Chapter 818 Letter 907

"Master, Eunuch Feng from the palace sent someone to deliver a letter to you."

The cold winter has passed, and it is the time when the warmth returns to the cold. Wei Guangde has added some activities these days, which is mountain climbing.

Ding You is at home. In addition to visiting the grave on time, he also climbs mountains in the surrounding area, which can be considered as exercise.

As soon as I came back from outside today, the housekeeper Zhang Ji came over and said.

"Where are the people?"

Wei Guangde raised his eyebrows when he heard this and asked.

Although he didn't know why Feng Bao wrote to him, he had to pay attention to it.

Is it for this year’s annual ceremony?

During the Chinese New Year, there were a lot of letters sent from the capital, and news from the palace also came.

The most important thing is naturally the news coming from Qingning Palace.

Qingning Palace is the prince's dormitory, located inside the Donghua Gate. This is why the prince's palace is generally called the East Palace, because it is to the east of the Forbidden City.

"Well, let him rest first and treat him well. Remind me later that I want to see him."

Wei Guangde thought that the journey of thousands of miles to Beijing would definitely be tiring, so he was not in a hurry to see him.

By the way, I took a look at Feng Bao's letters and knew what he and I were writing to myself, so that I would have a good idea.

He took the letter from Zhang Ji and went straight back to the study.

When he opened the letter, Wei Guangde couldn't help but frown, and immediately told Zhang Ji, who was standing by: "The messenger sent by Eunuch Feng is his nephew Feng Bangning. Please ask for help, and don't treat the guest lightly."

"Yes, sir."

Zhang Ji immediately agreed, knowing that he had to be careful about this matter.

Wei Guangde attaches great importance to his relationship with Feng Bao, and he knows it clearly.

Unexpectedly, the messenger turned out to be Feng Bao's nephew, so he definitely couldn't wait any longer.

"Sir, Mr. Feng said that he had to take a shower first and then eat something. He may not have settled down yet."

Zhang Ji said hurriedly.

"Go and inquire and arrange the best house for him to live in. Go ahead."

Wei Guangde ordered.

If it was just an ordinary messenger, an ordinary room would be fine, but the situation is different now.

Feng Bao's nephew, to put it bluntly, had a much higher status in Wei Guangde's heart than the prefect of Jiujiang, and was not comparable to the eunuch's confidant at all.

No wonder, for such a big matter as a eunuch making friends with foreign ministers, he definitely cannot arrange for outsiders to deliver letters, and only his own family can feel relieved.

Wei Guangde watched Zhang Ji go out, then lowered his head and continued to read the letter in his hand.

Earlier, Feng Baoxian wrote words of thanks in the letter, saying that Wei Guangde was too polite and it was just because he sent someone to give him a heavy gift before.

Then we talked about the gift Wei Guangde gave to the prince. The prince and the emperor liked it very much. Together with the prince, they built a palace according to the "instructions" before stopping.

Seeing this, Wei Guangde raised his lips and smiled. Isn't this the effect he wanted?

It seems to be very successful and has achieved its goal.

After that, he asked about Wei Guangde's current situation and automatically filtered it out.

Finally, there was another seemingly eloquent paragraph, which talked about some news about the prince and the cabinet in the palace, as well as some matters about the outer court. It seemed to be an introduction to Wei Guangde about the situation in the court.

At the end of the letter, he seemingly mentioned casually that Emperor Longqing was now taking a double dose of the drug to enhance his happiness.

Seeing this, Wei Guangde raised his eyebrows again.

Feng Bao said this in his letter, which was actually taboo. If he leaked the emperor's physical condition, an ordinary chamberlain would be beaten to death.

Of course, for most people, when they see this incident, they usually just laugh it off and think that the emperor is too romantic.

Why take this kind of medicine? It’s not just for the pleasure of being on the bed.

It's a pity that Wei Guangde is not most people, he has a premonition of something.

Therefore, when he saw this paragraph in Feng Bao's letter, he had a hunch that Emperor Longqing's body was probably broken.

Without any worries, Wei Guangde put down the letter and started counting on his fingers.

Prince Zhu Yijun is also ten years old this year. How many years have Zhang Juzheng and Feng Bao controlled the government in your memory?

I don’t know, but it should not be short.

Don't forget, during this period, they should have succeeded in ousting the current high-rise palace from power again.

Wei Guangde didn't know the twists and turns, but he felt that it must have taken a lot of time and a lot of tricks to defeat Gao Gong.

Gao Gong was definitely not able to be killed when Emperor Longqing was around. It must have happened after the emperor was gone and the prince ascended the throne.

How old is the average emperor before he takes charge?

Wei Guangde thought for a while, and it seemed that among the previous Ming emperors, only Emperor Yingzong ascended the throne at a young age.

