Chapter 296 295 Secret Order

Wei Guangde learned the details from Lu Bing, but he was helpless.

He didn't want to be sent out to patrol the border again. It would be a hard life.

Although the itinerary will take into account military forts, inns, etc., sometimes I will sleep in the countryside and ride horses all day long, which is too much for my butt.

But it was impossible not to want to go. Within two days, Wei Guangde was reading in the public room of the Hanlin Academy when he suddenly heard footsteps coming from the courtyard outside. The person who heard the sound had already entered the courtyard.

Wei Guangde has been pretending to have something going on in the past two days. Although the news has not spread to the government and the public, it seems that everything is being advanced with the knowledge of the emperor, cabinet ministers, and perhaps Liubu Hall officials.

The sound of footsteps outside unconsciously made Wei Guangde think that someone with a message was coming.

When sending people to patrol border towns, there is naturally no need for the emperor to personally summon them, and they also give face-to-face instructions and so on. It is like a general going on an expedition.

Sure enough, the footsteps came from the eunuch and a few guards who were delivering the order, as well as some Hanlin officials who were wandering around. When they saw someone from the palace coming to deliver the order, they followed over to see what was going on.

You can't know what will happen until the decree is announced.

Naturally, there was not much emphasis on receiving orders in the yamen. After being called out by Lu Bu, Wei Guangde accepted the order in the yard and indeed sent him to continue patrolling the border. That is to say, although the last errand was completed well, after all The work was not done yet, so this time he was appointed as the deputy border patrol envoy to continue patrolling Jizhen.

However, what surprised Wei Guangde was that this decree also made some adjustments to his position. This was something that neither Chen Ju nor Lu Bing had mentioned before, that is, his errand at Taichang Temple was removed. , and was replaced by the Censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate.

The official position of Censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate was naturally what Wei Guangde dreamed of. Although he was still in the seventh rank, he was a mad dog in the Ming Dynasty. Whoever he caught and bitten was not punished for his words. He could be said to be similar to the Internet trolls of later generations.

Later generations of legislation began to regulate Internet trolls, but the Ming Dynasty had no such idea. After all, when Zhu Yuanzhang designed this system, he hoped that the censors could supervise the high-ranking officials in the court and protect them from retaliation.

Wei Guangde has the reputation of censor, and it will be justifiable for him to change his name when impeaching people in the future.

The young chamberlain left after conveying the order. Of course Wei Guangde did not forget to give him a piece of silver so that they could go back and drink.

Wei Guangde's colleagues seemed to be a little gloating about Wei Guangde's duty as a border patrol again, and they all came forward to congratulate him.

A lot of people from the Hanlin Academy were sent out to participate in canonization ceremonies, memorial ceremonies, etc., but it was rare for Wei Guangde to be sent out to patrol the border twice, and he was even given the title of censor.

In the next few days, preparations were made for departure. Wei Guangde first went to the Metropolitan Procuratorate to receive the censor's waist badge and official seal. Naturally, Xu Jianglan made other preparations for him, which was just a change of clothes.

The difference from last time was that there were four more guards accompanying him this time. It turned out that he only had Zhang Ji and Li San with him that time. This time the leader of the guards, Zhao Hu, stayed behind to look after the house. He chose four guards who were skilled in bow and horse. Follow Wei Guangde on tour.

When going to border towns, even if you haven't heard of Tatars invading the border recently, you still have to be cautious.

Because this time we are not dealing with a war, the border patrol ambassador sent is no longer a minister-level figure like Weng Pu, but Tang Shunzhi, a minister of the Ministry of War, because the purpose of this border patrol is to check the number of military and civilian households and border walls. For the construction situation, it is natural to choose to let the people in charge of the department handle it.

Under the Ministry of War, there are four departments: the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Staff, the Ministry of Driving, and the Ministry of Treasury, which are responsible for general affairs.

The original meaning of "staff side" is territory and territory. The task of staff side department is actually to manage the country's territory and territory. This is a huge and complex project, from the garrison, training and supply of troops under combat readiness to Wartime command, military information and logistics are all within the jurisdiction of the Staff Division.

As for the border patrol ambassador Tang Shunzhi, he can also be regarded as Wei Guangde's predecessor. He ranked first in the imperial examination in the eighth year of Jiajing, became an official at the Hanlin Academy, and was later transferred to the Ministry of War.

This is a loser competing for a cabinet position, because the winner will only go to the Ministry of Rites or Zhanshifu and other yamen.

Although he was a loser, Wei Guangde still met with Tang Langzhong alone before departure to learn about the specific arrangements for this border patrol.

A few days passed quickly, and the night before departure, Chen Ju suddenly came late at night without warning and knocked on the door of the Wei family unexpectedly.

When Wei Guangde received Chen Ju in front, he was still wondering. This brother came just the day before yesterday and said that he would practice it for him in advance. After all, he was an imperial eunuch and could not have time to see Wei Guangde off. He could only find some time to leave the palace. Take a walk.

