was actually addressed to his elder brother Dong Yikui seeking an official.

"Deputy Commander"

Wei Guangde was a little hesitant, although Dong Yiyuan also said in the letter that his elder brother respected him very much, but Wei Guangde knew in his heart that what Dong Yikui respected was actually power.

Relatively speaking, among the generals recruited by Wei Guangde, Dong Yiyuan actually had a very low sense of existence.

He only became Wei Guangde's subordinate by getting in touch with Wei Guangde first, and being obedient at the critical moment, otherwise this kind of military general with little record would be caught by a lot in the border town, and he would not be able to attract his interest at all.

But precisely because Dong Yiyuan was the first general to take refuge in him, Wei Guangde really couldn't completely ignore his request because of this.

However, Wei Guangde is not worried about poor operation.

In fact, Wei Guangde already had a calculation in his heart at this time.

During the New Year's Eve, there are not many mansions that allow Prince Yu's Mansion to come forward to give gifts, but in the capital's six departments and nine ministers, Prince Yu's Mansion still sends people to give New Year's gifts every year.

As for this matter, Wei Guangde hadn't paid much attention to it before, but if he really wanted to help Dong Yikui find a job, he would have to scramble to go to Yang Bo's house, Minister of War.

Taking advantage of the opportunity of the New Year's gift, talk about this matter with Yang Bo, and try to make a final decision.

Thinking of this, Wei Guangde made up his mind, one is to find someone to find out what is going on in Xuanda now, and whether the official position of deputy general of the Xuanfu has been granted.

Secondly, it is natural to talk to King Yu, the arrangement of generals in border towns is not a small matter.

People like Dong Yiyuan, Ma Fang, and Yu Dayou seem to be serving under him, but all fools know that they actually value their status as members of Prince Yu's Mansion.

If you don't know about arranging such a big event as Dong Yikui, King Yu will be impeached by the censor as an adulterous general in the future, which is a serious crime of beheading.

Thinking about what Emperor Jiajing said to himself in Xiyuan when he came back from Baoanzhou, we can see that in fact, his small actions in private did not escape the surveillance of Jin Yiwei, but he was a soft-spoken official at the time, and Emperor Jiajing didn't care.

I don't care about it now, but in the future when I get promoted in official position and become more powerful, it's hard to say whether Emperor Jiajing and King Yu will think so.

King Yu has always been the real master of this empire.

Talking about tiger skin, what Wei Guangde is thinking now is actually this. In the eyes of King Yu, he is just the liaison between him and the general. The general is embarrassed to ask him directly for the things he said, and contact him for trivial matters. , so that it will not get burned at the end.

It's a good thing to be powerful, but I don't want to rebel, and I don't want the position of the ninety-five lord, so why risk the world's displeasure.

Since Dong Yikui had the intention to contribute, of course it was not easy to follow through on his kindness.

In fact, Emperor Jiajing still attached great importance to the military power of the border towns, and he was very cautious about the candidates for the commander-in-chief of each town.

However, the current border town governor, governor, and chief military officer system have played a very good role in mutual restraint, and it is difficult for anyone to disagree.

On the second day, after Wei Guangde got up and entered Prince Yu's mansion, he drank tea and chatted with Yin Shizhen and others in the small courtyard as usual to pass the time, and King Yu hadn't gotten up so early yet.

"Brother Zhengfu, have you assigned the work of giving gifts to each family in the palace in two days?"

Taking time off, Wei Guangde inquired about this matter.

In the past, Wei Guangde was not in the palace, so it was naturally not his turn to do such an errand, it was Chen Yiqin, Yin Shizhen and Li Fang who were handling it, but today, he, Zhang Juzheng, and Tang Ruji would naturally be used.

"I talked to Eunuch Li the day before yesterday. According to the usual practice in previous years, all the subordinates and servants will be sent there together, which also shows His Highness's tolerance for them. Don't shirk the good loan when the time comes."

In fact, these things have been customary in the Wangfu during the Gaogong period, and they just repeat and repeat every year.

"It's your duty."

Wei Guangde said with a smile.

Speaking of this, Wei Guangde was actually just asking if there was any arrangement, if it was arranged, he had to say something first, if it wasn't arranged to go to Yang Bo's mansion by himself, then he had to change with someone first.

"When Eunuch Li comes out, let's discuss it together. There is not much time left before the Chinese New Year, so let's go."

So Yin Shizhen spoke up.

When King Yu came over, it was already getting late, and he must have slept very late last night.

King Yu likes to enjoy it, especially the beauty. Wei Guangde heard Gao Gong mention it before, but he didn't take it seriously, but it has become a little frequent in the past two months.

Although doing this kind of thing is actually beneficial to the heirs of Prince Yu's family, it's hard for them officials of the palace to say anything.

Back then, King Yu was honest for a while, it was because Gao Gong was there, and because Princess Yu gave birth to a prince.

But it's different now, the prince died early, and Princess Yu was gone, and King Yu quickly helped his side concubine Chen.