Emperor Yingzong ascended the throne at the age of eight. In the winter of the sixth year of Zhengtong, the reconstruction project of Fengtian Hall was completed. On the first day of November, Zhu Qizhen accepted congratulations from hundreds of officials in Fengtian Hall and issued an edict of amnesty to the world. This move meant that Zhu Qizhen Substantial pro-government.

In other words, if Prince Zhu Yijun wants to take charge of the throne himself, he will have to be fourteen years old at the earliest.

There are still four years left between now and then.

Is this time enough for Zhang Juzheng and Feng Bao to jointly defeat Gao Gong?

Thinking of this, Wei Guangde was shocked again.

Although he knew that Emperor Longqing would not live long, he was not sure how many years he had left.

But if we count it in terms of Emperor Yingzong's time, I'm afraid it will only be one or two years.

After that, there will be three or two years for the two of them to join forces and remove Gao Gongkeng from power.

Thinking of this, Wei Guangde's heart tightened. This time was too short, leaving almost no time for himself.

Wei Guangde stood up and paced back and forth in the room. Thinking of the last time he saw Emperor Longqing before leaving the capital, he didn't seem like a short-lived emperor.

Could it be that he was wrong?

Wei Guangde couldn't help but ponder in his heart.

Emperor Jiajing also ascended the throne when he was less than fourteen years old. In the first two years, the power was in the cabinet, and then it was gradually transferred.

Could it be that the crown prince Zhu Yijun was not fourteen years old when he took power?

Or could Emperor Longqing still hold on for a few more years, and then smoothly hand over to the crown prince?

But in that case.

Wei Guangde felt a little overwhelmed. He seemed to have a vague memory, that is, after Zhang Juzheng took charge of the Ming Dynasty, the emperor took power.

But even if he took power, he actually didn't have much power. In fact, all the power was in Zhang Juzheng's hands.

It was precisely because of his monopoly of power that Zhang Juzheng was able to implement an important reform in the late Ming Dynasty. The historical evaluation is that he extended the life of the Ming Dynasty for many years.

Otherwise, if the power was still in the hands of the emperor, Zhang Juzheng would not be able to monopolize power at all.

Think about the person he protected. Emperor Longqing is also a person who can listen to advice. I gave him a lot of suggestions, but they were all not adopted, right?

The emperor does things, not to see whether it is reasonable or not, but to ensure the stability of the imperial power first.

Supporting sea transportation actually means abolishing the grain transport, or the prosperity of the places where the canal reaches will decline, so there is fierce opposition in the court.

There are also millions of people along the river. For this reason, Emperor Longqing is willing to continue to maintain the status of grain transport and is unwilling to change grain transport to sea, which is to maintain the stability of the court.

There is also the Datong Peace Agreement, the content of which is obviously not good, but the emperor still pinches his nose and accepts it.

In fact, this is also to maintain the stability of the north. Losing a little silver is actually nothing in his eyes.

At this time, Wei Guangde felt that he was a little at a loss and didn't know what to prepare.

The main reason why Feng Bao wrote to himself was to let him know that Emperor Longqing was in bad health.

Now that he knew, what should he do?

After thinking for a long time, Wei Guangde realized that it seemed that he could not do anything in his current situation.

Sitting down dejectedly, Wei Guangde felt a little disappointed.

"Master."

At this time, Zhang Ji returned to the study.

"How is Feng Bangning now?"

Wei Guangde asked.

"Just had dinner and now went to bed. He said that he didn't have a good rest for half a month."

Zhang Ji replied.

"Okay, I'll see him tomorrow."

Wei Guangde ordered.

He was not in a hurry. It didn't matter whether he saw him today or tomorrow.

"Master, I'll go down first if there's nothing else to tell you."

Zhang Ji said with his hands down.

"You go, I also want to think quietly."

Wei Guangde waved his hand and asked Zhang Ji to go down, leaving him alone in the room.

It was already March of the sixth year of Longqing. Wei Guangde sat behind the desk and thought quietly.

If Emperor Longqing died this year, what would be done? After all, Zhu Yijun was only ten years old, and he certainly could not be the master of the Ming Dynasty. He had to arrange a minister of state to help him watch over it.

Who would be the minister of state?

Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng would definitely be on the list. Is it the Minister of Rites Pan Sheng?

Wei Guangde shook his head immediately. Pan Sheng had also been a lecturer in Prince Yu's Mansion and was also one of Emperor Longqing's teachers. However, he entered the mansion later than Gao Gong, but left earlier.

Although he entered the court early, his development has always been relatively slow. He is an awkward role that is neither liked by Emperor Jiajing nor valued by Emperor Longqing.

In the current situation, perhaps Gao Gong does not want anyone else to enter the cabinet, even if the cabinet is short of people now.

