Chapter 722 821 Beijing Camp Gate

Wei Guangde was still thinking about Chen Yiqin's words on the way home. Zhang Juzheng's statement in front of the emperor was directly directed at Chen Yiqin and their small circle, full of hostility.

Although everyone did have their own thoughts in handling government affairs, and Zhang Juzheng suffered some losses in the distribution of some interests, there was no need to drag Gao Gong out to compete with them.

Didn't he know that Gao Gong's return to the court would not be good for either them or Zhang Juzheng?

Should he teach him a lesson?

This idea grew in Wei Guangde's mind, letting Zhang Juzheng know the disadvantages of being an enemy of them?

The shaking sedan seemed very quiet. Although there were people coming and going on the street outside the sedan, Wei Guangde's heart was very calm. He was thinking about Zhang Juzheng's weakness.

If he didn't make a move, it would be fine. Once he made a move, he had to hurt him, let him know what was good and what was bad, and he had to be speechless and could only suffer this loss in silence.

No.

Suddenly, Wei Guangde realized a problem, that is, since Emperor Longqing had already told them that he wanted to recall Gao Gong, the decree should be issued soon.

If he took action to deal with Zhang Juzheng, Gao Gong should be able to figure out the reason soon after he came back, and he might help Zhang Juzheng at that time.

He couldn't let Zhang Juzheng and Gao Gong get along well, so he had to find a way to split them, and let Zhang Juzheng help others make wedding clothes, and he had to swallow the bitter fruit.

Wei Guangde felt a little tricky, how to handle this matter.

The means should be used to make Zhang Juzheng feel uncomfortable but speechless, and Gao Gong should be satisfied and not interfere, so as to achieve the purpose of splitting the two.

Wei Guangde closed his eyes slightly and leaned back in his chair to think.

This may be the so-called political skill, but he has been in the cabinet for too short a time and lacks experience, so he really can't think of a good way for a while.

In a blink of an eye, it was the next day. After Wei Guangde got up in the morning, he had breakfast at home and left the house with his entourage.

However, there was no sedan waiting outside the gate today, but more than ten war horses were led by reins.

Seeing Wei Guangde coming out, the people around him immediately went over to lead Wei Guangde's horse.

Although he often rides in a sedan, Wei Guangde has not given up his horsemanship. He hooked the reins with his left hand, put his hands on the saddle, stepped into the stirrup with his left foot, exerted force on his right leg while exerting force on both hands, and suddenly raised his body to sit on the saddle.

Taking the whip handed over by the entourage, Wei Guangde looked back, and after others got on the horse one after another, he clamped his legs around the horse's belly and swung the whip.

"Snap".

After the whip sounded, the war horse under his crotch ran forward quickly.

Wei Guangde controlled the reins, and the sound of horse hooves gradually rose behind him. The horse team quickly left Nanxunfang and entered Andingmen Inner Street and continued to march north.

Riding a horse is much faster than riding a sedan or a car. Today's weather is also good. There are white clouds in the sky and the breeze is warm. It is a good day for an outing.

The horse team went out of Anding Gate and continued along the road. Soon they turned into a fork road. Not far ahead was the gate of the Beijing Camp.

When the horse team arrived here, there was already a group of guards waiting outside the gate. They surrounded a large cart and did not allow anyone to approach. Even if the gatekeeper of the Beijing Camp came to ask, he would immediately return to the camp gate after seeing the other party's waist badge.

The cart was covered with a red cloth, so people could not see what was on the cart.

But the more mysterious it was, the more people's attention it attracted.

At this time, the soldiers of the Beijing Camp guarding the gate gathered in twos and threes, whispering about what was on the cart.

"I heard they are from the Ministry of Works, they shouldn't be here to deliver military pay."

"Gunpowder, right? There have been firearms being fired all day long at the parade ground recently, and that's all the money that was spent."

"Shouldn't the gunpowder be sent by the inner officials? How could it be from the Ministry of Works?"

The officers and soldiers of the Beijing Camp were not completely ignorant. After all, they knew after guarding here for a long time that the court had extremely strict control over gunpowder. Although the Ministry of Works had gunpowder, it could not manufacture it in large quantities. That was the responsibility of the Gunpowder Bureau of the Inner Court.

The gunpowder of the Beijing Camp was all manufactured by the Gunpowder Bureau under the Armory Bureau and was responsible for distributing it to the Beijing Camp.

Just as the soldiers were discussing and regretting that they were not from the Ministry of Revenue, they also noticed the cavalry rushing in from a distance. The crowd that had gathered together quickly separated, and the soldiers returned to their respective posts to perform their duties and closely monitor them.

Of course, this cavalry was brought by Wei Guangde. Although there were only more than ten cavalry, they also created the momentum of dozens or hundreds of cavalry charging. They were all veterans who had served as personal soldiers for Wei's father for more than ten years.

