The Prosperous Era of Longwan

Wei Guangde's words revealed an important thing, that is, he talked about the right and wrong of Emperor Yongle.

We can't let the current people point out that the reason for the Yellow River flood was that Emperor Yongle widened the Grand Canal because of the relocation of the capital, which caused the Yellow River flood that lasted for more than a hundred years.

Even if this is the truth, it can't be said openly outside, Zhang Juzheng interrupted Wei Guangde directly.

The three people ignored it, nodded slightly, and then turned and got into their respective sedan chairs.

The four sedan chairs were lifted and quickly went towards the palace city.

The four people entered the palace and soon separated.

Feng Bao was going back to Ciqing Palace to report today's events, while Zhang Juzheng took Wei Guangde and others back to the cabinet to continue their work.

Wei Guangde didn't know whether Feng Bao would tell the palace what they talked about outside the Ministry of Industry later, but if this situation was revealed, it seemed that neither the inner court nor Zhang Juzheng would have the idea of ​​stopping sea transportation and promoting river transportation.

In fact, Wei Guangde didn't make up this reason to support sea transportation, but he really looked at this issue this way.

Don't say that the Yellow River bursts and people will be devastated. Normal people can clearly tell the difference between a single pain and year-round pain.

However, because of the Grand Canal, the court had to prevent such a thing from happening.

Later, Wei Guangde really received a note from Feng Bao, asking him to go to his outer house for a drink later.

There are thousands of eunuchs and maids serving in the palace, so they naturally have a place to stay.

However, outsiders may not know that although the imperial city is large, the place reserved for eunuchs to live is indeed a row of low and narrow rooms.

Feng Bao is known as the internal minister, so does he think that his house in the palace should be a big house?

In fact, it is not the case at all.

Feng Bao's house is a low house built within a wall in the Qianqing Palace.

A row of four houses are occupied by several eunuchs who serve Emperor Wanli.

For Feng Bao and others, they have to bow their heads slightly when entering the door, which is also a reminder that they are in the palace to serve people and don't think about anything else.

The maids who served the nobles in the palace could often live in the palace with their masters, but they had to get up and serve them at the slightest noise, and they could not sleep well at night.

The residences of the great eunuchs were like this, and the conditions of those who were not of the rank were naturally worse.

This was also the reason why the eunuchs with a little status in the palace would find another house in the city besides their duty.

At least, when they came here, they were the masters of this house, and they were masters.

Feng Bao's house was in Baodafang outside Donghua Gate. The master he served lived in the east of the imperial city, and it was convenient for him to go in and out here.

After Wei Guangde left the court, he went home to change his clothes, said goodbye to his wife, and took a sedan chair to Feng Bao's mansion.

As soon as he got off the sedan chair, he saw Xu Jue coming to greet him quickly.

"Mr. Wei has come to visit my humble home. The master has already given instructions. Please come in."

Xu Jue was not as arrogant as others usually were. He still understood the simple truth of saying what to say to whom.

Otherwise, Feng Bao would have thrown him into some corner.

"Hehe, housekeeper Xu, Brother Shuanglin hasn't come back yet? It seems that I came too early."

Wei Guangde said with a smile.

"No, no, my master should have come back a long time ago, but unfortunately, when he was about to leave the palace, he was called back to the palace by Empress Li. I had to pass the message to the subordinates and welcome Mr. Wei here."

Xu Jue's face was still smiling and flattering.

Wei Guangde had heard Zhang Ji talk about this man. He was arrogant outside and looked down on everyone.

Xu Jue didn't even say a word to some nobles with titles in the capital.

As for officials, those below the fourth rank had to take the initiative to greet him, and those above the fourth rank were mostly perfunctory.

Of course, he knew what was good and bad for the cabinet ministers. After all, after entering the cabinet, he could compete with his master, so he would only be polite and not bossy.

As for other things, even the posts from the six ministers seemed to be useless in front of him.

Zhang Ji and him had a quarrel because the large-scale purchasing business of Feng Mansion fell into the business of a merchant in Jiangxi.

It was a good thing, but Xu Jue was too greedy and wanted to take over the capital by relying on Feng Bao's name.

Naturally, the shopkeeper looked for all the connections in Beijing, and was finally pointed out to Wei Mansion, that is, Zhang Ji.

Now Xu Jue, in addition to giving face to the cabinet ministers, is also very polite to several dukes.

So Zhang Ji came forward and the matter was settled, but he also heard about the past behavior of this official Xu.

It was Feng Bao's family affairs, and Wei Guangde was too lazy to ask.

Some things are hard to be ignorant of, and it is not certain whether Feng Bao knows about them.

It is better to look at the owner when beating a dog. Feng Bao does not care, and Wei Guangde is too lazy to say anything. He does not believe that Feng Bao is completely unaware of the character of his subordinates.

