The Prosperous Era of Longwan

Gao Gong's death was almost hasty in the cabinet, giving him basic face, but not much.

However, just as Zhang Siwei was about to leave to deliver the memorial, Lu Bu walked over quickly with a letter and whispered a few words in Wei Guangde's ear.

Wei Guangde frowned slightly, took the letter and took out the letter paper and took a look.

Then, his frown had been stretched out.

"Ziwei, you can send the memorial directly to the Sili Supervisor first."

Wei Guangde said to Zhang Siwei.

"Okay, I'll go now."

Zhang Siwei agreed and then took the memorial and left the duty room.

And Wei Guangde also picked up the letter in his hand and looked at it.

Wei Guangde is still very familiar with the handwriting on the letter, but Zhang Juzheng's letter did not run away.

However, Zhang Juzheng's letter came a bit strange, and was sent to the capital with the Xinzheng government's report on Gao Gong.

The documents were entered into the Ministry of Rites, but the letters were sent to Wei Guangde's house.

Wei Guangdezai finished reading the letter carefully, then folded the letter paper and put it back into the envelope and put it in his arms.

Wei Guangde had some impression of him. He had read a lot of articles about Zhang Juzheng in later generations, and everyone knew that he was liquidated after his death. One of the important ones seemed to be a book written by Gao Gong before his death.

Wei Guangde didn’t know what specific book he had, but because of this book, it finally became the fuse for the reverse.

However, the letter in his hand was indeed written by Zhang Juzheng before and handed over to the Gao family of Xinzheng.

Thinking of the news that Zhang Juzheng had returned to the south, he went to Xinzheng to visit Gao Gong. It was not surprising that the Gao family had Zhang Juzheng's letters.

But what is strange is that Zhang Juzheng's letter reminded Wei Guangde that if Gao Gong died of illness before he returned to the capital, Wei Guangde must help Gao Gong get the court's pension and grace.

This letter was sent by the Gao family, and it was obviously written by Zhang Ju in Xinzheng and handed over to the Gao family.

In this regard, Wei Guangde had to consider the possibility that Zhang Juzheng would have been bedridden when he saw Gao Gong.

Wei Guangde has long stopped paying attention to Gao Gong.

With Zhang Juzheng and Feng Bao in the court, Gao Gong could not make a comeback even if he was in love today.

That's why when he saw the news of Gao Gong's death, he immediately thought about whether Zhang Juzheng's purpose of running to Xinzheng was to kill Gao Gong.

But now it seems that some villain is determined to judge a gentleman.

Zhang Juzheng wrote a letter asking him to help seek court grace. Has the two met and made up their past grudges?

Wei Guangde was not very sure, but the two of them had conflicts on the surface, which was because of political disagreement, but at the deeper level, it was because Gao Gong's tolerance was not enough, and he seemed to have been worried that Yu Shi would usurp his old people's rights, so he has been suppressing his former colleagues since then.

However, Gao Gong seems to have always been an exception to Zhang Juzheng.

This forced Wei Guangde to consider whether Gao Gong, who was arrogant, might have looked down on his colleagues from the beginning to the end, including Chen Yiqin, Yin Shidan and himself.

Perhaps, only Zhang Juzheng, who is full of knowledge, can barely catch his eyes, so he will take appropriate care of him while being careful.

The relationship between the two was very good in the past.

Wei Guangde realized that both of them were close friends and talked about anything, whether in Prince Yu’s Mansion or in the Imperial College.

Although there are quarrels, they are all because of different ideas, but the goals are the same.

I think that Gao Gong should have seen these years after being expelled. The court led by Zhang Juzheng was actually good and did many bold things that predecessors dared not do.

Wei Guangde didn't know what Zhang Juzheng and Gao Gong said when they met, but at least the possibility of Zhang Juzheng assassinating Gao Gong was infinitely reduced.

With Zhang Juzheng's letter, Wei Guangde believed that the probability of passing the votes he had made in the inner court was still very high.

Although Gao Gong had not achieved all the pensions and graces, at least the court still had enough face.

The news soon spread outside the palace, and the six ministries and others in the Beijing yamen, and hundreds of officials were also talking about this.

Everyone's attitude towards Gao Gong was actually quite consistent, that is, Gao Gong's character is really not suitable to be a minister in the same palace.

However, after Zhang Juzheng vigorously promoted reform, the implementation of the law in the industry and the clearance of the land, they felt that if Gao Gong was in power, it might be much easier than working under Zhang Juzheng.

Yes, Zhang Juzheng's reforms mobilized their interests, and when Gao Gong was in power, he would only attack dissidents. As long as he did not fight against Gao Gong, the stick would not hit him.

For this reason, all the officials now began to remember Gao Gong's goodness again. At least Gao Gong only knew how to rectify the administration, but would not attack their fundamental interests.

