Chapter 1023 1114 Exculpation

Chapter 1023 1114 Exculpation

The Republic of China, which replaced the late Qing Dynasty, was actually a four-dimensional state.

Because there was no thorough liquidation like during previous dynasty changes, the Republic of China was full of chaos and did not look like a new country at all.

Moreover, these so-called reforms, like Zhang Juzheng's, have touched the privileges of interest groups and will inevitably encounter fierce counterattacks.

Wei Guangde realized a long time ago that it was impossible for the current Ming Dynasty to bypass the historical development process and directly skip the final stage of the feudal dynasty and enter the modern state system.

All he can do is tinker with things. Like previous cabinet ministers, he can safeguard the broken ship of the Ming Dynasty against threats from the West and try to transform the privileged class into capital. This is the greatest contribution he can make.

Wei Guangde really didn't dare to have the idea of ​​taking advantage of Zhu Yijun's young age to seize the imperial power.

Don't forget, most of the military power in the capital is in the hands of nobles, and they will not trust the civil service group.

If nobles want to maintain their last dignity, they must fully support the imperial power. Only the emperor can guarantee their interests.

In other words, the soldiers stationed in the capital still care about the emperor.

The republic will be deeply rooted in the hearts of the people in the future, but it is definitely not suitable for the current social environment.

As for the establishment of a constitutional monarchy, that would only be possible if the Emperor Zhu was willing to accept it.

Therefore, Wei Guangde did not intend to try, as he would lose his head, and he could not afford the price of failure.

Wei Guangde has no intention of replacing Zhang Juzheng now. He also wants to see what Zhang Juzheng's reforms passed down in later generations will bring to the Ming Dynasty.

If the reform is really successful, he will find a way to maintain the results of the reform and prevent it from being abandoned halfway. Perhaps he can contribute a small amount to the continuation of the Ming Dynasty.

With some fine-tuning of its foreign policy, China in this life may be very different from that in future generations.

Obviously, Wei Guangde had already made a plan in his mind. He planned to stand by and watch the dispute caused by Zhang Juzheng's students. Not only would he not end up, but he would also urge others around him not to reach out.

He wanted to see what kind of counterattack Zhang Juzheng would take against Liu Tai.

Liu Tai, courtesy name Ziwei, was born in Ba County, Sichuan, from Xingguo Prefecture, Huguang. He became a Jinshi scholar in the fifth year of Longqing's reign and became a student of Zhang Juzheng.

Liu Tai was first appointed as the head of the Ministry of Punishment. In order to curry favor with Zhang Juzheng, Liu Tai naturally tried his best to get Zhang Juzheng's attention.

However, this time soon entered the Wanli period. Zhang Juzheng was devoted to promoting the reform blueprint in his mind, so he had stricter requirements on himself.

In ancient officialdom, no matter how great achievements Liu Tai made in the Ministry of Justice, Zhang Juzheng might not be able to see it.

Therefore, in the early days, Liu Tai could only go to Zhang Juzheng's mansion to visit his teacher in the name of a student from time to time. However, the Zhang's mansion would also give gifts in return during this period, so he did not accept the filial piety from the people below.

Zhang Juzheng naturally couldn't take care of the number of students who took the provincial examination in one subject. Moreover, his ranking can be seen from his entry into the Ministry of Punishment as the director. In fact, he was not outstanding, so it was naturally more difficult for him to enter Zhang Juzheng's discernment.

For this reason, Liu Tai found another way. Since Zhang Juzheng in the capital did not accept gifts, he went to save the country and sent people to send heavy gifts to Jiangling, which was Zhang Juzheng's home.

Zhang Juzheng is relatively reserved, and he is worried that receiving gifts will bring bad reputation and affect the reforms he promotes, but his family members do not have as many worries as he does.

Therefore, when Zhang's father was in Jiangling, he accepted all the gifts sent from various places without rejecting them.

This is why Liu Tai said in the impeachment memorial that the Zhang family has become the richest man in Jiangling since Zhang Juzheng became the chief minister.

In fact, Liu Tai was able to be sent from the head of the Ministry of Punishment to Liaodong to serve as the patrol censor, and Zhang's father played a considerable role in it.

Zhang's father often mentioned Liu Tai, a generous disciple, in his family letters to Zhang Juzheng. The gifts Liu Tai sent were so valuable that it was difficult for him to forget them.

Although the censor is not a high-ranking official like a governor or governor, he is very powerful. Not to mention the prefects and county magistrates, even the chief envoy at the head of a province must be polite to him.

Of course, Liaodong was a special place, with a garrison system in which the governor was responsible, but his influence on the generals in Liaodong was not small, and his power was overwhelming.

It can be said that in one-third of an acre of land in Liaodong, Governor Zhang Xueyan ranked first, and he, Liu Tai, was second. As for the commander-in-chief of Liaodong, they all had to stand behind him.

Such power is not what a seventh-grade official should have.

Zhang Juzheng treated him like this, and Liu Tai should be grateful.

"Sir, Zhang Shoufu invites you."

Just as Wei Guangde was thinking about it, Lu Bu walked in cautiously to report.