Xu Jue led Wei Guangde to the flower hall to rest, and sent someone to serve tea and snacks.

"Brother Shuanglin, has this house been renovated?"

Wei Guangde sat on the chair and looked at the carved patterns and paintings around the flower hall and asked with a smile.

"Wei Ge Lao has a good eye. He renovated this flower hall last month. The master said it was old."

Xu Jue smiled.

"It should be less than two years."

This house was actually bought by Feng Bao two years ago. Feng Bao's house during the Longqing period was not here. It was to the west and much smaller than the current house.

However, as an internal minister and a powerful internal minister, there will naturally be more people fawning over him.

I don’t know if he bought it or was given it as a gift. Anyway, Feng Bao has the house he has now.

When he first moved in, Wei Guangde came over for a drink as a congratulation on the move.

In his impression, it seemed that Feng Bao had moved in less than two years ago.

At this moment, a servant came in from outside and whispered in Xu Jue's ear. Xu Jue immediately bowed and said, "Mr. Wei Ge, please stay here for a while. Mr. Zhang Ge has arrived. I will go out to greet him now." ’

"Go and do your work."

Wei Guangde waved his hand casually and let him go.

Xu Jue called two family members to wait in the house and walked quickly towards the door.

Wei Guangde reached out and picked up a piece of snack and tasted it. It should be said that the chef Feng Mansion had found was good and the taste was delicious.

In fact, this is also a major hobby of officials in the capital, that is, delicious food.

At first, of course, I was not aware of it.

However, as he established a foothold in Sijiucheng, communication between officials was inevitable.

In addition to drinking and dining in restaurants outside, it is also common to invite guests to the house.

Therefore, if there is just an ordinary cook in the mansion, he will naturally be unable to do anything.

In the past two years, Zhang Ji was busy looking for a suitable cook, but it took him two full months to finalize the decision.

In fact, he was afraid that if the chef didn't choose well, he would lose face.

Moreover, the cooks in the palaces of princes and ministers today are actually similar to those in later generations. They are definitely not just one cooking cook, but a team, each with their own unique skills.

Wei Guangde's snacks were also compared with those of the cooks in his mansion. It was hard to tell the difference between them.

"Uncle, you are one step behind me."

When Xu Jue sent Zhang Juzheng in, Wei Guangde stood up, cupped his hands and smiled.

"Hey, I went back home and was delayed for a while."

Zhang Juzheng stroked his beard and smiled.

"Uncle, it's better to build a house in the inner city. Although the mansion in the outer city can be bigger, it is too far away and inconvenient."

Zhang Juzheng's house is not in the inner city, which is different from many officials.

Perhaps because the emperor did not go to court early these years, officials used to gather together to buy houses in the inner city, but now they can be found everywhere in the inner and outer cities.

"I'm used to living here. The houses in the inner city are too compact and uncomfortable to live in."

Zhang Juzheng sat down next to Wei Guangde and explained with a smile.

"Xu Jue, why has your master been delayed? Why hasn't he come yet?"

Zhang Juzheng asked Xu Jue again.

It was still the same as before. He was called back before leaving the palace, and he only gave him a message asking him to receive them well.

Zhang Juzheng immediately waved his hand and asked them to go down.

After everyone in the room went out and Xu Jue also left, Zhang Juzheng whispered: "I guess the palace is still hesitating about this matter. The canal problem is too big."

Wei Guangde nodded slightly and said with a wry smile: "This is also the reason why I didn't want to say it at the beginning. When Emperor Chengzu is involved, small things become big things."

Zhang Juzheng nodded in agreement and sighed: "But you can't hide this kind of thing. Sooner or later, it will be revealed to the world."

"The imperial court gradually reduced its reliance on water transportation by simply saying that water transport was too expensive, so we switched to the sea route.

The Yellow River will change its course sooner or later. Whether the canal can still be opened by then depends on God's will. "

Wei Guangde lowered his voice and said to Zhang Juzheng.

Zhang Juzheng opened his mouth slightly, but in the end he just shook his head, "So, the promotion of Denglai Navy to Donghai Navy must be finalized as soon as possible.

Otherwise, the stability of the grain supply will not be guaranteed.

Although there are fewer Japanese pirates at sea now, they still exist. "

"When Yu Dayou comes back from Burma, he will dispatch the Nanhai Navy's warships to the East China Sea, but the imperial household department may have to provide more money.

This time the Nanhai Navy will not only support the warships of the East China Sea Navy, but will also detach a unit to permanently reside in Myanmar, where I plan to form the West China Sea Navy.

With Myanmar's navy, our southwest of the Ming Dynasty is equivalent to having an outlet to the sea, and we can transport southwest goods to the Qin Dynasty, which can more or less change the inherent impression of the remote and remote southwest. "

Wei Guangde said.

