prosperous age

"Since that's the case, according to Shuda and Shandai's intentions, what do you think Mr. Shoufu wants?"

Chen Yiqin's words could be regarded as setting the tone for the affairs of the Liao Palace, and Li Chunfang immediately nodded in agreement.

"Since the matter has been settled, I think Shuda will draft this memorial, and then show it to Yifu and Shandai, and then submit it to His Majesty in the name of our cabinet."

Li Chunfang said.

"Okay, this matter will trouble the uncle."

Chen Yiqin nodded and said.

"Yes."

Zhang Juzheng also got up and bowed his hands to Li Chunfang and Chen Yiqin, expressing that he had accepted the job.

But no one knows about Zhang Juzheng's mental activities at this time. After all, some things are very popular in Jiangling. However, in this era, there is no Internet, no communication equipment in later generations, and the flow of people is very limited. Huguang is so big, it is impossible for everyone to know. .

As for the capital thousands of miles away, this is even more so.

None of the ministers in the cabinet knew about the ambiguous grievances between Zhang Juzheng and the Liao Palace.

If Li Chunfang knew, she would have asked Wei Guangde to draft the memorial.

In Li Chunfang's mind, with Zhang Juzheng's status and both in Jiangling, the Liao Palace should have a good relationship with the Zhang family.

This matter is entrusted to Zhang Juzheng, and the words will be milder and less violent. Perhaps the crime committed by King Liao still has the hope of being lifted high and put down gently.

As for Wei Guangde, he didn't know about the entanglement between the Zhang family and the Liao Palace. In fact, even if he knew, he would choose to stand by and watch.

Da Ming's prince is a parasite lying on Da Ming's body, sucking Da Ming's blood all the time.

If there is one less vassal, the local support will be one point less, so the tax paid to the court will be one point more.

At the same time, those fields under the name of the Prince's Mansion will also be confiscated as official land, which is another income.

After talking about the affairs of Prince Liao's Mansion, Li Chunfang picked up another memorial from the desk, and said slowly under the surprised eyes of others: "This is the memorial sent by the Huguang Governor a few days ago, requesting that some of the dirty The fine silver is kept for relief in disaster years.”

Li Chunfang wanted to be a peacemaker, so at this moment, she brought out the argument she had with Wei Guangde earlier.

In fact, when Li Chunfang took out the memorial, Wei Guangde had already guessed what it was.

After Li Chunfang finished speaking, Yin Shizhen wanted to speak, but when he opened his mouth, he saw the corners of Wei Guangde's mouth move slightly. Although he didn't know what he said, he was taken aback for a moment, then looked at Chen Yiqin, and saw the corners of Chen Yiqin's mouth With a smile on his face, Yin Shizhen still didn't speak in the end.

What Li Chunfang said just now was very euphemistic, but he pointed out similar memorials. Some other provinces have approved the half-retention, and Huguang should be no exception.

There was a tone set by Li Chunfang, and the reason was very good, neither Chen Yiqin nor Yin Shizhen could refute it.

Wei Guangde was persuaded by Li Chunfang a long time ago. It can be said that the cabinet has remained unanimous this time, and no one objected to leaving half of the dirty money in Huguang to prepare for disasters.

Afterwards, Chen Yiqin talked about the memorial that he thought was a little tricky, and everyone quickly reached an agreement and decided on the proposal for the cabinet.

After the matter was finished, the people dispersed. Wei Guangde and others left Xu Jie's room on duty, and went back to their own rooms to continue working.

In the afternoon, when the office was scattered, Wei Guangde, Chen Yiqin, and Yin Shizhen left the cabinet one after the other and walked towards the gate of the palace.

"Shan Loan, is Zheng Fu free today?"

Chen Yiqin asked.

"Brother Yifu, are you going to set up a banquet?"

Wei Guangde laughed happily.

"If there is good wine, I will be free. If the wine is not good, I will not accompany you."

Yin Shizhen also laughed.

"Come on, I have treasured the good wine for more than ten years. I wonder if it can be entered into Zhengfu Fayan?"

Chen Yiqin answered with a smile.

"Ha ha."

"Haha."

On the palace road, there was a series of hearty laughter.

In a place like the palace, it should be quiet and solemn, and only they dare to joke like this.

When the guards and eunuchs saw them, they turned their heads consciously, pretending not to see them.

Wei Guangde knew in his heart what Chen Yiqin meant by asking them to go to the banquet, but he still accepted it happily.

Some things are better explained clearly, but there will be pimples in the heart when facing them. If such things are not handled well at the beginning, gaps will easily arise.

Wei Guangde is not sure if Li Chunfang asked him to meet alone, whether there is such a meaning in it.

After all, Wei Guangde did not believe that Li Chunfang had no idea after finally getting to the first assistant position, although he said all day long that he wanted to find a chance to become an official, because he was already satisfied.

But you can't just listen to what the officials say, it's better to be wary.

