Daming: Wanted to be a small landlord, but was forced to ascend the throne

Chapter 407
There is a low alley away from the palace gate.

There are two alleys in the alley, and there is a house in a low place.

The houses here are a bit dilapidated, in stark contrast to the luxurious palace gates.

Don't look down on the house here, this is the most expensive house in Beijing, every inch of land is expensive, and it is not easy to buy.

The reason is that the houses here originally belonged to the imperial court, but were gradually taken private by some people.

However, in order to avoid being too ostentatious, those people did not dare to repair the house too gorgeously, so they could only make it look dilapidated and unobtrusive, and decorate the interior more luxuriously.

So the people who can live here are people with extraordinary status.

Yang Tinghe, the former chief minister of the cabinet, had a yard nearby.

Although the houses here are dilapidated, the yard here is also the yard that officials in the capital dream of owning.

The reason is that it is close to the palace gate and it is convenient to go up to court.

It was not easy for officials of the Ming Dynasty to go to court. The court meeting would start at a quarter of a hour, that is, around five o'clock in the morning. If officials wanted to catch up with the morning court in time, they had to get up at two or three o'clock and wait outside the Meridian Gate.

Living in the capital is not easy. Some poor officials don’t have the money to rent nearby houses. If they choose to go far away, they have to go around more than half of the capital to come here. The hardships can be imagined.

What a saving of time and effort it would be to have a place to live here!

Therefore, although the place is dilapidated, whoever wants to live here is quite a bull-nosed existence.

Zhang Cong didn't sleep all night. The courtyard he lives in now is the Niubi House not far from the palace gate.

It wasn't long before he moved in, and he only used two houses in the front yard of the house.

Yes, it was used, not his property on duty!
Even though tabloids and teahouses gave Zhang Cong a lot of profits every year, Zhang Cong only bought a small house in a remote location under Qin Shao's suggestion to buy a house.

Now his eldest son Zhang Xunzhi lives there with his wife and children.

Zhang Cong has three sons. Although Zhang Xunzhi, the eldest, is in his early 25s, he got married early and now has three children.

Zhang Xunzhi is a good student, he has already passed the exam, and now he is preparing to take the exam three years later. Years ago, he went to the capital to join his father.

The educational resources in the capital are good, and if you have the conditions to study in the capital, as long as you are not stupid, you will not miss it. .

The second child, Zhang Xunye, is 19 years old. He doesn't like reading very much. After studying for more than ten years, he has not become a scholar, and some want to give up.

Although Zhang Cong is now successful and famous, he has no objection to his second son's idea of ​​giving up the imperial examination. Perhaps he has experienced many years of failing in the imperial examination, and he can feel the difficulty of it.

After the second son didn't plan to study, he asked him to come with the eldest son, and now he is helping run errands at Qin Shao's teahouse.

An Yongzhen originally wanted to arrange a good job for Zhang Xunye, but Zhang Cong refused, and let Zhang Xunye do the drudgery of running errands.

The third child, Zhang Xunfu, was ten years old and was still studying at home, under the care of Zhang Cong's old wife Zhao.

Zhang Cong has been in Beijing for so many years. Although he is considered a poor scholar compared to the sons of high officials in the capital, he was already a Juren at that time, and he was already well-known in his hometown.

But he would rather be poor and never ask for help or even interact with the family members or local gentry. In his words, he does not owe anyone favors, and he will not be restrained by others!

For many years, he has only been taken care of by an old servant, let alone a concubine, not even a half-mature lady's follower.

After getting acquainted, Qin Shao saw that Zhang Cong had always been pure-hearted and ascetic, and had never been to a gentle place, so he was very curious about how his body needed to be resolved.

After all, it is said that he is over fifty years old, but in fact he is only 45 years old after the new year, and he was even younger a few years ago.

When he was working on a tabloid in the capital, it was the coldest days. Qin Shao saw that Zhang Cong was wearing a padded jacket and only thin trousers on his lower body. He wondered why he didn’t add more clothes. Zhang Cong just smiled and said that he was used to it.

"Ziming, don't ask about Bingyong's clothes that are too thin!"

An Yongzhen sneered, her smile was very strange.

"Why?"

Qin Shao asked in surprise.

An Yongzhen smiled strangely, Qin Shao knew there must be something wrong with it.

"I don't want to say..."

An Yongzhen hesitated.

"Ok?"

Qin Shao looked up at him.

An Yongzhen surrendered immediately!
At the beginning, An Yongzhen and Qin Shao became good friends and brothers. Later, the longer they got along, when An Yongzhen faced Qin Shao, he became like an obedient younger brother. You must know that he is several years older than Qin Shao , he didn't know why.

"Bing... Bingyong said that in this way, he can be pure and ascetic, little loach... the little loach will cool down when it freezes, it won't be so hot... it's active!"

An Yongzhen said with a pause.

"Little loach?"

Qin Shao was a little suspicious.

An Yongzhen pointed to the bottom of herself.

"Test!"

