prosperous age

Chapter 605 604 Urgent Call
Beijing, School Records Hall.

This place has always been deserted, because apart from people going in and out at morning and evening hours and when the yamen are scattered, no one usually comes here.

But just today, a group of four people rushed quickly from the corner of the street carrying a sedan chair, and beside the sedan chair were a few people dressed as clerks, all of them running out of breath.

This is true of all those who run the road, let alone those who carry sedan chairs.

Although they lived by this, they ran all the way carrying the sedan chair. After arriving at the place, the four bearers were also very tired at this time, but the people in the sedan chair hadn't left yet, so they had no choice but to stand aside reluctantly, holding back very hard.

Finally, someone ran to the side of the sedan chair, whispered a few words into the sedan chair, then raised the curtain of the sedan chair, and a man in a crimson official robe came out of the sedan chair.

"go in."

After the man got off the sedan chair, he only muttered something softly, and then walked into the school record room first.

At this time, the guards on both sides of the gate of the school record hall stood straight, and did not relax until the officials walked in.

"Why did Mr. Li Ge come here?"

"I don't know, I'm afraid it's about urging the manuscript again."

The person who came was Li Chunfang, the second assistant of the cabinet, and he rushed to the school record hall from Xiyuan, and he came with a tolerance.

Soon, all ten branch school officials in the school records library received the news.

"I've read these two books, there's no problem. If I haven't finished reading these two books, I'll put them here first."

After Wei Guangde received the news from Lu Bu, he immediately sorted the basic manuscripts on the desk, and picked out the manuscripts he was looking forward to and handed them to Lu Bu, asking him to go to work first.

As for the remaining two books, Wei Guangde knew that he would not be able to read them all in a while, so he had better go to the front to meet Mr. Li Ge to find out the situation.

When Wei Guangde arrived at the front, most of the branch school officials had already arrived, and everyone was sitting at the bottom, Li Chunfang was sitting at the upper left seat, and the right seat was vacant.

"Have you handed in all the proofread manuscripts?"

Seeing Wei Guangde coming in, Li Chunfang asked directly.

"Send someone to deliver it."

"How many books did you finish today?"

"Two books, and there are two more books to read."

Wei Guangde answered with a bow.

"Sit down and wait for the statistics over there later."

Li Chunfang waved to Wei Guangde to sit down, Wei Guangde bowed his hands to several other branch school officials, then walked to the front and sat in the right seat in the first row.

Soon, Zhang Juzheng also rushed over, continued the same conversation, and then sat opposite Wei Guangde.

"Everyone is here. I think everyone has guessed that the old man is here today."

When Li Chunfang saw that everyone had arrived, he said, "That's right, His Majesty is concerned about the progress of transcribing "Yongle Dadian", so he sent me to take a look." '

Wei Guangde and Zhang Juzheng looked at each other, they both understood.

In fact, to this point, these branch school officials don't know the emperor's mind.

Even if I didn't know it at the beginning, I guessed it more or less this year.

Not long after, a clerk walked in quickly from outside, whispered a few words in Li Chunfang's ear, and then handed a note to him.

"There are more than [-] volumes of the Grand Canon, and more than [-] volumes are completed, and the remaining [-] volumes, how long will it take?"

Li Chunfang seemed to be asking, but her eyes looked out of the room in a daze.

Wei Guangde knew that for four thousand volumes of manuscripts, at the current speed of copying and proofreading in the school record library, it would take a year at the fastest, and it would take two years to complete them all.

But Li Chunfang didn't ask him anything, so he happily pretended to be dumb.

"The speed must be accelerated. If there are not enough scribes, we will continue to recruit and let the Ministry of Rites cooperate."

When Li Chunfang said this, her eyes were already looking at Zhang Juzheng, "Uncle, you and Shandai are in charge here. I need to increase the speed of copying books. One year, I only give you one year to complete the copying of the remaining [-] volumes of manuscripts." .”

Hearing Li Chunfang call his name, Wei Guangde immediately sat up straight, after Li Chunfang finished speaking, he and Zhang Juzheng had already got up, bowed and replied: "Yes."

"Let's pass on the word. After the matter is completed, everyone will inspect it first. In addition, His Majesty will reward you."

When Li Chunfang left, she made a wish to everyone.

Regardless of whether the officials pass the exam or the inspection, the comments are all the best. For them, they can get the qualification for promotion faster. For the officials who have no one to take care of them, how long will they have to wait in terms of seniority.

But with these credits, the competent evaluation is enough for them to be promoted to the official position. Even if the official position is tight, they can get priority, which is considered a generous reward.

As for the so-called heavy rewards, they were nothing more than sending some silver coins minted in the palace. In fact, the effect was not as cost-effective as sharing a lucrative errand.

Li Chunfang came and went in a hurry, and hurried back to Xiyuan.

