The First Gongsheng of Ming Dynasty

Zhu Xu brought generous gifts and arrived at the observation deck, but she did not dare to sit down casually. Although in terms of status, she was not much lower than Zhang Zhou. After all, she was born in a family of dukes and married a duke, so she was no stranger to dukes.

After all, he is both my brother and my husband.

But when she faced Zhang Zhou, she could still feel the tremendous pressure. It was not given to her by a duke, but by a powerful official of the dynasty who could influence the fate of the Duke of Cheng's Mansion and the Duke of Wei's Mansion.

"Please allow me to call you sir. This is a small thank-you gift prepared for you by the Chengguo Mansion at the cost of selling everything it has." Zhu Xu said.

Zhang Zhou said: "How can I thank you? As for selling everything I have..."

The general meaning is, don't use alarmist or even pitiful methods to gain sympathy from me.

You said this was selling everything, and I believed it? The Chengguo Mansion is a big family with a lot of wealth. Besides, the main business of the Chengguo Mansion is in the south. The money that Zhu Fu has made in the past few years is beyond the imagination of a commoner like me.

When your stepson Zhu Feng was doing business, he always took out tens of thousands of taels of silver. How dare you cry poor in front of me?
As she spoke, Zhu Xu opened the wooden box in front of her, revealing the contents. They were not physical gold, silver, or jewelry, but pieces of paper. There were quite a few house deeds and land deeds. If some newly issued "silver notes", especially those that could be used in Xishan and Binhai City, were added, the value of the contents of this wooden box alone might very well exceed 50,000 taels of silver.

"This gift is too generous. I can't accept it." Zhang Zhou said.

Zhu Xu said, "My Lord, you have been busy with court affairs, this is what you deserve."

Zhang Zhou said, "I know very well why you came to me. If I take these things, I will be deeply bound to your Chengguo Mansion. Perhaps you don't quite understand this word, so let me put it this way... Chengguo Mansion and I are originally two ships. If one ship sinks, the other ship should not be implicated."

"Duke Cheng is willing to tie up on your ship. I hope you will give me this opportunity."

As she spoke, Zhu Xu did not shy away from the fact that there were people standing around the observation deck, and she knelt directly in front of Zhang Zhou.

This attitude is similar to that of her husband, that is, she shows weakness when she sees Zhang Zhou. Generally speaking, she tries her best to express respect in front of you, in order to gain your trust and support.

Zhang Zhou smiled and said, "My ship has experienced so many storms on the sea that it could sink at any time, but your Chengguo Mansion is a ship that can last for thousands of years. So who is bound to whom?"

In fact, Zhang Zhou was too embarrassed to say it, "Just based on yourselves, do you think you can get close to me?"

But then again, your Chengguo Mansion is, after all, a family of dukes for generations. You are indeed not the same kind of people as a powerful official like me who rose to power in this dynasty and we don’t know what will happen tomorrow.

Now you are afraid and want to protect yourselves, so you said you would bind yourself to me, but who knows whether you will stick to your principles in the future?
When a new powerful person rises and threatens to surpass me, I don't believe you will be able to maintain this loyalty.

If you really have this kind of loyalty, it is also a betrayal of the court, because the one you should be loyal to is the Ming Dynasty court and the emperor, not me, Zhang.

"stand up."

Zhang Zhou said sternly, "Take your things with you, and when you go back, tell your wife that His Majesty will continue to give you, the Duke of Chengguo Mansion, a chance, but His Majesty's patience is limited. If you say that there are crimes but no investigation, and there are mistakes but no need to correct them, how can the laws of the Ming Dynasty be enforced?"

Zhu Xu stood up and looked somewhat ashamed when she heard this.

She didn't care about family affairs, or she had no right to do so.

But this time she realized that her husband only looked honest, but was actually corrupt and committed many illegal acts behind the scenes. Once the emperor wanted to hold these princes and nobles accountable, her husband would not be able to escape.

She even wondered, if even the Duke Cheng's Mansion was like this, what about her brother, the Duke Wei's Mansion, her family? Would it be the same as her husband's family?

"Your Madam Chengguo is too particular about gift giving. She always asks the younger generation to give gifts, and her excuses are always new, but in fact they are all those unpresentable means." Zhang Zhou said, "I have good intentions towards your Chengguo Mansion, all for Zhijie's sake. If you still have a loyal heart, you should stop the evil you have done before. If you continue to be stubborn, then I can only... hehe."

At times like this, I can only give hints.

