The Prosperous Era of Longwan

For them, the former ministers of King Yu's Qiandi, even if they want to be promoted, they must have merit, otherwise even if it is an unspoken rule, they will be criticized by their surrounding colleagues.

Even though they actually accepted your promotion by the new emperor, it was not justified and it was not known how it was arranged behind the scenes.

But if you have the merit of copying books, in fact, even a small achievement can be infinitely magnified into a huge achievement as long as the emperor approves it.

Don't forget that the official positions in the court are like carrots and holes. To be promoted, you must first have someone to vacate the position. And whether he is promoted or becomes an official, someone will always have to leave the court.

While they were discussing that the emperor might order someone to copy the "Yongle Dadian", Xu Jie stood with his hands down in the Yuxi Palace, waiting for Emperor Jiajing's consultation.

On the throne above, Emperor Jiajing read through the memorial in his hand and then placed it on the imperial desk.

"You drafted the memorial to the Ministry of War. What do you think?"

Emperor Jiajing asked calmly.

"Your Majesty, this time the Ministry of War wants to make a defense change for the middle and senior generals in the important nine-border town. I think it is feasible."

Emperor Jiajing did not have any doubts about the people involved. After all, the Ministry of War must know more about these generals than he and his cabinet ministers as the emperor.

"The Ministry of War has this plan. It should be approved by the cabinet beforehand."

Emperor Jiajing asked.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Xu Jie was not surprised that the emperor called him to ask about this matter. Although Yan Song was the chief assistant, Yan Song's current body was indeed unable to perform the position of chief assistant.

If Emperor Jiajing summoned Yan Song for questioning, Yan Song's slow answer might cause Emperor Jiajing to have a heart attack.

"The Ministry of War sorted out the intelligence collected from the Anda Department and concluded that the Anda Department may adjust the habit of invading the border areas formed over the years. In the past, most of the intrusions against our Ming Dynasty were concentrated in the Xuanda and Liaodong areas, which are located to the east of the Nine Borders , and currently there are signs of Anda troops moving westward, so some generals are gradually transferred westward."

Emperor Jiajing sat silently on his throne, just listening to Xu Jie's answer.

The Ministry of War memorial has detailed verification of this, and it is not the result of fantasy. Then there was a plan to change generals on a large scale.

If you ask Yang Bo, it will naturally be the Ministry of War's set of ideas, and Emperor Jiajing wants cabinet ministers to answer. Naturally, he wants to know how the imperial court views this major change of generals.

Xu Jie's answer did not exceed the content of the memorial to the Ministry of War, which made Emperor Jiajing not very satisfied.

In other words, the Ministry of War has already convinced everyone in the cabinet in previous communications, which makes it difficult for him to understand the courtiers' views on the matter through this conversation.

In this case, continuing to have such a non-nutritious conversation will lose its meaning.

"Yes, I understand."

Emperor Jiajing said casually.

According to the usual practice, when the emperor's inquiry was over at this time, Xu Jie should resign and leave. However, when he was about to resign, Emperor Jiajing stopped him again.

"I asked you years ago, who can be the chief officer of the "Grand Ceremony"? Do you have anyone to recommend?"

Emperor Jiajing left Xu Jie behind and talked about the previous matter again.

Regarding the emperor's inquiry, Xu Jie knew very well. The previous hints were clear enough, but he didn't know yet.

"Your Majesty inquired about it that day, and I have also carefully considered who is suitable to be the chief officer. After careful consideration, I believe that Gao Gong, the minister of the Ministry of Rites, and Qu Jingchun, Zuo Yude and minister of Zuo Chunfang of Zhanshi Mansion, are suitable people."

Xu Jie had already had an idea about this. When Emperor Jiajing asked about it, he naturally talked about his favorite candidate.

"Gao Gong, Qu Jingchun."

Emperor Jiajing just read out the names of these two people and did not say much.

"Recently, I saw that the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Metropolitan Procuratorate submitted the examination results. Yin Shizhen, an official in Prince Yu's Mansion, has been in Prince Yu's Mansion for six years. He was rated as top in the examination. I wonder if there are any vacancies in the imperial court?"

