Chapter 277 276 Disaster

After leaving the matter to Chen Ju, Wei Guangde looked at the time and it was almost time. He wandered back to the Hanlin Academy and went straight to his own room. He found a chair to lean on and squinted his eyes to take a nap.

I was getting a little drunk now.

As Wei Guangde grew older, his drinking capacity also increased a lot, at least he had few rivals among his colleagues in the Hanlin Academy.

But although this Chen Ju is a sinister person, he also has a good drinking capacity, so he can compete with Wei Guangde. This is why he likes to go to Wei Guangde's house to drink when he has nothing to do.

After getting drunk, Wei Guangde's family had plenty of houses, so he found an empty room and slept there.

Of course, another reason is that Wei Guangde is a junior official at the moment and cannot stir up the affairs of the court. Not many people pay attention to him.

If there were more people targeting Wei Guangde, he would have to run there frequently, and he might get some news, which would not only endanger Wei Guangde, but also himself.

It is only in the past few years that he can get along with Wei Guangde so easily. This is Chen Ju's attitude towards Wei Guangde.

This concept was also influenced by Gao Zhong.

When Gao Zhong was promoted from the imperial chamberlain by the Jiajing Emperor, he once had an unparalleled reputation, which lasted for more than 20 years. After he retired from the imperial horse supervisor, he also experienced depression. Many people who used to be attached to him were Thinking he was finished, abandoned him.

It can be said that he has tasted all the warmth and coldness of the world, so he felt this way. He also told Chen Ju this feeling, which had a huge impact on Chen Ju's future life.

His biggest feeling is that no matter when the tide rises or falls, a person must do his duty and be down-to-earth.

It was also because he did not give up on himself after being removed from the Royal Horse Supervisor, and still worked honestly, that he was re-enabled by Emperor Jiajing and made the boss of a more important department such as the Li Supervisor.

He was actually the boss of the Supervisor of Ceremonies. Huang Jin had been serving Emperor Jiajing for a long time. The Supervisor of Ceremonies was actually in charge of affairs, as a eunuch with a pen.

What Wei Guangde handed over to Chen Ju this time was two pieces, one for five hundred taels and one for one thousand taels. Chen Ju knew how to tell Wei Guangde.

The news from Chen Ju was answered very quickly, and two days later the waiter sent a note saying "Peace of mind".

Wei Guangde understood as soon as he saw the note that Gao Zhong could handle this matter and there was no need to find anyone else for help.

When Chen Ju returned to the palace, he gave Gao Zhong a thousand taels of meeting tickets and told him what Wei Guangde had asked him to do.

In fact, the memorials for urging soldiers to pay in Bianzhen were very young. The financial situation of the Ming Dynasty was like that. How could it be possible to allocate military pay in full?

"Go find it."

After listening to Chen Ju's words, Gao Zhong gave instructions to a eunuch beside him.

After a while, the memorials of Yang Bo, the governor of Xuan Dynasty, were found. As for the memorials of Datong and the general soldiers of Xuanfu, they could not find it. It may be because they saw the salary package, and the cabinet also knew that such memorials were sent to Yang Bo. It hasn't been approved yet, and there will be no results if you continue to send it up, so I just suppress it for now.

Gao Zhong took Yang Bo's memorial and looked through it. He found that Xuanda Second Town was a self-contained system. Most of the tax revenue in the military town went directly to the army to ensure the food and salary supply of the headquarters. Therefore, most of the salary was for the salary and horses of the visiting army. Material expenditure.

Gao Zhong roughly calculated the amount of salary requested in the memorial. Between three and forty thousand taels of silver, as well as ten thousand stones of rice, the Ministry of Revenue should still be able to allocate it. At least the Xuanfu must be paid first. , after all, it is the north gate of the capital.

Once the soldiers below cause trouble due to lack of military pay, Anda Khan will be in trouble if he takes advantage of the opportunity.

The cabinet's approval also expressed the same opinion. Other border towns can be slow, but the military pay of Xuanfu and Jizhen must be guaranteed as much as possible.

Without much hesitation, Gao Zhong said to Chen Ju, "Just talk to him later and tell him to wait with peace of mind."

The memorial was not put back, but put into Gao Zhong's sleeve.

If you want a silver discount, it depends on Emperor Jiajing's mood. Just carry it with you and hand it over when you find an opportunity.

As the center, the capital would receive memorials from all over the country every day, which would be processed by the cabinet and then sent to the palace for approval, and then issued to the six ministries or local governments for execution.

Official business is never done.

But this has nothing to do with Wei Guangde, he doesn't have a serious job now.

A few more days passed in the hustle and bustle, and the waiting time was a bit longer than Wei Guangde expected.

But fortunately, when I got home this day, I heard that Chen Ju was here to drink again.

"Is there any result?"

