Zhang Zhou took Jiang Dezhong to Xishan.
He had already done the mining and exploration work before, and this time he came to confirm the mining location with Lao Jiang, and then improve the mining methods, and discuss clearly the hiring and dividend ratios, etc.
"My dear son-in-law, you are saying that the emperor has given you a reward to open a coal mine in Xishan? That would be a big profit, but this person is not familiar with the place. Where can he open it?"
When Jiang Dezhong followed Zhang Zhou, Zhang Zhou seemed to be waiting for him to pick up the money.
When he arrived at the place, he found that what he had found was a barren mountain, which seemed to have nothing to do with picking up money.
Zhang Zhou pointed to a depression in front of him and said, "Did you see it? There is a shallow coal mine here. The quality is very good, but no one has developed it yet."
"How did you know?"
Jiang Dezhong was somewhat speechless about this son-in-law.
If such a good place really existed, would it be Zhang Zhou’s turn?
Zhang Zhou thought to himself, can I tell you that in the next few hundred years, there were hundreds or even thousands of coal mines in Xishan? If you want to know where the mines are, just go to Xishan and see where there are ruins.
"Let's go. I'll pay for the capital, but father-in-law, let's make an agreement. I'll share 20% of the profits. The coal mines are all in your name. If anything happens, you'll be responsible for it."
"But don't worry, you don't have to worry about the market for the coal that is sold. Either the court will take it, or we will digest it ourselves and calculate the dividends for you according to the coal price on the market. You need to recruit people. The ones that can be used now are even one hundred Not enough people are there, it’s far from enough…”
What Zhang Zhou means is that I will make the bulk of the money, you will recruit the people, you will run the business on a regular basis, and you will bear the risks.
I am the boss behind the scenes and you are the CEO.
Jiang Dezhong felt uncomfortable when he heard it. He said, "Twenty percent, isn't it a little less?"
Zhang Zhou said: "Do you think everyone can open a mine? Policy is the most important. I will choose the location for you. There will be a harvest of at least 18,000 taels in the first year of opening the mine, and there will be more every year in the future. With coal, there will be Iron smelting and other harvests are all profitable. Do you have anything to lose?"
"That's what I say... But since it's such a good deal, why don't you do it yourself?" Jiang Dezhong is not a fool. He knows that the early preparations for mining are very troublesome and consume a lot of energy.
He will be responsible for future management matters.
He exerted his strength, but Zhang Zhou basically made away the money.
Zhang Zhou shook his head: "I am a person who is going to take the imperial examination. How can I have so much time to be responsible for this kind of thing? If you think it is not suitable, I will find someone else to do it. Isn't it just to find an agent? The imperial decree is to open the mine, and there are Dongchang and The people in Jinyiwei helped keep an eye on the risks, and the nobles did not dare to come and snatch them... The emperor was robbing food at his feet. Who dared to play with no way out?"
Jiang Dezhong took a breath after hearing this.
Tired and tired.
But he was also very interested in hearing about the political resources hidden behind it.
There is a feeling of suddenly changing from a lowly businessman to a superior person.
"Then I will risk my life to accompany the gentleman, not just to mine, but to do it!"
Zhang Zhou could see that Old Jiang had no intention of refusing, but was just wrangling and wanted to fight for something, but when he woke up with his words, he was too embarrassed to argue.
Two percent profit.
I did not treat Lao Jiang badly.
"Xian son-in-law, can we find a place to have a drink?" After the matter was settled, Jiang Dezhong became interested.
Zhang Zhou gave him a look and said, "Business matters, I don't want to drink. I'll wait for the first batch of coal to come out of the coal mine before we can have a good time over wine."
…
…
Court meeting.
After three days of preliminary review by the Nei Lian Officer of the examination, a preliminary report was made. On that day, Xu Qiong, the Minister of Rites, made a summary in the morning meeting.
All in all, there is only one thing... no evidence or proof.
"...So far, no examination papers have been found that involve doubts about vend questions. The examiner will unseal them today after asking for instructions, and match the red scrolls with the ink scrolls for further inspection."
