In the Qianqing Palace.
The four eunuchs in charge of the ceremony came back with "good news". For the four of them, this was also acceptable news, that is, Zhang Zhou did not have a marquis around at the moment, at least it would not have too much influence on their inner court affairs. direct impact.
"... Mr. Liu Ge and the others all agreed and said they would raise the matter in the court tomorrow so that Your Majesty won't have to worry about it."
When Dai Yi said this, he kept looking at Zhang Zhou sitting next to him intentionally or unintentionally.
Zhang Zhou and Zhu Youtang sat in front of the military map and talked for a long time. The four of them were not present, and they could not even know the content of the discussion between the monarch and his ministers afterwards.
"well!"
Zhu Youtang sighed heavily and looked at Zhang Zhoudao, "Bingkuan, are you sure you don't want this title, and you want to be a minister first? This is hard work and will bring you criticism from others, so why bother?"
Even the emperor knew that if Zhang Zhou continued to stay in the Hanlin Academy, he might not be regarded as the same by the civil servants.
Then why not go directly to the Governor's Mansion?
Even if I want you to continue to teach the prince, without the official position of the Hanlin Academy, why not give me a lecturer in the East Palace?
Zhang Zhou smiled and said: "I have just been promoted to Jinshi and have been in the court for less than half a year. If I rise too quickly, not only the civil servants will feel that the order of the court has been disrupted, but even the martial arts will not be tolerated. I am also a lazy person." ...Your Majesty, please forgive me for being so direct. I want to have more time to freely allocate myself, so that I can study more about the sky, the future, and even some new firearms, and even spend more time making money and spending more time with my family. .”
"Yes." Zhu Youtang seemed to agree with this point of view, "Yes, no matter how successful you are in the court, it will only be seen by others. You should be more considerate of yourself, especially your loved ones around you."
As an emperor who has lacked family affection since childhood.
Zhu Youtang was controlled by Queen Zhang, and Li Guang and other sycophants appeared later, mostly because he needed emotional sustenance and was taken advantage of.
This time it was Zhang Zhou's turn to enter the arena.
Seeing Zhang Zhou's persistence, Zhu Youtang naturally stopped objecting and said to Xiao Jing, "Is Mou Bin here?"
"Your Majesty, Commander Mou is waiting outside. Do you want to summon him into the palace?" Xiao Jing asked for instructions.
Zhu Youtang shook his head and said: "There is no need to let him in, just let him coordinate the arrangements as soon as possible. Bingkuan, in addition to being given to you as the governor of the rear army governor's mansion, the position of Jinyiwei Qianhu that you got previously is still not enough." Change, I said before that I would promote you to the post of Jin Yiwei commanding Qianshi, but this time it should be implemented. In addition, there are still vacancies for a Jinyiwei Qianhu and a deputy Qianhu, plus three hundred households. ...This is for the convenience of arranging for the people around you to enter Jinyiwei. You should be more careful when entering and exiting."
Now Zhu Youtang sees the "importance" of Zhang Zhou.
Nitroglycerin and sub-cannon can be said to be epoch-making products. If Tatars or foreigners, or people with ulterior motives want to bribe Zhang Zhou, or kidnap Zhang Zhou...
The emperor was talking about protection, but in fact, it also meant "surveillance" secretly.
I can give you the task of making new firearms and purchase them from you, which shows my complete trust in you, but you can't say that you just left the city and just found a place to build the weapon behind closed doors. While I sent people to protect you, It can be regarded as a reminder and warning to you. You must not break my trust in you.
Zhang Zhou smiled and said: "Your Majesty, doesn't this mean that one person can achieve enlightenment..."
"Hey!" Zhu Youtang interrupted Zhang Zhou, "Bingkuan, you just speak directly, even so you don't say it clearly. Besides, based on your merit, is it really a lot to give you this? Ask them? "
Dai Yi said hurriedly: "No more, no more."
Zhang Zhou said: "Your Majesty, I dare not accept the position that is vacant for thousands of Jin Yiwei families. In addition, the people around me... are indeed not capable of serving as Jin Yiwei. How about..."
"It's given to you, just take it. If it doesn't work out, wait until Zhijie returns to the capital and give him a part-time job as a guard in uniform, so that he can protect you."
Zhu Youtang was not polite either.
No matter how awesome you Zhu Feng is in Northwest and Liaodong, you have won two battles and made others think you are awesome. They may even give you the position of Marquis of Anbian, but at best you are just an errand boy beside Bing Kuan. Asking you to protect Zhang Bingkuan is an appreciation for you.
Zhang Zhou said: "Why don't you, Your Majesty, I have a suggestion, let the grandson of the hundred households of Jin Yiwei next to me be promoted to the rank of thousand households."
