The Prosperous Era of Longwan

Wei Guangde wanted to inquire about Prince Hui's status in the mind of Emperor Jiajing, but he couldn't explain it clearly. He could only ramble about it first and look for opportunities before asking.

"Brother Chen, you said earlier that the emperor was still short of a few ingredients when refining the medicine. What exactly was it? Maybe I've heard of it but I don't know."

Wei Guangde remembered what Chen Ju had said before that Emperor Jiajing had left the task of finding medicine to Gao Zhong. Maybe he could ask, maybe he could find it, and it would be a closer relationship with Eunuch Gao Zhong.

"Hey, hey, that medicine, you scholars must not have it, you have never even heard of it."

Chen Ju laughed dryly and said, "It's hard to find him anyway. Forget about the little maids in the palace. If I don't talk about this, it will turn off my appetite."

Chen Ju finally suppressed the urge to speak out and stopped talking about what the medicines he was looking for were.

However, Wei Guangde thought of some rumors from later generations. Although most people thought that those things might have been fabricated by later generations, there was indeed talk of medicine in China, and they were all very magical things, such as dragon liver and phoenix marrow.

In order to please the emperor, those alchemists may have promoted some common medicinal materials into rare things in the world, or they may have deliberately made it difficult for the eunuchs in the palace to find medicine for the emperor.

Only the most precious and rare medicinal materials can make the medicine appear precious, and it can also show the loyalty of these alchemists to the emperor.

If not for loyalty, who would offer such a precious elixir to the emperor.

Then Wei Guangde heard Chen Ju's last words, and he was very happy, because he really couldn't find anything after running through iron shoes, and it took no effort to get it. Chen Ju actually mentioned King Hui.

This matter involves King Hui, isn't it a God-given opportunity?

"The elixir was originally donated by King Hui. It is said that your majesty felt refreshed and miraculous after taking it, so your majesty recruited the person who made the elixir into the palace, the Liang Gaofu mentioned earlier.

It's just that the elixir is about to be used up now, but Liang Gaofu has never collected the materials for refining the elixir. His Majesty was anxious, so he asked my godfather to help find the elixir.

The Ganoderma lucidum I asked you to check was also mentioned by Liang Gaofu. If you are still unable to collect two of the medicinal materials, you can use Ganoderma lucidum instead. The efficacy is only slightly less effective, but you can still eat it and it still has some effects. "

"Liang Gaofu was recommended by King Hui?"

Wei Guangde asked in surprise.

Nima, Liang Gaofu is refining medicine for Emperor Jiajing right now. If he goes to speak ill of King Hui at this time, isn't that asking for death?

If nothing else, Liang Gaofu would help King Hui escape during the process of refining the medicine. After all, he had the favor of recommendation.

For alchemists like them, they will not be summoned by the emperor just because they are famous among the people. They have to be recommended by someone to the emperor to know you. Only when they see that your things are really effective, the emperor will call you to serve in the palace.

Wei Guangde felt a little unlucky in the Year of the Ox at the moment, as if all the bad news had arrived.

The matter in Nanjing involves Yan Shifan, and the matter in King Hui involves the alchemist Liang Gaofu.

"Then King Hui must be very favored by the emperor. Haha, this Liang Gaofu didn't even try hard to help King Hui speak."

Wei Guangde smiled and shook his head and answered casually.

"It's strange to say that it used to be like this. Every time Liang Gaofu came into the palace, he always helped King Hui to say good things. But it's a little strange recently. Not only did he not speak for King Hui, but sometimes he said some weird things. I don’t know what the relationship is between them.”

Wei Guangde said something carelessly, but what he was waiting for was Chen Ju's words that surprised him.

Apparently, the relationship between King Hui and Liang Gaofu was at loggerheads due to something.

Liang Gaofu was also a vengeful person, so he took advantage of the opportunity of refining medicine next to Emperor Jiajing to give King Hui eye drops.

Liang Zi seems to be quite big.

"What weird things did you say? It shouldn't be a big deal, wouldn't it make the emperor unhappy?"

Wei Guangde naturally knew that he had to climb up the pole at this time. If he continued to ask, he might find the reason from Liang Gaofu's words. This was an opportunity worth taking advantage of.

If Liang Gaofu really wants to mess with King Hui, he can join forces with him to bring down King Hui.

Liang Gaofu can vent his anger, and Wei Guangde has a reputation of not being afraid of rape. Wouldn't it be the best of both worlds?

Of course, the premise is that there must be no false accusations. The evidence against King Hui must be conclusive. Otherwise, if someone discovers that he is being framed, Wei Guangde's life will be in danger.

"You are interested in these things. You have really lived up to His Majesty's cultivation of you."

Chen Ju did not speak immediately, but looked at Wei Guangde and said with a smile.

