As for the reason why Zhang Siwei said this, it was mainly because Gao Jingshi had stayed in Xinzheng to attend ethnic studies. Gao Jingshi's mother was not worried, so she stayed in Xinzheng to take care of her nearby instead of following Gao Cai to Fengyang. Now Gao Jingshi After Gao Gong came to Beijing, his mother had no particularly important "business" in Xinzheng for the time being, so Zhang Siwei said this.
Gao pragmatic nodded and said: "My nephew will write to my father about this matter. I believe my father will not object."
Zhang Siwei nodded with satisfaction, and Gao pragmatically invited Zhang Siwei to come in for a discussion as a half-master. The two sat down separately according to etiquette - Gao pragmatically insisted on taking the head seat, and Zhang Siwei did not insist on him taking the master's seat. After all, seniority, The identity is obvious.
There were not many people in Gao Gong's Mansion, but after all, the Prime Minister's servants naturally had good eyesight, and they knew the time when it was time to serve tea. They served two cups of fragrant tea at the right time. After all, the two of them were nephews and uncles, so there was no need to pay too much attention. , Moreover, Zhang Siwei had just had a conversation with Gao Gong, and he was indeed a little thirsty, so he took a few sips before asking: "There is something, I wonder if you have heard of it, pragmatically, it is about you."
Gao Pragmatic was slightly startled: "About me?"
"Yes." Zhang Siwei slowly put away his smile and said seriously: "I held a lecture banquet for the Holy One one day before. During my free time, the Holy One...well, the Holy One praised you for being young and wise, and asked me, my uncle, what do you think of you? More or less understanding.”
"Ah?" Gao Pingshi was startled and thought to himself: Could it be that the young prince Zhu Yijun couldn't keep his words in his heart and told the emperor about the previous incident so early? This... is a bit early.
Zhang Siwei looked at Gao Pragmatic with bright eyes: "That day after you arrived in Beijing, you followed Duke Zhongxuan directly into the palace. I heard that you had a talk with the prince?"
Gao Pingshi's heart was moved, but he answered honestly on his face: "Yes." He didn't know how much Zhang Siwei knew, so he planned to see Zhang Siwei's reaction before making any calculations.
Unexpectedly, Zhang Siwei was a little worried and hurriedly warned: "You have already started at Gao clan school and studied for several years, and you have been personally taught by Zhongxuan Gong. Your knowledge and insight are rare among your peers, and the prince because of some The reason is that you haven't entered school yet... So, don't act arrogantly in front of the prince. Although the prince is young, he is the king; although we are capable, we are ministers. Do you understand this truth? "
"Yes, my nephew understands." When Gao Pragmatic heard this, he knew that Zhang Siwei didn't know what the conversation between him and Zhu Yijun that day involved, so he said: "The prince and nephew are similar in age, and most of them just talk about something. It was about playing...but the prince mentioned it occasionally, as if he was a little dissatisfied with some of Ke Dao's practices."
Zhang Siwei's eyes narrowed: "Oh? Prince..." He seemed to realize that directly asking what the prince said was a bit inconsistent with his identity, so he couldn't help but stop.
Of course, Gao Pragmatic still had this wink, and he immediately followed up: "The prince actually just said that some people in the science and education are too harsh on the requirements of the Holy Emperor."
"Well..." Zhang Siwei did not reply immediately. Instead, he thought carefully for a while before asking: "What did you say?"
Gao Pinggong said sincerely: "I knew you were going to ask!"
At that moment, he looked honest and replied: "My nephew said that if they have done an excellent job, and then hope that the Holy Spirit can do better, then this is understandable."
Zhang Siwei's face changed slightly, and he said with a hint of reproach: "Fortunately you are young, otherwise... Well, if there is a next time, you shouldn't make any comments about this kind of thing."
"Oh." Gao pragmatically looked a little frustrated and lowered his head. Zhang Siwei naturally couldn't see the secret smile on his lips.
"Pragmatically, uncle is not saying that there is anything wrong with what you said, but I want to tell you: the identity of the prince is very sensitive, and your identity is not insensitive either. Although you are both very young, in In the eyes of others, some of the words you said 'inadvertently' may very well represent the meaning of the Holy Spirit or Elder Gaoge, which will easily lead to people's imagination! It is even difficult to guarantee that some people with selfish motives will interpret your words. Using...doesn't this cause unnecessary trouble for the Holy Emperor and Mr. Gaoge? Pragmatism, uncle said this, you should understand what uncle means, right?"
Gao pragmatic nodded and said: "Although there should be no chance to discuss these things with outsiders in the future, my uncle understands what I mean, and I will be cautious in my words and actions."
Only then did Zhang Siwei smile: "Okay, if you can understand this truth, I will feel relieved as an uncle." Then he paused and smiled wider: "Pragmatically, although you were studying in the Gao clan before , but you also have the blood of the Zhang family. According to the rules of the Zhang family, all juniors who enter school will have a monthly allowance, and your share is always recorded in the account... Oh, by the way, This amount is calculated from the time you started studying in the Gao clan."
When he said this, he was a little dazed when he saw Gao Pingshi, and couldn't help joking: "Why, didn't you expect it? Didn't your mother mention this Zhang family rule to you?"
Gao pragmatic shook his head slightly: "Mother really didn't say that."
Now it was Zhang Siwei's turn to be a little surprised: "I have left all the financial affairs at home to your third uncle a few years ago. He even mentioned this specifically when he corresponded with me. But before that, you In Xinzheng... your third uncle originally planned to transfer it to you through your mother, but your mother said that you didn't need the money at that time, so it was better to leave it to the Zhang family temporarily, so it was never issued - but I didn't know that your mother didn't have it. Tell you what happened? Well, maybe she doesn't want you to be distracted." At this point, he laughed again: "However, it is convenient this time. You came to the capital with Mr. Gao Ge, and you are close to me. When I got the news, I wrote to ask, and as of this month, your money to encourage students to study has accumulated to 975 taels of silver."
Gao Pragmatic was really surprised at this time - for no other reason than because it was close to a thousand taels of silver, which was a huge sum of money in this era!
To give a random example: a pound of flour at this time is worth only 0.01 taels of silver.
Moreover, the pound in the Ming Dynasty was not the current pound of 500 grams, but the pound of 594.6 grams in the Ming Dynasty.
In other words, one tael of silver can buy nearly 60,000 grams of flour, which is 60 kilograms... In other words, this amount of money can already buy 58,500 kilograms of flour, which is nearly 60 tons, and this The price is still calculated according to the price of food in the capital, which is obviously on the expensive side.
If you are buying meat or simply livestock, the price of a cow at this time is about 6 taels to 8 taels of silver (divided into sizes, ages, etc.), while a pig (divided into large, medium and small) only costs an average of 1.5 taels.
If you still want to compare, you can compare labor. How cheap is labor? The first formal craftsman in the capital who has passed the technical level has worked hard for three months and earned about five to six taels of silver, which is only about two taels a month.
As a high-ranking official of the first rank, Gao Gong's theoretical monthly salary was only "seventy-two stones" of rice, which was about 8,000 kilograms or more. Nowadays, the price of one stone of rice in the capital is less than one tael of silver, and the official salary of a first-grade prince and grand master is only more than sixty taels. Of course, Gao Gong held many positions, and he did not only have the salary of an honorary position such as prince and grand master, but that is a different story.
So whether you look at it horizontally or vertically, these nearly one thousand taels of silver are undoubtedly a huge sum of money for Gao Pragmatic.
