Chapter 238 237 Someone Is Coming

On the second day after Wei Guangde returned to Beijing, there was a lot of traffic and people coming and going in front of the Jiujiang Guild Hall, but there was no order to summon him to Xiyuan.

Xiyuan didn't pass the order, but it didn't mean that no one came to Wei Guangde.

Near noon, two sedans stopped outside the Jiujiang Guild Hall. Gao Gong and Yin Shizhen got off the sedans one after another, and entered the Jiujiang Guild Hall with two guards carrying a box.

Wei Guangde did not entertain them in the lobby of the guild hall, but introduced them to the small courtyard where they lived behind.

"Guangde, congratulations. When the news of Baoan Prefecture's victory came out, the prince and we are very happy. It's not easy, it's not easy."

After entering the room and taking a seat, Gao Gong smiled.

But Wei Guangde hurriedly said humbly: "I don't dare to praise you as a high-ranking person. It is because the current emperor is so prosperous that the soldiers at the border can only achieve victory by using their lives. What the lower officials have done is really insignificant."

"Mr. Wei, you are so humble. How could it be so insignificant? The border officers are really so powerful. The Tatars have not been invading all these years without a solution. Your credit is your credit, and no one else can take it away. Both the prince and us I know."

Yin Shizhen interjected with a faint smile.

Wei Guangde pretended to be embarrassed and laughed dryly.

Then the two of them asked Wei Guangde about the progress of the battle during his trip to Xuanfu. To be honest, although Wei Guangde reported the battle progress, the written content was still not as intuitive as what the person involved said orally.

"This Liu Dazhang deserves to be damned. When he was in command in Liaodong, he was very brave and good at fighting. How could he be so miserable when he arrived at the Xuanfu? He was a dignified right-hand governor, but he was afraid of the enemy and was too timid to fight. It was embarrassing."

After hearing that Wei Guangde said that the Ma Fang tribe was in deep siege, he planned to take advantage of the opportunity of Anda tribe to mobilize troops to support Anda Khan, capture the Anda military camp with all his strength, and then send out the entire army to rescue Ma Fang tribe, but Liu Dazhang was met by Liu Dazhang. After being stopped, Yin Shizhen couldn't help but cursed.

"Don't be impatient, Guangde won in the end."

Gao Gong couldn't stand Yin Shizhen's irritable temper and stopped him.

Yin Shizhen then shut up angrily. In the palace, Gao Gong was always above him, so no matter what time, Shangguan was still Shangguan.

After that, Wei Guangde asked Dong Yiyuan to take control of Liu Dazhang and suppress the commotion of Liu Dazhang's soldiers. Gao Gong nodded sympathetically, and Yin Shizhen clapped his hands again.

Unconsciously, it was lunch time, and Wei Guangde asked Zhang Ji to inform the guild hall that they would not go out to eat since the food and wine would be brought inside at noon today.

When dealing with people from Prince Yu's Mansion, Wei Guangde thought it would be better to keep a low profile.

Although the arrival of Gao Gong and Yin Shizhen could not be hidden from those who were interested, if they were a little avoided, at least the unintentional people would not know about it.

In fact, after receiving the notification that Gao Gong and the others were coming, Wei Guangde knew that this was Prince Yu's Palace showing favor to him, and perhaps Prince Jing's Palace would also take action in the afternoon or tomorrow.

"It's already lunch time. Look, we've forgotten all the important things while chatting."

Hearing Wei Guangde ordering food and drinks, Gao Gongcai smiled as if he suddenly realized something, and then called the guards outside the door to bring in a wooden box.

Wei Guangde knew at a glance that it was the money he had lent to them before, and he was paying back the money.

Paying back the money is a matter of course and there is no reason to refuse.

Judging from this, the financial crisis of Prince Yu's Mansion should have been resolved. It seems that the eldest son Yan Shifan is too smart and too greedy for money. He will take any money.

Even Wei Guangde could figure it out, but a very smart person like Yan Shifan would not think of it, and dared to draw chestnuts from the fire. God wanted to make him go crazy first if he wanted to destroy him.

However, Gao Gong's next words stunned Wei Guangde.

"Guangde, here are 2,500 taels of silver. Two thousand taels were lent to you and are now being returned to you. The remaining five hundred taels are the interest given to you according to market practice."

"That's no need. I didn't want to charge any interest from the palace at the beginning. It was just for emergency."

Wei Guangde quickly declined, it would have been good if he didn't send money to Prince Yu, but he still wanted to make money from others?

Wei Guangde is not a longevity star and does not want to die.

"That's not what you said. Where in the world is there any money that can be borrowed for free? If it is true, Guangde, if you find me hundreds of thousands more taels, I will take it all."

Yin Shizhen said in a joke.

"Ha ha."

Gao Gong just smiled when he heard this, and then said: "Put the money here, I don't care about the rest.