After being reminded by Xiao Jing, Li Dongyang became more cautious when reviewing the papers.
He did not open the seal directly on his own initiative, or Li Dongyang was afraid that the emperor had other plans.
Follow step by step, report to the court for instructions immediately after completing a step.
Zhu Youtang looked at the ministers present and said, "What do you think?"
Obviously it was Li Dongyang who requested the order, but Zhu Youtang allowed the ministers present to discuss it, which means that I am willing to listen to your wishes.
But this kind of thing...
Is there anything else worth discussing?
Zhu Juan didn't see the problem, so shouldn't he look at Mo Juan?
Liu Jian came out and said: "Your Majesty, I wonder if there are any results from the questioning of the people involved in the case?"
Zhu Youtang gestured to Xiao Jing, and Xiao Jing walked to Zhu Youtang's right hand side and said: "Tang Yin and Xu Jing are both in Fusi, Beizhen. They have not passed through the hall or been interrogated. Let them make their own statements." There is no conclusion on the crime. As for Hua Chang... he insists that it is his duty to speak up to the officials and does not involve personal grudges or instigation by others."
Having said all that, in summary, there is no torture and no results.
Liu Jiandao: "The results of the general examination have not yet been released. If this is used to open the seal, it means filling in and posting the results. If candidates Tang Yin and Xu Jing are involved, I don't know whether they should be deposed."
Even Liu Jian mentioned the word "deposed".
This also made the emperor realize that there should be precedents for selecting people and then moving on.
Otherwise, why would Liu Jian say it directly when Zhang Zhou reminded Li Dongyang of what he might do? I have never informed Liu Jian about this matter.
"If there is a problem, why should they be deposed? If Tang Yin and Xu Jing are involved in the scandal, there is no such thing, and they have not committed any misconduct, so what is the reason for depriving them of the opportunity to pass the examination? "
Zhu Youtang actually wants "a bowl of water to bring peace".
Zhang Zhou can be acquitted if there is no evidence.
Then Tang Yin and Xu Jing had no evidence, so why should they be convicted, or even deprived of the opportunity to enter the court?
"Ministry of Rites!" Zhu Youtang asked Xu Qiong who came out to perform something.
Xu Qiong said: "If the old minister's intention is found to be unsubstantiated, it should not be widely implicated. If this precedent is set, I am afraid it will affect the authority and fairness of the examination of the Ministry of Rites. The scholar's discussion has become more and more popular after the spring period."
Xu Qiong will not completely side with the cabinet.
He didn't mean to be arrogant. In the eyes of the Ministry of Rites and most of the courtiers, this matter was a bit of a "big fuss". Cheng Minzheng was involved in the issue twice in three months. He refused to say anything without evidence. Now there is still public opinion to ask the emperor to investigate. And condemnation, where does sin come from?
If the investigation is completed this time, the next time the scholars are upset about something, they will talk about it outside, and the court will investigate again...
This is not a good example, but an evil example.
Zhu Youtang said: "I also believe that the court should not convict others for unprovoked actions. If the candidate involved is indeed selected, his name should be kept first, and he will decide whether to be deposed after the matter is found out."
Min Gui, the censor of Zuodu, came out and asked: "Your Majesty, now Hua Chang, Tang Yin, and Xu Jing have been sent to Beizhen Fusi, but Cheng Minzheng still cannot be brought to justice. Please investigate and deal with them together so that the case can be revealed." Clearly."
Cheng Minzheng was not imprisoned, which is always a pity for traditional civil servants.
Now that everything has happened, if we don't investigate Cheng Minzheng, I'm sorry for the trouble.
Zhu Youtang still looked displeased, and immediately said: "The results of the general examination have not yet been released, so if I decide to take the examination at Beizhen Fusi, it is inevitable that there will be doubts about it. We will wait until the results are released."
This means that we are not saying that we should completely let Cheng Minzheng go, but now is not the time to arrest him and interrogate him.
