The Prosperous Era of Longwan

Wei Guangde was in a relaxed mood as he left the Qianqing Palace and returned to the cabinet. The emperor agreed, which meant that the biggest obstacle to this matter had been removed.

Imperial power is supreme, because the emperor sits in that supreme position, and the final decision on everything is in his hands.

If you agree, it is feasible; if you disagree, even if it makes sense, it can only be rejected.

After handling government affairs in the cabinet for a day, Wei Guangde got into the sedan chair and went home to rest after leaving the office.

When he was still in the Ministry of Etiquette, he had a lot of social activities. Almost every day, his colleagues posted posts to treat guests to drinks. However, after he entered the cabinet, those people consciously stopped posting to him and only visited him from time to time. He sent greetings to his house and went directly to his door to say hello.

In fact, it is because his status is different now, and it is different from the past.

As a cabinet minister, even if he is ranked last, he is still the cabinet minister. Every move is watched by countless pairs of eyes, which is completely different from that in the Sixth Department.

But when the sedan arrived in front of the house, Wei Guangde bent down and got out of the sedan. Zhang Ji, the butler who had been waiting in front of the door for a long time, had already leaned into his ear and whispered: "Master, this afternoon Duke Cheng and Duke Ding will , Lord Yingying, Marquis of Linhuai, Marquis of Wuding, Marquis of Ningyang, and Uncle Ping'an all sent messages to the mansion and wanted to visit."

According to the rules of the Ming Dynasty, relatives did not serve on official business, but would only participate in some ceremonial activities on behalf of the royal family, so in the Beijing camp, they were the domain of nobles and nobles.

Wei Guangde's memorial was published. Although it was reported that Emperor Longqing was temporarily staying in Zhongzhong without any approval, it also frightened a group of relatives. They didn't know if this was a sign that the imperial court was going to reduce their last territory.

Since Wei Guangde submitted the report, he must know the inside story.

He and Xungui were inextricably linked, so they didn't hide it and chose to go directly to the door to ask for details.

"Send someone to reply and tell them to invite them to the house for a banquet tonight."

Wei Guangde calmed down for a moment and then told Zhang Ji: "Arrange the chef to prepare a table of good food and clean up the Xihua Hall."

With the promotion of Wei Guangde's official position, although the Wei mansion was not relocated, it began to be used more heavily after Emperor Longqing ascended the throne. After his status was rapidly improved, the mansion became small and expansion was inevitable.

Therefore, starting in the first year of Longqing, the Wei Mansion began to contact the owners of surrounding houses to discuss buying their houses, either with money or in exchange for houses in other places. In any case, it would buy all the houses of several surrounding families. After buying it, we asked craftsmen from the Ministry of Industry to expand it. The current mansion is several times larger than before.

As for whether there was any coercion or inducement during the purchase of the house, Wei Guangde would not care.

It's better not to know than to know. Anyway, he just handed notes to his former subordinates in the Ministry of Civil Affairs during the promotion process of the two yamen chiefs to make it convenient for them.

There was no trouble caused by the original owner of the house, which in Wei Guangde's opinion meant that the transaction went smoothly and everyone got what they needed.

In the evening, there was a lot of excitement outside the gate of Wei Mansion in Nanxunfang. Cars and sedans kept coming from all directions, and the people getting off the cars were all covered in silk and satin, and were dressed in official dignity.

Of course, these people were all the top nobles in the capital. In addition to several princes, several marquises and earls who were valued by Emperor Longqing were also present.

Although some people only inherited the title of earl, they were trusted by the emperor and entrusted with important responsibilities in some key positions, so they naturally became the top of the noble circle in the capital.

Yes, the noble circle is not lined up entirely according to hereditary titles, but according to official position and closeness to the emperor.

However, as the only few dukes, Duke Cheng Guo, Duke Ding and Duke Ying are naturally the ones who receive the most attention from the emperor. Therefore, these Dukes have held important positions in the court from beginning to end, almost taking turns in charge of the capital camp. The position of admiral.

Wei Guangde did not go out to greet the guests. Instead, he invited the guests to the West Flower Hall at the second door.

The house built by the craftsmen of the Ministry of Industry is not only exquisite in workmanship, but also decorated with carved beams and paintings. It is very grand and is the main place where Wei Mansion entertains guests.

A group of people gathered around a large table. After some humility, the Duke of Cheng, Zhu Xizhong, and the Duke of England, Zhang Rong, sat at the head. Dukes of Ding, Xu Wenbi and Wei Guangde, sat with them. Below were the other princes.

After getting to the wine table, they exchanged some pleasantries and started changing glasses. A servant of the Wei family stood behind them to wait on them.

However, no one at the table was talking about the affairs of Beijing Camp at this time, but they were talking about family affairs and interesting things in the city these days.

Wei Guangde would usually hear some news from his wife and housekeeper when he returned home, but after all, the things he came into contact with were different, and the things these nobles said were also very interesting.

