Chapter 752 851 Cai Guoxi

The Ming Mausoleum is, of course, the mausoleum of the ancestors found by Zhu Yuanzhang, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty. For those who sit on the throne, repairing the mausoleum is of course a matter of course.

In the feudal dynasty, being an emperor was not a matter of "the feng shui turns around, today it's my turn", but one must have an orthodox origin.

For example, Liu Bei in the Three Kingdoms period was supported by everyone because he was "the descendant of Zhongshan Jingwang Sheng, the son of Han Jingdi", that is, the so-called "uncle" of the emperor, so he was also called Liu Huangshu.

And Liu Bang, the ancestor of the Liu family, was born as a "Sishui Pavilion Chief". In the words of later generations, he was barely considered a person in the system, just the lowest-level civil servant.

Qin Huang, Han Wu, Tang Zong and Song Zu, if you carefully examine them, you will find that they all have prominent family backgrounds. The Li Tang family was originally a noble family in Guanzhong, and Zhao Kuangyin was a military general. The old saying "poor in literature and rich in martial arts" can also roughly infer their family backgrounds.

Throughout history, only Zhu Yuanzhang, the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty, was truly a grassroots person who made an unprecedented class leap.

Zhu Yuanzhang's origin was humble. According to what was said decades ago, he had been poor for several generations, and he inherited the poverty in his generation.

He had herded cattle, worked as a beggar, and worked as a monk. He suffered oppression and poverty in the first half of his life.

It was not until he joined the Red Turban Army and participated in the struggle against the tyranny of the Mongols and Yuan Dynasty that he proclaimed himself emperor in Nanjing and established the Ming Dynasty after defeating the peasant uprising army and the remnant forces of the Mongols and Yuan Dynasty through a series of wars.

After Zhu Yuanzhang became emperor, he still had a heart disease tormenting him, that is, how to elevate his origin and make the people believe that he was the emperor.

On the other hand, how can the country that was finally conquered continue forever in the hands of the descendants of the Zhu family?

At that time, Liu Ji Liu Bowen proposed that Zhu Yuanzhang bury the spirits of his ancestors in a "feng shui treasure land", so Zhu Yuanzhang followed the advice of "my Zifang".

As early as when he was young, his father Zhu Wusi died of an epidemic in Fengyang, Anhui. After Zhu Yuanzhang ascended the throne, he posthumously named Zhu Wusi "Emperor Chun" and built the Ming Emperor's Mausoleum for Zhu Wusi in Fengyang.

Since it was a mausoleum for the ancestors, it was natural to build mausoleums for the great-grandfather, great-grandfather and grandfather, but he didn't know where the ancestors were buried, so he asked around to find the ancestral tomb.

Zhu Yuanzhang took great pains to find the cemetery of his ancestors, and there were also many disturbances. That is, some people wanted to get close to Zhu Yuanzhang, so they fabricated that their ancestors were from the same branch of their family, and the purpose was naturally to "seek the title of king".

For this reason, Zhu Yuanzhang severely punished some people, so that the incidents of impersonating relatives were reduced.

However, he did not stop looking. Finally, the officials sent out got the news that an old man told Zhu Gui that Zhu Yuanzhang's grandfather was buried in Yangjiadun, only half a mile away from Sunjiagang.

In addition, the old man also told a legendary experience about Zhu Chuyi. Of course, how these legends came about is actually "different people have different opinions".

It is said that before Zhu Chuyi moved to Sizhou, he did take his family to Jurong in the south of the Yangtze River because of the invasion of Yuan soldiers, but he could not pay the heavy taxes there. In order to avoid being arrested by the soldiers, he had to take his family to Sunjiagang in Sizhou in the north of the Yangtze River.

Because he was very poor, Zhu Chuyi made a living by cutting grass. One day, he was cutting grass in Yangjiadun, and when he was tired, he lay down in the grass nest on the mound to rest.

At this time, two Taoist priests passed by. After the old Taoist priest looked around the terrain, he exclaimed: "This is a Feng Shui treasure land."

The apprentice asked curiously: "How did the master know?" The old Taoist priest explained: "The ground here is warm. If you insert a branch, it will sprout in just ten days."

After that, he found a branch on the ground and inserted it into the mound, and then left with his apprentice.

The words of the two Taoist priests fell into Zhu Chuyi's ears. Out of curiosity, he would come to see the dead branch every day when he cut grass.

As a result, on the tenth day, he found that the dead branch had sprouted, which surprised him, so he pulled out the sprouting branch and replaced it with a new dead branch.

Not long after Zhu Chuyi replaced it, the two Taoist priests came back again. The young Taoist priest saw that the dead branch had not sprouted, so he asked the old Taoist priest what was going on.

After checking, the old Taoist priest said: "This branch has been replaced by someone." Then they found Zhu Chuyi in the grass nest next to him, and Zhu Chuyi admitted that he had replaced the dead branch.

The old Taoist said, since you have heard our conversation, you must not mention it to others. If you are buried here a hundred years later, a noble person will be born in your family.

