The Prosperous Era of Longwan

The young master and the crown prince, Yang Bo, the official minister, Huo Ji, the military minister, and Mao Kai, the criminal minister, all asked Xu Jie, a bachelor, to stay. This was unexpected but expected.

Wei Guangde knew that there was no way to reverse this matter after Emperor Longqing approved it, and it was a foregone conclusion.

However, with the public appeal of the three ministers, the attitude of hundreds of officials in the court has also changed. Some officials are also discussing whether to follow up, agree, and ask the emperor to take back the order.

In the eyes of many officials, although Xu Jie is old, he is in good health and is not in need of old age care.

It seems that important matters in the imperial court really need an experienced and respected minister to handle them.

Although the people of the Ming Dynasty are now stable, judging from the situation in recent years, rebellions and rebellions have occurred from time to time in various places.

The distant ones include Zhang Lian, Li Wenbiao, Li Yayuan, etc. of Fujian and Guangdong, as well as Cai Boguan of Sichuan, and the recent ones include Yunnan local official Feng Jizu's uprising, Wanyangshan Lanhu, and recently there are reports of instability in Shaanxi.

The censor of Shanxi Province, Song Dynasty, said: Shanxi, Shaanxi, Henan and other provinces have had poor harvests for many years, and "the people are poor and banditry", and there are more people fleeing between Hancheng and Yichuan, so they should be cured by poverty.

Even though the local authorities had already taken action to eradicate these things as soon as they started to appear, they were still shocked when they arrived in the capital.

During the Jiajing Dynasty, most of the bandits came from coastal counties such as Fujian and Guangdong, and their roots lay in Japanese pirates.

Most of the civil unrest in Shanshan and Shandong came from the White Lotus cultists.

These situations are understandable in the eyes of civil servants. They are extremely vicious people, and it will only be a matter of time before they cause trouble.

The situation in Yunnan, Jiangxi and Shaanxi is slightly different now. It belongs to civil strife because it was caused by improper handling by local officials.

Although the government took action to suppress it quickly, the chaos was still brewed, so it seemed that it was not a bad thing to have a person like Xu Jie left in the court, at least he could make decisions at critical times.

Such discussions naturally spread to Wei Guangde's ears through Lu Bu's mouth.

Although he didn't know if Chen Yiqin, Yin Shizhen and others had also heard such rumors, Wei Guangde felt that this matter must not continue to develop.

Xu Jie's departure from the court was certain. The emperor had made up his mind. Even if they changed their words now, Emperor Longqing would not be able to lose face and deny his previous decision.

Such an ending is contrary to the wishes of all officials, and will lead to alienation in the long run.

Wei Guangde sat in the duty room and thought for a long time. He was now the dog-headed military advisor behind Emperor Longqing. When he saw signs of harm to the emperor, he naturally had to figure out how to deal with it first.

We must find opportunities to discredit Xu Jie. Even if he has indeed done many things and won the hearts of many officials, he still has to find a suitable reason.

Wei Guangde couldn't help but think of Xu Jie's brother. The black information he revealed about the Xu Jie family must not be fake, and all the officials knew it.

But after all, it happened last year, and if it is used for speculation now, it is obviously intentional.

Except for the group of people who passed the exam this year, none of the officials are stupid. You can tell at a glance.

Thinking about it again, the most recent one seems to be Zhang Qi's memorial.

Previously, Zhang Qi was fined and released by Emperor Longqing for impeaching Xu Jie for being "disloyal as a minister, untrustworthy in dealing with others, and has been in trouble for a long time." However, Wei Guangde knew that there was actually a lot of indignation among the officials below.

Quickly tap your fingers on the desktop to overturn Zhang Qi's verdict?

He was not familiar with Zhang Qi and didn't know what he was like.

Moreover, it must be reasonable to overturn the verdict. After all, Zhang Qi's memorial was actually speculation, betting that Emperor Longqing wanted to depose Xu Jie, but the timing was wrong, and he kicked the iron plate.

The memorial is well written and well-founded. It can be seen that it was definitely not a spur-of-the-moment idea, but a long-planned plan and repeated polishing.

To be honest, Wei Guangde doesn't like this kind of person, because Zhang Qi is just a complete politician and not worth investing in.

Wei Guangde even suspected that Zhang Qi's memorial might have started during the vicious fight between Xu Jie and Gao Gong last year.

What was the situation at that time?

Liu Ke and Yu Shi worked hand in hand to attack Gong. If Gao Gong hadn't made too many mistakes, it couldn't be delayed any longer. Maybe Zhang Qi would have given Ke Daoyan Guan a backstab at that time.

Xu Jie can't be trusted, just like Zhang Qi.

Wei Guangde couldn't think of a way, so he planned to write a note and invite Chen Yiqin and Yin Shizhen to gather for discussion. At this time, Lu Bu came in again.

"Master, there is a note from Yin Shangshu."

While talking, a letter was handed to Wei Guangde.

He took it and opened it, took a look at it, and said to Lu Bu, "I understand. Go back to the messenger and tell him that I will keep the appointment on time."

