Chapter 334 333 Capital

The father-in-law suddenly asked him about himself, and Wei Guangde knew that he must have wanted to know the inside story a long time ago.

Wei Guangde already knew about the incident in the Ministry of Revenue Office in Xiaoxiaochang. It is estimated that Xu Pengju asked him for two reasons, first, to consider how to say it, and second, to see if it is possible to learn from Wei Guangde's way of handling it.

As for Wei Guangde, he didn't think it was a big deal.

He was not present when the mutiny occurred. What others could say about the casual words he said in order to fool the soldiers, so he honestly told the story of how he calmed down the soldiers.

"Did you come up with the excuse that Huang Maoguan fell to death after climbing over the wall?"

Zhang Ao opened his mouth slightly at this moment. When he heard that the soldiers sent back Huang Maoguan's body, he was still wondering how Huang Maoguan died.

Was he beaten to death by the soldiers or did he really fall to death after climbing over the wall? Now he knew the answer. He must have been beaten to death, but he just found a more decent reason.

But this reason is good, at least it can be perfunctory to the court, and it will not make the court feel that it has lost face.

To deal with those more than 2,000 chaotic soldiers, killing them is absolutely impossible, and you can only find a way to smooth things over and make big things small and small things disappear.

"Okay, Lord Zhang, let someone inform the people of the Huang family later and tell them not to talk nonsense."

He Shou was very satisfied with Wei Guangde's doing this. Emperor Jiajing was very proud, and this was something all the eunuchs knew. If they knew that a third-rank official was beaten to death by a group of chaotic soldiers, I don't know how many people would be implicated for the sake of face, and even I was afraid that I would have to bear the consequences sooner or later.

With this reason, the so-called mutiny was a misunderstanding, and Huang Maoguan's death was just an accident.

Xu Pengju nodded slightly, and then continued: "In addition, Lord Zhang and I negotiated with the rebels in the small parade ground to calm down the disturbance."

At this point, Xu Pengju paused for a moment, looked around at everyone in the hall, and then continued: "We understand the request of the soldiers of Zhenwu Camp. They are very dissatisfied with the change of the discount from 5 coins to 4 coins since last year. At that time, they questioned whether this matter had been approved by the court."

Xu Pengju curled his lips and looked at Zhang Ao, which meant that it was your turn to talk about this matter, and you were also an insider.

Zhang Ao was stared at by Xu Pengju, and of course he knew that he was meant to say something, so he coughed twice and continued: "As far as I know, the Ministry of Revenue did submit a memorial to mention this matter last year, but it changed the memorial without the court's approval. This is the main reason why the rebels attacked the Ministry of Revenue this time. They want to get back the military pay that was withheld by the Ministry of Revenue."

"Last year, then this matter was Ma Kun's idea?"

He Shou suddenly interrupted.

"It should be Ma Bu Tang's idea."

Zhang Ao replied.

"This Huang Maoguan, who carried out Ma Kun's order, lost his life, hehe."

He Shou suddenly chuckled, and then shook his head contemptuously, as if he was mocking Huang Maoguan, who lost his life for this, for not being able to see the reality.

In the past two years, Nanjing City and its surrounding areas have really suffered serious disasters.

It was a disaster year, and the soldiers should have been helped. But they did the opposite. Not only did they not help the soldiers, but they also withheld their already small salary. It would be strange if they didn't cause trouble.

However, He Shou soon put away his smile and asked seriously: "What did you say to those people?"

This is the real thing. He Shou also heard that at that time, Duke of Wei Xu Pengju and Shangshu Zhang Ao were probably forced to agree to some conditions of the rebel army, so they had the opportunity to escape successfully.

These things have nothing to do with him. Anyway, he can report what he knows to the Silijian afterwards.

The conditions that the rebel soldiers can put forward are nothing more than escaping from the crime and giving silver. In fact, these are not a big deal in He Shou's view.

If the rebel soldiers did not cause chaos in Nanjing City, everything can still be dealt with.

"They asked for 100,000 taels of silver right away. How could they possibly give so much? Even if we agreed, the court would not agree."

Zhang Ao smiled bitterly, "So we said we would come back to discuss it, otherwise it would be really difficult to calm down the rebellious army."

At this time, Zhang Ao began to fight for credit. They used a delaying tactic to calm down the rebellious soldiers in Zhenwu Camp. Although the rebellious soldiers sent people to chase them later, that was a matter for the future. Perhaps they wanted to keep them as hostages for negotiations with the court. Fortunately, Wei Guangde came forward in time to stop them.

In fact, the reason for the pursuit of the soldiers behind was largely because they found that Huang Maoguan was dead. They knew that it would not be a good ending if a third-rank official of the court died. Even if they negotiated with the court, they were afraid that someone on their side would have to pay with his life to understand the matter.

