The Prosperous Era of Longwan

The absolute direct descendant of Prince Yu's Mansion, this is the amulet Wei Guangde made for himself after considering it.

Based on the current situation of the court, Gao Gong should be the first person to be reused by King Yu after he ascends the throne. However, Wei Guangde did not remember Gao Gong's fate, and it seemed that Zhang Juzheng was prosperous in the Ming Dynasty at that time, so he felt that Gao Gong should Will die soon.

Although he seems to be in good health now, ancient medical technology is like this.

Birth, aging, illness and death are very common, and Wei Guangde is not surprised by this.

Compared with Gao Gong, Zhang Juzheng and others, my biggest advantage is age.

As long as he takes good care of himself, Wei Guangde is confident that he can survive them.

Wei Guangde came to Prince Yu's Mansion today and no longer had to worry about the transcription of the grand ceremony. A system has been formed there. In fact, he didn't have to worry about anything in the past. He just followed the established regulations.

Zhang Juzheng did not come to Prince Yu's Mansion in the morning, but Yin Shizhen arrived on time, but Prince Yu did not tell him what Wei Guangde said.

Wei Guangde stayed in that room for a while before going out, and he didn't want Yin Shizhen to notice anything.

"Shan Loan, you are here."

When Wei Guangde walked into the side room, Yin Shizhen was looking at a note sent from somewhere.

"Uncle didn't come here?"

Seeing that only Wei Guangde entered the room, Yin Shizhen asked curiously.

After all, they both have the same errand now, so they often come to the palace together.

"I woke up a little late today, so I didn't get over it. It's become a routine there now. In fact, it doesn't have much impact if I don't get over it."

Wei Guangde smiled and explained why he was not with Zhang Juzheng.

"hehe."

Hearing Wei Guangde's words, Yin Shizhen just smiled.

Now he was the only official in Prince Yu's palace. Tang Ruji was detained for several days, while Wei Guangde and Zhang Juzheng were busy re-recording the ceremony. Sometimes it was strange to sit alone in the room.

Fortunately, Chen Yiqin is coming back soon, but I don't know if Chen Yiqin will have other appointments at that time. If he does not return to Prince Yu's Mansion, he will be with him.

"looking at what?"

Wei Guangde did not return to his seat, but looked at the thing in Yin Shizhen's hand and asked curiously.

"Yan Shifan's case, this is the bottom line copied from the Ministry of Justice yesterday, and Si Ji's matter is basically settled."

While talking, Yin Shizhen handed the copied official document to Wei Guangde.

Wei Guangde was not polite and took a cursory look at it with a grin on his face.

"Yingshu, Yingshu, son-in-law of Yan Song, a great scholar of Boyue Women's School, moved forward and acted impetuously. He liked good name and sex, but acted against benevolence. When he Fu Jiangyou, he accumulated wealth and left Song and his son in order to worship Ji. Rulin and Yu Tan He acted recklessly and often hid in mourning. He moved to Guanglu and became a guest of the Song Dynasty, and even painted his face with pink ink to make him laugh."

The row of words above directly blinded Wei Guangde's eyes: Liu Boyue, the left minister of the Ministry of Industry, He Qian, the right minister of the Ministry of Justice, Hu Rulin, the right minister of the general affairs envoy, Bai Qichang, the young minister of Guanglu Temple in Nanjing, and Zhang Yu, the censor of the governor of Huguang.

It is enough to not only arrange for his daughter to take action, but also to take action himself.

Wei Guangde shook his head, but he was more interested in what exactly was Tang Ruji's crime?

Soon, Wei Guangde found a record about him, "You first served as the son of Tang Long, the official minister, and served Song as his father. Because he got the title, Song became his son and livestock, and he went in and out of the bedroom with his talents to communicate and ask for help."

Seeing this, Wei Guangde was slightly startled. He didn't expect that Tang Ruji and Yan Song had such a good relationship, and he didn't notice this on weekdays.

