Chapter 664 663 Wang Ting Takes Action

The Young Master and the Crown Prince Taifu, Yang Bo, the Minister of Personnel, Huo Ji, the Minister of War, and Mao Kai, the Minister of Punishment, all asked Xu Jie, a bachelor, to stay. This was unexpected and expected.

Wei Guangde knew that there was no way to reverse this matter after Emperor Longqing approved it, and it was a foregone conclusion.

However, with the public appeal of the three ministers, the attitude of hundreds of officials in the court has also changed. Some officials are also discussing whether to follow up, agree, and ask the emperor to take back the order.

In the eyes of many officials, although Xu Jie is old, he is in good health and is not in need of old age care.

It seems that important matters in the imperial court really need an experienced and respected minister to handle them.

Although the people of the Ming Dynasty are now stable, judging from the situation in recent years, rebellions and rebellions have occurred from time to time in various places.

The distant ones include Zhang Lian, Li Wenbiao, Li Yayuan, etc. of Fujian and Guangdong, as well as Cai Boguan of Sichuan, and the recent ones include Yunnan local official Feng Jizu's uprising, Wanyangshan Lanhu, and recently there are reports of instability in Shaanxi.

The censor of Shanxi Province, Song Dynasty, said: Shanxi, Shaanxi, Henan and other provinces have had poor harvests for many years, and "the people are poor and banditry has begun." There are more people fleeing between Hancheng and Yichuan, so they should be cured by poverty.

Even though the local authorities had already taken action to eradicate these things when they first appeared, they still caused a huge shock when they arrived in the capital.

During the Jiajing Dynasty, most of the bandits came from coastal counties such as Fujian and Guangdong, and their roots lay in Japanese pirates.

Most of the civil unrest in Shanshan and Shandong came from the White Lotus cultists.

These situations are understandable in the eyes of civil servants. They are extremely vicious people, and it will only be a matter of time before they cause trouble.

The situation in Yunnan, Jiangxi and Shaanxi is slightly different now. It belongs to civil strife because it was caused by improper handling by local officials.

Although the government took action to suppress it quickly, the chaos eventually broke out, so it seems that it is not a bad thing to have a person like Xu Jie left in the court, at least he can make decisions at critical times.

Such discussions naturally soon reached Wei Guangde's ears through Lu Bu's mouth.

Although he didn't know if Chen Yiqin, Yin Shizhen and others had also heard such rumors, Wei Guangde felt that this matter must not continue to develop.

Xu Jie's departure from the court was certain. The emperor had made up his mind. Even if they changed their words now, Emperor Longqing would not be able to lose face and deny his previous decision.

Such an ending is contrary to the wishes of all officials, and will lead to alienation in the long run.

Wei Guangde sat in the duty room and thought for a long time. He was now the dog-headed military advisor behind Emperor Longqing. When he saw signs of harm to the emperor, he naturally had to figure out how to deal with it first.

We must find opportunities to discredit Xu Jie. Even if he has indeed done many things and won the hearts of many officials, he still has to find a suitable reason.

Wei Guangde couldn't help but think of Xu Jie's brother. The black information he revealed about the Xu Jie family must not be fake, and all the officials knew it.

But after all, it happened last year, and if it is used for speculation now, it is obviously intentional.

Except for the group of people who passed the exam this year, none of the officials are stupid. You can tell at a glance.

Thinking about it again, the most recent one seems to be Zhang Qi's memorial.

Previously, Zhang Qi was fined and released by Emperor Longqing because he impeached Xu Jie for being "disloyal as a minister, untrustworthy in dealing with others, and has been in trouble for a long time." However, Wei Guangde knew that there was actually a lot of indignation among the officials below.

Quickly tap your finger on the desktop to overturn Zhang Qi's verdict?

He was not familiar with Zhang Qi and didn't know what he was like.

Moreover, the overturning of the verdict must be justified. After all, Zhang Qi's memorial was actually speculation. He was betting that Emperor Longqing wanted to depose Xu Jie, but the timing was wrong and he kicked the iron plate.

The memorial is well written and well-founded. It can be seen that it was definitely not a spur-of-the-moment idea, but a long-planned plan and repeated polishing.

To be honest, Wei Guangde doesn't like this kind of person, because Zhang Qi is just a complete politician and not worth investing in.

Wei Guangde even suspected that Zhang Qi's memorial might have started during the vicious fight between Xu Jie and Gao Gong last year.

What was going on at that time?

Liu Ke and Yu Shi worked hand in hand to attack Gong. If Gao Gong hadn't made too many mistakes, it couldn't be delayed any longer. Maybe Zhang Qi would have given Ke Daoyan Guan a backstab at that time.

Xu Jie can't be trusted, just like Zhang Qi.

Wei Guangde couldn't think of a way, so he planned to write a note and invite Chen Yiqin and Yin Shizhen to gather for discussion. At this time, Lu Bu came in again.

"Master, there is a note from Yin Shangshu."

While talking, a letter was handed to Wei Guangde.

