Chapter 266 265 Financial Dilemma

When Zai 𫭢 heard the order, he killed his wife and concubine first and hanged himself to death.

When Wei Guangde heard the news from Junzhou, his heart dropped.

The previous joy of killing a prince has disappeared. Although King Hui died unkindly and was unjust, the key point is that he is a relative of the emperor and can be regarded as the younger brother of the current emperor. I didn't know about Xiyuan's celebration with friends a few days ago. Do you know?

Wei Guangde was panicked.

During this period, after King Hui was eliminated from the country, Wei Guangde's popularity increased greatly.

Regardless of whether others were envious or jealous, he was the one who played the first part anyway, and the most important contributor to the overthrow of King Hui was naturally Wei Guangde.

It's just that no matter how highly he was praised at the beginning, Wei Guangde's guilty conscience is so severe now.

Quickly, Wei Guangde asked Zhang Ji to contact Chen Ju to inquire about the reaction of Emperor Jiajing of Xiyuan after receiving the news of King Hui's suicide.

If the reaction is strong, Wei Guangde will have to keep his tail between his legs.

Fortunately, Emperor Jiajing was just stunned for a while after learning that King Hui had committed suicide. His mood was somewhat affected, but not too much, and he had no intention of holding anyone accountable.

After receiving Chen Ju's reply, Wei Guangde felt at ease.

At this time, Xu Bangrui, who was far away in Nanjing, was sitting in a pavilion in his garden. In the pavilion, a young girl, about sixteen or seventeen years old, dressed in gorgeous palace clothes and exuding a youthful atmosphere, was sitting in the middle of the pavilion and stroking the strings of the piano.

This girl has bright eyes and white teeth, icy muscles and jade bones. She is wearing a blue emerald smoked sweater and a pleated skirt with scattered flowers, water mist and green grass. She doesn't look seductive at all when she wears it, only revealing a hint of charming temperament.

Although her hands were moving rapidly on the strings, the golden waving pendant in her jet-black hair and the little pearls hanging down seemed to be motionless, adding a touch of dignity.

"Dang-dang-dang-dang-dang."

The girl is not good at playing the piano and her technique is very proficient.

The melodious sound of the piano reached his ears. Xu Bangrui looked at the girl with a warm smile on his face, and then smiled at his gorgeously dressed wife leaning next to him: "My little sister's piano skills have improved again. In a moment, you will Let’s play the piano too.”

"I'd better forget it. Sister Lan's piano skills are outstanding. I'm willing to be inferior, so I'd better play my dongxiao."

For girls from high-ranking families, there are not many opportunities to go out, so they can only pass the time at home playing chess, calligraphy and painting.

For a family like the Duke of Wei, it is natural to find the best teachers for their children.

The Duke of Wei not only invited famous people to establish a clan school and train the Xu family members, but also invited many famous experts in other skills to teach their skills at home. Therefore, although Xu Jianglan was young, she was very familiar with the techniques of the zither.

The members of the Xu family are actually pretty good, and they have some sense of proportion. At least they won't go out and cause any big disasters. They are just a little short of taking the imperial examination. If they don't use some connections, not many scholars can pass the exam. Let alone lifting people.

However, these people are nothing to the Duke of Wei. They have all been separated from their families and can only take care of them a little on weekdays.

For these incompetent children, the Xu family's strategy is also very simple. Take the imperial examination when they are young, and then go out to command the army when they are old.

Anyway, the Xu family has been in charge of Nanjing's military power for a long time, and its influence in Jiangnan Guards Station is also deeply rooted, so it is very simple to install a few people.

"A letter came from the capital two days ago. It seems you haven't told Sister Lan what his future husband said, haha."

Xu has a gentle and gentle personality, and she also speaks like this. At this time, she suddenly whispered to Xu Bangrui.

"It's all between men. I didn't mention it to my little sister."

Xu Bangrui raised his lips and smiled, "Maybe Wei Guangde is also thin-skinned and embarrassed to say it, hehe."

The letter was written to Xu Bangrui. Naturally, Wei Guangde would not involve Xu Jianglan in the letter. Xu was just chatting and joking with Xu Bangrui.

But when it came to the letter, Xu Bangrui fell silent.

When Xu Huai came back, he not only brought back the letter, but also brought back a piece of news that shocked him, that is, Wei Guangde had been invited by the Jin Yiwei before he wrote the letter. According to what Wei Guangde later said, he was taken to the north. Zhenfu Division.

Wei Guangde didn't say much about the specific reasons, and Xu Huai could only speculate secretly, so he told Xu Bangrui the news immediately after returning to Nanjing and presenting the letter written by Wei Guangde.

Wei Guangde also deliberately cast a veil of mystery over this time, so when he returned home, he didn't even mention that Jin Yiwei was looking for him, which was different from what his family thought. He was just there to chat, not to question him.

