Chapter 247 246 The Way of Survival of the Nobles

"I understand what the eldest gentleman means."

Wei Guangde thought carefully before speaking to Xu Huai below. Now that his marriage to Xu Jianglan has only been arranged, and the procedures of three media and six appointments have not been completed, naturally he can only call Xu Bangrui the eldest son.

"You go down and rest first. I'll talk to Xu Huai here."

At this time, Wei Guangde turned around and said to his servant. Zhang Ji, who was beside him, showed him the way very wisely. Wei Guangde and Xu Huai were the only two people left in the room.

"What the eldest son means is that he wants me to do some activities in the capital to clear things up, or what?"

Wei Guangde wanted to find out Xu Bangrui's true thoughts, and then he could decide whether to do it and how to do it.

"Master Wei doesn't know something. I have something else to talk about this time."

At this time, Xu Huai suddenly stood up and approached Wei Guangde and whispered.

Wei Guangde was startled by his mysterious appearance. What did he think he was going to do?

After hearing the meaning of Xu Huai's words, I was shocked again. Could it be that I had guessed wrong, and didn't I want to build momentum for him in the capital and get his imperial edict back?

"Master Wei, don't think too much, this matter has nothing to do with the imperial edict.

My young master is the eldest son of the Duke's family. This is unshakable. Even if there is a dispute in the future, the court will send people to investigate. If the court determines that the second young master is the legitimate son, our eldest son will naturally have nothing to say. "

Hearing what Xu Huai said, Wei Guangde knew in his heart that Xu Bangrui didn't want to make a fuss about that order.

This is the palace of the Duke of Wei. What is the use of an imperial edict? In the end, it has to be heard by Heaven. Only when the emperor approves it can it be truly effective.

Obviously, only then will Xu Bangrui come out to fight against his second brother. After all, his mother's identity cannot be changed.

"Then the eldest son asked you to come, what do you want to tell me?"

Wei Guangde didn't like this kind of communication very much. He said whatever he wanted, and it was so mysterious that he thought he was going to discuss rebellion.

"Master Wei doesn't know something. After the imperial edict arrived in Nanjing, my young master didn't pay attention to it, but he didn't expect it."

When he said this, Xu Huai paused slightly and his face became very ugly.

When Wei Guangde saw this, he laughed in his heart. Who was this acting for? Didn't he do this deliberately to express the seriousness of this matter in front of himself?

Wei Guangde said nothing and pretended to look at him with concern, waiting for the next step.

Although the effect was not ideal, Xu Huai recovered quickly and continued to talk about what happened in Nanjing a few days ago.

It turns out that on that day, Wei Guogong Xu Pengju found Liu Cai, the Minister of War in Nanjing, and the purpose was actually to send his youngest son Xu Bangning to the War Department to learn Tao strategy and prepare for the future attack on Jue's army.

Liu Cai's yamen was in Nanjing, so he had naturally heard of the nonsense in the Duke of Wei's mansion.

Although he and Xu Pengju had a good relationship on the surface, civil servants never paid much attention to nobles. He also had his own standards for judging Xu Bangning's affairs.

Liu Cai did not agree with the imperial edict sent by the capital.

In fact, as long as the civil servants who knew the ins and outs of the incident would not agree to grant a royal title to the Zheng family.

Obviously, the imperial edict in the Duke of Wei's palace was actually obtained by deceiving the court.

Seeing that it was a done deal, the adults in Nanjing's official circles all chose to remain silent. After all, the matter mainly involved the inheritance of the Wei Dukeship.

At present, Xu Pengju is still alive and kicking, and there is no way he can be involved in that.

When it comes time to determine the eldest son of Wei Guogong, it will be fine as long as the court does not recognize Xu Bangning's identity as the legitimate son, and Xu Bangrui, the eldest son of the concubine, will still inherit the title.

Xu Bangrui was not anxious about Zheng's appointment, mainly because he already knew the officials' plans.

But now he is becoming a little anxious, and it is precisely because of the subsequent fermentation of this matter that it is beginning to be a little out of his control.

After Wei Guogong Xu Pengju met Liu Cai and hoped that he could open a back door for Xu Bangning and arrange for him to enter the Nanjing War Department Yamen, he did not get the result he wanted. Liu Cai sternly rejected his request.

Not only did he refuse Xu Pengju's request, Liu Cai even persuaded him to change his mind and follow the imperial patriarchal system. He warned him that if he really loved his youngest son more, he should plan earlier and arrange a suitable position for him. Don't let him go. The two brothers got into trouble over the inheritance.

Faced with such an embarrassing situation, Wei Guogong Xu Pengju had no choice but to retreat temporarily and agreed to send his two sons to study at the Ministry of War.

Liu Caicai nodded in agreement to this result.

But after Xu Pengju returned home and called his two sons, Xu Bangrui was okay with it, but Xu Bangning clearly refused.

