prosperous age

Chapter 495 Three pits

After Liu Shouyou waved his hand, the two captains behind Tang Ruji stretched out their hands and pushed Tang Ruji, and he was taken away immediately.

After Tang Ruji and Liu Shouyou brushed past each other and walked towards Beizhen Fusi, the Captain Jinyi behind him also turned their heads one by one and escorted Tang Ruji away.

After the guards in Jinyi turned around and took a few steps behind him, Liu Shouyou, who had been standing still, took two steps forward and said in a low voice, "Master Wei, forgive me. This matter is due to the discovery of letters from the Tang family and the Yan family."

"What letter?"

Hearing Liu Shouyou's words, Wei Guangde subconsciously asked.

"This"

Liu Shouyou hesitated for a moment, looked back at Captain Jinyi who had walked out behind him, and then replied in a low voice: "From the letter that the Yan family detained, Master Tang once had a relationship with the Yan family before he went to Beijing to rush for the exam. In the two correspondences, Mr. Tang once said in the letter that 'this imperial examination is all up to you', so the higher-ups suspected that Mr. Tang's No. [-] scholar was suspected of cheating."

Because there was no copy of Tang Ruji's family, Jin Yiwei only had Tang Ruji's letter to Yan's family, and who was Yan Song at that time?

He had just killed the former chief minister Xia Yan and became the new chief minister of the Ming Dynasty. Tang Ruji went to Beijing to rush for the exam to say such a thing. No wonder he was suspected of using Yan Song's back door.

After saying this, Liu Shouyou felt that he seemed to be talking too much, he hurriedly cupped his hands at Wei Guangde, then turned around and walked away quickly.

Although the conversation between them was not loud, the positions of Yin Shizhen and Zhang Juzheng were not far from them, even if they didn't hear everything, they listened to the general idea, and they were silent at this moment.

With Yan Song's power at the time, it was quite possible to submit Tang Ruji for the imperial examination, but everyone didn't know what to say for a while.

"Siji is the No. 29 scholar in the [-]th year of Jiajing, right? Can this No. [-] scholar cheat?"

Wei Guangde turned his head at this moment, and happened to see the expressions of Yin Shizhen and Zhang Juzheng. From their silence, Wei Guangde felt that maybe these two were really thinking about this matter, so he spoke.

"You can exert influence, but the final decision rests with His Majesty."

Yin Shizhen spoke at this time.

Yin Shizhen has never participated in the procedure of reading the papers, but he has heard of it. As for Zhang Juzheng, although it is the same, don’t forget that he also has a teacher. .

Leaving aside, in the case of Wei Guangde, the reason why Wei Guangde's paper was picked out and placed in the third class was actually to give him a chance.

At that time, after Yan Song picked up Wei Guangde's paper, they were still not sure, but when Emperor Jiajing finally changed positions, they fully understood the method.

That is to say, Wei Guangde didn't use his background during the test, so his rank in the test was low. If he really wanted to get the results of the palace test, he would raise his rank in the test, so many things would be logical.

As the chief assistant of the cabinet, can Yan Song affect the ranking of the examination results?

of course can.

Regardless of the fact that the chief examiner of the 29th examination was Zhang Zhi, a scholar of the Wenyuan Pavilion, who was at odds with Yan Song, but Zhang Zhi and Tang Long also had a deep relationship.

He Jingming, an important figure among the "Four Heroes of the Literary World" in the Ming Dynasty and one of the famous "Former Seven Sons" of the Ming Dynasty, was also known as the leader of the literary world along with Li Mengyang. After his death, his anthology "Da Fu Ji" edited by Kang Hai was Zhang Edited by Zhi and Kang Long, preface by Kang Hai and Tang Long.

In the general examination, with Zhang Zhi as the examiner, how could Tang Ruji's ranking be low.

When it came to the palace examination, with Yan Song among the examiners, Tang Ruji's papers would naturally be placed in the best place.

Zhang Juzheng didn't even need to ask the teacher, he could think of these things himself.

So after hearing Wei Guangde's words, Zhang Juzheng just showed a wry smile, and Yin Shixuan just shook his head and said, "Go back and tell King Yu."

The three turned around and went back to King Yu's mansion, and talked about it with King Yu.

King Yu didn't quite believe that Tang Ruji would be suspected of cheating. Although King Yu had never participated in the difficulty of the imperial examinations and rural exams, he had heard about the difficulty of being with Wei Guangde and Yin Shizhen.

Tang Ruji was able to pass the Juren examination, which in itself shows that this person is not bad in knowledge.

If he can be the number one scholar, then his palace examination essay will naturally not be bad. Don't think that Emperor Jiajing is so easy to fool.

The number one scholar is the face of an imperial examination. Wei Guangde's biography can be faked, but the level of the top three can only be high enough, otherwise they will not be able to convince the public.

"Siji was taken away, what should the palace do?"

At this time, King Yu wanted to know what they should do so that people outside would not talk about it.

"Now that the government is liquidating the Yan Party, Siji has already been identified as a member of the Yan Party. I'm afraid it's not easy to get rid of the suspicion."

