Qian Neng never expected that Chang Feng was both moral and generous. Don't accept money, just do things as they are done.
What he didn't know was that Chang Feng regarded his eldest son as a substitute.
Qian Ning was unambiguous and knelt down to Chang Feng with a "pop": "I would like to thank Envoy Zhen for your support!"
Chang Feng hurriedly went to help: "Please get up quickly. Brother Qian is a thousand-mile horse among the Jinyi Guards, with a bright future."
Often the wind invests with peaches, and the money can be repaid with plums.
Qian Neng said to Liu Bingyi: "Liu Siqing, the left minister of the Nanjing Ministry of Rites is vacant. Do you have any interest?"
Liu Bingyi smiled and said: "Eunuch Qian, my daughter, son-in-law and grandson are all in the capital. I don't want to go to Nanjing."
Qian Neng said: "The Sixth Department of Nanjing is an idle yamen. It is common for the minister to report to be ill at home and not to go to his appointment."
"The promotion of the Minister of Taichang Temple to the Minister of Rites in Nanjing is in line with the rules of official promotion."
"It's better than this. I'll find an opportunity to recommend you in front of the emperor. If it succeeds, you can take a leave of absence after you get your official certificate and stay in the capital to enjoy the blessings of your children and grandchildren."
This is a typical exchange of interests. This has been the case in officialdom throughout the ages.
Qian Neng said that if Liu Bingyi refused again, he would not give Bingbi, the director of etiquette, any face.
He cupped his hands and said, "Then I can use my father-in-law to speak kindly in front of the emperor."
Qian Neng smiled and said: "Hey! Okay! Three good things are coming to our door today. One is that Chang Zhenfu will be in charge of the Northern Division; the other is that Liu Siqing is expected to be promoted to the Minister of Rites in Nanjing; the third is that Qian Ning is about to be promoted to inspect the thousand households."
"Originally, I had to ask for a drink at your residence. But an hour later it was my turn to be on duty at Qianqing Palace."
"When the envoy of Changzhen holds a promotion banquet, I will come and ask for a glass of wine to feel happy."
Qian Ning expressed his gratitude. Then he left with his adoptive father Qian Neng.
Liu Bingyi said with a smile: "Good son-in-law, those who are blessed don't have to be busy, while those who are unlucky will have their hearts broken. I've benefited from you again!"
The civil servants of the Ming Dynasty had two supreme pursuits.
One is to become the minister or minister of the twelve bureaus in the two capitals, and become the "bureau" of the Eight Classics.
The second is to enter the cabinet as a cabinet member and become a well-deserved "cabinet elder".
Liu Bingyi said he was not interested in promotion. When the title of "Budang" was readily available, I was so excited that I couldn't help myself.
"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu" Unable to hold it back for a moment, the old man in his sixties actually started crying.
Chang Feng quickly comforted him: "Old Taishan, getting promoted is a good thing. Don't cry."
Liu Bingyi wiped away his old tears and said angrily: "I cried because I was so stupid! I actually ruined my engagement with your Chang family!"
Chang Feng comforted him and said: "Old Taishan, it happened eight hundred years ago, why bother mentioning it again!"
Chang Feng was promoted from the fifth rank to the fourth rank to the town governor. Sanjie was also promoted from General Wu De to General Xinwu.
The two commanders above the Beizhen Governor were vacant, and the two commanders were brothers from the Zhang family who obeyed Chang Feng's advice.
Chang Feng is now among the Jinyi Guards, who can be said to be below Zhu Ji and above 8,000 people.
For such a big happy event, it is natural to hold a promotion banquet to celebrate.
But Chang Feng didn't want to make too much noise about his promotion. Invitations were only sent to Qian Neng and his son and Wei Neipaoze.
No civil servants or military generals were invited. After all, emperors of all dynasties were most taboo about Jin Yiwei's domestic slaves getting too close to foreign ministers.
Instead, Zhu Ji was invited, but Zhu Ji said he had something to do and couldn't come. It's okay if he doesn't come, otherwise the lords will join him in the banquet, and the atmosphere of the promotion banquet will become like a funeral banquet.
