The Prosperous Era of Longwan

Wei Guangde happily took the two revolving lanterns handed over by Gao Gong, held them in his hands and looked at them carefully, and then handed them to Xu Jianglan, who had already attracted his attention.

When Gao Gong came over just now, Xu Jianglan had already noticed it. When Gao Gong came closer, he gave a blessing ceremony, but his eyes were fixed on the two lanterns.

In fact, there are craftsmen in the Duke of Wei who can make revolving lanterns, but this skill is still considered very advanced nowadays. Only the palace and noble families have the resources to support such craftsmen. The same goes for officials like Wei Guangde who belong to the nouveau riche. No.

As for the private sector, there are not many craftsmen who can make revolving lanterns. Even if they appear, they will be recruited by major families to serve their own families. They make lanterns for the house on weekdays, and during festivals, they make lanterns for the occasion to add to the festive atmosphere.

Therefore, the lanterns bought by the Wei family were just ordinary lanterns, not sophisticated things like revolving lanterns.

The lanterns were painted with characters from the Three Kingdoms. Wei Guangde glanced at them twice and handed the lanterns to Xu Jianglan, then he bowed his hands in a high bow and expressed his thanks.

"Don't thank me, His Highness ordered it."

Having said this, Gao Gong bowed slightly to Wei Guangde and said: "Actually, you blame me for this. Forget about this, in the future, I will collect the rewards from Prince Yu's Mansion during the solar terms on Shandai's behalf, and then send them to your Mansion to ask for them." A glass of wine."

"Haha, what did Mr. Gao say? Guangde welcomes you to visit at any time, let alone any festivals."

Wei Guangde laughed at Gao Gong, and then looked towards Prince Yu who was not far away. Prince Yu was also looking at him. Of course, meeting his eyes would not erase the spark of love. Wei Guangde saluted him respectfully.

After all, this was a public place, and it was really inconvenient for him to go over and chat with His Highness Prince Yu.

Wei Guangde also wanted to keep his identity as a Yuwang Party member low-key, but Gao Gong didn't seem to want to give him this opportunity.

"Since we met by chance, it just so happens that Shandai and I will go over to pay homage to His Highness Prince Yu."

Having said this, Gao Gong approached Wei Guangde and whispered: "Your Highness has been thinking about what you said that time for a long time."

Wei Guangde's heart skipped a beat when he heard this. He did say something at the beginning, but it was just what he thought he should be prepared to do. It seems that saying it doesn't mean that the time has come.

Wei Guangde complained in his heart that he was acting blindly and now he got himself involved.

In fact, Yin Shizhen had asked him about this when he had dinner with Yin Shizhen last time. Prince Yu's Mansion had regarded Wei Guangde as a know-it-all and believed that he had his own channels to collect some confidential information.

Regarding this, Wei Guangde could only complain secretly in his heart, but could not say anything yet.

Gao Gong said so, Wei Guangde knew that evasion was not an option, so he smiled and said, "That's fine."

Now that we have met, it's okay to go and greet him, but no one noticed that Wei Guangde's smile was so bitter.

"Brothers and sisters, please go over and give the princess a gift."

Gao Gong said this with good intentions. They were all protecting King Yu. In the future, if King Yu succeeds in ascending the throne, the current Princess Yu will naturally become the future queen. There will be no harm in getting to know each other before then.

Moreover, Gao Gong also knew that Wei Guangde's wife was the daughter of the Duke of Wei in the south of the Yangtze River. In fact, there was a blood relationship between the Duke of Wei and the royal family, but they were just separated by several generations.

Today's princesses no longer marry into noble families or after being elected. This is also a sign that the dynasty is moving towards stability, and there is no need for marriage to stabilize the regime.

On the contrary, powerful relatives will become a factor that triggers instability in the DPRK.

Xu Jianglan had no problem meeting Princess Yu.

Xu Jianglan naturally knows about the current situation of the two kings in the capital, and he also knows that Wei Guangde is more optimistic about King Yu.

In fact, since Zhu Zaihen, the crown prince of Zhuangjing, died of a sudden illness, the logical successor should be King Yu, but he has never been recognized by Emperor Jiajing.

It was precisely because Emperor Jiajing did not recognize Prince Yu as the crown prince that he aroused Prince Jing's little thoughts.

Gao Gong led Wei Guangde and his wife into the crowd of Prince Yu's Mansion. After saluting Prince Yu, Xu Jianglan was taken to the back by eunuch Li Fang to meet Princess Yu and others, while Wei Guangde stood respectfully in front of Prince Yu.

"In the past few times, it was only with the help of charitable loans that our Prince Yu's Mansion was able to successfully overcome the difficulties. I would like to express my gratitude here."