It's not like Zhang Zhou has never thought about taking over the position of Jin Yiwei Qianhu and giving it to someone close to him.
But he can't help but recognize the situation.
Not only does he have to complete the protection task of the court, but he also has to complete the task of monitoring and supervising. If this person is completely his, the emperor will not be completely relieved... In other words, the emperor is relieved now, but in the future there will be some rift between the emperor and his ministers. , some people will use this point to attack him, saying that he is so willful that he even uses the people sent by the emperor to protect him as his own people...
It would be better to promote the people assigned to him by the emperor.
It can not only hold Sun Shangqi in check, but also avoid telling the truth.
Sun Shangqi was sent by your Jin Yiwei from the beginning, right? He used to be the foreman of the Jinyi Guards around me as a member of the Hundred Household. Now that my salary has been improved, his salary has also been improved. Let him be a member of the Qianhu, so he can be considered as having merit and enjoy it together.
If you insist on attacking Sun Shangqi as one of my men, then what are the intentions of the person who sent Sun Shangqi here?
Zhu Youtang nodded and said: "It's good. He helps you with things and gets the rewards he deserves. His coming and going can be regarded as his merits. Haha, Bingkuan, this is their destiny. Let's walk around with you. , you can get the credit, but it wouldn’t be possible if it were someone else.”
Zhang Zhou wanted to say that it wasn't that it wouldn't work if someone else replaced him, but that it wouldn't work if he replaced another emperor.
It sounds like these positions of Jinyiwei Qianhu, Deputy Qianhu, and Baihu were created by me. It was obviously you who gave them to me, okay?
"As for Deputy Qianhu and Baihu, make good arrangements when you go back. When your son grows up, give him the command and control of the Royal Guards that are in short supply. In the future, let him practice more martial arts, and in terms of literature... Alas! You are the number one scholar again. ...It’s really difficult to handle.”
The child of the No. 1 scholar doesn't study, so he practices martial arts and prepares to inherit the position of a royal guard commanding the generals?
Even the emperor felt that this request might be a bit excessive.
Dai Yi, who was standing next to him, smiled and said, "Mr. Zhang should have more children. In this way, those who study literature and martial arts will have their own allocation, so they won't affect each other."
"Yes, yes." Zhu Youtang seemed to be suddenly enlightened, "Is there anything more to the matter about the Empress Dowager helping Bingkuan as a matchmaker?"
The emperor also spoke out.
The old lady is no longer involved in the matter of marrying the Lin Han family. I am going to go to the battle in person to make peace.
Dai Yi said: "I'm still talking, but Minister Lin has never agreed."
"Go again!" Zhu Youtang said almost as if he was ordering, "Don't let the people around the imperial grandmother go, just let the people from Dongchang go directly with my wishes and let Minister Lin know that this is my wish. If he still has any doubts, don’t say that I intentionally didn’t give him a way to advance.”
This all carries a threat.
Although you, Lin Han, are a minister of the Imperial Academy and have a great reputation in the academic world, your ability to serve as an official is not good. The Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Cabinet do not have such high evaluations of you. Your promotion to the Minister is far away, and twenty people will not be able to do it. Your share.
If you still want to be promoted to minister, then obey obediently, otherwise... Nanjing is a cool place, so you can stay there and retire.
…
…
The reward that Zhu Youtang gave to Zhang Zhou made everyone in the Supervisor of Ceremonies jealous.
In addition to official positions, there were also a large number of gifts in kind. Even though the emperor was very stingy about keeping his money bag, he was not stingy at all when giving it to Zhang Zhou.
But Zhang Zhou also said that he is not short of money now, so it is best to give him something that is not available outside.
Then Zhu Youtang kowtowed a bunch of gifts from the emperor and gave them to Zhang Zhou. He made a list. There were hundreds of jars of fine wine from the emperor alone. This time, he finally no longer asked Zhang Zhou to " Try it." Even Zhang Zhou felt that he was about to open a brewery, so he would give some to Old Man Jiang and let him study it slowly.
It would be great if a few bottles of wine could keep Old Jiang away.
I'm afraid that now that everyone knows that he has the real shortage of the positions of Jin Yiwei Deputy Qianhu and Baihu, everyone is vying to grab them. Isn't Old Jiang a common man? He didn't want his son Jiang Shantong to join the family of Jinyiwei Bai?
Zhang Zhou followed Xiao Jing out of Qianqing Palace.
Originally, Zhang Zhou was going to give lessons to Zhu Houzhao that day, but because of the good news, the lessons were skipped. It was equivalent to giving Zhang Zhou a few days off and putting Zhang Zhou's official position and future work first. Sort it out.
The highlight will be to show merit for Zhang Zhou in the future.
"Eunuch Xiao..."
