Chapter 276 275 Xuanfu Military Pay

"Hey, brother, you don't know that the emperor has been working hard for your official position. It's because you are too young and the emperor can't give you an official position. But don't worry, you have all the credit. Remember it, there will be plenty of opportunities in the future.”

Chen Ju became a eunuch in the true sense, no longer a rankless chamberlain. At this time, his speech was different from before. He no longer called the emperor your majesty, but changed his title to the emperor.

With rank, he can be considered a minister.

Although admirals like Huang Jin called themselves "slaves" in front of Emperor Jiajing, they were being self-effacing.

Strictly speaking, Huang Jin was a second-grade admiral eunuch, and he had to use the word "chen" to represent himself in his memorial to Emperor Jiajing.

"Your Majesty, are you worried about my reward?"

Wei Guangde looked at Chen Judao in disbelief.

"Of course. Look, we saved the 'Yongle Original' this time. What a great achievement that is. Let me tell you, many of the books are already unique copies. The original books can no longer be found outside. If If the original is destroyed, then it’s really gone and gone, you know?”

Chen Ju smacked his lips at this moment, and continued: "Besides, this book was compiled by our ancestors. It's just like this. Is it worthy of our ancestors to burn it?"

It's a pity that several adults had a fierce argument about your reward. In the end, the emperor listened to Xu Jie's words and said that you were still young and needed training, so he hired Zuo Si Zhilang from Zhan Shifu.

Your Majesty doesn't even have a crown prince anymore, so what kind of gangster is there in Zhan Shifu? You'd better get through your qualifications slowly, if you had been born a few years earlier."

Soon, the ordered food and drinks were served, and the conversation between the two people moved from the lobby to the dining room.

"Today the emperor left Xiyuan and went up to the city wall. He said he wanted to see the lives of the people in the capital, hehe."

The two of them chatted every word. Wei Guangde talked about the affairs of the Hanlin Academy, and Chen Ju told Wei Guangde the latest happenings in the palace. It could be regarded as a quiet exchange of information between the two.

But no matter how you look at it, the information from the yamen that Wei Guangde told is not as strong as the information from the palace that Chen Ju revealed.

"The emperor went to the Zhengyang Gate Tower and said that the tower was old and broken and that it needed to be rebuilt. Maybe it was because he thought of the fire in the palace. Now the emperor always talks about building a new one when he sees everything."

While drinking from the glass of wine and eating the dishes on the plate, Chen Ju continued to talk about Emperor Jiajing's schedule today.

"Has the word been conveyed to the cabinet?"

Wei Guangde was really shocked at this moment. How much money would it cost to rebuild the three main halls? There was an uproar in the yamen. The current financial resources of the Ming Dynasty could not support such a large project.

Those corridors are okay, the wood is ready-made, and the craftsmen can be dispatched directly. It doesn't cost a lot of money, and the construction can start with just an order.

But the Zhengyangmen Gate Tower is a huge building with several floors, and it doesn't cost as much as building a palace. With that money, it's better to build one of the three main halls first.

What's more, the inner city wall is also in disrepair. In the past few years, all the money spent on repairing the city wall was poured into the construction of the outer city wall. As a result, there has been no money to repair other city walls in recent years.

After Zhengyangmen is repaired, do the surrounding sections of damaged city walls also need to be repaired?

"Sent the message, but no reply yet."

Chen Ju said.

A few days passed in a flash, and the news that Emperor Jiajing had issued a decree to rebuild the Zhengyang Gate Tower had spread in the court, which naturally caused hundreds of officials to talk about it.

The Ministry of Works, which had been very active in building such projects in the past, was uncharacteristically silent this time and its attitude was a bit unpredictable.

The current minister of the Ministry of Industry is Zhao Wenhua. In ancient and modern times, at home and abroad, if you are involved in a project, it means that there is a lot of money to be made.

What kind of person is Zhao Wenhua?

Let’s not talk about this person’s ability to do things, but he knows how to behave and is always willing to follow the crowd.

In the eighth year of Jiajing reign in the Ming Dynasty, he passed the Jinshi examination and was initially appointed as the head of the Ministry of Punishment. Later, he was transferred to the Imperial College. At that time, Yan Song was the Imperial College's sacrificial wine minister.

He recognized Yan Song as his adoptive father and embarked on the Yan family's ship. Yan Song's subsequent development also proved that he had a good vision at that time.

Shortly after Yan Song entered the cabinet, Zhao Wenhua was appointed as the general envoy. All memorials had to go through his hands before being sent to the palace, which naturally allowed Yan Song to grasp a lot of information at the first time.

After Yan Song killed Xia Yan and became the chief minister of the cabinet, any memorial to impeach Yan Song would be sent to Yan Song for review first, and then submitted to Emperor Jiajing. This gave Yan Song enough time to prepare for the response. After all, his son Yan Shifan also He is not a cover-up, he is very good at seizing the loopholes in the memorial to counterattack.

