Chapter 755 854 Xu Jie Counterattacks

The beauty of Jiangnan is not only its prosperity and beauty, but also its cultural heritage. It inherits the legacy of Chinese civilization and builds a spiritual habitat. Jiangnan gardens are the real carrier of this spiritual homeland and a "Peach Blossom Spring" within reach.

Humble Administrator's Garden, Master of the Nets Garden, Zhan Garden, Jichang Garden, Ge Garden, Yu Garden, Guyi Garden, etc. are gathered in Jiangnan, which is a geographical fit and a cultural heritage.

Gardens are different from palaces in that they integrate nature.

This space of touching mountains and rivers and leisurely resting is increasingly loved by scholars and gentry.

During the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the scholar class advocated pure talk and seclusion, and sought a pastoral life away from war and persecution, and expressed their feelings in mountains and rivers and farmhouses, which became a popular social ideal at that time.

Tao Yuanming's "Peach Blossom Spring" in the Eastern Jin Dynasty built an ideal country that people yearned for. He also injected new ideas into private gardens with the poems "Quietly thinking about the beauty of gardens, it is good to leave the world", "Opening up the wasteland in the southern fields, returning to the garden", "Picking chrysanthemums under the eastern fence, leisurely seeing the southern mountains".

During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, scholars represented by Wang Wei and Bai Juyi integrated the beauty of poetry, calligraphy and painting into gardening practice. Wang Wei's "Wangchuan Villa" and Bai Juyi's "Bai Lianzhuang" organically combined the beauty of architecture with the beauty of poetry and painting, gradually forming a more distinctive garden form.

During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the economy and humanities in the Jiangnan region were prosperous, and private garden construction rose in large numbers.

First, the prosperity of Jiangnan gave rise to a large demand for private gardens in society; second, the prosperity of Jiangnan culture gave rise to a group of scholars who were well versed in traditional culture, had elegant artistic tastes and understood the rules of construction.

"Jiangnan Garden Records" says: "In our country, wherever there are wealthy officials, merchants and literati, there are almost all private gardens, and most of the essence is actually gathered in a corner of Jiangnan."

The book discusses more than 50 gardens in Suzhou, Yangzhou, Changshu, Wuxi, Nanxiang, Jiading, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Nanxun, Jiaxing, etc., representing the highest achievements of Chinese classical gardens. They have unique styles, see the big in the small, integrate landscape poetry and painting, have a layout of harmony between man and nature, and have the wildness of rural farmhouses, which develops the beauty of classical gardens to the extreme.

The Jiangnan gardens of this period have the architectural characteristics of a house and garden, including the residential part for daily living and the garden part for leisure and entertainment. The garden is usually built on the north or northwest of the residential area, commonly known as the "back garden".

In the house garden, not only can you cultivate the essence of the hills and gardens, and the high forests and springs, but you can also serve your parents without violating filial piety.

The famous Yu Garden in Shanghai is a garden built by Pan Yunduan, the right governor of Sichuan in the Ming Dynasty, in the name of pleasing his old relatives after he was dismissed and returned to his hometown.

In the eighth year of Zhengde in the Ming Dynasty, Wang Xianchen, the censor who was dismissed and returned to his hometown, built a house and garden on the basis of Dahong Temple, and named it Humble Administrator's Garden after the meaning of "building a house and planting trees... This is also the way of governing by a clumsy person" in Pan Yue's "Idleness Fu" in the Western Jin Dynasty.

Xu Jia, a descendant of the Xu family in Suzhou, made a big bet with the son of Wang Xianchen, the first owner of Humble Administrator's Garden, with Zizhi Garden and Humble Administrator's Garden as the stakes. In the end, Xu Jia won Humble Administrator's Garden and became the owner of the garden, and his elder brother Xu Gui moved in together.

During this period, the most famous Suzhou gardens were the Xu and Wen families.

Of course, the Xu family in Suzhou and the Xu family in Songjiang were not of the same lineage, but at this time in the Dongya Hall of Zizhi Garden, Xu Fan and Xu Kun, who were wanted by Hai Rui, were sitting opposite each other, drinking tea and enjoying the scenery.