The cabinet requested Gao Gong's official position to be restored and buried according to the rank, but no one objected.

This also includes those new Jinshi.

They didn't know what Gao Gong had before. Even if they knew about it, they were only heard from the folk, and did not experience it personally.

Therefore, such people are very susceptible to the discussions of people around them.

Now most of the officials around them are thinking about Gao Gong's good deeds, but they have a little doubt in their hearts, why are such a good official dismissed by the court?

So, starting from this year, rumors about Zhang Juzheng and Feng Bao began to spread more unscrupulously in the government and the public.

These are not something that Zhang Juzheng and Wei Guangde, who are in high positions, can know.

After all, it is a private communication between the lowest-level officials and they have no way of knowing it.

In the evening, Wei Guangde returned to the mansion and said to Zhang Ji when he entered the door: "Send someone to contact me. I need to know the whole process of the Prime Minister's journey south, especially in Xinzheng. What did he say to Gao Gong? If you can find out And bring the news back.”

In fact, when Zhang Juzheng went south, the Wei family sent people to follow him, which was already accustomed to it.

It’s like although Zhang Juzheng left Beijing, he believes that some people in the Zhang family are paying attention to the Wei family’s every move these days.

It may not be necessary to do anything to the other party, but you must always have one way to prevent it.

It is just because of the obstruction of message transmission in this era that we naturally cannot achieve constant rewards, but can only be recorded during monitoring along the way. Only when an emergency occurs will people be arranged to quickly convey messages to the Wei Mansion in the capital.

Zhang Juzheng's itinerary along the way south is still normal, so there is no need for emergency returns, so the mansion has never received any news.

The news of Zhang Juzheng going south was conveyed more by merchants going north.

They live on the road, or hear from people, and then bring the news to the capital to spread.

After entering the door, Wei Guangde seemed to remember the news he had heard, so he ordered Zhang Ji again: "Report me the rumors about the recent period."

Wei Guangde vaguely remembers the later generations about Zhang Juzheng's reform. He said the one-whip method and the test method. There were few other mentions, but there was one thing he had been writing about, that is, when Zhang Juzheng met his hometown in Huguang. sedan chair.

Good guy, it is said to be a big sedan chair with thirty-two people. The sedan chair is far larger than all sedan chairs. It is said that the sedan chair is divided into a bedroom, a study, a toilet, etc.

What is the specification of a sedan chair with thirty-two people?

You should know that the emperor's dragon chassis is only sixteen people, and the maximum number of officials above the third rank is eight people. The legendary thirty-two people's sedan chair has exceeded the emperor's specifications.

If there was such a sedan chair, I was afraid that before Zhang Jiangling returned to his hometown, the Jinyiwei Tiqi, who had been photographed by the emperor, would be stopped and beheaded on the way.

However, in later generations, the news was rumored and had a slight rumor, but it could fool many people.

Wei Guangde didn't believe it very much, but he suddenly thought of it, so he ordered someone to inquire about the news.

It should be noted that in ancient times, the speed of the sedan chairs was not faster than that of the carriages, which means that they were more stable.

The more people you hold, the more comfortable the sedan is.

In the past, Wei Guangde was used to chariots and horses and did not care about the speed of the sedan chair at all.

It was only after joining the Sixth Ministry and becoming the Minister of the Secretariat that Wei Guangde gave up the carriage and took a sedan chair.

As for the sedan chair, the more people you hold, the slower you are.

In fact, the sedan chairs with two people ran the fastest, the sedan chairs with four people ran the second, and the sedan chairs with eight people ran the slowest.

Wei Guangde had not enjoyed the sixteen sedan chairs yet, and he did not dare to enjoy this.

As the second assistant to the cabinet, he could sit in the capital with eight-class sedan chairs, but for the sake of speed, he usually used four-class sedan chairs instead of eight-class sedan chairs.

In fact, there are very few officials sitting in the eight-class sedan chair in the capital, and even Zhang Juzheng usually only has four-class sedan chairs.

Although Beijing City is one of the largest cities in the world in this era, except for the spacious streets near the Imperial City, other streets are not necessarily very wide.

There are also many cars and horses in the Sijiu City, and the eight-class sedan occupies a lot of space and is easy to block roads.

If it weren't for the sake of style, there wouldn't be any need to add those four sticks.

Yes, it is actually very simple to change the four-stage class to eight-stage class. It is just to change the position of the sedan chairman in the four-stage class to a stick, and one position becomes two people.

There is no need to make any changes in the sedan chair, just increase the manpower.

After having supper in the mansion, Wei Guangde took the exam for the school entrance exams and went to the study alone after the school was taken by his youngest son these days.

Sitting down inside, quietly drank two sips of tea, Zhang Ji had already sent the news.

Wei Guangde stared at the note in his hand. Although Zhang Ji took another candle with great thought, Wei Guangde had already seen what he wanted to see.