Later, before Zhu Chuyi died, he told his son Zhu Wusi to bury him in the grass nest of Yangjiadun.

Zhu Wusi was a filial son. Although he didn't know what Zhu Chuyi was up to, he still followed his advice and buried him in the grass nest of Yangjiadun.

You don't have to think about these legends carefully. As long as you know that the Ming History records that on the day Zhu Yuanzhang was born, a red light shot up into the sky, and everyone who saw it was amazed, you will know how credible this legendary story is.

But no matter what, Zhu Yuanzhang determined that this was the location of the ancestral tomb, so he built the Ming ancestral tomb in Sizhou City.

The main reason is that the Ming Dynasty is still there, and it is naturally particularly concerned about the ancestral tombs, so Wei Guangde reminded Zhu Heng to take precautions in this regard.

When the river work was discussed again later, Wei Guangde still seemed indifferent. The main reason was that he did not understand water management and had no say.

However, the result of this ministerial meeting was not good. The Ministry of Household Affairs said that it could not come up with the silver required by the Ministry of Works, and could only offset part of it by transferring grain and tax from the nearest place.

"It's already the end of the year, and the imperial court still has a lot of expenses to pay, including officials' salaries and soldiers' pay in the capital camp. The Ministry of Revenue doesn't dare to release money easily."

Finally, Liu Tiqian, the Minister of Household Affairs, finally said.

After Li Chunfang left the room, Wei Guangde heard the news that Gao Gongshu, the former Shaofu and Crown Prince Taifu, Shangshu of the Ministry of Personnel, and a bachelor of Wuyingdian Palace, had resigned. Emperor Longqing immediately sent the memorial to Qianqing Palace. The reply was, "Gongfu Bi is an old minister with good moral character and good reputation. He was ordered to take up his post but was not allowed to resign."

Upon hearing the news, Wei Guangde smiled at Yin Shizhen beside him and said, "Tomorrow he should return to the cabinet to do business."

"Yes, I heard that his disciples have broken through the threshold of his mansion these days."

Yin Shizhen also smiled and said, "When I first left the capital, haha."

Wei Guangde just smiled at Yin Shizhen's words.

Who would have thought that the person who was hated by people and disliked by dogs would one day return to the court. The world is unpredictable, and it is really a big intestine wrapped in a small intestine.

When Wei Guangde returned to his room, Lu Bu quickly followed him and whispered in his ear: "Sir, there is a note from the Minister of Justice."

"Oh? Where?"

When Wei Guangde heard that it was a note from the Ministry of Punishment, he immediately perked up. He had been waiting for the news for two days.

"It's on your desk."

Lu Bu replied softly.

Wei Guangde returned to the desk, picked up the envelope, tore open the seal, took out the note inside and took a look. Sure enough, it was the news he was waiting for.

Lin Fiao sent the original and duplicate copies of the file and confession to the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Punishment respectively. You Jujing, the right minister of the Punishment Ministry, saw the official document sent from Nanjing and immediately handed the note to Wei Guangde.

Not long after, news came from the Ministry of Rites, and official documents from Nanjing also arrived.

Handing the note to Wei Guangde was certainly not what he wanted to do in it.

After all, it involves the Duke of Wei in Nanjing, and Wei Guangde needs to avoid suspicion.

Moreover, what they will do next has been planned for a long time, and now the news has spread in their respective ministries, making everyone feel disgusted and take advantage of the opportunity to ask for a thorough investigation into the matter.

Without anyone noticing, things developed in the direction Wei Guangde hoped.

In Beijing, the case of Wei Guogong's government defrauding people's imperial edicts was slowly brewing. However, at the Yingtianfu Yamen in Suzhou, Hai Rui finally signed a document requiring all Yamen to arrest Xu Jie's nephew and bring him to justice.

Hai Rui withstood the pressure letter from Nanjing and insisted on bringing to justice the case of Xu family's occupation of civilian land in Huating. This also heralded the complete breakdown of the relationship between Hai Rui and Xu Jie.

At this time, in the old house of the Xu family in Huating County, only Xu Jie lived here. His three sons now all live in the house outside.

Xu Jie had previously sent someone to deliver a message to them not to return to their old residence in Huating, so they hid in houses in other state capitals.

Although he had expected it, Xu Jie still felt angry when he received the news that Hai Rui was really disrespectful and listed his son as a wanted person.

For this reason, his favorite blue and white tea set was smashed to the ground, and he was still angry.

The Xu family's face was completely lost. Because of the arrest document signed by Hai Rui, all the ten houses in Yingtian knew that Xu Jie's son was wanted by the government and had become a criminal. This gave him no face to see others.

Since Hai Rui didn't give him face, Xu Jie didn't intend to tolerate it any longer. He wanted to use his former official connections to find a way to get Hai Rui away.

If you are afraid of Gao Gong, can you not even defeat a governor of Yingtian?

Of course Xu Jie knew that the current situation was special, especially since Gao Gong might have arrived in the capital, so it was too late to take action against Hai Rui at this time.