At least let's wait until the results of the conference test are available.
Min Gui saw that it was not easy to arrest and interrogate Cheng Minzheng in person, so he went back. There were many ministers holding their breath at the scene. If the request in person was not possible, then the request would be made. If one person could not do it, then a few more people would do it. .
…
…
The meeting ended.
Zhu Youtang was walking very fast on the way back to Qianqing Palace. Both Xiao Jing and Dai Yi had to hurry up and slow down to keep up.
"...Your Majesty, Mr. Zhang went to Xishan and said he would be back in the next two days. As for Bachelor Cheng, although he was given some hints, he did not list a single word in the confession, as if he was determined to fight. in the end."
"As for whether he had discussed with Xu Jing and Tang Yin about possible questions in the examination, it is unclear. Cheng Minzheng, Tang Yin and Xu Jing did not make any explanation about this."
"But it is now confirmed that Mr. Zhang did not have any private communication with Cheng Minzheng, and it was not involved in anything involving issues..."
Xiao Jing has not been idle at all these days.
Walking around Gongyuan, Beizhen Fusi, and the Imperial Palace, my legs almost broke, but I still couldn't come to any conclusion, and the things I told the emperor were all trivial things.
Dai Yi asked: "Your Majesty, do you want Fu Si of Beizhen to torture Tang Yin and Xu Jing?"
Zhu Youtang said: "How to torture something that has no basis? Is there any mention of the personal and material evidence?"
Apparently the emperor also had a stubborn temper.
The results of the general examination have not come out, and Cheng Minzheng is not involved in grading now. Even if Tang Yin and Xu Jing are involved in the questions, they can only rely on "discussing with Cheng Minzheng in advance the questions that may be asked in the general examination", but To say that Tang Yin and Xu Jing discussed the test questions for this exam in advance, there is still no evidence at all.
In this way, Tang Yin and Xu Jing were interrogated. The emperor felt that it was unfair to them.
It’s still a matter of a bowl of water being flat.
Dai Yi said: "Your Majesty, Mr. Zhang has never had any public meeting with Bachelor Cheng, so it is easy to explain everything. But if Xu Jing and Tang Yin had visited Bachelor Cheng, the external discussions would not easily stop. "
Dai Yi just wanted to remind the emperor that Zhang Zhou was different from the other two.
Zhang Zhou was purely out of thin air.
However, everyone knew that Tang Yin and Xu Jing paid a visit to Cheng Minzheng. They often used this matter as a means to show off, and they never denied their visit.
Zhu Youtang kept walking forward with his head down, and after a while he gave the order: "Go, bring Bingkuan back from Xishan earlier and ask him what he wants."
"Your Majesty, Mr. Zhang is a candidate after all. Could it be..." Dai Yi quickly reminded him that it was inappropriate.
Wouldn't this bring criticism to Zhang Zhou out of thin air?
Zhu Youtang said: "I haven't asked you to consult publicly, just ask privately! Just ask everyone in the government and the public, who else had foreseen this matter earlier than him, and who could take the overall situation into consideration better than him?"
Dai Yi retracted his head.
He understood that the reason why the emperor did not hide the identity of Zhang Zhou's candidates and asked for Zhang Zhou's opinion was because Zhang Zhou was capable and could predict what would happen today. He did a good job in avoiding suspicion and the prophecy was given. suitable.
When the emperor was in dire straits, who could he ask other than Zhang Zhou?
"Go to Gongyuan again and supervise the whole process of opening the seal. Report the results first. Before releasing the results, make a report. Those who completed the results will be released in advance."
The emperor had previously said in front of the ministers that he did not shy away from allowing Tang Yin and Xu Jing to be selected, but that was just official rhetoric, and it seemed that the emperor was fair and just.
But if Xu Jing and Tang Yinzhen are among them, whether to let them get their wish is another matter.
Who said that it was Li Dongyang who deposed Tang Yin in history? Or maybe it was the emperor who ordered Li Dongyang to do this in order to calm the discussion.
(End of chapter)