If it was really taken away, Wei Guangde would never be able to come back that day.

However, Zhang Ji, Zhao Hu and others didn't know, nor did Xu Huai and now Xu Bangrui. They could only guess what happened during the period that allowed Wei Guangde to be released so quickly.

Xu Bangrui naturally thought of the palace as the one who could let Jinyiwei release people. Except for the one in the palace, no one else had this right.

But if it was the one who let people go, then why would they let people go?

I really can't figure it out. The only explanation I can give is that Wei Guangde did something. The person in the palace needed an answer, so he asked the Jin Yiwei to take him down for questioning. The result was accepted by the person, so he gave him another answer that day. Released.

No one thought that Wei Guangde had not obtained the driving certificate at all, and Emperor Jiajing, who was practicing Taoism in Xiyuan, did not know about it at all.

What did Wei Guangde do to attract the emperor's attention?

Could it be the impeachment of Prince Hui?

Xu Bangrui could only speculate on the events before and after the incident, and he connected them together to analyze them, but the result was already a thousand miles away from the truth.

The content of Wei Guangde's letter shocked him even more, directly analyzing the threat level of several people revealed in his previous letter.

Well, Xu Bangrui just reminded Wei Guangde to be careful of these people who were behind his back to ruin his future, but he didn't want Wei Guangde to deal with anyone.

For the newly-minted Jinshi, it was enough to be an official for the first time in the officialdom, and the most urgent thing was to sit firmly in the position under his buttocks.

But the brother-in-law he chose seemed a bit unexpected. He actually directly analyzed in the letter that the biggest threat of the relationships that his father managed in Beijing was actually the eunuch in the Palace Silijian, and said that he would try his best to overthrow him.

Wei Guangde has now fully utilized the strategy of taking advantage of the situation. Lu Bing has set his sights on the big fish Li Bin, so he will not be able to jump for a few days.

At least, in Wei Guangde's speculation, the people who know about this matter, except for the Jinyiwei who were ordered by Lu Bing to perform surveillance and investigation tasks, will not exceed one hand. He also happened to know about this matter.

Knowing it, naturally want to maximize the effect, and it is nothing to brag to his brother-in-law.

Lu Bing dared to touch the people of the Silijian, at least the eunuch Huang Jin must know about it, otherwise it would be a slap in Huang Jin's face, after all, it was the one who arrested him.

As for Gao Zhong, Wei Guangde would not tell them, Gao Zhong is likely to be unaware of it.

As for what Wei Guangde boasted to Xu Bangrui, it was actually very simple, that is, he would find a way to overthrow Li Bin within half a year.

When Xu Bangrui heard the boast, Xu Bangrui could naturally think that Wei Guangde might still have someone to rely on in the palace.

Emperor Jiajing?

That's impossible. The emperor couldn't help Wei Guangde deal with his own slaves.

Even if the slaves were wrong, he could beat, scold or punish them at will, but Wei Guangde would not affect them.

In fact, there were several people in the palace who were more powerful than Li Bin. Although Li Bin was a eunuch who held the pen, there were many eunuchs who held the pen.

Wei Guangde dared to say that he would find a way to overthrow Li Bin, so naturally there was a eunuch who was more powerful than Li Bin who was his backer.

To get through the relationship of the eunuchs, it was not something that could be done with empty words, but real money.

Thinking of this, Xu Bangrui couldn't help but touch his forehead, thinking about whether to let Xu Huai send some money to Wei Guangde next time.

Xu Bangrui really had a general understanding of the foundation of the Wei family.

When they were in the hundred households of Bengshanbao, the Wei family probably had a family foundation of only a thousand taels of silver, which was accumulated over many years. After all, it was just a small hundred households.

That is, it was during the time when they went to Zhejiang to fight the Japanese pirates that they became rich. Although the details are unknown, it can be guessed from the generosity of the Wei family that at least tens of thousands of taels of silver were earned.

Just as Xu Bangrui was thinking about this, the melodious sound of the piano disappeared. Xu Jianglan had withdrawn her hands and slowly stood up and walked over. She sat next to her sister-in-law Xu and looked at her eldest brother who had just come back to his senses, with curiosity in her eyes.

Just now, Xu Jianglan felt that her piano skills had improved again. In the past, she would get praise and applause from her eldest brother when she stopped, but this time she came over, and her eldest brother looked like he had just woken up from a dream, and he didn't know what he was thinking.

Xu Bangrui coughed twice to cover up his embarrassment. Xu on the side had already taken over the topic and loudly praised Xu Jianglan for her superb piano skills.

Soon, under the flattery of her eldest sister-in-law, Xu Jianglan blushed and felt embarrassed. It was really Xu who praised her too much. She almost thought she was really the best in the world.