But the most important thing is that the indictment states that Tang Ruji's passing was due to Yan Song's relationship. If this fails, he will be deprived of his birth status.

Of course, in fact, after conviction, it no longer matters whether one's origin is deprived, but this is also the face of a scholar.

Wei Guangde's face became serious, and after casually reading the following words, he asked Yin Shizhen: "Brother Zhengfu, does your Highness know about Siji?"

Yin Shizhen shook his head, "This was copied last night and sent here this morning. I haven't had time to report it to His Highness."

"Who is interrogating the case? Is there any gap between you and the Prince's Palace? You are so slanderous, and you are not afraid of damaging Prince Yu's Palace."

Wei Guangde said angrily.

"Um?"

Yin Shizhen was slightly startled when he heard this and said in surprise.

Wei Guangde sighed softly, "Well, brother Zhengfu is not ignorant of Siji's literary talents. He said that he relied on Yan Song's connections to get the rank. Rong Shandai disagrees.

They belittled Si Ji so much, saying that he relied on his ability to reach the rank. Didn't they also imply that our subordinate officials in Prince Yu's palace were not worthy of our position? "

When Yin Shizhen heard Wei Guangde's words, he lowered his head and thought for a moment, and felt that it made sense.

To be honest, it is normal for the Tang family and the Yan family to exchange letters. After all, they are both the family of ministers.

Think about the words in it again, "If you serve Song as a father, you will get the first place", and "Song is also a son and a beast." These words actually mean that Tang Ruji had little talent and little learning, and relied on Yan Song to pass the imperial examination through the back door.

"The incident was caused by Jin Yiwei's investigation of the letters between the Yan family and the Tang family. These charges were caused by the Criminal Division's impeachment of Chen Zan, but most of them were based on rumors."

Yin Shizhen whispered.

"I'm afraid it's best to talk to the Ministry of Punishment and Dali Temple about this matter, and just put other blame on it. The number one scholar was appointed by the emperor. Could it be that your majesty is blind-sighted? This is really unreasonable."

Wei Guangde was slightly dissatisfied and said, "We really think we are blind. We can't tell the difference between talented people and non-talented people."

"What you mean, we don't care about anything else, but the crime of passing the exam because of Yan Song must be suppressed."

Yin Shizhen asked softly.

Wei Guangde nodded, "It's okay to say that Siji treats Yan Song like a father. The Yan family has done a lot of bad things. As I said at the end,

Shifan was cunning, intelligent and well-remembered, and Song thought he was talented. Every time he asked for dismissal because it was a matter of no avail, Song would always discuss it with his son. Shifan was a rogue and a rogue who stole the country's power and openly opened the door to bribery. , all Chinese and foreign civil and military officials, big or small, are regarded as bribes by superiors and subordinates.

For a time, there are cunning and incompetent people, such as Zhao Wenhua, Yan Maoqing, Wan Cai, Dong Fen, and your generation, who are connected with the salty cronies. Therefore, they all set up deceptions, and all the debtors, handsome officials and officials flock to them.

This crime is sufficient. He and Yan Shifan are in cahoots with each other, and all they have to do is sell their official positions and get titles. "

While Yin Shizhen was still hesitating, Wei Guangde added: "From my point of view, it is certain that Siji will be dismissed from office. Anyone who has anything to do with the Yan family will probably not be able to escape this cleanup. This is all we can do to make people Don't throw dirty water on him, it will be a disaster for this colleague."

"You are right. His Highness will come over soon and we will talk to him about this matter. I will go and discuss it with Zhang Shangshu of the Ministry of Punishment, and I hope that I can get rid of this crime."

Yin Shizhen was persuaded by Wei Guangde. In this era, the face of the literati was still very important. Those who passed the examination based on real knowledge or those who passed the imperial examination through fraud were really important to the literati, just like their lives.

Wei Guangde's words tipped the balance of hesitation in Yin Shizhen's heart.

