The Prosperous Era of Longwan

On the second day after returning to Beijing, he was summoned by Emperor Jiajing. Wei Guangde did not expect to be so eager.

Well, due to the influence of later generations, he felt that no matter how corrupt the Ming army was, he should not be surprised.

In fact, during this trip to Ji Town, Wei Guangde saw that the life of the border guards seemed to be slightly better than that of the guards in the mainland, especially those in the south of the Yangtze River. However, they had to go to the battlefield from time to time and could lose their lives at any time. .

Wei Guangde was not sure whether the generals in the north were more conscientious than the generals in the south, but what was certain was that if Father Wei had really been sent to rescue the capital, the Jiujiang Guards at that time would have been afraid that they would be killed by his troops at the first glance. The cavalry was swamped.

After leaving Xiyuan, both Tang Shunzhi and Wei Guangde kept silent to the summons in Xiyuan. After exiting the gate of Xiyuan, they bowed their hands to each other, got into a sedan and left the place, and returned to their respective homes.

Emperor Jiajing did not forget to give two people a holiday. This was also the usual practice. This time, each person had ten days of rest, and then went to their respective yamen to order their meal after ten days.

After going home to rest for two days, Wei Guangde asked Zhang Ji to collect gifts early in the morning. Naturally, he wanted to prepare for a visit to Yan Ge's mansion today.

The five-hundred-year-old wild ginseng can only be found in rare items. The ordinary yellow and white items are actually not in the eyes of Mr. Yan Ge. Perhaps only Mr. Yan Shifan, who is known as the genius of the Ming Dynasty, likes it.

Zhang Ji also took out some of the sweet peppers that Wei Guangde had collected from Nanjing and put them into the gift list, but Wei Guangde deleted them.

He doesn't have much stock of peppers anymore.

It is more of an ornamental plant, which determines that it will not be planted too much in the mansions of Nanjing's Duke Gonghou and other powerful people.

However, after Wei Guangde put the pepper back into the dish, his family couldn't eat it at first. It was only after eating it a few times that they gradually accepted the spiciness of the pepper.

Now, the Wei family's farm near Jiujiang Prefecture has begun to experiment with pepper planting, using more than ten acres of land at one time.

Now Wei Guangde is reluctant to take out the peppers and give them away, and secondly, others won’t be able to use them, which is a shameful waste.

After lunch and resting in the backyard for a while, Wei Guangde went out to Shi Shiran and got in the car to go to Yan Mansion.

Under normal circumstances, before officials visit each other, they must first send a greeting note to each other's house, and then wait for the other party's reply. That is, they can only come to the door after confirming the visit time.

However, who said that Wei Guangde and Mr. Yan Ge were fellow villagers?

In the past few times, Wei Guangde followed these rules and was strict, and then he was ridiculed by Yan Shifan for a long time, and he didn't stop until he stopped sending greeting cards.

When going to Yan's Mansion today, Wei Guangde naturally followed his usual practice and just prepared gifts and went directly there.

Going through the house as usual, you can tell from the reception on the other side whether Yan's attitude towards him has changed, and from this you can also deduce whether there will be any actions against him in the future.

Wei Guangde still values ​​his own life very much.

Unexpectedly, when Wei Guangde's carriage stopped outside the side entrance of Yan's Mansion, the concierge of Yan's Mansion had already ran out to greet him.

This is also their usual routine. When a familiar car arrives, one side should directly announce it inside, and the other side should come out to greet the distinguished guests, so that they can feel the courtesy of Yan Mansion to them, and then when they are happy, they will shake their hands. The purse flew out.

The seventh-rank official in front of the prime minister's door seems to be only half a rank lower than Wei Guangde, the concierge of the Yan Mansion.

Wei Guangde got off the carriage, threw a purse over to him, then smiled and cupped his hands at the man and said, "Which master in the house is here?"

"So that Mr. Wei can know that both gentlemen are currently busy with official duties in the cabinet and are neither at home."

The concierge smiled happily when he received the red envelope Wei Guangde threw to him, and quickly put it into his arms.

Of course, he did not get this bag of silver alone. In the end, it was shared equally by the concierge of this door.

The family rules in Yan's Mansion are strict. Although there are no specific rules for the concierge to receive red envelopes, the fact that the master doesn't say it doesn't mean that the servants can do whatever they want.

If the servants make trouble in front of the guests because of something as trivial as a red envelope, it will be a disgrace to the Yan family.

Wei Guangde nodded and sighed: "The Prime Minister and his family are dedicated to state affairs and dedicated themselves to the court. They are truly role models for our generation. Guangde feels inferior."

The concierge had already bowed to invite Wei Guangde to come in. Naturally, Wei Guangde would not hang around in front of someone else's door. He raised his legs and walked up the steps and walked inside. Only Zhang Ji was waiting behind him.

As for the carriage and guards, the Yan family will not miss them.

There is a whole row of horse-tying posts on one side outside, which can park dozens of carriages or sedans at the same time. The Yan Mansion has special personnel to look after it. As for the coachman and guards, there will also be someone to greet them for tea, and there will be a sumptuous meal at meal time.

