The Prosperous Era of Longwan

After leaving the matter to Chen Ju, Wei Guangde looked at the time and it was almost time. He wandered back to the Hanlin Academy and went straight to his own room. He found a chair to lean on and squinted his eyes to take a nap.

I was getting a little drunk now.

As Wei Guangde grew older, his drinking capacity also increased a lot. At least he had few rivals among his colleagues in the Hanlin Academy.

But Chen Ju, despite being a shady person, has a good drinking capacity, so he can compete with Wei Guangde. This is why he likes to go to Wei Guangde's house to drink when he has nothing to do.

After getting drunk, Wei Guangde's family had plenty of houses, so he found an empty room and slept there.

Of course, another reason is that Wei Guangde is a junior official at the moment and cannot stir up the affairs of the court. Not many people pay attention to him.

If there were more people targeting Wei Guangde, he would have to run there frequently, and he might get some news, which would not only endanger Wei Guangde, but also himself.

It is only in the past few years that he can get along with Wei Guangde so easily. This is Chen Ju's attitude towards Wei Guangde.

This concept was also influenced by Gao Zhong.

When Gao Zhong was promoted from the imperial chamberlain by the Jiajing Emperor, he once had an unparalleled reputation, which lasted for more than 20 years. After he retired from the imperial horse supervisor, he also experienced depression. Many people who used to be attached to him were Thinking he was finished, abandoned him.

It can be said that he has tasted all the warmth and coldness of the world, so he felt this way. He also told Chen Ju this feeling, which had a huge impact on Chen Ju's future life.

His biggest feeling is that no matter when the tide rises or falls, a person must do his duty and be down-to-earth.

It was also because he did not give up on himself after being removed from the Royal Horse Supervisor, and still worked honestly, that he was re-enabled by Emperor Jiajing and made the boss of a more important department such as the Li Supervisor.

He was actually the boss of the Supervisor of Ceremonies. Huang Jin had been serving Emperor Jiajing for a long time. The Supervisor of Ceremonies was actually the eunuch who was in charge of things.

What Wei Guangde handed over to Chen Ju this time was two pieces, one for five hundred taels and one for one thousand taels. Chen Ju knew how to give Wei Guangde a clear idea.

The news from Chen Ju was answered very quickly, and two days later the waiter sent a note saying "Peace of mind".

Wei Guangde understood as soon as he saw the note that Gao Zhong could handle this matter and there was no need to find anyone else for help.

When Chen Ju returned to the palace, he gave Gao Zhong a thousand taels of meeting tickets and told him what Wei Guangde had asked him to do.

In fact, the memorials for urging soldiers in Bianzhen were very young. The financial situation of the Ming Dynasty was such that how could it be possible to allocate military salaries in full?

"Go find it."

After listening to Chen Ju's words, Gao Zhong gave instructions to a eunuch beside him.

After a while, the memorials of Yang Bo, the governor of Xuan Dynasty, were found. As for the memorials of Datong and the commander-in-chief of Xuanfu, they could not be found. It may be because they saw the salary package, and the cabinet also knew that such memorials were sent to Yang Bo. It hasn't been approved yet, and there's no result in sending it further, so I might as well just suppress it for now.

Gao Zhong took Yang Bo's memorial and looked through it. He found that Xuanda Second Town was a self-contained system. Most of the tax revenue in the military town went directly to the army to ensure the food and salary supply of the headquarters. Therefore, most of the salary was for the salary and horses of the visiting army. Material expenditure.

Gao Zhong roughly calculated the amount of salary requested in the memorial, and found that between thirty and forty thousand taels of silver, as well as tens of thousands of japonica rice, the Ministry of Revenue should still be able to allocate, at least the Xuanfu must be paid first. , after all, it is the north gate of the capital.

Once the soldiers below cause trouble due to lack of military pay, Anda Khan will be in trouble if he takes advantage of the opportunity.

The cabinet's approval also expressed the same opinion. Other border towns can be slow, but the military pay of Xuanfu and Jizhen must be guaranteed as much as possible.

Without much hesitation, Gao Zhong said to Chen Ju, "Just talk to him later and tell him to wait with peace of mind."

The memorial was not put back, but put into Gao Zhong's sleeve.

If you want a silver discount, it depends on Emperor Jiajing's mood. Just carry it with you and hand it over when you find an opportunity.

As the center, the capital would receive memorials from all over the country every day, which would be processed by the cabinet and sent to the palace for approval, and then issued to the six ministries or local governments for execution.

Official business is never done.

But this has nothing to do with Wei Guangde, he doesn't have a serious job now.

A few days passed in the hustle and bustle, and the waiting time was a bit longer than Wei Guangde expected.

But fortunately, when I got home this day, I heard that Chen Ju was here to drink again.

"Is there any result?"

After having more contact with Chen Ju, he will naturally understand him better. Most of the time, what he said has happened, and he will come to his house to drink again.