He took it and opened it, took a look at it, and said to Lu Bu, "I understand. Go back to the messenger and tell him that I will keep the appointment on time."

Although Yin Shizhen and Wei Guangde still work as ministers, they are already ministers in rank, so people outside generally call them ministers, even if they are not in charge.

In the afternoon, Wei Guangde did not wait for San Yamen. He found an excuse to leave the Ministry of Rites and went directly to Yin Shizhen's home.

When he entered the room, he saw that not only Yin Shizhen was in the room, but Wang Ting, the censor of Zuodu of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, was also there.

"Lord Wang."

Wei Guangde was familiar with Yin Shizhen, so when he entered the house, he did not greet the owner first, but bowed his hands to Wang Ting.

To be honest, at this time, Wei Guangde was also very suspicious.

Wang Ting and Chen Yiqin were both from Sichuan. It was normal for the two of them to get together, but why did they get together with Yin Shizhen today.

"Shaloan, sit down and talk."

Yin Shizhen waved his hand and asked Wei Guangde to sit down before he said, "It was Yifu's idea to invite you two here today. He said that Lord Wang has something in his hand that may be useful to ease the current public opinion in the court."

Wei Guangde understood that the public opinion Chen Yiqin was talking about must be the discussion among officials at the moment about whether Xu Jie should stay or go.

Wei Guangde glanced at Wang Ting and knew that he must have used the relationship with the Censorate to collect Xu Jie's black material.

This is a great backstab.

Officials all said that Xu Jie was an old minister who was plotting for the country. If the Censorate revealed something about Xu Jie at this time, the wind direction would probably reverse immediately.

Wei Guangde was not sure whether the public opinion was controlled by Xu Jie, but he had to be on guard.

Xu Jie dared to fight with his back to the water, so they naturally had to face it bravely.

Wei Guangde smiled and looked at Wang Ting, waiting for the big boss of the Censorate to take out Xu Jie's black material, and he would see if he could achieve his goal and make Xu Ge Lao fall into ruin.

At this time, Wang Ting just smiled, and then he took out a memorial from his sleeve and handed it out.

Wei Guangde was not in a hurry, but watched Yin Shizeng take it, open it, and quickly read it.

From Yin Shizeng's expression, Wei Guangde was first surprised, and then suddenly understood.

It seems that there is a chance.

Wei Guangde sat down for a while, and actually thought of some countermeasures. That is, if Wang Ting's things are not heavy enough, then he will ask him to arrange for the censor of the Censorate to turn over Xu Zhi's original revelations.

Although the intention is too obvious, it is really difficult to collect Xu Jie's problems in a short time.

If other people impeach officials with this reason, Emperor Longqing can re-examine the old things and punish them.

But if they instigate people to impeach, the emperor will naturally choose to forget the amnesty edict he issued.

After Yin Shizeng finished reading the memorial and handed it to Wei Guangde, he immediately opened it and read it quickly, and then asked with some surprise: "Is there any evidence?"

Wang Ting smiled again, and then nodded.

As the head of the Censorate, he would not do anything he was not sure of.

The memorial said that although there was no physical evidence, there was still human evidence, otherwise it would have become a rumor.

"The Xu family participated in the profiteering of the surplus salt of the border merchants."

Wei Guangde hesitated, unsure of the impact of this incident on the public opinion in the court.

"Zhang Qi impeached Xu Jie for this matter.

There were rumors outside that it was instructed by us, so it happened to close this case."

Yin Shizeng's attitude was very supportive.

In his opinion, this was killing two birds with one stone, which not only dumped the previous dirty water, but also hit Xu Jie's reputation for integrity.

In fact, Wang Ting's memorial mentioned two things. One was to explain the reason for the grudge between Zhang Qi and Xu Jie, which might explain why Zhang Qi suddenly impeached Xu Jie.

It turned out that last year, Zhang Qi, the Imperial Secretary, was ordered to reward the army. That is, when Emperor Longqing ascended the throne, he sent imperial envoys to various places to award rewards and win the hearts of the army. Zhang Qi was ordered to reward Xuan Da.

At that time, there was a salt merchant Yang Sihe who was familiar with Zhang Qi's father, so he bribed several thousand taels of silver, hoping that Zhang Qi could speak out in the court, saying that he would sympathize with the border merchants and abolish the surplus salt.

Zhang Qi's family received the silver, so they naturally had to do it.

However, Zhang Qi's memorial was submitted and he contacted many people, but he was stopped by Xu Jie at the cabinet.

Zhang Qi's resentment towards Xu Jie originated from this. Because the matter was not done, Yang Sihe and Zhang Qi's family fell out, so he asked the Zhang family to pay back the money.

After all, it is said that Zhang's father patted his chest and said that it could be done.

But in the second half of the memorial, after the Censorate learned about the border merchants in detail, it was found that the Xu family of Susongfu had made the biggest profit in the surplus salt on the border.