Zhang Juzheng said.

"I haven't received any news before, and it should have been just rumors at first, but I have a letter, alas."

Yin Shizhen was still shaking his head.

Letters are physical evidence at this time, and they are more effective than anything else, and so are the words in them.

"Then Mr. Yin will arrange someone to pay attention to this matter, and let the court handle it."

In Tang Ruji's case, Prince Yu's Mansion really had no way to intervene, and could only wait and see what happened, and King Yu could only say so.

Ordinary letters can also be said to be the normal exchanges between the families of officials. In any case, Tang Ruji's father, Tang Long, was a Jinshi in the Zhengde Dynasty. It's also normal.

But if you say sensitive words at a sensitive time, it's really hard to clean up.

Prince Yu's Mansion began to pay attention to the follow-up trial process of Yan Shifan's case, and Wei Guangde and Zhang Juzheng also devoted themselves to the work of re-recording the ceremony during this period.

There is a saying that everything is difficult at the beginning. Once the work is straightened out, the rest can be handed over to the scribes below. Branch officials like them only need to wait for them to complete part of the transcription work and check it.

In Wei Guangde's view, the school record ceremony is actually to be gilded, and there is no need to put too much effort into it. He is not people like Qu Jingchun and Ding Shimei, who spend a lot of time in the Imperial Academy all day long. Demonstrate value.

On this day, Wei Guangde hosted a banquet in the mansion for Zhang Ke who had returned to Beijing from Shaanxi to report on his work. He has now been transferred to Zhejiang, and he will go to his post immediately after returning to Beijing to report on his work with the appointment paperwork.

"Today, the cabinet, the Ministry of Officials and the Metropolitan Procuratorate listen to your report on your work together. It's enough to save face."

Wei Guangde smiled and said to Zhang Ke.

Today, Wei Guangde also had something to say to Zhang Kesuo, so he didn't invite other people. Lao Kan had already left for Guangdong a few days ago.

"Shan Loan, is the court going to move Hu Zongxian?"

Zhang Ke asked in a low voice at this time.

"Let you control the soldiers and horses in Zhejiang and Nanzhili?"

Wei Guangde just smiled and said casually.

"It's not about control, it's just about meeting those generals more and listening to their advice to the court."

Zhang Ke said after thinking about it.

"You are going there to be a censor, so naturally you have the responsibility of supervising them. To tell you the truth, the imperial court will issue an order in two days to seize Hu Zongxian's military affairs in Jiangxi and Guangdong, and only retain the governors of Nanzhili, Zhejiang and Fujian. military affairs."

Wei Guangde told Zhang Ke what Qian had heard two days ago, and told him not to go to the south, but to get involved with Hu Zongxian in order to better carry out the work.

With the information provided by Wei Guangde, Zhang Ke naturally knew what to do in this appointment. Fortunately, he was given a secret order to arrest Hu Zongxian during today's meeting.

"You don't need to pay too much attention to the South Zhili side. Most of the soldiers are related to Nanjing nobles, and they can affect the whole body. You should pay more attention to the Zhejiang side, such as Qi Jiguang. This person reads the military newspaper from the south. Very capable.

Once the imperial court arrests Hu Zongxian, as the censor of the two Zhejiang provinces, there is a high probability that the responsibility for suppressing the Japanese will fall on you.

But fortunately, the Japanese have shown signs of moving south in the past two years, and they should have been mainly wandering in Fujian and Guangdong in the past two years, but they should not be taken lightly. "

Wei Guangde said lightly.

"You send me there, aren't you afraid that I won't be able to defeat the Japanese pirates and lose my job?"

Zhang Ke asked curiously.

At the beginning of the correspondence with Wei Guangde, Wei Guangde did not support him to go to Zhejiang to work. At that time, the Japanese pirates in Zhejiang made a lot of noise, but his attitude has changed a lot in recent years.

"Hu Zongxian was promoted by Yan Song. After so many years, there has been such a big disturbance in Fujian and Guangdong. Hu Zongxian cannot absolve himself of the blame."

Wei Guangde was right on point, he believed that Zhang Ke understood what he meant.

At first, Wei Guangde wanted Lao Kan to go to Zhejiang, but he didn't want to go, so he chose Guangdong. Later, he persuaded Zhang Ke, and then asked Xu Jie for help.

These are all resumes, and Wei Guangde also calculated the time accurately, thinking that this time to go south to Zhejiang and other coastal provinces is just the right time to pick peaches.

It is better to be cheaper than others, especially seeing that the imperial court may move Hu Zongxian. Once Hu Zongxian resigns, Zhang Ke can directly take over the work of suppressing Japanese in Zhejiang, which is considered a big deal.

Don't look at the fact that the Japanese invasion is still there, but the momentum is not as strong as it was a few years ago. After years of continuous encirclement and suppression, the Japanese pirates' momentum is not as strong as before.