The next day, when Wei Guangde was on duty, Zhang Juzheng came here with his drafted memorial. After exchanging greetings, Wei Guangde opened the memorial to read.

However, just seeing the first piece of the Liao King's criminal evidence stated in the memorial, I couldn't help but feel suspicious, and it was the impeachment of the Huguang officials who continued to go down.

Yes, Zhang Juzheng did not modify the memorabilia selected by Hong Chao as the blueprint, but made a major change in the order, and directly put the ambiguous matter of erecting the big banner in the Liao Palace into the first crime of the Liao King.

It is impossible for Emperor Longqing not to pay attention to this position.

Although the writing is a bit vague, and the king of Liao was not found guilty based on this, but when Emperor Longqing saw that the following more than ten criminal evidences were verified by the imperial envoys, the first crime was actually easily regarded as a crime in a subtle way. Things that are set in stone will be settled.

There is something between Zhang Juzheng and King Liao.

After reading the memoir, Wei Guangde thought of this for the first year.

Wei Guangde clearly remembered that when he was nominated for the gold list, in the first few family letters he received, his father not only arranged for people to send money, but also wrote clearly about the people in Jiangxi Province who came to the house to give gifts and congratulations.

Several vassal princes in Jiangxi Province didn’t react much after the results of Wei Guangde’s general examination and palace examination, but after he was handpicked by Emperor Jiajing to enter the Imperial Academy, his attitude changed drastically, and he hurriedly sent people to his home to give gifts to celebrate .

These can be derived from the time when the guests arrive.

That is to say, although Wei Guangde has already entered the official career, according to the rules of the court, they will not serve in their hometown, so they have little influence on the vassal princes in Jiangxi, but they just have some say in the officialdom.

In addition, there is an inexplicable tacit understanding among the officials in Jiangxi, that is, to take care of the family members of the officials.

However, after being selected into the Imperial Academy, it means that Wei Guangde has a bright future, and being admitted to the Imperial Academy means that he can get involved in the Ministry of Rites and the Cabinet. This is not an existence that the vassal king can ignore.

Even if Wei Guangde failed to join the cabinet in the end, but his experience in the Imperial Academy, it is impossible to say that the colleagues around him will become this lucky one and become the elder of the court. With this relationship, Wei Guangde's influence in the court will also be very huge.

So during the two months of Wei Guangde Palace Examination, all the vassal mansions in Jiangxi sent people to the Wei family to send congratulatory gifts, which was a remedy for knowing the news from the capital.

What's going on with Zhang's family in Jiangling Mansion? Could it be that Liao Wang's Mansion doesn't know about it?

Wei Guangde didn't believe it.

Writing so much is actually just an idea of ​​Wei Guangde.

"It is generally written in accordance with yesterday's discussion, and I have no objection."

Wei Guangde smiled, but he didn't return the memorial, but read it again, and then handed the memorial to Zhang Juzheng.

After receiving the memorial, Zhang Juzheng let go of his slightly uneasy heart.

What he was most worried about was actually Wei Guangde's opinion on the order of those crimes, whether to change or not to change when the time comes.

A memorial and a blueprint, in fact, it took him only a moment to write it, but he delayed it for a day, and he took out the draft manuscript the next day, which shows that he has also thought it through.

According to the crimes that the Hong Dynasty chose them to investigate, King Liao would not be severely punished, which of course he did not want to see.

However, it is difficult to prove the Liao king's rebellion based on the fact of erecting a large banner.

Then the remaining method that will not expose his true thoughts is to use psychological hints to make people who read the memorandum acquiesce in their hearts that King Liao has objections, but the evidence is insufficient.

One of the ways is to put the king of Liao first. Although there is not enough evidence to prove that the king of Liao has an objection, the subsequent crimes are confirmed one by one, and it is easy for Emperor Longqing to feel dissatisfied with the king of Liao. Minister's impression.

Although this matter cannot be used as evidence of treason, as Wei Guangde said before, for His Majesty's family affairs, he wants to punish him severely or lightly, but it is only a matter of his opinion.

The current emperor, who has just ascended the throne, naturally hopes to show some prestige.

Punish the King of Liao severely, so that other vassal princes in other places dare not have other thoughts, and then reward some gifts during the New Year and holidays. This is the combination of grace and power.

Wei Guangde passed the test here, but that's not all. Next, he had to hand over the first draft of the memorial to Chen Yiqin, so he didn't stay in Wei Guangde's room for a long time before leaving.

After Zhang Juzheng went out, Wei Guangde couldn't help getting up, walked slowly to the door, and watched Zhang Juzheng's back disappear.

Just before, in fact, Wei Guangde had a momentary idea that he should bring up the problem he saw, but then he thought of the conversation between Li Chunfang and him yesterday.

Saying it this way seems to be refuting Zhang Juzheng's face again.

Since he wrote it like this, there must be a reason for him.