The fundamental reason why Xu Jie stopped Zhang Qi from discussing his memorial in the court was that his proposal would affect his own interests, so he took action to stop it.

The Xu family bought a lot of land in Jiangnan. In addition to offering contributions, using silver to buy is also one of the ways.

Where does this silver come from?

The output of the land is naturally not enough, so Xu Jie also secretly does business.

In fact, there have been rumors among the officials in the capital that Wei Guangde's extravagant life in the capital is due to the fact that the government has invested in some chambers of commerce.

In fact, this is also what most officials in the capital do, but they have not brought it to the surface.

When it comes to the stage, naturally everyone will disdain it to express their noble character of treating money as dirt.

However, the business that Wei Guangde participated in was all equal exchange, and there was no bullying, so the businessmen who cooperated with him were very satisfied, and no one said anything unfavorable.

If the people don't report it, the officials won't investigate it, and everyone can only talk about it behind their backs, but they can't impeach it.

After all, if it really gets out of hand, his family will not be clean.

It would be fine if there were victims who would make trouble, but no one made trouble at Wei Guangde's place, and everyone was making money in harmony.

However, Xu Jie was different. After all, he was the prime minister. It should be enough for him to have enough food and clothing with all kinds of filial piety. He actually had a business trick and used his power to participate in the salt industry, which naturally damaged Xu Jie's reputation.

Everyone in the world knew that the most profitable business in the Ming Dynasty was actually salt.

"My memorial only accuses Zhang Qi and his son of illegality and requests the officials to investigate and deal with it. It has nothing to do with others."

Wang Ting said at this time.

Wei Guangde nodded, looked at Yin Shizhan and said, "This is feasible."

Yin Shizhan also nodded at this time and echoed.

"Then I will report this matter tomorrow."

After retracting the memorial, Wang Ting said.

"Lord Wang's memorial has solved our urgent needs."

Wei Guangde smiled.

"After Zhang Qi submitted the report, Yifu asked me to find out the grievances between Zhang Qi and Xu Jie. I didn't expect that it would have such an effect at this time."

Wang Ting said modestly.

Wei Guangde and Yin Shizhen both laughed, but Wei Guangde was still shocked.

It had only been a while since Zhang Qi had announced his impeachment. In less than ten days, Wang Ting had figured out the whole story and collected evidence, which was impressive.

Wei Guangde had to sigh secretly, no wonder the Metropolitan Procuratorate has so much energy and its methods are really high.

Wei Guangde had been a censor for many years, but he never really integrated into the Metropolitan Procuratorate. Although he was said to be "colleagues" when meeting those censors, he knew very little about the Metropolitan Procuratorate's handling of cases.

Thinking about it now, Wei Guangde felt a trace of regret.

If I had known that the Metropolitan Procuratorate was so powerful at investigating crimes, I should have made more contacts and trained more people. It would have been easier to investigate who was guilty in the future.

For political struggles, is there anything easier than controlling the Metropolitan Procuratorate?

In the past, although Wei Guangde attached great importance to science, even promoted Ouyang Yijing to serve as a military officer, and made many friends in the imperial censorship, he never thought of controlling the Imperial Procuratorate for his own use.

The last time he suggested that Chen Yiqin compete for the position of Zuodu Yushi, he was just trying to add a helper to Jiuqing.

Perhaps because of the habits of later generations, Wei Guangde actually didn't like the crazy dogs of Ke Dao Yan Guan.

But it's different now. He is already in the game. How to give himself a greater say? Not only is it necessary to compete for allies among the Nine Ministers, but it is also increasingly important to control some yamen with real power.

You cannot do things according to your own likes and dislikes, you must consider everything.

This was what Wei Guangde thought of in the carriage when he left Yin Shizhen's house and returned home.

On the second day, the imperial envoy Wang Ting of Zuodu issued a memorial, which was like dropping a bomb into the already boiling court, instantly making the court furious.

At first, officials only thought that Wang Ting was investigating Zhang Qi's problems, and found that he was using his personal anger to frame the "former" chief minister of the dynasty.

Unexpectedly, Zhang Qi, a bitch like a human being, actually pointed the finger at Mr. Xu Ge because he failed to hook up with businessmen and accept bribes.

But soon, someone discovered that in the distribution of surplus salt obtained by Xuanda border merchants after Wang Tingzou, the Xu family of Su Song Mansion actually ranked first.

The Xu family of Su Song Mansion?

In that place, which family would the Xu family be?

This was also done intentionally by Wang Ting, deliberately simulating it to make people guess.

In fact, if you don't want to involve Mr. Xu Ge, there is no need to add this part.

For a moment, the courtiers couldn't help but look at the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and news came out from the Metropolitan Procuratorate at the right time that there was another Xu family in Su Song Mansion, the one they were thinking of.

Inadvertently, someone also mentioned that last year someone said that Xu Ge's hometown had thousands of hectares of fertile land.

At this time, the officials knew that Mr. Xu Ge, who seemed to be honest and fair, actually had so many fields in his hometown, and the way to make a fortune was actually this.