The Prosperous Era of Longwan

After telling Yan Shifan about the changes in the Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue, Yan Song suddenly asked Yan Shifan in a very harsh tone: "Did you secretly instigate the suspension of salary in Prince Yu's Mansion?"

Yan Song once asked Yan Shifan about that incident, but after he denied it, Yan Song was relieved. He thought it was a test for Emperor Jiajing against Prince Yu.

He was happy to see the success. King Yu could not handle the household department and lost points with Emperor Jiajing.

Yan Song was a Jinshi in the 18th year of Hongzhi's reign. Speaking of which, he had experienced three dynasties and had a profound understanding of people and things.

At the beginning of the dispute between King Yu and King Jing, he wanted to completely jump out of it, treat the two kings equally and not get involved.

But his son got angry with King Jing, and the two began to have contact.

Just when Yan Song wanted to stop the contact between the two families, when he was alone with Emperor Jiajing, he was hinted by the emperor to hang out with King Jing more.

Yan Song didn't know about the ancestral system of the Ming Dynasty. According to the system established by Zhu Yuanzhang, King Yu had an absolute advantage. As long as he made no mistakes, the throne would definitely belong to him.

So if he had to choose between King Yu and King Jing, of course he would choose King Yu and definitely not King Jing. But after Emperor Jiajing's hint, he had to follow His Majesty's will whether he wanted to or not. .

It can be said that the Yan family would be tied to King Jing's chariot because the initiator was Emperor Jiajing and not anyone else. Otherwise, no matter how smart Yan Shifan was, he would never dare to disobey his father Yan Song's orders.

Yan Song no longer prevented him from interacting with King Jing, and naturally the relationship between the two families quickly became closer. In the eyes of the outside world, the Yan family turned to King Jing and fully supported him in his fight for the throne.

However, this sign surprised other members of the Yan Party and they couldn't figure out the reason behind it.

In fact, on the night when Yan Song got the hint from Emperor Jiajing, he had a secret exchange with Yan Shifan. He wanted to know why his son could guess Emperor Jiajing's thoughts.

Yes, Yan Song understood after this conversation with the emperor that Yan Shifan should have guessed the emperor's intentions, so he dated King Jing.

The reason why Yan Shifan saw through all this was very simple. In fact, it was what Yan Song thought. Prince Yu should inherit Dabao, as long as Prince Yu did not make serious mistakes before that.

The Yan family is currently the most influential force in the court. Emperor Jiajing definitely does not want the Yan family to fall to Prince Yu's palace. To put it mildly, he may be ousted from imperial power because of this.

As for his association with Prince Jing's Mansion, the reason is actually very simple, that is, the Yan family may become the touchstone for Emperor Jiajing to test Prince Yu.

If King Yu performs poorly in the fight with the Yan family, his inheritance rights may be lost, allowing King Jing to succeed in ascending to the throne.

Although the chance of this is very slim.

For the sake of Prince Yu, Emperor Jiajing carefully selected Gao Gong as his assistant from the Hanlin Academy because Gao Gong and Prince Yu had complementary personalities.

King Yu is weak and shy, while Gao Gong is strong but able to judge the situation and know how to advance or retreat.

In fact, the ministers of Qian Zhuan are all the confidants who will be reused when the new emperor ascends the throne. This is also the reason why the errands of Zhan Shifu were fiercely fought over by the adults of the Hanlin Academy in the past.

However, this sudden change of personnel in the Ministry of Revenue reminded Yan Song of Yan Shifan's analysis of him. Thinking of the previous incident of the Ministry of Revenue withholding King Yu's salary and the annual gift, Yan Song had a new judgment.

I'm afraid this was done deliberately by Yan Shifan, who was relying on Emperor Jiajing to temper King Yu.

Since Emperor Jiajing is going to do a trial, Yan Shifan is naturally not afraid of making things worse. As long as it does not endanger Prince Yu's personal safety, it should be within the range that Emperor Jiajing can tolerate.

Others may not dare, but Yan Song is familiar with his son's courage. Now that Emperor Jiajing has moved the Ministry of Household Affairs, he still lets Jia Yingchun, a member of Prince Yu's Palace, serve as the Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs. The meaning is self-evident, and it is to vent people's anger.

It's just that at this time, although Yan Shifan didn't show panic, his face did become ugly.

He already understood what Emperor Jiajing meant. The few people leaning towards him over there might have to move their positions, otherwise life would be difficult.

But without the control of the Ministry of Accounts, how will I get my money in the future?

There is only so much money in the household department, and every government office wants money. It makes a big difference to whom it is given first and who it is given later.

In fact, Yan Shifan was not a fool. Since he knew Emperor Jiajing's intentions, how could he sit still and wait for death.

Let King Yu come to power to deal with him in the future?

No way, he's not that stupid.

