Chapter 1172 1263 Liu Tai Is Exiled

"Squeak."

The two vermilion doors opened inward, and Wei Guangde walked out slowly. Two long-servants walked in front of him with lanterns to light the way.

The sedan chair outside the door had been parked there for a long time. When Wei Guangde approached, the porters behind raised the sedan chair pole, and the sedan chair tilted forward. Zhang Ji lifted the curtain of the sedan chair, and Wei Guangde sat in.

When the sedan chair carriers lifted the sedan chair together, the curtain swayed slightly, and Wei Guangde's face appeared in the sedan window.

"Zhang Ji, arrange another house for those people, don't stay here."

Wei Guangde whispered to Zhang Ji outside.

This house in Baodafang is known to many people in the mansion, and it is difficult to keep it secret.

Wei Guangde didn't want the news to be passed back to the mansion for Xu Jianglan to know, although it seemed that even if she knew it, it would be nothing.

In this era, this kind of thing is actually very common, and the mistresses of each mansion generally don't care, but Wei Guangde still doesn't want too many people in the mansion to know.

After all, it would be hard to explain their origins if they were known.

"Yes, sir, don't worry, I know what to do."

Zhang Ji answered softly outside.

"Well, let's go back to the mansion."

Wei Guangde spoke again.

"Lift the sedan, sir, go back to the mansion."

Zhang Ji shouted to the sedan bearers, and several sedan bearers lifted the sedan again and walked towards Wei's mansion in Nanxunfang.

In the sedan, Wei Guangde's face was still full of excitement after joy.

Qi Jiguang was a first-class warrior, but he didn't expect that his gift-giving skills were also upgrading, and now he has reached super first-class.

Before this, Qi Jiguang sent a lot of ice and charcoal gifts to Wei's mansion every year, but most of the wealth he sent was gold, silver, and jewelry.

This time, I don't know whether Qi Jiguang himself was enlightened or someone else pointed out that he actually thought of sending a beautiful girl.

Originally in history, Qi Jiguang's rise to wealth began when he surrendered to Hu Zongxian.

In order to suppress the Japanese pirates, Hu Zongxian gave Qi Jiguang a lot of power and even asked him to recruit soldiers to suppress the Japanese pirates.

According to the merits of suppressing the Japanese pirates, the bounty issued by the government was obtained, that is, the bounty issued by the government was obtained by taking the heads of Japanese pirates.

In fact, the benefits were very exaggerated.

You should know that in the late Jiajing Dynasty, the imperial court was troubled by the Japanese pirates, so the coastal governments continued to increase the bounty for suppressing the Japanese pirates.

At this time, the heads of Japanese pirates were no longer military merits, but real silver.

Throughout the history of the Ming Dynasty, the bounty for heads has always been the highest for Mongolians.

During the Zhengde period, according to the regulations at that time, if a Mongolian cavalry head was captured, the official could be promoted by one level or receive a bounty of 50 taels of silver.

In the 29th year of Jiajing, when Altan Khan personally led the army all the way to Gubeikou, Miyun, the suburbs of Beijing, and approached Beijing City, Emperor Jiajing did not care about cultivating Taoism, and ordered all places to serve the king, offering a bounty of 100 taels of silver for each head.

This is the highest price for Mongolian heads.

At this time, for the Japanese riots that had never stopped since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the government offered a bounty of 15 taels of silver.

In fact, this bounty was not low.

You know, the price of a Mongolian head is as high as fifty taels, that's because Mongolians mostly ride horses, have strong mobility, come and go like the wind, and it's difficult to get their heads even if they are killed.

But the Japanese pirates are different, as long as they are killed, they can be obtained.

But even so, for a long time in the middle and late Jiajing period, because the Japanese pirates were notorious, the Ming Dynasty's record of suppressing the Japanese pirates was not good.

So, after Hu Zongxian became the governor of Jiangnan to suppress the Japanese pirates, in addition to collecting a large amount of wealth by collecting lijin and raising taxes, he also directly doubled the price of the Japanese pirates' heads, that is, playing the game of "there must be brave men under a big reward".