Due to his brother's character, he is not as domineering outside as he is. Now most of the young men in Nanjing City are running behind him, and they are very majestic.

In such a living environment, of course he would not agree to let him study in the yamen.

If you don't be a good dandy, why should you be a sesame official?

Xu Bangning was unwilling to go, and Xu Pengju had no choice but to put the matter aside for the time being. Naturally, Xu Banggrui could not go to the Ministry of War to learn strategy.

It's just that Xu Pengju chose another method to operate at this time, still sending his children to improve.

The highest institution of learning in the Ming Dynasty was naturally the Imperial College. The capital was divided into the northern and southern capitals. There were also two sets of teams for each government office. Naturally, the Imperial College also existed in Nanjing.

If Xu Bangning didn't want to go to the Ministry of War, then he could use his connections to get him to the Imperial College. In fact, he didn't need to go. He just needed to have a name on the list.

He could see that Liu Cai was seriously dissatisfied with his choice to cultivate his youngest son as his successor.

If I can't afford to offend him, can't I just hide?

But after the previous incident, Xu Pengju was more cautious in operating the Imperial College. On the surface, he still let both brothers report to the Imperial College.

But secretly, he found another person to manipulate all this, and this person was Liu Shiyan, the Earl of Chengyi, who was also a nobleman.

Duke of Wei and Earl of Chengyi, one was a descendant of Xu Da, a founding hero and military general, and the other was a descendant of Liu Bowen, a civil official.

Xu Da and Liu Ji (Liu Bowen) were both important figures who assisted Zhu Yuanzhang in establishing his country. They had a good relationship. They worked together for a long time during their lifetime and were friends who shared life and death. It was just that something changed in Xu Pengju's generation.

After Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty, he implemented two systems that influenced the Ming Dynasty for more than 200 years.

One was to enfeoff the princes as vassal kings in various places, and pass them down from generation to generation to share the same fate with the country as an auxiliary guarantee of the imperial power.

The second was to enfeoff the founding heroes as kings and marquises, so that their descendants could inherit the titles from generation to generation and enjoy wealth forever to inspire future generations.

After Xu Da's death, his title of Duke of Wei was passed down from generation to generation by his descendants, while Liu Ji's title of Earl of Chengyi was interrupted for some reason in the middle, but it was eventually passed down.

In the 13th year of Zhengde, the title of Duke of Wei was passed to Xu Pengju, who was appointed by the court as the garrison of Nanjing, the secondary capital, and was in charge of the Central Army Governor's Office.

In the 12th year of Jiajing, the title of Earl of Chengyi was inherited by Liu Yu after being interrupted for many years. Liu Yu was in charge of the Nanjing Front Army Governor's Office and was in charge of training.

Liu Yu and Xu Pengju were both descendants of meritorious officials, and neither of them was convinced by the other, and finally a conflict broke out.

In the 18th year of Jiajing, during a military parade, Xu Pengju and Liu Yu had a big fight over who should be the main and who should be the secondary seat.

Liu Yu was so angry that he led his troops away without a care in the world, which caused a great uproar.

Afterwards, Xu Pengju, Duke of Wei, impeached Liu Yu, causing him to be dismissed, and the two families became enemies from then on.

In fact, as far as this matter is concerned, Xu Pengju was the admiral at the time, while Liu Yu was the admiral of Caojiang, which was indeed one level lower than Xu Pengju, and there was nothing wrong with the court's handling of the matter.

Since then, in Nanjing, the Xu family and the Liu family have been at loggerheads, causing many disturbances.

At least, in the eyes of the outside world, the relationship between the two families has completely broken down.

However, the Liu family, which was once "my Zifang" in Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes, has changed from a civil official family to a military family, and has been leading troops in Jiangnan for a long time.

Whether willing or not, in the eyes of the emperor in Beijing, the Liu family is a force that can restrain the influence of the Duke of Wei's family in Jiangnan.

However, after the Liu family changed from civil to military, the family members may have been in and out of the army for many years, gradually becoming arrogant and unruly, and often causing trouble.

Every time the Liu family committed a crime, they would be dismissed. After a period of time, the emperor would think of the usefulness of the Liu family and find a reason, or directly restore the Liu family's position on Xu Da's memorial day.

The previous generation of Chengyi Bo Liu Yu was finally dismissed because of the strike with Xu Pengju, and he died of illness two years later.

Because Liu Yu's son Liu Hong died early, the Liu family only had his grandson Liu Shiyan after Liu Yu's death. According to the system, Liu Shiyan should inherit the title of Chengyi Bo, but he was young at the time, so he served as a waiting servant for several years and inherited the title only after he grew up.

However, it is obvious that Liu Yu had an explanation with his grandson Liu Shiyan before his death.

Although the Liu family was not considered the top nobles in the Ming Dynasty at this time, they had great privileges. Liu Ji helped Zhu Yuanzhang so much that even though Liu Ji was poisoned to death because of Hu Weiyong's injustice, many of his sons were also poisoned, and the title was interrupted in the subsequent regime change.

