Chapter 638 Chapter 637 By Him

"What, His Majesty approved it."

Wei Guangde sat opposite Chen Yiqin and said in disbelief.

"Didn't you already know that this day would come?"

Seeing that Wei Guangde didn't look like he was faking it, Chen Yiqin asked in surprise.

"He only submitted a few memorials and His Majesty approved it."

Wei Guangde frowned slightly and recalled it, feeling a little fast.

"Five volumes have been connected. Including the previous ones, in more than a month, there have been eleven or two memorials."

Chen Yiqin replied.

"So much."

Wei Guangde was silent for a while.

"Do you still want to use his career to do something?"

Chen Yiqin looked into Wei Guangde's eyes and asked.

"The matter of opening up the sea was discussed at the last court meeting, but the cabinet has never come up with a charter."

Wei Guangde smiled bitterly.

"After he leaves, Mr. Xu and Mr. Li will go back to the cabinet to run errands. The regulations should be out soon, so there won't be any delay."

When Chen Yiqin heard this, he just smiled.

"I'm just afraid that Uncle Gao and Huang Sikou will come out to stop us."

Wei Guangde was still a little worried.

Most of the officials who opposed the opening of the sea were in the middle and lower levels, and the top leaders were led by Gaoyi and Huang Guangsheng. These two companies also seemed to be involved in the maritime business, so they did not stop during this period. They invited colleagues to the house from time to time. The purpose was self-evident.

"It's not a big problem. We can learn from Zhang Juzheng that day that Duke Xu is not opposed to opening the sea. I will pay more attention to the progress of this matter after he returns to the cabinet. I think His Majesty will also issue an order to urge it."

Chen Yiqin was not as worried as Wei Guangde, and said confidently, "But Gao Suqing is leaving Beijing, should we go and see her off?"

"This matter"

Wei Guangde was also in a dilemma. In the current situation, going to see Gao Gong off could easily lead to trouble.

When Chen Yiqin asked this question, Wei Guangde knew that he had the same intention, so he asked for his opinion.

"I'll just send someone to send him some Chengyi in the past two days."

Wei Guangde is not worried about anyone saying behind his back that he has a cold nature. It is the norm in the world for people to drink cold tea when they leave.

Although Chen Yiqin was asked to send a message to Emperor Longqing before, and he could invite Gao Gong back to the court after a few years, it was just an excuse.

In fact, officials who were dismissed due to impeachment would not have a chance to come back unless they had a great opportunity.

"Um."

Chen Yiqin heard Wei Guangde's plan and made up his mind to do it.

When Gao Gong left the capital, he didn't count as seeing him off, otherwise he wouldn't have asked. However, thinking about how we had worked together in Prince Yu's Mansion for many years, it seemed not good if he didn't do anything at all.

After sending some things over in advance, Chen Yiqin felt that his heart seemed to have settled down.

"Zhengfu's side."

Chen Yiqin thought of Yin Shizhen again, and as soon as he opened his mouth, Wei Guangde answered: "If he asks, we will just say this."

"That's fine."

Chen Yiqin nodded, agreeing with Wei Guangde's intention.

When he returned to his mansion that night, Wei Guangde called Zhang Ji and asked him to prepare gifts and silver coins and send them to Gao Ge's mansion tomorrow. At the same time, he also wrote a letter and asked Zhang Ji to take them with him.

After the court meeting that day, Gao Gong also said that he would entertain them at a banquet in his mansion in the future, but now it seems that they will not be able to drink this banquet.

After Wei Guangde finished instructing Zhang Ji, he couldn't help but think about it after he went down.

The news of Gao Gong's resignation spread among the top circles in the capital that night. All nobles and high-ranking officials in the DPRK and Central Government learned about the matter one after another, and everyone expressed silence in a tacit understanding.

However, for some initiators, such as Xu Jie, he quickly sent his men out and notified some officials, asking them to keep all the memorials they had prepared and not to deliver them higher up.

If you continue to deliver the impeachment memorial to Gao Gong to the palace at this time, I am afraid that it will arouse the indignation of Emperor Longqing. He really wants to trim his hair. Maybe it is not unreasonable to kill a few with a stick. Possible thing.

Zhang Juzheng did not go to Xu Jie's house today, but sat quietly in the study alone.

In fact, when it comes to Gao Gong's career, Zhang Juzheng was most affected.

Although he helped his teacher Xu Jie find a way to deal with Gao Gong, after all, he had worked with him for many years in the Imperial College and then entered Prince Yu's Palace. For a period of time, he and Gao Gong were very close.

The two people's governance concepts are also very close, that is, they must first rectify the administration of officials. There are only slight differences in the selection methods, but in Zhang Juzheng's view, it is not a big deal.

To rectify the administration of officials, Gao Gong aims to impose strict penalties and remove all corrupt officials from the official community.

Zhang Juzheng knew that this method was not advisable.

