The Prosperous Era of Longwan

The Ming Ancestral Mausoleum is, of course, the ancestral mausoleum found by Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming Dynasty. For those who sit on the throne, repairing the ancestral mausoleum is of course the right thing to do.

In the feudal dynasty, becoming an emperor was not a matter of "the tide is turning, come to my house today", but one must have an orthodox background.

For example, Liu Bei during the Three Kingdoms period was supported by everyone because he was "the son of Emperor Zhongshan Jing of Han Dynasty", the so-called "uncle" of the emperor, so he was also called Emperor Uncle Liu.

As for the ancestor of the Liu family, Liu Bang, he was born as the "Sishui Pavilion Chief". In the words of later generations, he could barely be considered a member of the system, and was just the lowest civil servant.

Qin Emperor Hanwu, Tang Zong Song Zu, careful research will reveal that all of them have prominent family backgrounds. The Li Tang family was originally a wealthy family in Guanzhong, and Zhao Kuangyin was a military general. The old saying "poor in literature and rich in martial arts" can roughly infer their family origins.

Throughout history, only Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, was truly from the grassroots and completed an unprecedented class leap.

Zhu Yuanzhang's background was shabby. According to the saying a few decades ago, he had been extremely poor for generations. In his generation, poverty was inherited again.

He herded cattle, worked as a beggar, and as a monk. He was oppressed and impoverished in the first half of his life.

It was not until later that he joined the Red Scarf Army and participated in the struggle against the tyranny of the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty. After defeating the peasant uprising army and the remaining forces of the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty through a series of wars, he proclaimed himself emperor in Nanjing and established the Ming Dynasty.

After Zhu Yuanzhang became emperor, he still had a problem that tormented him, that is, how to improve his own origin and convince the people that he was the emperor.

On the other hand, how can we make the country that we have finally conquered continue forever in the hands of the descendants of the surname Zhu?

At that time, Liu Ji and Liu Bowen suggested that Zhu Yuanzhang bury the souls of his ancestors in the "Feng Shui Treasure Land", so Zhu Yuanzhang followed the suggestion of "My Son's Fang".

As early as when he was young, his father Zhu Wusi died of an epidemic in Fengyang, Anhui. After Zhu Yuanzhang ascended the throne, he posthumously named Zhu Wusi "Emperor Chun" and built the Ming Emperor's Mausoleum in Fengyang for Zhu Wusi.

Since he was building an ancestral mausoleum, he naturally had to build an imperial mausoleum for his great-grandfather, great-grandfather and grandfather. However, he had no idea where his ancestors were buried, so he asked around to find the ancestral tomb.

Zhu Yuanzhang took great pains to find the graves of his ancestors, which also caused a lot of troubles. In order to have a relationship with Zhu Yuanzhang, some people fabricated that their ancestors were from the same branch of their family, naturally in order to "find the king."

For this reason, Zhu Yuanzhang severely punished some people, so that the incidents of pretending to be relatives were reduced.

However, he still did not stop searching. Finally, the officials sent out got the news. An old man with a long life told Zhu Gui that Zhu Yuanzhang's grandfather was buried in Yangjiadun, only half a mile away from Sunjiagang.

In addition, the old man also talked about a legendary experience about Zhu Chuyi. Of course, how these legends came about is actually "the benevolent sees the benevolence and the wise see the wisdom."

It is said that before Zhu Chuyi moved to Sizhou, he did flee with his family to Jurong, Jiangnan due to the invasion of Yuan soldiers. However, because he could not afford to pay the exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes there, he had to flee with his family to Jurong in order to avoid being arrested by the officers and soldiers. Sunjiagang, Sizhou, Jiangbei.

Because he was very poor, Zhu Chuyi made a living by cutting grass. One day he was cutting grass in Yangjiadun. When he was tired, he lay down in the grass nest on the mound to rest.

At this time, two Taoist priests passed by. After looking around at the terrain, the old Taoist sighed: "This is actually a geomantic treasure land."

The apprentice asked curiously: "How did the master know?" The old Taoist priest explained: "The ground here is warm. If you insert a branch, it will sprout in just ten days."

After saying that, he found a branch on the ground and stuck it on the mound, and then left with his apprentice.

The words of the two Taoist priests fell on Zhu Chuyi's ears. Out of curiosity, he came to look at the dead branches every day when he was cutting grass.

On the tenth day, he found that the dead branch had actually sprouted. This surprised him, so he pulled out the sprouting branch and replaced it with a dead branch.

Not long after Zhu Chuyi finished changing, the two Taoist priests came back. The young Taoist saw that the dead branches had not sprouted, so he asked the old Taoist priest what was going on.

After checking it, the old Taoist priest said: "This branch has been replaced by someone." Then they found Zhu Chuyi in the grass nest next to him, and Zhu Chuyi admitted that he had replaced the dead branch.

The old Taoist priest said, since you have heard our conversation, you must not mention it to others. If you are buried here in a hundred years, a noble person will be born in your family.

Later, before Zhu Chuyi died, he told his son Zhu Wusi that he must be buried in the grass nest in Yangjiadun.

