Chapter 701
Wei Guangde was in a relaxed mood as he left the Qianqing Palace and returned to the cabinet. The emperor agreed, which meant that the biggest obstacle to this matter had been removed.
The imperial power is supreme, because the emperor sits in that supreme position, and the final decision on everything is in his hands.
If you agree, it is feasible. If you disagree, even if it makes sense, it can only be rejected.
After handling government affairs in the cabinet for a day, Wei Guangde got into the sedan chair and went home to rest after leaving the office.
When he was still in the Ministry of Etiquette, he had a lot of social activities. Almost every day, his colleagues posted posts to treat guests to drinks. However, after he entered the cabinet, those people consciously stopped posting to him and only visited him from time to time. He sent a greeting card to his house and went directly to his door to say hello.
In fact, it is because his status is different now, and it is different from the past.
As a cabinet minister, even if he is ranked last, he is still the cabinet minister. Every move is watched by countless pairs of eyes, which is completely different from that in the Sixth Department.
But when the sedan arrived at the door of the mansion, Wei Guangde bent down and got out of the sedan. Zhang Ji, the housekeeper who had been waiting in front of the door for a long time, had already leaned into his ear and whispered: "Master, we will be here this afternoon." Duke of Guo, Duke of Ding, Duke of Yingying, Marquis of Linhuai, Wuding The Marquis of Ningyang, the Marquis of Ping'an, and other dignitaries have all sent notices to the palace to visit. "
According to the rules of the Ming Dynasty, relatives do not serve as official business, but will only participate in some ceremonial functions on behalf of the royal family. activities, so in the capital camp, the world is dominated by nobles.
Wei Guangde's memorial was published. Although it was reported that Emperor Longqing was temporarily staying in Zhongzhong without any approval, it also frightened a group of relatives. They didn't know if this was a sign that the imperial court was going to reduce their last territory.
Since Wei Guangde submitted the report, he must know the inside story.
He and Xungui are inextricably linked, so they did not hide it and chose to go directly to the door to ask for details.
"Send someone to reply and tell them to come to your house for a banquet tonight."
Wei Guangde calmed down for a moment and then told Zhang Ji: "Arrange the cook to prepare a table." Let’s clean up the West Flower Hall.”
With the promotion of Wei Guangde's official position, although the Wei mansion was not relocated, it began to be used more heavily after Emperor Longqing ascended the throne. After his status was rapidly improved, the mansion became small and expansion was inevitable.
So in the first year of Longqing, the Wei Mansion began to contact the owners of surrounding houses to discuss buying their houses, either with money or in exchange for houses in other places. After buying all the houses of each family, craftsmen from the Ministry of Industry were invited to expand them. The current mansion is several times larger than the original one.
As for whether there was any coercion or inducement during the purchase of the house, Wei Guangde would not care.
It is better not to know than to know. Anyway, he just handed notes to his former subordinates in the Ministry of Civil Affairs during the promotion process of the two yamen chiefs to make it convenient for them.
There was no trouble caused by the original owner of the house. In Wei Guangde's opinion, this meant that the transaction went smoothly and everyone got what they needed.
In the evening, there was a lot of excitement outside the gate of Wei Mansion in Nanxunfang. Cars and sedans kept coming from all directions, and the people getting off the cars were all covered in silk and satin, and were dressed in official dignity.
Of course these people are all the top nobles in the capital. In addition to several princes, several marquises and earls who are valued by Emperor Longqing are also here.
Although some people only inherited the title of earl, they were trusted by the emperor and entrusted with important responsibilities in some key positions, so they naturally became the top of the noble circle in the capital.
Yes, the noble circle is not lined up entirely according to hereditary titles, but according to official position and closeness to the emperor.
However, as the only few dukes, Duke Chengguo, Duke Dingguo and Duke Ying are naturally the ones who receive the most attention from the emperor, so from beginning to end these Dukes have held important positions in the court. Almost taking turns taking charge of the position of admiral of the capital camp.
Wei Guangde did not go out to greet the guests. Instead, he invited the guests to the West Flower Hall at the second door.
The house built by the craftsmen of the Ministry of Industry is not only exquisite in workmanship, but also decorated with carved beams and paintings. It is very grand and is the main place for entertaining guests in the Wei Mansion.
A group of people gathered around a big table. After some humility, the Duke of Cheng, Zhu Xizhong, and the Duke of England, Zhang Rong, sat at the head. Dukes of Ding, Xu Wenbi and Wei Guangde, sat with them. Below were the other princes.
When they got to the wine table, they exchanged some pleasantries and started changing glasses. A servant of the Wei family stood behind them to serve them.
However, no one at the table was talking about the affairs of the Beijing camp at this time. Instead, they were talking about family affairs and interesting things in the city these days.
Wei Guangde would usually hear some news from his wife and housekeeper when he returned home, but after all, the things he came into contact with were different, and the things these nobles said were also very interesting.
