Chapter 754 853 Chase

"What does the Ministry of Rites mean now?"

Gao Gong asked. He calmed down at this time and noticed that this matter was a bit strange, but it involved a cabinet minister.

It is absolutely impossible to say that Wei Guangde did not know these things before.

"The Ministry of Rites, based on the evidence that has been found so far, believes that this matter should be reported and the Zheng family's imperial edict should be pursued. This example cannot be made."

The butler replied in a low voice.

"It really should be recovered."

Gao Gong also supported the view of the Ministry of Rites and must not set a precedent in the Ming Dynasty.

Although this matter involves Wei Guangde, Gao Gong has just returned to the court and does not want to make enemies right away.

What happened the year before last year, although Gao Gong was later annoyed that Chen Yiqin, Wei Guangde and others did not stand up to support him at the critical moment, but thinking about the situation in the court at that time, he also knew that even if they came out, they could only reduce the hostility of some people, but most of them would not. Officials will still follow Xu Jie and fight against him.

In the end, I guess I still can't get a good result.

Forget it, just pretend that you don't know what happened this time, and let them know the pros and cons when there is a chance in the future.

In just two days, the Ministry of Rites found out the causes and consequences of the conspiracy of Zheng, the concubine of Wei Guogong's palace, to seize the imperial edict. The person in charge of verifying the matter at that time did not conduct verification according to the system because he was under pressure from Yan Shifan. The matter was settled hastily and the document was written.

The next step was naturally discussed within the Ministry of Rites, but the matter was quickly reported jointly with the Ministry of Punishments.

When the memorial arrived at Qianqing Palace, Emperor Longqing was certainly impressed. Wei Guangde came to see him for this purpose a few days ago.

After seeing the memorial and knowing that the decree was controlled by Yan Shifan, I felt even more disgusted.

Well, to say how much Emperor Longqing hates Yan Shifan, you can know it by thinking about the injustice he suffered in Yu Zhuan.

As the emperor's son, in order to get his salary and annual gifts, he actually had to bribe ministers. Moreover, Yan Shifan said this in public back then.

Although no one dares to mention it now, who knows if anyone is still discussing this matter in private behind the scenes.

Forget it, the person had already been beheaded and continued to involve his family. Emperor Longqing would only do it when he remembered and got angry. After he calmed down, he realized that it was wrong to do so.

It is often seen in later film and television works that many crimes committed by ancient officials would harm their families. However, in fact, ancient laws also have clear boundaries for this. It does not mean that the officials are guilty and their families have been implicated.

In many cases, property will be confiscated due to crimes, but if the wife and children are not guilty, they will be released soon, and the woman’s dowry will be returned, but there may be a shortfall. After all, the hands and feet of the person who ransacked the house are not clean, and there are What you have will naturally be returned, and what you don’t have will be gone.

Regarding the matter of the Zheng family in the Duke of Wei's mansion, the imperial court did not want to make a big fuss, so it only issued an edict to Wei Guogong Xu Pengju, but the Zheng family issued an order to take it back.

After being quickly approved, it was sent to the cabinet to draw up the edict, and it was handed over to the Secretary of Ceremony for his seal and was quickly issued.

Wei Guangde also read the drafted edict in the duty room. The edict was drafted by Gao Gong. Gao Gong entered the cabinet early this morning and officially started running errands.

Gao Gong's writing ability did not deteriorate because he had been away from the court for more than a year. At least Wei Guangde could not see anything wrong that needed to be revised.

He smiled at Zhongshu Sheren who sent the first draft and said, "This draft is very good and there is nothing wrong with it. Please give it to the Chief Assistant."

Wei Guangde signed his name at the end of the first draft and handed the document back.

"Yes, Mr. Wei Ge."

The Zhongshu took the first draft from Wei Guangde with both hands and agreed before exiting the room.

The hidden dangers in the Wei Guogong Mansion in Nanjing have been completely eliminated. Although the father-in-law may be very angry after seeing the imperial edict, what can be done?

He doesn't take any part in this matter, whether it's a matter of reason or relationship. Is it wrong for him to help his uncle?

I just hope that my father-in-law can make it through, but don't get angry to death because of this decree, otherwise it will be very troublesome.

Although Xu Pengju died, Wei Guangde did not need to go to Nanjing to Dingyou, but his wife had to go back.

Given the current condition of the canal, taking this trip is really tiring.

But no matter what, Wei Guangde was still very happy that the matter was solved so easily.

He wrote a note, called Lu Bu, and said, "Go out and give it to my entourage, and ask them to pass the note back to the house and give it to Madam."

This matter is not a confidential matter. In fact, when Gao Gong drafted the edict, many people in the cabinet had seen Emperor Longqing's edict, or note, and I believe it will be spread soon.

It's not a big deal, but it's not a small matter either. After all, the imperial court needs to send someone to issue an imperial edict to a current Duke.