"You don't have to say anything about the things His Majesty has given you. As soon as you leave the palace, someone will be looking for someone to count them and send them to you. Are you sending them to your house or to another residence, or wherever... Hehe, You have the final say."
Xiao Jing is now also learning "fine".
You don't have to ask for it yourself. I will take the initiative to arrange what you want to say clearly for you. It also seems that our family can handle things, right?
"By the way, Mr. Zhang, when our family went out today, we brought something specially for you, but because it is a copper item, you cannot just bring it into the palace gate. Why don't you ask someone to bring it to you as soon as you come out? "
Xiao Jing said and handed a key to Zhang Zhou.
Zhang Zhou smiled and said, "What is this?"
Xiao Jing looked at Mou Bin who came out with him. Mou Bin knew enough to stand far away and not listen.
At this time, Xiao Jingcai smiled and reminded: "Have you forgotten? This is the courtyard given to you by Uncle Ping Jiang to hide his beauty. Don't worry, there are people watching the courtyard these days. The people and money inside have not been lost. You go over and open the door with the key, and the deed to the yard and the title deed he gave you will be delivered to your house later."
"hehe."
Zhang Zhou is laughing.
If Chen Rui did say that he would give him those things at the beginning, but Chen Rui was still half drunk and half sober and still said it was not good, would Chen Rui not regret it at all after he sobered up?
But it was the emperor who forced Xiao Jing to get these gifts back... Zhang Zhou wanted to say, this seems to go against my nature of persuading people with virtue.
Zhang Zhou sighed: "This is a house, land, money, a singer, and the daughter of Uncle Pingjiang who is widowed, right? This kind of gift was accepted before the war to make him feel at ease, but afterwards I should just go back."
He said this, but with a twist of his hand, the key was already in his pocket.
Xiao Jing said with a smile: "Now, isn't it more normal for you to accept this gift? Didn't Your Majesty tell you already? We will let Uncle Ping Jiang stay in Liaodong for a while in the future, and we should let him know how to serve the court in the future."
Zhang Zhou said: "But I heard that Uncle Ping Jiang seems to regret it."
"What's the matter? Does he want to give it away?" Xiao Jing put away his smile and even got a little angry.
Do you, Uncle Ping Jiang, take yourself too seriously? You were ordered to deliver gifts to the house at that time. Do you still dare to carry things out from inside afterwards?
Zhang Zhou smiled and said, "It seems to have been said earlier that when Uncle Ping Jiang was in Ningyuan, he mentioned to Uncle An Bian that he would marry his daughter... Isn't this obvious? Are you talking about this person in the house?"
"Well……"
Xiao Jing was also embarrassed.
Everything else was fine, but even Xiao Jing felt that it was a bit unreasonable to directly ask Chen Rui to give his daughter to someone else as a servant girl.
At first, Chen Rui may have felt that it was impossible to take back the words once he had said them. In addition, since his daughter was a widow, he could not stand up for her.
Afterwards, she was unwilling to accept that she was Chen Rui's legitimate daughter. Even if her husband died, she shouldn't have given it away so hastily. Instead, she went to talk to Zhu Feng about marriage. It was a bit like "one daughter marries two husbands" .
"Everyone is here with you. I'll ask Dongchang to send someone to Shuntian Mansion later to get the registration. This person is yours. Uncle Ping Jiang can't take it back even if he wants to." Xiao Jing said.
"hehe."
Zhang Zhou was laughing again.
I thought someone from Dongchangchang was helping me collect bribes, but it turned out that the efficiency was not average.
Even people can be directly given the status, which means that the Chen family daughter will no longer be Chen Rui's daughter, but his Zhang Zhou's concubine. Chen Rui has no way to take his daughter back.
Zhang Zhou thought for a while, this seemed good to him, but who did the Chen family daughter offend? A good lady from a famous family, so what if her husband dies? Being sent around like this, and even getting married for no reason...
Sure enough, women in feudal society had no human rights.
Zhang Zhouxin said, we must criticize severely.
Go home and summon Jiang Pingyu and the others, hold a family meeting, sit down and criticize together, and then call Lin Yi who is about to get started... If there are others...
…
…
Cheng Guogongfu.
Mrs. Cheng Guotai, Mrs. Zhu Hu, learned that there was a battle report in Liaodong. She hurriedly came from her villa, found Zhu Lin and shouted, "Is your second brother fighting in Liaodong?"
Zhu Lin looked like it had nothing to do with him: "How did grandma know?"
"Is there any?"
Zhu Hu was also anxious.
This eldest grandson is usually so shameless. Talking to him is like hitting cotton with a hammer. Not only does it make no sound, but the hammer can easily bounce back.