The most important thing is that in Wei Guangde's impression from later generations, when it comes to the Japanese pirates in the Ming Dynasty, it seems that it was only in the Jiajing Dynasty that they had a lot of fun. The other emperors were all small troubles, and there was no big disturbance at all. .

If it weren't for the need to hug Yu Wang's thick thigh, Wei Guangde sometimes wanted to go to the south to make a living.

Not two days after sending Zhang Ke away, Wei Guangde saw another letter from Fujian in the mansion.

The letter was naturally written by Yu Dayou.

During this period of time, the court continued to receive good news from Fujian, and it can be said that it was almost numb.

First, Yu Dayou attacked Wushipu to lure Zhang Lian's army back to help. He wiped out one of the enemy troops and captured the leader of the bandits, Xiao Wan. Later, Zhang Nie and Chen Wangmo defeated the bandit army and successfully captured the leader of the bandits, Zhang Lian.

Afterwards, Yu Dayou led his army to defeat Lin Chaoxi, the leader of the township bandits, and captured his younger brother Lin Chaojing in Yinna Mountain. Fujian officers and soldiers also took advantage of the situation to attack the old bandits in Longyan County, and successfully captured the leader of the bandits, Su Apu, etc. .

With the repeated victories of the Fujian government and army, the shaky situation years ago was completely reversed, and the turmoil in Fujian and Guangdong caused by Zhang Lian's incident has subsided.

Naturally, Wei Guangde would not take Yu Dayou's letter lightly. He opened the letter and read it after turning away from the screen, but soon he was a little dumbfounded.

According to Emperor Jiajing's will, Zhang Lian and Xiao Wan, the first thieves captured before, were not escorted to the capital to face their crimes, but were beheaded on the spot and sent to the first three provinces to frighten Xiao Xiao. .

This letter was sent together with a new report. Lin Chaoxi, the last force among Zhang Lian's rebels, has been wiped out. Lin Chaoxi, the leader of the bandits, was killed in the rebellion. It can be said that it originated from Zhang Lian's rebellion in the 37th year of Jiajing. The incident has been completely subsided for several years.

However, according to Yu Dayou's letter, the so-called Zhang Lian passed down is actually Luo Pao, and the real Zhang Lian has been separated from Lin Chaoxi in Ma Yi, Yunxiao County.

Lin Chaoxi led most of the troops to attract the main force of Yu Dayou's army to go south, while he led more than a thousand remnants of bandits across Zhangpu and went out to sea near Zhangjiang Mansion.

The news of Zhang Lian's whereabouts was obtained after interrogation among the captives after Yu Dayou led his troops to wipe out Lin Chaoxi's troops, and most of the people who followed him were from the coastal boat people.

However, the soldiers and horses sent by He Jing failed to catch up with the bandits led by Zhang Lian, and they could only watch them leave across the sea in the end.

By this time, Yu Dayou didn't dare to report the truth, so he could only pretend to be deaf and dumb and watch Zhang Nie, Chen Wangmo and others punish "Zhang Lian" and Xiao Wan.

With a sigh of relief, Wei Guangde folded the letter and put it in the envelope.

Wei Guangde knew that Zhang Lian was in danger of escaping from Daming.

Wild fire, in spring.

For these thieves, his consistent position is to eliminate evil and do everything.

Now that people are really out at sea, it is even more difficult to catch them.

Yu Dayou was right, he didn't dare to report the truth at this time, once this matter was made public, it would break the sky, and the Prince Yu's mansion might not be able to save his life by then.

It's not that telling the truth is bad, but that the influence is so great that most civil servants will be hostile to Yu Dayou, and it will be difficult for him to move forward in his official career in the future.

In fact, Wei Guangde wanted to burn the letter at the beginning. It is a disaster to keep such things. Once it falls into the hands of others, it is a crime of deceiving the emperor to confess.

Wei Guangde could only make up his mind in his heart that he would not go to see the transcription ceremony tomorrow morning, but go to Prince Yu's mansion first, and let King Yu know about it, and then this letter could not be kept.

What Wei Guangde is most worried about now is actually when this Zhang Lian will pop out again.

At that time, if King Yu ascends the throne, it will be fine. If Emperor Jiajing is still in power, with his face-saving personality, Zhang Nie and Chen Wangmo will not fall well, and Yu Dayou may also be implicated.

Telling Yu Wang is also for a vaccination. At least when Emperor Jiajing dies, even if Zhang Lian jumps out, it will not do much harm to them.

Wei Guangde had already thought about the reply to Yu Dayou, so he could only say "don't mention this matter", and he didn't dare to put the details on paper. Yu Dayou's trap this time is a bit big.

We can only hope that Zhang Lian has been defeated by the Ming army and will not dare to return to the mainland in the short term.

It is conceivable that after the Fujian battle report spreads in the imperial court tomorrow, when the whole world celebrates, Guangdong sends an urgent report saying that Zhang Lian has appeared again. Will Emperor Jiajing directly throw the table and kill people?

After a whole night of fear, Wei Guangde hurried to Prince Yu's Mansion with the letter the next morning.

(End of this chapter)