It's here again in just two days, is it still here to practice?

After all, tomorrow, he will follow Tang Shunzhi to patrol the border.

"Hurry up and get some food and drinks for the Zajia family. The Zajia family is hungry."

When Chen Ju arrived at Wei Guangde's place, he didn't notice him at all and said loudly to Wei Guangde.

"Brother has just come out of the palace? Haven't you had dinner yet?"

Wei Guangde wondered.

"I just came out, and now I'm accompanying the emperor to have a wedding ceremony. I just realized that Eunuch Huang's job is really not easy to do. He's hungry after two meals with me."

Chen Ju replied.

Wei Guangde blinked when he heard this and said to himself, "You haven't eaten for two meals and you didn't eat anything in the palace before you came out."

However, I thought so, but I still didn't waste time and started preparing a meal in the kitchen.

Soon the food and wine were served on the table. After all, Wei Guangde was an official now, so the things prepared at home were quite complete. Even though the house had just had dinner, there was no problem in preparing a table of wine and food.

Wei Guangde stayed with him and had wine with Chen Ju. Xu Jianglan only came over to have a look on the way. Chen Ju heard the news and came over for a visit just two days after arriving in the capital, so he was acquainted with her.

However, after Chen Ju had eaten and drank enough, he asked the maid who was waiting on the side to go out to help him clean up a side room to rest, and when he spoke, he gave Wei Guangde a bad look.

After the maid left, Chen Ju asked Zhang Ji to watch outside. No one was allowed to come near, and everyone had to watch the front door and the back window.

Zhang Ji just glanced at Wei Guangde, saw him nodding, and immediately nodded and went out without hesitation.

After seeing Zhang Ji go out, Wei Guangde looked at Chen Ju in confusion, wondering what kind of medicine he was selling in his gourd.

Only then did Chen Ju take out a piece of paper from his sleeve and hand it to Wei Guangde, and whispered to him: "The emperor gave it to you, take a look at it yourself."

"ah?"

Wei Guangde almost screamed, but he immediately controlled it as soon as he made the sound. Fortunately, it was not loud.

Wei Guangde took the note with a few simple words on it, "Inspect Xuan Mansion."

Wei Guangde looked at the note in his hand inexplicably, then simply looked back at Chen Ju.

"What do you mean, Your Majesty? The errand I took was just to inspect the border wall of Ji Town, but there was no mission to go to Xuanfu Datong, and Mr. Tang did not arrange an itinerary to go there."

Wei Guangde had no choice but to say to Chen Ju suspiciously.

"This requires you to think of a way for yourself. When patrolling Ji Town, find an opportunity to escape and go to Xuan Mansion."

Perhaps Chen Ju also felt that the information given to Wei Guangde was a bit lacking. At this moment, he leaned closer to Wei Guangde and said to him in a lower voice: "My godfather said that in the past two months, the Xuanda Governor's Palace executed a group of White Lotus cultists, including A man named Shen Lian, I wonder if Guangde knows about it."

Chen Ju knew that Wei Guangde already had a nickname, Shandai, but he still used to call Wei Guangde by his name.

Wei Guangde shook his head when he heard this and said that he had never heard of this person.

Chen Ju explained in a low voice: "I don't know if it's normal. This person was demoted there before you passed the Jinshi exam. Let me briefly explain, Shen Lian was a Jinshi in the 17th year of Jiajing, and was later sent to Jinyiwei by Governor Lu. He was in office, but because of the impeachment of Mr. Yan Ge, he was dismissed from office and demoted to a border town.

The emperor does not believe that Shen Lian is a White Lotus believer. The current governor of Xuanda, Yang Shun, is the godson of Mr. Yan Ge. Xuanda has been reporting his merits in the past year, saying how many Mongolian Tatars he killed. In total, he received hundreds of thousands in silver rewards. Two, the emperor is a little doubtful.

The Jinyi Guards had previously investigated. It is said that because Shen Lian reprimanded Governor Xuan and the governor for instructing the generals below to kill Liang and defraud the imperial court of the reward, the emperor asked you to go to the Xuan Mansion just to see what was going on. "

Hearing what Chen Ju said, Wei Guangde suddenly realized that the Xuanfu was in serious trouble and the emperor was suspicious, but when he thought about it carefully, he felt something was wrong.

Shouldn't it be Jin Yiwei's job to investigate the case?

"How are you going to find me? Shouldn't Governor Lu send people from Jin Yiwei to investigate, or should Eunuch Huang send people from Dongchang?"

In response to Wei Guangde's question, Chen Ju suddenly looked hesitant on his face.

He had mentioned this matter before, of course not to Emperor Jiajing, but to his godfather Gao Zhong.

After all, Gao Zhong had stayed with Emperor Jiajing longer and knew much more about his master, so he also made an analysis for Chen Ju, but should he tell Wei Guangde?

