The emperor's imperial decree came very quickly this time, because the eunuch Tuan'er who announced the decree came by train.
After having dinner at noon, they left the Forbidden City. They met the escorting Jin Yiwei at West Chang'an Gate and took a carriage to Jishuitan. They first took a mini train at Jishuitan, and half an hour later, they arrived at Changxindian Station.
Yang Fan had promised before that the court would have priority in using the train due to official needs.
So an hour later, on the train at two o'clock in the afternoon, a sleeper car was temporarily added. The reason why they were given a special car was mainly for safety reasons. Other cars could not enter their car to ensure the safety of the imperial envoy.
In addition to the five eunuchs who are responsible for the ceremony, the eunuch group also has two small banners of Jin Yiwei, who are responsible for protecting their safety. This time, the person who is the eunuch in charge of etiquette is Du Xun, the attendant eunuch. The person from the Jin Yiwei is commanding the minister Zhang Daojun.
Zhang Daojun is Zhang Fengyi’s brother.
Because his father died in Liaodong, according to the tradition of the Ming Dynasty, loyal ministers and filial sons were promoted as reserve officials. He was specially recruited into the Jinyiwei. At this time, he was the commander of the Jinyiwei, and his status was higher than that of Yang Fan.
Tongzhi is one level lower.
He and Zhang Fengyi were both born to the Huo family and were biological brothers and sisters. However, Zhang Daojun and Zhang Fengyi were completely different people.
The Zhang family was loyal to the emperor and patriotic, and they did their best whether it was fighting against the slaves or suppressing the bandits. Many family members died in battle.
However, Zhang Daojun was more interested in officialdom, and his personal ethics and reputation were not very good.
Because it came from Tianqi Dynasty, he had good relations with Yang Weiyuan, the censor of the Eunuch Party, and others. He secretly communicated with the Eunuch Party through Yang Weiyuan. He did it in a relatively secretive manner.
Zhang Daojun was good at ingratiating himself with people and was quite tactful, so he got along very well in the Tianqi Dynasty.
However, in the first year of Chongzhen's reign, Yang Weiyuan was first promoted to minister of Taichang Temple, but was later demoted to serve in Huai'an Prefecture during Chongzhen's campaign to crack down on the eunuch party.
Yang Weiyuan was just a small shrimp in the eunuch party. He was not seriously liquidated, but was demoted. Therefore, Zhang Daojun was not implicated.
Zhang Daojun was not implicated, and it was also related to his backer.
This person is Wang Yongguang, the Minister of Civil Affairs.
Wang Yongguang is a veteran minister and a Jinshi in the 20th year of Wanli. During the Wanli Dynasty, when they were fighting for the country's foundation, he stood with Donglin.
He rose to prominence very early and served successively as Shaoqing of Taichang Temple, governor of Zhejiang, and minister of Dali Temple in Nanjing. In the Taichang Dynasty, he was promoted to Right Minister of the Ministry of Industry and was responsible for repairing Dingling Tomb for Wanli. After the completion, he was promoted to Minister of the Ministry of Industry.
In the second year of Tianqi's reign, he was appointed as the Minister of the Ministry of Punishment, and later as the Minister of the Ministry of Husbandry. He was also transferred to Nanjing to manage the Procuratorate of the Capital.
In the third year of Tianqi, Wang Yongguang clashed with Donglin Party member Wang Yuncheng during the "Southern Inspection" and was impeached by Fujian Taoist censor Li Yingsheng. At that time, Donglin power was at its peak. At the end of the same year, Wang Yongguang resigned under pressure due to illness.
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In the fourth year of Tianqi, the Donglin Party collapsed in the struggle with Wei Zhongxian and was almost completely driven out of the court.
Because Wang Yongguang had a grudge against the Donglin Party, he was favored by the eunuch Party.
Wang Yongguang was promoted by the eunuchs Wei Guangwei and Cui Chengxiu and was appointed as the Minister of War in Nanjing in March of the fifth year of Tianqi. In October, Gao Di, the Minister of War in Beijing, was appointed as the Liaodong Economic Strategy, and Wang Yongguang was appointed as the Minister of War.
This is also the reason why he is involved with the Eunuch Party. He was indeed promoted to the center of the Tianqi Dynasty by the Eunuch Party.
However, he cannot be said to be a member of the Eunuch Party. Later, he used the Wanggong Factory explosion to try to persuade Emperor Tianqi to open his arms to the Donglin Party, which had fallen into disgrace. However, he failed to obtain the emperor's approval.