Although Yin Shizhen and Wei Guangde still work as ministers, they are already ministers in rank, so people outside generally call them ministers, even if they are not in charge.

In the afternoon, Wei Guangde did not wait for San Yamen. He found an excuse to leave the Ministry of Rites and went directly to Yin Shizhen's home.

When he entered the room, he saw that not only Yin Shizhen was in the room, but Wang Ting, the censor of Zuodu of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, was also there.

"Lord Wang."

Wei Guangde was familiar with Yin Shizhen, so when he entered the house, he did not greet the owner first, but bowed his hands to Wang Ting.

To be honest, at this time, Wei Guangde was also very suspicious.

Wang Ting and Chen Yiqin were both from Sichuan. It was normal for the two of them to get together, but why did they get together with Yin Shizhen today.

"Shaloan, sit down and talk."

Yin Shizhen waved to Wei Guangde and asked him to sit down before he said: "It is also Yifu's intention to invite you two here today. He said that Mr. Wang has something in his hand that may be useful in alleviating the current public opinion in the court."

Wei Guangde understood that the public opinion Chen Yiqin was talking about must be what officials were talking about at the moment, about whether Xu Jie should stay or leave.

Wei Guangde glanced at Wang Ting and knew that he must have used his connections with the Metropolitan Procuratorate to collect dirty information about Xu Jie.

This backstab is wonderful.

Officials all said that Xu Jie, an old minister, was seeking for the country. If the Metropolitan Procuratorate revealed something about Xu Jie at this time, it is estimated that the direction of the wind would immediately reverse.

Wei Guangde was not sure whether the current public opinion was controlled by Xu Jie, but he had to guard against it.

Xu Jie dared to fight with his back, so they naturally had to face it bravely.

Wei Guangde smiled and looked at Wang Ting, waiting for the big boss of the Metropolitan Procuratorate to bring out the dirty information about Xu Jie. He would see if he could achieve his goal and make Mr. Xu Ge irrecoverable.

At this time, Wang Ting just smiled, and then he took out a memorial from his sleeve and handed it out.

Wei Guangde was not in a hurry, but watched as Yin Shizhen reached out to take it, opened it, and browsed quickly.

Judging from Yin Shizhen's expression, Wei Guangde was surprised at first, and then suddenly became enlightened.

There seems to be something going on.

Wei Guangde sat down for a while and actually thought of some countermeasures, that is, if Wang Ting's things were not of sufficient weight, then he would ask him to arrange for the censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate to refute Xu Zhi's original revelations.

Although the intention is too obvious, it is really difficult to collect Xu Jie's questions in a short time.

Others used this reason to impeach officials, and Emperor Longqing could use old things to punish them again.

But if they instigated the impeachment, the emperor would naturally forget the amnesty edict he issued.

After Yin Shizhen finished reading the memorial and handed it to Wei Guangde, he immediately opened it and read it quickly, and then asked in surprise: "Is there any evidence?"

Wang Ting smiled again and then nodded.

As the boss of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, he would naturally not do anything he was unsure of.

Although there is no physical evidence for what the memorial says, there is still human evidence, otherwise it would just be a rumor.

"The Xu family participated in the border merchant Yu Yan's profiteering."

Wei Guangde was a little hesitant, not sure what impact this incident would have on public opinion in the DPRK and China.

"Zhang Qi had previously impeached Xu Jie because of this matter.

There were rumors outside that he was instigated by me and others, so the case was settled just in time. "

Yin Shizhen's attitude was very supportive.

In his opinion, this was killing two birds with one stone. It not only dumped the previous dirty water, but also damaged Xu Jie's reputation for integrity.

In fact, Wang Ting's memorial is talking about two things. One is to tell the reasons for the grudge between Zhang Qi and Xu Jie. Perhaps this can explain why Zhang Qi suddenly impeached Xu Jie.

It turned out that last year, Zhang Qi was ordered to reward the army during the incident. That is, when Emperor Longqing ascended the throne, he sent imperial envoys to various places to award rewards and win over the morale of the army. It was Xuanda who Zhang Qi was ordered to reward.

At that time, Yang Sihe, a salt merchant, was acquainted with Zhang Qi's father, so he paid thousands of taels of silver in bribes, hoping that Zhang Qi would speak out in the court and express condolences to border merchants on the reform of remaining salt and other issues.

Zhang Qi's family accepted the money, so he naturally had to do it.

However, Zhang Qi's memorial was submitted and many people were contacted, but Xu Jie stopped him at the cabinet.

Zhang Qi's resentment towards Xu Jie originated from this. Because the matter failed to be completed, Yang Sihe had a falling out with Zhang Qi's family, so he asked the Zhang family to pay back the money.

After all, it is said that Zhang’s father patted his chest and said it could be done.

However, in the second half of the memorial, after the Metropolitan Procuratorate learned about the border merchants in detail, they discovered that the Xu family of Su Song Mansion was the one who made the biggest profit from the remaining salt on the border.