Chen is a civilian girl who was elected together with Yu Wang's concubine Li. She was sent to Yu Wang's mansion by Emperor Jiajing as a side concubine.

As the year approached, Zhang Juzheng and Tang Ruji took errands from Yin Shizhen to the Ministry of Households to collect this year's salary and yearly gifts. Yin Shizhen and Li Fang were also discussing preparations for this year's New Year's Yuwang Mansion. Wei Guangde found an opportunity to communicate with Yuwang alone .

Naturally, Wei Guangde didn't talk too much about King Yu's private affairs, so what he wanted to talk about today was naturally Dong Yiyuan's letter.

I briefly told the process of getting acquainted with Dong Yiyuan. King Yu had a detailed understanding of the process of the first battle in Baoanzhou before, so he naturally knew who it was. .

In terms of credit, Dong Yiyuan is naturally very great, otherwise Wei Guangde would definitely not be able to win the military power on that occasion, and there would be no Wei Guangde now.

At first, King Yu thought that Wei Guangde was going to talk about Dong Yiyuan and wanted to help him find an official position.

"This Dong Yiyuan is not bad. He has vision and courage at critical moments, and is worth cultivating."

King Yu just smiled and nodded. In his opinion, it’s fine for him to say so, and Wei Guangde can watch the operation. After all, he is just a guerrilla general in Ji Town. Even if he is promoted, he is a general. Operate to a certain road as a guard.

"Yiyuan wrote to me yesterday, wanting to introduce his elder brother to worship at His Highness's residence."

Dong Yiyuan's letter was to ask Wei Guangde for help, but of course Wei Guangde couldn't say that here, he just said that he wanted to pay homage to Prince Yu's family.

"His brother? Is the Dong family the general of Bianzhen?"

King Yu asked curiously.

It is one thing to know Dong Yiyuan, King Yu is not in the mood to inquire about their family background, but just casually ask.

"Your Highness, this Dong Yiyuan has an older brother named Dong Yikui, who is currently guarding Xuanfu East Road, and he can be regarded as inheriting his father's career.

Their father was Dong Yang, the former general of Datong, who died in battle when Alta Khan sent troops to attack Dishui Cliff. Dong Yikui took over the family's hereditary military post as commander, and was promoted to general after his meritorious service. "

Wei Guangde briefly talked about the situation of Dong's father and son, and King Yu also nodded.

In any case, the Dong family has sweated and shed blood for his old Zhu family.

"After Zhongliang."

King Yu nodded and said, thinking of the meaning of Wei Guangde's words, if he realized something: "He is already a general, so this time the picture is a first-class general?"

"Your Highness Congrui, before Ma Fang guarded the West Road of Xuanfu as a deputy general, Dong Yikui guarded the East Road as a general, and Ma Fang defended Xuanfu east and west.

Now that Ma Fang has accumulated meritorious service to succeed Li Xian as the chief soldier of the Xuanfu, the Xuanfu has a vacant post of deputy chief soldier. "

Wei Guangde said.

"Then Shan Loan, what are your plans?"

King Yu nodded slightly, one radish and one pit, Ma Fang was promoted, and Xuanfu lacked a deputy commander.

It's not that every town in the border town must have a chief soldier and a deputy chief soldier, but with this position, at least someone can take over at a critical moment, so that after the chief soldier has an accident, there will be no leader and everyone will fight on their own.

"When I go to Yang Shangshu's residence in a few days, I plan to go there and talk about it in front of Yang Shangshu to see if the Ministry of War has made arrangements, but this must be approved by His Highness."

Wei Guangde said bluntly.

"Xuan Mansion, the northwest gateway of the capital, Dong Yikui has been able to stay on the Xuan Mansion East Road for a long time. I think he will have a lot of military exploits?"

King Yu asked.

"Comparatively speaking, the west road is located at the junction of Xuanfu and Datong, and the direction of our attack is here. There are also many wars on the east road, but they are all small fights.

It should be said that Dong Yikui's defense of Xuanfu East Road was considered effective, at least there was no major danger, and the Tartars had not yet broken through. "

Wei Guangde can't be bragging, to be honest, Dong Yikui eats less in defeats, but not many victories, otherwise he wouldn't have stayed tepid in the East Road.

King Yu is not stupid, so he naturally heard the meaning of Wei Guangde's words, he is a well-behaved general.

"Gu agrees, you can do this matter."

King Yu knew that Wei Guangde naturally wanted to help when he said this.

It's not a big deal to be just a deputy commander.

But as Wei Guangde said before, whether it can be done or not depends on the plan of the Ministry of War. If the Ministry of War already has a candidate, Dong Yikui's matter will be a little troublesome.

"Understood, I will test it out in two days when I go to visit Da Sima."

Seeing Yu Wang nodding, Wei Guangde was naturally relieved, so he talked about this year's Aoshan Lantern Festival in the capital.

