Chapter 661 Chapter 660 Request for Retreat

On the second day, Lei Li, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, continued to beg for rest. This was the third consecutive day of memorials. Emperor Longqing finally approved the memorial and agreed that Lei Li would return home and grant Chiyi.

Later, the Qianqing Palace issued another edict, written by the cabinet minister Zhang Juzheng, and ordered Zhu Heng, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, to be in charge.

When the news came out, Wei Guangde was a little stunned when he heard the news.

"Why so early?"

According to common sense, Lei Li handed the memorial to the cabinet, and the cabinet vote was to be entered into the palace. However, Emperor Longqing had to wait until noon to approve it.

News came out that afternoon that this was considered a special matter, and the cabinet and the Supervisor of Ceremonies were extremely efficient.

"Today, Your Majesty summoned the cabinet ministers. I heard that Mr. Xu Ge brought the memorial of Lei Shangshu with him. Your Majesty asked Mr. Zhang Ge to draft the edict on the spot, and the Supervisor of Ceremonies stamped it and issued the six subjects."

Lu Bu immediately told the news he had learned.

"Oh, that makes sense."

Hearing that the decision was made at the imperial meeting, there was nothing to doubt, otherwise Wei Guangde would have been really worried about whether Emperor Longqing was dissatisfied with Lei Li.

Wei Guangde nodded and told Lu Bu: "Then go down and report any news as soon as possible."

"Yes, sir."

Lu Bu bowed and replied, then stepped back to the door step by step, then turned around and left.

After Wei Guangde waited for Lu Bu to leave, he looked up at the roof, thought for a while, then shook his head, then lowered his head and started to process the official documents.

After Lei Li left Beijing, Wei Guangde had already thought about what gift to give him.

Yellow and white things are too vulgar. With the wealth he has accumulated over the years as Minister of Industry, Wei Guangde knows that he will not be short of that stuff.

Therefore, after returning home last night, Wei Guangde asked Zhang Ji to prepare a 200-year-old ginseng.

Now in Sijiu City, if you want to buy century-old ginseng, you can hardly find it except coming to Wei Mansion to buy it.

Wei Guangde and Meng Chong had some contacts because the old boy asked Wei Guangde to "buy" ginseng last year for the purpose of replenishing the emperor's health.

Wei Guangde did not refuse, and sold three century-old wild ginseng plants to the palace, and gave another one to Meng Chong.

Don't think that Wei Guangde was blackmailed by Meng Chong. In fact, Wei Guangde did not suffer a loss. The price of these three century-old ginseng plants was no different from selling four ginseng plants. This is why no matter how frugal the emperor was, his daily expenses were astronomical.

Things worth one tael of silver had already doubled in price when they entered the palace.

Wei Guangde was not interested in asking the price for returning Meng Chong to the palace, but he knew it would be a lot more.

You didn't suffer a loss on the price, and you also gained friendship with Meng Chong, so why not do it.

After all, Li Fang, who Wei Guangde used to rely on in the palace, has been defeated, and Chen Ju's current status is far from that of these great eunuchs in the palace.

But about half an hour later, Lu Bu suddenly ran into the duty room again, interrupting Wei Guangde who had just collected his thoughts and started working.

"What's the matter?"

Looking at Lu Bu's expression, Wei Guangde knew that something good was going on, at least not bad for him.

"Just now, Hu Kezuo reported to Zhang Qi Shangshu that he had impeached the great scholar Xu Jie for not taking up his post."

Lu Bu replied immediately, with a hint of joy in his words.

People in the capital knew more or less about the relationship between Wei Guangde, Yu Zhuan and Xu Jie. If someone impeached Xu Jie, it would naturally be a good thing for Wei Guangde.

Moreover, Lu Bu was also a spy of the Imperial Guard and the royal eagle dog, so he naturally had a natural affinity with Wei Guangde, not to mention that Wei Guangde was also generous and it was particularly satisfying to give him money.