Just as Hai Rui thought, the Xu family members did enter Suzhou secretly and lived in the gardens of various families.

"Brother, I actually think that my father is old and confused. He is actually afraid of Hai Rui. Even if you and I go out and stand on the street, would Hai Rui dare to arrest you and me? Without the imperial decree, why would he arrest me?"

Xu Kun was suppressed by Xu Fan. If it weren't for his elder brother suppressing him, he might have ignored Hai Rui's documents and went out to play on the street without restraint.

"Second brother, this is a different time. You said that Hai Rui dare not arrest you, but I am wrong. After all, you and I have no official positions now, so how can we not arrest people?"

Xu Fan just reminded him out loud.

Xu Fan, whose courtesy name is Luqing, is the only one of Xu Jie's four children born to his first wife, Madam Shen.

When he grew up, he was promoted to a government post through the patronage of officials. He was initially appointed as the chief official of the Right Military Governor's Office and the experience of the Imperial Clan Court. In the 37th year of Jiajing, Xu Fan was transferred to the prefecture of Guangnan, Yunnan. Xu Jie, because he was old and his son had been lonely since childhood, petitioned for a change of rank for Fan.

The petition was approved, and the Ministry of Personnel changed Xu Fan to Shangbao Cheng, and later he was appointed as Shaoqing of Taichang, and one of his sons was promoted.

Xu Jie remembered Yan Song's lesson of failing because of his son, and did not allow his sons and nephews to develop in the government. In the second year of Longqing, Xu Jie retired, and Xu Fan followed his father back to his hometown.

In fact, Xu Fan's growth experience was similar to Yan Shifan's. Both of them did not take the imperial examination, but were promoted to positions through patronage, and their careers were "prosperous".

It was just that Yan Shifan was too dazzling at that time, and with Yan Shifan's lesson in front of him, Xu Jie also paid attention to educating Xu Fan all the time, so he did not leave any bad reputation in the capital.

Xu Kun's situation is similar to his brother Xu Fan, except that his official position is Shangbaojian.

If it were in the past, the two brothers had official positions, although their ranks were not as high as Hai Rui, it would be difficult for Hai Rui to arrest people, but now that both of them have resigned, without the protection of official positions, it is not the same as before.

"At the beginning, I said I dare not follow you back and stay in the capital."

Xu Kun just opened his mouth and was interrupted by Xu Fan, "It's more dangerous to stay in the capital. You know that Gao Xinzheng has returned to the cabinet now, and Uncle Da may not be able to stop him.

If you and I stay there, I'm afraid we can't escape the crime of framing. We still have to write a letter to our family to settle the matter as soon as possible."

"But you see that the third brother is an official in Nanjing, so would Hai Rui dare to go to Nanjing to arrest people?"

Xu Kun still said angrily, not thinking at all that what he did violated the "Da Ming Law" and was a crime. Instead, he thought that his third brother Xu Ying was an official in the Nanjing Criminal Department, and Hai Rui was not going to arrest anyone. The third child’s name.

Isn't this just a persimmon looking for someone who's weak and bullying his two brothers when they see they have no official position?

Xu Fan was silent after hearing this. In fact, he also regretted a little. He didn't dare to resign and return to his hometown with his father. Instead, he should have worked as an official in Nanjing. With the protection of his official body, would Hai Rui still dare to act so unscrupulously?

The two brothers saw that the situation was not right, and received a letter from Xu Jie asking them to avoid the situation first. They made many choices, and finally ran to Suzhou, where Hai Rui took care of them to avoid the disaster.

Of course, ordinary gardens are looked down upon, but this is not the Zizhi Garden built by the Xu family in Suzhou. It has a good reputation and is just a good place to stay for a few days.

In the history of Suzhou gardens, evidence can be found so far that Zizhi Garden was designed by two great calligraphers and painters, Wen Zhengming and Qiu Ying.