King Yu said that he was about to salute Wei Guangde. Just now he just bowed from a distance. Wei Guangde could still pretend to accept it, but not this time.

He decisively stood beside King Yu, "Your Highness, I cannot afford to be a low-ranking official."

Although he could not say anything in front of King Yu, Wei Guangde had regarded his relationship with King Yu as the relationship between king and minister. However, being close to King Yu made Wei Guangde feel a little worried.

Although it was night, a large number of lanterns on Aoshan Mountain illuminated the place very brightly. Wei Guangde felt a little bad when he saw King Yu's face. How could he have a pale face with no color in his face? This is His Royal Highness King Yu. His body doesn't look very good.

Unconsciously, Wei Guangde made a comparison between King Yu in front of him and King Jing who he met by chance in Yan Mansion before. He felt that King Jing's body seemed to be stronger.

It's not that Wei Guangde was overly worried, several sons had already died before Emperor Jiajing, so Wei Guangde couldn't help but not care. King Bieyu died before Emperor Jiajing, so all the work he had done would have been in vain.

He is determined to be a high official. Although now Wei Guangde still occasionally thinks about being an official in the cabinet, but with his understanding of officialdom, he now only thinks about it in his dreams. There are a lot of people in the Hanlin Academy, and in the end he will Only a few people could enter the power center of the Ming Dynasty.

It’s difficult, it’s just too difficult.

King Yu saw that Wei Guangde's attitude was very docile and respectful, so he stopped being polite to him and just chatted casually. Although there were only a few words, he couldn't get around to talking about that matter.

It can only be said that His Royal Highness Prince Yu was really pushed hard by his younger brother.

In terms of knowledge, when the two of them went out to study, King Jing's grades were already better than his, and he was often praised by professors.

In terms of eloquence, it is not even comparable to the dull King Yu.

In almost every aspect, King Yu knew that he was completely defeated at the hands of his younger brother, who was born a few months earlier than him.

Invisibly, this aggravated King Yu's inner inferiority complex. If Gao Gong had not been encouraging and supporting him these years, he would have long ago asked his father to go out and join the feudal clan, and no longer wade through this muddy water.

"Your Highness, the time has not come."

Wei Guangde could only say this now, "At first I thought that Yan Song would fall out of favor with His Majesty because of Yang Shun's incident, but as you can see, His Majesty did not convict him, and Yang Shun was not even dismissed from office and imprisoned. But just a demotion.”

"Alas, I was also very disappointed when the punishment came out."

When King Yu heard this, he knew what Wei Guangde meant. As long as Yan Song's holy family remained, no one could touch him, so naturally he could not ask King Feng Jing to ask for vassal status.

"Your Highness, don't worry, it's just a matter of time."

Wei Guangde laughed on the side and said: "This time, Mr. Yan Ge took advantage of the rectification of military affairs to take down several hundred households in the border town of Jinyiwei and wanted to hold them accountable. I heard that Governor Lu and Mr. Yan Ge were in Yongshou for this reason. The palace has been raised."

"Can we talk to Governor Lu?"

"Your Highness, be careful what you say."

"Your Highness, be careful what you say."

As soon as King Yu started to speak, he was interrupted by Gao Gong and Wei Guangde. Wei Guangde shook his head to signal him not to continue.

Although he was surrounded by people from Prince Yu's Mansion, there were some things he couldn't say casually.

"Captain Lu is the emperor's domestic slave." Wei Guangde just answered in a low voice and said no more.

King Yu knew that he was not very talented, so he usually didn't express his opinions very much. He just thought of it when Wei Guangde mentioned it, and he felt that the enemy of his enemy seemed to be his friend.

But he didn't expect that Wei Guangde and Gao Gong would object as soon as he said the words. Naturally, he knew that he had gone astray on this matter.

"It all depends on Master Gao."

Prince Yu pondered for a moment and then said, "Master Wei, please remind me more in the future."

"Prince Yu, there are many people here, so I'll stay soon, so I'll take my leave now."

After saying a few words, Wei Guangde wanted to leave King Yu as soon as possible, so he bowed and said goodbye.

When he hadn't seen it before, he thought about praising King Yu's smelly feet every day, but when he saw it in public, he was worried about being looked at.

contradiction.

"That's fine, Mr. Wei, walk slowly."

King Yu's background is really embarrassing in the capital now. Many ministers who support him in their hearts mostly keep their distance when meeting him. He understands this and has many taboos.

It is rare for Wei Guangde to stand here for so long and talk so much. After all, he does not have an errand in the palace.

I don’t know what Xu Jianglan said after that. Anyway, when Li Fang brought her over, Wei Guangde saw Xu Jianglan’s smile through the gauze.

