The Prosperous Era of Longwan

"I met Mr. Xu Ge, and he said that His Majesty summoned him and Mr. Yan Ge to talk about this matter. Your Majesty has already appointed Guo Pu as the Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs."

The news brought back by Li Fang was great. The results of the recommendation were Guo Pu, Zhan Shifu of Zhanshi Mansion, and Li Jikan, Minister of Rites of Nanjing. However, Emperor Jiajing had already decided that Guo Pu would succeed Ouyang Bijin.

Everyone in the room was silent.

Wei Guangde finally understood that Emperor Jiajing was actually tightening the power in his hands. From delegating power to Yan Song in the past, he was now tightening it and appointing officials who had written Qing Ci for him.

Naturally, they know what they relied on to have the official position they have today, and they will also work closely with Emperor Jiajing in the future. Perhaps this is Emperor Jiajing making some preliminary preparations for Prince Yu's ascension to the throne. He cannot allow powerful people to succeed during the succession of the throne. political power exists.

Yan Song, a once prominent figure, has finally reached the end of his political career and is about to come to an end.

Wei Guangde didn't know what other people thought, that's how he understood it.

In fact, it seems that people in the palace have already seen this, which is why Chen Ju named those people in the first place.

Thinking of Yan Song's conversation with him, Yan Shoufu should have expected this day.

Ouyang Bijin became an official, and Yan Song's power among the six ministries and nine ministers was completely destroyed, and this was just a thought of the emperor.

Look at Yan Song now, and Wei Zhongxian, who was scolded miserably in later generations. In fact, they are just pawns of the emperor, targets set up.

Wei Guangde was still thinking about this when he heard Li Fang say again: "There is one more thing. Mr. Xu Ge said that we should tell His Highness first."

"What's the matter?"

King Yu was not in a good mood at the moment. Hearing that Xu Jie had something to say, he asked casually.

"Mr. Xu Ge said that it has been decided that Tang Ruyi will enter the palace of Prince Yu, and he will issue an order to enter the palace in the next two days."

Li Fang replied hurriedly.

"Oh, I see."

King Yu nodded. The palace had known about this beforehand. Maybe the cabinet didn't know about it, so Xu Jie told Li Fang about it.

Yin Shizhen saw that King Yu was not very interested, so he said, "Tang Xiuzuan is the son of Tang Shangshu. You may also know who he is, so you should be more careful when talking and doing things in the palace in the future."

Zhang Juzheng and Wei Guangde naturally knew the meaning of Yin Shizhen's words. Wei Guangde did not know whether Tang Long was Yan Song's person. After all, Wei Guangde was still in Bengshan Fort and Niba at that time.

But everyone said so, and Wei Guangde shouldn't be too different after thinking about it. At least Tang Long and Yan Song still have a good relationship, and their friendship is deep even if they don't take refuge.

Where is Prince Yu's Mansion?

Why did Emperor Jiajing throw Tang Ruyi into Prince Yu's Mansion?

Doesn't Emperor Jiajing know about Tang Ruyi's situation?

No, it has spread in the court. There is no way the palace doesn't know about this, otherwise Dongchang will become a dawdle.

Wei Guangde felt that Emperor Jiajing must have known about this, and there must have been some purpose in sending the person to Prince Yu's Mansion.

But why do you want to add sand to Prince Yu's Mansion?

Wei Guangde was a little confused. Wasn't this making everyone in Prince Yu's house uncomfortable?

In the afternoon, Wei Guangde got on his carriage and wandered home. The carriage suddenly stopped halfway, and then he felt the front of the carriage tilting up the road.

It should be giving way to the car on the opposite side.

Wei Guangde thought in his mind that after waiting for a while, shouting came from the car window. It was the sound of the bearers carrying the sedan chair in unison.

Wei Guangde knew that he must have reached a place where the road was relatively narrow. The person on the opposite side should have a higher status than himself, so the carriage gave way.

After waiting for a while, the sedan bearer on the other side had passed by and the carriage started moving again. Only then did Wei Guangde ask: "Which mansion did you come from before?"

The coachman Li San replied at this time, "The sedan chair of Ouyang Shangshu, the official minister, so I gave way."

"Oh, I see."

Wei Guangde casually replied, "Just give in to Ouyang Bijin's sedan. He won't be able to stay in the capital for long."

Officials were required to return to their place of origin after becoming official. This was also a way for the Ming Dynasty to control the population of the capital.

Of course, there are also those who stay in the capital, but they need to have good reasons. For example, if their son is an official in the capital and he has no one to take care of him when he returns to his hometown, he can apply to stay in the capital.

Thinking about these things randomly in his mind, Wei Guangde suddenly felt a flash of inspiration, as if he had figured out Emperor Jiajing's thoughts.

What was on his mind was naturally the reason why Tang Ru bowed his head and entered Prince Yu's palace.

Of course, becoming an official has nothing to do with Tang Ruyi. He is only in his forties, so he is still far away from becoming an official.

Emperor Jiajing sent people related to the Yan family to Prince Yu's Mansion. Why?