Qin Shao scolded directly!
This guy is a master at writing storybooks, and the obscene words are so cryptic that it makes people think about it, and it also thinks of cooling down and being active.

It's just that Zhang Zong is too...

In order to stop my desire, I even came up with such a method.

Qin Shao recalled some unofficial histories he had read in his previous life. One of his favorite writers was the one with two trees in front of the door, one was a zao tree and the other was also a zao tree. He was also wearing thin trousers and was struggling with life, but it couldn't stop Qin Shao from liking him.

……

The remote house that Zhang Cong bought had only three rooms, and the house was simply not enough for the servants and the second son.

Qin Shao still went to the teahouse to listen to An Yongzhen's talk about the situation, and suggested that Zhang Cong buy another house, but Zhang Cong felt that it was too wasteful.

He is now busy working in the court, and he spends less and less time working on the tabloids. Now the tabloids are all managed by them. Zhang Cong feels that he has not done much, and he doesn't even want to take the share of the tabloids.

His character is too upright, Qin Shao knew it was not easy to persuade him, and after Yang Tinghe's compound was sealed off, no one lived there, so Qin Shao asked Zhang Cong to live there first.

Zhang Cong agreed because he couldn't live in the house, but he didn't take up the whole house, and only chose two rooms.

No one doesn't like such a person who knows kindness and courtesy, and has little greed, and Qin Shao is the same!
Now Zhang Cong lives there with his servants and his second son.

"Father! Father! The palace is on fire! It's on fire!"

Zhang Cong was looking at some materials about Huangzhuang in the capital city recently. The new emperor is not very familiar with the situation of the various ministries, so he got a lot of materials for them to check.

Zhang Cong these days forgets to eat and sleep, and sometimes he stays up all night.

"Cannibal's reward is to be ordered by others!"

The son advised Zhang Cong not to work too hard, Zhang Cong sighed.

In addition to working around the clock, Zhang Cong lost contact with many people he knew before, and even alienated fellow villagers with whom he had some connections.

"Father, why are you doing this?"

The eldest son did not understand why his father did this.

These days, it is very important to join the Fellowship faction.

"Zhi'er! Do you know why His Majesty uses me so much, and arranges for me when I don't have a place to live?"

"Naturally, it's my father who is capable, so he has this unique honor!"

"Wrong! You still have a lot to learn, Your Majesty really wants to use me,

My greatest usefulness is not ability. There are many people who are more capable than me. The only thing I can beat those people is: I can be a lonely minister! "

"Lonely minister? Does Your Majesty want father to be a lonely minister?"

"Correct!"

The emperor has great ambitions, and Zhang Cong has long admired him.

When Zhang Cong was young, his father died and his mother raised him alone.

Although Zhang's mother is only a woman, she comes from a great family. Although her family has declined, she is a person with lofty aspirations.

He is very attentive to the cultivation of his son Zhang Cong.

Zhang Cong has seen his mother's difficulties since he was a child. Although his father passed away, their family background is not very poor. His father has a lot of land, and his mother also has some dowry. It is not a problem to support him to study.

But some of their fertile fields were seized by local local tyrants and evil gentry.

The methods they use are similar to those in many places. They are rich and powerful, they control the water source, their fertile fields cannot be watered, there is no harvest, and they have to pay land taxes.

In order to stop the loss in time and to survive, Zhang's mother can only sell those fields to those people at a low price.

Now Zhang Cong is nearly half a hundred years old, and he still remembers the sad tears of his mother when he lost the land. The kind of sadness and anxiety made Zhang Cong grow up overnight.

Their life became more and more difficult. Later, Zhang Cong even had to borrow money to study.

This kind of land annexation by landlords and tyrants is not limited to Zhang Cong's family, but it can be said to be everywhere.

Because of suffering, Zhang Cong matured very early. He studied hard, thinking that he had the ability to punish those bad guys.

Because of such suffering, after Zhang Cong passed the Juren examination, he was integrated into the local circle. Those people wanted to use his fame to pull him to do things together, but Zhang Cong directly refused.

He has suffered like that. He has seen many ordinary people lose their land and become displaced. They are better, and their mother has some dowry.

Zhang Cong understands that this is not a problem of one or two. Just punishing one or two "bad guys" will not fundamentally solve the problem.

"What? The emperor... the palace is really on fire?"

Zhang Cong jumped up from the chair all at once.

After reacting, he quickly rushed to a step in the yard.

Standing there, he saw thick smoke coming from the direction of the palace.

"Ye'er, I have to go to the palace!"

Zhang Cong looked at the thick smoke and said excitedly.

……

Hall of Mental Cultivation.

"Your Majesty, the empress is here!"

Zhang Zuo quickly came in and reported back.

"Grandpa, are you okay?"

As soon as Zhang Zuo's voice fell, Han Jinrong rushed in with a crying voice, and she was relieved when she saw that Qin Shao was fine.

"Why are you here? Don't look at the children!"

Qin Shao scolded.

Because there are three children to take care of, Qin Shao didn't tell Han Jinrong when this matter was done, so as not to worry her.

