Wang Yue endorsed Zhang Zhou.
He also couldn't understand Zhang Zhou's purpose in doing this.
As a scholar, if you take the imperial examination honestly, even if you don't pass the imperial examination, then you can live your life relying on the emperor's trust. Isn't it very pleasant?
Zhu Youtang would not think so much. Zhang Zhou had provided another good thing to the court. He hurriedly told Xiao Jing to let Dongchang take over the matter.
"Before the Tatar invaders invade the border next year, don't let the news leak out. If you have anything to do, let Dongchang tell you. Report it to me directly."
What Zhu Youtang meant was that this matter only required a few chief ceremonial officers, as well as Zhang Zhou and Wang Yue to be involved, and there was no need to communicate with the Governor's Office and the Ministry of War.
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Wang Yue would naturally find it meaningful to curry favor with Zhang Zhou.
Otherwise, if a minister at the left of the Ministry of War had to use normal means to prepare for a big war... I am afraid that in the next life, the civil servants would not agree.
…
…
After leaving the palace.
Wang Yue couldn't help but asked Zhang Zhou: "Mr. Zhang, why do you bother so much? In fact, if you don't give the magic gunpowder, I can still stop the invading enemy."
Zhang Zhou smiled and said: "Wang Shilang, if I do something that is beneficial to the court, I will do it. I haven't considered personal gains and losses yet. Besides, Your Majesty is clear about rewards and punishments, so there is no need to be self-conscious."
"Sir, you really serve the country and the people."
Wang Yue couldn't help but started to praise him again.
A sycophant.
Zhang Zhou thought to himself, Lao Wang, you are so easy to flatter, it is difficult to connect you with that general who is invincible on the battlefield.
Don't just talk about others, the good and evil sides of Lao Wang are also very contradictory.
Don’t you have any idea in your mind?
Zhang Zhou said goodbye to Wang Yue and was about to get into the carriage when Zhu Feng rushed over excitedly and said: "Mr. Zhang..."
"Speak seriously!"
"Yes, Brother Zhang, I went to see my father and asked him about joining the army." Zhu Feng smiled and said, "My father is very supportive of this, especially when he knew that I was going to the northwest with Mr. Wang. He said that I was leaving. Eight lifetimes of shit luck.”
Zhang Zhou frowned.
As expected, this father does not have much education. Is this a compliment to his son or a disgrace to his son?
"You have a long mouth. Many things are still confidential. Who told you to tell them?" Zhang Zhou said.
Zhu Feng said with a smile: "It's okay, my father will definitely not tell anyone. By the way, I also mentioned your magical firearm..."
Zhang Zhou gave him another look.
Does this kid particularly like to brag now?
Zhu Feng's character is good, she can talk to people easily, but she is also a bit bad, she just can't seem to hide things.
This guy must be given a beating.
"Don't let any more leaks about this matter, otherwise you won't even think about going to the northwest!"
Zhang Zhou said in an almost threatening tone.
"Okay. It all depends on Brother Zhang." Zhu Feng said, "By the way, my father also wants to invite you to come over, saying that he never had time to entertain you properly."
Zhang Zhou said: "No, I have been too busy preparing for the exam recently, and there are so many things besides preparing for the exam, I don't have time."
"My wife's side..."
Zhang Zhou immediately thought of Ning Tong's appearance as a deeply resentful woman.
"Your wife, not my wife, be nice to her!"
Not only did he want to ask for "Jin Ping Mei" for himself, Zhang Zhou finally wanted to give this book a name. Otherwise, Zhang Zhou always felt that those weird names would bring about many social problems.
It seems that the ban on this book in the Ming and Qing dynasties was justified.
…
…
The seventh day of the twelfth lunar month.
During the Meridian Gate meeting that day, the atmosphere was a bit strange.
Many ministers seemed to want to remind the emperor that the deadline had come and it was time to talk about the previous "witchcraft".
Zhu Youtang seemed not to remember such a thing.
Until the end of the court meeting, Zhou Jing, the Minister of Household Affairs, came out and said: "Your Majesty, in the past few years, there have been widespread rumors spread by traveling Taoist priests among the people. If anyone involves royal affairs, please order a strict investigation." place to prevent rumors from spreading.”
Zhou Jing did not directly address Zhang Zhou's rumors about the earthquake.
But what he said was more serious, because he mentioned a thorn in Zhu Youtang's heart, that is, there have been rumors among the people that he, Zhu Youtang, was not the biological son of Emperor Chenghua.
The starting point of this rumor is that when Concubine Wan Gui favored the Sixth Palace, she always wanted to depose Zhu Youtang, an uncontrollable prince. Even before Concubine Wan Gui died, she had made relevant efforts. In addition, Zhu Youtang There are many unclear and untrue records of Youtang's birth date and experiences in the first five years of his life.
Whether Zhu Youtang was known to Emperor Chenghua as soon as he was born, whether he was fostered and refused to be revealed, or whether he was not known to Emperor Chenghua until he was five years old, is still a matter of debate.
The issue of the emperor's bloodline has always been the most important thing for the imperial court, and it is impossible for the emperor to condone the spread of such rumors.
But this time, Zhu Youtang was uncharacteristically easy-going and said: "Rumors stop only the wise. The more I try to block them, the more often it will be counterproductive. Can I block people's mouths and control their hearts?"
Many ministers have opinions on this.
That being said, rumors stop with wise men, but how many wise men are there in the world? In many things, three people can become a tiger, and everyone follows what they say?
Zhu Youtang said: "You gentlemen, I don't mention it. I also know that today is the seventh day of the Lunar New Year. But even if there is an earthquake now, will it take two days to reach the capital? But I only said that it is today, not that it is. When is today, can’t you wait two days before talking about it? Next topic.”