Seven days later, a promotion banquet was held in the Chang Mansion.
The people attending the banquet were all our own people, so the promotion banquet was naturally very harmonious.
After everyone finished eating and drinking, they drank tea and chatted in the living room.
Taoist Zhang is a Taoist priest who drinks wine and eats meat. The drink capacity is still small. I just drank a bottle of wine at the banquet and looked drunk.
He boasted: "I am proficient in Bagua, physiognomy, and Qimen Dunjia."
Fatty Xu yelled: "You know how to read fortune tellers? Then tell your brothers to read fortune tellers. Let's see who has the best luck in the hall!"
Fatty Xu is digging a hole for Taoist Zhang. If he says that so-and-so has the best luck, doesn't that offend the rest of the people?
Taoist Zhang looked around, and then said: "In this hall, there is a person who has great fortune from childhood to old age. His longevity is also very high. It is like a lucky star shining for half a year!"
"If anyone is related to this person, even bad luck can turn into good luck!"
Everyone's eyes were focused on Chang Feng.
Today is Chang Feng's promotion banquet, and most of the people Taoist Zhang is talking about are him.
Fatty Xu asked: "Zhang Shenxian, are you talking about Master Chang?"
Taoist Zhang shook his head slightly.
Fatty Xu asked again: "Then you are talking about Eunuch Qian?"
Qian Neng is the person with the highest status at the promotion banquet. Fatty Xu thought that Zhang Shenxian wanted to flatter Qian Neng.
Taoist Zhang still shook his head.
Fatty Xu asked: "Is that Liu Butang? Yesterday's imperial decree promoted him to be the left minister of the Nanjing Ministry of Rites."
Taoist Zhang still shook his head.
Fatty Xu became a little impatient: "Who is that?"
Taoist Zhang pointed his finger at Tangtang, who had just finished eating the oil fruit and wiped his hands with the dog: "The one with the best luck is our little girl!"
Everyone was surprised: "The one with the best luck is Xiao Shimei?"
Taoist Zhang spoke eloquently: "I have been psychic since I was a child and can sense a person's luck. Everyone, I have lived for forty years and I have never seen anyone with such strong luck!"
"Let's put it this way, Mr. Chang has been promoted so high in the past four or five years. It's not because of his good luck, but because of Shimei's credit!"
Tangtang was frightened by Taoist Zhang: "Is it true?"
Taoist Zhang smiled and said: "It's absolutely true! Normal people's luck has good and bad times. But your luck will flourish from the age of six until you are ninety-six years old!"
"But there is a hurdle for you to be ninety-six. If you step over it, you will be a hundred years old."
"The people close to you will also benefit from your good luck."
Changfeng doesn't believe in fate. Just think that Taoist Zhang is coaxing the child.
However, Liu Jin on the side took these words seriously.
Liu Jin cupped his hands and said, "Zhang Baihu. What do you think of my luck?"
Taoist Zhang looked at Liu Jin's appearance carefully, and then his expression changed: "If I guessed correctly, you should have broken hands on both left and right hands."
Liu Jin was surprised: "You haven't seen my palms, how do you know that I have both left and right hands?"
Taoist Zhang talked eloquently: "The left broken palm holds the military talisman, and the right broken palm holds the treasury. Your face indicates that you are in charge of both soldiers and wealth."
"It's a pity that your fortune was not good for the first thirty-six years. After you turned thirty-six, your fortune began to improve because you got the favor of a noble person."
"This noble man is like the key to your good luck."
"However, your true fortune is far from coming. I guess that fifteen years from now will be the time when your fortune is at its peak."
Liu Jin was greatly surprised: In the autumn when I was thirty-six years old, Father-in-law Huai'en asked me to take care of the food and daily life of the Chang brothers and sisters in the outer house.
Zhang Shenxian also said that whoever is by Tangtang's side will take advantage of him. My noble lady must be Aunt Tangtang!
Oh! Zhang Shenxian really got it right. Looking back, it was after I met Aunt Tangtang that I started to rise higher!
