The Prosperous Era of Longwan

After the brief shock caused by the impact of the Yan family's huge wealth, the Ming court regained calm.

At this time, the cabinet had Xu Jie as its chief assistant. With the assistance of Yan Na and Li Chunfang, the government affairs were managed in an orderly manner. All officials were convinced, and the Ming Dynasty seemed to be calm all of a sudden.

A few days after Wei Guangde sent someone to send a letter to Nanjing, Duan Mengxian came to visit again and told him that he had found a few people in the same year who had a good relationship with Cen Yongbin to write a letter for Zhang Keguan.

"When Qing Jin returns to Beijing and asks him to thank you for the treat, I won't overshadow the guest and thank you for him."

Wei Guangde joked with a smile.

Now I have done everything I can. I just hope that this Cen Yongbin will not be the unkind person Duan Mengxian said, lest after the Ming Dynasty gave birth to Hai Qingtian, there would be another Cen Qingtian, which would be a great blow to the officials of the Ming Dynasty. For us, I'm afraid it's going to be a headache, or maybe it's going to be a storm.

In the following time, Wei Guangde devoted himself wholeheartedly to the school registration ceremony.

Although it is unlikely that Emperor Jiajing will be promoted in the short term because of his hard work in the examination, it is still important to leave a good impression on the emperor.

However, this kind of court had only been in the past for less than a month. It seemed like a brief calm before the storm, but suddenly it became different.

First, a decree was issued from the palace, changing Zhu Heng, the Shangshu of the Ministry of Punishment in Nanjing, to Shangshu of the Ministry of Works and the right deputy censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, in charge of river and water transport affairs.

Two days later, several more edicts were issued, and Qian Bang, the minister of the Ministry of Punishment, was promoted to Shangshu of the Ministry of Punishment in Nanjing, Pan Sheng, the right minister of the Ministry of Personnel in Nanjing, was promoted to the right minister of the Ministry of Rites, and Xu Fuzheng, the minister of Guanglu Temple in Nanjing, was promoted to the right minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs in Nanjing.

Nanjing's officialdom suddenly began to undergo a major change. There is no smoke without fire. Sensitive officials in the capital have sensed that behind the turmoil in Nanjing's officialdom, there seems to be another big boss starting to compete.

But so far, no one knows who ended up and why.

However, after two days of astonishment, all the officials were impeached by the Zuodu censor Zhang Yongming and the Zhejiang patrol censor Huang Tingpin. When he returned from Zhejiang on his behalf, he passed by Hengshan and was rude to the magistrate Chen An. Chen An, the magistrate of Hengshan, angrily ordered him to leave , after getting the gold and silver goods, the emperor was afraid that he would not thank him, so he returned them.

As the boss of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, Zhang Yongming impeached Huang Tingpin for being a traitor to the law and damaging the constitution.

Who is Zhang Yongming? He succeeded Pan En. As for who he is from, the Beijing officials still know more or less.

Zhang Yongming suddenly killed his relatives and publicly impeached the court's foreign censor. This itself revealed a very unusual flavor.

However, some people have already seen that one of the parties involved in the battle over Nanjing's officialdom should be the chief minister of the dynasty, Xu Ge Lao. Who is the other party?

How many people are there in the current dynasty who are qualified to be Xu Ge's old rivals?

The first targets to be suspected by all the officials were naturally the other two cabinet ministers, Yan Ne and Li Chunfang.

Li Chunfang has a kind personality and has no ambition or ability to fight for power. As the number one scholar selected by Emperor Jiajing, there is no need to compete for the emperor's favor.

In addition to the rumors that had circulated in the cabinet earlier that Yan Ne had had differences of opinion with the chief minister Xu Jie and that the two sides had a very unpleasant dispute, officials quickly confirmed who the boss of this dispute between the DPRK and China was.

Due to Li Chunfang's personality, he has almost always been a transparent existence among the three cabinet members.

Yan Na had earlier served as the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, and he could not help but develop the habit of dictating to all officials. After entering the cabinet, he naturally could not adapt to being placed at a lower level.