Sure enough, while preparing for the banquet, Chen Ju said: "In the afternoon, Eunuch Gao saw that the emperor was in a good mood, so he took out Yang Bo's memorial. The emperor just hesitated a little and nodded. It should have been done by now. Send it to the cabinet and it can be done tomorrow.”

"Haha, it's time for your father-in-law to take the trouble."

When Wei Guangde heard that it had been done, he was relieved.

Wei Guangde thought about the advice Chen Ju gave him before and found it to be reasonable. In the future, he would reduce his contact with Ma Fang.

Reducing contact does not mean no contact. Just like this time, he still had to write a letter to Ma Fang. He couldn't do good things and get nothing.

This time the messenger brought the New Year's gift that Ma Fang had made up for. During the New Year, Ma Fang and his troops were still in Datong and did not have time to arrange for someone to deliver things to him here.

Wei Guangde didn't care at first, because he also knew through the imperial newspaper that Ma Fang was fighting outside at the moment, but making up for the New Year's gift showed that Ma Fang's previous heart had not changed, and he was still attached to his side, so naturally he I still have to try my best to help get things done.

After the banquet ended in the evening, Wei Guangde wrote a letter to Ma Fang despite his drunkenness, and called Ma Fang's soldiers to bring them back to the Xuan Mansion the next morning. This was the end of the matter.

Just as Ma Fang's soldiers were leaving the capital on horseback, the memorial from the Superintendent of Ceremonies was also delivered to Xu Jie's palace.

I turned to Yang Bo's memorial and drew a red circle on it, which meant that Emperor Jiajing had agreed to comply with it.

This memorial was somewhat impressive to Xu Jie. At the end of the year, only a few of the memorials for payment were submitted, and the other cabinets suppressed them first.

The imperial court had no money, so it could only keep him in the middle if he sent it to him.

This memorial was suddenly sent back, and Xu Jie couldn't help but consider whether other pressed memorials should also be sent.

In many things, your small inadvertent action may trigger a series of chain reactions later, because people who see it will make their own judgments.

Xu Jie picked up the pen on the writing desk and wrote seriously on the rice paper that had been laid out next to him, "Send more than a thousand taels of silver from Taicang to supply the guest soldiers of Xuanfu with food pay of 10,080 and two hundred taels, and supply the guest soldiers of Datong with 2,080 taels." More than a hundred taels were supplied to supply the horse army in Xuanda's second town with food and pay for the soldiers in the castles. Those who were unable to survive due to the disaster were still given Xuanfu's 20,000 shi of japonica rice and Datong's wheat price, which was worth tens of thousands of taels of silver."

As for what would happen if this note was sent to the Sixth Section and reached other people's ears, it was none of Xu Jie's business.

Xiyuan directly approved the memorial and did not reveal that some of it would be withheld, so let's allocate the full amount.

In fact, it is said that it is paid in full, that is, everything requested in the memorial is given. However, when the Taicang silver leaves the capital, some customs will still be withheld. Those in the military are still being deducted.

Time flies, time flies, the capital has entered summer, and the weather is starting to get sultry.

There is a sweet water well in Wei Guangde's home. On holidays, he sinks several large watermelons, sits in the yard, and waits for a while before picking them up. The watermelons soaked in the well are filled with cool air, and the cut melons are full of coolness. The meat is sweet and juicy. This is Wei Guangde's way of enjoying the coolness in the hot summer.

It was only after Wei Guangde moved in that he learned that the price of this house was high, in fact, a big reason was because of the well.

Even if Beijing is short of water, it is still short of water. Even if it is said that it is not short of water, it is not short of water.

The waters around Beijing are developed and have been managed since the Yuan Dynasty, and this was also the case in the Ming Dynasty.

As for the water shortage in the capital, the main reason is that there are relatively few wells in the city that can be used. Most of the wells produce bitter water, and there is not much drinkable water like Wei Guangde's family.

These big watermelons were bought by Zhang Ke and Lao Kan yesterday when they came over. They didn't finish the rest at that time.

After such a long period of time, all the new scholars have been awarded their titles. Zhang Ke stayed in the Zhongshu Department and became a member of the Zhongshu Department, while Lao Kan stayed in the Department of Punishments and served as the Lang of the Department of Punishments.

Of course, most of them were released in the same year.

After all, there are only so many official positions in the capital, and it is impossible to accommodate all Jinshi.

Wei Guangde and the others could only see him off when he left Beijing in the same year, and the team to see him off gradually shrank.

Wei Guangde was lying on a recliner, eating melon leisurely, when footsteps sounded in the outer courtyard.

There were only so many people in the house, and Wei Guangde knew just by the sound of footsteps that the concierge had come in.

I didn't bother to open my eyes to see, but I vaguely heard the concierge and Zhang Ji saying who seemed to be coming.

Soon, Zhang Ji approached Wei Guangde and whispered in his ear: "Master, Eunuch Chen is here."

When he heard that Chen Ju was coming, Wei Guangde suddenly opened his eyes and said, "Please come quickly."