The art of Chinese calligraphy and painting was at its peak in Suzhou during the Ming Dynasty. Zhong Zhengming, the calligrapher and painter of the Ming Dynasty, was the leading figure, and Qiu Ying had very good drawing skills.

In this sense, the documentary significance and artistic value of Zizhi Garden are very great.

With the painter's aesthetic taste, he used traditional pen and ink to outline the layout of the entire garden, achieving the pure and typical freehand landscape style of the Ming Dynasty in Zizhi Garden.

The most prominent garden builders in the Ming Dynasty were the Wen family and the Xu family. Xu Feng built the Zizhi Garden, his cousin Xu Taishi built the Liuyuan Garden, and his younger brother Xu Jia took over the Humble Administrator's Garden and became the second owner of the garden.

The Zizhi Garden built by Xu Feng and the Humble Administrator's Garden built by Wang Xianchen were only more than ten years apart. They are two famous gardens in Suzhou.

After the completion of Zizhi Garden, the stone-stacked construction was unparalleled in the Wu Dynasty. According to Wang Zhideng's "Zizhi Garden Records", every spring, every stone, every crocodile and every inscription are all exquisite and exquisite; the walls are carved with embroidery, the aragonite paving is green, and the green and golden emeralds Wisps, extremely ingenious workmanship.

However, such a famous garden was burned down by fire after only a hundred years of existence, leaving no traces at all.

"This Zizhi Garden is worthy of being a famous garden in Suzhou. It's fate that you and I stay here. Don't think about things outside and just wait with peace of mind."

Although Xu Fan was a little dissatisfied, he still tried his best to appease Xu Kun.

What they didn't know was that just outside Zizhi Garden, there were several figures, but they were just observing from a distance and did not take any action.

Beijing city, cabinet.

Wei Guangde was dealing with government affairs when he heard voices coming from outside the door and looked up unconsciously.

The speaker, Wei Guangde, was very familiar with him. He was assisting Chen Yiqin this time, but he didn't know what he was doing here at this time. So before anyone could come in, Wei Guangde stood up and greeted him out.

As soon as he arrived at the door, Wei Guangde saw Chen Yiqin coming over.

"Brother Yifu, please come in and sit down."

Wei Guangde greeted Chen Yiqin, turned to Lu Bu behind him and said, "Quickly make some tea and bring it up."

After everyone sat down and Lu Bu served tea and retreated, Chen Yiqin took out a memorial from his sleeve and handed it to Wei Guangde.

At first, Wei Guangde was a little confused and didn't know what was going on. But after taking a closer look, he understood that Emperor Longqing wanted to buy jewelry and jade again, and the Ministry of Revenue sent a petition to the emperor to take back the order.

Wei Guangde probably understood why Chen Yiqin came to see him, but he couldn't get involved in this matter.

"Shan Loan, this is the third time this year that your Majesty has asked the Ministry of Household Affairs to purchase treasures. We cannot continue like this."

Before Wei Guangde could speak, Chen Yiqin expressed his support. He supported Liu Tiqian and could not allow the emperor to do whatever he wanted and spend money for his own pleasure.

In fact, what the emperor wants to buy and how to spend money, as long as the money from the inner court is used, the outer court can't say anything. But now he wants the Ministry of Revenue to give him money. With the current financial situation, there is no money for him to spend.

After looking at the names of Chen Yiqin and Yin Shizhen, Wei Guangde understood that he was planning to get the cabinet ministers to sign the memorial together.

"Brother Yifu, this matter is a bit difficult to handle."

Wei Guangde said with some embarrassment: "I wonder if you know that His Majesty may already be dissatisfied with Liu Shangshu. If you and I sign the memorial, I'm afraid it will have the opposite effect and make His Majesty even more impatient with him."

Therefore, Wei Guangde told him that Emperor Longqing had summoned him to the Qianqing Palace to ask about the income and expenditure of the imperial court over the years.