"Master, I saw thick smoke. I heard that the palace in front was on fire. I was very worried. The child has already been watched. I am worried that there is something wrong with you. Come and have a look!"

Han Jinrong was relieved to see that Qin Shao was fine.

Qin Shao usually lives in Kunning Palace if he is not busy with business. If he goes back too late for something and is worried about affecting the rest of the children, he will live in the Palace of Mental Cultivation.

For the three children, Qin Shao did not adopt the practice that the princes in the ancient Daming Palace did not live with their parents. Only when children have a closer relationship with their parents can they have a good and healthy personality.

There are many strange emperors in Ming Dynasty, but in the final analysis it is the influence of family relationship.

Now the twins are almost three years old, and they still live with Han Jinrong in a palace, but the children have their own rooms.

The Hall of Mental Cultivation where Qin Shao lives is actually a small courtyard.

Before he moved in here, it was actually a small vacant yard.

Qin Shao worked in the capital for a period of time in his previous life, and was very interested in the Forbidden City. He went around a lot and knew the layout there very well.

The courtyard where he lived had no name before. After Zhu Houcong proclaimed himself emperor, he repaired it and named it the Hall of Mental Cultivation.

Qin Shao felt that the courtyard was exquisite and not so empty, with all kinds of facilities, including office, living, reception, and banquet functions, and the north side of the warehouse was the imperial dining room.

It is convenient for him to summon ministers or meet other people here, and it is also convenient for Wang Yin and the others to guard this courtyard, so this courtyard is now the place where he stays the longest.

Qin Shao was not at all interested in the emperors' hobby of naming names with inscriptions. In this era, texts are emphasized, and everyone loves to say a few words. Names or sayings have a source and origin, which represent good meanings and so on.

Qin Shao found it troublesome, so he simply adopted the name that everyone knew in his previous life, and named this place the Hall of Mental Cultivation.

Although the size of the current Daming Palace is not small, but compared to the extravagance and waste of emperors such as Zhu Houcong later, the current Daming Palace is not as luxurious and huge as what he saw in his previous life.

As a modern person, Qin Shaoyue didn't want to spend too much money on the palace, the treasury of the Ming Dynasty was already poor enough!
As for the house, as long as it is enough and the interior is warm and comfortable, there is no need to spend too much money on the facade.

"It's the Jinshen Palace (Qingning Palace) that's on fire! But it's already extinguished, and there's nothing wrong with it. Everything is under my control. Just go back and take good care of the child!"

Qin Shao comforted his wife in a low voice.

Jinshen Hall is the Hall of Preservation and Harmony, which was changed in the Qing Dynasty.

At this time in the Ming Dynasty, Jinshen Hall was actually a place where the emperor rested and changed clothes.

Of course those people knew that he was now living in the Hall of Mental Cultivation, and choosing to set fire to this place was actually a threat.

In Qin Shao's previous life, he did not have much research on the history of Ming Dynasty, especially the history of the early Jiajing period.

But in my previous life, because I liked to go to the palace, I got acquainted with a beautiful little tour guide there. I invited him to eat a few times, and every time I went, the little girl would let him follow her commentary. After a long time, those lines were too Too familiar, Qin Shao feels that if he has a tour guide certificate, he can also lead a group!
Among those explanations, Qin Shao was very interested in several fires in the Forbidden City.

Qin Shao remembered that in the first year of Jiajing, there was a fire in the Jinshen Palace, and that fire caused Zhu Houcong to fail miserably in the second round of the fiery ceremony.

As for the specific day, Qin Shao couldn't remember, he only remembered that it was after the Spring Festival.

Qin Shao asked Wang Yin and Lin Tong to keep an eye on the situation in the palace these days.

Today's palace has been sorted out by Zhang Zuo, and the number of people has been reduced a lot, and many people have been replaced by their own people.

It's just that Queen Zhang and Zhu Houzhao's concubines couldn't do too much and left some people for them.

Qin Shao asked Zhang Zuo to send some internal officials to monitor the movement there.

That is, in the past few days, some new faces suddenly appeared in the palace.

Wang Yin and the others were very worried, and Zhang Cong also knew about it, so he came directly and proposed to deal with those people to avoid risks.

Can't bear to let the child not catch the wolf!
Qin Shao felt that this was a good opportunity, just to clean up the harem, and instantly pull out those ghosts and monsters in the court!
Don't those people like to engage in those little tricks?

He wants them to never be able to do it in the future!

……

"Father!"

As soon as Han Jinrong was sent out, Wang Yin sneaked in without a sound.

"what's the situation?"

Qin Shao asked directly in a cold voice.

"Master, a few people have been caught, but...but those people committed suicide on the spot, our people have no time..."

Standing in front of the eaves, Wang Yin reported that there was dust on his body, and there were traces of fire on some parts of his clothes, obviously he had just come from the direction of the fire.

His face was a little gray, and he obviously felt that he hadn't done things well.

"Not one alive?"

Qin Shao was a little surprised that those people had such great determination, it seemed that they really worked hard!

"Not one... not one, they are all dead!"

(End of this chapter)