The "Great Qin" in Wei Guangde's mouth is naturally not the "Great Qin Empire" established by Qin Shihuang to unify China, but the ancient Chinese name for the Middle East to the west.

As early as more than 2,000 years ago, the Chinese already knew something about West Asia and Europe, and knew that there was an ancient civilization called Daqin in the extreme northwest of China.

From "Historical Records" written by Sima Qian of the Western Han Dynasty to "Book of Liang" which records the history of the Southern Dynasties, in the past thousand years, historical books have recorded more space about the Qin Dynasty.

Most Chinese historians believe that Da Qin is Rome or the Roman Empire, but some people think that the original Da Qin should refer to Greece.

The historical books that mention the Qin Dynasty in ancient China mainly include "Historical Records", "Han Shu", "Later Han", "Wei Lue", "Jin Shu", "Wei Shu", "Liang Shi", etc. These records can be compared together. First, it can be found that the ancient Chinese had a relatively vague understanding of the scope of the Qin Dynasty.

Other names for Da Qin include Li Xuan, Fu Fu, Alexander, etc. From the perspective of orientation, Da Qin is also called Haixi.

Except for Haixi, the rest are small place names, with small place names representing large areas.

Judging from Haixi is one of the reasons why some people think that Greece is the Qin Dynasty.

However, according to the "Book of the Later Han Dynasty":

"The king often wanted to send envoys to the Han Dynasty. In the ninth year of Emperor Huan's Yanxi reign (166), King Andun of the Qin Dynasty sent envoys from Rinan to present elephant tusks, rhinoceros horns, and tortoiseshells. From then on, there was a general envoy."

That is to say, in 166 AD, King Anton of the Qin Dynasty sent an envoy to China to meet Emperor Huan of the Han Dynasty. After searching the lists of kings in Greece, Macedonia, Sparta, and Rome, only the name and time of the Roman Emperor Anton matched.

It's just that when Wei Guangde said Da Qin at this time, he actually included the entire Middle East and Europe.

The so-called Silk Road started in China and ended on the Mediterranean coast. In ancient times, it was called Daqin.

"Western Sea."

Zhang Juzheng was stunned for a moment when he heard Wei Guangde say this word to him for the first time.

Well, in his mind, the West Sea should actually be the large lake west of Mobei that is said to be like the sea.

Of course, some people say that the West Sea refers to the Persian Gulf, the Indian Ocean, and the Caspian Sea.

In short, there are different sayings in different periods, but they all definitely refer to a huge body of water in the west.

Now that this word came out of Wei Guangde's mouth, Zhang Juzheng couldn't help but move slightly, and then he smiled casually and said: "Shandai, our Ming Dynasty will have the East China Sea, South China Sea and West Sea Navy. Is the North Sea Navy also included in your plan?" ? ’

"Of course."

Wei Guangde smiled slightly and said: "The Beihai Navy is naturally located in the North. The sea area where our Ming Nuer Gandusi is located is the Beihai."

Wei Guangde said bluntly that this was his plan. Now that the conversation had come to this point, Wei Guangde also said it.

Holding it in my heart, I still feel uneasy.

"Nuer Gandusi."

Hearing Wei Guangde mention this place name, Zhang Juzheng was moved again.

Although Nuergandusi was an administrative region designated by the Ming Dynasty, it had actually been abolished long ago.

After all, all the few guards and horses were transferred south to the territory of Liaodong Dusi. Although the Ming Dynasty did not explicitly abandon Nuergandusi, it actually lost control there.

Again, it was decided by the ancestors that Nurgandusi was the same as Wuerzangdusi, Duogandusi, etc. No matter whether the court could control those areas or not, the administrative units were still there, even if they were still the land of the Ming Dynasty.

"Do you have any plans to send troops to Nuer Gandusi again?"

Zhang Juzheng hesitated for a moment and asked.

"Who wants to send troops to serve as Dusi?"

Feng Bao's voice suddenly appeared and reached their ears.

"Brother Shuanglin, you are a very powerful host. Our guests have been waiting for you for a long time."

Wei Guangde was the first to react, immediately stood up and smiled.

"No, now Shuanglin is already a dignified minister, a big shot who sticks to his word."

Zhang Juzheng also answered, "It's not time for Yu Zhuan to have time to have wine and tea with us."

"It's wrong, it's wrong. I entered the palace and should have left the palace long ago, but I was called back at the last minute and kept you two waiting. How about I punish myself with three drinks at the banquet later."

Feng Baole said cheerfully, but his smile only lasted for a moment before fading, and then he asked: "I just heard my uncle talking about restoring the slave Gandusi. Did Shandai have this plan or there is some news that I don't know about." ’

"Let me tell you Shandai, he has already arranged all the naval forces in the southeast, northwest and four seas for the Ming Dynasty."

Zhang Juzheng answered with a smile.

"Want to hear the details."

Feng Bao looked at Wei Guangde and said seriously. (End of chapter)