In Yongshou Palace, Emperor Jiajing recovered a little physically and mentally now, although he was still leaning on the dragon couch.

After listening to Li Chunfang's report, Emperor Jiajing frowned, "There are still four thousand volumes unfinished, why are there so many?"

Li Chunfang knew in her heart that in the first two years of transcribing, the court invested limited resources, and only completed more than a thousand volumes each year. It was only last year and this year that the progress suddenly improved. Otherwise, how could so much be copied.

But even so, the emperor's tone was too slow.

"The minister has asked them to speed up the transcription, and strive to complete the transcription of the grand ceremony within one year."

Li Chunfang knew that he should answer the conversation by himself, so he could only say so.

"Go and do your work. You have to go to the school record hall to check it out from time to time."

Emperor Jiajing just said, and then took the note from Li Chunfang from Huang Jin.

After Li Chunfang exited the palace, Emperor Jiajing looked down at the contents of the note, which recorded the total number of copies of the ceremony and the progress of the school officials.

Naturally, Wei Guangde ranked first with more than a thousand volumes, followed by Zhang Juzheng, who reviewed more than [-] volumes, and the rest of the school officials had around [-] or [-] volumes. The gap is obvious.

"It's still the person I hand-picked, so it's considerate to use."

Emperor Jiajing suddenly uttered a nonsensical remark, and others probably wouldn't understand the reason behind it, but Huang Jin, who had been by Emperor Jiajing's side all the time, understood it all at once.

In terms of hand-picking, the most famous people in the dynasty were Li Chunfang and Wei Guangde.

Li Chunfang was a gift from God, while Wei Guangde was a reward from the emperor.

Among the people in the cabinet, which one is Emperor Jiajing most at ease?

Of course it was Li Chunfang, he was always cautious and never overstepped.

As for the chief assistant Xu Jie, many people may have heard a story that Emperor Jiajing once reprimanded Xu Jie as a villain, and even made an oath of "never hire".

Well, it's because Xu Jie backtracked in front of the emperor back then, which made the young and energetic emperor worry about it for a long time, and even sent him to another place.

It's just that his life is good, and he came back after going around.

Seeing today that Wei Guangde is the hardest-working official of the branch school, Emperor Jiajing inevitably felt this emotion in his heart.

People in the countryside often ridicule Yuan Wei, Li Chunfang and others as "the prime ministers of Qing Ci". In fact, the four people in the cabinet now are all such experts.

They are unwilling to share the worries of the emperor, and anyone who can do their best to govern this huge country for him.

This is the mood of Emperor Jiajing now, and he is quite satisfied with the current court officials.

"The emperor's eyes are discerning, these are all taken for granted."

At this time, Huang Jin gave Emperor Jiajing a long fart, which made the emperor feel much happier.

"It is said that Zi is really indecisive, but such a person is stable, and he will not make mistakes when doing things in an even manner."

Emperor Jiajing laughed.

As for the other one, he didn't say that it was for his son, and he would not give him a promotion again.

"What is King Yu doing now?"

Emperor Jiajing suddenly asked again.

"Going back to the emperor, these days when your highness is free, he prays for the emperor in the mansion. It is really important to be filial. A few days ago, he knew that the emperor was in poor health. It is said that he does not think about eating and drinking."

Huang Jin said with a smile, his wrinkled old face was like a blooming chrysanthemum.

"Hum."

Regarding this, Emperor Jiajing just chuckled twice, "That child is called Zhu Yijun, right? How old is it?"

"The emperor has a really good memory. The name of the eldest son is Zhu Yijun. It was you who took it, the emperor. He is three years old this year."

Huang Jin said cheerfully, seeing that Emperor Jiajing was in good spirits at the moment, he tentatively asked: "My lord, do you want me to invite my little brother to the palace so that my lord can have a look?"

Little brother, of course he is talking about Zhu Yijun, the third son of King Yu. Emperor Jiajing has never visited it since he was born, so he is really scared.

To be honest, now Emperor Jiajing doesn't know if it was because he peeked at it from the tower when he was riding the Aoshan Lantern Festival that his eldest grandson disappeared inexplicably.

Speaking of it, Emperor Jiajing was also very miserable. His father died when he was very young, and his own son died one after another shortly after he was born.

Especially after the two crown princes, both princes died very quickly, which really scared Emperor Jiajing to death.

You know, how did he come to the throne, isn't it because his cousin Zhengde Emperor Zhu Houzhao has no heir?
The motto "two dragons will not meet each other" seems to be nonsense in the eyes of others, but if it really falls on me, who would dare not believe in these ghosts and gods.

What's more, this was still in the Ming Dynasty, when the theory of ghosts and gods prevailed, there was no atheism in this era.

"Thinking about it carefully, my life is actually pretty good."