There is no shortage of corrupt officials in the world to catch. The annual examinations and palace examinations every three years select a group of corrupt officials. Only a handful of them can stick to their true intentions until they die, while the vast majority will gradually sink in their career.

Rather than saying that the imperial examination is the country's talent show, it is better to say that it is just to select a group of corrupt officials.

Because, in the current Ming Dynasty officialdom, corruption has gradually turned from secretive to open in the past. Many rules have been formed. If they are not implemented, it will be difficult to integrate into the officialdom, and they will be ostracized by their colleagues.

Therefore, Zhang Juzheng does not object to officials being a little greedy, but the premise is that you should do your job well so that the people under your rule can live and work in peace and contentment.

It's okay to be greedy, but don't push the people too hard. You have to have a certain temper. If the official affairs are done well, then if you are worthy of heaven and worthy of the people, you will be considered a good official.

At this time, Zhang Juzheng was actually thinking about the examination method and planned to implement it as a system for evaluating officials.

In fact, there were many officials around Xu Jie, who were either Xu Jie's friends or his students. They were trying to find faults in Gao Gong during this period, and then Xu Jie would make the final decision.

And these faults would eventually be written into memorials to impeach Gao Gong.

However, although Zhang Juzheng helped Xu Jie with ideas, he never said bad things about Gao Gong from beginning to end, because he knew very well that no one was perfect. Gao Gong had faults, but they did not rise to the level of national law.

Xu Jie also consulted him about Gao Gong's crimes, but he refused to answer against his will, but said sincerely: "I really can't talk nonsense. If I say one more word today, maybe it will be used as material to slander others tomorrow."

Seeing that he was disobedient, Xu Jie was not very happy, but he did not force him, and he treated him as before afterwards.

Perhaps Zhang Juzheng did not realize that this incident might actually have planted a thorn in Xu Jie's heart, and this thorn was not pulled out until the end.

The reason why Xu Jie tolerated Zhang Juzheng's behavior was that if Zhang Juzheng had the opportunity to tell Wei Guangde about the matter, Wei Guangde might have advised him to be careful of Xu Jie, but Zhang Juzheng did not.

Zhang Juzheng never thought that Xu Jie would be bad for him. In fact, Xu Jie really did not do bad to him, and even left all his political legacy to Zhang Juzheng.

The purpose was just to save the Xu family in the future.

Xu Jie was always an old politician, and he thought longer than Zhang Juzheng and Wei Guangde.

Gao Gong is gone now, but he is only fifty after all, and there is still a lot of time to survive.

Emperor Longqing is still young. As long as he survives, Emperor Longqing will remember his master Gao one day and he can recall him with an edict.

The grievances between him and Gao Gong are already difficult to resolve, and it is impossible not to prepare means to protect himself.

Zhang Juzheng is the person he chose.

As for what his thorn caused him to do?

People who are familiar with history will naturally notice that when Zhang Juzheng was at the peak of his power, did Xu Jie remind him?

Did he warn him when he was bullying the young Emperor Wanli?

Xu Jie was standing by, watching all this happen silently.

Xu Jie was really long-lived. He even lived longer than Zhang Juzheng. He survived until Zhang Juzheng died, and he saw the end of the Zhang family.

Gao Gong left Beijing sadly, looking miserable. Almost all his students and old friends were afraid to see him off.

Only one student named Wu Dui saw him off to the boat on the Lu River, and said goodbye in tears.

When Xu Jie heard about this, he hated Wu Dui so much that he ordered people to freeze him in his original position for a long time without promotion.

Gao Gong passed by a certain government on his way back to his hometown. The prefect knew that he had resigned because he had angered the prime minister Xu Jie, so he deliberately treated him lightly. Not only did he not pay a visit to see him off like other retired senior officials, but he also deliberately found excuses to make things difficult for him and detained him for two days.

When someone asked why, the prefect replied, "This man has offended the court. What reason do I have to be polite to him?"

Gao Gong experienced all these kinds of worldly indifference along the way.

What Wei Guangde didn't expect was that Gao Gong also hated them after returning home.

Whenever he thought of the experience along the way, Gao Gong couldn't hold back his anger.

Yes, even with the order of Emperor Longqing and the mules and horses along the post road, the local officials' contempt still troubled Gao Gong, who had a strong self-esteem.

Thinking of Yu Ju and others, who should be drinking and talking happily in the capital at this time, Gao Gong hated them so much.

Just as he thought, Wei Guangde and Yin Shizhen really gathered in Chen Yiqin's house to drink.

After Gao Gong left Beijing, Xu Jie and Li Chunfang returned to the cabinet and the first thing they did was to convene the six ministries and nine ministers to discuss the opening of the sea.