Under the current situation, it is definitely unrealistic for the Beijing Ministry of Rites to send someone directly. The most likely thing is to have Lin Fiao from Nanjing come forward and reprimand him.

At this time, on the Grand Canal, watercraft and merchant ships in the Huai'an area had completely blocked the river, stretching for dozens of miles.

In the past, floods were just a temporary blockade of canals near the river, but this time the Yellow River burst its banks, and part of the river water rushed into the Huaihai tributaries, causing the water level to rise sharply and making navigation difficult. Dozens of ships have capsized, killing and injuring countless sailors, many of them tank boats.

Nowadays, almost no ships can be seen sailing along the line from the Yellow River to the Huaihe River. Traffic from the south to the north has been cut off. Even if there is an emergency, we can only abandon the waterway and cross the border by land.

However, once we reach the edge of the Yellow River, we can only wait for the opportunity to see if any bold boatmen dare to cross the river.

Of course, crossing the river at this time is also a great risk, so the boat fare is also expensive.

In the turbulent river, a "small boat" is "going downstream" in the distance, and the boatman is paddling hard, just so that the boat can reach the shore as soon as possible.

Crossing the river at this time, the boatman is taking a lot of risks.

People die for money and birds die for food. They are also tempted by the merchants' high boat fare, so they take the risk to accompany this trip.

Finally, against the turbulent river, the boat docked, but at this time it was no longer a small boat, but a medium-sized ferry.

The merchant on the boat hurriedly got off the boat. He was actually scared when he was in the river. Now that the boat docked, he left the remaining boat fare and got off the boat without stopping. He didn't want to delay on this boat for a moment.

Although the boat docked, it was not stable. Walking on the board was still swaying from side to side, which was very scary. Fortunately, there was a boatman to help lead his horse.

As soon as he stepped on the land, the man turned around, took the reins, jumped on his horse and rode towards the capital.

He was the messenger sent by Xu Jie to the capital, carrying an urgent letter from his master and dared not delay at all.

If it were not for the death order given by his master before he left, he would never want to cross the river, not because of the boat fare, but because it was too terrible.

On the boat, he felt the power of the world, and the big boat under his feet was so small that it felt like it would capsize at any time.

Being a servant was not a good job, and he could only sigh in his heart while sitting on the horse.

The official document from the Ministry of Works to Pan Jixun of Huzhou Prefecture, Zhejiang, had been blocked by the Yellow River for several days, but the flood was so severe that the messenger could only sigh in despair. He really didn't have the courage to risk his life to cross the river to deliver the letter.

Two days ago, someone took the risk to cross the river and succeeded, but he didn't have the courage to get on the boat at this time.

Dying here would not only delay the business, but also be unworthy.

At this time, in the office of the Governor of the Canal Transport in Huai'an Prefecture, Li Gong, the Governor of the Canal Transport, was also extremely anxious.

It was already October. Based on the weather this year and previous years, the canal would definitely not be navigable by the end of November, and now the flood seemed to continue for several days.

In other words, there was not much time left for the canal transport to rush to transport the grain.

He had no time to care about the overturned canal boats, and only hoped to send as much grain as possible to the capital, so that his responsibility would be less before the end of the year.

Just then, footsteps sounded outside the house, and when Li Gong turned around, he saw Fu Shi, the general soldier of the canal transport, appear at the door.

"General Fu, how is the situation now?"

Li Gong asked impatiently before he could ask someone to serve tea.

Fu Shi said dejectedly: "It's very bad. According to people familiar with the river, it will take at least seven or eight days for the flood to recede, and it will take at least ten days to restore navigation."

Fu Shi really lamented his bad luck at this time.

In the first year of Longqing, he succeeded Li Tingzhu, the Marquis of Linhuai, as the general of the grain transport. At that time, he was still full of vigor and vitality.

Because the river had just been managed, he thought that there would be no more problems in the short term, and felt that it was a great bargain to succeed Li Tingzhu at this time, but who could have thought that it would be like this in just two years.

Although he understood that this flood had little to do with water control, after all, it was a breach of the dike in other places, but such repeated occurrences at least showed that the current flood control policy implemented by the Ming Dynasty was not feasible.

He didn't know whether his general officer's function could not be preserved after this time.

"It will take another ten days."

Li Gong knew that he was in big trouble when he heard it. Although the capital would not be left without food supply because of this suspension of navigation, there were still a lot of grain in the warehouse in Tongzhou, but the court would not look at this matter in this way. They only cared about whether the grain transport had completed this year's transportation task.

"Send more people to keep an eye on the changes in the river. As long as it is navigable, let the grain ship pass immediately, and block all merchant ships. No matter who they are, if they are dissatisfied, ask them to come to my governor's office to talk about it."

Li Gong could only order this at this time.

Although the two were of the same rank, the Ming Dynasty was a dynasty that used civil officials to suppress military officials, so Fu Shi could only obey his orders.

"Yes, sir."

Fu Shi hurriedly clasped his fists and accepted the order.

