The Prosperous Era of Longwan

Time passes quickly, autumn turns to winter in a blink of an eye, and the weather becomes colder and colder.

The north wind that started last night brought snowflakes flying all over the sky this morning, like feathers and jade chips, falling gently. This was the first snow to fall in the capital in the 39th year of Jiajing.

It was already evening, and although the snow had stopped, the outdoor temperature seemed even colder. Pedestrians on the street were walking quickly in tight clothes, not wanting to stay outside for a moment. In a private room of a restaurant in the capital, Two red charcoal pots radiated warmth to the surroundings, and a group of people were sitting together, drinking warm wine and enjoying delicious food.

"Shandai, the thing you entrusted has been accomplished. In just these two days, the Ministry of War will issue an official document and transfer Ma Fang to Jizhen to serve as the deputy commander-in-chief."

Gao Gong picked up the vegetables with chopsticks and said to the young man next to him with a smile.

"Thank you, brother Suqing, and thank you, uncle, for your help. I would like to raise a toast to both of you, Ma Fang."

As he spoke, the young man picked up the wine glass in front of him and stretched it out.

"Dangdang."

Amidst the crisp sound of two wine glasses clashing, Wei Guangde, Gao Gong, and Zhang Juzheng drank the wine together.

Just as Wei Guangde guessed, after Anda Khan's army withdrew from Xuanfu, Ma Fang discovered that Anda Khan seemed to have plans to change his target. Mongolian horse exploration activities occurred more in Shaanxi and Jizhen, and paid less attention to Shanxi.

After several communications with Wei Guangde, Ma Fang made up his mind to transfer from Xuanda and immediately look for a prince. Without war, there would be no chance. Jizhen became his target and guarded the gate for the emperor.

Wei Guangde had a good idea, but he couldn't find a place to put it into practice. Naturally, he had to ask Gao Gong for help, and he could only rely on the power of Prince Yu's Palace to handle this matter.

So far, although his group has been in the officialdom for many years, their qualifications are just that. They can bully and impeach people, but they are unable to control the promotion of an official. After all, the official ranks are very low, and they are not even in the ministry. When dealing with people, you have to act based on their faces.

"Shandai, you brought Ma Fang to Jizhen. Have you communicated with him? According to you, it seems safe to stay in Xuanfu now."

A white-faced man with no beard next to him interjected and asked.

"Eunuch Li, Ma Fang, this person, suffered a lot because of the Tatars breaking through and looting, so now he doesn't care about anything except fighting the Tatars.

I also asked him about this matter, that is, he wanted to go to Ji Town. During this period of time, many traces of Tatars exploring horses have been reported in Ji Town. It is estimated that Anda Khan should be in Ji Town in the coming year. Take action. "

When Wei Guangde faced the question from the manager of Prince Yu's Mansion, he did not dare to neglect. He immediately put down his wine glass and said. After speaking, he picked up the wine jug next to him and filled it for Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng, and then his own wine glass.

"That Ma Fang is quite famous among the Tatars now. The Tatars call him 'Master Ma', haha."

Zhang Juzheng caressed his beautiful beard and said with a smile.

Zhang Juzheng is still very recognizable in the Ming Dynasty officialdom. He is quite good-looking in person, which makes it easy for people to feel close to him. His carefully trimmed beard adds a sense of calmness.

"I've also heard people say, haha, the Tatars only have that little vision. I have countless elite soldiers and generals in the Ming Dynasty. Among the generals in the northwest, whoever is weak is much stronger than Ma Fang."

Then Li Fang spoke again.

Wei Guangde could only smile slightly awkwardly at Li Fang's words, but Gao Gong still replied impartially, "Ma Fang earned his reputation by his desperate fighting style. There may be generals who can fight better than him. But if you really want to fight him, you may not be able to win against him.

I remember when His Majesty heard about Ma Fang's achievements, he said, "I am no braver than Ma Fang." I have seen this in my daily life notes, and there is no way it is false. "

"I've seen this before. They say that civil servants don't love money, and if military generals don't fear death, the world will be peaceful. It's fair to say that Ma Fang is the 'most powerful general in the world'."

Zhang Juzheng nodded in agreement.

At this time, Li Fang was a little embarrassed, so he could only laugh twice.

If others criticized him like this, he might still be unhappy, but with his head held high, it was hard for him to say anything.

No matter what, Eunuch Li is the chief steward in front of Prince Yu. Don't you want to lose face?

But when it comes to Gao Gong, King Yu still respects him as a teacher. He still respects him from the bottom of his heart and cannot offend him.

"By the way, Eunuch Li, have there been any abnormalities in the people around His Highness recently?"

In order to resolve the embarrassment, Wei Guangde raised another topic.

"Hi, Mr. Wei, you always ask me about this every time you see me, haha," Li Fang replied with a smile.