Until now, Lu Bu sometimes didn't know whether he should be loyal to the imperial court or Wei Guangde.

After all, he also had errands to attend to.

"Zhang Qi? Did he accuse Xu Jie of not taking his job?"

Wei Guangde felt curious in his heart, wondering why Xu Jie was incompetent.

"He said that Xu Jie served as Emperor Shizong for eighteen years, and he approved of all the gods and buildings, and that after the death of the late emperor, he wrote countless edicts.

Xu Jie and Yan Song had been married for fifteen years, but there was never a word of dissatisfaction with each other, and the Yan family was defeated and attacked from behind.

He is unfaithful to his ministers and does not trust his friends. He has been in trouble for a long time. He has been in trouble all over the world. There is a rank, but I don't know that there is a majesty. I would like to die in ignorance to hear about it. "

Lu Bu had a good memory, and when he was telling Wei Guangde about Zhang Qi's memorial to Xu Jie, he unknowingly started talking in Zhang Qi's tone.

"Is this the text of Zhang Qi's memorial?"

Wei Guangde wondered.

To be honest, although what Zhang Qi said in his memorial was true, the timing was wrong.

Although Emperor Longqing was dissatisfied with Xu Jie, he still hoped that Xu Jie would resign on his own and save the face of the emperor and his ministers. Therefore, he had been secretly supporting Wei Guangde, Yin Shizhen and others to frequently eliminate Xu Jie's party members.

If Xu Jie is allowed to be impeached, it will ruin the emperor's ideas.

This is why Chen Yiqin, Wei Guangde and others have never considered impeaching Xu Jie.

To say that Xu Jie is fine, of course not.

He didn't know this before, but after the incident involving Xu Jie's brother Xu Zhi, Wei Guangde remembered that there had been rumors in later generations that the Xu Jie family was so rich that it could rival the country.

Of course, Wei Guangde has never let anyone check whether this rumor is true or false.

Just kidding, without the emperor's will, who would dare to check the family background of the chief minister.

Although Zhang Qi told the truth, Wei Guangde knew that Zhang Qi suffered from amnesia and had forgotten all the decrees issued by Emperor Longqing earlier.

As for the crimes he accused Xu Jie of, they could not be classified as rebellion or deceiving the emperor. In other words, even if these things were correct, they were among the crimes pardoned by Emperor Longqing's amnesty edict.

Although the memorial was forced into a sentence, "The world only knows that there are orders, but does not know that there is a majesty", it is even more heartbreaking.

"I know, go down."

Wei Guangde didn't want to continue listening. Knowing that Zhang Qi was going to be unlucky, who would care about an unlucky guy.

But just when Lu Bu retreated to the door and was about to go out, Wei Guangde suddenly asked again: "Check for me, what is the grudge between Zhang Qi and Xu Jie?"

"Yes, sir."

Lu Bu agreed and then turned around and went out.

His words were actually not only out of curiosity as to why Zhang Qi took action, but also to show that the matter had nothing to do with Yu Zhuan and to leave him out.

According to Wei Guangde's guess, this Zhang Qi should have had a grudge with Xu Jie for other reasons. The turmoil caused by Chen Yiqin yesterday made Zhang Qi think he had an opportunity, so he launched an impeachment today.

It's a pity that he understood the general trend, but not the emperor.

"Superficial."

After Lu Bu left, Wei Guangde muttered something.

If we really want to impeach, Chen Yiqin or Wei Guangde, if they don't wave, there will be a lot of people rushing to come up to do things, and it will be their turn to impeach Zhang Qi.

Sure enough, it was reported in front of San Yamen that there was an edict from the palace, "Xu Jie is the chief minister, loyal to the country, and I have learned from it. Zhang Qizhen dares to slander and accuse him wantonly, so I will transfer him to someone else."

It was ordered that one portion be sent to the cabinet and the other to the staff, so that the staff could find Zhang Qi a job abroad.

When Lu Bu came to report, he still looked confused.