It is understandable that the two of them were unhappy because of this.

The news spread quickly through the official circles of the capital, and even Wei Guangde, who was too busy to care about court affairs, heard about it.

"It has been found out that the previous transfer of Nanjing officials was the result of Mr. Xu Ge and Mr. Yan Ge impeaching each other?"

Wei Guangde was sitting in the study at this time and asked after listening to the news from Zhang Ji.

"Yes, it is said that Zhu Heng, the former Minister of Punishment of Nanjing, found out something about Mr. Xu Ge, so Mr. Xu Ge transferred him away from Nanjing to build the canal.

Master, you also know that although building the canal is a bit tiring, it is very profitable, but Zhu Heng seems to be from Yan Ne's side, so he is facing off with Yan Ge's side. "

"Huang Tingpin is also an elder of Yan Ge?"

Wei Guangde asked again.

"should be."

Zhang Ji replied, "Otherwise, why would Mr. Zhang impeach him and want to put him in jail?"

"Those who move here seem to be people from Yan Ne's side."

Wei Guangde felt something was wrong when he thought about it. It seemed that Xu Jie was taking the initiative this time, as if he was demonstrating to Yan Ne and showing his power in the court.

On Yan Ne's side, his subordinates were replaced one after another, but they did not fight back at all.

Could it be that you are holding back your ultimate move?

Wei Guangde was suspicious, "Is there any other news?"

"No more, sir."

Zhang Ji replied.

"You should pay attention to this matter in the past few days, keep an eye on what's going on in Mr. Xu Ge's and Mr. Yan Ge's houses, and report to me immediately if anything happens."

Wei Guangde ordered.

The next day, Wei Guangde did not go directly to the Imperial College Recording Hall early in the morning. Instead, he ran to Prince Yu's Mansion to find Li Fang.

Li Fang is responsible for collecting intelligence for the palace. If you have any doubts, go to Li Fang. If you can't get the information from him, it means the matter is very hidden and difficult to find out.

"Master Wei, why do you have time to come to the palace today? The prince hasn't gotten up yet."

Li Fang was very happy to see Wei Guangde coming and made a little joke.

"I'm not here today as a prince, I'm here to see you."

Wei Guangde smiled.

"Looking for me to help you copy books? Don't tell me, there are several servants in my palace, and they are also first-class scholars in the inner study, and they can write well."

Li Fang said cheerfully.

"How about we not talk about the admission ceremony? I've been reading books every day these days, and my head is spinning."

Wei Guangde smiled bitterly.

In the past two months, the number of Wei Guangde's visits to Prince Yu's Mansion has indeed decreased significantly. It was Emperor Jiajing who urged him to record books.

"I came here to ask Mr. Xu Ge about something."

Wei Guangde put away his wry smile and spoke seriously to Li Fang.

"Mr. Xu Ge?"

Li Fang was stunned when he heard this, and then asked differently: "Did Yan Ne ask you to come?"

"What does Yan Ne have to do with me? I'm just curious. What does he have to do with Mr. Xu Ge to scare Mr. Xu Ge like that?"

Wei Guangde replied angrily.

"How do you know that Mr. Yan Ge has something against Mr. Xu Ge?"

Li Fang was very cautious and did not answer Wei Guangde's words, but asked Wei Guangde continuously.

"Mr. Yan Ge is already setting up plans in Nanjing, and he wants to get Huang Tingpin, the imperial censor from Zhejiang. If I still can't guess what the problem is, then this official is not the right one."

Wei Guangde replied, "I asked you to keep an eye on the Xu family before, thinking that coming to you must have the answers I want to know."

"Why do you ask this?"

Li Fang frowned and said at this time.

"I'm curious, but it's also for the sake of the court. What we need now is a relatively stable court, and we will wait until that day."

Wei Guangde replied, "If two ministers in the cabinet attack each other, it will inevitably cause turmoil in the government and the public, which will be detrimental to King Yu."