After having more contact with Chen Ju, he will naturally understand him better. Most of the time, what he said has happened, so he will come to his house to drink again.

Sure enough, while preparing for the banquet, Chen Ju said: "In the afternoon, Eunuch Gao saw that the emperor was in a good mood, so he took out Yang Bo's memorial. The emperor just hesitated a little and nodded. It should have been done by now. Send it to the cabinet and it can be done tomorrow.”

"Haha, it's time for your father-in-law to take the trouble."

When Wei Guangde heard that it had been done, he was relieved.

Wei Guangde thought about the advice Chen Ju gave him before and found it to be reasonable. In the future, he would reduce his contact with Ma Fang.

Reducing contact does not mean no contact. Just like this time, he still had to write a letter to Ma Fang. He couldn't do good things and get nothing.

This time the messenger brought the New Year's gift that Ma Fang had made up for. During the New Year, Ma Fang and his troops were still in Datong and did not have time to arrange for someone to deliver things to him here.

Wei Guangde didn't care at first, because he knew from the court reports that Ma Fang was fighting outside, but the annual gift showed that Ma Fang's heart had not changed and he was still attached to him, so naturally he had to do his best to help get things done.

After the banquet in the evening, Wei Guangde wrote a letter to Ma Fang despite being drunk, and asked Ma Fang's personal soldiers to take it back to Xuanfu early the next morning, which was considered to be the end of the matter.

Just as Ma Fang's personal soldiers rode away from the capital, the memorial sent back by the Imperial Household Department was also delivered to Xu Jie's public room.

He turned to Yang Bo's memorial and drew a red circle on it, which meant that Emperor Jiajing had agreed to do it.

Xu Jie had some impression of this memorial. At the end of the year, only a few memorials requesting military pay were submitted, and the other ones were suppressed by the cabinet first.

The court had no money, so it could only be kept in the palace.

This memorial was suddenly sent back, and Xu Jie couldn't help but consider whether other memorials that were suppressed should also be sent up.

In many things, your unintentional small actions may trigger a series of chain reactions later, because people who see them will make their own judgments.

Xu Jie picked up the pen on the desk and wrote carefully on the rice paper that had been laid out next to him, "Send more than 9,000 taels of silver from Taicang to supplement the food and wages of the guest soldiers in Xuanfu, more than 18,200 taels to supplement the food and wages of the host and guest soldiers in Datong, more than 2,800 taels to supplement the food and wages of the cavalry in the two towns of Xuanfu and Datong. For the soldiers in the castles who are unable to survive due to disasters, they will still be given 20,000 shi of polished rice in Xuanfu and 15,000 taels of silver for the price of wheat in Datong for relief."

As for what will happen if this note is sent to the six departments and spread to other people's ears, it is none of his business.

Xiyuan directly approved the memorial and did not reveal that it would withhold some, so it was paid in full.

In fact, it is said that the full amount is allocated, which means that everything requested in the memorial is given, but some of the usual rules will still be withheld when the Taicang silver leaves the capital, and some of the grain and salaries of the two prefectures of Xuanda will also be withheld when they leave the warehouse. When they arrive at the army, they are still withheld.

Time flies, and the capital has entered summer, and the weather is getting hot and humid.

Wei Guangde has a sweet water well at home. On holidays, he sinks a few big watermelons, sits in the yard, and waits for a while before taking them out. The watermelons soaked in the well are cool, and the cut melon flesh is sweet and juicy. This is Wei Guangde's way to cool off in the hot summer.

Wei Guangde only realized after moving in that the high price of this house is actually largely due to this well.

Beijing City is short of water, and it is not short of water.

The waters around Beijing City are well developed, and they have been managed since the Yuan Dynasty, and it was the same in the Ming Dynasty.

The main reason why the capital city is short of water is that there are relatively few wells in the city that can be used. Most of the wells produce bitter water, and there are not many water that can be drunk like Wei Guangde's family.

These big watermelons were bought by Zhang Ke, Lao Kan and others when they came yesterday. They didn't finish the rest at that time.

After such a long time, the new Jinshi have been appointed. Zhang Ke stayed in the Zhongshu Department and became the Zhongshu Sheren, and Lao Kan stayed in the Ministry of Justice as the Ministry of Justice Lang.

Of course, most of the same year were sent out.

After all, there are only so many official positions in the capital, and it is impossible to accommodate all the Jinshi.

Wei Guangde and others can only see off the same year when they leave Beijing, and the team of farewell is gradually shrinking.

Wei Guangde was lying on the recliner, eating watermelons leisurely, and footsteps were heard in the outer courtyard.

There were only so many people in the house, and Wei Guangde knew that the doorman came in just by the footsteps.

He was too lazy to open his eyes to look, and he vaguely heard the doorman and Zhang Ji say that it seemed that someone had come.

