Daming talker

Chapter 762 Abnormality and Opportunity (asking for monthly tickets!)

When the emperor was lazy and too lazy to handle everything personally, one of the important tasks of the Silijian was to "screen" memorials every day.

Anything that the eunuchs believed the emperor needed to know and handle personally would be sent directly to the emperor, such as Lin Tailai's resignation memorial today.

Emperor Wanli was also surprised by this and said in astonishment: "In recent years, there have been many troubles in the court and the four directions. Fortunately, Lin Tailai suppressed them. Why did it come to this?"

In the mind of Emperor Wanli, Lin Tailai had many advantages, mainly three.

First, he can always gain face at all times and get things done at critical moments, which satisfies the emperor's vanity as the ruler of the world.

Second, Lin Tailai was not shy about talking about making money, and he was very active in making money, so he had a lot of common topics with the emperor.

Third, Lin Tailai and the Qingliu Party were sworn enemies, and in recent years he had been able to suppress the Qingliu Party firmly, giving the emperor a lot of peace of mind.

For example, the Qingliu Party has been busy protecting itself in the past year and dared not even bring up the issue of national foundation.

In short, although Lin Tailai is arrogant and domineering, although Lin Tailai always breaks the rules, and although Lin Tailai has a bad relationship with the Zheng family, Lin Tailai is still a good minister.

At this time, the eunuch Zhang Cheng said: "Lin Tailai is really ignorant! I'm afraid he thinks that the emperor is narrow-minded and can't tolerate meritorious officials, so he made this gesture of retreating to protect himself."

The other eunuchs looked at Zhang Cheng in surprise. Could it be that the eunuch in charge of the seal took the wrong medicine today?
This group of eunuchs had learned from the lessons of their predecessors and basically maintained a neutral attitude towards foreign officials. Zhang Cheng was no exception in the past.

Unexpectedly, today Zhang Cheng actually maliciously slandered Lin Tailai and provoked the emperor's dissatisfaction.

In the eyes of civil officials, this behavior can be called "slander."

The eunuch Chen Ju, who was in charge of writing, was even more confused. He couldn't help but recall that when he went to Tongzhou to reward Lin Tailai, Lin Tailai said, "Your chance is coming."

And Zhang Cheng's sudden abnormal behavior today must not be without reason. Could it be related to the "opportunity" that Lin Tailai mentioned?

Emperor Wanli looked at his old partner Zhang Cheng and said puzzledly: “Lin Tailai has always served Chi Cheng and is not a person who is always sad in his heart.

Perhaps because of his success, he became lazy and lost his ambition to make progress, and just wanted to enjoy his wealth and fame."

Zhang Cheng wanted to say something, but Emperor Wanli asked again, "What does the cabinet think about this?"

Another eunuch Tian Yi said, "Prime Minister Zhao Zhigao suggested that Lin Tailai's post in the imperial library be retained and he be appointed as the Langzhong of the Jiangnan Branch of the Ministry of War's Communications Department. This will avoid the suspicion that the court is intolerant of him."

When mentioning the Communications Department of the Ministry of War, Emperor Wanli thought of Lin Tailai's previous idea of ​​using businessmen to collect foreign intelligence under the framework of the Communications Department of the Ministry of War.

So what should a businessman who is responsible for spying do? Of course, he needs to use smuggling, no, trafficking in goods as a cover.

Emperor Wanli nodded and said, "Mr. Zhao is a wise man. Very good! Lin Tailai's position in the library will still be retained, and he will be promoted to the position of Imperial Tutor, which can be regarded as another reward for his merits.

He is lazy and wants to enjoy his wealth and luxury. I am not unsympathetic, but he cannot be too idle, so I will take up the responsibility of the Communications Department and the Jiangnan Branch."

In fact, for Lin Tailai, who has already been conferred a title of nobility, rank is no longer important. Promotion or not is just a matter of course. What is important is the responsibilities and status.

The post of the Jiangnan Branch of the Communication Department was his position, and the title of the Bachelor of the Imperial Academy was his status. After the eunuchs left, Tian Yi went to the Cabinet to convey the imperial edict, and Chen Ju intended to go with Zhang Cheng, the seal holder.