All the cards that a Prime Minister's Mansion should have are available in Yan's Mansion.

There is no change in the entrance section.

However, Wei Guangde did not expect that the servants of the Yan Mansion would know about his affairs. Otherwise, the rumor that he had written a memorial for the Xuan Mansion would have spread in the capital long ago.

Wei Guangde walked in with a smile on his face. Before he reached the second door, Yan Xin, the second housekeeper of the Yan Mansion, had already walked out of the door to greet him.

"Forgive me for being late."

Yan Xin and Wei Guangde are also old acquaintances. Yan Nian, the chief steward of the Yan Mansion, is trusted by Yan Song and Yan Shifan. However, he is a bit old, so ordinary guests will not come out to receive guests like Wei Guangde. He only interacts with Yan Song. and Yan Shifan and his son.

The third housekeeper, Yan Dong, is unruly and arrogant. Even when receiving fellow Jiangxi people like Wei Guangde, he sometimes has to act like the third housekeeper of Yan's house, so naturally he cannot be sent out to receive distinguished guests.

Wei Guangde once heard someone from Yan's Mansion say privately that two senior officials from the Metropolitan Procuratorate came to Yan's Mansion to ask for a calligraphy painting from Yan's chief assistant. Yan Song was not around, so Yan Dong, the third steward, asked them to wait outside the pavilion. For more than an hour.

It was cold winter, and the two high-ranking officials in the court were almost frozen there. It was the butler Yan Nian who passed by and found out, so he sent someone to help the two adults into the house and arranged for someone to bring hot food to them. Tea.

So of course the current Yan Mansion is made by the chief steward, Yan Nian, but Yan Xin is actually in charge of things in the manor, and Yan Dong is mainly responsible for things outside the manor.

He and Yan Xin entered a flower hall, and Yan Xin arranged for tea and cakes to be served, and he sat under Wei Guangde to accompany the Prime Minister.

"Have there been a lot of affairs between North Korea and China recently?"

Wei Guangde asked a little puzzled. In the past, Master Yan would only follow Yan Chief Assistant to the cabinet office in the morning, and usually sneak out to do his own business in the afternoon.

But today the concierge said that the eldest son had not come back and was still working in the cabinet, which was a bit strange.

"Hi, Mr. Wei, you are a noble person and forget things a lot."

Yan Xin glanced at Wei Guangde, and then said slowly: "You just came back from Jizhen, and I have read the contents of the memorial. It is so shocking, is it not a big deal?

In the past two days, Liubu Hall officials have been recruited to the cabinet every day to discuss follow-up matters. I heard that Long live the Lord was very anxious after seeing it, saying that Ji Town was like this, what were the other military towns in Jiubian like?

I heard that people from the Ministry of War will be arranged to inspect other military towns together with the Censor of the Imperial Procuratorate and the Sixth Section. This time, we need to conduct a detailed inspection to get the same result as your trip to Ji Town. We want to know the vacancies in various military towns. , only by grasping the truth can we deal with it. "

"Oh, that's how it is."

Wei Guangde nodded. Most of the military households in Ji Town were on the run. There was also a serious shortage of sergeants. The situation in other military towns would only get worse.

Although Ma Fang never mentioned this matter to him, it was probably because the scope of the matter was too wide, and most people would not dare to lift this layer of window paper unless the message came from above.

"Other military towns will send court ministers to investigate. The matter in Ji Town is not over just yet. It is said that the Ministry of Household Affairs is taking the lead, and jointly with people from the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the Ministry of War, they are going to conduct an inventory of the grain and wages they have falsely received over the years. Those money and grains are I guess I can’t even sleep well, haha.”

Yan Xin continued.

"Is the impact so big? I thought it was just a scolding. No one has time to make mistakes."

When Wei Guangde heard what Yan Xin said, he immediately knew that this time the court was not just targeting the generals, but also the doctors and chiefs who were in charge of money and food, as well as the civil servants from the military and military departments. Take responsibility.

In fact, he and Tang Shunzhi knew from the beginning that many people would be unlucky. After all, there were too many vacancies, but in the past, military generals were responsible for such things.

He lied about the number of sergeants and defrauded the money and grain officials of extra money and grain. He was greedy, but this time he obviously wanted to take a heavy hand and beat the border ministers, lest they think that the sky is high and the emperor is far away, so they can do whatever they want in the local area.

"It's really hard work for Mr. Chief Assistant with so many personnel arrangements."

Wei Guangde said with emotion, "Those border town officials are not worried at all. They can't do their jobs well, so they don't have to worry about the chief minister who is more than 70 years old and is still running around to worry about world affairs."

"Who says it's not the case? I don't know who will be the governor of Ji Town. I guess the gentlemen will be back very late today. I heard from the eldest son yesterday that today we will determine the candidate for the governor of Ji Town."

Yan Xin answered with a smile.

"Jizhen? Didn't Governor Yang Boyang come to Jizhen? The things discovered now have nothing to do with him. Should he also be dismissed?"