Of course, not all blame was taken. When it was time to admit his mistakes, Yan Song was willing to admit his mistakes to Emperor Jiajing. He was especially keen on taking the blame for Emperor Jiajing, so he continued to favor him, and Emperor Jiajing trusted him even more.

In the following years, although there were constant impeachment memorials against Yan Song, his position as chief minister of the cabinet was still secure.

The relationship between Zhao Wenhua and Yan Shifan is also good. After all, they are the same type of people, greedy for money and living a luxurious life.

In recent years, the Japanese invasion in Jiangnan has become increasingly serious. Zhao Wenhua saw this as an opportunity for promotion. Not only did he actively make suggestions, but he also went to Zhejiang twice to supervise the war. By the way, he received Hu Zongxian's profits from increasing taxes in the Jiangnan area, and he also began to get involved in military glory.

When dealing with the former governor of Jiangnan, Zhao Wenhua secretly impeached Zhang Jing for being cowardly in fighting and colluding with Japanese pirates. Zhang Jing was eventually killed, and the military exploits were successfully snatched away by him, Zhao Wenhua.

After overthrowing Li Mo, the Minister of Personnel, and Wang Yongbin, the Minister of Rites, two hall official positions were vacated, allowing him to successfully ascend to the position of Minister of Works.

Rebuilding the Zhengyang Gate Tower was such a big project, but Zhao Wenhua was not interested. This made people in the government office wonder if there was something wrong with Yan Song.

Naturally, the first thing people guessed was the financial problems of the court. Perhaps it was so bad that even Yan Song, the Prime Minister who always followed the orders of Emperor Jiajing, did not dare to continue to follow blindly.

After all, even if the tower was rebuilt, the money was paid by the court, and the officials of the Ministry of Works did not lose anything, but only benefited.

However, soon, a piece of news spread quickly to all the major government offices in Beijing. The Minister of Works Zhao Wenhua fell ill due to overwork due to continuous missions to Jiangsu and Zhejiang to fight against the Japanese pirates.

The imperial edict passed from the palace to the cabinet was very clear. The reconstruction of the Zhengyang Gate Tower was supervised by Zhao Wenhua, the Minister of Works. Now that the person in charge fell ill, the project had to be delayed.

However, given the clever timing of Zhao Wenhua's illness, naturally not many people really believed that he was really sick. Although there was an endorsement from the imperial physician of the Imperial Hospital, there was a joke circulating in the capital that the "prescription of the Imperial Hospital" could not be trusted.

The drastic change in the court's wind direction made a group of low-level officials in Beijing a little confused and confused. Perhaps only the cabinet ministers and the six ministries and nine officials knew the reason.

Wei Guangde naturally knew these things, but he didn't care.

The officials of the Ming Dynasty court were one carrot and one pit. Even if the carrots above were pulled out, he couldn't wait for him to replace them.

As Chen Ju said, he was too young.

Think about it, when he was in the court or in the West Garden, he would feel uncomfortable standing among a group of officials in their 40s, 50s, 60s, all with white hair and untidy beards.

Qualifications, maybe that's why.

Zhao Wenhua hadn't offended Wei Guangde yet, so naturally he didn't want to offend him.

When he visited Yan's house before, he would be dragged to drink when he met Yan Shifan, and Zhao Wenhua was often seen at the table.

The two had dealt with each other, but they kept their distance.

Wei Guangde didn't know what would happen if Zhao Wenhua openly disobeyed the will of Emperor Jiajing, but he felt trembling when he thought about it. Wei Guangde would never do such a stupid thing, even if it was really Yan Song's order.

If things go wrong, he will have to face the wrath of thunder.

However, although Zhao Wenhua claimed to be ill and unable to work, the Ministry of Works continued to operate effectively under the management of the left and right assistant ministers.

In the discussion of the reconstruction of the three main halls, the Ministry of Works requested to inquire about the restoration plan from the disaster of the three halls in the 19th year of Yongle to the Zhengtong period, and also requested to calculate the huge reconstruction project and all expenses.

Naturally, such a memorial was quickly approved by Emperor Jiajing, who ordered the two ministries of rites and works to say that the palaces and courts cannot be restored, and that they should be respected and loyal when they are loyal and loyal, otherwise they may suffer disasters.

The Minister of Rites Wu Shan and the Minister of Works Zhao Wenhua jointly wrote a letter, saying that the important place of the court should be repaired urgently, but the matter is of great importance and the cost is huge, and the operation must be carried out in order. Let me and others discuss and make a memorial with the ministers of the Ministry of Rites, the Internal Affairs Bureau, the Ministry of Government, and the Jinyiwei.

However, after the memorial was submitted to the Western Garden, Emperor Jiajing directly determined the order of construction, and the court gate and the noon tower should be built first. The construction of the three main halls can be postponed, and all matters will still be discussed and reported.

However, these had little to do with Wei Guangde, because he received a letter from Ma Fang, who was already the deputy general of Xuanfu, asking for help in asking the court for a batch of military pay for Xuanfu.