Although Zhang Ao tried his best to describe the conditions they were forced to accept at the time as a strategy to stop the rebellious soldiers in Zhenwu Camp, the people in the room were all smart people, and they naturally knew that the truth at the time was probably not as simple as Zhang Ao said.

But if I put myself in their shoes, if it was me at that time, I would have to accept it first and hope to get out of it.

As for the explanation afterwards, we agreed, but the court didn't agree, what can we do.

"Let's not talk about those things, tell me what conditions we offer them to solve this matter."

He Shou didn't want to listen to Zhang Ao and others shirking responsibility. This matter had nothing to do with him. He just wanted to calm the anger of the rebellious soldiers in Zhenwu Camp.

Regarding He Shou's proposal, Zhang Hao did not answer immediately, but looked at each other with Wei Guogong Xu Pengju, and seemed to reach an agreement after eye contact. Then Wei Guogong Xu Pengju ordered to the subordinates waiting around him: "You guys go down first. Well, no one told you to stay away from here."

This is the garrison mansion, and except for the two young eunuchs brought in by He Shou, everyone else is his.

After Xu Pengju finished speaking, the guards and clerks standing around hurriedly exited the hall.

"Bang Rui, you should go down first and guard outside the door to prevent others from approaching."

After speaking, Xu Pengju looked at Wei Guangde again, but then he looked at Zhang Hao again. After Xu Bangrui exited the hall, he didn't say anything else.

Originally, Wei Guangde thought that he would be able to go out and avoid the troubled waters of Nanjing City, but he never imagined that this would be the result.

Now Wei Guangde felt that his position was a bit awkward. He could neither stay nor leave. The key was that no one said this, and he was not sure whether he should take the initiative to stand up and leave.

However, neither Xu Pengju nor Zhang Hao looked at him again. They obviously had no intention of letting him leave. At this time, both of them were staring straight at He Shou.

Speaking of which, except for Wei Guangde who was wearing a green robe, there were only two young chamberlains in gray chamberlain uniforms in the room. Everyone else was wearing red official robes, showing their power in Nanjing city.

"You guys also get out."

He Shou was suspicious and didn't know what they were going to do after they sent everyone away. However, Xu Pengju and Zhang Hao ran out together before, so they probably had some arguments on the way.

After the two young chamberlains were ordered out of the hall, Xu Pengju was still sitting calmly at the top of the hall, with no intention of speaking. Zhang Hao coughed twice at this time, attracting the attention of everyone in the room, and then spoke. Said: "As for the issue of soldiers' pay and salary, it is illegal for the Ministry of Household Affairs to change it without getting approval from the court. I think it should be changed back."

After Zhang Hao finished speaking, Xu Pengju nodded in agreement: "This is as it should be."

Wei Guangde, He Shou, Li Sui, and Li Tingzhu below also felt that Zhang Hao's words were reasonable at this time. Restoring the old system should be able to calm some of the complaints of the rebel soldiers.

"In addition, although no Japanese pirates have ever attacked Nanjing, there are Japanese pirates in Jingjiang, Zhenjiang and other places all year round, and Zhenwu Camp is also the most frequently dispatched guard post, setting up defenses along the river all year round.

Here, there is hard work even if there is no credit. What I mean is to give them some compensation and also take care of last year’s business. "

Zhang Hao continued.

"It's not easy for soldiers either. Especially last year, the Japanese pirates also made a lot of trouble. If they hadn't set up defenses along the river, we don't know if the Japanese pirates would have come down to Nanjing to cause trouble again."

Xu Pengju made another assist on it.

At this time, Li Sui, the minister of the Ministry of War, had come to his senses. He looked at Xu Pengju and then at his immediate superior, Zhang Hao. These were both people who were about to become officials. They probably planned to do more before they became officials.

Li Sui figured it out, and naturally He Shou and Li Tingzhu also understood it. Only Wei Guangde still had a little understanding at the moment. Although he was already alert in his heart, he still didn't understand what medicine Zhang Hao and Xu Pengju were selling in their gourds. .

"Although the storm was short-lived, the secret report about Jin Yiwei's arrival has been sent out."

At this time, Li Tingzhu suddenly interrupted.

"You can't hide things."

Zhang Hao nodded.

"They want one hundred thousand taels, how much should we report?"

Li Sui didn't want to continue playing riddles at this time and pointed out the key points directly. This should be the reason why Zhang Hao and Xu Pengju didn't know how to speak, so let him explain it.

"What else can I give? Just replace the arrears of military pay. Last year's discount is nothing."

He Shou said disdainfully, but when it came to the dispute over Zhese, he hesitated and did not continue.