This is when Emperor Jiajing wants to promote Yin Shizhen.

Xu Jie quickly thought about it in his mind. There are actually not many paths for official promotion in Prince Yu's palace. The positions of Minister of Rites and Ministry of Personnel are both full, and they have just been promoted by the emperor's decree. In a short period of time, There are no official vacancies in the country.

The rest are in the Hanlin Academy and Zhan Shifu.

"Your Majesty, the Hanlin Academy is full of scholars, and only the position of the right concubine of Youchunfang in Zhan Shifu is vacant. Yin Shizhen can take up this position."

Xu Jie thought for a while and decided that the official position of concubine was feasible.

Yin Shizhen was previously a member of the Economic Affairs Bureau. In order to advance from the fifth rank official position, he was promoted to the right concubine by half a rank and became a full fifth rank official.

This time, Emperor Jiajing nodded slightly, indicating that he had a clear attitude towards his opinions.

"Who will take over the post of the Economic and Economic Affairs Bureau?"

Emperor Jiajing continued to ask.

In fact, most of the official position arrangements in the court were completed in dialogues between the emperor and his cabinet ministers. Of course, this was limited to those who were interested in Emperor Jiajing.

Under normal circumstances, he would not be interested in official positions of fifth rank or lower, and would mostly leave them to the Ministry of Personnel.

However, this time he was making some preparations for Prince Yu and being promoted to an official position in Prince Yu's palace, so he came to Xu Jie specifically to discuss it.

He naturally had his own considerations in finding Xu Jie instead of Yan Song.

However, Xu Jie was shocked at this time. He had already guessed Emperor Jiajing's plan.

When the Secretary of Economic Affairs was promoted to a fifth-grade official position, he, Xu Jie, never paid attention to him.

Ask him this question. In fact, Emperor Jiajing's attitude has been very clear. Who is suitable for promotion in Prince Yu's palace now?

Chen Yiqin had long been a fifth-rank official, but he was still in Dingyou, so he was naturally excluded. The remaining ones were Zhang Juzheng, Wei Guangde and Tang Ruji.

Tang Ruji, Xu Jie would naturally not speak for him.

Zhang Juzheng was his student. Although he would be said to be nepotistic if he recommended him, he would also be said to promote the virtuous without avoiding relatives. This may be the fundamental reason why Emperor Jiajing asked him.

But can he recommend his own students?

Of course not.

He had already made arrangements for Zhang Juzheng. There was nothing to argue about with a horse-washing official position. The official position he arranged for Zhang Juzheng was the Imperial College of Imperial College, which was a fourth-grade official position.

The main reason why they haven't taken action yet is that they haven't negotiated good terms with Yan Song and others, and the time is not ripe yet.

In the past, Xu Jie was not very urgent to complete this matter, but after Emperor Jiajing wanted to re-record the "Yongle Dadian", the matter became urgent.

If Zhang Juzheng is now allowed to hold the official position of washing horses, it may be somewhat hindered for him to operate the post of wine sacrifice in the Imperial College.

Since Zhang Juzheng is not good enough, Xu Jie will naturally recommend someone else. Wei Guangde is the only one left in Prince Yu's palace.

After thinking about it for a while, Xu Jie replied: "I recommended him to serve as an official in Prince Yu's Mansion, and Wei Guangde was allowed to serve as an official in the Chief Economics Bureau of Zhan Shi Mansion."

After Xu Jie finished speaking, he could clearly see a trace of confusion in Emperor Jiajing's eyes, although it was only for a short moment.

Of course Emperor Jiajing didn't know Xu Jie's plan. The official position he arranged for Zhang Juzheng was much higher than the normal promotion. Once successful, Zhang Juzheng would surpass all the officials in Prince Yu's palace except Gao Gong.

"Wei Guangde? But Zhang Juzheng in Prince Yu's palace seems to be very suitable. What's more, Zhang Juzheng was a Jinshi for twenty-six years, and Wei Guangde was only a Jinshi for thirty-five years."

Emperor Jiajing said.