Although Wei Guangde's instructions in the morning made him smell something unusual, what he studied was not the tricks of officialdom, but more of the ways of the dog and the dog, so he did not understand why Zhang Qi was punished.

Ke Dao Yan Guan initiated impeachment, but few were dealt with directly. Most of them were punished by Shen Chi Feng Yan.

"I asked you to inquire about the Shenji Camp. Is there any news?"

After talking about Zhang Qi, Wei Guangde asked about what he had told Lu Bu before.

Well, although many people may find it troublesome or dangerous to have a spy by Jin Yiwei, Wei Guangde thinks it is a good thing.

It is necessary to inquire about the news from the Beijing camp. If Zhang Ji is asked to do it, it will probably take a month or two to get the result.

But if Lu Bu goes to investigate, there will be news in ten days and a half. After all, the factory guard is a local snake in the capital, and he is very sensitive to disturbances outside the city.

As for Lu Bu's report, Wei Guangde was not afraid. After all, Emperor Longqing ordered him to contact Qi Jiguang. After Tan Lun arrived in Beijing, he would also approve and manage the military affairs of the Beijing camp, and he would also contact him.

How could we do it without knowing more about the situation in the capital camp in advance? It would not be a big deal to report this matter to Emperor Longqing secretly.

"Master, I asked those neighbors to inquire. The management of Shenji Camp has been a bit strict in the past few months and it is difficult to get close to them, so there is not much information. Most of the other information is controlled by the Xungui family. It is very complicated and the villain is still sorting it out. relation."

Lu Bu is a native of the capital, so in the past, he used to show his usefulness in front of Wei Guangde by being well-informed.

"Then work harder and find out the truth as soon as possible. If you need money, go to Zhang Ji."

Wei Guangde let him leave after giving instructions.

The capital camp of the Ming Dynasty evolved from the five military camps originally designated by Zhu Yuanzhang to three major battalions during Zhu Di's period, and then to the emergence of ten regiment camps during the Jingtai period. After the restoration of Yingzong, the three major battalions were restored.

But it was not over yet. During the Xianzong period, the three major battalions were broken up and reorganized into 12 regiments. Emperor Zhengde was not idle either. On the basis of the 12 regiments, the east and west official offices were added, and tens of thousands of elite soldiers were mobilized. When the army entered Beijing, they were organized into the "Four Foreigners".

During the reign of Emperor Jiajing, all these changes were abolished and the old system of the Yongle period was restored. There were still three major camps, namely the Fifth Army Camp, the Three Thousand Camp and the Shenji Camp.

After such a round of troubles, Jingying will be in trouble.

During the Hongwu period, the Beijing camp had 200,000 officers and soldiers. During the Yongle period, it reached its peak with more than 300,000 troops. If we add in the 160,000 "squad troops" from Zhongdu, Shandong, Henan, Daning and other cities, the total number of troops in the Beijing camp would be The number of troops exceeds 500,000.

However, after Tumu Fort, the troops and horses of the Beijing Camp never returned to their original appearance. The Seventy-two Guards were always under-strength, with only more than 100,000 troops left.

This is also the reason why the Jingying camp was downsized into the 10th Regiment Camp and the 12th Regiment Camp after the rise of Jingtai.

The establishment has changed dramatically, and the sphere of influence of each noble family in the Beijing camp is also constantly changing, so it is very troublesome to sort out the distribution of strength in the Beijing camp.

Perhaps, even those noble families don't know how many official positions they hold in the capital camp and how many people they can command.

Of the three major battalions, Wei Guangde had learned before that only the Three Thousand Battalion and the Shenji Battalion were fully staffed. The main reason was that the combined number of soldiers and horses in these two battalions was less than 10,000, so the vacancies were directly selected from the five military battalions.

This was also done because these two battalions had to guard the emperor when he went out, and they were regarded as the face of the royal family.

