Chapter 577 576 Is Urging

Investigate and report.

In fact, it has already shown the attitude of Emperor Jiajing on this matter, no wonder Huang Jin would take a second look.

Dong Fen is going to be unlucky.

The current Emperor Jiajing is no longer the same as before. At that time, he still had two sons, Prince Yu and Prince Jing, but now Prince Yu is the only child left.

What do you say about being alone? At this age, more or less, you will consider your afterlife.

If there is hope for cultivation, it is fine. You can live forever, so you naturally won’t think too much.

But after so many years of cultivation, he knows very well whether he has made any progress.

Although Huang Jin, Gao Zhong and others complimented him for his great increase in power, Emperor Jiajing was not a fool. He had no progress at all, because he could not feel where the immortal way was.

Not to mention that Dong Fen was just a minister, even if he was a capable minister in governing the world, compared with Prince Yu, he was nothing.

After all, it was related to the royal bloodline, and Emperor Jiajing had no other choice.

After being impeached, Dong Fen tried to persuade Xu Jie in the cabinet for a long time but still couldn't get a solution. He went to find two cabinet ministers, Yan Ne and Li Chunfang, but still couldn't find a solution to the problem.

According to convention, officials who were impeached must go home and reflect on their mistakes, so he naturally wouldn't continue to run around outside.

Besides, for an official of his rank, who else could he ask for help?

Looking at the entire court, except for the one in Prince Yu's mansion, there seemed to be no one else.

In this half day, Dong Fen also understood that it was Prince Yu who wanted to take him down. Would it be useful to ask him for help?

He didn't want to lose the position of Minister of Rites that he had finally obtained. With today's incident, he had almost no hope of entering the cabinet, and he didn't want to lose his official position even more.

He returned home in the afternoon and locked himself in the study to write a self-defense, but after sitting all night, he couldn't find the words to explain.

He would definitely not admit his guilt.

But how to explain it?

In just one night, the Dong family, which once had the power to call the shots in the capital, fell. Minister Dong became a joke in the eyes of the public, a big fool who looked down on the situation.

When they saw him take over Yan Ne's position as Minister of Rites, countless people thought that he might follow in his footsteps and enter the cabinet. At that time, the prosperous scene in front of the Dong Mansion was a thing of the past.

As for Xiyuan, Emperor Jiajing received the results of the factory guards' verification that night, which was exactly the same as what Ouyang Yijing said in the memorial.

If there was no impeachment memorial, even Jinyiwei and Dongchang would have a lot of effort to verify it.

With Ouyang Yijing's memorial, the factory guards followed the map and easily grasped the relevant evidence.

The evidence for Ouyang Yijing's impeachment was conclusive.

Looking at the secret report sent by Huang Jin, Emperor Jiajing's expression did not change at all, as if everything had been expected.

"Submit Dong Fen's self-defense and give it to me immediately. I want to see how he explains it."

Emperor Jiajing ordered casually, without any emotion in his words.

It took two days to wait.

Dong Fen didn't know how to defend himself. Emperor Jiajing had to wait for him to defend himself according to court practice. If he directly determined the impeachment memorial without giving him a chance to defend himself, it would be a bit like punishing without teaching.

In this way, all officials were still waiting to see the show, but who knew that after waiting for a whole day, no one from the Dong Mansion came out to submit a self-defense for Dong Shangshu, and no decree was issued from the palace to deal with him.

Wei Guangde also looked at the events of the day with some surprise, but he came to his senses in the afternoon.

Well, at noon today, the news that Dong Fen, the Minister of Rites of the Ming Dynasty, was going to cheat spread from the officialdom.

However, Wei Guangde was more willing to believe that this was because Dong Fen couldn't find a reason to defend himself, not necessarily because he thought that he could delay some time with this.

Although he could not go to the Ministry of Rites to work, he was still the Minister of Rites, a second-rank official of the court.

But how long could he delay in this way?

Emperor Jiajing waited for a day but did not hear Dong Fen's self-defense, so he became angry.

After seeing the secret report about the rumor from the factory guards in the afternoon, he was even more furious. "Tomorrow at noon, if Dong Fen still cannot give a self-defense, you will go to the cabinet to convey the order to arrest Dong Fen and put him in prison for interrogation."

"I obey the order."

Huang Jin had just agreed when a eunuch ran in from outside the Yongshou Palace. Judging from his clothes, he was of high rank, so no one dared to stop him for a while.

But soon, the eunuch recognized this person. Wasn't he Chen Hong, the eunuch of the Silijian?

Chen Hong ran into the Yongshou Palace without reporting, but he didn't dare to continue to break into the palace gate after passing the palace gate.

After running outside the main hall, he hurriedly called the eunuch standing in front of the door to report.

"What is Chen Hong doing here?"

After receiving the eunuch's report, Emperor Jiajing asked curiously.