"He's here, what do you think of his face?"

Wei Guangde glanced at Lu Bu and asked casually.

"It's not good. Besides, in addition to inviting the master to come, I also invited Mr. Lu Ge to come."

Lu Bu was very discerning and told everything he had just seen.

"It seems that my uncle is aware of Liu Tai's impeachment. He should be planning to explain it and go back to the palace to wait for the court's decision."

Well, it was really easy for the Ming Dynasty to temporarily deprive an official of his rights. If he found an imperial censor to write an impeachment memorial, he would have to resign and go home to wait for his punishment.

Or secretly contact comrades to defend themselves, and prepare to defend themselves, waiting for the emperor to ask questions.

But now that the emperor is young, he will naturally not ask other questions.

In fact, everything depends on his status in the hearts of the palace people.

Wei Guangde stood up, straightened out his robe, and strode towards the chief assistant's room.

"Brother uncle."

After entering the duty room, Wei Guangde saluted Zhang Juzheng as before. Zhang Juzheng also stood up and returned the salute, and then sat down after greeting him.

"Shandai, you know about the memorial, right?"

Zhang Juzheng obviously looked bad. He should have known the news last night, otherwise it would not have been possible.

However, knowing that Gui Gui knew, he still came to the cabinet first and then returned to the government to avoid suspicion. Apparently he had his own plan.

After all, last night, the most the memorial could reach was the Director of Ceremonies.

If he showed that he knew in advance, he would inevitably be tricked by others, saying that he was hooking up with the chamberlain.

"I heard about it after I came in."

Wei Guangde nodded and said, with a serious expression on his face, and did not mean to take pleasure in others' misfortune, "Uncle, brother, it's good to have a clear conscience, but you don't need to take the villain's remarks to heart."

"Shandai, you and I have known each other for many years, and I believe you know me.

The current situation in the Ming Dynasty, I..."

Zhang Juzheng saw that Wei Guangde had no intention of adding insult to injury. In fact, he had already calculated it after he learned the news last night.

Lu Tiaoyang was unable to challenge his position, and the only person who posed a threat to him was Wei Guangde.

However, judging from his understanding of Wei Guangde, Wei Guangde is also very uneasy about the current situation in the Ming Dynasty and hopes to use the New Deal to turn things around.

Unfortunately, governance is not what he is good at, so he has always fully supported his reforms.

Even if they sometimes used the New Deal to threaten him and exchange certain interests with him, in fact everyone did the same, and Zhang Juzheng didn't feel any discomfort.

If Wei Guangde had no selfish motives at all, Zhang Juzheng would not dare to cooperate with him.

Therefore, Zhang Juzheng is actually very willing to let him stay in the second assistant position, where his influence is large enough and he cooperates with his work.

Zhang Juzheng had been observing Wei Guangde when he entered the house just now. He was worried that Wei Guangde would not be able to withstand the temptation and take the opportunity to attack him.

However, Wei Guangde's words after entering the house made him put away his worries and even felt a little moved, so he choked up when speaking.

In fact, if Wei Guangde did not come from a later generation, but simply had the thinking habits of this era, it is hard to say whether he would have made up his mind.

Precisely because of the knowledge of later generations, Wei Guangde cherishes his current status even more and is unwilling to make any mistakes.

Many people suddenly become high-ranking and then fall into disgrace, or even quickly fall into depravity. They are extremely greedy, but in fact this is a small way.

As long as the power remains, what is missing?

Yan Shifan thought he was smart and led a greedy and extravagant life, thinking that he could reassure Emperor Jiajing and not touch him.

The same was true for He Shen during the Qing Dynasty, but he seemed to have learned from Yan Shifan's experience and lessons. He properly concealed his behavior instead of openly exposing it, thinking that he would be very smart.

But what is the final outcome of these two smart people? The wealth they searched so hard did not end up being eaten by others.

Wei Guangde and Zhang Juzheng are both relatively self-disciplined people. They are not greedy, but they don't care whether the people below are greedy or not, as long as they don't go too far.

It’s not that Zhang Juzheng didn’t know the reasons for the words in the Zhang family’s letter, but he still accepted them, but this does not mean that he would do the same in the capital.

They all cherish their current achievements and status and cannot make mistakes easily.

"Uncle, please lend me money."

At this moment, Lu Tiaoyang entered the room and saluted.

The two stood up and returned the courtesy, then sat down. Soon Zhang Juzheng brought the topic to Liu Tai's impeachment.

"I invite you two to come here to tell me that I am going back to the palace to wait for the court's decision. I will leave all cabinet matters to you."

While talking, Zhang Juzheng stood up and bowed again.

Wei Guangde and Lu Tiaoyang, who had just sat down, hurriedly stood up and returned the courtesy. Lu Tiaoyang also hurriedly expressed his position, saying that he did not believe what Liu Taizou said at all, and asked Zhang Juzheng to rest assured.

"I remember that I personally wrote the imperial edict years ago. I think that Liu Tai's move was intended to retaliate and had sinister intentions."

Wei Guangde spoke at this time.