Just like Wei Guangde's last sentence, after all, he is still a colleague, and it is fine if he cannot be fished out, but he cannot just watch others throw dirty water.

Wei Guangde didn't pay much attention to Tang Ruji's matter. Of course, it would be best for Prince Yu's Mansion to handle the matter.

In the next few days, Wei Guangde lived a very leisurely life.

As the branch officer of the re-enrollment ceremony, I actually didn’t have many things to do and was very free. October was here before I knew it.

During this period, the only major events that occurred in the court were Yan Shifan's case and the rewards for the suppression of bandits in Fujian and Guangdong.

All officials involved in Yan Shifan's case were either dismissed or dismissed. Yan Shifan himself was also assigned to Leizhou. After the trial, he was sent out of Beijing by a special person from the Ministry of Punishment.

Tang Ruji and a large number of officials were dismissed from their posts and had no choice but to return to their hometowns in despair. Now they are regarded as savage beasts by their colleagues in the DPRK and China, and they are not willing to get involved in the slightest.

The official position is gone, but at least his background is still there, and he can still enjoy the treatment of a scholar, retaining the last bit of dignity.

In terms of awards, for pacifying the Fujian and Guangdong thief Zhang Liangong, he was promoted to the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, Zhang Jian, the right censor of the capital, and the governor of Guangdong, Guangxi and Fujian. Yin Yizi was born, and the general army was added to pacify Jiangbo. Chen Wangmo, the prince's Taibao, Yinyizi There are hundreds of Jinyi guards, and the deputy commander-in-chief Yu Dayou has also been promoted to one level and rewarded with many silver coins.

At this time, Wei Guangde had heard the news from Zhang Juzheng that the Ministry of War and the Cabinet had reached an agreement to promote Yu Dayou to the rank of Chief Military Officer in Fujian, responsible for Fujian's anti-Japanese affairs.

Since Xu Jie and Yang Bo had this intention, Wei Guangde naturally would not refuse, but quietly wrote another letter and sent someone to Jiangxi to deliver it to Yu Dayou, telling him to pay attention to his words and deeds in recent days, and not to let anyone catch him and get into trouble. He was impeached.

Although it seems that it has been approved by the cabinet and the Ministry of War at this time, if someone below wants to do something bad, as long as they seize the excuse of his wrongdoing and initiate impeachment first, Yu Dayou will inevitably be promoted and demoted again like he did earlier. He was promoted after meritorious service, and then was impeached and demoted after being caught in the wrong.

In the Jiajing Dynasty, there were actually many military generals who had similar experiences to Yu Dayou, but it was rare to see someone like Qi Jiguang rise through the ranks without encountering setbacks.

It's just that Yu Dayou is really unlucky. He is often punished soon after committing meritorious deeds, and the reasons are also strange.

With nothing to do that day, Wei Guangde strolled to the Metropolitan Procuratorate. Thinking that he had not come to see him for a while, he went into the courtyard to chat with someone and talk about work.

Not long after entering the Metropolitan Procuratorate, before even talking to a few people, Lin Run pulled him to his duty room and handed him a memorandum he had prepared for him to correct.

Lin Run and Wei Guangde are both imperial censors, but they are from Shandong Province. However, there is another reason why they are familiar with each other. That is, they were both Jinshi in the 35th year of Jiajing. Therefore, compared with other people in the courtyard, they are more polite when talking. More casual.

Lin Run is also considered a fierce person in the Metropolitan Procuratorate. When Zou Yinglong took the lead in impeaching Yan Song, he was one of the first people to respond. Although the impeachment memorial was suppressed by the cabinet for a day, there was really no one who dared to impeach Yan Song at that time. not much.

Moreover, Lin Run is only a few years older than Wei Guangde, so he can talk to each other even though he is of similar age.

"What is this? Who are you planning to impeach?"

Wei Guangde took the document without reading it and asked first.

What the censor wrote either impeached noble courtiers or scolded the emperor. Wei Guangde was also curious at this moment, who Lin Run was planning to scold.

