Chapter 316 Chapter 315 The Crown Prince Dies

In summer and autumn, the sky gets brighter earlier.

At the hour of Mao, the sky was already bright, and Beijing was gradually awakened. With the lifting of the night curfew, more people were walking on the street.

Wei Guangde had woken up from his dream and felt a little itchy on his neck. Wei Guangde turned his head to look at his wife sleeping inside. Wei Guangde gently brushed Xu Jianglan's hair and then got up carefully.

It had become a habit. Every day, I woke up at 1:25 in the morning, did two rounds of boxing, washed up and ate something, and it was almost time to go on duty.

Looking back at Xu Jianglan who was still sleeping, her beautiful white face, black hair like lacquer, although she was asleep, her little mouth still had a playful smile, thinking of the peerless scenery last night, Wei Guangde unconsciously smiled slightly at the corner of his mouth.

I really wanted to turn back and kiss that little mouth, but Wei Guangde was afraid of disturbing the fairy's dream.

Sin, sin.

Wei Guangde opened the curtain and got out of bed, put the curtain back in place, and then called the maid in the outer room to help him change his clothes.

After putting on a double-breasted shirt, Wei Guangde went to the yard to practice boxing.

At 1:00 a.m., Wei Guangde had finished boxing and went back to the room to wash up. At this time, Xu Jianglan had also gotten up, and the family began a new day.

At 2:00 a.m., Wei Guangde went out to the Hanlin Academy to take up his post. Today he went out a little earlier than usual.

The debate on shipping to Liao has been going on for seven or eight days now. The Ministry of Revenue has been asking the palace for instructions every day, asking how to ship the 50,000 shi of Taicang rice that was urgently transported.

It should be these two days.

Walking on the road, Wei Guangde was thinking in his heart.

It is impossible for Emperor Jiajing to delay for too long. It seems that all the struggles in the court have been calculated by him.

This is just Wei Guangde's feeling. Whenever there is a similar dispute in the court, Emperor Jiajing will take action at the right time and show the attitude that an emperor should have to put an end to the dispute.

Wei Guangde feels that this time, there should be no surprises.

As for the emperor's final ruling, Wei Guangde feels that there is a high probability that the method he proposed will be adopted, and the relief grain will be transported directly from Tianjin Haikou to Liaodong.

According to the current land transportation cost, if the 50,000 stones of Taicang rice are transported to Liaodong from Jizhen, it is estimated that at most 20,000 stones will actually arrive. The consumption along the way will occupy most of the relief grain, and the loss will naturally be included.

As for why the Yan family opposed it, Wei Guangde knew what was going on. Yan Shifan was the Minister of the Ministry of Works and had long controlled a large number of engineering businesses of the court. As for the dredging of the canal and the maintenance of the river, the interests involved were probably very deep.

If the national policy of water transport is overturned, most of the north-south transportation in the future will choose to go by sea, and the silver in it will not be made.

However, it was a confrontation between Prince Yu's Mansion and the Yan family after all. It was unexpected and sudden. Both sides were unprepared. Because of the memorial of the Liaodong Governor, both sides had no way out.

For Jia Yingchun, who had taken over the position of Minister of Revenue for less than a year, this was also an important step to establish his authority as the Grand Tutor. If he could finally win in this battle, it would naturally be a brilliant victory for Jia Yingchun, and he would also have the opportunity to become the new leader of the anti-Yan forces in the court.

Although the chances of winning were great, Wei Guangde did not dare to take it lightly before the final ruling of the West Garden came out, especially since Chen Ju's abnormal treatment of him in the past six months also gave him some warning.

The power of heaven is unpredictable.

Sure enough, Wei Guangde sat down in the duty room and absent-mindedly flipped through the revised manuscript sent yesterday. Soon, Lu Bu came in trotting and reported: "Sir Wei, I just heard that early this morning, the emperor sent an order to the cabinet to convene the six ministries and nine officials in the West Garden for a meeting. '

"Got it."

Wei Guangde nodded slightly, without looking at Lu Bu, but continued to flip through the book in his hand, but his eyes were a little erratic.

In fact, this matter has little to do with him in essence. If he wins, it will only make Jia Yingchun gain prestige, and it will also boost the momentum of Prince Yu's Mansion. If he loses, it will be the opposite.

He Wei Guangde will suffer a little loss, but it is almost negligible.

In fact, by this time, not many people still remember that the first memorial publicly supporting the opening of sea transportation was submitted by him, Wei Guangde, which also included a detailed transportation route concept.

In fact, that route was also the North Shanghai Road planned by Jia Yingchun to open Tianjin Haikou as the gateway to Beijing and replace Tongzhou as a new cargo transit place.

In fact, it is said that if the goods from the south are to be transported to Liaodong, it will save time and transportation costs to go directly from Jiaodong Peninsula to Liaodong Peninsula.