The effect was not obvious at the beginning, after all, the cost of killing real Japanese pirates was too high, and many people died for it but it was difficult to get anything.

The transaction of Japanese pirate heads between Qi Jiguang and Hu Zongxian was thirty taels of silver for each real Japanese pirate head, and five taels of silver for fake Japanese pirates.

After getting the silver from Hu Zongxian, Qi Jiguang distributed it to the camp soldiers, that is, the Qi family army.

According to relevant records of the Ming Dynasty, the number of heads captured reported by Qi's army was 7,696. This number specifically refers to the real Japanese pirates, and the required bounty is 230,000 taels.

As for the fake Japanese heads reported by Qi's army, the number is simply impossible to calculate.

After all, there were too many pirates in Jiangnan at that time, and even many boat people along the coast were pirates.

Therefore, the censors later impeached Hu Zongxian and Qi Jiguang for falsely reporting their achievements and embezzling the reward money.

Moreover, in addition to the reward money for suppressing the Japanese pirates, Qi Jiguang raided the Japanese pirates' nests many times, and the spoils he obtained were also extremely rich.

Most of these wealth fell into Qi Jiguang's hands.

This is the source of funds that Qi Jiguang was able to bribe ministers in the court in the early and middle periods.

And he also won the favor of civil officials, so his career was prosperous.

Tan Lun and Zhang Juzheng were both his benefactors, constantly promoting him and using him.

It is really that Qi Jiguang is good at calculating, too good at fighting, and even better at making money.

Regardless of the era, such people can actually make a name for themselves.

And now Wei Guangde, who was sitting in the sedan chair, was also interested in how much money Qi Jiguang had for the first time.

Yes, the generous gift sent this time, according to Qi Jiguang's letter, was the spoils obtained from the conquest of Hongli Village.

But the four beauties were not, but Qi Jiguang bought them at a high price.

In ancient China, most dynasties banned human trafficking, but only targeted the poor, and there was no restriction on the low-class people.

This was the case in the Ming Dynasty, where the low-class people could be bought and sold, but the price was also extremely low.

Under normal circumstances, it would not exceed ten taels of silver, and most of them were two or three taels each.

But the Meiji that Qi Jiguang came over was definitely not at this price. They were all carefully selected lowly women. After several years or even longer training, they could only be bought at a high price, even worth a thousand gold.

At this time, Wei Guangde couldn't help but recall the news he had read in his previous life, which was not necessarily accurate. That is to say, Qi Jiguang had spent a lot of money to buy a beautiful girl as a gift to Zhang Juzheng, and also gave some fur seals to replenish his body.

Of course, most of these news actually come from unofficial histories of the Ming Dynasty. For example, Qi Jiguang sent beautiful women and tonics to Zhang Juzheng. The original record is actually mentioned in the "Zhengzhuan of Zhang Gongju" written by Wang Shizhen of the Ming Dynasty.

According to the book, Zhang Juzheng died of excessive lust. Tan Lun, Minister of the Ministry of War, once taught him the art of Fangzhong, and Qi Jiguang, the commander-in-chief of Jizhou, paid a lot of money to buy the beautiful girl "Qianjinji" as a gift to him.

This matter cannot be verified and is not recorded or recognized by other official historical materials.

However, because of curiosity, it was widely spread in later generations.

Wei Guangde believes it now.

Originally, these were supposed to be given to Zhang Juzheng by Qi Jiguang, but his master changed in this life.

On the other hand, Wei Guangde was a little curious as to whether Tan Lun knew the Fang Zhongshu. He was already so familiar with it, but he had never heard Tan Lun mention it.

"You have to ask Tan Lun if you have time."

Wei Guangde made up his mind. If he hadn't seen the beautiful girl sent by Qi Jiguang today, he would have almost forgotten about it.

After all, in later generations, he just wanted to see it as a novelty, so don’t take it too seriously.