After finishing speaking, he lowered his head and looked at Lin Run's memorial. After reading a few lines, he looked up at this guy with thick eyebrows and big eyes. He was really brave.

"The affairs in the world today are extremely hidden and big. There is no one to worry about more than the clan and vassals. However, there is no one who has a hard-to-fix policy. He is afraid of offending the clan's heart and violates the ancestral precepts. Taking into account the times, things will change and trends will change. It must be passed. In the early days of the country, the common people did not have many customs. The reason for this is that the beauty of today's lin-toed katydids is hundreds of times that of the past. I watched the first proposal of Jiajing and said that in Hongwu, Kaifeng, Henan, was the only Zhou Prefecture. Today, the king of the county Thirty-nine prefectures have been added, the number of generals has increased to more than 500, and the number of lieutenants and honorable guests is overwhelming."

After taking a long breath, Wei Guangde asked: "We have just impeached the chief minister and removed him from office. Immediately afterwards, we plan to move the royal family and the vassal. We are not afraid of getting a beating from the court for slandering the clan."

"If you look down, the Zongfan Lumi incident has reached a point where it has to be changed. If we continue in the past, the consequences will be unpredictable."

Lin Run just replied without saying much.

Wei Guangde nodded, lowered his head and continued to read the text below.

"If you look at one palace, you can know it all over the world. It has been more than forty years since the beginning of Jiajing, and the increase can be estimated. Therefore, the world's wealth provides four million dan for the capital's food every year, and the royal palaces everywhere have eight million dan. 1.53 million shi is double that, that is, Shanxi has 1.52 million shi of rice and 3.12 million shi of lumi; Henan has 843,000 shi of rice and 100 lumi. 920,000 shi, which is the total amount of food from the two provinces, is not enough to provide half of the rice, and all the official salary and military pay are out of it."

Wei Guangde had thought about the royal family and vassal system before, but when he first entered the official career, it was just a fantasy.

Up to now, he had no intention of touching these things. It was really a big deal and he could offend the emperor's uncle and nephew by not paying attention.

Although this group of people has no rights now, if everyone writes a letter to the emperor to complain.

Forget it, annoying.

With these concerns, Wei Guangde had no intention of proposing the clan reform system in a short period of time. He wanted to wait until he was in a higher and more powerful position to learn more about it, and then think of ways to carry out reforms and reduce the financial burden on the country.

Unexpectedly, Lin Run brought up the things that were stuck in his mind first, and not only that, he also gave some solutions.

The memorial recommended the restoration of the system at the beginning of the Kingdom, that is, the old system in the 28th year of Hongwu. This was a major policy adjustment made by Zhu Yuanzhang in the late period of his ruling career, which was to significantly reduce the vassal lumi.

Taking the prince as an example, the annual salary has been reduced from 50,000 dan to 10,000 dan, and the county prince's salary has also been reduced from 6,000 dan to 2,000 dan. Moreover, a new policy has been added, that is, starting from the county prince, his eldest son will be granted the title of county king. Prince Bishi was given half the payment, and he also allowed his descendants to change this rule according to the actual situation.

It is also because of this that the imperial court was able to continuously adjust the clan Lumi system, and it did not remain unchanged due to the ancestral system.

In fact, the Lumi reform was originally a good thing. No matter who was the emperor, reducing the clan Lumi would reduce the emperor's burden. However, after Zhu Yuanzhang, the Ming Dynasty successively implemented the Yongle Jingnan, Renzong's succession, and Yingzong's succession. After the restoration, the annual salary of the vassal king was increased three times, and the number of clan salaries was increased again.

These large-scale promotions were all implemented against the background of an unstable foundation of imperial power. They were special measures to win over the vassal kings in order to stabilize the throne.

In the following generations, the clan lumi of the Ming Dynasty did not change much. It was not until the Hongzhi Dynasty that large-scale reduction of lumi was carried out again.