But no matter what, things must be decided after all.

"Move 5,000 taels of silver from Liaodong for relief, build 200 ships, each of which can carry 150 shi"

At this time, Gao Zhong stood in front of the hall with the imperial edict in his hand and read it out loudly.

All the ministers in the hall were prostrating themselves on the ground, respectfully accepting the imperial edict. Without exception, they all pricked up their ears to listen carefully to the content of the edict.

Soon, a smile appeared on Jia Yingchun's face facing the ground.

He won the bet.

Before, in the Yongshou Palace in the Western Garden, although the edict was for the six ministries and nine ministers, these important people in the Ming Dynasty court, to come here for court discussion, but soon after the court discussion, the supporters and opponents had just begun to prepare for a new round of face-to-face debate in the hall.

"Dang, Dang"

Emperor Jiajing on the throne struck the bronze chime, ending this doomed meaningless debate.

At this time, everyone in the palace knew that the person above had already made a decision on the matter. If they continued to argue, they would only make the person above him unhappy. Therefore, everyone bowed down with anxiety and waited for the words of Emperor Jiajing on the throne. own decision.

"You are all good and have national affairs at heart."

Emperor Jiajing was sitting on the throne, looking at the ministers who were submissive below him. After they walked out, they were regarded as those who invaded the government and the public, but they still had to be so humble in front of him.

Their power was given to them by themselves. With just one word, they could be lifted to heaven or knocked down from the mortal world.

But, what's the use? When they act and do things, they first consider their own interests.

During the grand ceremony, Yang Tinghe tried to convince himself forcefully. Maybe at the beginning he really wanted to win something for his cousin, but in the end, it was to continue to fight against him for his own prestige, and his nature had changed. .

"The ancestral system and national policy cannot be touched lightly, but this matter concerns the people of Liaodong, and I cannot remain indifferent."

Emperor Jiajing looked at these ministers and said eloquently, "Gao Zhong, declare the decree."

"Wei Guangde submitted his survey of the route from Tianjin to Liao. It sailed from Haikou to Youtun River and Tongbao, less than 200 miles away. Among them, Caobodian, Yuetuo, Sangtuo, Jiangnvfen, and Taohua Island can all be anchored. They are only forty or fifty miles apart, so they can avoid troubles and thieves.

Borrowing 50,000 shi of rice from Taicang to relieve the hungry people, the officials were appointed to supervise the dispatch to Tonghe and other places in Tianjin to recruit merchants and traffickers. They also ordered each other to supervise each other and not to bring in private goods.

Send a member of the imperial censor to quickly buy grain and try to transport it to help the people's urgent needs. At the end of the year, the Ministry of Household Affairs will distribute another 50,000 taels of silver for cattle gear to prepare for sowing in the spring."

"I accept the order."

As Gao Zhong finished reading out the decree, all the ministers shouted in unison.

The maritime transport to Liao, which had been debated for several days in the court, finally came to an end after Emperor Jiajing issued an imperial edict.

An imperial edict was issued to carry out sea transportation and transfer grain to Liaodong.

Although it seemed that the final winner in this court turmoil was Prince Yu's Mansion and Jia Yingchun, when it came to the transportation of the newly purchased disaster relief grains by the imperial censor, he did not explicitly choose to transport them by sea to Liaoning, but tried to transport them.

When Xu Jie stood up, he couldn't help but steal a glance at Emperor Jiajing on the throne, and was a little confused as to what he was thinking.

Is it really planning to gradually liberalize shipping, or is it just a way to get through the current difficulties?

When the news spread, Prince Yu's Mansion was not only happy, but also disappointed.

Xu Jie naturally knew about shipping, but he did not intend to support it. Although he contacted Gao Gong, he found that Gao Gong seemed to show unusual concern for shipping and even sea trade.

Xu Jie also thought about whether His Highness Prince Yu supported the opening of the sea, but now both he and His Highness Prince Yu have extremely sensitive identities. Except for those who serve in Prince Yu's Mansion, it is inconvenient for others to enter and leave Prince Yu's Mansion.

As the six ministries and nine ministers left Xiyuan one after another and returned to their respective yamen to run errands, the final result of this turmoil quickly spread among the officialdom of the capital.

Wei Guangde got the manuscript of the imperial edict immediately. After reading it, Wei Guangde did not show too much surprise. In fact, he was still a little disappointed in his heart. The reason was naturally the shipment of disaster relief food, which was not clear in the edict.

try?

Is this because Emperor Jiajing is still waiting for the second big debate in the court?

The more the Tao is discussed, the clearer it becomes, and the more arguments are made, the clearer it becomes.

Although debates are helpful for enlightenment, too many debates in the court can easily lead to cliques, which is not a good thing for the policy of cronyism that the Ming Dynasty has always opposed.

