According to his usual habit, Gao Jingshi had lunch in the palace and then returned to Gao Gong's residence. Today was no exception, except that he arrived home half an hour later than usual.
As soon as he arrived home, a high-ranking house steward came forward respectfully and reported that the master had been back for a while, and ordered the following to see the eldest young master as soon as he came back.
Gao Pragmatic nodded without changing his expression, but he did not dare to neglect at all and immediately rushed to Gao Gong's study. The door to the study room was open, but it was very quiet inside. Gao Pragmatic looked around and saw that there was no servant in the yard, and his heart moved.
Gao pragmatic stood at the wide open door, still stretched out his hand to knock on the door, and said at the same time: "Uncle San, I'm back."
"Come in." A high-pitched voice immediately sounded from behind the screen.
Gao pragmatic walked into the room, walked around the birch screen, and saw that Gao Gong was not sitting in front of the desk working or writing as usual, but he was half-lying on the Taishi chair next to the bookshelf. However, his eyes were open and bright, obviously not resting.
"Third uncle?" Gao pragmatically called him tentatively.
Gao Gong did not sit up straight, but just pointed and said: "Sit down and talk. There is tea, but it must be cold."
"It's good to be cold. It's too hot today, so it's better to drink it cold." Gao pragmatically smiled and said without hesitation: "Actually, I can't wait to process this tea before drinking it, such as putting it in an ice cellar. Freeze it."
Gao Gong glanced at him sideways and said, neither salty nor cool: "Hmph, I know that your mind has expanded a lot. The size of the ice cellar is almost as big as the ice cellar in Chengguo Palace, but I am not as good as you. If you can't grow hair, you can only live with this salary. If you feel poor, you can go to see Xinzhai to live there. Anyway, Guo Dongye lives there now, so I'm not worried about you relaxing your studies."
Gao pragmatic knew that Gao Gong was just teasing, so he laughed: "If the third uncle wants to use ice, just give the order. Or... my nephew will help the third uncle find a house, so that the dignified Yuanfu of the Ming Dynasty will not have to live in such a small courtyard. inside."
"The mountain is not high, if there are immortals, it will be famous. If the water is not deep, there will be dragons. This is a humble house, but I am virtuous." Gao Gong waved his hand: "It doesn't matter where I live, I am not a person who cares about pleasure anyway. , but what you just said about the house reminds me of something."
"Oh? What did Third Uncle say?"
Gao Gong thought for a while and said: "When Zhang Taiyue first entered the cabinet, he changed to a bachelor's house. I remember that the house was very luxurious and well-kept. The price should be quite high... I was surprised. It's strange. When he and I were serving as Wang Zuoguan in Yudi, he told me that his family's situation was very ordinary. Later we became Hanlin officials. Although nobles and nobles have more than enough, Hanlin officials are notoriously poor. Official, expenses are still tight..."
Gao pragmatic smiled slightly and said: "Uncle San is strange. Where did he get the money to buy the current Zhang University Scholar's Palace?"
"I do doubt it." Gao Gong not only did not cover up, but also increased his voice. He also sat up straight and stared at Gao Pingshi attentively. "I know that with his status at the time, there were some people in his hometown who could contribute, but There is always a limit. If you can scrape together a few hundred taels of silver a year, that’s enough. I’ll give him a thousand taels of silver... He has only been an official for more than ten years, and he doesn’t do anything else to make a living at home. Is the commission from the donation enough to buy that house?"
Gao pragmatic frowned slightly. He knew that Gao Gong was trying to save others by himself, and thought that the contributions in the Zhang family's name were similar to the Gao family's in Henan. But in fact, Zhang Juzheng himself, like Gao Gong, did not accept contributions from others - but this does not mean that the Zhang family did not.
The Zhang family not only has it, but also has its own unique features: Zhang Juzheng’s father, Zhang Wenming, received donations worth at least 10,000 acres.
Of course, Gao Gong's algorithm is not a big problem in conclusion. Because the land was donated, the money that the Zhang family got in the end was actually not a lot, at least not enough to support Zhang Juzheng's purchase of the current Zhang University. Mansion - unless his family's money was spent on nothing else but buying this house.
This is of course nonsense. The Zhang family is now a wealthy man in the village. Especially after the Long Qing Dynasty, the Zhang family's wealth in their hometown has completely snowballed and expanded day by day.
"The third uncle should know the origin of this house, so I won't go into details. The former minister of the Ministry of Industry sold this house to Mr. Zhang Ge when he became an official. This is also a common practice among new and old officials in Beijing. , It's just..." Gao pragmatically pursed his lips.
"Just what?"