At this time, Wei Guangde seemed to Chen Ju to be a civil servant who wanted to join His Majesty and climb up the ranks.

Such people, eunuchs like them are also willing to cooperate.

Although the eunuchs were close to the emperor, it was inconvenient to get in and out. After entering the palace, even if you reached the position of a great eunuch, you could still only wander around the capital and could not leave the capital for anything.

But these civil servants are different. Their teachers and students of the same year may be spread all over the country, and they can help with many things.

Yes, sometimes when eunuchs want to do something, they have to rely on civil servants to help with planning. It is impossible to just rely on the emperor's favor to pressure local officials to act. Sent in.

"I was originally a top-ranking official, and I was promoted solely by the emperor's grace. It is my duty to share the emperor's worries."

Wei Guangde didn't think anything of flattering the leader, not to mention that what he wanted to flatter was Emperor Jiajing.

"Haha. In fact, this King Hui sometimes goes too far. He goes wild and illegal in the local area. Even the magistrate of Junzhou is treated like a monkey by him. He will hit other officials with a slingshot when he sees it. This is still Not to mention, it is said that as long as those scholars are caught by him, they will be humiliated for a while, haha."

Chen Ju smiled and said: "Princes like him are restricted because they stay in their own fiefdoms. The three previous princes were fine and they all knew this, but now the King of Hui is a little complacent. Yes, I used to go to Hangzhou and Suzhou, and also stayed in Nanjing and Fengyang, the central capital.

The funniest thing is that he was arrested in Fengyang, but was only released after being held for two days to confirm his identity. "

"Then why doesn't anyone read his book?"

Hearing this, Wei Guangde asked in surprise.

"At that time, King Hui was being favored. Who would interfere with him? Wouldn't this make His Majesty unhappy?"

Chen Ju shook his head and said.

"The palace knows this? Why didn't you report it to the emperor?"

Wei Guangde asked with an expression of disbelief.

"Prince Hui also has eunuchs around him. They are all sent out by the palace. They naturally have the responsibility of supervision. Do we know that it is strange?"

Chen Ju smiled and shook his head and said, "I just ran out to have fun, and had nothing to do with the local government. I saw his position in His Majesty's heart, so I didn't report it."

Seeing Wei Guangde's expression, Chen Ju further explained: "We internal servants, because we are close ministers of the emperor, so we know better what kind of things should be reported, and what kind of things can be left unreported, so we should try our best not to report them, so as not to harm His Majesty." good mood.

Take the things that King Hui did for example. He just went to Jiangnan and the Qinhuai River to play. On the way back to Junzhou, he stopped by Fengyang and found no other unethical behavior on his part. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have had a hundred courages. I dare not hide this.

If the emperor gets angry, he may curse a few words, and then he will be in a bad mood, and we, the ministers, will be unlucky. You don’t know that the consequences of offending Long Yan will be beaten or killed. Relatively speaking, you civil servants are better off, nothing more It is a fine, and the most severe one is the court staff. "

When he heard about the imperial staff, Wei Guangde's heart trembled slightly, and he asked cautiously: "I heard that the imperial staff has many specialties, and it can make people live or die."

"Haha, Mr. Wei, you don't have to worry about this. As long as you don't catch the emperor for advice like those old scholars, and you don't deceive the emperor, even if you make a small mistake, nothing will happen.

Your Majesty is much more forgiving to you civil servants than us internal servants. If it falls on us, our lives will definitely be lost, but when it comes to you civil servants, the most you can do is to be beaten with a stick. "

Chen Ju smiled and said, "Generally speaking, our inner court does not dare to use the imperial staff indiscriminately. It is not His Majesty who wants his life. Anyone who has nothing to do will beat someone to death."

"By the way, the other thing is to try not to offend Mr. Yan Ge. He is your fellow countryman, so there won't be any trouble if you think about it. It's good to move around more when there's nothing to do."

Chen Ju reminded Wei Guangde again as if he had just remembered.

After Wei Guangde became an official, he went to Yan's house twice, had a conversation with Yan Song, and had a banquet with Yan Shifan, that's all.

You know, he placed his bet on King Yu. The Yan family and King Yu did not deal with each other, but got close to King Jing. This was an open secret in the officialdom of the capital.

After hearing Chen Ju's words, Wei Guangde knew that nothing would happen to the Yan family in the short term.

In the past, the Yan family did fall in the end, Yan Shifan was beheaded, and Yan Song seemed not to be punished, but when it happened, Wei Guangde was not sure.

But what is certain is that the Yan family fell while Emperor Jiajing was still in power.

Think about the records found earlier about another fellow countryman of his, that is, Xia Yan, the former chief assistant.

