"To the west is the Confucius Temple. Scholars must go there to worship." The boatman, acting as a tour guide, kept talking all the way and said: "To the west of the Confucius Temple is the Prince of Zhongshan's Mansion. In fact, it should be called Wei Guogong's Mansion now, but it was passed down by the ancestors of Nanjing people.
It’s still called Zhongshan Prince’s Palace.” He pointed to the south bank and said, “There is a garden over there called Dongyuan, and the common people call it Xu Zhongshan Garden. It is also the family property of Zhongshan Prince. I heard that it is comparable to the royal garden.”
Li Muxian and others were shocked when they heard this, but Chang Yu was familiar with these allusions. Xu Dan was the first of the heroes, and his daughter was the empress of Emperor Yongle. Naturally, his family received the largest reward and the size of the palace was second to none. In fact, Zhanyuan in later generations was just one of them.
This is part of the mansion, which shows its scale at that time. As for the East Garden mentioned by the boatman, it was the Bailuzhou Park in later generations, but at this time it was the private garden of the Xu family.
Godsend expanded the ancestral property that he seized from his eldest nephew Wei Guogong Xu Pengju. Those who could wander in it were either rich or noble or famous literati.
When the boat arrived at Dongshuiguan near Tongji Gate, Chang Yu and his party disembarked and went ashore. Because the Qinhuai River was diverted here and flowed back to the main road outside the city, and Chang Yu was not going to the imperial city, so there was no need to take the waterway.
Chang Yu and his entourage landed on the shore and walked north along the street. They walked around and saw how prosperous they were. It is not an exaggeration to say that this ancient capital of the Six Dynasties was the most prosperous city in the Ming Dynasty. After all, at this time, Beijing was in the midst of plague and war.
Under the double blow, it was like a hell, far less than this ancient capital in the south of the Yangtze River.
After finishing the business, I should take a walk around Nanjing City. Li Muchian claims to have traveled south and north, but in fact he has never crossed the south of the Yangtze River. This is the first time he comes to Nanjing City. He is dazzled and looks like Lian Xin. However, Song Luoshu has been to Nanjing several times and can still vaguely remember it.
Many place names.
It was already noon, and the five of them walked to Changfu Street, found a restaurant, and ordered a banquet. As the name suggests, Changfu Street is the residence of the Huaiyuan Marquis, the founding general Chang Yuchun. Nanjing people used to call it Prince Kaiping's Palace, and today Huaiyuan Marquis is called Chang.
Trillium has a reputation as a virtuous person.
After the young eunuch entered the city, he went straight to the Kaiping Palace, and it was strange to see his eyes staring at the palace thoughtfully. Li Muchian's heart was agitated, and he remembered what Chang Yu said about Chang Yuchun's descendants on the way.
If there is any indication at the time of the incident.
Not long after the food and wine were served, Chunxiang arrived in a hurry. Chang Yu started scolding him next to him: "Damn it, those eyes, ears and nose are really smart. They got the news faster than me. The city of Nanjing is said to be the country of Wei."
It must be good at all."
It turned out that when they were in Fengyang, Chang Yu had made an appointment with Chunxiang to meet at a restaurant on Changfu Street when they arrived in Nanjing. Although he didn't know when Chang Yu would arrive and he didn't specify which restaurant, he was expected to arrive in the past two or three days and the area was nearby.
There were not many restaurants, so after Chunxiang entered the city, he sent people to keep an eye on the area.
But it wasn't until noon that the highly educated man told him that Wei Guogong led a group of Nanjing officials to meet Chang Yu outside the city but failed. Chunxiang didn't know that Chang Yu had arrived in Nanjing, so he hurried over, feeling sorry for him.
I admire the Duke of Wei for being well-informed.
But it is also reasonable. When he first came to Nanjing, he was short of manpower, and the Xu family's background was unfathomable. In addition to being a Duke, Xu Hongji was also a garrison officer in Nanjing. His clan members were all over the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion and the Jinyiwei Yamen. In addition, the current situation
, he had to be careful, and he did not know how many people were deployed at the ferry crossings on both sides of the Yangtze River, overtly or covertly. Therefore, as soon as Chang Yu arrived in Taishan Town, his informant spotted him and immediately sent him back to the city. He was so surprised that he hurriedly came outside the city to greet him.
"It would be great if he could put this kind of thought on defending the enemy." Chang Yu sighed and shook his head, and Li Muchian clicked his tongue in surprise: "I originally heard adults say that Nanjing was the country of Wei, but I didn't think so, but now it seems that there is no exaggeration.
place".