This should also be paving the way for King Yu to rule in the future, or in other words, placing forces from all sides of the court around King Yu so that he can have an advance understanding of government affairs. Perhaps this is also a way of emperor education.

Let’s take a look at what was going on around King Yu before Tang Ruyi entered the palace. The Yuwang faction headed by Gao Gong quickly gathered around King Yu after entering the court and served King Yu. Naturally, the purpose was to serve King Yu after King Yu ascended the throne. After being able to achieve great success.

However, these people have also withstood the test. When King Jing was in Beijing, these people never left King Yu, and at least they were loyal.

Who else?

Xu Jie's power.

Prince Yu's Mansion was suppressed by Prince Jing's Mansion and had a hard time, while Xu Jie was suppressed by Yan Song in the cabinet and had a difficult time.

When two weak people came together, they were born to be rivals to Prince Jing's Mansion and the Yan Family.

As for the third force in the court, it was free between the two factions. Although it would be biased towards King Yu at certain times, it did not defect to him in the end.

It can be said that King Yu has never had much contact with strict officials, which is naturally not conducive to his future promotion and employment and balancing the government.

Now Emperor Jiajing has arranged officials from the Yan Clan into Prince Yu's Mansion, perhaps because he was worried that after Prince Yu came to power, he would listen to the instigation of their ministers who were hiding in the palace and get rid of the Yan Clan officials regardless of anything.

What will happen then? One party will be dominant and can have a unified voice but lack checks and balances, which is not good for the imperial power.

Let King Yu contact the strict officials while he is in the mansion, so that he can understand them. At least he will not listen to one side or the other side. At the very least, he will retain this force to balance the situation of the government.

As for why Wei Guangde thought of this, it was naturally because Ouyang Bijin, who had just passed by, was ordered to serve by Emperor Jiajing.

At this time, Wei Guangde already had a bold guess in his mind. It could be as short as half a year or as long as one year. Maybe Yan Song would follow in Ouyang Bijin's footsteps.

Once something goes wrong with Yan Song, the Yan clique's members will inevitably disperse. At that time, they will be in panic because of this, which is not good for maintaining the stability of the government.

Naturally, at this time, it makes sense that Emperor Jiajing would also start to take some actions, and letting Tang Ruyi enter Prince Yu's Mansion to serve as an official in the Prince's Mansion is one of the actions. Otherwise, with Prince Yu in his twenties, there would be no need. With so many lecturers teaching.

In fact, right now, there are still three people in Prince Yu's Mansion, Yin Shizhen, Zhang Juzheng and himself, who usually don't have much to talk about.

With Tang Ruyi by Wang Yu's side, other strict party officials would naturally feel more at ease, and they could slowly sort out who should be dealt with and who should be retained.

When the carriage arrived at the front door of his house, Wei Guangde finally understood the intention of the man in Xiyuan.

However, he didn't plan to say anything about this guess yet. He had to at least check the direction of the wind, and then quietly tell King Yu whether he would take time to chat with Chen Ju someday.

On the second day, the memorial sent to Xiyuan by the officials was approved by Hong and sent back to the cabinet. Naturally, Prince Yu's Mansion knew the details immediately.

Looking at the end of the memorial, Emperor Jiajing still wrote his own comments: The officials have not modified the text for a long time, so I will use simple examples to draw up what I want to do, and use the form to correct it.

Several important officials in the court saw Emperor Jiajing's comments and were still writing letters of apology in their respective rooms.

"Your Majesty, what does this mean? Is anyone else going to be dismissed from office?"

Yin Shizhen was a little puzzled. He didn't know whether Emperor Jiajing's remarks meant that the ministers were incapable of doing things or something else. However, now those people are busy writing letters of apology, which shows that they know the reason.

After all, the cabinet is always the cabinet. Even though King Yu is already the crown prince, it is not justified after all. It is normal that many court news are not known here.

Just like Yang Bo's strategy against the Fujian thieves, the Ministry of War must know more details than Wei Guangde knew in Prince Yu's Mansion, so it can put forward targeted countermeasures, while Wei Guangde can only think about going to Jiangnan again. Think of countermeasures based on the actual situation.

Regarding this matter, Wei Guangde only subconsciously believed that Emperor Jiajing should have given those people some advice before, but he did not expect that in addition to Guo Pu, the person who would be promoted in the end would also be Li Ji. Now let him They confronted Guo Pu and expressed their opinions.

In what era are we in now, the emperor must be more powerful than the sky. He talks about the constitution of heaven and follows the law. Anyone who dares to compete with him can naturally only keep saying that Guo Pu is the most suitable candidate for the post of minister of the Ministry of civil affairs.

A bunch of memorials were sent to Xiyuan, and they were quickly sent back to the cabinet by Emperor Jiajing, very quickly.

After all, the post of Minister of the Ministry of Personnel cannot remain vacant for too long. Even Emperor Jiajing wanted to implement this matter as soon as possible.