But at this stage, the only thing he can do is to help King Jing stay in the capital. He must keep delaying it as long as possible. He must not let King Jing leave the capital and become a vassal.

Yan Shifan was still deeply impressed by the fact that his father took an elixir that Emperor Jiajing took daily and lay in bed for several days, almost dying.

But what about the emperor?

After taking those pills, I am still alive and kicking every day.

Yan Shifan naturally asked many people and came to the conclusion that Emperor Jiajing's body was not as good as it looked on the outside. All the erysipelas was accumulated in the body, but it was hard to say when it would break out.

Now that Xungui is in charge of city defense in the capital, and Lu Bing and Huang Jin are in charge of Jinyiwei and Dongchang respectively, he naturally doesn't dare to have other ideas.

But as long as the time is delayed until Emperor Jiajing's erysipelas attacks, he will have more room to operate. After all, his father is still the chief minister of the cabinet.

At the critical moment of the transfer of imperial power, the power of speech is very important.

At the very least, the throne announcement should be drafted by cabinet ministers.

Yan Shifan was not worried about Emperor Jiajing's arrangements, he was just worried that it would be difficult to move money from the Ministry of Household Affairs in the future, and Yan Song was naturally not concerned about this, but about the future of the Yan family.

Yan Shifan didn't dare to say some things to his father, after all, the matter was a bit involved.

Today, when his father asked about it again, Yan Shifan knew that he might not be able to hide it, but he still couldn't admit it.

"No, I told you the truth when you asked me before. This was absolutely not the case."

Yan Shifan said so emphatically at this time that he almost swore to the sky to deny any involvement in this matter.

Yan Shifan's reaction was actually expected by Yan Song, but it was no longer important. He already had the answer in his heart.

If it was arranged by Emperor Jiajing, there was no need for him to suddenly make such an arrangement today.

Shaking his head, Yan Song looked at Yan Shifan and said: "I'm afraid my father won't be in this position for long. It could be as short as three to five years. Maybe it's time to give up his position. You can take care of yourself. You need so many yellow and white things." What things do, life will not bring them, death will not take them away."

At this time, Yan Shifan bent down to receive the instruction, but his head was lowered and his mouth was curled.

If he hadn't received the money, how would the family's expenses have come from? The enjoyment life of my parents would have been greatly reduced, and they would not be able to live as exquisitely as they do now.

As for the calligraphy and painting works that Yan Song liked, some were sent by officials below to please his father and son, but some were bought with money.

Of course, for any calligraphy and painting that they like, someone will naturally redeem it. If they are not willing to sell it, they will buy it by force. They will eventually take it back to the house.

At this time, Xu Jie from the cabinet had already received the message from Yan Song. After knowing these things, although he was very surprised, he did not dare to neglect at all. He immediately drafted the decree and sent someone to the Supervisor of Ceremonies for approval. Then send six subjects.

The palace has already issued a driving notice to the Sixth Section, and after it was stamped, it was sent to Fusi, Jinyiwei North Town. Even if it was getting dark, Tiqi would be dispatched to Xuanda to collect people, and would not delay for a moment.

As large groups of Tiqi emerged from the gate of Fusi in Beizhen, the news that Emperor Jiajing issued an order to arrest Yang Shun, the governor of Xuan Dynasty, and that Lu Kai, the patrol censor of Xuanfu, returned to the capital, spread rapidly in the official circles of the capital.

But only a few people know that as Tiqi was dispatched to the Xuanfu, the Minister of Hubu, now it should be said that the former Shangshu of Hubu, Fang Rui, was transferred to Nanjing to take up a post. The new Shangshu of Hubu was Jia Yingchun, who had just arrived in the capital from Nanjing.

And he was not the worst off, because Xu Lun, the Minister of the Ministry of War, was directly dismissed from his post. Now the Ministry of War errands are temporarily handled by the Minister of War, and Jiang Dong even set out overnight to Xuanda University to take over the rights vacated by Yang Shunkong.

That night, the restaurants and tea shops in Dafang City were doing brisk business, and people kept coming in and out. Without exception, most of them were officials in Beijing.

There was no warning about the sudden reshuffle of power, which naturally made everyone very curious.

However, except for the eunuchs around Emperor Jiajing, very few people knew the details of the matter, and naturally no one thought of Wei Guangde's role as a promoter.

However, during their discussion, Jin Yiwei's name was mentioned repeatedly.

Just as Yan Song thought at the beginning, the only one with the ability to inform Emperor Jiajing was the governor of the mainland.

At this time, Wei Guangde had arrived not far from Baoan Prefecture, and there were still two days to go.

On the one hand, he sent two people to contact Ma Fang, and on the other hand, he sent two teams to search for the official escorting Shen Xiang between Huailai County and Baoan Prefecture.

Of course he didn't intend to rob anyone. Zhang Ji's bad idea must not be used.

But since he had chosen to save people, he naturally had to take action.