Wei Guangde asked in a low voice after returning to the crowd of his family.

"I saw the young master, such a cute little man."

"What little master?"

Wei Guangde wondered, where did Prince Yu's house come from?

"He is the eldest son of Prince Yu."

Xu Jianglan gave Wei Guangde a white look through the gauze, which naturally meant why you are so stupid, you can't even imagine this.

"oh."

Wei Guangde nodded, of course he knew that Prince Yu had a son, which was why he was more optimistic about Prince Yu before.

His Royal Highness King Jing, who got married in the same year as King Yu, has nothing to do until now. How can you compare with King Yu?

Wei Guangde didn't believe that the emperor's throne was picked up because Emperor Zhengde was incompetent. Emperor Jiajing didn't think about his grandson when he was considering passing the throne.

Even if King Yu is not good in every way, having a son gives him enough capital when it comes to choosing a successor.

However, it seems that not many courtiers noticed this during this period.

"How is your health, Master?"

Wei Guangde asked seemingly unintentionally.

"Very good, very lively, big eyes looking everywhere, so cute."

"Children are pretty much the same. We'll have one when we get home tonight. Oops."

Wei Guangde made random remarks, but Xu Jianglan pinched him on the waist.

In fact, Wei Guangde couldn't feel the pain at all through the thick cotton clothes, and he didn't even pinch his flesh. However, he had to perform well when it was time to perform, so he still screamed the pain appropriately.

While everyone was looking at the lanterns with great interest, not far away on the Fengtianmen Gate Tower, in a dark place without hanging lanterns, a figure in Taoist robes slowly turned around.

"Let's go back."

A low voice sounded. If Wei Guangde were here, he would be able to tell who the owner of the voice was even if he couldn't see clearly.

Jiajing Emperor Zhu Houcong.

Emperor Jiajing had heard about the motto "Two dragons never meet" that was joked about by the outside world.

They think this is nonsense, but who can blame it? After being granted the title of Crown Prince twice, he died of a sudden illness not long afterward. Can you still not believe it?

As the emperor, naturally speaking and doing things will be in harmony with God.

Maybe when he was young, he didn't think it was anything, but there were so many bizarre things that Emperor Jiajing had to believe even if he didn't believe it. This was also the reason why he practiced Taoism crazily.

Others laugh at me for being too crazy, but I laugh at others because they can’t see through it.

This may be the reason why Emperor Jiajing ignored the courtiers' objection to his practice of Taoism.

Tonight, I know that King Yu and his grandson are here to watch the lanterns, and Emperor Jiajing is also showing up at Chengtian Gate. It will be fine if he doesn't let them see it.

In these years, this was his only chance to see King Yu Zhu Zaijing.

If he might have wavered on whether to choose King Yu or King Jing before, now he has no choice.

Just as Wei Guangde thought, no matter how capable King Jing was, he would not be able to sit in that position without a son.

And the looming child in the crowd was one of the purposes of his coming here this time.

He couldn't see carefully, but he knew that it was his grandson. He seemed to be being held by Princess Yu at the moment. He should be very happy.

As usual, only the eunuch Huang Jin was standing next to Emperor Jiajing, and not far away were two imperial eunuchs.

"Put the driver back to the palace."

Huang Jin said something to the two eunuchs. One of the eunuchs saluted and ran away quickly. He was going to ask Luan Yiwei's people to drive Luan down the tower and prepare. The emperor would be there soon.

The other person was on the side in front of Emperor Jiajing, holding a lantern in his hand to illuminate the road ahead for the emperor.

Just when he was going down the tower, Emperor Jiajing suddenly stopped and asked in a low voice: "Wei Guangde and Prince Yu's Mansion are very close?"

"This slave doesn't know."

Huang Jin's voice sounded from the side, "When you go down, I will ask someone to check. I heard before that he has contacts with Gao Xueshi and others from Prince Yu's Mansion. After all, they are all colleagues of the Hanlin Academy. I don't know if he has been to Prince Yu's Mansion." .”

Huang Jin answered cautiously.

"Um."

Emperor Jiajing hummed and then strode down the tower.

In the distance, the Fengtian Gate tower stands tall with silk and bamboo.

The city tower and both sides are brightly illuminated by lights of various colors. The musicians on the city tower are playing the music of this era in conjunction with the musicians on Aoshan Mountain. The palace maiden stands on the tower and dances with the palace maidens on Aoshan Mountain, reflecting the Ming Dynasty. There was singing and dancing, and the country was peaceful and the people were safe.

Except for Huang Jin and the two imperial eunuchs beside him, no one knew what happened at Chengtian Gate tonight.