After serving in the palace for more than thirty years, he was not promoted until he met Aunt Tangtang. This is not a coincidence, it is clearly fate!
From then on, Liu Jin treated Tangtang as her aunt. While he was preoccupied with getting promoted, he always ordered people to deliver anything delicious or fun to his "little aunt".
Taoist Zhang then ordered Liu Jin: "Write down your birth date and I will take a look."
Liu Jin wrote the birth date and birth date.
After seeing this, Taoist Zhang was so frightened that he almost woke up from the wine!
He blurted out: "Your Majesty, the almanac is pretty good!"
Zhang Daoshi deduced based on the horoscope he had learned for half his life that Liu Jin was the emperor's destiny!
But how dare you say the words "emperor's destiny"? Wouldn't it hurt others to say it?
Before I knew it, it was almost sunset. Everyone dispersed.
The next day, Chang Feng strode to Beizhen to check the room. His days in charge of the Northern Division officially began.
Time is like a bull with firecrackers stuffed in its buttocks. It can't stop once it runs.
In the blink of an eye, two years later.
Autumn, the fifth year of Hongzhi's reign.
The Ming Dynasty has reached its peak of prosperity.
Emperor Hongzhi was a good emperor who was tolerant, diligent and loved his people. But being diligent does not mean being fond of tossing.
He neglected corvee duties at home, controlled floods, abolished the harsh law "Regulations on Penalties", emphasized virtuous ministers, and strived to be frugal.
He is never good at attacking external parties. But it has always maintained a tough attitude towards foreigners. We basically abide by the principle of "I will not attack others unless they attack me. If someone attacks me, I will chop all the earthworms in the enemy's territory into two pieces."
In the six years since Emperor Hongzhi ascended the throne, the revenue from the treasury and the grain stored in the warehouses have increased year by year. Business in Jiangnan flourished.
In politics, he reused virtuous ministers such as "the three gentlemen of Hongzhi Wang, Ma, and Liu", Li Dongyang, Xu Pu, Liu Jian, etc. Although the administration of officials cannot be said to be like a clear water, compared with the late Chenghua Dynasty, the official style has been greatly improved.
To put it bluntly: officials should still be greedy, but at least they will take the initiative to do things.
Although the people were far from having enough food and clothing, at least there was no large-scale famine.
According to Huang Boren, the magistrate of Rongcheng County at the time, it was considered a prosperous age for ordinary people to survive on a mouthful of fodder like animals.
It cannot be said that there have been civil unrest and rebellions, but they are not large in scale.
Emperor Hongzhi was a workaholic similar to Taizu and Taizong. Get up before dawn every day. The morning and afternoon dynasties, as well as the various Buddhist feasts, are fully arranged.
He is also a noble man, free from vulgar taste.
Throughout the history books, nine out of ten ancient emperors were lustful.
To be honest, if any man is given the three palaces, six courtyards, seventy-two concubines and three thousand young beauties at his disposal, any man will become lustful.
This is due to physiological instinct.
But six years after Emperor Hongzhi ascended the throne, there was still only one woman, Queen Zhang. He also issued decrees three times in a row to reduce the number of palace ladies.
Compared with the two later Ming emperors who took aphrodisiacs and died of comfort, Emperor Hongzhi didn't know how high he was.
He's not a good guy. The money and silk from the internal transport warehouse were often used by him to provide disaster relief. He made the inner warehouse so clean that even mice would shed tears when they entered it.
Even the civil servants of the Ministry of Household Affairs, who have always opposed the private use of state funds, can no longer stand it. He took the initiative to request the transfer of 100,000 yuan from the treasury of the two countries to enrich the emperor's inner treasury.
The emperor is strong, and so are the ministers.
Wang Shu, who was in charge of the personnel department, tried his best to eliminate mediocre officials. He could not change the historical problem that officials must be corrupt, but he tried his best to encourage his officials to do some practical things for the people.
Ma Wensheng, who was in charge of the Ministry of War, made the nine-border garrison impregnable. The little Tatar prince did not dare to go south easily to join the invaders.