After the battle of Baoanzhou last year, Ma Fang was promoted to the lieutenant general of Xuanfu, assisting the general to guard the front line of Xuanfu, and his troops were supplemented by a part of the guest army to nearly 3,000 troops.

In October, the Altan tribe invaded Datong, and Ma Fang was ordered to support and made meritorious service again. He was promoted to the deputy general of Xuanfu in November.

Since December last year, the food and pay that the court should have allocated has never come again. The soldiers have not received military pay for nearly half a year, which has also made the grassroots soldiers full of complaints, and the combat effectiveness of the entire Xuanfu army has declined rapidly.

Even if Ma Fang's troops obtained some food by retaking the occupied military fields, it was only enough for his soldiers to make a living, and now he can't hold on.

Even if Yang Bo, the governor of Xuanda, and the generals of Datong and Xuanfu kept petitioning the court for pay, they were fruitless.

At this time, Wei Guangde felt a headache just thinking about asking the court for money.

What happened at the end of last year? As far as Wei Guangde knew, the Ministry of Revenue could not even pay the salaries and annual gifts of officials in Beijing.

Now Ma Fang has come to him. If he can't help Ma Fang, Ma Fang will probably look down on him. But the problem is that he really doesn't have the ability to do so, after all, his foundation is too shallow.

Wei Guangde received Ma Fang's letter and sent someone to settle Ma Fang's messenger. He sat alone in the study to think of a solution.

The only relationship that can be used now is Gao Zhong's side. Talk to Chen Ju.

The governor of Xuanda and the generals of the two towns have submitted memorials. It is estimated that they are not known whether they are suppressed in the cabinet or the Silijian. At this time, someone has to turn over the memorials and send them to Emperor Jiajing.

I think that with Emperor Jiajing's temper, he will still urge the court to deal with the border affairs as soon as possible.

Soldiers eat food. If the border troops cannot get their pay, the consequences can be imagined. Emperor Jiajing definitely does not want another embarrassing event like the "Gengxu Incident" to happen again.

He called Zhang Ji and told him to wait for Chen Ju outside the West Garden Gate and invite him to the mansion for a drink.

Now Wei Guangde's family still has several thousand taels of silver in savings. Xu Bangrui of Nanjing alone sent 5,000 taels of silver to help Wei Guangde establish a good relationship with the palace.

The money was delivered after Li Bin fell after the year, and two letters were sent urgently.

Xu Bangrui had previously thought of offering money to help get Li Bin down, but the money was sent and the first letter was also taken away.

But when news came that Li Bin had been imprisoned, he naturally understood that Wei Guangde had taken action, so he hurriedly wrote another letter and sent someone to rush to the capital.

Naturally, the second letter was still about money. Since Wei Guangde had defeated Li Bin, Xu Bangrui was going to pay him the money so that he could continue to make friends with the nobles in the palace.

Now Xu Bangrui has completely trusted Wei Guangde, and he also believes that Wei Guangde must have found a backer in the palace.

Regarding his own future, whether he can inherit the title of Duke Wei actually depends to a large extent on the emperor's heart. As the eldest son, he has a great chance. After all, Xu Bangning is not a legitimate son in the true sense. He can only inherit the title. behind him.

Now that money is still in the warehouse of my house, I just want to send some more to Chen Ju and Gao Zhong to get closer, and help ask about the military pay in the Xuan Mansion. After all, he was stopped in the Li Supervisor. Still in the cabinet.

If it was in the Supervisor of Ceremonies, it should be easier to handle. After all, it is a business matter.

If he is in the cabinet, it will be a little more troublesome. After all, he has no connections with the cabinet.

After thinking about it, it seemed that if Zuoshu was not in charge of the ceremony, he would have to talk to Gao Gong to see if Prince Yu's palace had arranged an informant in the cabinet.

Prince Yu should also be interested in competing for the throne. At least after contacting Gao Gong and others, Wei Guangde could feel the vigor in their bodies. Although Prince Yu's palace was in a difficult situation, they were still confident.

Zhang Ji acted very quickly. At noon the next day, Wei Guangde received the news. During lunch break, Wei Guangde went straight into the restaurant where he was with Chen Ju.

In front of Chen Ju, Wei Guangde did not hide anything. He entered the private room and saluted Chen Ju and sat down. When the restaurant had served the food and drinks and everyone had left, Wei Guangde told Chen Ju about the military pay. .

"I knew from our last visit that the Emperor didn't take your connection with Ma Fang to heart at that time."

In front of Chen Ju, Wei Guangde didn't bother to hide anything. Even Emperor Jiajing knew about it, so he couldn't hide it from anyone. However, Chen Ju's next words still made Wei Guangde a little scared.

"At that time, Ma Fang's official position was different from what it is now. It was a big taboo for officials from the central government to interact with the generals of border towns. Of course, you are a low-key person now. The emperor is not worried about you. If you are in a high position in the future, I'm afraid it will not be a good thing. Son."

After eating and drinking, when the two of them got up and left the restaurant, Chen Jucai whispered: "I'll ask my godfather when I get back to see what's going on."