Soon, Zhang Ji came to Wei Guangde and whispered in his ear: "Master, Eunuch Chen is here."

When Wei Guangde heard that it was Chen Ju who came, he suddenly opened his eyes, "Please come in."

As soon as he finished speaking, he saw Chen Ju had entered the yard, "Wow, so carefree."

At this moment, Wei Guangde was on a reclining chair under the shade of a tree, with two maids fanning him on both sides, and a plate of watermelon next to him. It was really enjoyable to live such a life in this hot summer.

Since Chen Ju came in, Wei Guangde naturally couldn't continue lying down, so he got up quickly and went to greet him.

"Quick, move another reclining chair over."

After a few words of greeting, Wei Guangde instructed Zhang Ji next to him.

After a while, the two of them lay on the reclining chair, with a little maid fanning them next to them. When they felt hot, they took a few bites of watermelon, and the melon flesh went into their stomachs and cooled down, which was comfortable.

"Brother, how can you have time to come to me at this time?"

It was still early, and Chen Ju should have been accompanying Emperor Jiajing at this time.

"Don't mention it. The emperor was in a bad mood today. He returned to Yongshou Palace and didn't come out. We were also driven out."

Chen Ju smiled bitterly and said, "I think it's still early, so I said I came to sit with you."

"Who made the emperor unhappy?"

Wei Guangde asked suspiciously. Is there anyone in the world who dares to turn his face to the emperor?

As far as Wei Guangde knows, even the ladies in the harem don't seem to dare. Emperor Jiajing has a bad temper. It is said that the previous queen died like this.

Forget it, it's better not to ask about the secrets of the deep palace.

Wei Guangde regretted it a little after he said it, and wanted to slap himself twice.

But to Wei Guangde's surprise, Chen Ju didn't even look at him. He squinted his eyes and took a bite of the watermelon in his hand before saying, "I was angry with Zhao Wenhua."

"Lord Zhao Wenhua?"

Wei Guangde asked strangely, "How is this possible? He is still recovering at home, how could he be so angry with the emperor?"

"Hey, you don't know."

Chen Ju swallowed the watermelon in his mouth and smacked his lips. The city gate tower was not built because of the tight budget of the court and because of the weather, the craftsmen could not do their best. "

Hearing this, Wei Guangde nodded slightly, feeling that Zhao Wenhua's words seemed correct.

It was too hot that day, and it would have been around 40 degrees in later generations. According to the regulations at that time, outdoor work had to be stopped, and workers could not work under the scorching sun.

Perhaps seeing Wei Guangde nodding in approval, Chen Ju sneered from the side and said: "Zhao Wenhua didn't know that he got into trouble. It depends on whether the emperor will give Yan Ge face this time."

"What's going on? How come Mr. Yan Ge is involved, and what on earth did Mr. Zhao commit?"

Wei Guangde became even more suspicious and didn't understand what Zhao Wenhua did wrong.

"This morning, while the sun was still out, Your Majesty went up to the city wall and walked around. Do you know what you saw?"

Chen Ju suddenly became too secretive and did not tell the result directly, but asked Wei Guangde to guess.

Wei Guangde blinked and shook his head, thinking that I didn't know anything.

"The emperor saw a large house in Yongfang in the Forbidden City on the tower of the Forbidden City, and a three-story pavilion was built in it.

These days, the emperor likes to wander around the city wall when he has nothing to do. When he saw the house, he asked about the owner of the house. The attic was built very quickly. It was completed before it was even built a few days ago.

Guess whose house that house belongs to? "

Chen Ju asked again.

But if Wei Guangde can't guess it at this time, then he is a pig. The answer is very clear, it must be Zhao Wenhua's house.

Officials who want to go to court usually like to buy houses in Dashi Yongfang and Nanxunfang because they are close to the Forbidden City.

You can save a lot of walking in the morning and spend more time in bed.

Although Emperor Jiajing has not been in court for many years, this habit of officials has not changed.

"The emperor asked him to build the city gate, but he resisted. But he built the pavilion very quickly. He really deserves his bad luck."

Wei Guangde answered the question smoothly.

"Not only that, the work that the emperor gave them to build a new alchemy room in Xiyuan last month was also rough and has not been completed yet. Today, the emperor finally stopped holding back after seeing the new alchemy room. temper.

As long as you know this, don’t go around talking about it. "

Chen Ju told another thing that Wei Guangde didn't know, which was also one of the reasons why Emperor Jiajing became angry.

You can't build the house the emperor wants, but your own house is extremely luxurious. Where does the money come from?

It was so hard that they even collided with each other.

Wei Guangde could already think that Emperor Jiajing might not spare Zhao Wenhua lightly this time, depending on Yan Song's dignity.

Zhao Wenhua, Yan Song, Jing Wang.

It seems to be on a rope. If Zhao Wenhua cannot secure his position as Minister of the Ministry of Industry