My father is Jiajing

Chapter 477 Xu Lu's Three or Two Things

Xu Jie's son Xu Fan was not as ostentatious and domineering as Yan Shifan, but when it came to greed, Xu Fan was no less greedy than Yan Shifan.

In the original historical trajectory, Xu Fan’s experience cannot be said to be 100% similar to Yan Shifan’s, but it is at least 70% to 80% similar.

Xu Fan was able to become an official because of his father's official position. He received the benefit of "officials giving birth to officials through their influence" and thus became an official.

Therefore, no matter in terms of starting point or process, the two men were surprisingly similar. Yan Shifan entered the officialdom as a clerk in the Right Military Governor's Office, and Xu Fan entered the officialdom as a clerk in the Left Military Governor's Office.

But things were different in the subsequent process. Yan Shifan had always been beside Yan Song and was promoted to various levels of idle official positions in the capital, and was eventually promoted to the current position of Vice Minister of Works.

Xu Fan, on the other hand, only held a few sinecure posts in the capital before he was exiled and promoted to the post of prefect of Guangnan, Yunnan, becoming an official outside the capital.

Xu Jie and Xu Fan were both scared by the decision of the Ministry of Personnel at that time. During the Ming Dynasty, Yunnan was not a tourist destination in the south of the colorful clouds with singing birds and blooming flowers all year round.

At this time in the Ming Dynasty, Yunnan represented poverty and backwardness, and was a barren land where the people were fierce and war-torn and banditry coexisted.

The chieftains there often flirted with the vassal states in Myanmar and Annan, and were always wondering whether they could also obtain the status of vassal lords like Annan and Myanmar if they rebelled.

Therefore, in such a dangerous place, coupled with the harsh conditions and very real survival problems such as malaria in Yunnan, Xu Jie was really afraid that once his eldest son went to Yunnan, it would become a farewell forever, and it would become a human tragedy of the old sending off the young.

Therefore, Xu Jie was also very panicked, and he quickly wrote a petition to Emperor Jiajing, requesting that Xu Fan's rank be changed.

Xu Jie wept in his memorial, saying, "I have three sons, and Fan is the eldest. He was born to my ex-wife, Shen. He lost his mother when he was one year old. He is weak and stupid. Now he is appointed to lead the county and be the head of the officials in the prefectures and counties. He is in charge of the important and complicated matters such as money, criminal law, taxes and labor. I am afraid that I am not qualified for the job. I cannot fulfill the emperor's intention to carefully select governors and magistrates."

"Also, my second son is only 14 years old, and my youngest son is only 8 years old. This boy is 29 years old this year. If he is appointed as the governor of a county, he cannot be appointed as the governor of a private household. He can take care of things for me. I will give him my sincere support. Besides, Yunnan is thousands of miles away from the capital, and it will take several months for us to communicate with each other. I am particularly reluctant to leave because of my deceased wife... I humbly ask God to have special consideration and order the Ministry of Personnel to check the previous example and reduce the rank of my son's promotion to prefect by three or four levels, and transfer him to an idle government office in Beijing, so that I can rely on him day and night and not be distracted."

After reading the memorial submitted by Xu Jie requesting a change in rank for his son Xu Fan, Emperor Jiajing softened his heart and ordered the Ministry of Personnel to change Xu Fan to Shangbao Cheng, allowing him to continue to stay by Xu Jie's side and fulfill his filial duties.

The role of Xu Fan, who stayed with Xu Jie, was similar to that of Yan Shifan, who stayed with Yan Song, both of them gave advice to their father.

History records: "When Xu Jie was in the government, he would always call on Fan to discuss any secret reports or replies related to state affairs. He paid special attention to training him, hoping that he would be a pillar of state in the future."

This shows that Xu Jie had great expectations and cultivation for him, but when this guy was in the capital and with Xu Jie, he still looked like an honest and obedient man, with no bad behavior.

But at the end of the Jiajing period, Xu Fan did not continue to stay in the capital, but returned to his hometown in Huating County, Songjiang Prefecture to take charge of family affairs. During this period, Xu Fan's greed was revealed, and he amassed land in his hometown and exploited the local people.

When Gao Gong was in power, he had long been fed up with Xu Jie and his gang of so-called clean hypocrites, so he took action against Xu Fan, exposing all of Xu Fan's crimes and sent him to exile.

As a result, when Xu Jie's good disciple Zhang Juzheng came to power, Zhang Juzheng rescinded the sentence against Xu Fan, allowing him to land safely. However, it was also because of this that the Xu family became even more unscrupulous in their hometown of Jiangnan after Xu Jie, and they annexed large quantities of land without any remorse.

When Hai Rui took office as the governor of Yingtian and implemented the Single Whip Law, he also wanted to use the Xu family as a warning to intimidate the scoundrels in the south of the Yangtze River, ease the reality of local annexation, and give the common people a way out.