"Hey, let alone the Aoshan Lantern Festival, Gu only found out about it yesterday. You know about the burning of the Yongshou Palace. Do you know how the water got out?"

Speaking of the Aoshan Lantern Festival, King Yu became interested.

"Eternal Life Palace That Night"

King Yu told Wei Guangde all the news he had learned from Feng Bao. Huang Jin had issued a password-locked order before, strictly prohibiting the cause of the fire from being reported to the outer court.

Of course, what should be known is naturally known, but they also pretended not to know. In short, the outer court only regarded the cause of the Yongshou Palace fire as carelessness, and there was no news that the fire was caused by the emperor's order to set off fireworks.

"Feng Bao's fireworks?"

Wei Guangde stared at King Yu dumbfounded, and King Yu nodded with a suppressed smile.

Burning down a palace is actually not a big deal in the eyes of the royal family, just burn down and build a new one.

Feng Bao was sent to Prince Yu's mansion. Although the people in the mansion were curious, they asked Li Fang in private. Li Fang naturally didn't know at first.

But yesterday Yu Wang also wanted to watch the fireworks, but Feng Bao, who was his attendant, was so frightened that he hurriedly stopped him, which made him tell the reason why he was assigned.

Coincidentally, within two days was the day when Wei Guangde presented the annual gift to Yang Bo, Shangshu of the Ministry of War on behalf of Prince Yu's mansion, and it was Feng Bao who Li Fang arranged to go with Wei Guangde.

"Eunuch Feng, you are not an outsider. You are all working in Prince Yu's Mansion. You should get closer to him in the future."

On the way out, Wei Guangde also intends to establish a good relationship with Feng Bao.

Now Feng Bao's rank has been lowered. He was the warehouse ambassador of the fifth rank before, but now he is only the long follower of the sixth rank. This is already the lowest rank in the group of eunuchs, and nothing is left behind.

Unlike the outer court, the inner court of the Ming Dynasty also had separate positions and ranks.

Although Huang Jin is an admiral eunuch, his rank is limited by the rules set by Zhu Yuanzhang, and he is only the fourth rank, which is already the highest rank among eunuchs.

As for the palm seal eunuch of Yumajian, he was only Zuo Shaojian, a fourth-rank eunuch, and Gao Zhong's rank was only fifth-rank Zuojian Cheng.

This rank is somewhat related to seniority, but high rank is actually not important among eunuchs, what matters is to see what the emperor assigns you to manage.

Even the sixth-rank eunuchs, if they are in charge of the popular yamen, have a great say in the inner court.

But if it is a young supervisor of the fourth rank, if he does not get an errand, but only a position like the head of a certain hall, then the right to speak depends on the status of the master behind him in the palace.

Although the grades of the eunuchs are not high, but because they are close to the emperor, as long as the emperor is well coaxed, there are a lot of imperial dresses.

This is also the eunuch with real status in the Ming Dynasty. Most of them wear either flying fish suits or unicorn suits, and some even wear python suits.

They can ignore the requirements of the ranks of officials bestowed by the outer dynasty. If the distinction is made between the officials of the outer court, only a few people in the inner court are qualified to wear flying fish suits, while others can only wear unicorn suits.

"Master Wei is serious, just call me Feng Bao from now on."

King Yu valued Wei Guangde, so Feng Bao was naturally not blind, but he didn't dare to show face in front of Wei Guangde, not to mention that it is not an exaggeration for him to say that he is living under someone else's fence.

The real turning point in Feng Bao's life was actually in Prince Yu's mansion, where he was sent by King Yu to take care of the prince, that is, the future Wanli Emperor.

Naturally, Yang Bo would not neglect the visitors from Prince Yu's mansion, and greeted them in person, not Wei Guangde but King Yu's identity.

Entering the Yang Mansion, Wei Guangde asked Feng Bao to present the gift list, and it was all about greetings and talking about the scene.

They were all just courtesy visits, and the delay would not be very long. Afterwards, the Yang family would send someone back to return the gift, but Wei Guangde has other things to do today, so naturally he will not leave soon.

"Da Sima, I wanted to visit a few days ago, but my lord is worried about state affairs, and Shan Loi is afraid of disturbing your rest by visiting the door rashly."

"Hehe, the old man welcomes Shan Loan to come to his door at any time. The country's affairs are difficult, and the Ministry of War often has things that are not well thought out. I really hope that Shan Loan can often give some advice."

A few days ago, it wasn't Yu Dayou's business, it should be Ma Fang's business, Yang Bo was clear about it.

"Big Sima, thank you for your love. Now that Ma Fang is serving as the chief soldier of the Xuan Mansion, is there anyone in the military department for the deputy chief soldier he has vacated?"

They are all sensible people, there is no need for Wei Guangde to play around.

"Well, the Ministry of War has indeed considered it."

Yang Bo stroked his beard and replied, although there were speculations, Yang Bo didn't say much, but just waited and watched.

(End of this chapter)