No, Chen Daji, Marquis of Ningyang, now leads the Military and Horse Division, and is regarded as the city defense commander of Beijing. He mentioned that two days before the censor patrolled the city, he caught a group of thieves secretly transporting iron items outside the city.

Hearing this, many people at the table stopped drinking and looked over curiously.

"I was shocked when I heard the news. Ironware is strictly controlled by the imperial court, and someone actually wants to export it."

Chen Daji said with an exaggerated expression: "When I got there, I looked at the seized iron tools, including hoes, rakes and iron pots, and the thieves were severely interrogated.

At first I thought I had caught a big fish, but I was still wondering if there was some rebellion, and I finally found out who sneaked up to me at night to beg for mercy. "

"Who is it? Tell us directly and we will listen. Which company is still in the hoe business?"

Xu Wenbi asked directly.

"Hey, the North Korean envoy stayed in the capital for two months. He said he wanted to bask in the glory of the Ming Dynasty, but he ended up sneaking around to buy things."

Chen Daji said.

"North Korean mission? They haven't left yet?"

Wei Guangde asked strangely.

"They just planned to leave, but they brought too much private goods with them and it was difficult to leave, so they hired people to quietly transport some things out of the city, then meet up outside the city and return home under the flag of the mission."

Chen Daji said.

"Pay tribute, the court doesn't give you a reward, why do they still want to take it?"

Wei Guangde asked.

"It's all mine, not the king of North Korea's."

Xu Wenbi seemed to be surprised and said, "Those envoys who came to the Ming Dynasty did not take the opportunity to get some private goods back, but in the past they were all silk brocade, and ironware was rare.

I remember that the imperial court seemed to reward me with iron materials."

"Who says it's not the case, but there are people in the envoys who are greedy for small profits and privately purchase a lot of iron tools to take back home and sell. After all, the imperial court provides a lot of iron materials. They take them back and hand them over directly to the North Korean court. They won’t get much.”

Chen Daji said.

"It seems that every time a delegation comes to Beijing, the censor patrolling the city is very energetic, haha."

"Everyone knows what they are going to do. After official matters are done, they have to be busy with their own private matters. In the past, they just overloaded the camel and collected public property for private use. The amount like this time is still relatively rare, weighing several hundred kilograms. Na."

As they talked, Wei Guangde learned that these foreign missions came to the Ming Dynasty, in addition to normal tribute trade, they would also secretly bring goods back to the country and sell them to make money.

Well, thinking that a mission would take several months and there would be hardships along the way, Wei Guangde didn't want to worry about it.

Commodities such as iron salt tea and other commodities are restricted by the imperial court. A small amount of domestic transactions are fine, but if you want to go abroad, you must go through a lot of approvals. You cannot just ship them out casually. There are countless checkpoints to review official documents along the way.

However, it would be much more convenient to use the mission for smuggling.

"Then the officials we go to North Korea to enthrone are the people from the Pingren Department. Will they also bring some souvenirs when they come back?"

Wei Guangde thought that since foreigners came to Ming Dynasty to bring private goods with them, would the domestic envoys also bring something back with them when they went out, so he asked.

"Of course, North Korea is a poor country, but furs such as fox fur, leopard fur, and mink fur are really good. Officials who go out for canonization also bring back large and small boxes."

"Those things are not available in Liaodong."

Soon the topic on the table turned to the local specialties of Liaodong and other places. Each of these nobles had their own territory, most of which were the cities that their ancestors had guarded before and the personal connections left there.

Later, when the children of the family went out for training and gold plating, they often chose these places. Naturally, the contact between the two parties has always been maintained, even very frequent.

The local government would send tributes every year, and they would protect people in the capital. Corruption was common in the Ming Dynasty, and this was actually how it was formed.

Local officials are not afraid of trouble at all and dare to embezzle any amount of money. Anyway, there are people in the capital, and if something goes wrong, someone will take action to settle it.

However, what Wei Guangde was thinking about at this moment was not what good goods were worth importing from North Korea, but that the Liaodong Chamber of Commerce seemed to have transactions with North Korea and smuggled things back from there.

Come on, it seems that I have become the protective umbrella of the largest smuggling gang in the Ming Dynasty.

The former smugglers must be from Jiangnan.

However, with the opening of Yuegang, most of these smugglers have been successfully laundered, and they were still done by him.

But some businesses related to him seem to have not yet obtained official business licenses.

Wei Guangde secretly made a decision in his heart. He would go back and ask about the situation of Yuegang in detail, and then consider establishing another Yuegang in Tianjin or somewhere in Liaodong.

In the second year of Longqing, Yuegang sent 30,000 taels of silver to the inner court. In addition, the Fujian government also received some. Wei Guangde did not pay much attention to the details of the division at the time in order to avoid suspicion. Instead, Ma Sen, the Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue, and Tu Zemin, the governor of Fujian Agreed.