As soon as he finished speaking, he saw Chen Ju entering the courtyard, "Hey, you are so carefree."

At this moment, Wei Guangde was sitting on a lounge chair under the shade of a tree. There were two maids fanning him on both sides. There was also a plate of watermelon beside him. It was indeed very enjoyable to live like this in this hot summer.

When Chen Ju came in, Wei Guangde naturally couldn't lie down any longer, so he stood up quickly and went to greet him.

"Quickly, bring over another recliner."

After a few words of greeting, Wei Guangde gave instructions to Zhang Ji next to him.

After a while, the two of them were lying on the armchairs, with a little maid fanning next to them. When they felt hot, they picked up the watermelon and took a few bites. The flesh of the melon was cooled down to the stomach, which was very comfortable.

"Brother, why do you have time to come to my place at this time?"

It was still early in the morning, so it stands to reason that Chen Ju should be accompanying Emperor Jiajing at this time.

"Don't mention it. The emperor is in a bad mood today. He will not come out after returning to Yongshou Palace. We have also been kicked out."

Chen Ju smiled bitterly and said, "I thought it was still early, so I told you to come and sit here."

"Who made the emperor unhappy?"

Wei Guangde asked suspiciously, is there anyone in this world who dares to shame the emperor?

As far as Wei Guangde knows, even the empresses in the harem don't seem to dare. Emperor Jiajing has a bad temper. It is said that this is how the last empress died.

Forget it, it’s better not to pry into the secrets of the palace.

As soon as he said these words, Wei Guangde regretted a little and wanted to slap himself twice.

However, to Wei Guangde's surprise, Chen Ju didn't even look at him. He narrowed his eyes slightly and took a bite of the watermelon in his hand before saying, "Zhao Wenhua is so angry."

"Mr. Zhao Wenhua Zhao?"

Wei Guangde asked strangely, "How is this possible? He is still recovering at home, how could he be so angry with the emperor?"

"Hey, you don't know."

Chen Ju swallowed the watermelon in his mouth and smacked his lips and said: "The emperor ordered the Ministry of Works to rebuild the Zhengyang Gate Tower a few days ago. Zhao Wenhua wrote a memorial two days ago, saying that it is not available now. The city gate tower was not built because of the tight budget of the imperial court and because of the weather, the craftsmen could not do their best work."

Hearing this, Wei Guangde nodded slightly, feeling that Zhao Wenhua's words seemed correct.

It was too hot that day, and it would have been around 40 degrees in later generations. According to the regulations at that time, outdoor work had to be stopped, and workers could not work under the scorching sun.

Perhaps seeing Wei Guangde nodding in approval, Chen Ju sneered from the side and said: "Zhao Wenhua didn't know that he got into trouble. It depends on whether the emperor will give Yan Ge face this time."

"What's going on? How come Mr. Yan Ge is involved, and what on earth did Mr. Zhao commit?"

Wei Guangde became even more suspicious and didn't understand what Zhao Wenhua did wrong.

"This morning, while the sun was still out, Your Majesty went up to the city wall and walked around. Do you know what you saw?"

Chen Ju suddenly became too secretive and did not tell the result directly, but asked Wei Guangde to guess.

Wei Guangde blinked and shook his head, thinking that I didn't know anything.

"The emperor saw a large house in Yongfang in the Forbidden City on the tower of the Forbidden City, and a three-story pavilion was built in it.

These days, the emperor likes to wander around the city wall when he has nothing to do. When he saw the house, he asked about the owner of the house. The attic was built very quickly. It was completed before it was even built a few days ago.

Guess whose house that house belongs to? "

Chen Ju asked again.

But if Wei Guangde can't guess it at this time, then he is a pig. The answer is very clear, it must be Zhao Wenhua's house.

Officials who want to go to court usually like to buy houses in Dashi Yongfang and Nanxunfang because they are close to the Forbidden City.

You can save a lot of walking in the morning and spend more time in bed.

Although Emperor Jiajing has not been in court for many years, this habit of officials has not changed.

"The emperor asked him to build the city gate, but he resisted. But he built the pavilion very quickly. He really deserves his bad luck."

Wei Guangde answered the question smoothly.

"Not only that, the work that the Emperor gave them to build a new alchemy room in Xiyuan last month was also rough and has not been completed yet. Today, the Emperor finally stopped holding back after seeing the new alchemy room. temper.

As long as you know this, don't go around talking about it. "

Chen Ju told another thing that Wei Guangde didn't know, which was also one of the reasons why Emperor Jiajing became angry.

You can't build the house the emperor wants, but your own house is extremely luxurious. Where does the money come from?

It was so hard that they even collided with each other.

Wei Guangde could already think that Emperor Jiajing might not spare Zhao Wenhua lightly this time, depending on Yan Song's dignity.

Zhao Wenhua, Yan Song, Jing Wang.

It seems to be on a rope. If Zhao Wenhua cannot secure his position as Minister of the Ministry of Industry