Judging from the contents of Hong Chaoxuan and Shi Duchen's memorandum, King Liao, King Hui, and King Yi were all of the same breed. They were full of crimes in the fief and committed heinous crimes. Thinking of the people in the fief who were persecuted by King Liao, Wei Guangde did not speak out.

Regardless of the relationship between Zhang Juzheng and King Liao, Wei Guangde still chose to acquiesce in this matter, and the next thing is to see if Chen Yiqin agrees with him.

As he expected, Chen Yiqin also noticed Zhang Juzheng's little thoughts.

Similar to what Wei Guangde thought, although it was strange how the relationship between Zhang Juzheng and Liao King Zhu Xian could be so bad, but thinking of the people who had been hurt by the Liao King, Chen Yiqin just asked indifferently: "What do you say after reading Shandai?"

"After reading it, Shan Loan only said that there was nothing wrong with yesterday's discussion, so he has no objection."

Zhang Juzheng smiled lightly, he knew that he couldn't show any emotions at this time, and he was betting that Chen Yiqin would consider the suffering of the people in Jiangling and acquiesce in this memorial.

Yes, Zhang Juzheng had already noticed it last night when he went over the details repeatedly.

He believed that Wei Guangde and Chen Yiqin, at least one of them, would find something tricky in this memorandum. Originally, he planned to revise it after someone raised it, but then he thought of the evil deeds of King Liao in Jiangling.

According to his observation, Wei Guangde and Chen Yiqin are both people who can't tolerate sand in their eyes, and neither of them has the experience of being in charge of local government, so they have not been corrupted by money.

Beijing officials, except for the drift of money and goods from Beijing, are the filial piety of local officials, and they have not personally exploited the people.

In this way, at least half of the official's heart is pretending to be the people of the world, and the other half is of course his own official career.

The bigger the official, the more filial piety, but money is not the most attractive to them.

This may also be the reason why there were few cabinet ministers in the Ming Dynasty who were in charge of the government.

His teacher, Xu Jie, is a strange thing. He offended the emperor and the chief assistant and was dispatched, which almost ruined his official career.

After returning to Beijing, he had no chance to get involved in the cabinet, but because he flattered Yan Song, he finally let Yan Song recommend the teacher to join the cabinet in order to balance the power between the court and China.

In the eyes of the old emperors, blocking the establishment of a barrier between the cabinet ministers and local forces will allow them to be less affected by local influences when they are in power.

At most, it is to seek some benefits for their respective hometowns.

There is more than one cabinet minister, which is naturally the result of multi-party balance.

In this way, they can safely hand over their powers to the cabinet.

The disposition opinions given by these people will be reviewed by the Supervisor of Rituals, so it is naturally safe.

"Oh?"

Chen Yiqin just looked up, then lowered his head again.

Similar to Wei Guangde, Chen Yiqin watched it again after watching it the first time, while Zhang Juzheng just sat there quietly without any movement.

"Okay, that's it."

After a while, Chen Yiqin raised his head again, and at the same time handed back the first draft of the memorial in his hand.

A smile appeared on Zhang Juzheng's face at this moment, he took the first draft handed over by Chen Yiqin with both hands and said with a smile: "Then I'll go down and copy and polish it, and hand it to the palace today."

"Ah."

Chen Yiqin nodded.

Now that neither Chen Yiqin nor Wei Guangde proposed amendments, Zhang Juzheng's goal had been achieved, so naturally there was no reason to stay long, so he got up and left immediately.

Chen Yiqin also stood up and sent Zhang Juzheng out.

Standing at the door, looking at Zhang Juzheng's back, Chen Yiqin was a little silent, wondering if Li Chunfang and Zhang Juzheng jointly led the affairs of the Liao Palace this time.

At the banquet last night, he already knew the conversation between Li Chunfang and Wei Guangde, and also heard Wei Guangde's reasons.

The emperor maintains the imperial power, while the civil servants maintain the prime minister's power. Although the cabinet ministers are appointed by the emperor, they are also representatives of the civil official group.

In the history of the Ming Dynasty, only a very small number of emperors would completely ignore the opinions of their courtiers, and Qian Gang arbitrarily selected cabinet ministers.

Therefore, most of the time, the cabinet represents the interests of the civil service group and is the key to the struggle between imperial power and power.

Of course, the Ming Dynasty only had a cabinet that assisted the emperor in making decisions, the prime minister, and it had been eliminated during the Zhu Yuanzhang period.

But in the eyes of civil servants, the power of the cabinet is actually the power of the prime minister.

This is also the reason why Emperor Longqing put his trusted officials into the cabinet. Only in this way can he fully control the power of Daming.

And they, in the eyes of some civil servants, represent the interests of the emperor, and they come to gain power for the emperor.

Why was Gao Gong forced to leave? Almost no one in the civil and military circles of the Manchu Dynasty spoke up for him.

The courtiers are envious and jealous of these hidden ministers, so as long as there is an opportunity, they will never give up.

Wei Guangde may be right.