"Haha, people do care."

Gao Gong spent a lot of time with them, so he naturally knew that Wei Guangde would ask about this matter when he saw Li Fang in the past two months, so he was not surprised.

"It's good to be cautious."

Zhang Juzheng also knew about this. After all, it was not once or twice that several people sat at a table. He also knew something about Wei Guangde's constant concern about King Yu's diet.

In fact, let alone Prince Yu, anyone who is close to the palace is a lot more cautious.

Lu Bing's story has not spread, and few people know about it, but everyone who needs to know is known. At least Zhang Juzheng knows that his teacher Xu Jie now has a dedicated person in charge of the food, and has gone through many inspections. Dare to drink with confidence.

"Our family knows how powerful he is. We specifically asked to see Eunuch Huang before. Dongchang has been keeping an eye on this matter. Don't worry, I will personally be guarding His Highness. I don't dare to make any mistakes."

Li Fang smiled and said, speaking of His Highness, Li Fang seemed to have just remembered it, and suddenly said to Gao Gong: "Mr. Gao, Your Highness is still concerned about one thing. Is there really nothing that can be done about the Ministry of Works?"

Everyone knew the meaning of Li Fang's words, which was nothing more than what he had said before, to renovate Prince Shou's Mansion as soon as possible. However, two months had passed, and it was said that the construction there was still intermittent.

The project of King Jing's Mansion was well discussed by the Ministry of Industry in the capital during the ministry meeting. However, when it came to the actual implementation, there were many pushbacks and obstacles, and many excuses were found to delay the construction period.

Although King Jing has decided on the vassal affairs, after all, King Jing has not left the capital and is still attached to the capital. This is not a good sign.

King Yu is not the only one who is worried about this matter. In fact, officials from King Yu's group are more or less complaining about this. Everyone knows where the matter is stuck, but they are all helpless.

"Did Mr. Wu agree?"

Wei Guangde looked at Gao Gong at this time and asked.

Now Gao Gong has been promoted again. Although he is still the Minister of Taichang Temple, he now has an additional official position, that is, the right minister of the Ministry of Rites. Although his rank has not changed, everyone with a discerning eye knows that he has already taken a higher position. Entering the pavilion is the brightest road.

Now we just have to work hard to get the qualifications. When Emperor Jiajing asks the cabinet to replace someone one day, Gao Gong is the well-deserved first candidate.

Wei Guangde is naturally very jealous of this, but he has no choice. Until now, he has not been able to get a very important position, that is, bachelor of the Hanlin Academy.

If he wants to embark on that road, Wei Guangde does not expect to have any additional official titles on his body. He just hopes to get an official position as a Hanlin bachelor, even if it is a bachelor's degree without promotion.

Once you have the status of a bachelor and then become an official in the court, you will have the opportunity to climb up the road to the sky.

However, it seems that his good luck has run out. Wei Guangde, who was eagerly waiting to be rewarded for his meritorious service, seemed to have been forgotten due to the unexpected changes in Datong in the previous battle.

Gao Gong was rewarded, but he got nothing.

"I went to Mr. Wu twice. He must have been shaken. Maybe I should wait two days before taking action. I don't know. Anyway, after two days of climbing, if it is still not clear, I will go and have a look.

As Shandai said, this kind of urging the Ministry of Industry really cannot be done by our people, but it seems that we are concerned that His Highness cannot tolerate brotherhood. "

Gao Gong sighed before telling the truth.

After discovering that the Ministry of Industry was delaying the Prince Jing's Mansion project, Prince Yu's Mansion naturally couldn't tolerate it, but was stopped by Wei Guangde.

Move it with emotion and reason, let everyone understand that the most important thing at this time is to see the emperor's intention. After all, he is sending away a son. This departure will almost mean that heaven and earth are separated forever, and the emperor's emotions must be taken into consideration. good.

The next day, Wei Guangde entered the Hanlin Academy on time for his duty as usual. He had nothing to do, so he passed the time by reading some books in his own duty room, waiting for the official office to get off work.

I don't know what time it was, but Wei Guangde, who was reading, suddenly heard some movement and noise outside.

Putting down the book and looking back, Wei Guangde looked towards the door.

Not long after, the door was pushed open and Lu Bu walked in, with no expression on his face.

After saluting Wei Guangde, he said: "Master, someone from the palace wants you to present a poem to the West Garden."

"what reason?"

Wei Guangde asked curiously.

Emperor Jiajing had this habit. Whenever something happy happened, he would want to make a wedding ceremony or have someone make a eulogy.

In the past, Wei Guangde had also thought about compiling some good Qingci to make Emperor Jiajing happy, as a way to get promoted.