What thirty-two people hold a large sedan chair, and there are all kinds of bedrooms and study rooms.

Nonsense, that's not the case at all.

According to the news sent by the people sent in the note, Zhang Juzheng was very hurried this time, and only eight sedan chairmen took turns to go up. Zhang Juzheng was actually sitting in a four-stage sedan chair, just to pay attention to speed.

After all, the journey back to Jingzhou from the capital is not short, and eight sedan chairmen take turns to carry sedan chairs, which is completely acceptable.

As for the pomp at home, it is actually very simple. There is no change in the ceremonial guards and in the capital, but there are a few more carriages accompanying you.

If you have to say that there are many people, then the little emperor Wanli sent a team of Jinyiwei to open the way for Zhang Juzheng.

However, officials along the way did try their best to curry favor with each other, and local officials were directly welcomed to the border.

It can be said that almost all officials who are neighbors between the state government can meet each other.

Those who saw off here returned, and officials from the new territory had already come to welcome him.

It is understandable that the local officials want to make a fortune and strive to make friends with Beijing officials and curry favor with the chief minister, but this has been done a little too much.

This is very true news. The information sent by Wei Guangde will naturally not be bad.

However, when Wei Guangde saw the rumors, he laughed.

Well, there is no news about the thirty-two-staff sedan chair in the market. I guess people in this era also know that this is impossible.

If Zhang Juzheng was really sitting in such a sedan chair, if the local officials did not report it, they would not want to continue wearing the hat.

However, in addition to the guard of honor that was quiet and avoided, among the guards of his followers, the striking team of Jinyiwei and a team of bird gunmen from the Beijing camp.

This was never seen in the past ceremonial wars. This was also the special order of the young emperor to ask the Jinyiwei to send someone to escort the guards and then transfer a team of Beijing camps to accompany him.

But here, no one mentioned that it was the emperor's will, but it was said that the officers and soldiers of the Beijing camp accompanied were Jizhen soldiers and horses, and the general Dong Yiyuan sent to please the chief assistant Zhang Juzheng, and the selected elite bird gunners of the Jizhen military formation , everyone is a sharpshooter who is always shot.

If we fabricate a general of Changping or Baoding, Wei Guangde may not be able to react for a while. He would ask the Ministry of War to check it out if he didn't know whether it was true or not. However, when it comes to Dong Yiyuan, Wei Guangde would be familiar with it.

In the past ten years, Wei Guangde and Dong Yiyuan have not had much contact on the surface, but after all, they were the first military general he met, and their official positions have also risen to the top in recent years.

In the 37th year of Jiajing, Dong Yiyuan was still a guerrilla general in Jizhen, leading hundreds of cavalry.

However, in the 43rd year of Jiajing, Tuman, Hei Shicarang and other troops invaded a piece of stone with more than 10,000 cavalrymen. The general officer Hu Zhen and Dong Yiyuan resisted against the city wall. The bandit army could not attack. When the Ming army reinforcements arrived, When they fled, the Ming army took advantage of the situation to pursue and beheaded more than 70 levels.

Later, he defeated the enemy in Weizigu and killed more than 370 levels, of which Dong Yiyuan made the most contribution, and received a third-level salary and promoted the Shimenzhai General.

In the first year of Longqing, the Ming army defeated the bandit army on Bangcui Cliff, and Dong Yiyuan made the most contributions. He was promoted to second-level positions again, promoted the deputy general, and stationed in Gubeikou.

Until now, because Wei Guangde transferred Qi Jiguang to Liaodong to replace Li Chengliang, he was promoted from Gubeikou to Jizhen General, which was to hand over the safety of the capital to him.

But after experiencing these battle formations, Wei Guangde was still more at ease with him, not a person with a low eye.

Dong Yiyuan's promotion was so fast that he had surpassed his elder brother Dong Yikui.

Dong Yikui is now still serving as the deputy general in Datong.

Putting down the small note in his hand, Wei Guangde ordered to Zhang Ji: "Give Commander Liu a support and ask them to check the origin of these rumors. Who is maliciously spreading rumors about important officials and border generals in the court."

"Master, most of these rumors are spread by businessmen going north."

Zhang Ji hurriedly explained.

"I said that, but I have to check it out and see where it started.

We know it is a rumor and we also know that the rumor is not credible, but some things are taken seriously as they are spread.

When asked, it will be a troublesome thing for Dong Yiyuan.

It is also good to check it out early and report it in the Jinyiwei file. ”

Wei Guangde explained.

With Dong Yiyuan's promotion, the important officials of the court could guess who was helping him.

At this time, I would have disgusted him with Wei Cifu's intention, and he said that he wanted to please Zhang Juzheng.

"Yes, Master."

Zhang Ji agreed and saw that Wei Guangde had no other instructions, so he retreated. (End of this chapter)