Originally, we should have hosted a reception banquet for you when you returned to Beijing with orders, but now that we are here today, we have no intention of paying for this meal. "

After the banquet, Gao Gong and Yin Shizhen said goodbye and left.

In the afternoon, as expected, someone from Prince Jing's Mansion also sent gifts and warmly invited Wei Guangde to come over to have a talk. However, Wei Guangde naturally wanted to find a way to refuse at this time, but the conversation naturally involved the need to wait for Xiyuan at the guild hall. News over there.

After not being summoned by Emperor Jiajing for one day, Wei Guangde felt breathless. He didn't know what the emperor was thinking, so he had to start to speculate about the emperor.

In fact, trying to figure out the emperor's heart is a very taboo topic. After all, no matter who is the emperor, they don't like their subordinates to know their own temperament, especially the current emperor who thinks he is very smart.

However, as a minister, there is no one who does not try to figure out the superior's intentions, unless he no longer wants to be an official, or he is simply waiting to die and does not want to make progress.

Wei Guangde had just entered the officialdom at this time, so he naturally had no idea of ​​finding a place to retire. The cabinet was his current goal.

Wei Guangde began to carefully recall the Tangbao he had read before, hoping to sort out the temperament of Emperor Jiajing from them, so that he could cater to his preferences in Xiyuan.

But after thinking for a long time, it seemed that he was no different from ordinary emperors. If there was any difference, it was that he was cruel and ruthless, and he never showed mercy when killing people.

Yes, after Wei Guangde recalled, it seemed that the ministers who died at the hands of the current emperor were really not rare.

Not to mention the Great Ceremony Incident, how many people were beaten to death by the court stick.

After fighting with the ministers, he was still ruthless and directly beheaded the then prime minister. This seemed to be the first in the Ming Dynasty. The dignitaries killed by Zhu Yuanzhang at that time could not be compared with those who came later. There was no comparability and the purpose was different.

At the lunch banquet, Wei Guangde did say a few words to Gao Gong and Yin Shizun intentionally or unintentionally, but it was obvious that they were also very secretive.

In fact, it was not surprising. For the temperament of the current emperor, most court officials only discussed it privately with familiar and trusted officials.

Gao Gong and his men wanted to win over Wei Guangde, but after all, the contact time was too short, so they were not completely assured and could speak openly. Moreover, since Emperor Jiajing moved to the Western Garden after the "Renyin Palace Change", the morning court was basically useless without any major events.

The court officials had less contact time with the emperor, so their familiarity was greatly reduced. Only the cabinet and the six ministries and nine officials could meet the emperor when there was something to do. In addition, during the fasting and offering ceremony, they needed to present Qingci, and the scholars of the Hanlin Academy also had the opportunity to meet the emperor.

Gao Gong was okay, as he was also an expert in writing Qingci. People like Yin Shizan who could only write poems and articles were not very popular with Emperor Jiajing.

However, Gao Gong was not willing to talk more about these things at that time, but led the topic to other places, and Wei Guangde was helpless.

This meant that he had not been fully accepted by them yet. Now he was showing goodwill, but just expressing his intention, and he would have to see his performance later.

Finally, Wei Guangde found that apart from knowing that Emperor Jiajing loved Taoism and liked Qingci, he seemed to be unable to think of anything else. So he thought about Yan Song. He was so liked by Emperor Jiajing that he must have something extraordinary.

Yan Song's experience was quite interesting. He was born in the 16th year of Chenghua. In the 18th year of Hongzhi, he passed the imperial examination of Yichou and ranked second in the second class. He studied the Book of Songs, was selected as a scholar, and was later awarded the title of editor.

At this time, Yan Song had a serious illness, forcing him to retire and return home. During the ten years when Yan Song returned to his hometown to recuperate, the eunuch Liu Jin was in power.

This reminded Wei Guangde of another person. Wei Guangde had heard of him before, but he had no impression of him until he entered the Hanlin Academy. That person was Zhang Juzheng.

When Wei Guangde first heard of Zhang Juzheng in the Ming Dynasty, Zeng Xingwu said that he was Mr. Taiyue. At that time, Wei Guangde thought he was just an old Hanlin who retired and went home to live in retirement at the age of retirement, so he didn't think much about it.

After entering the Hanlin Academy, I found out that the Mr. Taiyue mentioned by Zeng Xingwu was actually the famous Zhang Juzheng.

Zhang Juzheng's courtesy name was Shuda, and his pseudonym was Taiyue. His childhood name was Zhang Baigui. He was from Jingzhou, Huguang. In the 26th year of Jiajing, Zhang Juzheng was the ninth Jinshi in the second class and was selected as a scholar. He was 23 years old that year.

The three years when Zhang Juzheng was a scholar happened to be the years when the political struggle in the Ming Dynasty was the most intense. Yan Song defeated Xia Yan to become the chief minister, and Xia Yan died in the street.