Whenever something happens in Duke Cheng’s Mansion, they come to me to beg for help.

But what were you doing earlier?

If your Chengguo Mansion is upright, why should you be afraid of your shadow being crooked?
If your shadows are originally slanted, do you still want to straighten your bodies by pulling me together?
……

……

Two days later, after the morning court session.

There was no commotion in the court. When Zhang Zhou came out of the palace, he was stopped by Lin Han. Then Lin Han did not let others walk with him, but walked side by side with Zhang Zhou, as if he had something to ask Zhang Zhou.

"...Yesterday, the Imperial Guards suddenly arrested several officials from the Ministry of Revenue in Beijing who were involved in Taicang. They informed the Ministry of Justice that it was related to a corruption case and was probably related to the mining. The people in the capital were in a panic. What exactly happened?"

Lin Han is the Minister of Personnel, but seems to have very little political acumen.

It is also because Lin Han is not the type of person who is trying hard to climb up, and he is not good at forming cliques, so when something big happens in the court, he is not very aware of it, and he doesn't even know the inside story of the case. He has to communicate with Zhang Zhou to find the answer.

Zhang Zhou said, "Mr. Lin, don't you know everything? Someone took advantage of the mining to enrich himself, and now he wants to investigate. Isn't that normal?"

Lin Han frowned and said, "Hasn't it been you who has been in charge of mining? You have been criticized a lot before, but you wouldn't directly involve half of the court, right?"

That look seemed to be saying, even if they are investigating, shouldn't they only investigate you?

Mining is your, Zhang Bingkuan's, private property, and everyone in the court is upright and innocent.

Zhang Zhou sighed, "Mr. Lin, how have you been these past two years?"

"What are you talking about?" Lin Han looked unhappy.

Zhang Zhou sighed, "When life is comfortable, people will naturally become at ease and stop thinking about deep things. I am the same. Elder Lin himself did not benefit from the mining business, but some people are different. Take the mining business for example. Do you know how much the court earns and spends in a year?"

"At least tens of thousands of taels of silver, right?" Lin Han made a bold guess.

Zhang Zhou smiled and said, "If it multiplies by dozens or even a hundred times, it will probably be around that number."

"What?" Lin Han's eyes widened. He seemed to realize how serious the relationship behind this was.

Zhang Zhou shrugged and said, "Two to three million taels of silver is the direct income from mining, which is mainly from coal. After all, iron and other metal ores... Oh, some things are hard to explain. It's basically saying that although other things have a price, they won't flow into the market."

Lin Han said: "Such a large amount of income is obviously not something you can manage alone. Didn't His Majesty send someone to manage it before?"

"It's a mess!" Zhang Zhou said. "The interests are too great, and there are too many personal relationships involved. Any government office that has anything to do with mining can't resist the temptation of such huge interests. Think about it, a local prefecture or county official, with a few mines under his command, can make more than 100,000 taels of silver a year. How can he not take benefits from it? Even if he takes the benefits, can he keep them? Or won't he pass them on to his superiors? Layer by layer, it's just like that."

Lin Han frowned and said, "Later yesterday, I heard that even someone in the Hanlin Academy was arrested. Could it be related to this incident?"

Zhang Zhou smiled and said, "As the Minister of Personnel, you need to be cautious sometimes. In this matter, even my attitude is... let's put it aside first and see how it goes. You come to ask me, but in fact, I don't know a lot of things. Your Majesty wants to find parasites in the court. We are not parasites ourselves, and what we are most worried about is being attacked by others. Isn't the best way at this time to put it aside?"

"Ah."

Lin Han nodded, meaning I understand.

Although Lin Han's income has increased in the past two years and he lives a carefree life, he knows how to avoid being involved in the vortex of the court.

Obviously, he is the kind of person who is very smooth when he is an official, but he has shown himself to be a pedantic old minister in the past. If people are deceived by his appearance, everyone will think that Lin Han can handle something... but they are totally wrong.

This is an old fox who doesn't get hurt by a single leaf.

……

……

In the mansion of Duke Chengguo.

Zhu Hu was listening to her daughter-in-law's report about her meeting with Zhang Zhou two nights ago, and her expression became increasingly cold.

"After meeting the Duke Cai, why didn't you come back home earlier? Instead, you stayed outside for two days before coming back?" Zhu Hu's face was filled with anger, as if she was ready to kill her daughter-in-law at any time.

Zhu Xu replied calmly, "My family members contacted the capital and asked me to help with some private matters, so I was delayed."