Chunxiang also sighed: "I have heard too many things about the Xu family in the past two days. It is really no exaggeration. Although there are dozens of nobles in Nanjing, they are not as good as the Xu family. It can be said that the Xu family has dozens of people."
People from hundreds of ethnic groups are employed in the yamen up and down the city of Nanjing. A closer look makes people feel frightened. Even the Ding Guogong lineage in Beijing is far behind."
Chang Yu was convinced of this. Xu Da had four sons, the third of whom died young. In addition to the lineage of Dingguogong who was taken to Beijing by Zhu Di, the Xu family also had two branches in Nanjing, one of which was the hereditary lineage of the eldest son, Xu Huizu.
Wei Guogong, the second eldest son, Xu Yingxu, is the hereditary Jin Yiwei commanding the Qianshi, and these hereditary ones are only the eldest son and eldest grandson, but there is no big family with few sons, and if the sons spread out, after several generations, there will be hundreds of families.
, we all have the same ancestors, so we can’t favor one over the other.
Therefore, there is a term called "Enyin Jilu", which is to provide some kind of compensation to ordinary children who cannot inherit the merits of their ancestors, and to serve as idle positions in the yamen. In fact, Jinyiwei also assumed this function when it was first established.
For example, Xu Tianci, who built the Xu Family East Garden, was mentioned earlier. Although his brother Xu Kuibi had no chance to seize the title because he died a year earlier than his father, he allowed his son, his eldest nephew Xu Peng, to seize the title, and he was awarded the title of Commander of the Nanjing Jinyi Guard.
However, these are all idle positions. The six ministries and some yamen in Nanjing have no real power. Only the Jinyiwei is a little special. After all, the intelligence agency must operate in a unified manner nationwide, but it is nominally working side by side with Beijing but is actually under its leadership, so Gao Wencai can act openly and openly.
Entering the yamen office.
Compared with the Jinyiwei in Beijing who were frequently involved in court disputes, the Jinyiwei in Nanjing mostly worked for their own benefit. For example, Xu Tianci relied on this privilege to get ancestral property from his eldest nephew to build a garden. The common people at that time called him: "Xu Tianci"
"Jinyi Garden".
Therefore, the commander of the Jinyi Guards still has a certain degree of power in Nanjing City, and the one with more real power is the Nanjing garrison. This position has been passed around in the hands of nobles in Nanjing since the Hongwu Year, such as Chang Yuchun, Deng Yu,
Tang and his descendants, but it is the Xu family that has lost the most flowers, and it is still the Xu family today.
Just imagine that the Xu family hereditary Duke of Wei was appointed as the garrison of Nanjing and the governor of the rear army. The hereditary Jin Yiwei commanded the general affairs, and in turn served as the commander of the Jin Yiwei. There are even members of the clan who served in the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies. Do you think he can be cool in Nanjing City?
What.
"Now the commander of Nanjing Jinyiwei is temporarily vacant, and the real power is in the hands of Xu Yingxu's ninth grandson, Xu Hongying, who is an old man in his sixties." Chunxiang took a bite: "The Xu family's background is finally figured out, except for myself
Besides being rich and powerful, there are also several nobles who are very close to him and are forming cliques. How are you going to take action?"
Chang Yu glanced at the Kaiping Palace outside the window: "Don't worry, make an appointment with Shi Kefa and Lu Daqi in the evening and we will visit them. By the way, I'll leave a post first."
Chunxiang exclaimed, and then said: "The weather is nice today, I can take this opportunity to have a nice walk around Nanjing."
Chang Yu smiled bitterly and shook his head: "How can I have that free time?" He turned to Su Jing and said: "After dinner, you can take Lian Xin for a walk. You can just go to Zhongshan Prince's Mansion to find me in the evening." Su Jing said "oh" and asked again: "Where are you?
Are these two people safe?"
"I don't dare say it outside the city. No one in the city dares to touch our house. Even if a hair falls off, the Duke of Wei will break out in a cold sweat." Su Jing didn't understand, but Li Muchian and Chunxiang looked at each other and smiled.
After lunch, Su Jing took Lian Xin to Zha Street. Chun Xiang was busy making arrangements, leaving Chang Yu, Li Muchian and Song Luoshu alone in the restaurant looking at the Kaiping Palace: "You should know what our family wants to do, right?"
Li Muxian nodded: "Although I don't know the details, I'm not far away, but are you really sure you want to do this?"
"Think it over, there are pros and cons." Chang Yu took a deep breath: "But I need you to explore the road first."
Li Muxian smiled slightly: "This is what Pindao is good at." He cupped his hands and turned to go downstairs.
"Sir, where are we going now?" Song Luoshu asked.
Chang Yu raised his eyebrows: "You are tired after marching all night, let's find an inn and sleep first."