No, Chen Daji, Marquis of Ningyang, is now leading the Military and Horse Division and is considered the city defense commander of Beijing. He mentioned that two days before the censor patrolled the city, he caught a group of people secretly transporting iron items outside the city. Thief.
Hearing this, many people at the table stopped drinking and looked over curiously.
“I was shocked when I heard the news. Ironware is strictly controlled by the imperial court, and someone actually wants to transport it out.”
Chen Daji had an exaggerated expression. Said: "When I got there, I looked at the seized iron tools, including hoes, rakes and iron pots, and the thieves were severely interrogated.
At first I thought I had caught a big fish, but I was still wondering if there was some rebellion, and I finally found out who sneaked up to me at night to beg for mercy. "
"Who is it? Tell us directly and let us listen. Which company is still in the hoe business? "
Xu Wenbi asked directly.
"Hey, North Korea's envoy, they stayed in the capital for two months. They said they wanted to bask in the glory of the Ming Dynasty, but they ended up sneaking around to buy things."< br>
Chen Daji said
"North Korean mission? They haven't left yet?"
Wei Guangde asked strangely.
“They just planned to leave, but they brought too much private goods with them and it was difficult to leave, so they hired someone to quietly transport some things out of the city, then meet up outside the city and return home under the flag of the mission. "
Chen Daji said.
“To pay tribute, if the court doesn’t reward you, why do they still want to pay tribute?”
Wei Guangde asked.
“They are all my own, not the king of Korea.”
Xu Wenbi seemed to be surprised and said, “Those envoys came to the Ming Dynasty and didn’t take the opportunity to get some private goods back. , but in the past they were all made of silk and brocade, and ironware was rare
I remember it seemed like the imperial court. There are people who are rewarded with iron materials."
"No one can say otherwise, but there are people in the envoy group who are greedy for the small profits and privately purchased a lot of iron items to take back home and sell. After all, the iron materials given by the imperial court Most of them will be handed over directly to the North Korean court, and they won’t be able to get much.”
Chen Daji said.
“It seems that every time a delegation comes to Beijing, the censor patrolling the city is very energetic, haha.”
“Everyone knows what they are going to do, and they will be busy after official matters are done. In the past, I only cared about my own private affairs, overloading and public affairs. It is a rare thing like this one, several hundred kilograms.”
As they talked, Wei Guangde learned that in addition to normal tribute trade, these foreign missions came to Ming Dynasty. Smuggling goods back to the country and selling them to make money.
Well, thinking that a mission would take several months and there would be hardships along the way, Wei Guangde didn't want to worry about it.
Commodities such as iron salt tea and other commodities are restricted by the imperial court. A small amount of domestic transactions are fine, but if you want to go abroad, you must go through a lot of approvals. You can't just ship them out. There are countless checkpoints to review official documents along the way. However, it would be much more convenient to use the mission to smuggle.
“Then the officials we go to North Korea to enthrone are people from the Pingren Department, will they also bring some local specialties when they come back?”
Wei Guangde thought that since foreign countries If people come to Ming Dynasty to bring private goods with them, will domestic envoys bring something back with them when they go out? So he asked.
“Of course, North Korea is a poor place, but furs such as fox skin, leopard skin, and mink skin are really good, and the officials who go out to consecrate them also bring back large and small boxes.”
"Those things are also found in Liaodong."
The topic on the table soon turned to the local specialties of Liaodong and other places. These nobles each have their own territories, most of which were guarded by their ancestors. The city, the connections left there.
Later, when the children of the family went out for training and gold plating, they often chose these places. Naturally, the contact between the two parties has always been maintained, even very frequent.
The local government sends tributes every year, and they protect people in the capital. Corruption became common in the Ming Dynasty, and this is actually how it was formed.
Local officials are not afraid of trouble at all, and they dare to take any money. Anyway, there are people in the capital, and if something goes wrong, someone will take action to solve it.
However, what Wei Guangde was thinking about at this moment was not what good goods were worth importing from North Korea, but that the Liaodong Chamber of Commerce seemed to have transactions with North Korea and smuggled things back from there.
Come on, it seems that I have become the protective umbrella of the largest smuggling gang in the Ming Dynasty.
The smugglers in the past were definitely those from the south of the Yangtze River.
However, with the opening of Moon Harbor, most of these smugglers have been successfully laundered, and they were still by his hands.
It seems that some of the businesses related to me have not yet obtained official business licenses.
Wei Guangde secretly made a decision in his heart. He would go back and ask about the situation of Yuegang in detail, and then consider establishing another Yuegang in Tianjin or somewhere in Liaodong.
In the second year of Longqing, Yuegang sent 30,000 taels of silver to the inner court. In addition, the Fujian government also received some. Wei Guangde did not pay too much attention to the details of the division at the time in order to avoid suspicion. Instead, he decided to appoint the Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs. Ma Sen and Fujian Governor Tu Zemin agreed.