Wei Guangde didn't know whether the experience during that period taught Zhang Juzheng a lesson. Anyway, Zhang Juzheng returned to his hometown in Huguang in the name of recuperation a few years ago.

Thinking of this, Wei Guangde wondered whether he should learn from Yan Song and Zhang Juzheng and go home to recuperate if he wanted to stand out and sit on the position of chief minister.

Yan Song was powerful enough, right? Actually, in my impression, he was not as powerful as Zhang Juzheng, who was a person with great power. It seems that in the articles and novels I have seen, Zhang Juzheng even scolded the emperor, just like scolding his son.

He was very vigorous when he was alive, but it seemed very miserable after his death, which brought disaster to himself and his family.

However, in my impression, he was absolutely praised by later generations. Although he made mistakes, his merits far outweighed his faults. Some people even said that he extended the life of the Ming Dynasty for a hundred years.

As for the reforms carried out by Zhang Juzheng, Wei Guangde could not remember clearly. Anyway, it must have touched the interests of the powerful. Although he handled some places very smoothly, it was touched, and in the end he was counterattacked.

Or Yan Song, this man has the ability to govern. You see, the court treasury is underfunded, but it is still running, which shows that he still has a way. No matter whether it is demolishing the east wall or something else, the court can still maintain its operation under the state of serious deficit. There are also relief for natural disasters in various places, but it is definitely not enough.

However, Wei Guangde thinks that Yan Song's most powerful thing is to give money to Emperor Jiajing.

Although the court is underfunded, it seems that as long as Emperor Jiajing asks for money, Yan Song can find a way to satisfy him.

All this money was finally used for the emperor's cultivation of Taoism, or fasting and offering sacrifices, or granting the construction of Taoist temples.

Emperor Jiajing likes money and likes to be flattered. As long as his needs are met, everything is easy to say.

Thinking of this, Wei Guangde's eyes brightened, and then dimmed again.

The money that the person wants is not a small amount, and it must have a reason. The emperor will not plunder the people's wealth, which has a bad reputation.

Besides, the little money he had would probably be spent on two rituals.

Thinking of this, Wei Guangde looked at the box at his feet and curled his lips. It was still too small.

For one night, Wei Guangdejing thought about how to please Emperor Jiajing and please him, how to pat the dragon's butt well, and how to solve the problem of insufficient treasury. This was a bit troublesome and difficult to solve.

To solve the treasury problem, we must find ways to collect money.

But the reality is that if the taxes of the rich are not raised, the taxes of the poor cannot be raised, and they will rebel if pressed.

Rebellion has always been linked to exorbitant taxes and corrupt officials. Unless the common people are driven into a hurry, they really would not think of rebelling. It is all about food. In fact, rebellion is also about food.

But having said that, because no one introduced Emperor Jiajing's preferences, Wei Guangde still didn't think of what to say to him to make the emperor happy and reward him more.

In the end, Wei Guangde could only grit his teeth and feel at ease. Let's talk about it after seeing the emperor.

If you take advantage of your own strength, show off your tricks at first glance, and just follow the emperor's words, you can't believe that you will make the emperor unhappy.

Besides, as a seventh-rank sesame official, I would not make the emperor angry. After all, he had picked it up with his own hands. This time, he had lost face.

Disciple of the Emperor, hehe.

Wei Guangde felt that as a disciple of the Emperor, he did not seem to have borrowed the emperor's glory, but rather he had brought glory to Emperor Jiajing.

The next day, all morning, no one from Xiyuan came to see him, which made Wei Guangde think that it would be like this again. Emperor Jiajing had forgotten about him. Perhaps he was busy with his Taoism and would easily go crazy if he was interrupted a little bit.

But in the afternoon, a carriage drove outside the gate of Jiujiang Guild Hall, followed by two guards on horseback.

After the carriage stopped, a young waiter jumped out of the carriage. He looked up at the plaque with the four characters "Jiujiang Guild Hall" directly above the door, and then stepped in.

"This father-in-law, I don't know whether he is eating or..."

The shopkeeper saw the carriage outside the door early and came over to greet him. He thought it was a gentleman coming, but he saw a palace servant coming in. He immediately thought of Wei Guangde, but he was beaten before he could finish his respectful words. Break.

"Please come out, Master Wei Guangde of the Hanlin Academy, I have something to do with him."

The waiter was not polite to the owner of the club, but his words were quite gentle.

Eunuchs are the best at observing words and expressions. If the emperor looks good to Wei Guangde, they will never offend him.

When he heard that he was looking for Wei Guangde, the shopkeeper immediately moved a chair for the waiter to sit down, arranged for people to serve tea, and then ran to the backyard to find Wei Guangde.

"Servant, they are here."

Hearing what the shopkeeper said, Wei Guangde finally breathed a sigh of relief. The emperor had not forgotten him.