Mesozoic officials such as Li Dongyang, Liu Jian, and Xie Qian gradually began to take the lead.
The rising stars in the officialdom represented by Yang Tinghe are also beginning to show their prowess.
The "Hongzhi Zhongxing", which is famous in history books, is getting better and better.
On the outskirts of Beijing, there is a racecourse.
The air is crisp in autumn and everything is golden.
Chang Feng, the twenty-seven-year-old governor of Beizhen, galloped wildly and suddenly reined in his horse.
The horse raised its front hooves, neighed, and stopped running.
Changfeng's official career has been going smoothly in the past two years. The main reason is that he lives in a prosperous age, and there are no treacherous and evil opponents in the court.
Under his leadership, Beizhen Fusi protected the national policies promulgated by Emperor Hongzhi that benefited the country and the people.
"Brother! Why did you stop?" Thirteen-year-old Chang Tian also reined in the horse.
The soft and cute little Tangtang at the beginning has transformed into a girl, standing tall and graceful.
Her temperament is very much like that of her sister-in-law Liu Xiaoyan. She loves rouge, gouache, swords, guns, swords, and BMWs.
Chang Feng said: "We have already run two miles, don't tire the horse. Horse racing in autumn is not about running eight hundred miles in a hurry."
In the distance, Liu Xiaoyan was riding on a horse, hugging Chang Ponu who was sitting in front of the saddle.
Chang Feng's eldest son, Chang Ponu, is already five years old. This guy is simply a naughty guy who "wants cows to fight during the day and ghosts to rise to the sky at night."
A few days ago, Liu Xiaoyan didn't notice anyone. He took a bamboo pole and knocked down all the tiles on the roof of the hall.
As for filling ant nests with boiling water and blowing up large cesspits with firecrackers, these are his daily operations.
Huzi is too old to run anymore. Converting the age of the dog to human age, it is already over 70 years old.
It lay lazily on the comfortable pile of horse materials, watching the big and small owners riding horses for fun.
It's late afternoon.
Everyone lit a fire on the east side of the racecourse.
Chang Tian was a little worried: "Brothers He Ling and Yan Ling said they were going to hunt rabbits, but why haven't they come back yet? They can't bring back the prey, so why should we bake it?"
Chang Tian turned around and said to Chang Ponu: "Zhuang Zhuang, why don't I sprinkle you with salt and bake it! You have thin skin and tender meat. It will be delicious when grilled."
Chang Ponu curled his lips and said, "Auntie, if you want to roast me, you have to roast Uncle Xu Shi. He is fat and fat, so it tastes better when roasted than me."
Fatty Xu, who was sleeping with a dog's tail grass in his mouth and his hand as a pillow, woke up when he heard this.
Fatty Xu laughed and scolded: "Roast me? You are not afraid of dying!"
Not long after, two young men rode up to the fire.
Sixteen-year-old Zhang Heling and Zhang Yanling dismounted their horses and unhooked five or six hares from their saddles.
Chang Tian complained: "Why did you come back? I'm starving to death!"
Zhang Heling said quickly: "Aren't we thinking of beating some fat rabbits for Miss Tangtang to eat?"
Chang Tian was a little unhappy: "Tangtang was my nickname when I was a child! How many times have I told you, when I grow up, call me by my real name!"
Zhang Yanling made a face at her: "Even if you live to be eighty, you are still our sister. What's wrong with the elder brother calling the girl by her nickname?"
The two brothers are now as strong as a tiger. He is a famously domineering relative in the capital. Taking advantage of bullying is the basis of happiness.
However, they doted on their sister Chang Tian, who had a different surname.
It should be said that Chang Tian is now the favorite of the capital.
Empress Zhang liked her, her two uncles with different surnames pampered her, and Liu Jin, who was gradually becoming more powerful in the palace, respected her.
A few days ago, Chang Tian casually said that he wanted to raise an invincible blue-winged, iron-armored, long-jawed fighting cricket.
The two brothers Zhang Heling directly mobilized the troops of the 500 regiment to look for crickets for her in the suburbs of Beijing.