Hearing this, Li Fang nodded silently, and then waved her hand to Wei Guangde to signal him not to speak. She walked to the door, drove the eunuchs and chamberlains around the house away, and then returned to the house.

"Shan Loi, I only told His Highness about this matter before. Your Highness meant that we should not interfere."

Li Fang first warned Wei Guangde that it was inconvenient for Prince Yu's Palace to intervene in the fight between the two elders.

Of course Wei Guangde understood this and nodded in agreement.

"The cause of the matter is this. Huang Tingpin, the censor of Zhejiang Province, collected evidence that Xu Yao, a descendant of the Xu family, and others took advantage of the situation to run rampant in the countryside and occupied more than 200,000 acres of land in Susong.

Xu Ge was worried, so he hurriedly changed people inside and outside Nanjing, hoping to suppress the matter before it happened.

As for who Huang Tingpin is, I don’t need to introduce him. "

Li Fang whispered.

"The Xu family has more than 200,000 acres of land?"

Wei Guangde asked in shock.

Li Fang nodded, "If it hadn't been for Yi Shandai's words and the spies there, I wouldn't have thought that Xu Ge's family was so wealthy."

Wei Guangde thought for a while, then shook his head and said: "If this is the case, Mr. Xu Ge should also have a good talk with Mr. Yan Ge on how to suppress this matter.

And if this matter hadn't come from you, I wouldn't have known about it, which shows that the information is still very secret. "

"Who says it's not the case? I think it was because of the recommendation of Mr. Xu Ge that Yan Ne had the opportunity to stand out from the Hanlin Academy and was asked by the emperor to go to Xiyuan to write Qing Ci. Is there anything I can't sit down and talk about."

Li Fang also said, "Perhaps because of what happened last time, there was a gap between Mr. Xu Ge and Mr. Yan Ge. Mr. Yan Ge coveted the position of chief minister, and Mr. Xu Ge naturally had to guard against it."

"The handle is in the hands of Mr. Yan Ge. I'm afraid he is also waiting for an opportunity to impeach this matter in front of His Majesty."

After thinking about it, Wei Guangde understood why he didn't attack even though he held such a sharp weapon in his hand.

Speaking of the Xu family's fields, it is indeed terrifying, but if it comes from normal business, even the emperor will have nothing to say. Is it possible?

No matter how rich Xu Jie was, tens of thousands of acres would be extremely low, and more than 200,000 acres would cost one million taels of silver at Su Song's land price.

Wei Guangde knew without asking that a considerable part of them were donated, and the other fields were probably not very glorious, otherwise there would be nothing to fear being caught by Huang Tingpin.

Wei Guangde even doubted whether the Yan family's land was included in these fields.

However, if it is just a perfunctory verification, it will actually have no impact on the Xu family at all.

If the Xu family dared to take over these fields, they must have done everything they should to cover it up. Even if they knew it, it would not be easy to find out.

Yan Ne was probably waiting for Emperor Jiajing to report the matter when he was in a bad mood, in order to amplify the impact of the matter.

It is conceivable that the news that the Xu family has more than 200,000 acres of farmland will definitely blow up the entire government and opposition parties.

If this number had come from a certain prince's or county prince's palace in the Ming Dynasty, the courtiers might have been able to accept it relatively calmly.

Don't worry about the scarcity but the inequality. Everyone has thousands of acres of land to support the sky. Suddenly, I realize that you, as the chief minister, have so much land.

"Your Highness is right, it's really hard to get involved in this matter."

After a long time, Wei Guangde nodded and said.

"I told His Highness the news at that time. His Highness was so surprised that he couldn't sit still for a long time. He asked me to send someone to investigate the matter in detail. Tsk tsk. In the Ming Dynasty, only the Prince's Palace has so much land."

Wei Guangde knew what Li Fang meant. Many princes' mansions owned more land, but the fertile farmland in Susong's mansion was not comparable to the mountains and ponds granted by the prince's mansion.