Huang Jin was also a little surprised. It was not the time for him to submit a memorial.

Thinking so, Huang Jin lowered his head and replied: "Your Majesty, I don't know."

"Ask him in."

Emperor Jiajing ordered immediately.

Not long after, Chen Hong walked into the palace gate, holding a memorial in both hands and sent it to the imperial desk, then stepped back and said: "Your Majesty, I just received an urgent report. Yuan Wei, the Grand Tutor of the Imperial Tutor and the Grand Tutor of the Crown Prince, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, and the Grand Secretary of Jianji Hall, died in Anshan due to illness."

"Dead?"

Emperor Jiajing looked at Chen Hong and asked subconsciously, his hand reaching for the memorial.

This was the news reported by the local officials of Anshan. It was sent by the official post, so it was naturally not false.

"Maozhong was less than sixty years old, and I didn't expect that he would be gone."

Emperor Jiajing said after reading the memorial.

Having been the emperor for more than 40 years, he has long been used to seeing his ministers grow old, sick and die, but for some reason, he felt uncontrollably sad this time, as if...

"Leave it to the cabinet to determine a posthumous title and reward sacrifices as usual."

Pushing the memorial forward, he gave instructions to Chen Hong.

"yes."

Chen Hong agreed, picked up the memorial and slowly exited the hall.

After Chen Hong left, Emperor Jiajing suddenly asked again: "What's going on with Yan Song now?"

Huang Jin was shocked when he heard the emperor's question. He thought about it before replying: "The last secret report mentioning him said that he is still in good health and not suffering from diseases."

"A person over eighty years old is blessed."

Emperor Jiajing said inexplicably, "Tell the people below not to make things difficult for them."

"yes."

At this time, Huang Jin felt a little sad for no reason.

"Dong Fen, whom I just mentioned, does not need to be sent to prison. He can be deposed and serve the people and leave the capital today."

Emperor Jiajing continued.

After that, the monarch and his ministers chatted for a long time in the main hall, and then Huang Jin left the main hall of Yongshou Palace. Emperor Jiajing still wanted to practice.

On the way out of the hall, Huang Jin finally realized that the emperor was old and might not survive.

From Yuan Wei's death, he may have seen himself in the near future, so that's why he acted like this.

In the Imperial College, Wei Guangde was not surprised to hear the news about Yuan Weizu. After all, he had expected it.

"After all, I still haven't returned to my hometown."

With a soft sigh, Wei Guangde felt a little unmotivated and didn't want to read the book. He threw it directly on the table and prepared to go to the office and go home immediately to stay with his family.

I don't know how long it took, but Lu Bu suddenly ran in quickly from outside and bowed to Wei Guangde and said, "Master, the angels from the palace outside have arrived, and Mr. Li Ge and Mr. Yan Ge are also here."

"Is something wrong?"

Wei Guangde asked subconsciously.

"We have already summoned all branch officers to prepare for the order. Master, please hurry up and get to the front."

Lu Bu couldn't answer, he just said.

"Okay, let's go."

Wei Guangde nodded, then stood up and quickly walked out of the house to the front hall.

When he arrived, the incense table and other items for receiving the order were all ready, and Yan Na and Li Chunfang, who had only been here twice, were both there.

Wei Guangde and Zhang Juzheng stood together, but now was not the time to talk. The two of them just communicated with their eyes. They didn't know what was going on, so they simply stood still and waited for the eunuch to announce the decree.

Not long after, all the branch officials of the school record hall arrived. Under the leadership of Yan Na and Li Chunfang, everyone knelt down and listened to the angel from the inner court reading the decree of Emperor Jiajing loudly after the incense case.

The fact that the decree could be transmitted here is naturally related to the copying of the "Yongle Dadian".

Emperor Jiajing was actually dissatisfied with their copying speed and wanted to recruit more copying scholars. At the same time, he asked all branch officials to be diligent in royal affairs and not to be lazy and perfunctory.

There are more than a hundred copyists, which is a lot of people.

Unexpectedly, Emperor Jiajing was suddenly dissatisfied with their copying speed and wanted to add more people.

After reading the edict, Yan Ne took the edict and put it on the incense table. Then he turned around and tried his best to all the branch officials. At the same time, he also asked them to summon the transcribers as soon as possible to complete the transcription of the grand ceremony according to His Majesty's wishes.

After the matters here were settled, Wei Guangde and Zhang Juzheng came out one after another.

"Uncle, where are you going?"

Seeing that Zhang Juzheng was not going to the back yard, but going forward, Wei Guangde stopped Zhang Juzheng and asked.

"There are some things I need to make arrangements for at the Imperial College first. By the way, I'll take a look at the text and see if it's acceptable. Those with poor family conditions will be given priority to be added to the list of transcribers."

Zhang Juzheng replied.