The meaning is obvious. There is a big gap in qualifications between the two of them when they became Jinshi. It is very inappropriate for them to be officials of the same grade. That's why Emperor Jiajing thought of giving Zhang Juzheng a half-level promotion so that he could surpass Wei Guangde. Unexpectedly, in At Xu Jie, Wei Guangde surpassed Zhang Juzheng by half a level.

"Your Majesty, in order to teach Prince Yu, Wei Guangde had read classics in the Hanlin Academy Library, the Imperial College and other libraries. As far as I know, Wei Guangde has an excellent memory and has a photographic memory of all the books he has read. Such a person is more suitable to serve as The post of the Economic and Economic Affairs Bureau has been washed away."

Xu Jie also had his own reasons, otherwise there was no way he would lose points in front of Emperor Jiajing.

The Bureau of Economic Affairs was in charge of books and attendants. To put it bluntly, it was the yamen that prepared books for the prince. However, the Jiajing Dynasty no longer established a prince, so it naturally became more leisurely.

Xu Jie's reasons seemed to be very strong, and Emperor Jiajing also saw from them that Xu Jie really did not intend to promote Zhang Juzheng to this position.

"I'll think about it again."

Emperor Jiajing said calmly.

Although Emperor Jiajing said this, Xu Jie knew that the matter might have been decided, if Emperor Jiajing did not insist on being arbitrary and insisted on using Zhang Juzheng as the post.

If Emperor Jiajing insisted, as a minister, no matter what he did, his arms could not hold his thighs, but he did not believe that Emperor Jiajing would be so bored as to interfere with a fifth-rank official.

Emperor Jiajing was not in a hurry to arrange this discussion with Xu Jie, because in the next two days, the latest battle report from Fujian was sent to the capital, which once again caused shock to the government and the public.

"Bandits invaded Huai'an County, Fujian Province. The admiral, Yushi Youzhen, called upon him to take command of the camp. Wang Bo commanded the three guards of the Fuzhou Prefecture, and ordered Peng Deng and Ying's soldiers to suppress them. The Deng Ying soldiers suffered the defeat of the bandits first and blamed Bo. He was so shocked that he flogged him and killed four people below the captain. The three guards refused to accept and complained. Wang Daokun, the deputy envoy, went to the teaching field to inspect and killed several local soldiers. They tried to kill them but they couldn't reach Ying. After a long time, they dispersed in the south of the city."

"The Japanese pirates from Tong'an, Fujian, attacked at night and destroyed Yongning Acropolis. They threatened the commanders Wang Guorui and Zhong Xun, and Qianhu Cai Chaoyang came out."

Zhang Lian rebelled against the rebels and attacked Huai'an County. He defeated the army and the army, but also caused internal divisions and strife between the army and the army. This really puzzled the officials in the capital.

Surrounded by foreign enemies, they still fight inside each other. Don't they know that everyone will be punished if they lose?

As for the Japanese pirates who attacked the Yongning Acropolis at night and coerced the commanders and thousands of households to surrender, it greatly disappointed the officials of the DPRK and China. Under such circumstances, when can order be restored in Fujian?

Seeing such battle reports, Emperor Jiajing has made up his mind that a major change of blood must be carried out in Fujian officialdom, otherwise he does not know when the situation can be restored.

At the same time, I also have opinions on Hu Zongxian who is based in Zhejiang.

Hu Zongxian had long been ordered to command the army to exterminate the rebels, but Hu Zongxian always used the Japanese pirates as an excuse to refuse to send the army into Fujian.

Officials in the DPRK and the Central Government were certainly not fools, and secretly rumors began to spread that Hu Zongxian was trying to support the bandits.

Such rumors seemed to be hidden, but how could they escape the surveillance of factory guards? They naturally flowed into Xiyuan and appeared on the desk of Emperor Jiajing.

Within two days, the Metropolitan Procuratorate submitted an impeachment memorial to Li Tinglong, the censor of Fujian Province, saying, "In the middle of October last year, pirates broke into Ningde County, and the participating generals Wang Mengqi and the county magistrate Li Yaoqing came to defend them from the city. They all died because the participating governors Liu Tao and Commanding Zhang Quan and ten other people are guilty of causing an accident."