During this month, many people have been replaced in the six ministries. Gao Yao was replaced by Ge Shouli, and Zhao Bingran was replaced by Guo Gan, the former Nanjing Minister of Revenue. This person once served as the right assistant minister of the Ministry of War and the governor of the three borders of Shaanxi. When Zhao Bingran was unable to manage the affairs, he was pushed out and temporarily took charge of the ministry.

However, Wei Guangde and others knew that Yang Bo didn't really think of Guo Gan. He originally wanted to push his fellow villager Huo Ji, but Emperor Longqing picked Guo Gan, who was the least favored, in the final choice.

Yes, when the cabinet reported the candidate for the Minister of War, Huo Ji was naturally the first choice, followed by Guo Gan, but Emperor Longqing chose Guo Gan as the Minister of War.

Chen Yiqin, Wei Guangde and other old people of Yu Ji knew that this was intentional.

Gao Gong was expelled, and Yang Bo played a significant role in it, so naturally he would not let Yang Bo get his wish.

After summoning high officials from the six ministries and nine ministers to discuss the regulations prepared by Zhang Juzheng, Wei Guangde was met with fierce opposition from Gao Yi and Huang Guangsheng as he had expected. Even though they knew it would be difficult to achieve results, they still insisted on opposing the opening of the sea, even if it was just one port in Fujian.

However, these were actually just routines, just to increase the bargaining power in the cabinet meeting.

As the cabinet meeting continued, Gao Yi raised the issue of limiting the number of trading ships.

"Next, I'm afraid it will be Xu Jie."

In private, Wei Guangde, Chen Yiqin, and Yin Shizhan were also talking about this.

The proposal to open the sea had been sent to the palace, and today Chen Yiqin informed them of the content of the proposal. With the overall situation already decided, Wei Guangde had no objection to these changes.

In his opinion, as long as the opening was opened and the coastal boat people were given a glimmer of hope to make money and support their families, the honest people would never follow the thieves and become Japanese pirates again.

With ships coming and going, there would naturally be a lot of tax and money. Anyway, the matter was not left to him, and would eventually fall into Tu Zemin's hands.

Tu Zemin is smart, just let him discuss the details with the cabinet, and he only needs to control the overall situation.

The terms proposed by the cabinet are actually just general directions. The final implementation still requires details, and that is to discuss with the Fujian local government.

Kaihai was rarely recorded in the history of the Ming Dynasty and was almost completely ignored. However, the process from being brought to the court to the actual implementation was very difficult and involved fierce struggles among the cabinet.

But after the notes are sent, there won't be much change.

"His Majesty is probably still angry. He has not summoned me in the past two days. He only summoned me once as a courtesy when Mr. Xu and Mr. Li returned to the cabinet that day, and expressed gentle words of relief."

Chen Yiqin was a little moody at this time and said casually.

"It's okay. His Majesty is angry. After a while, I will hand him a knife to calm down the anger."

Wei Guangde smiled.

"what are you up to?"

Chen Yiqin asked hesitantly.

"Let me impeach a few happy-go-lucky pedants and let your Majesty punish them."

Wei Guangde said casually.

The people being impeached must be from Xu Jie's side, which meant that the emperor lacked a reason to punish these people.

"Haha. You."

Yin Shizhen smiled and shook his head without saying much.

“In the past two days, I heard news in the cabinet that there was a secret conspiracy to point the finger at Mr. Guo Ge.

Shandai, have you heard about this? "

Chen Yiqin suddenly asked.

"Is this happening?"

Wei Guangde was a little surprised. He really hadn't received any news about this.

These days, a large number of documents have been delivered to the Nanjing Ministry of Civil Affairs, all of which are adjustments made by officials in Jiangnan.

Although these documents have been issued and can be said to be a done deal, the civil servants in Beijing still need to understand and record them in detail, lest the civil servants in the north and south Beijing issue different appointment documents, which would be a joke.

After explaining his situation in the past two days, Wei Guangde heard Yin Shizhen say: "I heard what Yifu said before today."

"Mr. Guo Ge is quite upright and generous, fair in dealing with things, and has the demeanor of an elder. Unlike Gao Gong, who is a little impatient and mean, he has always been very popular."

Wei Guangde frowned and said, "Although I was promoted by the late emperor through Qing Ci, after joining the cabinet, apart from taking one side when the 'two people' were arguing, there was nothing wrong with them. How do they want to impeach?"

"I guess they just want to say that he is attached to Gao Suqing, colluding, and lacks the qualities to be an assistant minister. This is what I heard."

Yin Shizhen whispered to Wei Guangde.

"Well, they probably won't mention his name, but they will use this as an excuse."

Chen Yiqin said.

"Brother Yifu, how is your relationship with Mr. Guo Ge in the cabinet?"

Wei Guangde lowered his head and thought for a moment before asking.

"generally."

Chen Yiqin knew what Wei Guangde meant and shook his head when he looked over.

"If Xu Jie wants to die, it's up to him."

Wei Guangde spoke calmly. (End of chapter)