Hearing what he said, Wei Guangde remembered that Zhang Juzheng also had an errand to offer wine at the Imperial College, which was a big help to him, as he could select scholars from the Imperial College.

"Then help me take a look and pick a few more. I need them here too."

Wei Guangde said.

"good."

Zhang Juzheng agreed and went directly to the Imperial College.

Wei Guangde slowly returned to his room and figured out the taste along the way.

He didn't know what year Emperor Jiajing died, but this year was already the forty-fourth year of Jiajing, and he had been emperor for almost forty-five years, so he should be about the same.

Maybe this year?

Wei Guangde was thinking wildly, and he couldn't help but think about Dong Fen. If he wasn't greedy for small profits, Gao Gong would have no chance at all.

Even if King Yu succeeds to the throne, it is impossible to fire the previous ministers without reason in the short term, especially officials at the level of Shangshu.

The emperor may be finished this year, that is, Wei Guangde thought in his heart, but did not dare to go out and talk nonsense.

On the next day, Dong Fen still did not submit a self-defense. The focus of the courtiers did not shift because of Yuan Wei's death. However, every household arranged for people to go to Yuan's mansion to express condolences and deliver sacrifices.

In this matter, Prince Yu's Mansion came directly to Yin Shizhen and did not worry about Wei Guangde and others.

I had anticipated it, so it wasn’t a big deal.

"Dong Fen was deposed as a citizen."

Dong Fen's failure to defend himself does not mean that the court will not take action. After waiting in silence for two days, Emperor Jiajing finally issued an order to remove Dong Fen from the post of Minister of Rites, deprived him of all titles and rewards, and became an ordinary citizen.

After receiving the order that day, Dong Fen left the mansion in embarrassment and left the capital under the escort of the wolf-like and tiger-like captain in Jinyi. He could only leave his old servant at home to collect the valuables in the house, pack them up and send them back to his hometown.

Emperor Jiajing was already merciful to Dong Fen and did not confiscate his home because he took bribes. He allowed him to leave the capital and return to his hometown to live in retirement with his accumulated wealth.

In the morning of the same day, there was also a secret order signed by Jinyiwei commander Zhu Xixiao, which was sent from the capital to Jinyiwei in Nanchang, Jiangxi through Jinyiwei's secret transmission channel.

Within two days, Emperor Jiajing issued an order from Xiyuan to promote Gao Gong, the left minister of the Ministry of Rites, to the position of minister of the Ministry of Rites.

Gao Gong finally got his wish and became a second-rank official of the Ming Dynasty, only one step away from entering the cabinet.

Wei Guangde and others also greatly expanded their manpower to speed up the copying of "Yongle Dadian".

It's just that there are too many books in the "Yongle Dadian", tens of thousands of them.

I think back then, when Xie Jin presided over the compilation, the number of people was only more than a hundred. A year later, the book "Dacheng Documents" was completed.

However, Zhu Di, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, was very dissatisfied after personally reading it and appointed Yao Guangxiao as the supervisor. At the same time, the editing team expanded to 3,000 people.

It took so many people more than a year to complete the copying of the original book after it was finalized.

Even though Wei Guangde and the others had been tasked with transcribing the grand ceremony for nearly three years, they only had more than a hundred people. At this rate, it would take at least thirty years to complete the transcription.

Even if the number of copying scholars is now more than doubled, there are now 300 people involved in the copying work. According to the current copying speed, Wei Guangde estimates that it will take about ten years to complete all the work.

He didn't have any good ideas for this.

It's easy for future generations, just scan and print.

But in this era, we can only copy them one by one, word by word, on paper and then bind them.

Any handwriting that is slightly sloppy or messy will be invalidated, and it must be copied stroke by stroke in regular script, which is the printed version of later generations.

This is also the responsibility of these branch officers. They must not only ensure that the text is copied accurately, but also the handwriting must be neat.

"I originally thought that the credit was for free, but now I'm reminded of it, hey."

On this day, Wei Guangde and Zhang Juzheng met at the gate after leaving the Yamen. They simply found a restaurant to eat and drink together and complained.

"The cabinet is also under a lot of pressure. Your Majesty wants the court to increase funding. After all, recruiting people for copying and copywriting are indispensable. Your Majesty has to recruit 3,000 people in one breath, which is the same as in the Yongle period. The current court is nowhere. Affordable.”

Zhang Juzheng sighed.

Wei Guangde knew that what Zhang Juzheng said was probably true, but the conversation should have been held in Xiyuan at that time, so the outside world still knows very little about it.

He has the answer in his heart, but Wei Guangde won't say it casually.

"Do you know how much wealth the Yan family has accumulated?"

After three rounds of wine and five tastes of food, Zhang Juzheng suddenly asked.

"Did Cheng Shoujie send a report?"

Wei Guangde heard this and said suspiciously.

He didn't know anything about this, so it's no wonder it was like this.