In March of the sixth year of Tianqi, Wang Yongguang asked Xizong to confer the title of Wei Zhongxian's nephew Wei Liangqing, and compared Wei Zhongxian to Zhang Chengye and Yan Zunmei, the wise eunuchs of the late Tang Dynasty. On the other hand, he opposed the dispatch of guard eunuchs according to Wei Zhongxian's wishes, but failed to stop him.
Later, on the grounds of the fires in Wang Gong Factory and Chaotian Palace, he once again urged Xi Zong to repair the province, stop large-scale construction projects, and give the Donglin Party network some slack.
Xizong refused to listen and refuted it. This time, Wei Zhongxian was unhappy. In July, Wang Yongguang resigned again claiming illness.
In the Chongzhen Dynasty, although he protected the Donglin Party, although the matter was not accomplished, it at least showed that he was not an eunuch. But Donglin not only did not appreciate it, but also wanted to punish him by cleaning up the eunuch.
However, Wang Yongguang was also an old athlete, and he had already started the cold war in advance, secretly communicating with King Xin. Therefore, by the time of the Chongzhen Dynasty, his status was rock solid and untouchable.
Before Chongzhen came to power, he paid great attention to Wang Yongguang and promoted him quickly after he came to power.
In March of the first year of Chongzhen, Wang Yongguang appointed him as the Crown Prince and Tutor and was appointed as the Minister of the Ministry of Finance. Later, on the advice of the Hu Ke to Qu Shichun, Emperor Chongzhen transferred him to the position of the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel on May 9th.
Donglin was very dissatisfied with his resurgence, and in the autumn of that year he began to impeach him for colluding with the eunuchs.
In the case of Nanjing Hu Ke, Chen Yaoyan said that the imperial censor Li Changchun impeached Wang Yongguang for his bad behavior of being attached to Wei Zhongxian and that he was not suitable to be appointed Minister of the Six Ministries, but was rejected by Emperor Chongzhen. Wang Yongguang was impeached and asked to resign, but Emperor Chongzhen firmly refused.
Now that he and Dong Lin had a complete falling out, and since they had broken up with each other, he no longer pretended.
Later, in the case of Qian Qianyi's recommendation, he secretly supported Wen Tiren and opposed Qian Qianyi's entry into the cabinet. In addition, in the process of presiding over the case of the Beijing Prosecution and the draft imperial decree in the second year of Chongzhen, he also protected some and Donglin
A member of the eunuch party with deep conflicts.
This resulted in a large number of eunuchs not being liquidated. The eunuchs still had a place in the court.
Therefore, he was regarded as one of the "Four Evils" by the Donglin Party. He was almost a thorn in the flesh.
However, Wang Yongguang was in charge of the personnel department and blocked the promotion of Donglin officials. This made Donglin crazy.
This is also one of the means used by Chongzhen to check and balance Donglin. Currently, the Hubu Shangshu in charge of money is Bi Ziyan of the Jin Party. The Libu Shangshu in charge of personnel is Wang Yongguang, who has a feud with the Donglin Party.
Wang Yongguang is an old fox in the officialdom, good at dancing, and hedging his bets. He not only took measures to please Governor Wei, but also protected Donglin members in difficult times. Therefore, it is difficult to classify such a veteran politician into one category.
He has been through the Wanli, Taichang, Tianqi, and Chongzhen dynasties, and is a veteran of the four dynasties. He has held high positions for a long time. In the cruel battles of the late Wanli dynasty, Taichang dynasty, and Tianqi dynasty, he became a roly-poly who had several ups and downs. It is not something ordinary people can do.
Arrived.
He had many former officials and was very powerful. Zhang Daojun was actually a member of Wang Yongguang's group.
Because they booked a separate carriage, their journey would be very comfortable. They would not have to endure the bumpy journey of riding a carriage and walking for more than a month.
The railway has been running for half a year now, and all kinds of running-in have been done very well. The train speed has also increased, and the current operating speed is 30 kilometers per hour.
It takes 6 hours to reach Zhangjiakou from Changxindian Station. At this time, the railway has been built to Guihua City. The station is just below Qingzhong. If it is from Changxindian to Guihua City, the whole journey takes 18 hours.
They departed at two o'clock in the afternoon and arrived at Guihua City at exactly eight o'clock the next morning. Because it was a sleeper car, they arrived almost immediately after sleeping. In Yang Fan's words, this is called arriving in the evening and arriving in the morning.
They chose a separate sleeper car. Although the one-way chartered car cost 120 taels of silver, it was much cheaper than walking to Guihua City. Dozens of people traveled more than a thousand miles.
It's not something that 120 taels can handle for a person to eat what a horse feeds.