But none of this is important now. The news reached Prince Yu's Mansion. Everyone in the mansion, including Prince Yu and Gao Gong, was overjoyed. It was not easy to finally win the battle against the Yan family.

King Yu was not happy because he was worried that this move would offend the Yan family and would lead to retaliation from the Yan family again.

This is also due to the character of King Yu, who is cowardly and afraid of getting into trouble.

Gao Gong is not worried about the Yan family's revenge. He has different opinions and does not want to work together. His worries are similar to Wei Guangde's.

But no matter what, the matter in Liaodong was finally settled, and the court entered a brief period of peace.

Haiyan and rivers are clear, and the world is at peace. It seems to have returned to the Jiajing prosperous age mentioned by Yan Song.

Wei Guangde still lives a comfortable life, with a large scale and relaxed body and mind. Such a life is not bad.

I go to the Yamen on time every day for duty, and I have a pot of tea and a book. When I feel tired, I go out to visit and chat.

In the evening, when I have an appointment after get off work, I invite my colleagues to go out for a drink. After drinking, my wife will take care of me when I get home, which makes my life smooth.

That night, Wei Guangde was a little drunk again and was helped into the house by Zhang Ji.

It's funny to say that this afternoon Wei Guangde went to the Metropolitan Procuratorate for a stroll, and then he was called by the censor of Fujian Road. Well, today more than a dozen censors met to go out for a drink to celebrate the birthday of his colleagues.

Although he didn't come often, since he met him, Wei Guangde couldn't shirk it. While telling Zhang Ji to go back and prepare gifts, he went to celebrate the birthday of his colleague.

Speaking of which, the censor is still very powerful in the court, but his income is not high.

There are many ways to get money, but most of them are invisible, so most censors are not like Wei Guangde who can live a decent life in the capital.

Wei Guangde was not someone who relied on his salary to live, but his life was destined to be broken tonight.

Wei Guangde was helped into the inner courtyard by Zhang Ji, and Xu Jianglan summoned the maid to pick him up.

When Wei Guangde returned to the house, Xu Jianglan asked someone to bring the sobering soup that had been prepared for Wei Guangde to drink, while complaining that he drank too much.

Wei Guangde originally didn't plan to drink too much tonight, but someone called a dozen beautiful women from the priest's square.

Well, before he knew it, Wei Guangde drank a few more drinks and came back later than usual.

However, just as Wei Guangde returned home, someone knocked on the Wei family's door knocker.

"Dang-dang-dang-dang-dang."

The sound of knocking on the door could be heard far away in the dark night, but the person knocking on the door didn't seem to hesitate, which also showed the urgency in the person's heart.

The concierge had just welcomed Wei Guangde back home, and was naturally not asleep at this time. Although he was surprised that someone was running home in the middle of the night, he was not slow and opened the door quickly.

He knew the person knocking on the door. He was a long-time attendant next to Gao Gong. At this time, he was sweating profusely and his face was anxious. It was obvious that something big had happened.

"Quickly, inform your master quickly. I have something important to tell you on my master's orders."

The man said anxiously to the Wei family concierge.

After letting people in, the concierge closed the door again and took the people to the side hall to wait. He was going to send a message inside.

At this time, the master should not have fallen asleep yet.

If you run faster, you can meet the master at the door, where he still needs to make a pass inside.

Although he thought so in his heart, he was not slow and went directly to find the boy from the Zhang family.

When it comes to sending messages inside, Zhang Ji is more suitable.

Although Zhang Ji is regarded as the housekeeper of the Wei family, when he meets these family members on weekdays, his words are useful, but he does not have much prestige.

There is no way, except for the few who bought it, the rest of the family members are from Bengshan Fort.

These people and his father used to be brothers. After all, they were all confidants of the Wei family.

Zhang Ji did not dare to neglect after receiving the news. He immediately got dressed and ran to the inner courtyard to call the door.

Fortunately, they hadn't rested yet, and soon the door was opened.

"Let me tell you, Master Gao Gonggao's attendant wants to see you. He says there is something urgent."

Wei Guangde said to the woman who opened the door.

"Okay, I'll go in and talk right away."

The woman didn't know who Zhang Ji was talking about, but she also knew that something big was going on.

"Let him come in. I'll go see him at the gatehouse in the inner courtyard."

Wei Guangde felt weak all over and didn't want to go far, so he ordered.

Wei Guangde slowly stood up and went out, and sat down at the concierge next to the door of the inner courtyard. After a while, a maid brought sobering soup.

Wei Guangde was in such a hurry just now that he didn't even drink the sobering soup, so he mentally asked someone to bring it to him.

As soon as he picked up the sobering soup and drank it, Zhang Ji brought the long and high-arched attendant here. When he entered the door, he eagerly shouted to Wei Guangde: "Master Wei, Prince Yu has just passed away."

"Clang."

The bowl fell to the ground and broke into pieces.