However, after staying in the Hanlin Academy, Wei Guangde still found that although many people in the Hanlin Academy were keen on writing Qingci to win the favor of Emperor Jiajing, more people seemed to be dismissive of it, and they didn't know whether it was because they couldn't do it. It's better to really oppose the emperor's preference.

Wei Guangde obviously belongs to the latter group. He can't compile any good Qing Ci, but he has read through some of the outstanding Qing Ci of the time. He just wants to use the method of writing eight-part essays in the past to compose a Qing Ci work, which is really a bit difficult. He did.

Well, since I can't write good Qingci, I can only give up the idea of ​​relying on Qingci to curry favor with the Jiajing Emperor. It's just a loss that I wanted to learn how to write Qingci and spent money to buy those Taoist classics.

"It snowed heavily yesterday. His Majesty said that he hoped that the snow would usher in a good harvest, and asked the adults to send their condolences in the hope of blessing the country with peace and prosperity in the coming year."

"What the hell?"

Wei Guangde blinked and stared at Lu Bu for a moment.

What time is it now? Winter has just begun. At this time, shouldn’t we hope that this year won’t be as cold as usual?

What auspicious snow heralds a good harvest?

If it snows heavily this year, I don’t know how the people down there will celebrate this New Year.

Speaking of which, Wei Guangde is actually quite envious of people like Yan Song, Xu Jie, Li Chunfang, and Yuan Wei. They are really quick in thinking, majestic in writing, and gorgeous in rhetoric. They are worthy of being classics.

Even Gao Gong also wrote Qing Ci to present to Emperor Jiajing. Wei Guangde was speechless when he saw Gao Gong's Qing Ci.

Wei Guangde carefully studied the Qing Ci written by those before him, and put down the book to make one of his own.

Sorry, it can't be done.

Therefore, Wei Guangde simply pretended to be indifferent to fame and fortune and did not write.

This time, Wei Guangde still planned to use the previous escape method and leave the Hanlin Academy first. In the past, he always left with the excuse of going to Zhan Shifu or the Metropolitan Procuratorate for business, but he still does the same today.

He stood up, gave Lu Bu a few instructions and left the duty room.

Not far after leaving the house, he saw Yuan Wei, a bachelor of study, coming out of another courtyard. At this time, he was walking forward with his head held high.

It's crazy enough.

However, Wei Guangde was very convinced by this man who was a little more crazy.

"The black turtle in Luoshui first presented auspiciousness, the yin number is nine, the yang number is nine, the number nine nine is eighty-one, the number is connected to the Tao, and the Tao is in line with the original Tianzun, Yicheng feels it.

The red phoenixes of Qishan are auspicious, with six male calls and six female calls, six and thirty-six sounds, which can be heard in the sky. He was born as the Emperor Jiajing and has a long life. "

This is a Qingci poem that was framed and hung in the palace by Emperor Jiajing. He obviously liked it very much, and the author is the former Yuan Wei Yuan.

In the Hanlin Academy, Wei Guangde only edited and edited, and was two grades lower than Yuan Wei. There was also a grade of attendant reader and attendant lecturer in between, and the higher level was bachelor's degree, so Wei Guangde immediately saluted Yuan Wei.

Yuan Wei was naturally happy that Emperor Jiajing wanted Qingci, but his happiness at the moment was not because Emperor Jiajing wanted Qingci.

The reason why Yuan Wei was happy, Wei Guangde had heard from Gao Gong, was that Yuan Wei was going to be promoted, and he would be promoted faster than him.

According to Gao Gong's words, Yuan Wei is probably another Qingci prime minister, because this time Yuan Wei came out of the Hanlin Academy to serve as an official, and his official position was Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of Personnel, which was still a position above him.

Also promoted from the Hanlin Academy with him was Guo Pu, a bachelor's degree scholar. It was said that he was appointed to be the right minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs. This was also a position that could be entered into the cabinet.

Yuan Wei quickly returned the salute after Wei Guangde saluted, appearing polite, but his excited expression still betrayed his mood at this time.

He should know that his position will be promoted soon, and the Ming court really has no secrets.

Following Yuan Wei, he walked to the front lobby. Not long after, he met Guo Pu. Both of them were moving out of the Hanlin Academy. They couldn't help but want to meet and chat for a while. Although they were competitors, they didn't show any respect for themselves. come out.

The Hanlin Academy was led by these two people, and soon a large group of people arrived in front. A young eunuch was waiting in the lobby.

After everyone arrived, the young eunuch conveyed Emperor Jiajing's oral instructions and asked Hanlin to write a speech.

However, what the little eunuch said at this time was slightly different from what Lu Bu had heard: it snowed heavily yesterday, and Emperor Jiajing had a telepathic reaction two days ago.

Zhu Banxian.

When Wei Guangde heard the little eunuch say these words, this word popped into his mind.