At some point, Emperor Jiajing suddenly laughed and said casually.

Huang Jin heard it in his ears, but he was shocked because he wanted to understand the meaning of Emperor Jiajing's words.

Perhaps, this is because they have been with the emperor for a long time, and the channels of thinking of the two are similar.

Speaking of it, since the first emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang in the Ming Dynasty, there seemed to be few emperors who died who seemed to have grandchildren.

Many people may not believe it, but this is the truth.

After all, those who had grandsons during the reign of the Ming Dynasty were Cheng Zu Zhu Di and the current emperor. As for the other emperors, they had never seen what their grandsons looked like.

Of course, the founding emperor Zhu Yuanzhang was an exception, but this person survived until he saw his great-grandson.

Perhaps, that's why the Zhu family's luck was exhausted.

As for who Zhu Yuanzhang saw as his great-grandson, it was naturally Zhu Wenkui, the eldest son of the emperor's grandson Zhu Yunqi.

Zhu Yuanzhang was the oldest emperor among the emperors of the Ming Dynasty, but he only saw the birth of this great-grandson during his lifetime.

Among the other emperors, Emperor Jianwen cannot be considered an emperor. When he died, the eldest son was only seven years old, so it was naturally impossible to see his grandson.

Then came Emperor Renzongzhao Zhu Gaochi and Emperor Xuanzongzhang Zhu Zhanji. They had never seen each other when they died. Among them, the crown prince Zhu Qizhen was only nine years old when Zhu Zhanji died. This is the later Emperor Yingzong.

Yingzongrui Emperor Zhu Qizhen and his brother Jing Emperor Zhu Qiyu also had the same fate. The later Xianzong Pure Emperor Zhu Jianshen died in the 23rd year of Chenghua. It is said that he had the opportunity to meet his grandson. The eldest son Xiaozong Zhu Youtang had his first son in the fourth year of Hongzhi, and it had been five years since Xianzong's death.

Emperor Xiaozong Jing Zhu Youtang had only two sons in total. The second son Zhu Houwei, the king of Wei, died at the age of 3. The eldest son was the famous Wuzong Zhu Houzhao, who was the first emperor to die in the Ming Dynasty, so of course Xiaozong could not see his own grandchildren.

Therefore, at this moment, Emperor Jiajing felt a little complacent when he thought that he was actually the only existence beyond Taizu and Chengzu. These two had made great military exploits.

One is the founding emperor, and the other is, ahem
In fact, although the emperors of the Ming Dynasty did not say anything, they certainly knew in their hearts that it was snatched from their nephews.

But of course they would not think that there was anything wrong with Zhu Di's actions.

You know, if it weren't for this ancestor, their lives might not be as good as those relatives who were kept in captivity in the palace.

The news of Emperor Jiajing's recovery came from Li Chunfang who had returned to Wuyi Palace, and the cabinet ministers were relieved, and the news naturally spread outside the palace very quickly.

However, during this period of time, the emperor's health is said to have been up and down, so the ministers still realized that the matter may not be over, and they have always maintained this caution, and did not get carried away just because Emperor Jiajing's health was getting better. , to restore the original state of life.

And Wei Guangde doesn't have the heart to drink and have fun at the moment, it's really Li Chunfang's pressure list from the branch school officials that has increased.

After Li Chunfang returned to the cabinet, after discussing with Xu Jie, Guo Pu and others, he directly sent a note to the Minister of Rites, Gao Yi, and naturally continued to select people who were good at writing to fill the school record library.

The number of copying hands is constantly increasing, but there are only ten branch officers, which naturally makes Wei Guangde and the branch officers very busy, so there is no time to be greedy for pleasure.

In the next few days, various rumors continued to flood the court. For a while, Emperor Jiajing was in good health, and for a while, it was rumored that the emperor fell ill again and was bedridden.

It wasn't until the Dongchang Fanzi dealt with a few low-level officials under the order of the factory owner Chen Hong that the Beijing officials calmed down, and the time quietly entered December of the 45th year of Jiajing.

For more than a month, Wei Guangde and other branch school officials voluntarily gave up the rest and holidays, and went to the duty room to start work on time every day. That is, everyone could sit down and chat for a while at lunchtime, talking about interesting things in the officialdom , and then they have to be busy until the Yamen are scattered.

On the afternoon of the thirteenth, when it was almost time to arrive at Sanya, Wei Guangde finally finished the proofreading of the five manuscripts sent today, two of which had several omissions and needed to be copied and re-edited.

In this regard, Wei Guangde used a cinnabar pen to mark out the mistakes and omissions one by one.

"You can return home on time today."

Wei Guangde got up and stretched himself, he was naturally in a good mood after finishing the work.

"My lord, the palace is calling urgently."

At this time, Lu Bu quickly walked into the room and whispered in his ear.

(End of this chapter)