Some time after Qi Jiguang arrived in the capital, after visiting various strength companies in Beijing, he began to train the Shenji Camp. It was still a closed training. Wei Guangde still has no idea what the Shenji Camp is like.

But considering Qi Jiguang's ability, it is estimated that after the training is completed, the Shenji Battalion should be able to be directly brought to the emperor for review.

Wei Guangde is not worried about the situation of the Three Thousand Battalion. Although there is a lack of training, those who want to supplement it should be able to ride horses.

As for the cavalry, all they need is momentum, which is easy to practice.

As long as the momentum is up, Emperor Longqing will also say good things.

The only thing left is that the Five Military Camps, which have the most complicated strength among the nobles, are a big trouble.

However, although it is troublesome, Wei Guangde still hopes to use the abilities of Tan Lun and Qi Jiguang to select a group of strong men for the Beijing Camp and form a capable army.

He, Wei Guangde, will have to serve as an official in the capital for many years. If he relies on the current Beijing Camp, although he knows the history that the Ming Dynasty seems to have no enemies that can hit Beijing during this period, he is not sure whether the Mongols will rush in from some corner and plunder around the capital.

Well, if such a thing really happens, it will be a shame for him as a minister.

The incident in the 29th year of Jiajing was a big fuss, and Wei Guangde knew it.

But in the 42nd year of Jiajing, the border wall collapsed, Shunyi, Sanhe and other places were plundered, and the capital was under martial law, which seems to be seldom circulated in later generations.

Everyone only knows about the "Gengxu Incident", but they don't know if there were similar incidents afterwards, so Wei Guangde is not sure whether the Tartars invaded during the Longqing Dynasty.

We can't pin our hopes on others, so we can only improve our own abilities.

Wei Guangde plans to reorganize a Beijing camp with tens of thousands of people that can fight no matter what.

As for the "old camp", it is left to the nobles to deal with. They can deduct as much as they want, because the ones left are old and weak soldiers anyway.

We can't take all the benefits away from the nobles, leaving them some positions in exchange for everyone living in peace.

Everything seems to be the same in the capital. After the court is dismissed, the officials still follow their usual habits, either going to the restaurant to chat or listening to music in the brothel.

A few days later, Emperor Longqing issued another decree from the palace. On the Zhongyuan Festival, he sent Duke Dingguo Xu Wenbi, Earl Yutian Jiang Cheng'an Guo Yinggan, Earl Anping Fang Chengyu to offer sacrifices to Changling, Xianling, Jingling, Yuling, Maoling, Tailing, Kangling, and Yongling respectively. The deputy governor Shen Zhi offered sacrifices to Emperor Jing's mausoleum, commanded deputy Li Yu to offer sacrifices to Empress Xiaoyi, eunuchs to offer sacrifices to Empress Gongrang Zhang and the deposed Empress Wu, and commanded co-governor Wang Ji to offer sacrifices to the mausoleums of the two princes Aichong and Zhuangjing.

On the same day, the Ministry of War also issued an autumn defense alarm to the border towns, ordering the garrisons of the border towns to strictly guard the passes and guard against the Tatars' sneak attacks.

As for Xu Jie's self-defense memorial due to Zhang Qi's impeachment, he explained the charges one by one and finally resigned, feeling that he was ignored by everyone.

Emperor Longqing wrote a red letter on his self-defense that day, "Order him to go out and take up his duties immediately, no need to resign again."

It was enough to show that Emperor Longqing still trusted Xu Jie.

In those years, many of those things were voluntary.

In the officialdom, for their own future, officials did not make many similar charges to those impeached by Xu Jie.

When Yan Song was in office, except for officials who were not qualified to enter the Yan Mansion, who had not visited him as long as they were qualified?

Emperor Jiajing wanted this and that, although everyone talked about it behind his back, if the imperial edict came to him, he would still rush to do it.

However, it seemed that Zhang Qi's memorial had been settled, but a few days later, when Xu Jie submitted a second memorial to ask for retirement, there was an uproar in the court and the public.