After Wei Guangde heard Yan Xin's words, he couldn't help but trembled in his heart. This involved innocent people.

It has only been more than a year since Yang Bo was transferred to Jizhen from the post of governor of Xuanda. It was because of the discovery of serious problems that Wei Guangde and his team conducted this inspection. Moreover, Yang Bo can be regarded as a Jian in the emperor's heart because of his past achievements. Logically speaking, It is said that he should not be punished for this.

"Mr. Wei has had a different idea. It's not a dismissal, but it may be a good thing."

However, Yan Xin smiled and shook his head and said: "Last time, His Majesty punished Xu Lun, the Minister of the Ministry of War, because of the matter of Xuanda. Now the post of Minister of the Ministry of War is still vacant. Naturally, someone needs to take over. Someone proposed that Yang Bo be promoted to the Minister of the Ministry of War. .”

When Yan Xin said this, he stared at Wei Guangde without blinking, observing the subtle changes in the expression on his face.

Wei Guangde felt it. Although Yan Xin chatted with him as usual and looked the same as before, those eyes were always observing him. It was obvious that Yan Xin knew much more than other people in the Yan Mansion.

Yang Bo should not be from the same family as the Yan family. At this time, Yan Xin mentioned in front of him that Yang Bo might be promoted to the post of Minister of the Ministry of War. He seemed to be tricking himself to see if he was secretly connected with Yang Bo.

Yes, after all, I visited Xuanda when Yang Bo was the governor of Xuanda, and inspected Jizhen when he was the governor of Jizhen, and found a big mess in the border town. The Yan family would not suspect that they were secretly communicating with Yang Bo.

Of course, Wei Guangde was just thinking about these things in his mind.

"Besides Governor Yang, are there any other candidates?"

Wei Guangde did not ask whether Yang Bo could be promoted to the position of Minister of War, but asked other candidates.

"There must be candidates, but I don't know who they are."

Yan Xin laughed loudly.

"Actually, the official position is a carrot and a pit. If Governor Yang is removed, you still have to find someone to be the Governor of Ji Town. Everyone has the opportunity to be moved, which is a good thing, haha."

Wei Guangde laughed in agreement, looking at Yan Xin with a wink.

"Haha. Mr. Wei, what's your look like, haha"

Yan Xin knew what Wei Guangde meant. It didn't mean that moving Yang Bo would cause a series of personnel changes. From top to bottom, many people's official positions would change. It all depends on whether you have found the right person.

Yan Xin also helped Yan Shifan with the pawnshop business on weekdays. He had mentioned it when chatting with Wei Guangde in the past. In fact, this was no longer a secret in the capital.

He knew the meaning of Wei Guangde's eyes, which was that his pawnshop business was going to be booming again.

Yes, whether you are a Beijing official or a foreign minister, knowing that you have such a good position, you will naturally strive for it with all your strength.

Mr. Yan Shifan is very moral when it comes to accepting money to do things. Once you receive the money, you have to do it. If you can't do it, you won't accept the money.

It is conceivable that as long as the news spreads, those officials who are interested in furthering their official careers will definitely get on the pole and send money here. Even if they cannot make any benefits from this personnel change, it will be good to have a relationship with the Yan family.

Sure enough, it was already late when the Yan family and his son returned home, and Wei Guangde was only called over to chat for a few words before serving tea to see off the guests.

However, even though they had not been together for long, Wei Guangde still saw a hint of fatigue on their faces. Such a look was often seen on Yan Song, but it was the first time he saw it on Yan Shifan.

Two days later, the exact news about the position of Minister of the Ministry of War also quickly spread among the officials in the capital. Yang Bo was changed to Minister of the Ministry of War, and Wang Yan was appointed governor of Jizhen.

When Wei Guangde heard the news, he thought about the meaning of Yan Xin's words that day and the rare expression on Yan Shifan's face. There was probably a fierce debate in the cabinet that day over the selection of the Secretary of the Ministry of War and the governor of Jizhen, but The Yan family did not achieve their goal.

And the news coming out now also shows that the final result of the cabinet discussion was that the ministerial meeting was submitted to Emperor Jiajing. Emperor Jiajing did not choose someone supported by the Yan Party and others, but chose a result they did not like.

Yang Bo was appointed Minister of War. In fact, this was not controversial. Yan Shifan's expression at that time was probably caused by his failure in the governorship of Jizhen.

Wang Yan's courtesy name was Minying and his name was Sizhi. In the 20th year of Jiajing's reign, he was a Jinshi, awarded the rank of traveler, and moved to the position of supervisory censor. Since then, he has been promoted within the Imperial Procuratorate system and served successively as the right censor of Qiandu and the right deputy censor of the capital. Governor of Datong.

In the Metropolitan Procuratorate these days, there are several censors who have never impeached Yan Song. As long as the words are not too fierce, the Yan family will not take them seriously. Only those who impeach are meaningful and pose a threat to the Yan family will be tabooed. hatred.

After this promotion, Wang Yan was appointed as the right minister of the Ministry of War and the governor of Ji Liao, which naturally made the Yan family unhappy.