But unfortunately, this matter involved too many people and too great a stake. Moreover, Xu Jie was Zhang Juzheng's teacher. Although Zhang Juzheng was willing to reform the system, he could not bear the unjust name of "disloyalty and unfilial".

So when Hai Rui was expecting to use the attack on the Xu family as a deterrent to fight for the livelihood of the people in the south of the Yangtze River and set an example for the "One Whip Law" that the court was trying to implement in a hurry, he was dismissed by Zhang Juzheng and thrown directly into the Nanjing Grain Storage Office, an office that was so idle that it could not be any more idle. From then on, the magic sword was covered in dust and could no longer emit the slightest bit of unparalleled sword energy that made people feel chilled and frightened.

In the end, he could only quietly serve as the Right Censor-in-Chief of Nanjing, and when he died he couldn't even have a proper funeral.

When his number one fan, Chief Censor Wang Yongji, went to preside over the funeral, he saw that Hai Rui's residence was covered with hemp cloth curtains and the furniture in the room was all tattered bamboo furniture, some of which even poor scholars were unwilling to use. He could not help but weep and raised money to handle Hai Rui's funeral.

It can be seen how poor and helpless Hai Rui's life was. He wanted to use his sword to clear the world for the Ming Dynasty and bring a bright and sunny day to the people of the Ming Dynasty, but what he did could not be tolerated by the vested interest groups at that time.

Faced with these people's crazy slander and malicious frame-ups, Hai Rui was fortunate in misfortune that he was not killed by them. Therefore, it was extremely difficult to expect such a world and Zhang Juzheng's ten years of drastic measures to change the world of the Ming Dynasty and win a glimmer of hope for the Ming Dynasty.

But the situation is different now. Zhu Zaigui's way of thinking is always different from that of people of this era, and Zhang Juzheng is always controlled by Zhu Zaigui. Even if Zhang Juzheng wants to protect the Xu family where his teacher Xu Jie is in the future and keep some feelings for the family.

But as long as Zhu Zaigui does not give him this opportunity, the Xu family's fate will not be good, unless Xu Jie's eldest son also undergoes new changes in the future historical evolution and does not continue to return to his hometown to exploit the people and engage in large-scale annexation as in the original history, Zhu Zaigui will not mind giving the Xu family a final dignity.

But if Xu Fan in the future remains as greedy as he was in history, and if he relies on his father's reputation and status, and his connections and confidence in the court to continue to unscrupulously engage in land annexation and do evil things that oppress the people, Zhu Zaigui will definitely make the Xu family's fate follow in the footsteps of the Yan family!

Let his family follow the Yan family and be nailed to the pillar of shame in history!

After receiving his father's instructions and instructions, Xu Fan did not delay in the slightest, but immediately mobilized his personal connections to investigate the person in charge of the Ministry of Works who had reported Yan Shifan for passing off ordinary wood as golden nanmu.

At the same time, Zhu Zaigui was leisurely waiting in his own palace for Zhao Wenhua's letter of surrender.

Zhu Zaigui was certain that Zhao Wenhua would show his loyalty to him at all costs, and he did not intend to kill this corrupt official and lackey who was notorious in history.

After all, there is a saying that the water of the Yellow River can irrigate the fields of several provinces on both sides of the river. It cannot be abandoned because of turbid water, nor can it be used because of clear water. The Yangtze River and the Yellow River each have their own wonderful uses. As long as we control them so that they do not flood, then it is the best way to use them.

Therefore, Zhu Zaigui is not a person who sees things in black and white. He does not think that he can accomplish great things by using people as so-called historical officials. You must know that sometimes, for some things, these corrupt officials with obvious handles in hand will actually be more worry-free and labor-saving. And their execution ability is definitely much stronger than those so-called clean officials who can only talk big all day long. Therefore, in Zhu Zaigui's mind, he does not have a clear distinction between likes and dislikes. As long as the officials can help him get things done and do not cause him subsequent impact, Zhu Zaigui will treat them equally, whether they are so-called strict party or clean party.

Otherwise, the court would be left with those upright people who can only talk big and always use "the saints said" and "the ancestral rules" as their catchphrases. Wouldn't Zhu Zaigui have gotten the script of "the court is full of righteous people" from Emperor Chongzhen fifty years in advance?

This result was not what Zhu Zaigui wanted. What Zhu Zaigui wanted was a brand new atmosphere for the Ming Dynasty, not wasting his energy and time on dealing with a bunch of literati who could only force the emperor to do things.

"How is Zhao Wenhua's case going?"

After waiting for several days without receiving any letter, Zhu Zaigui finally couldn't resist his curiosity and found Li Chunfang to ask questions.

Li Chunfang said, "Reporting to the prince, Zhao Wenhua said that he had arranged the action and sent the things to the Ministry of Public Security, but there was still no movement. He suspected that the things might be held back by the Ministry of Public Security."