"Last year, it would have been fine if each person was given one tael of silver as replacement. They should be satisfied. Let the people below not do anything with the money and send it directly to the soldiers. They should be satisfied."

Li Tingzhu was the admiral of Cao Jiang. When several warnings came, he led his soldiers to the riverside to set up defenses. He also knew something about Zhenwu Camp. "There are more than 2,000 people in Zhenwu Camp. According to the actual situation, it will be more than 2,000 people." It’s about three thousand taels of silver.”

Hearing his words, Xu Pengju above couldn't help but raise his eyebrows, and then relaxed them. It was obvious that he had already recognized Li Tingzhu's meaning in his heart.

"We'll talk about this later. Now let's talk about how to report this to the court."

At this moment, Zhang Hao suddenly stroked his beard and spoke calmly.

Obviously, Zhang Hao also accepted Li Tingzhu's suggestion. The court should be able to accept the matter of several thousand taels of silver. The main thing now is to discuss how to report the matter to the superiors.

Seeing this scene, Wei Guangde understood that this was to drag him into the water.

When he returned to Beijing from Hangzhou, there were records of where he rested along the way.

When he arrived in Nanjing and encountered the Zhenwu Camp mutiny, he could not say that he knew nothing about it after returning to the capital. This was probably Xu Pengju's intention of keeping him here, and he naturally wanted to cover up this lie for Nanjing officials.

Thinking of this, Wei Guangde couldn't help but look at Xu Pengju above. No one spoke. Maybe the adults were communicating with their eyes.

He sighed in his heart. He didn't expect that he could not escape from the mire without being stained. This may be the officialdom of this era, Wei Guangde thought.

While the main officials in Nanjing were discussing how to report the Zhenwu Camp to the court, a team of Jinyi officers escorted Lu Bing, who was wearing a python robe, to the gate of the Yan Mansion.

Lu Bing and the Yan family did not get along well, so they rarely interacted on weekdays. They only visited each other on special days such as festivals, and of course it was just to save everyone's face. After all, they were all ministers in the same palace.

However, before today, Lu Bing had sent someone to send a visiting card to the Yan family. After receiving the reply from the Yan family, he confirmed today's itinerary.

Lu Bing controlled the Jinyi Guards and monitored the world. Naturally, he had a lot of secret information, a lot of information that was not very noticeable, and recorded a lot of seemingly irrelevant intelligence.

After receiving Wang Zhi's confession from Hangzhou, Lu Bing checked the various information collected by the Hangzhou Jinyiwei Baihu in the past two years, and he really found that shortly after Wang Zhi was arrested, someone from the Yan Mansion took two large boxes from the government office. The boxes were then loaded onto a ship, which might be shipped to Beijing or directly to Jiangxi.

After all, it would be very difficult for the Jinyiwei to follow the ship after it left the dock. There are countless ships sailing on the Jiangnan Canal every day. If nails are not planted on the ship in advance, it is difficult to grasp the whereabouts of the ship.

However, this is enough for Lu Bing to confirm some information and make him more confident about this trip.

Lu Bing dismounted in front of the Yan Mansion. Yan Shifan and Yan Xin were already standing outside the gate to greet him. After all, he was a first-rank official of the court passing by. Although they did not know the purpose of Lu Bing's visit, the Yan family still played a hundred and twenty cautious, and sent servants at both ends of the street at the gate to intercept idle people approaching.

Soon Lu Bing walked into the Yan Mansion, where Yan Song was still waiting.

Lu Bing would not come here without a purpose, and Yan Shifan also guessed that it might be related to the person who was imprisoned in the imperial prison.

After all, the relationship between the Lu family and the Yan family is not harmonious now, but the one who can really make the two families intersect is Yu Dayou.

I don’t know what the relationship between Yu Dayou and Lu Bing is, so Lu Bing has been protecting them until now.

Perhaps, this is also Lu Bing’s last effort to rescue Yu Dayou, and today he is here to negotiate conditions.

It is precisely for this reason that Yan Shifan did not go out today, but planned to see what Lu Bing could come up with in exchange for his family’s concession.

At this time, in a house in Anfufang not far from the Yan family, a green-robed official was sitting behind the desk in the house and sighing.

"The Yan family is really a piece of shit. It’s a pity that they are still fellow villagers. They just let them die without saving them. Isn’t it because they dislike that I didn’t send silver to their family? Hum"

After sighing for a long time, the man said hatefully.

This official is called Guo Xiyan. He was once a child prodigy in Jiangxi. He passed the imperial examination at the age of thirteen and previously served as Zuo Zhongyun of Zuo Chunfang in Zhanshifu.

In the assessment of the Ministry of Personnel last year, Guo Xiyan was rated as inferior for his "absurd and blasphemous" discussion of rituals. Now he has been dismissed and is unhappy at home.