But there was no other way. We had to fight back. We had to find a way to get the people away. Letting Hai Rui stay in Yingtian Mansion would be a disaster after all.

Xu Jie thought about the people in the capital. Of course he would not let Zhang Juzheng take action. The current situation was sensitive. Zhang Juzheng was working with Gao Gong in the cabinet, and his every move might be observed.

Zhang Juzheng was the one who relied on him to stay in the court after he became an official. He asked Yang Bo for help, but Hai Rui's rank exceeded the scope of the official department.

Hai Rui's rank is a bit high, and the officials cannot change his position at all.

Until now, Xu Jie still doesn't know that Yang Bo has resigned due to health reasons and wants to follow his example and return to his hometown to retire.

Therefore, it would be a bit troublesome to get rid of Hai Rui through normal means.

However, since they had already broken up with each other, Xu Jie did not intend to show any mercy to Hai Rui. He would just find someone to impeach him.

How to impeach, Xu Jie, as someone who has been immersed in officialdom for decades, is naturally familiar with it. It is impossible to expect someone to be removed with a memorial.

You still have to use chain sets and combination attacks to shake his foundation bit by bit.

Regardless of the fact that Hai Rui holds the official position of governor of Yingtian, after all, the Xu family has been working here for many years and has complicated and deeply involved relationships with local governments. Therefore, Hai Rui's official document can be issued, but his account may not be sold below.

Therefore, Xu Jie actually still has enough time to deal with this matter.

I've already lost my face, so I won't think about it anymore, and just don't go out to visit old friends anymore.

With the help of the maid, Xu Jie entered the study room and polished the ink. Xu Jie took up his pen and wrote several letters to the capital in one breath, respectively to Zhang Juzheng, Yang Bo and people in the Sixth Section.

Although the censors of the Metropolitan Procuratorate are as sharp as swords, people in the Sixth Section supervise hundreds of officials. They are closer to the emperor and their words have more weight.

After writing the letter, he immediately called the housekeeper and arranged for couriers to be delivered to various mansions in the capital.

At this time, Gao Gong had just received a memorial approved by Emperor Longqing, asking him to go to the cabinet immediately to do business and not to refuse.

After the process was completed, Gao Gong was very happy and felt very proud. He went back to the house to continue receiving those visitors.

There were too many people coming during this period. At first, many of them were his students and old friends. But later, perhaps because he was very friendly, some other people began to take the opportunity to visit him and wanted to get closer.

Although he was very annoyed in his heart, Gao Gong knew that it was time to re-establish his personality, so he still greeted them with a smile.

At the beginning, he was too upright in doing things and too gentle in treating people and things, so he was isolated by the ministers. Today, he is naturally unwilling to repeat the same mistake again.

"Chuntai, you are still unemployed at home. Didn't the Ministry of Personnel arrange an official position for you?"

Gao Gong asked with pretended concern.

The person who came to visit the mansion today was considered his student, Gao Gong, named Cai Guoxi, with the courtesy name Chuntai, and the 38th Jinshi in Jiajing.

The chief examiner of the joint examination that year was Li Ji, the right assistant minister of the Ministry of Personnel and a scholar of the Hanlin Academy. The deputy examiner was Yan Ne, the junior minister of the Ministry of Rites and the director of the Hanlin Academy. He participated in the joint examination and the palace examination as a lecturer of the Hanlin Academy.

In the joint examination, Cai Guoxi was the one recommended by Gao Gong, so Gao Gong was also his "seat teacher".

However, at that time, Gao Gong was mainly acting as the agent of the Prince Yu's residence and had not yet officially entered the officialdom. He left the Prince Yu's residence at the end of the year and then was promoted rapidly.

Except for visiting him after he was selected as a Jinshi, Cai Guoxi rarely came after that.

Of course, it was not that he did not come to visit his teacher, but that he was sent to serve as an official in other places after observing the government in the Ministry of Justice.

However, what made Gao Gong dislike him was that he knew that Cai Guoxi might have despised his low official rank as a seat teacher, so he not only came to him to hand in a letter, but also tried to curry favor with Xu Jie and handed in a student letter.

Cai Guoxi had a unique vision. He became Xu Jie's student, and also Gao Gong's student.

Well, this is a bit embarrassing.

"Teacher, I was still the prefect of Suzhou two years ago. It was just that my mother passed away and I was in mourning at home. Although the period has expired, I went to the Ministry of Personnel to wait for news. There has been no vacancy, and I have been asked to wait for half a year.

I am dedicated to serving the country. Now there is no vacancy in the court. I am really helpless."

Cai Guoxi was from Yongnian, Guangping Prefecture, the capital, but his family was ordinary, so he tried his best to get a promotion.

It was so hard to get an official position, but he lost it because of mourning. It is unknown when he will get a new appointment from the Ministry of Personnel.

Now that my teacher Gao Gong has returned to Beijing, he has come to Beijing from Yongnian, hoping to get a job with the help of Gao Gong.

"You were the prefect of Suzhou"

Hearing Cai Guoxi's words, Gao Gong immediately became interested. (End of this chapter)