Chapter 391 390 Zhu Banxian

Time passes quickly, autumn turns to winter in a blink of an eye, and the weather becomes colder and colder.

The north wind that started last night brought snowflakes flying all over the sky this morning, like feathers and jade chips, falling gently. This was the first snow to fall in the capital in the 39th year of Jiajing.

It was already evening, and although the snow had stopped, the outdoor temperature seemed even colder. Pedestrians on the street were walking quickly in tight clothes, not wanting to stay outside for a moment. In a private room of a restaurant in the capital, Two red charcoal basins radiated warmth to the surroundings, and a group of people were sitting around, drinking warm wine and enjoying delicious food.

"Shandai, the matter you entrusted has been accomplished. In just these two days, the Ministry of War will issue an official document and transfer Ma Fang to Jizhen to serve as the deputy commander-in-chief."

Gao Gong picked up the vegetables with chopsticks and said to the young man next to him with a smile.

"Thank you, Brother Suqing, and thank you, Uncle, for your help. I would like to propose a toast to both of you, Ma Fang."

As he spoke, the young man picked up the wine glass in front of him and stretched it out.

"Dangdang."

Amidst the crisp sound of two wine glasses clashing, Wei Guangde, Gao Gong, and Zhang Juzheng drank the wine together.

Just as Wei Guangde guessed, after Anda Khan's army withdrew from Xuanfu, Ma Fang discovered that Anda Khan seemed to have plans to change his target. Mongolian horse exploration activities occurred more in Shaanxi and Jizhen, and paid less attention to Shanxi.

After several communications with Wei Guangde, Ma Fang made up his mind to transfer from Xuanda and immediately look for a title. Without war, there would be no chance. Jizhen became his target and guarded the gate for the emperor.

Wei Guangde had a good idea, but he couldn't find a place to put it into practice. Naturally, he had to ask Gao Gong for help, and he could only rely on the power of Prince Yu's Mansion to handle this matter.

So far, although his group has been in the officialdom for many years, their qualifications are just that. They can bully and impeach people, but they are unable to control the promotion of an official. After all, the official ranks are very low, and they are not even in the ministry. When dealing with people, you have to act based on their faces.

"Shandai, you brought Ma Fang to Jizhen. Have you communicated with him? According to you, it seems safe to stay in Xuanfu now."

A white-faced man with no beard next to him interjected and asked.

"Eunuch Li, Ma Fang, this person, suffered a lot because of the Tatars breaking through the border and looting, so now he doesn't care about anything except fighting the Tatars.

I also asked him about this matter, that is, he wanted to go to Ji Town. During this period of time, many traces of Tatars exploring horses have been reported in Ji Town. It is estimated that Anda Khan should be in Ji Town in the coming year. Take action. "

When Wei Guangde faced the question from the manager of Prince Yu's Mansion, he did not dare to neglect. He immediately put down his wine glass and said. After speaking, he picked up the wine jug next to him and filled it for Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng, and then his own wine glass.

"That Ma Fang is quite famous among the Tatars now. The Tatars all call him 'Master Ma', haha."

Zhang Juzheng caressed his beautiful beard and said with a smile.

Zhang Juzheng is still very recognizable in the Ming Dynasty officialdom. He is quite good-looking in person, making it easy for people to feel close to him. His carefully trimmed beard adds a sense of calmness.

"I've also heard people say, haha, the Tatars only have that little vision. I have countless elite soldiers and generals in the Ming Dynasty. Among the generals in the northwest, whoever is weak is much stronger than Ma Fang."

Then Li Fang spoke again.

Wei Guangde could only smile slightly awkwardly at Li Fang's words, but Gao Gong still replied impartially, "Ma Fang earned his reputation by his desperate fighting style. There may be generals who can fight better than him. But if you really want to fight him, you may not be able to win against him.

I remember when His Majesty heard about Ma Fang's achievements, he said, "You can't be braver than Ma Fang." I have seen this in my daily life notes. There is no way it is false. "

"I've seen this before. They say that civil servants don't love money, and if military generals don't fear death, the world will be peaceful. It's fair to say that Ma Fang is the 'most powerful general in the world'."

Zhang Juzheng nodded in agreement.

At this time, Li Fang was a little embarrassed, so he could only laugh twice.

If others criticized him like this, he might still be unhappy, but with his head held high, it was hard for him to say anything.

No matter what, Eunuch Li is the chief steward in front of Prince Yu. Don't you want to lose face?

But when it comes to Gao Gong, King Yu still respects him as a teacher. He still respects him from the bottom of his heart and cannot offend him.

"By the way, Eunuch Li, have there been any abnormalities in the people around His Highness recently?"

In order to resolve the embarrassment, Wei Guangde raised another topic.