The emperor did not want to talk about things that would confuse the public, and the ministers also changed the topic.
Zhou Jing began to report annual accounts.
"... After the grain taxes and other taxes are collected from various places in the autumn and have been brought to Taicang one after another, the detailed figures are being summarized and reported. It is estimated that the settlement will be completed in a few days!"
…
…
After the court meeting.
Zhu Youtang was feeling a little depressed. For him, he had been very anxious these days. He was also waiting for news.
Dai Yi seemed to understand what the emperor was thinking very well. On the way to the East Palace, Dai Yi explained it to the emperor...
"Your Majesty, there seems to be a stone in my heart recently, but it has never fallen to the ground. But I wonder if the earthquake will happen? If it does happen, it will be a miracle. I am afraid that no one in the court will be dissatisfied with Mr. Zhang. The ability to calculate the secrets of heaven is doubtful..."
Zhu Youtang glanced sideways at Dai Yi.
You really thought of me together.
Zhu Youtang said: "It's impossible to do things like earthquakes accurately."
Dai Yi understood it as soon as he heard it.
Even the emperor was not very confident about this. If this had not been said by the emperor's new "Bing Kuan", he probably would not have mentioned it in the court.
Could it be that those ministers knew that those who had predicted earthquakes in advance since ancient times were all liars, and that the emperor was too ignorant to know?
It would be nice to have a precedent of correct forecasting in advance.
The key is that there is not a single successful case from various official historical records.
Just saying.
The group has arrived at Wenhua Hall.
At this time, there was no one watching outside the Wenhua Hall. Zhu Youtang thought to himself that it seemed that his education had worked.
Enter the Wenhua Hall.
The lecturer that day had not yet entered the palace, but Zhu Houzhao was still drawing something on the paper.
Zhu Youtang frowned after seeing it.
I just thought that this kid would no longer send people to keep an eye on him, but now it seems... he is still pretending.
Based on the father’s understanding of his son, is his son the one who loves to learn?
"Prince!"
After Zhu Youtang walked in, he said coldly.
Zhu Houzhao was yawning. When he saw his father coming in the middle of his yawn, he closed his open mouth and walked over and said, "Father is here."
"You didn't sleep well?" Zhu Youtang frowned.
Zhu Houzhao said: "Yes, I couldn't sleep last night."
Zhu Youtang rolled his eyes at his son, and then picked up what his son was pretending to write. It didn't matter if he didn't read it, but when he saw it... it was really pretentious.
None of the crooked things on the paper are serious words, not even strokes.
Where's the ghost talisman?
"What is this?" Zhu Youtang said coldly, "I want you to learn, are you deliberately making trouble with me? Tell me! Did you send someone out to inquire again?"
Zhu Houzhao was baffled by the scolding and said with a confused face: "No, father, this is the mathematics taught to me by Zhang Zhou and Zhang Qing's family, which is arithmetic. He said that as a prince, in addition to understanding the Four Books and Five Classics, he should also be familiar with it. You must know something about arithmetic, otherwise you will be easily deceived by others. Only by knowing the affairs of the world and having real skills can you assist your father in governing the Ming Dynasty."
"Um."
When Zhu Youtang heard this, the words sounded quite pleasant to his ears.
The level of this brat's reasoning is getting better and better day by day. It seems that this brat also knows what I like to hear!
Being a prince should learn more skills...
Zhu Youtang said with a straight face: "You want to use your righteousness to prevent me from punishing you, right? Is this arithmetic?"
Zhu Houzhao said: "Why not? Look at this, it is one, this is two... This circle is zero. In arithmetic, there is nothing. If it is a one and a circle, it is ten..."
Arabic numerals were taught by Zhang Zhou during the ten days he accompanied Zhu Houzhao in retreat.
The naughty child's learning ability is first-rate. He was simply taught basic rules. After a few days, Zhu Houzhao was able to complete basic operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.
Arabic numerals are indeed very simple, and in terms of calculation rules, compared to the popular "Nine Chapters of Arithmetic" and so on, it is really much simpler. Compared with the abacus, which is difficult to learn and master multiplication and division, on paper The calculation is also more convenient.
Precisely because it is easy to learn arithmetic but difficult to master these days, accounting is also a very popular profession.
Zhu Youtang frowned as he listened to his son's words, and after a while he asked, "Is this what Bingkuan taught you?"
"Yes." Zhu Houzhao said.
Zhu Youtang asked: "When did you teach him?"
Zhu Houzhao replied directly: "In those few days, I spent time with him day and night, and he taught it to Erchen. At first, Erchen didn't want to learn, but he mentioned a few numbers casually, such as thirty-five warehouses. There were fifteen shi of grain in each warehouse, so how many shi of grain were there in total? He used this calculation and quickly figured it out. I thought it was fun, so I wrote it down."
"Fun?" Zhu Youtang frowned. It was the first time he heard that his son thought learning knowledge was fun. He asked, "Then what are you thinking?"
"Well..."
Zhu Houzhao was talking eloquently just now, but he was asked what he was thinking about.
He hesitated and refused to speak.
Because he was calculating how much "net worth" he still had, Zhu Houzhao also knew how to manage private money. He finally extorted 6,500 taels of silver from his uncle, and now he only has less than 4,000 taels left. If you know how your money is spent, of course you have to calculate it carefully.
Just as I was thinking about it... daddy came.
When you brag in front of your dad, he can't stand up to both of them. I really want him to tell you why...
He knew this and couldn't confess it to his father.
I can only pretend to be dumb.
(End of chapter)
