The Prosperous Era of Longwan

Wei Guangde left Prince Yu's Mansion. Hurry back to the school registration hall.

Although it was past midnight, Lu Bu had already signed his name on the dime book. Even if he looked carefully, he could still find that it was a ghostwriter, but who would care about such a thing?

This kind of thing was actually a common thing in the Ming Dynasty. When the master did not arrive in time, his scribes would usually sign on his behalf.

In their work, they also have daily projects to imitate the signature and inscription of the master.

Of course, this kind of situation does not happen often. It usually only happens once in a while. Everyone in the yamen naturally pretends not to see it, so no one is late.

As for the supervision by the Metropolitan Procuratorate, it depends on who it is.

If someone is offended, or is targeted by a public prosecutor, this will naturally be a reason for impeachment. However, apart from losing face, this type of impeachment is neither painful nor painful.

The normal situation is to be scolded by the superior officer, or in serious cases to be punished and fined.

Wei Guangde has always been a man of many things as an official. Even if he is being plotted against, he will remain silent. If he is not sure that he can knock the opponent down in one fell swoop and make him unable to stand up, Wei Guangde will not take action easily.

Moreover, every time he takes action, he usually just mentions the opponent's pain points in a very subtle way through various channels in advance. Therefore, those who are plotted by him may not even think that Wei Guangde is one of the people who dealt with him. of.

It is difficult for people to deal with such a person. He is also a Fujian Taoist censor, and none of his colleagues will target him. What's more, there is Prince Yu's Mansion standing behind him.

Now Wei Guangde goes to work every day, reads, studies, gets off work, and then goes home. Occasionally he is invited to go out drinking and listening to music with his colleagues.

This is the life of a Beijing official. Every day is the same cycle, dawdling in the court and working through qualifications.

More than ten days passed like this, but Wei Guangde did not take what happened last time to heart. He firmly believed that he did not like Hu Zongxian returning to the court, and Xu Jie would definitely not be willing to do so.

In fact, with Hu Zongxian's qualifications, the governor who had been in charge of Jiangnan for several years already had the qualifications to join the cabinet. However, since he was born in the top three and did not have the status of a concubine, it would be difficult to join the cabinet.

But who doesn't know who the Emperor Jiajing relied on to stabilize his imperial power after he ascended the throne? These people all joined the cabinet to worship the prime minister. Their situation was similar to that of Hu Zongxian, and they had no conditions for joining the cabinet.

Even Wei Guangde was worried that if Emperor Jiajing gave Hu Zongxian a minister of the Ministry of Rites to take charge of the Hanlin Academy, Beijing officials would directly call him "Hu Ge Lao".

During this period, the cabinet has been supported by Xu Jie and Li Chunfang. Emperor Jiajing has not yet received the order to arrange replacements. Xu Jie is actually very anxious sitting in the position of chief minister.

After he received the news from Prince Yu's Mansion more than ten days ago, he was so frightened that he broke into a cold sweat.

Hu Zongxian, how did you get away with it in the first place?

It wasn't Emperor Jiajing's words that "Zong Xian is not a strict party, and he has not made mistakes for several years" that overturned all the accusations against Hu Zongxian.

Later, it was revealed that Hu Zongxian's repeated impeachments actually started when Hu Zongxian presented the auspicious White Deer, and after that, officials continued to impeach him for corruption.

Hu Zongxian's status in the heart of Emperor Jiajing was not low. After all, he gave him the prosperous land in the south of the Yangtze River and asked him to fight the Japanese pirates with all his strength. Although he failed to completely quell the Japanese pirates in the end, he was able to eliminate most of the Japanese pirates.

At least in the eyes of Emperor Jiajing, Hu Zongxian was capable. He could stand alone and stabilize the situation in Jiangnan when the Japanese pirates were at their craziest. This was ability.

Thinking about his situation, Xu Jie was really worried about Hu Zongxian joining the cabinet and fighting with him.

Although Xu Jie has been in the court for many years, he is really a loser when it comes to the Holy Family. He couldn't compare to Yan Song before, so will he still be outdone by Hu Zongxian?

But he is also waiting, waiting for his arrangement to be taken action to completely eliminate this hidden danger.

He was the one who sent Yan Shifan to the guillotine, and he was also the one who committed the crime this time and wanted Hu Zongxian to die.

Calculating the time, things should arrive.

In the past two days, Xu Jie was a little uneasy in the cabinet because what he wanted had not been delivered, and he didn't know whether there would be any changes in Xiyuan.

There was a huge difference between the effect of something being delivered before Emperor Jiajing opened his mouth and being delivered after he opened his mouth.

At this time, people outside the Zhongshushe reported: "Mr. Xu Ge, Mr. Zhang Yongming, the imperial censor of Zuodu of the Imperial Procuratorate, is asking for an audience."

Hearing Zhang Yongming's arrival, Xu Jie felt happy, and then said: "Invite him in quickly."