Although she said this, she was thinking in her heart, the things you do in the Chengguo Mansion are so dirty, and I have only been married here for a few years, and I don’t want to go down with you.

You don't treat me as one of your own, so why should I help you rescue your ship when it's leaking, and even sacrifice myself?
Zhu Hu said, "Duke Wei's Mansion is also starting to get scared? The first to start it wasn't Duke Cheng's Mansion. Do you think your brother will be able to escape? If we investigate, we will kill everyone... Even if it's the dukes and marquises in the capital, what can we do? No one can escape."

Zhu Xu said: "I don't have any extra thoughts, I just want to help the two families resolve the conflict."

"Then you should deliver the things to Duke Cai. He only needs to say a word, and no matter whose family it is, your husband's family or your mother's family, they can be saved from danger." Zhu Hu said, "I know that you feel wronged when I ask you to meet Duke Cai, and you think this is not your job. But if it weren't for this, Duke Cai wouldn't even meet the people we sent."

This time, Zhu Xu remained silent.

She has seen clearly the shamelessness of these princes and generals.

At the critical moment, instead of letting the men take the lead, the man lets the women rush forward, as if he is ready to sacrifice the women.

Is this how a lady who is the head of a household should behave?
"You youngsters are just too hypocritical." Zhu Hu stood up and said, "I will give you another chance in the next two days. It will help both the Zhu family and your Xu family. I have already met the people sent by your brother."

"what?"

Zhu Xu was a little surprised.

She obviously did not expect that her brother Xu Ju would actually stand on the same side as Zhu Hu. She thought that Xu Ju only looked for her on certain matters.

Zhu Hu said, "The situation of the old Xu family is not much better. Now the court has suddenly launched a self-investigation, and many people are involved in the case. It is very likely that many dukes will be implicated. Take the Liu family of Anyuan Marquis for example. They are relatives of the Empress Dowager's family. Now they are being convicted. What kind of people have emerged from the Xu and Zhu families in these two generations? What have they done for the court?"

Zhu Xu continued to remain silent.

"Hmph! You are just a woman, just treat me as if I am talking about myself." Zhu Hu said angrily, "How to expand this case, apart from Your Majesty, only the Duke of Cai can decide. If you don't want to see the bloody storm in the officialdom of Jiangnan, you should know your manners and don't let me tell you. If you still want to act like a spoiled child, how can you think that your Xu family is better than our Zhu family without a strong backer?"

This is almost a threat.

Although you are the daughter-in-law of Duke Cheng's Mansion, you are fickle and always consider yourself a member of the Xu family.

Now let me ask you, we in the Zhu family have Zhu Feng, who can curry favor with the emperor and Zhang Zhou, but who do you in the Xu family have?
Don’t you, the Xu family, have to rely on us at critical moments?
So what are you still pretending to be in front of me? Are you pretending to be noble?
When the time comes, the Chengguo Mansion will simply throw your Weiguo Mansion off the boat. You are descendants of the founding heroes and meritorious officials, but you are nothing in the face of major issues. Don’t you understand the principle of a new emperor and new ministers?
……

……

When Zhang Zhou returned home that day, it was after noon, which was considered relatively early.

After returning home, Jiang Pingyu brought Lin Yi out to meet him.

Jiang Pingyu said, "I haven't seen the master these past two days. A lot of things have happened at home. I don't know why, but someone sent a visiting card to our house. It was originally blocked by the Jinyiwei, and some even went out to warn people. But some directly... sent the visiting card and gifts to my father. And asked my father to pass it on."

Zhang Zhou picked up the teacup on the table, took a sip of tea and said, "It's better to change the tea to colder water. The weather is quite hot."

"Master, did you hear what I said?"

Jiang Pingyu was still a little anxious.

Zhang Zhou smiled and said, "Why do you care about them? Whenever there is something going on in the court, everyone thinks of me! Let me put it this way, in the past two years I have done some real business, that is, I opened a few mines. Because the income was too much, I first had conflicts of interest with the locals, and caused a lot of trouble. Now because of the covetousness of the people in the court, many people have taken advantage of it, and even His Majesty can't stand it anymore, and he wants to take action to rectify it."

Jiang Pingyu asked curiously, "So they are all here... to beg for mercy?"

Zhang Zhou smiled and shook his head, saying, "They wanted to board my ship and sail with me, but my ship is too small to accommodate so many people. So those who were not on board in the first place but thought they were on board, I had to kick them off one by one. Not forming factions is a tacit agreement between me and Your Majesty, and I cannot break this tacit agreement." (End of this chapter)