The emperor's imperial decree came very quickly this time, because the eunuch Tuan'er who announced the decree came by train.
They had dinner at noon and left the Forbidden City. They met the escorting Jin Yiwei at West Chang'an Gate and took a carriage to Jishuitan. First we took the mini train at Jishuitan, and half an hour later we 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, a sleeper car was temporarily added to the 2pm train. The reason why they are given special carriages is mainly for safety reasons. Other carriages cannot enter their carriage. To ensure the safety of the imperial envoys.
In addition to the five ceremonial eunuchs, the eunuch group also has two small-flag imperial guards responsible for protecting their safety. This time, the eunuch Du Xun came to be the Supervisor of Ceremonies. The people from Jin Yiwei commanded 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 the source of promotion as reserve officials. He was specially recruited into the Imperial Guard. At this time, he was the commander of the Jinyiwei, and his status was one level lower than that of Yang Fan, the commander of the Jinyiwei.
He and Zhang Fengyi were both born to the Huo family and were biological brothers and sisters. However, Zhang Daojun and Zhang Fengyi are 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 were killed.
However, Zhang Daojun is more interested in officialdom, and his personal ethics and reputation are 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 came to secretly communicate with the eunuch party through Yang Weiyuan. It's done more secretly. 33
Zhang Daojun was good at ingratiating himself with people and was quite tactful. He got along very well in the Tianqi Dynasty.
However, in the first year of Chongzhen, 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 severely 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, Minister of Civil Affairs.
Wang Yongguang is a veteran minister and was a Jinshi in the 20th year of Wanli. In 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 the right minister of the Ministry of Industry and was responsible for building Dingling Tomb for Wanli. After 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 Justice and later the Minister of the Ministry of Hubu. He was also transferred to Nanjing to take charge of the Metropolitan Procuratorate.
In the third year of Tianqi, Wang Yongguang clashed with Donglin Party member Wang Yuncheng during the "Southern Investigation" and was impeached by Fujian Taoist censor Li Yingsheng. At that time, Donglin's power was at its peak. At the end of the same year, Wang Yongguang resigned under pressure due to illness.
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 received the support of 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 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 who had killed the hozens, but 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 Liangqing, Wei Zhongxian's nephew, and compared Wei Zhongxian to Zhang Chengye and Yan Zunmei, the sage 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 Gongchang and Chaotian Palace, he once again urged Xi Zong to repair the province, stop large-scale construction projects, and be accommodating to the Donglin Party network.
Xizong didn't listen and refuted it. This time, Wei Zhongxian was unhappy. In July, Wang Yongguang once again resigned due to 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 didn't appreciate it, but also wanted to punish him by cleaning up the eunuchs.
However, Wang Yongguang is also an old athlete, and he has already prepared the music in advance, secretly communicating with Xin Wang. Therefore, in the Chongzhen Dynasty, his status was as stable as a rock 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 was appointed as the Crown Prince and Tutor and was appointed as the Secretary of the Ministry of Household Affairs. Later, under the advice of Hu Ke to Shizhong Qu Shichun, Emperor Chongzhen transferred him to the position of 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 and Yushi Li Changchun impeached Wang Yongguang for his bad behavior of relying on Wei Zhongxian and was not suitable to be appointed as Minister of the Six Ministries, so he 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, now that they had broken their skin, 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 imperial investigation and the proposed imperial trial in the second year of Chongzhen, he also protected some members of the eunuch party who had deep conflicts with Donglin.
This resulted in a large number of eunuchs not being liquidated. The power of the eunuchs still had a place in the court.
Therefore, he was regarded as one of the "Four Evils" by the Donglin Party. It almost became a thorn in the flesh.
However, Wang Yongguang was in charge of the personnel department and blocked the promotion of Donglin officials. This made Dong Lin furious.
This is also one of the means used by Chongzhen to check and balance Donglin. The current Hubu Shangshu in charge of money is Bi Ziyan of the Jin Party. The official in charge of personnel affairs is Wang Yongguang, who has had issues 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 Duke Wei, but also protected Donglin members in difficult times. Therefore, it is difficult to classify such a veteran politician into one category.
He lived through the Wanli, Taichang, Tianqi, and Chongzhen periods and was a veteran of the four dynasties. He has been in a high position for a long time. In the late Wanli Dynasty, the brutal battles between the Taichang Dynasty and the Tianqi Dynasty, it was not something ordinary people could do to become a roly-poly with many ups and downs.
He has many disciples and former officials and is very powerful. And Zhang Daojun is actually a member of Wang Yongguang's group.
Because they book a separate carriage, their journey will be very comfortable. There is no need to bear the pain 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 vehicle speed has also been increased, and the current operating speed is 30 kilometers per hour.
It takes 6 hours from Changxindian Station to Zhangjiakou. At this time, the railway had been built to Guihua City. The station is just below Aozuka. If it is from Changxindian to Guihua City, the whole journey takes 18 hours.
They set off at two o'clock in the afternoon and arrived at Guihua City at 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 the morning arrival at dusk.
They chose a separate sleeping car. Although a one-way chartered car costs 120 taels of silver. However, it was much cheaper than walking to Guihua City. Dozens of people, traveling more than a thousand miles, can't be fed by 120 taels.
Some people died, but not completely...