Zhu Wusi was a filial son. Although he didn't know what medicine Zhu Chuyi sold in his gourd, he still followed his advice and buried him in the grass nest in Yangjiadun.

You don't need to think carefully about these legends. You only need to know that Ming history records that on the day Zhu Yuanzhang was born, a red light shot into the sky, and everyone who saw it was amazed, and you will know how credible this legend is.

But in any case, Zhu Yuanzhang determined that this was the location of the ancestral mausoleum, so he built the Ming ancestral mausoleum in Sizhou City.

Mainly because the Ming Dynasty was still there, he was naturally particularly concerned about his ancestors' tombs, so Wei Guangde reminded Zhu Heng to take precautions in this regard.

Later, when the river construction was discussed again, Wei Guangde still seemed indifferent. The main reason was that he did not know how to control water and had no say.

However, the result of this ministerial meeting was not good. The Ministry of Household Affairs said that it could not come up with the silver required by the Ministry of Works, and could only offset part of it by transferring grain and tax from the nearest place.

"It's already the end of the year, and the imperial court still has a lot of expenses to pay, including officials' salaries and soldiers' pay in the capital camp. The Ministry of Revenue doesn't dare to release money easily."

Finally, Liu Tiqian, the Minister of Household Affairs, finally said.

After leaving Li Chunfang's duty room, Wei Guangde heard the news that Gao Gongshu, the former young master and crown prince's tutor, the official's minister, and the bachelor of Wuyingdian Palace, had resigned. Emperor Longqing immediately sent the memorial to Qianqing Palace. The reply was, "Gongfu Bi is an old minister with good moral character and good reputation. He was ordered to take up his post but was not allowed to resign."

Upon hearing the news, Wei Guangde smiled at Yin Shizhen beside him and said, "He should return to the cabinet tomorrow to do business."

"Yes, I heard that his disciples have broken through the threshold of his mansion these days."

Yin Shizhen also smiled and said, "When I first left the capital, haha."

Wei Guangde just smiled at Yin Shizhen's words.

Who would have thought that the person who was hated by people and disliked by dogs would one day return to the court. Things are unpredictable, and it is really a big intestine wrapped in a small intestine.

When Wei Guangde returned to his room, Lu Bu quickly followed him and whispered in his ear: "Sir, there is a note from the Minister of Justice."

"Oh? Where?"

When Wei Guangde heard that it was a note from the Ministry of Punishment, he immediately perked up. He had been waiting for the news for two days.

"It's on your desk."

Lu Bu replied softly.

Wei Guangde returned to the desk, picked up the envelope, tore open the seal, took out the note inside and took a look. Sure enough, it was the news he was waiting for.

Lin Fiao sent the original and duplicate copies of the file and confession to the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Punishment respectively. You Jujing, the right minister of the Punishment Ministry, saw the official document sent from Nanjing and immediately handed the note to Wei Guangde.

Not long after, news came from the Ministry of Rites, and official documents from Nanjing also arrived.

Handing the note to Wei Guangde was certainly not what he wanted to do in it.

After all, it involves the Duke of Wei in Nanjing, and Wei Guangde needs to avoid suspicion.

Moreover, what they will do next has been planned for a long time, and now the news has spread in their respective ministries, making everyone feel disgusted and take advantage of the opportunity to ask for a thorough investigation into the matter.

Without anyone noticing, things developed in the direction Wei Guangde hoped.

In Beijing, the case of Wei Guogong's government defrauding people's imperial edicts was slowly brewing, but in the Yingtianfu Yamen in Suzhou, Hai Rui finally signed a document requiring all Yamen to start arresting Xu Jie's nephew and bring him to justice.

Hai Rui withstood the pressure letter from Nanjing and insisted on bringing to justice the case of Xu family's occupation of civilian land in Huating. This also heralded the complete breakdown of the relationship between Hai Rui and Xu Jie.

At this time, in the old house of the Xu family in Huating County, only Xu Jie lived here. His three sons now all live in the house outside.

Xu Jie had previously sent someone to deliver a message to them not to return to their old residence in Huating, so they hid in houses in other state capitals.

Although he had expected it, Xu Jie still felt angry when he received the news that Hai Rui was really disrespectful and listed his son as a wanted person.

For this reason, his favorite blue and white tea set was smashed to the ground, and he couldn't get rid of his anger.

The Xu family's face was completely lost. Because of the sea arrest document signed by Hai Rui, all the ten houses in Yingtian knew that Xu Jie's son was wanted by the government and had become a criminal. This gave him no face to see others.

Since Hai Rui won't give him face, Xu Jie doesn't intend to tolerate it any longer. He will use his former official connections to find a way to get Hai Rui away.

If you are afraid of Gao Gong, can you not even defeat a governor of Yingtian?

Of course Xu Jie knew that the current situation was special, especially since Gao Gong might have arrived in the capital, so it was too late to take action against Hai Rui at this time.

But there was no other way. We had to fight back. We had to find a way to get the people away. Letting Hai Rui stay in Yingtian Mansion would be a disaster after all.