After talking for a while, Zhu Xizhong finally spoke about the Beijing camp.

"Shandai, I heard that you want to report to His Majesty that you want to stop the eunuchs from reviewing the capital, and instead have His Majesty personally review it. Why didn't you mention this important matter at the banquet a few days ago?"

Zhu Xizhong's words successfully provoked the highlight of the night. This was not the reason why they came to Wei Guangde.

If the emperor really does not go to the capital camp every three years, then the various camps that have been trained now must be retained, otherwise they will not be able to show it to the emperor.

But if this is the case, although they will still take money from these sergeants, of course the soldiers who have been trained for a long time and those who have not been trained will not receive the same military salary. This is robbing them of money.

As for the eunuchs who review, they can be sent away by giving them some money, and often they just need to practice temporarily a few days before the review.

Those eunuchs will not be serious, let alone embarrass nobles like them.

"My lord, this matter about the Beijing camp is not about what I want to do, but because His Majesty is very dissatisfied with the current weakening of the Beijing camp's combat power, especially after the Shicheng incident.

At that time, His Majesty called me to the palace to talk about this matter. He planned to completely shake up the Beijing Camp from top to bottom, send all the generals from the Beijing Camp to the border towns for training, and mobilize the border troops to bring back generals who are good at fighting."

Wei Guangde elaborated on the matter, and by the way said that when His Majesty was still in Yuzhuan, he had actually heard about the laziness of the soldiers in the Beijing camp, but there was no way to solve it at the time.

But after His Majesty ascends the throne, he will naturally do something to change the current situation, especially the combat effectiveness of the Beijing camp must be improved.

"Your Majesty said that he was still young during the Gengxu Incident, but he also saw the panic among people in the capital at that time. This was absolutely unacceptable to him.

When I heard that His Majesty wanted to transfer all the people, and then select generals from the border towns to come to the capital, how could this work?

Although I have never been in contact with the Beijing camp, I know that the generals and officers there are related to you. Given the current situation, it would be a narrow escape to experience this.

However, His Majesty was eager to see the changes in the Beijing Camp, so he came up with a way to let His Majesty conduct a grand review of the Beijing Camp, train an elite force to show His Majesty, and let him know that the Beijing Camp now is not the same as before. "

"Then there is no need for your Majesty to conduct a grand review every three years."

Zhu Xizhong frowned and said.

When Wei Guangde mentioned the Shicheng incident, Zhu Xizhong was naturally impressed. He was also called out by Emperor Longqing to talk about it, but he did not come up with an idea. However, he did feel the emperor's dissatisfaction with the Beijing camp at that time.

"If the capital camp does not make some changes and cannot satisfy His Majesty, no one knows what His Majesty will do next."

Wei Guangde looked at Cheng Guogong and said: "In fact, when he was in Yuzhuan, His Majesty was deeply disgusted by the fact that the sergeants had their military pay deducted, and he was dissatisfied with the powerful officials in the capital forcing the soldiers in the capital camp to do private things.

If His Majesty is not allowed to review the capital camp regularly and knows that the capital camp is changing according to his wishes, the consequences will be unpredictable. "

When Wei Guangde mentioned the deduction of military pay and private soldiers, everyone's expressions changed slightly.

"In the fifteenth year of Jiajing's reign, Wang Tingxiang, the imperial censor of the capital, reported the three shortcomings of the capital camp when he was supervising the regiment camp. His Majesty often took it out to read when he was rich."

Wei Guangde said again.

People who didn't know about the old events that Wei Guangde mentioned were still looking around, but those who knew had their faces changed drastically.

In fact, the problem of the capital camp in the Ming Dynasty had been clearly stated in memorials decades ago.

Wang Ting mentioned three disadvantages in his memorial: 1. There are many different factions of sergeants who work all year round and are not allowed to enter the military service. Although he is known as Tuanyingzhengzheng, he is actually no different from Tian Fu.

2. When replacing sergeants, the subordinates need to ask for bribes. The poor army cannot do it, the old and the poor can only serve, but the able and strong children cannot be recruited and trained.

3. The rich army is afraid of the camp and training, and bribes the generals to place them in their hometowns. The poor ones, although they are old and tired, still practice regularly.

Wei Guangde looked confused when he saw the British Duke Zhang Rong, Dingguo Duke Xu Wenbi and others in the audience, so he simply explained the three shortcomings that Wang Ting had stated at that time.

"With these three shortcomings, and your Majesty's knowledge of the deduction of military pay, it's time for the Beijing camp to be rectified."

Wei Guangde said finally.

"We are actually aware of the problems in Beijing Camp, but if we really need to rectify them, I'm worried that there will be chaos down there."

Zhang Rong frowned and said, Zhu Xizhong also nodded when he heard this.

They have reached the peak, and all they want is peace in the world and the inheritance of the title.