Liu Ji's second son Liu Jing wrote to Emperor Jianwen in the early stage of the "Jingnan" campaign, but was not accepted. After Zhu Di usurped the throne, he summoned Liu Jing to the court. Jing said: "Your Highness, after a hundred generations, you will not be able to escape the word of usurpation."

Zhu Di arrested Liu Jing and put him in prison. Liu Jing chose to commit suicide in prison. Zhu Di took into account Liu Ji's merits and did not pursue his descendants. He just stopped the inheritance of the title of Earl of Sincerity.

Although he lost the title of Earl of Sincerity, Zhu Di often summoned the Liu family and gave them rewards. It was not until the Jingtai period that Liu Ji's seventh-generation grandson Liu Lu was granted the hereditary position of Doctor of the Five Classics, which was considered to be enjoying the benefits of the nobles again.

In arranging for his son to enter the Imperial College, Xu Pengju secretly found his "mortal enemy" Chengyi Bo Liu Shiyan to help him secretly.

It must be said that the nobles of the Ming Dynasty are not all brainless. At least these two know that if the two of them are in Nanjing City, the emperor in Xiyuan will not be able to practice the way of longevity with peace of mind.

Nanjing City controls the richest place in the Ming Dynasty, and it is not an exaggeration to say that it controls half of the country.

In order to eliminate the worries of that person, it is obvious that the two families are working together to lay out the plan, and the purpose is self-evident.

But Duke Wei Xu Pengju never thought that his son was a step ahead of him and had planted spies around him early.

He just secretly monitored Duke Wei's every move and secretly informed him, but never helped Xu Bangrui do anything.

After Xu Bangrui learned the news in advance, he still chose to play dumb and acted as if he had no idea before.

Life is like a play, and it all depends on acting.

Everyone is performing hard on the stage of Duke Wei's Mansion, just waiting for the opportunity to strike the final blow.

The two men left Nanjing at the agreed time and met secretly in a temple outside the city. They told Liu Shiyan what they were going to do and asked him to help them secretly.

Liu Shiyan, who knew the family affairs of the Duke of Wei, would naturally not refuse and agreed to Xu Pengju's request.

In Liu Shiyan's view, the Chengyi family could stand and walk away from such a matter. After all, everyone in the Ming Dynasty knew that the relationship between the two families was bad. Even if someone reported that he and Xu Pengju had secretly colluded in this matter, he just had to deny it.

Liu Shiyan wrote a letter to his colleague and friend Jiang Bao in the Ministry of Rites, asking him not to receive Xu Bangrui when he came to the Ministry of Rites in the future. In order to prevent Jiang Bao from refusing, Liu Shiyan even threatened him with the evidence of Jiang Bao's illegal crimes.

Faced with such a situation, Jiang Bao was coerced to agree and ordered his officials to do so.

As long as Xu Bangrui could not register in the Ministry of Rites, he would naturally not be able to go to the Imperial College.

However, his brother Xu Bangning would not have such a problem. He easily registered at the Ministry of Rites and then reported to the Imperial College. As for whether he would go to the Imperial College on time in the future, that was naturally another matter.

Not only that, Duke of Wei Xu Pengju arranged his subordinate, Zheng Rujin, who served as an assistant teacher at the Imperial College, to spread rumors to slander Xu Bangrui. These rumors were all aimed at the fact that when the Japanese pirates invaded Nanjing last year, Xu Bangrui, the eldest son of Xu, fled to Jiujiang Prefecture.

As for why such rumors were spread, the reason was actually very simple. There must be a reasonable reason for the Nanjing Ministry of Rites to refuse Xu Bangrui's registration.

The rumors spread by Zheng Rujin outside naturally became the best excuse for the Ministry of Rites to refuse Xu Bangrui's admission to the Imperial College.

At the same time, in order to prevent other officials of the Ministry of Rites from turning against him, Zheng Rujin took out the money given by Duke of Wei Xu Pengju to bribe officials of the Ministry of Rites, so that everyone would remain silent about Xu Bangrui.

For such a move, Xu Bangrui, the eldest son of Xu, was obviously a little unprepared and immediately lost his composure.

Seeing victory in sight, Xu Pengju also let down his guard and agreed to the marriage with the Wei family of Jiujiang Prefecture.

In fact, it was not because Xu Pengju, the Duke of Wei, felt that his eldest son was powerless or that Wei Guangde could not do anything even if he helped, but because the Wei family sent someone to Nanjing to get a definite letter.

Either agree or give up the marriage in disgrace.

At the beginning, Xu Pengju nodded and agreed to let Xu Bangrui go to Jiujiang Prefecture to discuss his daughter's marriage. Naturally, he did not want to slap himself in the face at this time, not to mention that his daughter was indeed grown up and it was time to talk about marriage.