Zhu Lin said: "Yes, an internal official just told me that my second brother relied on the artillery given by Zhang Bingkuan in Ningyuan to defeat the Hulu cavalry and captured and killed nearly a thousand Hulu cavalry. The details are not clear yet. But he also said that it might be I’m going to promote my son to the rank of Border Marquis!”
"Sure enough, it's me, the son of the Zhu family!"
Compared with Zhu Lin's calmness, Zhu Hu could not hide the excitement in his heart, and the bun on his head stood up almost instantly.
Zhu Lin comforted him: "Grandma, I think it's better not to be too anxious about this matter. It's not decided yet."
As for Zhu Lin, old lady, are you so excited?
No matter how great your achievements are, your second grandson has already opened his own mansion. Is your focus going to Yansui?
Don't forget that we are the Duke of Chengguo. The situation of your son, my father, in Yansui affects the future rise and fall of the Duke of Chengguo.
I heard that your eldest son, who is still my old father, has been having a very difficult time in Yansui recently.
Yan Guan clings to him, and maybe he will be dismissed and come back. If you gain or lose, you might lose a lot.
"Zhiyi." Mrs. Zhu Hu said with a straight face, as if to teach her grandson, "You lack the experience and knowledge to serve as an official in the court. If it were an ordinary person, your merits of Zhiji might not be recognized by the court, but There is Mr. Zhang behind Zhijie. If Your Majesty doesn't reward him, who will you reward?"
Zhu Lin narrowed his eyes and felt constricted.
Aren't there Jianchang Bo and Jiang Bo, as well as Ningyuan local garrison commanders, eunuchs, etc.?
Who said you can only reward your second grandson?
"Grandma, my siblings..."
Zhu Lin just made an opening statement, and Zhu Hu's face instantly darkened.
This obviously belongs to which pot is not opened and which pot is lifted.
"Call her here, I have something to tell her!" Zhu Hu said sternly.
…
…
Ning Tong was called alone to the back hall of Chengguo's official residence.
Mrs. Zhu Hu sat alone on the main seat, with Zhu Lin standing next to her. No one else was present, and even the domestic slaves were not allowed to observe. Obviously, this incident harmed the prestige of Chengguo Duke's mansion.
Ning Tong looked a little haggard.
At first, she was locked up in the woodshed for the whole day, but before nightfall, Mrs. Zhu Hu released the two masters and servants into the yard, but they were ordered not to go out of the yard, and the food and drink expenses were paid by someone to send them in. But this did not affect Ning Tong's determination to leave the Chengguo Palace.
Zhu Hu said: "Knowing him, he won a great victory in Liaodong. In the next few days, the court may promote him to Anbianhou."
This was to give Ning Tong a show of strength.
Look at your husband, he’s so awesome and you still want to divorce her?
Are you stupid? Come and beg me, and I can forgive you for your ignorance, shortsightedness, and short-sightedness.
Ning Tong didn't even kneel down, she just turned her head to the side and said, "It has nothing to do with me."
When Zhu Lin saw this posture, he almost went over to persuade "grandma to calm down". If nothing else worked, he was very good at speaking in a scene.
But when he turned around, he found that Mrs. Zhu Hu just looked like a tiger, not angry at all.
Zhu Lin turned his head away from his siblings again angrily.
Zhu Hu said: "I have heard about your story. Someone gave you a book. It seems that they also mentioned the matter of reconciliation and separation to you, and encouraged you to do so... You are like this, so I can't blame you."
Upon hearing this, Zhu Lin glanced at the old lady again.
Is this an attempt to find a way out for the younger siblings, so that both parties can resolve their misunderstandings and place all the blame on the "initiator"?
its not right.
Wasn't the instigator Zhang Bingkuan?
Complain with him?
Crazy?
As if performing a one-man show, Zhu Hu said bravely: "Tell me, did that person...that is, Jinshi Zhang Zhou, instigate you to do this?"
Ning Tong did not expect that Zhu Hu could find Zhang Zhou.
She glared at Zhu Hu and said: "This is a matter between me and Zhu Feng. Now even Zhu Feng himself agrees to divorce... Even if it is not reconciliation, he gave me a divorce letter and even said that I was defeated." Virtue, I also admit it! But please don’t implicate it on someone who has nothing to do.”
"Okay." Zhu Hu said coldly, "As expected, you have the same demeanor as I did in the past. I didn't know that you were a hero among women. If Zhang Bingkuan asked you to do this, there must be a reason, or it is because of you and my grandson. If the horoscopes are not compatible, or your presence will affect his future, so if Zhang Bingkuan raises this matter...there is still room for discussion on this matter."
"Ah?" Zhu Lin said in shock, "Grandma, are we..."
The words "principle" were not spoken.
Zhu Hu said angrily: "Shut up, what do you have to do here? Just go away!"
(End of chapter)