People have been dead for hundreds of years. What's the point of exploring these? It's all dusty history.

By the way, there is one person who needs to be taken seriously.

Suddenly, Wei Guangde's heart moved, and he thought that the source of these records was Wang Shizhen.

This person's book seems to have been widely circulated in later generations. Zhang Ji should pay attention to it. Don't write about Zhang Taiyue, but also write about himself, create a "biography of Wei Guangde", and turn Qi Jiguang's gift of Zhang Juzheng's beauty and sea dog into a If you write about yourself, it won’t be beautiful.

Wei Guangde likes to read other people's gossip news, but that doesn't mean he likes to let others read his own gossip news, not to mention that if he doesn't do well, he will "leave his name in history."

Early the next morning, Wei Guangde had breakfast in his mansion, and then came to the imperial city in a sedan chair.

After returning to the check-in room, Wei Guangde waited for Lu Bu to bring the tea and then asked: "Lu Bu, do you know Wang Shizhen's officials?"

"Wang Shizhen?"

Lu Bu shook his head slightly.

Seeing this, Wei Guangde knew that Wang Shizhen must not be an official in the capital now.

He always felt like he had seen it somewhere before, but couldn't remember it for the moment.

I don't know if it's because of overwork. In the past, his memory was good and he could remember everything he saw.

"Then you ask someone to go to the Ministry of Civil Affairs to check. If they find it, give me a copy."

Wei Guangde gave an order.

This is the advantage of being an official. He doesn't need to do anything personally. He just needs to say a word and someone will do it.

Of course, when you become an official, you have to bear responsibility for the decisions you make.

However, for later generations of Wei Guangde, standing on the shoulders of giants, it is actually difficult to make mistakes.

If there is no reference for government affairs, the worst thing is not to say anything. The so-called not doing anything is good.

Anyway, now Zhang Juzheng is the first assistant, supporting from the front.

They could shut up, but Zhang Juzheng couldn't. He had to make a decision, and of course there would be consequences for being captured.

It is not that easy to go to the official department to check people, even if they are the people Wei Guangde is looking for.

I only know the name, but I don’t know if there is anyone with the same name. It is estimated that the results will not be sent until the afternoon at the earliest.

Wei Guangde naturally started to deal with government affairs. He couldn't just sit in the cabinet duty room and do nothing.

After flipping through two memorials, Lu Bu suddenly came in from outside, holding a memorial in his hand.

It was obviously someone who was stuffed in from the capital's Yamen, and it was probably an urgent matter.

Otherwise, it would not fall into his hands. Instead, Zhongshu would sort out all the memorials and distribute them to three value rooms.

"What's up?"

Wei Guangde asked casually.

As he spoke, his hands kept moving, and he drafted the draft in a hurry. He directly sandwiched it in the memorial and put it aside.

"Sir, this is a memorial sent by the Metropolitan Procuratorate. It is a document about the case of Liu Tai in Huguang."

Lu Bu held it in both hands and brought it to Wei Guangde. Wei Guangde sighed and reached out to take it and look through it.

The memorial was written by Wang Zongzai, the governor of Huguang, and recounted the trial process of Liu Tai, basically confirming the fact that Liu Tai accepted bribes during his stay in Liaodong.

In fact, since Yu Yingchang sent the memorial back from Liaodong, Liu Tai's case has actually become an ironclad case, and there is no way to turn around it.

Not to mention anything else, just because Zhang Ju was in power, even if the people below were dissatisfied, no one would raise it at this time.

Isn't that a proper way to offend a person who is the chief minister of the dynasty and has studied the books of saints and sages, who would be such a fool?

Hai Rui might be able to do so, but even if he did not resign, he would still be an official in a certain department in Nanjing. He had the right to submit reports but had no right to intervene in the case.

"Dispatched to Guangxi."

Wei Guangde saw that the content of the memorial was that the results of the case in Huguang were reported to the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and the Metropolitan Procuratorate naturally followed this idea.