"Hi, Mr. Wei, you always ask me about this every time you see me, haha," Li Fang replied with a smile.

"Haha, people do care."

Gao Gong spent a lot of time with them, so he naturally knew that Wei Guangde would ask about this matter when he saw Li Fang in the past two months, so he was not surprised.

"It's good to be cautious."

Zhang Juzheng also knew about this. After all, it was not once or twice that several people sat at a table. He also knew something about Wei Guangde's constant concern about King Yu's diet.

In fact, let alone Prince Yu, anyone who is close to the palace is a lot more cautious.

Lu Bing's story has not spread, and few people know about it, but everyone who needs to know is known. At least Zhang Juzheng knows that his teacher Xu Jie now has a dedicated person in charge of the food, and it has been inspected many times. Dare to drink with confidence.

"Our family knows how powerful it is. We specifically asked to see Eunuch Huang before. Dongchang has been keeping an eye on this matter. Don't worry, I will personally guard His Highness. I don't dare to make any mistakes."

Li Fang smiled. When it came to His Highness, Li Fang seemed to have just remembered and suddenly said to Gao Gong: "Mr. Gao, His Highness is still concerned about one thing, that is, the Ministry of Works, is there really no way?"

Everyone knew what Li Fang meant. It was nothing more than what was said before, that the Shouwang Mansion should be rebuilt as soon as possible, but two months have passed, and it is said that the project there is still intermittent.

The Ministry of Works in the capital said well about the project of the Jingwang Mansion during the ministry meeting, but when it came to the specific implementation, there were many excuses to delay the construction period.

Although the matter of Jingwang's enfeoffment has been decided, after all, Jingwang has not left the capital and is still staying in the capital. This is not a good sign.

This matter is not only anxious for Prince Yu. In fact, officials of Prince Yu's faction have more or less some complaints about it. Everyone also knows where the matter is stuck, but they are helpless.

"Has Lord Wu agreed?"

Wei Guangde looked at Gao Gong at this time and asked.

Gao Gong has been promoted again. Although he is still the Minister of the Ministry of Rites, he now has an additional official position, that is, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites. Although his rank has not changed, everyone with a discerning eye knows that he has already embarked on the road to entering the cabinet.

Now he just needs to work hard to gain experience, and when the Emperor Jiajing asks the cabinet to recruit people one day, Gao Gong will be the first candidate who deserves it.

Wei Guangde is naturally very jealous of this, but there is nothing he can do. Until now, he has not been able to get a very important position, that is, a Bachelor of the Hanlin Academy.

In order to embark on that road, Wei Guangde does not expect to have any more official titles, but hopes to get a Hanlin Bachelor's official position, even if it is a Bachelor of the Imperial Academy without a promotion.

With the status of a Bachelor, he can have the opportunity to climb up the road to heaven by serving as an official in the court.

However, it seemed that his good luck had run out. Because of the unexpected change in Datong during the previous battle of Xuanda, Wei Guangde, who was eagerly waiting for his meritorious service and reward, seemed to be forgotten.

Gao Gong got the reward, but he got nothing.

"I have found Lord Wu twice. He should have wavered. Maybe he should wait for two more days to take action. It is hard to say. Anyway, if he still doesn't submit a petition after two days, I will go and see.

As Shandai said, this kind of thing of urging the Ministry of Works cannot be done by our people. It seems that we are hasty. Your Highness cannot tolerate the brotherhood."

Gao Gong sighed and told the truth.

After discovering that the Ministry of Works delayed the construction of Prince Jing's Mansion, Prince Yu's Mansion naturally could not tolerate it, but was stopped by Wei Guangde.

Appealing to emotions and reasoning, let everyone understand that the most important thing at this time is to see the emperor's intention. After all, it is sending a son away. This departure is almost a separation from the world forever, and the emperor's emotions must be taken into consideration.

On the second day, Wei Guangde went to the Hanlin Academy on time as usual. He had nothing to do, so he just read some books in his duty room to kill time and wait for the end of the office.

At some point, Wei Guangde, who was reading, suddenly heard some noise outside.

Putting down the book and looking back, Wei Guangde looked at the door.

Not long after, the door was pushed open, and Lu Bu had walked in, but there was no expression on his face.

After bowing to Wei Guangde, he said, "Master, someone from the palace came and said that you want to present a Qingci to the West Garden."

"What's the reason?"

Wei Guangde asked curiously.

Emperor Jiajing had this habit. Whenever he had something happy, he would want to hold a ceremony or have someone present a Qingci.

In the past, Wei Guangde had thought about composing some good Qingci to please Emperor Jiajing as a step to promotion.