Then he said with concern: "Mr. Zhang shouldn't have said that today. There's no need to distort Lin Tailai."

Zhang Cheng sighed helplessly, not wanting to justify his low-level performance, and only smiled bitterly and said three words: "I have no choice."

Chen Ju fell into deep thought. What does "have to do" mean?
As the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department, Zhang Cheng's power is needless to say. Apart from the emperor, who else could force him to do something "without a choice"?
After returning to the outer house, Chen Ju called all his most trusted "adopted sons" over and instructed:

"It's not far from the end of the year, and there will be many gatherings. You should try your best to find out the news, especially about the Wuqing Hou family."

The biological mother of the current Emperor Wanli is Empress Dowager Li. Empress Dowager Li’s father, Li Wei, was conferred the title of Earl of Wuqing and later promoted to Marquis of Wuqing.

After Li Wei's death, the title was inherited by his eldest son Li Wenquan, who was also the younger brother of Empress Dowager Li.

The trusted adopted sons accepted Eunuch Chen's instruction to "find out information related to Marquis Wuqing" without any doubt. They naturally thought that their adoptive father Eunuch Chen was preparing to please Empress Dowager Li's family.

It is not surprising that a eunuch wants to curry favor with the emperor's biological mother.

A few days later, the news reached Eunuch Chen's ears.

It is said that the Wuqinghou family has always made money by doing business. Last year when the army was launched into the east, the Wuqinghou family received a large order of 50,000 cotton-padded clothes.

However, when the first batch of 10,000 cotton-padded jackets were delivered to Liaodong, they were all returned by the Minister of State Affairs Lin Tailai because of their poor quality due to cutting corners.

In the end, Lin Jinglue directly canceled the order for 50,000 cotton-padded clothes that Wu Qinghou had received.

However, a lot of inferior cotton-padded jackets had already been produced, and Wuqing Hou wanted to deal with them nearby and let the border troops of Xuanfu Town eat them, but he was rejected by Wang Xianggan, the governor of Xuanfu Town.

Therefore, Wuqing Hou probably has some resentment towards Lin Tailai, but he can do nothing about it at the moment.

However, this matter was not a glorious one, and it involved sensitive figures like the Empress Dowager's family and Lin Tailai, so it was not publicized and only circulated in a small circle of insiders.

Eunuch Chen seemed to have realized something. As the saying goes, when something is unusual, there must be something fishy going on. There really was something fishy going on behind the scenes.

But Eunuch Chen was still confused. What did this have to do with Zhang Cheng, the seal holder of the Imperial Household Department?
With Zhang Cheng in a position that could not be promoted any further, there was no need for him to curry favor with Marquis Wuqing or to spread Lin Tailai's slander for the sake of the empress dowager.

So Eunuch Chen asked his adopted sons to continue to inquire carefully for new information.

However, it was not until several months later that word came out that Zhang Xun, the younger brother of Zhang Cheng, the seal holder, was planning to become a relative of Marquis Wuqing.

After hearing the news, Eunuch Chen was stunned. He felt as if he was blinded by greed. It was hard for him to understand how Zhang Cheng, who had been shrewd all his life, could do such a thing.
Marquis Wuqing is the emperor's elder uncle. You, Zhang Cheng, let your brother marry Marquis Wuqing. From the perspective of family ethics, won't he also become the emperor's elder?

But your essential identity, Zhang Cheng, is the emperor's servant. A servant quietly became a relative or elder. Have you ever considered the emperor's feelings?
Then Eunuch Chen finally understood what Lin Tailai meant by "opportunity". If this was not an opportunity for his own advancement, then what was an opportunity?
But Eunuch Chen felt even more terrifying about Lin Tailai!
Unconsciously, he, the eunuch in charge of writing in the Imperial Household Department, seemed to have become a chess piece easily placed by Lin Tailai!

Of course, the above are all things that happened later. When Eunuch Chen suddenly realized what was going on, Lin Tailai had already returned to Suzhou.

(End of this chapter)