"If you want to check the income and expenditure of the imperial court, you should ask the Ministry of Revenue, but your Majesty comes to ask me. You can imagine his attitude towards Liu Shangshu. If this matter goes wrong, your Majesty will think that we are colluding and working together to deceive him."

Finally, Wei Guangde reminded him.

Chen Yiqin also frowned slightly at this matter. Of course he understood Wei Guangde's concerns, but he still asked reluctantly: "What if all the cabinet ministers signed their names?"

"Although His Majesty may accept this matter, Liu Shangshu's resignation is not far away."

Wei Guangde replied.

"This is difficult to handle."

Chen Yiqin said with some annoyance.

Nowadays, the most difficult position for officials in the six ministries is the household ministry, because there are not many who are proficient in finance, and the court cannot make ends meet.

It is easy to replace someone, but it is difficult to find a replacement.

"Cross out the name and send it directly to the palace."

Wei Guangde had no choice but to suggest that he did not want Chen Yiqin and Yin Shizhen to harm the emperor at this time.

"Since the matter is serious, we'd better go to Zhengfu's place to discuss whether we should jointly sign."

Chen Yiqin was shaken in his heart and immediately spoke.

"good."

Wei Guangde agreed, then stood up and walked to Yin Shizhen's room next to him with Chen Yiqin.

At this time, Gao Gong was not in the cabinet, but went to the Ministry of Personnel.

Emperor Longqing's order was originally just to act as an agent, but when Yang Bo retired, the order to Gao Gong had changed to "in charge of the ministry", which means that Gao Gong's title of Minister of Rites was not a title for promotion, but a real power.

Therefore, Gao Gong is not only the Grand Secretary of Wuying Palace, but also the Minister of Personnel, with real power.

Since he became the real Minister of Personnel, Gao Gong naturally had to run back and forth. Although some official documents could be sent from the Ministry of Personnel to the Cabinet for review, some matters could not be discussed by recruiting people from the Ministry of Personnel to the Cabinet.

Of course, it is best to solve the affairs of the ministry in the ministry.

So Gao Gong had to go to the Ministry of Personnel from time to time to deal with some controversial government affairs.

When he was leaving, Wei Guangde just remembered this, so he whispered: "Are you sure that Gao Suqing can sign this memorial?"

"As long as everyone signs, he will not refuse to sign, even if he doesn't want to."

Chen Yiqin smiled and said: "Didn't you notice? He has changed a lot this time. He is no longer the same as before. Everything is based on his own will. He forces others to agree with his opinions, otherwise he will be dissatisfied with you."

"The right will have many supporters, while the wrong will have few supporters. The last time Xu Ge Lao's incident taught him clearly."

Wei Guangde smiled.

"Yes, he understands it, but if it goes on like this, his power will be greater and more difficult to check and balance."

Chen Yiqin sighed.

When he met Yin Shizhan and explained the pros and cons, he was silent for a long time before he expressed a similar view to Wei Guangde, saying that it would be better not to participate in the petition of the Ministry of Revenue.

It is obvious that the emperor will not have any attitude towards the Ministry of Revenue's rejection of his will, and may even praise him, but in fact, he will only hate Liu Tigan more in his heart, and his position as Shangshu is no longer stable.

If the cabinet got involved at this time, who knows what kind of consequences would be caused.

Just as they were discussing this matter in Yin Shizhan's duty room, Xu Jie's messenger also arrived in the capital.

The messengers had lived in the capital for a long time with Xu Jie and were very familiar with the capital, so after entering the city, they quickly visited several mansions with Xu Jie's post and delivered Xu Jie's handwritten letter, and then returned to Xu's mansion in the capital.

Although Xu Jie had retired and returned to his hometown, the original mansion was given by Emperor Jiajing and had been returned to the inner court, but Xu Jie had been an official in the capital for many years and of course bought his own house, which was Xu Kun's residence at that time.

The Xu family members who stayed in the capital now all lived there, which was also the Xu family's base in the capital.

After the court was dismissed that day, several officials received Xu Jie's letter.

No matter what the arrangements in the letter were, they just took note and prepared to take action. (End of this chapter)