At first, he won the trust and reliance of Emperor Jiajing, but in the end, he set a precedent for the worst chief minister in the Ming Dynasty, and was beheaded and died.

During the dispute over the Great Ceremony, Xia Yan and Mr. Zhang both clearly supported Emperor Jiajing, so they were promoted and became the chief minister of the cabinet in the 18th year of Jiajing's reign.

Xia Yan was born into a military family, but he succeeded in the imperial examination and became a civil servant in his father Xia Ding's generation.

It is said that Xia Yan showed extraordinary reading ability as a child and became the Xia family's hope of getting rid of military status.

Of course, these are just folk legends, just like the current rumors in Pengze County that Wei Guangde is the Wenqu star who descended to earth.

The Xia family's military registration was at the Qianhu Office in Guangxin, Jiangxi Province, but it was only because Xia Ding became an official that he finally moved to the capital.

After Xia Yan played a huge role in supporting Emperor Jiajing in the Dali Conference incident, he gained the attention of Emperor Jiajing.

But something else actually happened at this time, that is, the Xia family was actually very thin.

The Xia family, which is the main branch in Jiangxi, died unexpectedly of an illness when serving in the army. The most direct result was that among the two Xia family members in Jiangxi and Beijing, no one except Xia Yan could serve. Xia Yan became the only one who could serve in the military. people.

Under such circumstances, Xia Yan, who was in charge of military affairs, could only resign and return to his hometown in Jiangxi to serve as a soldier. However, Emperor Jiajing issued a direct decree exempting the Xia family from military membership.

As for Xia Yan's accident in the end, he actually failed in the political struggle with Yan Song for power. It's not that Emperor Jiajing didn't trust him. At that time, Emperor Jiajing must have felt that he had been deceived by Xia Yan for many years and was being treated like a monkey. That's why he wanted to kill him.

Comparing what Yan Song and Yan Shifan are doing now, Wei Guangde can already predict that Xia Yan's ending will be their future.

In the letter I wrote to my uncle Xu Bangrui when I went back, I had to emphasize this point. Before Yan Shifan fell, no matter what Duke Wei, Zheng, or Xu Bangning did, they had to be patient as much as possible.

Now that the Yan family is still trusted, revealing some things at this time may be counterproductive.

After Chen Ju spoke, Wei Guangde smiled and nodded, indicating that he knew.

"By the way, big brother, in which treasure temple is Master Liang Gaofu Liang practicing? If I have time, I will go and meet him to get to know him."

Wei Guangde had never heard of Liang Gaofu before, so Wei Guangde estimated that except for the senior officials in the imperial court, most of the officials in the capital did not know about this person. It would be difficult to get information about him.

Fortunately, there is a big Buddha sitting opposite me right now, so I can ask for advice.

"Zhenren Liang was named a Tongmiao Sanren. He does not live in the city on weekdays, but practices in Tongmiao Temple in the west of the capital."

Regarding this information, Chen Ju didn't think there was anything to keep secret, so he told Wei Guangde directly.

In fact, some things cannot be kept secret. It just depends on whether people are careful enough to inquire about them.

Now all the civil and military eyes of the court are fixed on Lan Daoxing, because he is indeed the most trusted Taoist priest of Emperor Jiajing. Before it was Tao Zhongwen, and now it is Lan Daoxing.

The most important thing is that Lan Daoxing still lives in the capital. Those officials want to move around with him, so it is naturally very convenient to contact them.

Thinking of this, Wei Guangde remembered that he had met Lan Daoxing before, so he might as well see if he could get his support when handling this matter.

However, this must be carefully considered. First, we must find out what kind of conflict there is between Liang Gaofu and King Hui to see if there is any opportunity to take advantage of it.

After separating from Chen Ju, Wei Guangde went directly back to the Hanlin Academy and thought about it in his private room.

I'm afraid it would be a bit unsatisfactory to go directly to Liang Gaofu. He is trying to be courteous for nothing and is either a traitor or a thief. Don't let Liang Gaofu think that he has any purpose before approaching him.

Wei Guangde thought for a long time and decided to let Geng An go explore the situation of the Tongmiao Temple first.

Since King Hui Zhu Houjuan was able to find Liang Gaofu, it means that Liang Gaofu is probably also from Henan, or even from Junzhou. They are fellow villagers, and some things may be easier to talk about.

However, before the situation is clear, Geng An still needs to be reminded not to let anything slip and involve himself, after all, he is still hiding behind the scenes.

He called Lu Bu outside the door and asked him to grind ink for himself. Wei Guangde planned to write the letter to Nanjing here first, and then go back and give it to Xu Huai in the evening, asking him to rush back to Nanjing early tomorrow morning.

From now on, I may have to rely on him to keep in touch with Xu Bangrui.