"It's just that there is something wrong with the price of this house. According to my nephew's understanding, the original valuation of this house should be around 90,000 taels. It may also be sold for 100,000 taels. Anyway, if it is 80,000 taels, then there is no need to worry about selling it. of."
Gao Gong frowned: "How much did Zhang Juzheng spend?"
As soon as Gao pragmatic heard Gao Gong start to call Zhang Juzheng by his name, he knew that the third uncle was getting angry, but he still replied calmly: "Twenty thousand taels."
"Haha..." Gao Gong smiled, but his face was ashen: "Mr. Zhang Ge's face is really valuable."
That's natural. He didn't do anything and just earned 70,000 to 80,000 taels just from face. Isn't that considered valuable?
"Why does that young Sikong (commonly known as the Minister of the Ministry of Industry) give Zhang Juzheng so much respect?" Gao Gong said coldly: "I heard that he is from Suzhou Prefecture, and he can be regarded as a township party member of Xu Huating, and then In addition, he has already become an official, so why should he be so generous to Zhang Juzheng?"
Logically speaking, Gao Pragmatic obviously shouldn't know these "old things", but to his surprise, Gao Gong asked him like this, and Gao Pragmatic answered without hesitation: "That young Sikong transferred a sum of money to the river engineering industry during his tenure at the Ministry of Works." The silver, after a lot of operation, then... Anyway, the river workers allocated the silver of 470,000 taels, but in the end, Mr. He's Yamen really got only a little over 190,000 taels, not even 200,000 taels."
Gao Gong's face became even worse. He grabbed the armrests of the Grand Master's chair with both hands. His veins were bulging. It took him a long time to suppress his anger and asked, "Is there anything else?"
Gao pragmatic shrugged: "Yes, this young Sikong served as the salt envoy of Shandong Province before he took up the post of minister of the Ministry of Industry... My nephew did not understand other things because it took too long, but there is one thing One thing is for sure.”
"What's up?"
"My third uncle, Zhang Lipangong (note: Zhang Siwei's third brother Zhang Sijiao, also known as Lipan. Gao pragmatically cannot call him by his name because he is a junior), was once asked for 150,000 taels of silver. According to my third uncle, if If he doesn't pay, he will suspend the production of Changlu Saltworks in the name of 'Changlu Saltworks' or 'hidden property' until 'the truth comes out'."
Gao Gong was so angry that he slapped the armrest: "Lawless! They are all rats! Giant beetles!"
It’s not his first day as an official, Gao Ge Lao, so of course he knows what Gao Pingshi is talking about: I’ll just find a random excuse and say that your Changlu Saltworks is suspected of breaking the law, and then suspend operations pending investigation—I don’t know how long the investigation will last. ? Anyway, I will investigate slowly and carefully. For the sake of the court and justice, I will definitely get to the bottom of it. I will not let a bad person go, nor will I wrongly accuse a good person... As for the loss of your Changlu Saltworks, oh, there is nothing we can do about it. What's wrong!
Not as angry as Gao Gong, Gao Pragmatic's expression was very calm, as if the 150,000 taels of silver were not given by his uncle's family.
"Why don't you speak?" Gao Gong also noticed that Gao Pragmatic's demeanor was abnormal.
"I have nothing to say." Gao Pragmatic spread his hands and said, "I remember that my nephew and my third uncle had talked about the 'cost' issue of salt merchants before. At that time, my nephew said that salt merchants may make money quickly, or they may be extravagant. Extremely, but in many cases, their 'cost' is also huge, and luxury may not really be its true nature."
Gao Gong stopped talking. He had always been dissatisfied with the salt merchant's wealth, but it was too difficult to make a move, so he had not made any move yet. Of course, it is not ruled out that because of Zhang Siwei's relationship, he has never been able to find a good way to deal with it.
Shaking his head, Gao Gong decided to put this issue aside for now and said: "Chen Hong came to the cabinet in person this morning to deliver Zhu's approval, and then met with me... You might as well take a guess, what does he want to do?"
Gao pragmatically smiled: "No need to guess, he also found my nephew just now."
"Oh?" Gao Gong's expression changed: "What did you say?"
"It's probably the same thing as what he and San Bo said - he is going to recommend Mr. Guo and Mr. Qifu to the emperor."
Gao Gong narrowed his eyes slightly: "What do you think of his intention in doing this?"
Gao Pingshi smiled, but there was a sarcastic expression on his lips: "He found himself in a dangerous situation, just like walking on a single-plank bridge. Looking to the left was clouds and mountains covered with fog, and looking to the right was also covered in clouds and mountains. There could be cliffs on either side... But, If we don't make a decision, the single-plank bridge will start to sway and will collapse."
Gao Gong laughed loudly after hearing this.