"It is not easy for Liu Tao, the governor of Fujian, to stay in office. Let him go to Nanjing first to wait for orders. The cabinet, together with the Ministry of Human Resources, will announce the candidate as soon as possible."

In the Yuxi Palace of Xiyuan, Emperor Jiajing gave loud instructions to the three cabinet ministers.

After receiving the memorial from the Metropolitan Procuratorate today, Emperor Jiajing ordered three bachelors from the cabinet to be summoned. The purpose was naturally to capture Liu Tao, the governor of Fujian.

Since Zhang Lian's uprising, Liu Tao's series of actions in Fujian have greatly disappointed the emperor, and he no longer wants to give him another chance.

Yan Song originally wanted to protect Liu Tao. After all, Hu Zongxian wrote in a previous letter that he hoped Liu Tao would not be dismissed.

This is not to say that Liu Tao has any dealings with the Yan Mansion, but that he simply does not want to interfere with the Fujian invasion. It is better for Liu Tao to solve the mess by himself, but in the current situation, it is obvious that Emperor Jiajing no longer intends to endure it.

Yan Song chose to remain silent, while Xu Jie and Yuan Wei naturally had nothing to say, and all three of them bowed to accept the order.

"Has the Ministry of War discussed when Guangdong, Guangxi, Jiangxi, and Fujian will send troops to suppress the rebels?"

Last year, Yang Bo Shang Shu wanted to use troops to attack Zhang Lian's lair. After so many days, Emperor Jiajing was now very concerned about how the preparations for the troops were going.

This kind of mobilization of the army naturally requires the assistance of the cabinet, the Ministry of Revenue, etc., so since all three ministers of the cabinet are here today, it is just right to ask about this matter.

Yan Song said at this time: "Zhang Nian, the Viceroy of Guangdong and Guangxi, reported before that the traitor Zhang Lian is very rampant. According to the order of the Ministry of War, he has mobilized 100,000 wolf soldiers to suppress the thieves, but the troops have not yet arrived.

Jiangxi's army has gathered in southern Jiangxi, and they can only wait for the arrival of two large armies to send troops to suppress the bandits. "

"What about Zhejiang? I asked Hu Zongxian to send troops south. Did you follow the order and Tan Lun hasn't joined the army yet?"

Emperor Jiajing continued to ask.

"Your Majesty, it is already one month, and the Japanese pirates will arrive in two months. At this time, if we send the army south to Fujian, Zhejiang."

"That's enough, that's enough."

Before Yan Song could finish his words, he was rudely interrupted by Emperor Jiajing.

"I understand."

After that, Emperor Jiajing just said a few words, then glanced at Xu Jie and Yuan Wei behind Yan Song, then waved to Huang Jin on the side and ordered: "Xuan."

"According to the order."

Huang Jin, who was beside him, bowed and replied, then took out the holy edict that had been prepared and read: "I was promoted to the Bureau of Economics and Washing Horses, and Yin Shizhen, the imperial minister, was the right concubine of Youchunfang, and I was promoted to Zhanshifu, Zuochunfang and Zuozhongyun. , Wei Guangde, a scholar in the Imperial Academy, washed horses for the Bureau of Economics and was in charge of government affairs."

The decree was issued very suddenly, and the cabinet acted very quickly. In the afternoon, the angel carrying the decree had already arrived at Prince Yu's Mansion.

Yin Shizhen and Wei Guangde took over the decree. Although they were happy in their hearts, their eyes were unconsciously looking at Zhang Juzheng on the side.

In the past, such news would come from his mouth in advance, but this time there was no sign before, which is really strange.

However, King Yu was still very happy. He sent someone to reward the angel and ordered Li Fang to send him out. Then he took Yin Shizhen with one hand and Wei Guangde with the other hand back to the house.

"Double happiness is coming today. The palace is hosting a banquet to celebrate."

After Li Fang came back, King Yu asked Li Fang to go down and arrange a banquet.

"Uncle, what's going on?"

However, Wei Guangde knew that something was wrong. There was still someone in Prince Yu's palace who should be promoted, but something bad happened to him.