Even though Emperor Jiajing seemed to be indifferent to government affairs, after the "Great Ceremony" incident, he deeply understood the difference between monopolizing power and being sidelined.

He had just arrived in the capital and had not yet established a firm foothold. His will could only be used in the palace. When his decrees were sent outside, as long as they were related to the "Grand Ceremony", they were rejected by the civil servants. What is this for a teenage emperor? Such a feeling.

Now Emperor Jiajing seems to be very reassured about Yan Song and delegates power to him. He often leaves important matters to Yan Song. But in fact, it can be seen from the officials of the Six Departments that Yan Song can control a considerable number of positions, but the key yamen are still occupied. People who are not from Yan Song's lineage, the so-called Qingliu occupiers, can argue with Yan Song on important court matters, but in the end, he, the emperor, has to make the final decision.

Not only that, he also supported his brother-in-law Lu Bing in every possible way and gave him full powers to supervise all officials. This was actually a restriction on Yan Song's control of the court from the side.

In the past two years, Lu Bing and Yan Song were suspected of fighting openly and secretly. Anyway, the relationship between the two was a bit disharmonious. Emperor Jiajing naturally noticed it. This was a good thing, but he was also worried that Lu Bing would frame Zhongliang because of his personal grudges, and his attitude towards Yan Song was actually Also similar.

It's just that at this stage, it seems that no one can replace Yan Song's ability to do things. Lu Bing's situation is similar. He needs someone to trust him to help him watch the court.

This time Wei Guangde was sent to investigate Shen Lian's matter, and in association with Zhao Wenhua's matter before, according to Gao Zhong's opinion, it was Emperor Jiajing who was actually warning Yan Song.

Perhaps some of Yan Song's small actions have been noticed by Emperor Jiajing and aroused his dissatisfaction. Therefore, as long as Wei Guangde's Xuanfu investigation finds evidence of Yang Shun's illegality, Emperor Jiajing is likely to be taken down and severely punished.

Of course, this is just a guess made by Gao Zhong, and he also told Chen Ju about another one. After all, Chen Ju is the godson he brought with him, and he has good character. Maybe he will rely on him for his retirement in the future, so he also No hiding anything.

"Perhaps, the emperor wants to use the impeachment of Yang Shun to create some rifts between Wei Guangde and the Yan family."

Chen Ju couldn't help but think of the possibility that his godfather had told him before. If the emperor really had this idea, the impact would be great, which meant that Yan Song, who had been in power for nearly ten years, might not be far from stepping down.

Yan Song and Wei Guangde were both from Jiangxi, and Jiangxi people were closely connected with each other. This had long been a consensus in the Ming Dynasty court. Officials from other places were quite dissatisfied with this and believed that they were from the same hometown.

Even Chen Ju knew that when Wei Guangde was in the capital, he had to go to the Yan Mansion at least once a month, not to mention other people, who would only run more diligently than him.

Although Wei Guangde's influence was small now, among the Jinshi of Bingchen, his influence was no less than that of the champion, the second place, and the third place. Even because he had previously lent a large amount of money to his peers for free, many people felt that they owed him a favor.

Perhaps it was the battle of Baoan Prefecture and the impeachment of Prince Hui that made Emperor Jiajing recognize Wei Guangde again. Before, he was selected to reward him for his merits and to reward him for fighting for the country. Now he still looks at him differently, naturally it is not because of these things, but because he thinks that this person can be used, but just needs to be honed.

Chen Ju's hesitation was naturally seen by Wei Guangde. Although he was confused in his heart, he really wanted to know how much Chen Ju knew.

In Wei Guangde's view, Chen Ju had been serving Emperor Jiajing, and he must have known more inside information.

As for Chen Ju, looking at Wei Guangde's expectant eyes, he finally softened his heart. Although his godfather said that it was better not to tell Wei Guangde and let him figure it out himself, Chen Ju's character was like this. He was a little loyal and felt that Wei Guangde was sincere in his friendship with him, unlike those who had been approaching him in the past year, because they saw that his status in front of the emperor had improved and came to curry favor with him.

When Wei Guangde first met him, he was just an unranked eunuch.

After hesitating for a moment, Chen Ju whispered his godfather's words to Wei Guangde, including his godfather's deeper speculation that the emperor might be a little dissatisfied with Yan Song and might not want him to have too close a relationship with the Yan family.

All good things must come to an end.

Wei Guangde naturally knew this truth. When Emperor Jiajing appointed Yan Song as the chief minister of the cabinet, perhaps the two could trust each other, but now that the situation has changed, Yan Song's way of governing is probably not as good as it was before.

However, in terms of financial management, it seems that there is no one in the court who can replace him, so Yan Song's position is still stable for a period of time.

Wei Guangde didn't know the final outcome of Yan Song, but he knew it wouldn't be very good. He just didn't expect that now, maybe Emperor Jiajing had an idea in his mind.