Soon, Zhang Yongming entered the duty room of the cabinet, cupped his hands to Xu Jiegong and said: "Mr. Ge, today our Metropolitan Procuratorate received a memorial from Wang Ruzheng, the censor of the Southern Zhili Patrol. Along with the memorial, there were also captured prisoners. There’s a batch of letters, I’ve already asked people to bring them all over.”

"oh?"

Xu Jie asked in surprise: "Whose letter said what? Where did Wang Yushi find it?"

"Wang Yushi was serving as an imperial convict to Luo Longwenjia, and his letters to Hu Zongxian and Yan Shifan were found in his home, including some letters."

Zhang Yongming was speechless for a moment and didn't know how to introduce the situation. He had to take out a memorial from his pocket and handed it to Xu Jie and said, "Mr. Ge, you should read it yourself."

Xu Jie took the memorial handed over by Zhang Yongming, opened it and read it carefully. His face was slightly startled at first, and then became uncertain.

"Come here, please quickly ask Mr. Li Ge to come and check in with me."

A moment later, Xu Jie suddenly shouted outside the door.

After finishing speaking, he turned to look at Zhang Yongming and said, "Have all the letters been brought to the cabinet?"

Zhang Yongming nodded in agreement.

"Quickly, bring in all the letters."

Xu Jie ordered anxiously.

"It's right outside the door. I'll ask someone to bring it in right away."

Zhang Yongming agreed, then walked to the door of the duty room and ordered the people outside: "Bring the box in quickly."

At this time, not far away, Li Chunfang, the second assistant to the cabinet, had already arrived.

Seeing Zhang Yongming at the door, Li Chunfang did not act like a cabinet bachelor, but rushed to him and cupped her hands, "Zhong Cheng is here too."

"Mr. Li Ge."

Zhang Yongming also hurriedly saluted Li Chunfang.

Standing in front of the door, Li Chunfang was not in a hurry to go in. She just looked at the two captains carrying a box and walked to the Xujie duty room and asked with some confusion: "What is this?"

The box was covered, and Li Chunfang didn't know what was inside, so she asked.

In fact, there is one thing that has not been said. It is best not to have ice cream or carbon fiber in the box. It seems a little early to send these.

"Censor Wang Ruzheng discovered a batch of letters from Luo Longwen's home in She County. They were letters exchanged between him and Yan Shifan, Hu Zongxian and others. Some of them were extremely sensitive. Censor Wang was worried that passing them to the political envoy Si Xian would cause unnecessary trouble, which would cause unnecessary trouble. The imperial court has lost all face, so it was sent directly to me, the Metropolitan Procuratorate."

When Li Chunfang heard this, she knew that the letter in the box was probably an extremely hot thing, and she hesitated for a moment.

By now, he knew what Xu Jie meant by inviting him over.

It must be that the old fox Xu Jie also found it difficult, so he was asked to come over and make a vote in the name of the cabinet.

After the box was carried into Xu Jie's check-in room, Li Chunfang followed him tonight.

"Zishi is here, come and take a look at this."

Xu Jie knew that Li Chunfang was coming when he was talking to Zhang Yongming, but he still waited until he entered the room before shouting to him.

"Mr. Xu Ge, who is Zhong Cheng here to impeach?"

Having said that, Li Chunfang still walked over, took the memorial handed over by Xu Jie, opened it and read it carefully, and soon the corners of her mouth twitched.

Xu Jie ignored Li Chunfang's reaction, but Zhang Yongming kept paying attention. He thought he was shocked by the content of the memorial.

But unlike what Zhang Yongming thought, there were only four words that kept swirling in Li Chunfang's mind at this time.

"terrible."

Yes, these four words were constantly swirling in Li Chunfang's mind at this time.

He was not a novice who had just entered the official career, and he would not believe that someone would keep such a letter at home waiting for someone to check it, especially Luo Longwen, a criminal who had already been convicted.

Such a sensitive letter does not mean that it must be burned, but it must be moved to a different location for storage. This is enough to lead to Hu Zongxian's death.

Li Chunfang had some doubts about the authenticity of the letter mentioned in the memorial, and it appeared a bit strange.

He withdrew his gaze and glanced at Xu Jie, who had a serious face, and then at Zhang Yongming, who was shocked and excited. The expressions of the two people were different, and they didn't look like they had passed each other. Li Chunfang was confused for a moment.

He has now figured out his thinking. When the censor Wang Ru was inspecting Luo Longwen's house under the order, he found letters in which he communicated with other people. When counting these letters, he found the letter written by Hu Zongxian to Luo Longwen, especially the line in it. Self-made "imperial edict".

Li Chunfang now wants to read the letter and the imperial edict.

His eyes couldn't help but look at the box placed in the center of the duty room. There were seals on the lid of the box.

Obviously, when the things arrived at the Metropolitan Procuratorate, Zhang Yongming brought them here without even opening them for inspection, because the memorial contained the content of this decree.