Because crickets are Yinworms, good crickets are born in graveyards.
The two brothers Zhang Heling dug up more than a dozen ancestral graves of ordinary people. Then I found a good insect and gave it to Chang Tian.
Chang Feng knew about this, so he severely reprimanded his sister and two little brothers, and sent someone to give money to the people as compensation.
In the entire capital, there were probably only four people, Emperor Hongzhi, Empress Zhang, Zhang Luan and Chang Feng, who dared to reprimand the two young uncles.
The autumn moon has risen into the sky.
Everyone gathered around the fire and roasted the hare, which was very pleasant.
Huzi lay beside the fire, squinting lazily.
Zhang Heling said: "Brother Chang. My sister said that when our eldest nephew is crowned prince and crown prince, the emperor's brother-in-law will grant uncles to us brothers!"
Last year, Queen Zhang gave birth to the emperor's eldest son, Zhu Houzhao. Emperor Hongzhi held it in his hand for fear of breaking, and held it in his mouth for fear of melting.
Emperor Hongzhi has decreed that a crown prince canonization ceremony will be held this month.
Chang Feng was extremely surprised: "You two are both uncles?"
Zhang Heling nodded.
Emperor Hongzhi's favor to Empress Zhang and her family could not be greater.
At the beginning of this year, the old abbot Zhang Luan was promoted from Shouning Bo to Shouning Marquis. The name was added with the word "Yi Yun", and the rank was added to the official rank of Guanglu. He was awarded two hundred stones and was still given to the third generation. He was also given a title certificate and inherited it from his descendants.
You know, the Ming Dynasty's nobility system is extremely strict. Many military generals have made numerous meritorious deeds during their entire life in the army, but it is difficult for them to seek titles.
Not to mention the civil servants. Even if you have great achievements, you don't dare to expect to be granted the title of earl.
Chang Feng said: "Congratulations to you two. You should be more restrained when you become a count. Don't dig up people's graves, burn down people's houses, and rob people's daughters."
Zhang Heling said with a smile: "It is only the grandson of a turtle who robbed a common girl! The best thing about us brothers is that the eldest sister in Yihong Tower is proficient in playing, playing and singing!"
These two boys are now serious shoe brothers with Fatty Xu, and they have both slept with Sai Tanghong.
Liu Xiaoyan was displeased: "What are you talking about in front of two children, Tangtang and Zhuangzhuang?"
Zhang Heling quickly shut up. The two brothers respected and feared Liu Xiaoyan, their sister-in-law.
Liu Xiaoyan was not only their sister-in-law, but also a serious female master who taught them bows, arrows, swords and guns.
Autumn horse races and roasted game are over. Everyone went back to their homes.
Early the next morning, Chang Feng came to Fusi, Beizhen.
Now Fatty Xu has been promoted to a thousand households. It's still the same as before, following Chang Feng on errands every day.
However, among the five thousand households in the Bei Division, the most powerful one was not Fatty Xu, but Qian Ning.
Qian Ning is Chang Feng's stand-in. Chang Feng always lets Qian Ning do things openly when it comes to killing, teasing, and framing people.
Officials in the capital "changed their expressions when they heard that money was arriving from thousands of households." That's how awesome it is.
Qian Ning placed a small box in front of Chang Feng: "Master Chang, the home of the former Shuntian Governor Li Dakang has been ransacked, and several rare items have been found."
After speaking, Chang Feng opened the small box. There were five banknotes inside.
With the rise of national power in the Hongzhi Dynasty, business developed. Shanxi's bank accounts opened all over the country.
Cash-on-demand banknotes appeared on the market. Gradually, officials no longer carried big boxes to give and receive bribes, but gave and received banknotes that could be carried in their sleeves.
Chang Feng picked up a banknote: "With this thin piece of paper, you can exchange tens of thousands of taels of silver at Shanxi Laoji's banknote."
"It's all just paper, but the precious notes are worth nothing. Well, that's really weird."
"This thing is easier to hide and harder to find than silver ingots!"
In the words of later generations, Chang Feng was "an old house raider who encountered new problems."
(End of chapter)