But in terms of the quality and quantity of the Xu family's fields, ordinary palaces may not be able to compare with them.

"Yesterday, Mr. Xu Ge also wrote a book, asking Wang Bengu to be the censor of the right Qiandu of the Jiangnan Jingdu Procuratorate and be in charge of the affairs of the Nanjing Metropolitan Procuratorate.

He was also promoted to Fu Zhi Nanzhili Youqiandu Yushi Kanglang as the right deputy capital censor, and patrolled Guizhou. "

Li Fang whispered to Wei Guangde again.

"Kang Lang is a member of Mr. Yan Ge?"

Wei Guangde asked in a low voice.

Li Fang nodded, "He wants to control all the officials in Nanjing, but they are all local promotions, and most of these officials have reached the time when it's time to move. When I ask the officials, they don't know what to do. How to refute Mr. Xu Ge’s proposal?”

"Mr. Xu Ge has been in the cabinet for more than ten years and is deeply rooted."

Wei Guangde sighed and glanced at Li Fang when he said this.

Li Fang just nodded slightly, but didn't say anything.

In fact, from the look in Li Fang's eyes, Wei Guangde knew that regardless of how Xu Jie treated Prince Yu's palace before, after Prince Yu ascended the throne, once the throne was stabilized, Xu Jie's appointment to the official position would be immediately put on the agenda.

King Yu would not tolerate Xu Jie remaining in the position of chief assistant because his influence was too great.

"It's getting late, I also want to go to the school registration hall."

Wei Guangde knew the answer, and had no intention of staying in Prince Yu's Mansion. However, he turned around and quickly turned back to Li Fang, saying: "It is not appropriate for the Prince's Mansion to get involved in this matter, but it seems that we can also get some benefits and arrange the staff."

"How to lay it out?"

Li Fang asked after hearing this.

"Yifu is the right minister of the Ministry of Rites, so we can consider letting him join the Ministry of Personnel for training.

Look at how many people Mr. Xu Ge has in his pocket. With a few adjustments, the Nanjing Ministry of Punishment and the Ministry of Household Affairs are under control. They are all rushing to check the land.

If His Majesty approves Wang Bengu's promotion and takes over the Nanjing Metropolitan Procuratorate, even if Yan Na reports the matter, the imperial envoys sent by the imperial court should be left to Mr. Xu Ge's arrangement. "

Wei Guangde sighed and said.

"Ask Chen Yiqin to go to the Ministry of Personnel. I will talk to him about this matter when His Highness gets up. But if this is really going to happen, everything will have to be settled by Gao Shangshu."

Li Fang whispered.

Gao Gong probably never dreamed that except for Chen Yiqin whose attitude was unclear among the people in Prince Yu's palace, other people such as Wei Guangde, Zhang Juzheng, Li Fang, and Yin Shizhen all complained about him.

But Gao Gong is arrogant, thinking that he has everything under control, and doesn't pay attention to others at all.

After Wei Guangde returned to the school recording hall, Zhang Ji stopped his carriage outside the school recording hall before he could hear the news about Xu Jie's memorial from the palace.

"Master, I just got the news. Today, the governor of Zhejiang, Liu Ji, reported that in the 39th year of the year, the governor of Fengyang, Tang Shun, asked to restore the three shipping cities. The shipping tax was low, and there were infringements and provocations from offshore traitors. Therefore, please Discuss matters of resolution and revolution.”

"Liu Ji wants to close Ningbo Shipping Department? Just because shipping taxes are low?"

Wei Guangde was surprised when he heard this.

A few years ago, Tang Shun requested the restoration of commercial ships to facilitate communication between the imperial court and the vassal states. Unexpectedly, only five years later, someone proposed to abolish the system.

"The governor of the Tang Dynasty said in his memorial that Zhejiang's coast has many ports and few warships, making it the most difficult to defend, so he requested to be dismissed."

Zhang Ji said.

"knew."

Wei Guangde just shook his head and lamented that the Ming Dynasty had too much resistance to sea trade.