In Wei Guangde's plan, he only needs to delay Shen Xiang's arrival in Baoan Prefecture. He has already handed in his memorial. According to Wei Guangde's analysis of Emperor Jiajing's character, the dead will not attract his attention, but once the border town becomes unstable, , he will use thunderous means, including but not limited to substitution, using people he trusts, and even possibly transferring back Governor Yang Boyang who was just re-elected as Governor of Ji Town last year.

As long as Governor Xuanda is replaced, Shen Xiang's life will be saved.

Of course, the premise is that the newly appointed Governor Xuanda is not Yan Song.

However, with Emperor Jiajing's shrewdness, he probably would not continue to arrange for Yan Song's people.

At this time, Wei Guangde and about ten people stopped at the side of the official road to wait for news. As for if Shen Xiang had been sent to Baoanzhou City, then he could only mourn in silence. This was a matter of life and death.

More than a dozen other people were sent out by Wei Guangde to find someone. As for how to delay, Wei Guangde also had a plan in mind, which was to drug him.

The medicine he took while pretending to be sick was so powerful that it kept him in bed for several days.

Wei Guangde planned to repeat his old trick, and before leaving Yongning, he asked a doctor in the city to prescribe a medicine. Although it would not be as severe as Wei Guangde's before, it would cause vomiting and diarrhea for a few days, and then he would gradually get better.

As long as they were slowed down, Wei Guangde would have achieved his goal.

While waiting for the news, Wei Guangde felt that he was too busy. If he had ignored this mess, he would be able to catch up with Tang Shunzhi's team in Jizhen now.

The key is that his coming to Xuan Mansion cannot be exposed yet. He has no identity now.

The person who contacted Ma Fang came back first. Since there was a specific station, it was easy to find. Ma Fang also came with the escort.

Ma Fang is not much different now from the year before. Although his official position has been promoted from guerrilla to deputy general soldier in more than a year, he still leads his troops to fight fiercely with the Tatars at the border.

Last year, the Anda Khan led his troops to attack Datong. As the deputy commander-in-chief of the Xuanfu, he commanded the Xuanfu army to carry out rescue operations and fought several fierce battles with the Anda troops around Datong City.

However, at his current official position, it is not easy to take credit and continue to be promoted. It is really a carrot and a pit. He cannot be promoted until the people above him leave.

However, Ma Fang seemed to be very satisfied with his current status. When he saw Wei Guangde coming all the way, he dismounted his horse and hurried over to salute.

After seeing the gift, Ma Fang still looked puzzled and asked Wei Guangde why he came to Xuan Mansion, "Sir, I read the Di newspaper. It said that you visited Jizhen with Mr. Tang. I was scared when I received your letter. A jump.

You shouldn't be here. "

Although Ma Fang was a military commander, he was not a rough man, so he naturally guessed that Wei Guangde had no identity when he came to Xuan Mansion.

No matter whether your official position is big or small, as long as there is no reasonable reason for going to a place, it is the reason for official criticism. What's more, Wei Guangde has the errand of inspecting Jizhen, but he went to Jizhen.

"You don't have to worry about this. Although not many people know about it, they will never say anything about it."

Wei Guangde shook his head and said: "Since Yang Shun was at Xuanda University, the border towns and the Tatars have been fighting. Are there really dozens of military forts that have been breached?"

"Wanquan's left and right guards are pretty good. If the Tatars dare to come, I will fight them back. The main reason is that the losses on Xuanfu's side are a bit heavy."

Ma Fang replied.

"Relying on the military fortress, how could the losses be so great?"

Wei Guangde was still a little puzzled. The Mongols were not good at attacking cities. The military fortresses on the border all had walls built. Although they were not very tall, they were not easy to climb, let alone attack.

"The reasons are quite complicated."

Ma Fang said a little dejectedly: "There is the element of returning people. Most of them are White Lotus believers, so those who sneak into the fort often become insiders when the Tatars attack the fort."

When he heard the word "walking back," Wei Guangde naturally knew what it was.

"Those who return to me will live in peace in China forever, and those who carry me will flee outside the Great Wall." This is an edict issued by Zhu Yuanzhang, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, who actively recruited those outside the Great Wall to migrate to the Central Plains in order to stabilize the border.

Of course, Zhu Yuanzhang's main targets were the Mongols, and he used this to build a powerful cavalry.

The people who returned home can generally be divided into two categories, namely those who actively left and those who left passively. Among the people who took the initiative, many defected to the outside of the Great Wall in order to find a new way out because their lives could no longer be maintained. They accounted for the absolute majority. Some of them took the initiative to flee because of their religious beliefs. They are naturally White Lotus believers.

In addition, there is a more special group, the spies sent by Jin Yiwei.

Those who passively went there were mainly Han Chinese who were kidnapped by the Tatars during the war and some deserters who wanted to survive and surrendered to the enemy.