"Zishi, what do you think?"

Xu Jie's voice sounded at the right time, and Xu Jie wanted to ask about his attitude.

"Mr. Xu Ge, you'd better open the box and check it, and then take this memorial and letter to the palace immediately."

Li Chunfang replied without thinking.

"Okay, you and Zhong Cheng are here, let's open the box together and check the authenticity of the letter."

Xu Jie said, already standing up and walking around the table as he spoke.

The three people arrived and stood next to the box, and then walked around the box to make sure that the seal was intact and that there was no sign that the box had been opened. Then they asked someone to come in, tear off the seal, and open the lid.

There were as many as half a box of letters stacked in the box. They were not piled randomly, but neatly gathered together. However, there was a letter on top, just randomly placed on the top.

Obviously, Wang Ruzheng did this deliberately and put it on his face to prevent them from searching for each letter among the letters in the box.

After the screen retreated to the left and right, Zhang Yongming bent down and picked up the letter.

The envelope looks very thick, indicating that there is a lot of letter paper inside.

When Zhang Yongming pulled out the pieces of letter paper, Xu Jie and Li Chunfang's eyes were attracted to it.

Zhang Yongming, as the Zuodu Censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the largest supervisory official in the imperial court, naturally has the right to inspect such confidential things.

After carefully reading the content of the letter, I felt thoughtful at first, and then seemed to have a sudden enlightenment, as if I had understood Hu Zongxian's mood when he wrote this letter.

However, he did not hand it to Xu Jie after reading what he had in his hand. Instead, he looked at the beginning and last name of the letter, as if he was identifying something.

After that, Zhang Yongming carefully checked both sides of the envelope before submitting the letter and envelope to Mr. Xu Ge.

"Mr. Xu Ge, you should also take a look. I have already seen it."

"good."

Xu Jie reached out and took the letter from Zhang Yongming. He moved in a similar manner to him. After carefully reading the content of the letter, he checked the letter again. He even took a look at the envelope with his name before he read the letter. Pass it to Li Chunfang.

During the whole process, Li Chunfang remained silent, just quietly observing every move of Zhang Yongming and Xu Jie, trying to find some clues.

It's a pity that after the two people read the letter and handed it to him, he didn't notice anything unusual.

After receiving the letter from Xu Jie, Li Chunfang read it carefully, sometimes even reading some passages several times, and gradually understood Hu Zongxian's purpose of writing this letter.

Looking at the final signature, the words seem to be correct and the seal seems to be genuine.

Don't wonder why Li Chunfang knew Hu Zongxian's handwriting and his private seal. When Hu Zongxian was prosperous, even if the capital had the blessing of Yan Song, the etiquette should still be indispensable.

Li Chunfang naturally received many annual gifts such as ice and carbon tributes to the Hanlin Academy and the residences of bachelors like them every year.

Li Chunfang was still impressed by the handwriting and seals on the invitations.

He breathed a sigh of relief. Although he had doubts about this letter before, now he seems to have believed that this letter should be written by Hu Zongxian.

At that time, Hu Zongxian, in order to curry favor with the Yan family, began to use all means to contact everyone who could talk to the Yan family after Zhao Wenhua died and the Austrian aid in the capital was cut off.

Because he knew that as the governor of Jiangnan to suppress Japanese invaders, he had too much power and too much money.

Wealth moves people's hearts, and no one will turn a blind eye to those wealth.

If there is no one to support him in the capital, Hu Zongxian's career may come to an abrupt end at any time.

It is also an indisputable fact that Hu Zongxian embezzled military pay and lived a luxurious life. The inside story has actually gradually spread after Hu Zongxian was arrested and returned to Beijing.

Especially after his confidant guerrilla general Wang Yingqi launched a military mutiny in Wulin, Zhejiang's military leaders, large and small, have revealed some of the inside story through various channels in order to clear their relationship with Hu Zongxian and others.

This is also the reason why he was stabbed directly in front of Emperor Jiajing, and it was Emperor Jiajing who came forward to save him.

A huge amount of money was amassed by imposing additional taxes such as "promotion" in Zhejiang, Zhejiang and other places and requesting the retention of salt and silver in Zhejiang and Zhejiang.

Some of this money was used to recruit soldiers to encircle and suppress Japanese pirates and distribute rewards. Some of the money was used to recruit Japanese pirates, but most of it was used for his own squandering.

Regardless of whether it was the reward money distributed to the camp soldiers or the cost of recruiting Japanese pirates, huge holes were left.

Of course, when placed in front of Emperor Jiajing, what the emperor could see was that all these holes were naturally transferred to appease the Japanese pirates, and all the problems with the camp were solved.

After all, by this time, the coastal provinces south of the Yangtze River were still war zones, with Japanese pirate attacks from time to time.

In order not to shake the morale of the military, Jiangnan officials had no choice but to cover up the matter against their will.