However, after staying in the Hanlin Academy, Wei Guangde still found that although many people in the Hanlin Academy were keen on writing Qingci to win the favor of Emperor Jiajing, more people seemed to be dismissive of it. It was not known whether they were not good at it or really opposed the emperor's preference.

And Wei Guangde obviously belonged to the latter. He could not write any good Qingci. He had read some excellent Qingci of the time, but he wanted to use the method of writing eight-part essays in the past to put together a Qingci work, which was really a bit difficult for him.

Well, since he could not write a good Qingci, he could only give up the idea of ​​relying on Qingci to curry favor with Emperor Jiajing. It was just a pity that he wanted to learn the writing method of Qingci and spent money to buy those Taoist classics.

"Yesterday it snowed heavily. It was said that His Majesty hoped that the auspicious snow would indicate a good harvest, and asked the adults to present Qingci, hoping to bless the Ming Dynasty with peace and prosperity in the coming year."

"What the hell?"

Wei Guangde blinked and stared at the reed cloth for a moment.

What time is it now? It's just the beginning of winter. Shouldn't we hope that this year will not be as cold as usual?

What is the saying that auspicious snow indicates a good harvest?

If it snows heavily this year, I don’t know how the people below will celebrate the New Year.

Speaking of which, Wei Guangde actually envies Yan Song, Xu Jie, Li Chunfang, Yuan Wei and others. They are really quick-witted, powerful and gorgeous in their writing, and are worthy of being classics.

Even Gao Gong wrote Qingci to present to Emperor Jiajing. Wei Guangde was speechless after seeing the Qingci written by Gao Gong.

Wei Guangde carefully studied the Qingci written by those people before, and put down the book to write one himself.

Sorry, it can’t be done.

Therefore, Wei Guangde simply pretended to be indifferent to fame and fortune and didn’t write.

This time, Wei Guangde still planned to use the previous escape method and leave the Hanlin Academy first. In the past, he always used the excuse of going to the Zhanshi Mansion or the Duchayuan to do business and left. Today he still did so.

He stood up, gave a few instructions to Lu Bu and left the duty room.

Not far from the door, he saw Yuan Wei, the bachelor of the imperial reading, coming out of another courtyard. At this time, he was walking forward with his head held high.

He was quite arrogant.

However, Wei Guangde was very convinced by this arrogant person.

"The black tortoise of Luoshui first presented auspiciousness. The yin number is nine, the yang number is nine, and the number of nine is eighty-one. The number is connected to the Tao, and the Tao is in harmony with the original heaven. One sincerity has feelings.

The red phoenix of Qishan Mountain presents auspiciousness. The male sings six times, and the female sings six times. Sixty-six thirty-six sounds are heard in the sky. The heaven gave birth to Emperor Jiajing, and he lives forever."

This is a Qingci that was framed and hung in the bedroom by Emperor Jiajing. It is obvious that he likes it very much, and the author is Yuan Wei, the bachelor of the imperial reading.

In the Hanlin Academy, Wei Guangde was just a compiler, two grades lower than Yuan Wei, and there was also a grade of imperial reading and imperial lecturer in between. The higher grades were the bachelors, so Wei Guangde immediately saluted Yuan Wei.

Yuan Wei was naturally happy that Emperor Jiajing wanted Qingci, but his happiness at this moment was not because Emperor Jiajing wanted Qingci.

Wei Guangde had heard Gao Gong talk about the reason why Yuan Wei was happy, that is, Yuan Wei was going to be promoted, and his promotion was faster than his.

According to Gao Gong, Yuan Wei was probably another Qingci prime minister, because this time Yuan Wei was promoted from the Hanlin Academy to the position of Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, a position above him.

Also promoted from the Hanlin Academy with him was Guo Pu, a bachelor of reading, who was said to be internally transferred to the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, which was also a position that could enter the cabinet.

After Wei Guangde saluted, Yuan Wei also hurriedly returned the salute, looking polite, but his excited expression still betrayed his mood at the moment.

He should know that his position will be promoted soon, and there are really no secrets in the Ming Dynasty court.

Following Yuan Wei, he walked to the front hall and soon met Guo Pu. Both of them were going to move out of the Hanlin Academy, so they couldn't help but chatted a little more. Although they were competitors, they didn't show it on their faces.

The Hanlin Academy, led by these two people, soon had a large group of people in the front. A young eunuch was waiting in the hall.

After everyone arrived, the young eunuch conveyed the oral order of Emperor Jiajing, asking the Hanlin to present the Qingci.

However, the young eunuch's words at this time were a little different from what Lu Bu heard, that is, it snowed heavily yesterday, and Emperor Jiajing had a sense of heaven and man two days ago.

Zhu Banxian.

When Wei Guangde heard the young eunuch say this, this word popped into his mind.