Xu Jie thought about the people in the capital. Of course he would not let Zhang Juzheng take action. The current situation was sensitive. Zhang Juzheng was working with Gao Gong in the cabinet, and his every move might be observed.

Zhang Juzheng was the one who relied on him to stay in the court after he became an official. He asked Yang Bo for help, but Hai Rui's rank exceeded the scope of the official department.

Hai Rui's rank is a bit high, and the officials cannot change his position at all.

Until now, Xu Jie still doesn't know that Yang Bo has resigned due to health reasons and wants to follow his example and return to his hometown to retire.

Therefore, it would be a bit troublesome to get rid of Hai Rui through normal means.

However, since they had already broken up with each other, Xu Jie did not intend to show any mercy to Hai Rui. He would just find someone to impeach him.

How to impeach, Xu Jie, as someone who has been immersed in officialdom for decades, is naturally familiar with it. It is impossible to expect someone to be removed with a memorial.

You still have to use chain sets and combination attacks to shake his foundation bit by bit.

Regardless of the fact that Hai Rui holds the official position of Governor of Yingtian, after all, the Xu family has been working here for many years and has complicated and deeply involved relationships with local governments. Therefore, Hai Rui's official document can be issued, but his account may not be sold below.

Therefore, Xu Jie actually still has enough time to deal with this matter.

I've already lost my face, so I won't think about it anymore, and just don't go out to visit old friends anymore.

With the help of the maid, Xu Jie entered the study room and polished the ink. Xu Jie took up his pen and wrote several letters to the capital in one breath, respectively to Zhang Juzheng, Yang Bo and people in the Sixth Section.

Although the censors of the Metropolitan Procuratorate are as sharp as swords, people in the Sixth Section supervise hundreds of officials. They are closer to the emperor and their words have more weight.

After writing the letter, he immediately called the housekeeper and arranged for couriers to be delivered to various mansions in the capital.

At this time, Gao Gong had just received a memorial from Emperor Longqing, asking him to join the cabinet immediately and not to refuse.

After the process was completed, Gao Gong was very happy and felt very proud. Now he went back to the house to continue receiving the visitors.

There were really too many people coming during this time. At first, many of them were his former disciples, but later, perhaps because he was so friendly, some other people began to take the opportunity to visit him, hoping to get closer to him.

Although he was deeply troubled in his heart, Gao Gong knew that now was the time to re-establish his personality, so he still greeted him with a smile.

At the beginning, he was too upright in his actions and gentle in his treatment of people and things, so he was isolated by the officials. Now that he is coming back, he naturally does not want to make the same mistakes again.

"Chuntai, you are still at home idle now, haven't you been assigned an official position by the Ministry of Personnel?"

Gao Gong asked pretending to be concerned.

The person visiting the house today is considered to be his student of Gao Gong. His name is Cai Guoxi, whose courtesy name is Chuntai. He is the thirty-eighth Jinshi of Jiajing.

The chief examiner of the examination that year was Li Ji, who was in charge of the affairs of the government, the right minister of the Ministry of official affairs, and a bachelor of the Hanlin Academy. The deputy examiner was the Shaoqing of Taichang Temple and a bachelor of the Hanlin Academy, and the chief examiner was Yan Na, who was a minister of the Hanlin Academy. As a lecturer, he participated in the joint examination and the palace examination.

In the examination, Cai Guoxi was recommended by Gao Gong, so Gao Gong was also his "seat teacher".

It's just that at that time, Gao Gong was mainly acting as an agent for Prince Yu's Mansion and had not officially entered the officialdom. He only left Prince Yu's Mansion at the end of the year and was promoted rapidly.

And Cai Guoxi didn't come much after that, except for a visit from Jinshi.

Of course, it doesn't mean that he doesn't come to visit him as a teacher, but that he was sent to other places as an official after observing politics in the Ministry of Punishment.

However, what made Gao Gong displeased with him was that he knew that Cai Guoxi might have disliked him for his low rank as a teacher, so he not only came to him to hand over a post, but also went up a pole to curry favor with Xu Jie and delivered a post to a disciple. .

Speaking of which, Cai Guoxi also had a unique vision, and he actually became Xu Jie's disciple, and also his Gao Gong's student.

Okay, now this is a little embarrassing.

"Teacher, the student was still serving as the magistrate of Suzhou the year before last. It was just because his mother passed away and he was in charge of the job. Although he was already full, he went to the Ministry of Civil Affairs to wait for news. There was no vacancy for the time being, so the student was asked to wait for half a year.

Students are dedicated to serving the country, but now that there are no vacancies in the government, they are really helpless. "

Cai Guoxi was a Yongnian native of Guangping Prefecture in the capital, but his family background was average, so he worked hard in the camp.

It was hard to get an official position, but he lost it because of Ding You. He didn't know that he would have to wait until the Year of the Monkey to get a new appointment from the Ministry of Personnel.

Now that Master Gao Gong has returned to Beijing, he made a special trip from Yongnian to the capital, hoping to use Gao Gong's power to find a job.

"You were once the prefect of Suzhou"

After hearing Cai Guoxi's words, Gao Gong suddenly became interested. (End of chapter)