After talking for a while, Zhu Xizhong finally spoke about the Beijing camp.
"Shandai, I heard that you want to report to His Majesty that you want to stop the eunuchs from reviewing the capital, and instead have His Majesty personally review it. Why didn't you mention this important matter at the banquet a few days ago?"
Zhu Xizhong's words have successfully provoked the highlight of the night. This is not what they came to Wei Guangde for.
If the emperor really does not go to the capital camp every three years, then the various camps that have been trained now must be retained, otherwise they cannot be shown to the emperor.
But if this is the case, although they will still take money from these sergeants, of course the soldiers who have been trained for a long time and those who have not been trained will not receive the same military salary. This is robbing money from them.
As for the eunuchs who review, they can be sent away by giving them some money, and often they just need to practice temporarily a few days before the review.
Those eunuchs will not be serious, let alone embarrass nobles like them.
"My lord, the issue of the Beijing camp is not about what I want to do, but because His Majesty is very dissatisfied with the current weakening of the Beijing camp's combat power, especially after the Shicheng incident.
At that time, His Majesty called me to the palace to talk about this matter. He planned to completely shake up the Beijing Camp from top to bottom, send all the generals from the Beijing Camp to the border towns for training, and mobilize the border troops to bring back generals who are good at fighting."
Wei Guangde elaborated on the matter. By the way, he also said that when His Majesty was still in Yuzhuan, he was aware of the laziness of the soldiers in the Beijing camp. Wen, it was just that there was no way to solve it at the time.
But after His Majesty ascended the throne, he naturally had to do something to change the current situation, especially the combat power of the Beijing camp.
"Your Majesty said that he was still young during the Gengxu Incident, but he also saw the panic among people in the capital at that time. This was absolutely unacceptable to him.
I heard that Your Majesty wants to transfer all the people and then select generals from the border towns to Beijing. How can this be done?
Although I have never been in contact with the Beijing camp, I know that the generals and officers there are related to you. Given the current situation, it would be a narrow escape to experience this.
However, His Majesty is eager to see the changes in the Beijing Camp, so he came up with a way to let His Majesty conduct a grand review of the Beijing Camp, train an elite force to show to Your Majesty, and let him know that the current Beijing Camp is not the same as before. . "
"Then there is no need for your Majesty to hold a grand review every three years. "
Zhu Xizhong frowned and said.
When Wei Guangde mentioned the Shicheng incident, Zhu Xizhong was naturally impressed. He was also called out by Emperor Longqing and mentioned it, but he did not come up with an idea. But at that time I really feel the emperor's dissatisfaction with the Beijing camp
"If the Beijing camp does not make some changes and cannot satisfy His Majesty, no one knows what His Majesty will do next."
Wei Guangde looked at Cheng Guogong and said: "In fact, when we were in Yuzhuan, Your Majesty He was deeply disgusted with the fact that the sergeants had their military pay deducted, and faced the powerful people in the capital. He was dissatisfied with driving the soldiers of the Beijing camp to do private things.
If His Majesty does not allow the troops to review the camp regularly and knows that the camp is changing according to his wishes, the consequences will be unpredictable. "
Wei Guangde said that he was cheating. When the soldiers and private soldiers were paid, everyone's expressions changed slightly.
“In the fifteenth year of Jiajing’s reign, the imperial censor Wang Tingxiang reported the three shortcomings of the capital camp when he was supervising the regiment camp. Your Majesty often took it out to read when he was rich.”
Wei Guangde said again.
Those who don’t know about the old past events that Wei Guangde mentioned are still looking around, but the faces of those who know them change greatly.
In fact, the problem of the capital camp of the Ming Dynasty was clearly stated in the memorial decades ago.
Wang Ting mentioned three disadvantages in his memorial: 1. There are many different factions of sergeants who work all year round and are not allowed to enter the military service. Although he is known as Tuanyingzhengzheng, he is actually no different from Tian Fu.
2. Replacement of sergeants, officials and subordinates need to ask for bribes, poor soldiers cannot do it, old men can only serve, but strong young men cannot be recruited and trained.
3. The rich army is afraid of the camp and training, and bribes the generals to place them in their hometowns. The poor ones, although they are old and tired, still practice regularly.
Wei Guangde looked confused when he saw the British Duke Zhang Rong, Dingguo Duke Xu Wenbi and others in the audience, so he simply explained the three shortcomings that Wang Ting had stated at that time.
"With these three shortcomings, and your Majesty's knowledge of the deduction of military pay, it's time for the Beijing camp to be rectified."
Wei Guangde finally said.
“We are actually aware of the problems in the Beijing Camp, but if we really need to rectify them, I’m worried that there will be chaos down there.”
Zhang Rong frowned and said, Zhu Xizhong also nodded when he heard this.
They have reached the peak, and all they want is peace in the world and the inheritance of the title.
(End of this chapter)