He didn't want to offend anyone and wanted to continue doing his job, so he didn't dare to neglect it at all.

But what he didn't know was that Li Gong was already thinking about how to put the blame on him for the unfavorable grain transport this time and let him take the responsibility.

Those people in Beijing all had to give generous gifts, and he, the governor, didn't want to be dismissed by the court.

A few months later, the court was indeed dissatisfied with this year's grain transport, but it only issued an imperial edict to Li Gong, the governor of the grain transport, and Fu Shi, the general of the grain transport, was dismissed, and the Ministry of War selected Chen Wangmo to take over the post of general of the grain transport.

Of course, this is a later story, and at this time the two were still united in sincerity, preparing to deal with the current situation.

Beijing, the Ministry of Personnel Yamen.

"Congratulations, Brother Chuntai, on your promotion. I'll book a table at Zuixianlou tonight to celebrate for you."

"Yes, yes, I've said that Brother Chuntai is blessed by heaven. Look, not only has he been assigned a job, but he's also been promoted. Congratulations."

As soon as Cai Guoxi received his official certificate at the yamen, a group of his peers and friends in the Ministry of Personnel came up to congratulate him. Cai Guoxi smiled and perfunctorily responded, but it's hard to say what he was thinking in his heart.

After all, he had been to the Ministry of Personnel many times, but he had been rejected every time before and had never been assigned a job.

Of course, he understood the trick. After all, he was both a Beijing official and a local official, and he had seen as much as they did.

Originally, he was the prefect of Suzhou, but today he received an official certificate from the Ministry of Personnel as the deputy envoy of Suzhou's military preparations. Although he was still a fourth-rank official, it was an improvement.

The magistrate is in charge of the government orders of the government, and is in charge of all counties. He is responsible for announcing national government orders, governing the people, hearing and deciding lawsuits, inspecting traitors, evaluating subordinate officials, collecting taxes, and other government affairs. It is considered a place appointed by the imperial court. Parent Officer.

The full name of deputy envoy for military preparation should actually be "deputy envoy for organizing military preparations in a certain place", which belongs to the official position system of the Provincial Envoy Department. Therefore, Cai Guoxi's current official position is actually an official who regulates military preparations in Suzhou as deputy envoy for inspection.

Since both the prefect and the deputy commander of military equipment are at the fourth level, why do they say that he has been promoted to one level this time.

Well, to put it simply, he was upgraded from a prefectural (city)-level official to a provincial-level official. His current position is actually an expatriate official of the Nanjing Ministry of Justice.

There are Shuntian Prefecture in the North Zhili Province, and Yingtian Prefecture and Fengyang Prefecture in the Southern Zhili Province. The governors of each faction have separate jurisdictions. They do not have three departments according to the thirteen provinces, that is, the Chief Envoys Department, the Inspectorate Envoys Department and the Capital Command Envoys Department. , but under the direct control of the six central ministries.

At this time, the Nanjing Ministry of Punishment actually exercised the power of the Inspector General. Cai Guoxi's current official position is the Deputy Inspector General. His responsibilities are to manage the military affairs within the jurisdiction of Suzhou Prefecture, supervise the local army, manage local troops, money, grain and farmland, maintain local security, etc. .

Of course he knew how all of this came about, but it was not run by the people around him, but by his own mentor. His purpose in promoting him seemed to be to take revenge on the man who became an official, but so what.

Once the power is in hand, orders will be carried out. Only when you have power can you be called an official. Just being an official is of no use.

Besides, now that I have Gao Gong as my backer, will I still be afraid of people like Xu Jie and Zhang Juzheng?

As long as he manages his errands well this time and embarrasses Xu Jie, he will be promoted soon, and he will be able to join the cabinet in the future.

Feeling happy to accept the congratulations from around him, Cai Guoxi was also thinking about the remaining wealth in his mind, and planned to exchange all of it except for the meager income from his hometown into gifts and send them to his "mentor" to express his gratitude.

Of course Xu Jie, who was in his hometown in Huating, would not have thought that his old enemy Gao Gong would arrange this person for him to take revenge on him.

With the official release of the arrest documents, there was still no news of the discovery of the Xu family's children. Hai Rui was already angry.

He could only write more stern letters to the prefects and magistrates of his subordinate states, asking them to search for Xu Fan, Xu Kun and other Xu family members involved in the case within their jurisdictions. At the same time, he also sent personnel from the governor's yamen to search various places.

Of course, the first choice of target is Songjiang Mansion.

However, after a fruitless search, he suddenly discovered recently that Suzhou Mansion, where his governor's office is located, is actually the place where the Xu family has huge assets. It is impossible for the Xu family to hide in Suzhou Mansion, giving him a "dark under the light" "Trick.

So, he directly skipped the Suzhou prefect and began to secretly investigate the whereabouts of Xu Jiazi within the whole government.

As long as he can catch one, he won't be afraid of Xu Jie's disobedience. (End of chapter)