According to the memorial, not only Liu Tai was guilty, but his father Liu Zhenlong and his younger brother Liu Guo were also found guilty, and were sentenced together and sentenced to death.

Wei Guangde was a little surprised by this result. The crime will not be punished unless there is conclusive evidence that his relatives were involved in these crimes.

Shaking his head, Wei Guangde naturally would not offend Zhang Juzheng for Liu Tai. Even if he was not the instigator of this matter at first, he would definitely acquiesce to it at this time.

If someone were to investigate again, it would definitely make Zhang Juzheng unhappy.

Wei Guangde thought for a moment and took out a piece of paper and wrote the words "verify and investigate" on it. As for how the Ministry of Justice and the Censorate would verify, he didn't care.

As for accepting bribes, Liu Tai was really not wronged.

Thinking this way, Wei Guangde felt better.

"You will not live if you commit evil."

Wei Guangde just muttered softly and put the memorial aside.

In the afternoon, Lu Bu finally sent Wang Shizhen's information to Wei Guangde, and he suddenly realized that he had some impression of him.

This great writer is now serving as the right governor of Jiangxi. He has close contacts with Jiangxi officials. Although he has not had correspondence with this Jiangxi official, he has been mentioned in other people's letters.

Wang Shizhen is actually from the same department as Zhang Juzheng, but his career is much worse.

In the 26th year of Jiajing, he passed the imperial examination and successively served as the Left Temple of Dali Temple, the Deputy Minister and the Minister of Justice, the Deputy Envoy of Shandong Province, the Military Commissioner of Qingzhou, the Left Minister of Zhejiang Province, the Envoy of Shanxi Province and the Envoy of Huguang Province. He is currently the Right Governor of Guangxi.

In fact, this is the career of most of the Jinshi. After serving as an official for decades, they can only reach the fourth or fifth rank.

Putting the paper aside, Wei Guangde continued to deal with official documents and soon forgot about Wang Shizhen.

But today's things seemed to be more complicated. After a while, Lu Bu sent a more detailed report on the southwest war copied by the Ministry of War.

This time, the entire process of the Ava City Battle was described in detail, and the news that tens of thousands of Burmese troops in Tiebiguan had surrendered was also reported.

Nowadays, there are no organized Burmese troops in the southwest border, and the victory of the Ming Dynasty is certain.

After reading the battle report, Wei Guangde called Lu Bu, handed him the battle report and said, "Send it to the Prime Minister's duty room, let him be happy too."

"Okay."

Lu Bu took the battle report with both hands, agreed respectfully, and was about to leave when Wei Guangde asked again, "Has anyone from other government offices come to the cabinet today?"

"My lord, Minister Wang of the Ministry of Revenue just came, and I don't know if he has left yet."

Lu Bu immediately stopped and answered in a low voice.

"Oh, then you go there later, wait until he leaves."

Wei Guangde rolled his eyes and immediately changed his tone.

Wei Guangde could guess the reason why Wang Guoguang came to the cabinet, he must have come for money.

The cabinet decided yesterday that it would temporarily repair the river embankments on both sides of the Yellow River to prevent floods according to the Ministry of Works.

Although the river channel and the Ministry of Works have no good way to solve the Yellow River flood, prevention work cannot be delayed, and repairing the river embankment is the simplest and most direct way.

Of course, the difference between this time and the past is that flood channels will be reserved on both sides of the river bank, or in other words, the previous one big embankment will now be built into two inner and outer embankments, and at the same time, a suitable place will be found to build a sluice for temporary flood discharge.

In short, all the methods proposed by Wei Guangde will be used. As for whether they are effective, we will know only after trying.

Not only that, Pan Jixun also proposed to strengthen Gaojiayan, and at the same time, the embankment of Hongze Lake should also be renovated.

For such a large project, the money from the Ministry of Works is definitely not enough, so 30% needs to be paid by the Ministry of Revenue.

Wang Guoguang came to the cabinet, naturally for this matter.