Wei Guangde was thinking about the matter in the capital in his hometown, and in the duty room of the chief minister of the cabinet in the capital, Gao Gong was also facing a headache facing the piles of memorials.

In fact, the memorials are still the same memorials, and there is not much more than usual, but there are fewer cabinet ministers handling government affairs.

Just think about it, during the Longqing Dynasty, there were as many as six cabinet ministers, and one person was responsible for handling ten out of a hundred memorials.

Now, as the cabinet ministers retired or mourned, only he and Zhang Juzheng were left.

One person had to handle two or three times the amount of work, and the work pressure would increase greatly.

Gao Gong had to consider a big thing at this time, that is, to increase the number of cabinet ministers.

But it was not easy to recommend cabinet ministers to Emperor Longqing. At least all aspects of the conditions had to meet the requirements, and no one could find fault with them. He also had to consider the balance.

In other words, Gao Gong's subordinates, or the court, knew that he was on his side, so he really couldn't recommend him to the cabinet.

As for why, the reason was actually very simple, that was suspected of taking over the government.

Right now, the court and the public were already talking about his dominance, and if he recommended someone who listened to him in everything to join the cabinet, wouldn't it be a clear attempt to sideline Zhang Juzheng.

Such a recommendation would probably be difficult to pass when it was sent to Emperor Longqing.

He had to find someone who was qualified, had a gap with him, had a gentle personality, and had good ability to do things. This was quite difficult to choose.

Gao Gong was thinking about the candidate in his mind, and he couldn't help but think of his "classmate" who had stabbed him in the back because of Yang Bo.

This person was Gao Yi. When Gao Gong entered the cabinet from the Minister of Rites, Gao Yi was his successor.

But after he and Xu Jie had a conflict, Xu Jie petitioned to return home, and Yang Bo contacted Gao Yi to petition the emperor to retain him.

At that time, Gao Gong also submitted his resignation, but Gao Yi did not plead for his classmate.

Later, when he returned, Gao Yi was worried, so he and Yang Bo submitted their resignations to the emperor one after another.

Let Gao Yi join the cabinet to help share some of his troubles?

Gao Gong thought in his heart, but now Gao Yi should have returned to Qiantang, so he asked someone about his situation first.

Because Gao Gong believed that if Gao Yi was recommended, he would be so terrified that he would not dare to collude with Yang Bo again, and he would have to accept his favor, after all, it was his old classmate who recommended him.

As the former Minister of Rites, he was naturally qualified to enter the cabinet.

In those days, the court and the public would not think that he was in the same group with him.

With this in mind, Gao Gong selected two Qiantang people from his disciples and sent someone to pass a note, asking them to come to his house in the evening for a chat. He wanted to know what Gao Yi did after returning to his hometown.

Gao Gong had already intended to fill the cabinet, but Wei Guangde didn't know this. He was still thinking that he hoped that Emperor Longqing could last for two more years, so that he could return to the capital next year.

No matter when Emperor Longqing died, as long as he was in the cabinet, he would definitely be one of the ministers of state, and he wouldn't have to worry about being suppressed by Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng.

You know, the status of cabinet ministers is much different from that of ministers of state.

That night, Wei Guangde finally wrote a letter to Feng Bao in his study. In addition to introducing his situation in his hometown, he also cared about the prince's recent situation, especially since the prince was about to leave the cabinet to study. Wei Guangde also specifically asked him to pay more attention to it. If there was anything he couldn't make up his mind about, he could consider discussing it with Zhang Juzheng.

This was a suggestion Wei Guangde had to make. He was not in the capital, so Feng Bao could not discuss with him if he encountered a big problem. There were no mobile phones for instant communication these days.

Feng Bao was in the capital. In addition to Gao Gong, the only person who could help him was Zhang Juzheng. At least he would not get involved with Gao Gong.

Gao Gong sent Xu Jie's son to exile. Just based on this point, Zhang Juzheng could not join Gao Gong, at least they were not in harmony.

As for whether these two would get involved and kick him out, he had no choice. At least Gao Gong would not kick Feng Bao away, and he would not even have an ally to cooperate with in the palace.

The next day, Wei Guangde saw Feng Bangning. He looked like Feng Bao in terms of face shape. He also had a square face and was handsome. He was not old, not even 20 years old.

This time he was sent out to deliver the letter, which was also Feng Bao's experience.

After asking about Feng Bao's health, Wei Guangde suggested that he could spend a few days in Jiangxi, such as visiting Nanchang Prefecture, where there are many scenic spots and historical sites, and Jiujiang Prefecture also has many literary and artistic works.

"Wei Gelao, this time I went south, my uncle said that I should return as soon as the letter was delivered, and I'd better wait until the next time I have the chance to play."

Feng Bangning was not playful, but said to Wei Guangde honestly.

"In that case, please take the letter back with you, my nephew"