The two women soon laughed and joked together. After a while, Xu mentioned the trump card "Wei Guangde" that she had used to deal with Xu Jianglan these days. Xu Jianglan soon couldn't stand the stimulation and started to fight with Xu.

Xu Bangrui hadn't thought about it yet, and saw his two daughters making a mess in the pavilion. Well, it was a bit indecent, so he simply got up and went back to his study.

Although he was in the Duke of Wei's mansion, the resources Xu Bangrui could use were very limited.

The Duke of Wei's mansion had a lot of money. In addition to its own salary, there were also lucrative profits from the Duke's mansion's industries, tributes from all sides, and income from the army.

As the garrison commander of Nanjing, Xu Pengju was in charge of all the troops of the Nanjing Jingying and the nearby garrisons. Every year, the salary issued by the Nanjing Ministry of War had to pass through his hands first, so naturally there was a lot of money.

However, the money in the mansion was controlled by his father. Xu Bangrui could only use his share of the money and some of the assets he had accumulated privately. Even if he wanted to help Wei Guangde, he was a little powerless.

Sitting in the study, thinking of the Xu family's hereditary title and the rich wealth in the mansion, Xu Bangrui was naturally unwilling to let it fall into the hands of others. In the end, he gritted his teeth and calculated the money he could get. He decided to let Xu Huai send 5,000 taels of silver next time to help Wei Guangde open up the relationship in the palace.

He also thought far ahead. The immediate goal was to bring down Li Bin. The long-term goal was of course to have someone in the palace speak a few words for him in front of the emperor when the controversy over his succession to the title arose.

If Wei Guangde told him a month ago that he could overthrow the eunuch who was in charge of the Silijian, Xu Bangrui would definitely not believe it.

But now, Xu Bangrui believed it.

Compared with Prince Hui, Li Bin and Prince Hui had a huge difference in status. Although their power was incomparable, Li Bin was a popular figure, while Prince Hui was just a prince with an empty shell, but he was also a royal relative and a prince.

But what was the result? He fell just like that.

Wei Guangde impeached him directly with a memorial and expelled him from the country and committed suicide. Wei Guangde said that he tried to bring down Li Bin, and Xu Bangrui really couldn't take it lightly.

Xu Bangrui had received the news of Prince Hui's suicide, but he was not a personal participant after all, and did not experience the feeling of Wei Guangde's hair standing up and his spine chilling when he heard the news.

And what about Wei Guangde?

After confirming that Emperor Jiajing had no opinion on him about Prince Hui's suicide, Wei Guangde still chose to keep a low profile and still went to work on time every day without any slackness.

At the end of the year, the problem of the court's financial difficulties once again appeared in front of all officials in Beijing.

In fact, since Emperor Jiajing ascended the throne, the weather has been abnormal, and there have been many disasters in the provinces of the north and south, which has led to continuous deficits in the court.

In the past twenty years, the court could barely take out silver to relieve the victims, but the silver was not newly collected, but the accumulation of several generations of emperors in the past, that is, the silver in the old treasury was used up, and the silver that was stored in the treasury was sealed after the accumulation of the treasury.

The silver in the court's silver treasury had been exhausted during the Zhengde Dynasty, that is, it was barely maintained and the silver in the old treasury was not used.

Thirty years after Jiajing, the financial difficulties became more serious, especially after insisting on building the southern city wall of Beijing, although the city defense of the capital was greatly improved, the last bit of financial resources of the court was also completely squeezed out.

Last year, under financial pressure, Emperor Jiajing not only acquiesced to Zhao Wenhua's use of the silk accumulated by the manufacturing bureaus in Jiangnan for sea trade cash, but also ordered the restart of mineral mining in various provinces, hoping to increase fiscal revenue through mining.

At this time, Emperor Jiajing was sitting in the West Garden, looking at the report in front of him.

Zhang Qin, the head of the Ministry of Revenue, brought 270 taels of gold and more than 200 taels of silver from the mines in Baoshan, Shandong; Wang Huai, the left envoy, Jin Tianjue, the captain of the Jinyiwei, and the eunuch brought 150 kilograms of purple ore sand from Wang Wangyu, Jizhou, and mined silver mines.

"Greedy."

Emperor Jiajing looked at the memorial on the table in silence for a long time, and finally said something.

Huang Jin, who was standing on the side, and Gao Zhong, who was standing below, were both silent and dared not speak. His Majesty was furious.

"Decree, order to open and take according to the actual situation, and strictly prohibit officials and civilians from hiding and stealing. In addition, order that the unopened places be mined without delay."

"Yes."

Huang Jin and Gao Zhong answered almost in unison, and then Gao Zhong quickly wrote red on the memorial, directly writing the words of Emperor Jiajing on it, and only waited for the memorial to be approved and issued after Huang Jin used the seal.