Zhu Zaigui laughed when he heard this. "It's amazing. If I remember correctly, the current head of the Tongzhengsi should be someone under Lord Xu, right? The fact that this matter has been suppressed shows that it must be another cautious masterpiece of Lord Xu."

Li Chunfang replied: "Your Majesty is wise, I think so too."

Zhu Zaigui waved his hands and said, "Forget it, let's let the bullets fly for a while. Anyway, it's a long time before the imperial recommendation. Recently, Commander Lu's mansion is also holding a funeral. Your Majesty is also very sad. I heard from Eunuch Huang that Your Majesty was crying in front of Commander Lu's portrait. It's not appropriate to make too many moves now to cause other troubles."

Li Chunfang nodded and understood what Zhu Zaigui meant.

Although everyone knew about Lu Bing's death, his death still had a huge impact on the political situation.

After all, he was a close confidant of Emperor Jiajing who had followed him since childhood. His mother was also Emperor Jiajing's wet nurse when he was a child. He had also risked his life to save the emperor several times. It would be impossible for him to remain indifferent when such a close minister suddenly passed away.

Therefore, the sadness of Emperor Jiajing was naturally a true expression of his feelings, and not a pretense to win over his subjects.

"His Majesty asked you to come up with a posthumous title for Commander Lu. What did you come up with?"

Zhu Zaigui asked another casual question.

Li Chunfang replied: "After several discussions and careful considerations, the cabinet finally proposed the posthumous title of 'Wu Hui' for Lu Zhizhi."

Upon hearing the posthumous title of Wu Hui, Zhu Zaigui also hummed. If it were before, Zhu Zaigui might really not know what "Wu Hui" meant, but as he spent more time in the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Zaigui naturally understood a lot of cultural symbols belonging to this era.

"Commander Lu fought bravely and selflessly, and he deserves the word 'benefit'. Your Majesty is really sad and heartbroken when he leaves."

Li Chunfang said: "Yes, His Majesty personally wrote an imperial edict for the commander of the road, praising his merits in serving the country, exposing the traitor, fulfilling his duties loyally, and writing Qingci, and he wanted to posthumously confer him the title of Loyal Earl."

Zhu Zaiqi hummed, "Commander Lu has been loyal to His Majesty all his life, so it is only right that he be called the Loyal Earl."

Li Chunfang added: "Your Majesty will also give him sixteen altars of sacrifices."

Zhu Zaigui was not surprised when he heard about the sixteen altars of sacrifices.

"Although sixteen jars of sacrifices are the standard for royal relatives, it is not excessive to use them on Commander Lu. Commander Lu has been with Your Majesty since childhood, and his mother was Your Majesty's wet nurse, so the friendship between him and Your Majesty has long surpassed that of ordinary monarchs and ministers. It is only right to grant him sixteen jars of sacrifices."

Zhu Zaigui was also very tolerant towards the dead. After all, Lu Bing had never caused trouble for Zhu Zaigui over the years, and he was indeed loyal to Emperor Jiajing. After his death, he was given sixteen jars of sacrificial offerings according to the standards for royal relatives. There was nothing to say about it.

Li Chunfang said, "Yes, the friendship between Commander Lu and Your Majesty is extraordinary. It is indeed beyond words. Moreover, Your Majesty also gave Commander Lu 50 stone of linen and food. He also ordered the Ministry of Works to prepare a coffin and build a tomb for him. He also asked the Ministry of War to appoint his son Lu Yi as the deputy commander of this guard, and asked Chengguogong Zhu Xixiao to take care of his family. It can be said that His Majesty is extremely gracious, and few people in the country can compare with him."

Zhu Zaigui said: "This is as it should be. Lu Bing has saved Your Majesty many times, so it is not excessive to have such a favor. It's just a pity that Commander Lu died in his prime."

Zhu Zaigui's words also surprised Li Chunfang. Isn't 51 years old considered an "old man"? How can he still be in the prime of life?
But when he thought about the old men in the court, all of whom were in their seventies or eighties, he felt relieved.

Compared with these old men, Lu Bing did die in his prime.

"Okay, let's stop here today. You can go back and get busy. I will go to the Lu Mansion to offer sacrifices on behalf of His Majesty later, so I won't keep you here for too long."

After Zhu Zaigui finished chatting, he let Li Chunfang go.

Li Chunfang also immediately replied: "I'll take my leave."

After Li Chunfang really left, Zhu Zaigui called Meng Chong over again, "Go find Yu Huatian and ask him to quietly send someone to check on the Xu family, especially Xu Jie's son Xu Fan, to see what he has been doing recently. At the critical moment, we need to give them a push. Otherwise, if they keep procrastinating like this, when will they be able to get things done?"

Meng Chong immediately replied: "I obey your command."

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Asking for a monthly ticket~~
(End of this chapter)