These people usually have a high status in Jiujiang Prefecture. In the past, perhaps these military households were afraid of local civil officials, but since Wei Guangde entered the Ministry of Personnel as a minister, the Wei family has been shaking in Jiujiang Prefecture.

Even the prefect, the military governor and the county magistrate have to treat the Wei family with courtesy when they see them.

Those who were sent to the capital by Wei Laodi are opportunities only for the loyal soldiers of the Wei family.

So when they were in Jiujiang, these people were valued by Wei Laodi because of their background and skilled skills and kept by his side as guards. Although they were not arrogant in their hometown, they gradually developed an awe-inspiring and inviolable aura.

When they were sent to the capital, they thought they had to keep their tails between their legs, but Wei Guangde's status suddenly improved after he entered the cabinet, which made these people who were not very peaceful gradually restore their arrogance in Jiujiang.

In the past, in the capital, they rode horses to guard around the sedan chair, and it was difficult for them to gallop like this. They couldn't help but make trouble when they finally got the chance.

As they drove their horses toward the gate of the capital, many people unconsciously raised their hands and waved their whips like sabers, and from time to time some people made strange whistling sounds.

The gatekeeper was only a hundred households, so he was naturally shocked when he saw such a cavalry coming.

He thought that some prince and grandson came to the capital camp to show his prestige. In the past, such things happened occasionally. He cursed secretly and asked people to guard the camp gate, but he did not dare to let these people rush into the camp.

In previous years, there were unlucky ones who were rushed into the camp, ran rampant and whizzed through the Beijing camp, and were finally punished by Lord Rongzheng.

But those princes and grandsons left in a swaggering manner, only saying that they were sending people to notify each family to strictly control them.

After all, they are not ordinary people, otherwise they would have been beaten to death at the gate of the camp.

When Wei Guangde came to the gate of Jingying and saw the convoy, he guessed that it was someone from the Ordnance Bureau of the Ministry of Industry. He just raised his left hand to signal the people behind him to go over and negotiate with Jingying.

As a minister of the DPRK, he would certainly not lead a team to attack the Beijing camp. That would be making himself uncomfortable.

He turned his horse slightly and ran towards the convoy, while a man from the cavalry team behind him also came out and headed towards the gate of Jingying. He just approached the gate and started to control the speed of the horse to slow down.

"Which one is the gatekeeper? My lord wants to see Prime Minister Qi Jiguang Qi. Please let me know."

In front of the camp gate, the followers of the Wei family shouted loudly inside, and soon an official wearing a hundred cotton armors came out, nodded and bowed to him and said: "I don't know which family is here, I will send someone to report it right away."

"Master of the Cabinet, Wei Guangde, Minister of Civil Affairs, Wei Ge Lao wants to see Premier Qi."

While he was talking, the attendant took out the Wei Mansion badge from his waist and waved it in front of the hundred households.

The episode at the camp gate did not distract Wei Guangde. He had already arrived in front of the motorcade.

"Meet Mr. Wei Ge."

The one who took the lead yesterday was the director of the engineering department of the Ordnance Bureau. In order to express himself in front of the adults, he got up early today and personally delivered the cannon to the Beijing camp.

However, for this errand, I did not have documents from the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of War, so I could not enter the camp and could only wait outside the camp gate.

Perhaps because he had not gotten up so early for a long time after taking charge of the Arms Bureau, when Wei Guangde approached him, although he forced a smile, his face could not conceal his fatigue.

Wei Guangde actually saw a lump of eye droppings hanging in the corner of his left eye.

For matters such as ordering and ordering, for the cabinet, six ministries and other yamen, because of the existence of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, officials really don't dare to be late.

But for extremely low-level yamen like the Ordnance Bureau, the Metropolitan Procuratorate is too lazy to take care of them, so the officials in these small yamen are better off than the big officials in the imperial court.

Every day, he ate plenty of food and fish, listened to music, and slept until he woke up naturally. Wei Guangde was envious of his life.

So what if you just know?

To rectify these people, only the Metropolitan Procuratorate can come forward, but when the Metropolitan Procuratorate wants to take action, strong winds will blow, and everyone is slippery and can get the news in advance and tuck their tail when the trend arises.

The rectification movement cannot go on forever. There will always be a break, and then things will return to normal.

Therefore, whether it is Li Chunfang, Chen Yiqin or Wei Guangde, everyone actually knows that many officials in the court are tired, but there is no good way to deal with them.

It doesn't matter if you catch a few typical ones, but the old fritters will still do what they should do for a month.

This is also the reason why Zhang Juzheng strongly recommends the test method. As long as you do the job at hand, don't worry about other things. If you read too much, you will get upset.

In response to the chief's attentive salute, Wei Guangde just said "hmm" and turned his attention to the large car behind which was covered with red cloth.

"Pull off the red cloth and let me take a look."

Wei Guangde opened his mouth and gave instructions.

There were several craftsmen beside the carriage, and the manager was considerate and attentive. He brought the craftsmen with him so that if Wei Guangde was dissatisfied with anything, he could immediately correct it.