Indeed, when he first heard that it was Liu Tai who impeached Zhang Juzheng, Wei Guangde was shocked. He came to this conclusion after thinking about it.

Liu Tai's current achievements are naturally due to Zhang Juzheng's support.

At the beginning, Liu Tai was grateful and loyal to Zhang Juzheng.

It's a pity that after Li Chengliang's victory in the encirclement and suppression of Wang Gao last year, his showmanship went awry.

The Ming Dynasty encircled and suppressed Wang Gao and was completely victorious. He didn't dare to let go of anything until he saw the other Jurchen tribes outside the pass. He just watched the Ming army annihilate Wang Gao's tribe.

Even other Jurchen tribes have to contribute.

Wang Gao ran to someone else's territory to hide, but was directly surrounded by the Ming army.

Not only did his fellow tribesmen not save him, they also helped the Ming army surround him, preventing him from running away.

After the Ming army won a complete victory, other Jurchen tribes also brought cattle and sheep to reward the Ming army.

Don’t they understand the meaning of lips dying and teeth cold?

Of course not, but they were afraid of the might of the Ming army.

It is true that many people do not want to deal with Wang Gao, but they do not want the Ming army to take action. With Wang Gao at the front, their lives will be easier.

And what did Liu Tai do in such a situation?

After he got the news, he directly sent people to report the victory to the capital, acting as if he had fought the battle.

He was the censor, not the governor. He was not in charge of war matters. His duty was to inspect Liaodong officials. Why did he get involved when the battle was being won?

After Zhang Juzheng received the good news, he was not happy at all. Instead, he thought that he was not doing his job properly.

So, after discussing with Wei Guangde and Lu Diaoyang, Wei Guangde finally wrote an official document to Liaodong.

Privately, Wei Guangde didn't know whether Zhang Juzheng wrote a letter to Liu Tai to scold him.

However, today, knowing that Liu Tai, a traitor, actually impeached Zhang Juzheng, and impeached him to death, he had some guesses.

The relationship between Zhang Juzheng and Gao Gong can be seen from a series of actions after Zhang Juzheng came to power. Liu Tai's first memorial was "the ancestors promoted and dismissed ministers with courtesy", accusing Zhang Juzheng of using the case of Wang Minister to expel Gao Gong.

He also pinned the title of Wang after Zhu Xizhong's death on Zhang Juzheng. In fact, Zhang Juzheng was involved in this matter, but it was mainly done by Feng Bao, and Zhang Juzheng nodded under pressure from Feng Bao.

In short, Liu Tai revealed almost all the things that Zhang Juzheng had done in recent years that were not to be put on the table, just to prove that Zhang Juzheng did not follow the laws of his ancestors, so as to deny the performance evaluation system introduced by Zhang Juzheng.

The performance evaluation system was Zhang Juzheng's fate. How could Zhang Juzheng not hate Liu Tai to death?

Moreover, he was his nominal student.

Imagine that it would be recorded in the history books, a scandal that has not happened in China for thousands of years, a student impeaching a teacher.

Now, Wei Guangde was in the cabinet, which gave Zhang Juzheng a way out and released the reason for Liu Tai's impeachment of Zhang Juzheng. Last time, Liu Tai was rebuked by the cabinet for reporting victory, so he was resentful and waiting for an opportunity to retaliate.

Defeat him morally first, and then talk about other things.

Wei Guangde had no doubt that Liu Tai was completely finished, and even gods could not save him.

What Wei Guangde said was not to be refuted.

"Liu Tai's wolfish ambition is obvious. I will write a memorial to impeach him when I go back. I will never let the villain succeed."

Lu Diaoyang immediately responded tactfully.

In fact, before coming, he was still worried that Wei Guangde and Zhang Juzheng would fight because of this.

At that time, the court was in chaos, which was definitely not a blessing for the Ming Dynasty.

However, when he heard Wei Guangde's words to excuse Zhang Juzheng, he realized that he was worrying too much.

To outsiders, Wei Guangde and Zhang Juzheng seemed to be always at loggerheads, but on some national affairs, their attitudes were surprisingly consistent.

It must be said that the people from Yu Ju were united, except Gao Gong.

This was Lu Diaoyang's understanding of the two people's attitudes, and he felt that the two were actually in the same group.

When he said this today, he also saw their attitudes, and he was just pushing the boat along.

"Okay, He Qing will write, and Shan Dai will second it."

Wei Guangde immediately said that he was willing to sign after Lu Diaoyang's memorial, which was also a signal to the outside world that the cabinet was sending out.

"Shan Dai, He Qing, you..."

Zhang Juzheng was soon moved again.

After arranging the trivial matters of the cabinet, Zhang Juzheng returned to the mansion, and Wei Guangde and Lu Diaoyang also sent him to the outside of Chengtian Gate before returning to the cabinet to do their work.

Their actions instantly silenced the arguments in the various government offices in the capital.

At first, everyone discussed this matter with a mentality of watching a joke, and then they analyzed what the cabinet deputy minister’s attitude would be and what they should do.

Now, there is a result.