The fundamental reason why Xu Jie prevented Zhang Qizhu from going to court for discussion was because his proposal would affect his own interests, so he stopped him.

The Xu family purchased acres of land in the south of the Yangtze River. In addition to donating the land, they also bought it with money.

Where did this money come from?

The output of the fields was naturally not enough, so Xu Jie also engaged in business secretly.

In fact, there have long been rumors among the officials in the capital that Wei Guangde's luxurious life in the capital is due to the government's shares in some chambers of commerce.

In fact, this is what most officials in the capital are doing, but they don't say it openly.

When it comes to the table, naturally everyone will look down upon it to express their high moral integrity and regard money as dirt.

However, the businesses that Wei Guangde participated in were all exchanges of equal value, and there was no bullying. Therefore, the businessmen who cooperated with him were very satisfied, and no one said anything unfavorable.

If the people do not appoint officials, they will not be held accountable, and everyone can only talk behind their backs, but there is no way to impeach them.

After all, it was really a big deal and my house was not clean.

It would be easy to say if someone was suffering and causing trouble, but no one was making trouble at Wei Guangde's place. Everyone was working in harmony and making money.

However, Xu Jie is different. After all, he is the chief minister. Logically speaking, all kinds of filial piety are enough for him to have enough food and clothing. He actually has a small business, and he also uses his authority to participate in the salt industry, which is naturally harmful to Xu Jie's reputation.

Who in the world doesn’t know that the most profitable business in the Ming Dynasty was actually salt.

"My memorial is only to accuse Zhang Qi and his son of violating the law and to ask for an investigation and punishment. It has nothing to do with anyone else."

Wang Ting spoke at this time.

Wei Guangde nodded, glanced at Yin Shizhen and then said: "This is feasible."

Yin Shizhen also nodded and agreed.

"Then I will report this matter tomorrow."

After taking back the memorial, Wang Ting said.

"Master Wang, this memorial has solved our urgent need."

Wei Guangde smiled.

"After Zhang Qi submitted the report, Yifu asked me to find out the grievances between Zhang Qi and Xu Jie. I didn't expect that it would have such an effect at this time."

Wang Ting said modestly.

Wei Guangde and Yin Shizhen both laughed, but Wei Guangde was still shocked.

It had only been a while since Zhang Qi had announced his impeachment. In less than ten days, Wang Ting had figured out the whole story and collected evidence, which was impressive.

Wei Guangde had to sigh secretly, no wonder the Metropolitan Procuratorate has so much energy and its methods are really high.

Wei Guangde had been a censor for many years, but he had never really integrated into the Metropolitan Procuratorate. Although he was said to be "colleagues" when meeting those censors, he knew very little about the Metropolitan Procuratorate's handling of cases.

Thinking about it now, Wei Guangde felt a little regretful.

If I had known that the Metropolitan Procuratorate was so powerful at investigating crimes, I should have made more contacts and trained more people. It would have been easier to investigate who was guilty in the future.

For political struggles, is there anything easier than controlling the Metropolitan Procuratorate?

In the past, although Wei Guangde attached great importance to science, even promoted Ouyang Yijing to serve as a military officer, and made many friends in the imperial censorship, he never thought of controlling the Imperial Procuratorate for his own use.

The last time he suggested that Chen Yiqin compete for the position of Zuodu Yushi, he was just trying to add a helper to Jiuqing.

Perhaps because of the habits of later generations, Wei Guangde actually didn't like the mad dogs like Ke Dao Yan Guan.

But it's different now. He is already in the game. How to give himself a greater say? Not only is it necessary to compete for allies among the Nine Ministers, but it is also increasingly important to control some yamen with real power.

You cannot do things according to your own likes and dislikes, you must consider everything.

This was what Wei Guangde thought of in the carriage when he left Yin Shizhen's house and returned home.

On the second day, the imperial envoy Wang Ting of Zuodu issued a memorial, which was like dropping a bomb into the already boiling court, instantly making the court furious.

At first, officials thought that Wang Ting was investigating Zhang Qi's problems, and found that he was using his personal anger to frame the "former" chief minister of the dynasty.

Unexpectedly, Zhang Qi, a dog-like person, actually pointed the finger at Mr. Xu Ge because he failed to hook up with businessmen and accept bribes.

But soon, someone discovered that in the distribution of surplus salt obtained by Xuanda border merchants after Wang Tingzou, the Xu family of Su Song Mansion actually ranked first.

The Xu family of Su Song Mansion?

In that place, which family would the Xu family be?

This was also done intentionally by Wang Ting, deliberately simulating it to make people guess.

In fact, if you don't want to involve Mr. Xu Ge, there is no need to add this part.

For a moment, the courtiers couldn't help but look at the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and news came out from the Metropolitan Procuratorate at the right time that there was another Xu family in Su Song Mansion, the one they were thinking of.

Inadvertently, someone also mentioned that last year someone said that Xu Ge's hometown had thousands of hectares of fertile land.

At this time, the officials knew that Mr. Xu Ge, who seemed to be honest and fair, actually had so many fields in his hometown, and this was how he made a fortune.