This time, Emperor Jiajing only commented after Yan Song's memorial: The officials who wrote the article have been working tirelessly to move around. Although it is not appropriate to change the regular tune without authorization, it is not appropriate to arbitrarily modify it. I would like to say that all the officials are not dedicated, but they are dedicated to the officials. Zheng, I will go in without asking, be diligent and prudent, since the succession of Baifan, I have greatly lost my ministerial status, Gu and I have caused a shortage of officials, Pu will replace him, and I will not say goodbye to Pu.

Also delivered at the same time was an edict, "Guo Pu, a bachelor of the Hanlin Academy and in charge of Zhan Shifu, returned to the ministry to take charge of affairs. He was promoted to Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs and crown prince Shaobao."

If Emperor Jiajing's comments included "If you tell Pu not to say goodbye", Guo Pu would naturally not follow the example of others and make "three words and three concessions", but he still went up to express his gratitude overnight.

Guo Pu was completely confirmed to have taken charge of the civil service instead of Ouyang Bijin, and he was naturally delighted to have won the lofty title of Prince Shaobao.

Regarding Guo Pu's gratitude memorial, Emperor Jiajing actually gave it a serious review and praised it highly.

"Your character is pure and sincere, and you are diligent and sincere in your writing. I am happy to serve you as soon as you obey your orders. You should be cautious in evaluating your general position before obeying your orders, and keep it simple and use it to your heart's content."

Emperor Jiajing said this about Guo Pu, which immediately made him a new noble in the court. There was already a long queue in front of Guo Mansion, and there was an endless stream of dignitaries visiting and making friends.

For the important ministers in the court, it was fine, and they could just hand him over and say congratulations when they met. The middle- and lower-level officials were trying their best to curry favor.

I don't know since when, lower-level officials gradually regarded Yuan Wei, Guo Pu, Yan Ne and Li Chunfang as the new "Qingci Prime Ministers" after Yan Song.

Comparing them to Yan Song, they naturally didn't have any good intentions, but no one dared to say these words to their face, that is, behind their backs.

It's hard not to think of these four people. In fact, after the beginning of the new year, these people's positions were quickly promoted by the emperor, and they all entered the ranks of important ministers. But what about them before?

In the eyes of the officials below, it is nothing more than relying on Qingci to invite favors.

In fact, only they know whether it is jealousy or something else, at least Wei Guangde is very envious.

Time flies by, and November is about to enter in a blink of an eye, and the winter solstice is here again.

However, Wei Guangde did not expect Emperor Jiajing to hold a court meeting on this day. It seemed that the court meeting had not been held normally since Wei Guangde entered the court. All of them were without gifts. I think this year will be no exception.

However, just at such a calm time, the news suddenly came to the Engineering Department that Zeng Tingzhi had impeached Governor Xuanfu's imperial censor Chi Fengxiang for corruption and cruelty.

This official, who had only received a commendation from the imperial court two months ago, was accused by the censor of corruption and cruelty under his command. The memorial was sent to Xiyuan. News soon spread that the emperor wanted to thoroughly investigate the matter and sent an order to arrest Chi Fengxiang and return to Beijing for questioning. He was replaced by Zhao Kongzhao, the censor of the capital of Qiandu on the right side of Cao River.

The governor of Xuanfu was going to be arrested and interrogated by Beijing. Wei Guangde was a little confused about the twists and turns, but he always felt that there must be something going on that they didn't know about.

Chi Fengxiang was quickly escorted back to the capital and sent to the prison of the Ministry of Justice. Wei Guangde asked Lao Kan to help find out about this matter. After all, he was arresting the governor of Xuanfu, and he was worried that Ma Fang would be involved.

If someone was really interested in Ma Fang, he would have to take action in advance and find a way to deal with it, but Lao Kan hadn't heard the news yet.

Within two days, Wei Guangde entered Prince Yu's Mansion in the morning and was pulled aside to talk by Zhang Juzheng, who had arrived first.

"You are so calm."

Wei Guangde was startled when Zhang Juzheng opened his mouth and didn't know what he meant.

"what's up?"

Wei Guangde asked in surprise.

"Aren't you worried about Chi Fengxiang?"

Zhang Juzheng didn't shy away from it, he opened his mouth and said.

Wei Guangde narrowed his eyes, "Why, someone wants to touch Ma Fang?"

The relationship between Wei Guangde and Ma Fang is not a secret in Prince Yu's palace. This was the news that came from the palace.

"That's not true, but it does involve the first-level general of the Xuan Mansion."

Zhang Juzheng replied.

Seeing his expression, Wei Guangde knew that Ma Fang was fine and that Zhang Juzheng was just scaring him, so he smiled and said, "Brother, uncle, let's just tell you what is going on. My curiosity has been aroused."

"hehe."

Zhang Juzheng just stroked his beard and looked at him with a smile, but said nothing.

Wei Guangde pretended to be anxious on his face, but he felt very calm in his heart.

Ma Fang mentioned in his letters to him that there was a rift between Chi Fengxiang, the governor of the Xuan Mansion, and Li Xian, the commander-in-chief, but they knew that he was from Prince Yu's Mansion, so they did not involve him.

Thinking of Chi Fengxiang in prison, Wei Guangde had a guess.