After Wei Guangde finished speaking, the chief commanded the craftsmen beside the carriage to work, removed the red cloth from the carriage, and a bright yellow cannon was displayed in front of everyone.

Although I know this is a fake, it is still domineering enough.

Big, really big, far larger than any firearm equipped by the Ming army in this era.

Although there are all kinds of Ming military weapons, the top ones are definitely the type of firearms called general cannons. However, the largest general cannon Wei Guangde has ever seen is only six feet long, which is about two meters.

Even this kind of cannon has been seen on the walls of the capital city. The cannons seen on the Great Wall passes in Ji Town are shorter. Many of them have a barrel two or three feet long.

But the length of the big guy in front of me is more than ten feet, nearly four meters. It looks majestic and eye-catching.

The moment the red cloth was pulled away, Wei Guangde seemed to hear a gasp of cold air coming from the gate of Jingying in the distance.

Wei Guangde dismounted, walked quickly to the cannon, and walked around the cannon.

The cannon now no longer has only one barrel as seen yesterday, but is mounted on a gun carriage.

The gun carriage supports the gun body with two large iron-clad wheels on the left and right, and then a bracket extends to the rear of the gun, and a small steering wheel is installed at the rear end.

It is made to facilitate 360-degree adjustment of the muzzle on the battlefield.

As for the design of controlling the height, there is no design on this gun truck. After all, the real gun has not yet been released.

Iron rings were cast on both sides of the muzzle and barrel, which was also requested by Wei Guangde. They were used to fix the cannon, but he did not dare to bear all the force on the gun carriage.

It would be a big joke if it fell apart when firing.

Wei Guangde returned to his original position after walking around, and he was quite satisfied. He was nodding his head now.

The current appearance of this cannon is very similar to the Western cannons of this era seen in later generations.

"Well done, I will tell Minister Zhu later and give you a reward."

Wei Guangde said to the head of the Ministry of Works beside him.

You have to feed the horse with grass while you want it to run.

The Ministry of Works' reward has nothing to do with him, it's just a matter of a word.

Moreover, Wei Guangde even thought that the Ministry of Works was actually very rich.

Although the various government offices cry poor all day long, the Ministry of Works has more money than the Ministry of Households, after all, the Ministry of Works has its own taxes.

Of course, the richest and poorest government office is definitely the Ministry of War.

It is poor because the Ministry of War has been in arrears with the military pay of the guards in various places, and many of them are distributed according to proportion, and it is almost impossible to have enough pay.

Owing so much money, it is of course the poorest government office.

But the Ministry of War manages the Imperial Household Temple, and here is the richest silver vault in the Ming Dynasty today-Changying Treasury.

The Ministry of Works also has its own warehouse. The Ministry of Households' warehouse is called Taicang Warehouse, and the Ministry of Works has Jieshen Warehouse.

As a result, the Ministry of Works has become the second highest income after the Ministry of Households. The amount of money in it is also amazing, but everyone tacitly said that they don't know.

After all, whether it is the construction of the Forbidden City or other royal buildings, or even various government offices, it is the Ministry of Works that is responsible.

If the Ministry of Works is really drained, what should the emperor do if he wants to build a courtyard or a tower?

If his own government office leaks, doesn't he still have to ask the Ministry of Works to do the work?

Here, Wei Guangde is still evaluating the new cannon. The gate of the Beijing camp is wide open, and the horses are quickly moved away by the soldiers. Qi Jiguang has arrived here with his generals.

When they left the camp, they did not see Wei Guangde and his party, but were attracted by the huge cannon in the crowd in the distance.

"What kind of cannon is this?"

Qi Jiguang had a question in his mind, and then urged his horse to rush over.

When the sound of horse hooves rang out, Wei Guangde also looked back in the crowd. Seeing that it was Qi Jiguang who was leading people over, he didn't care.

Qi Jiguang only had eyes for the cannon at this moment, and he didn't pay attention to it when he was close to it.

"General Qi, Wei Ge Lao is here, why don't you get off your horse."

Qi Jiguang rode over without caring about anything. The followers that Wei Guangde brought with him would not let him do this. Two or three people came out immediately and blocked his way.

When he heard the three words "Wei Ge Lao", Qi Jiguang suddenly realized that he came out this time because he heard that Wei Guangde was coming.

Of course, he knew that Wei Guangde's purpose of coming to the Beijing camp was to watch the joint training of the border troops, but he was attracted by the cannon in front of him and forgot the important matter.

Qi Jiguang also learned from that person that the cannon might have been brought by Wei Guangde.

After he got off his horse, he was led by someone to pass through the crowd outside and came close. He didn't dare to look at the cannon again, but knelt on one knee in front of Wei Guangde to salute.

"I pay my respects to Lord Wei."

"Get up, Yuan Jing, take a look at this cannon."

Wei Guangde smiled and waved his hand casually to signal him to get up and speak.