The most reckless man in the Ming Dynasty.

Chapter 305 Making a grand appearance
Zhang Mao is gone.

Zhang Rong stayed.

He looked at Tang Hao with some trepidation.

After all, this nominal brother-in-law is notoriously rude and overbearing.

Moreover, Zhang Rong knew even more clearly that the reason why his father Zhang Lun had his legs broken by his grandfather Zhang Mao himself and then his title of crown prince was abolished by his grandfather was all the work of his second brother-in-law!

Tang Hao glanced at Zhang Rong, then motioned for him to sit down.

Zhang Rong sat respectfully in the front half of the chair, listening to Tang Hao's teachings.

"Well, grandpa's meaning is very clear, he doesn't want you to be like your father!"

Tang Hao asked tentatively: "Do you know how your father's leg was broken?"

Zhang Rong trembled when he heard this, then nodded silently and lowered his head again.

"So do you hate me... your second brother-in-law?"

Zhang Rong hurriedly shook his head, repeatedly indicating that he didn't.

To be honest, he, like Zhang Jingshu, had no feelings for that bastard father Zhang Lun.

After all, Prince Lun of the Duke of Yingguo's Mansion is a notorious playboy who hangs out in brothels all day long. He is either playing with women or on his way to playing with women. How could he have the time to take care of his children himself?

It is precisely because of this that almost all of Zhang Lun’s descendants have a bad impression of their father.

Not to mention that Zhang Mao had just said that Zhang Lun's legal wife, Zhang Rong's biological mother, and Duke Dingguo Xu Guangzuo's sister, Zhang Xu, was a jealous woman, and Zhang Rong was raised by Zhang Xu since he was a child. One can imagine what the relationship between this father and son was like.

"Actually, your grandpa has a hard time too."

Tang Hao sighed and said, "The reason your father broke his leg is because I don't want to see him take the position of Duke of England."

"After all, I, the Marquis of Zhongshan, have been working hard to rise in military honors, and the Duke of Ying is from an old-fashioned military family and has a high prestige among the military honors of the Ming Dynasty."

"To put it simply, I don't want my political ally in the future to be a good-for-nothing dude like your father who only knows how to play with women, so his leg was broken and the title of Crown Prince was abolished."

Tang Hao tried to communicate with Zhang Rong in a language that he could understand.

"And your grandfather did this for the same reason."

"Let's be frank. Your grandfather won't live for many more years. If your father Zhang Lun inherits the title by then, not only will he not be able to maintain the power and position of the Duke of Ying's Mansion, but he will most likely bring disaster to the Duke of Ying's Mansion."

"Your grandfather knows these principles better than anyone else. He just can't bear to do it. That's why I forced him to make up his mind last time. That's why your father Zhang Lun broke his leg. Do you understand?"

Zhang Rong nodded again.

But this young man kept his head down the whole time, being extremely reserved.

Seeing this, Tang Hao couldn't help but yelled, "Raise your head!"

Almost subconsciously, Zhang Rong raised his head, his face full of panic.

"You are the descendant of the famous general Zhang Yu and Zhang Fu!"

"Your ancestors fought for our Ming Dynasty and made great contributions!"

"Your grandfather is half buried in the ground, and all his hopes are placed on you, Zhang Rong!"

"Don't you, a young man of fourteen or fifteen years old, have such passion and courage? Is the Zhang family really like what people say, full of useless playboys who have brought shame to their ancestors?"

The last sentence finally touched Zhang Rong's heart.

He stared at Tang Hao with red face and growled angrily: "No!"

"Then prove it to the world!"

Tang Hao said with a smile: "I will throw you into the Dongguanting camp and train with the Beijing army soldiers!"

"No one will know your identity as the eldest grandson of the Duke's Mansion, which means you will not enjoy any special treatment there. Everything is exactly the same as for the soldiers of the Beijing Army, including training, diet, rewards and punishments... Do you dare to enter the Beijing Camp?"

"Why not?!" Zhang Rong once again demonstrated his bravery as a man of the Zhang family!
The Zhang family, the number one military family in the Ming Dynasty, has never had a coward!
"Very good, then..."

Before Tang Hao could finish his words, the doorman came over hurriedly and whispered something to him.

After listening to the doorman's report, Tang Hao's expression suddenly became strange.

"It's really interesting!"

"Duke Dingguo Xu Guangzuo, Duke Chengguo Zhu Fu, Duke Weiguo Xu Zhui, Marquis Wu'an Zheng Hong...even Duke Baoguo Zhu Hui sent his eldest son here!"

After hearing this, Second Uncle Tang Yu was startled at first, and then a look of surprise appeared on his face.

"Hao'er, they truly recognize your status as the head of the nobles!"

This time is different from the past. Back then, these military heroes only sent their unpopular children in their families, such as illegitimate sons and young sons, to support Zhongshan Hou Tang Hao.

But this time it was completely different. Those who sent these military honors were all their eldest sons, that is, the family heirs who would inherit their titles in the future!
These guys dared to send their eldest son heir here and safely hand him over to Zhongshan Marquis Tang Hao. Naturally, it meant that they recognized Tang Hao's identity as the head of military honors. From now on, they will be a complete military honor group!

Tang Hao touched his chin and nodded, then Tang Yu came forward to invite all these military honors in.

Zhang Rong stood up tactfully and stood behind Tang Hao.

When Xu Guangzuo, Zhu Hui, Zhu Fu, Xu Chu and others saw Zhang Rong, they all had different expressions on their faces.

In fact, it was because they saw Zhang Mao handing over his eldest grandson to Tang Hao that they became interested and immediately sent their own eldest son over to show their goodwill.

After all, the current Marquis of Zhongshan is no longer the Marquis of Zhongshan who had no foundation back then.

Not to mention that this time Tang Hao returned to the court with a great victory for destroying a country. He was destined to be promoted and become the first person with military honors.

In addition, all affairs in Japan are under the control of this Marquis Zhongshan.

Whether Wu Xun could profit from it, or who among them could get close to Zhongshan Hou, all depended on Tang Hao's decision, so they had to show their goodwill to Tang Hao and respect the status of the number one Zhongshan Hou.

"Congratulations to Lord Tang on the birth of his baby!" Zhu Hui said awkwardly.

To be honest, he is in the most embarrassing situation among all the military heroes.

Originally, Duke Baoguo and Marquis Zhongshan had an arranged marriage, and Zhu Hui would marry his concubine's daughter to Tang Hao as a concubine. However, when Liu Jin teamed up with Li Dongyang to plot against Tang Hao, Zhu Hui did not stand firm. Not only did he send a servant to the Marquis Zhongshan's mansion to unilaterally announce the annulment of the marriage, but the servant also wantonly humiliated the Marquis Zhongshan's mansion, causing the two families to become enemies.

Zhu Hui also paid a heavy price for this. He was easily dealt with by the Emperor. Not only was he thrown into the imperial prison and tortured, but even the huge wealth of the Duke of Baoguo's mansion was confiscated. It can be said that his father Zhu Yong was completely disgraced.

Moreover, due to Tang Hao's continuous rise, other nobles also subconsciously excluded Zhu Hui, not wanting to offend Marquis Zhongshan. So Zhu Hui's life was very difficult now. He had to come in person with a thick face, hoping that Tang Hao would express his willingness to let the matter go for the sake of their past friendship.

Zhu Hui's son Zhu Qi is now in his twenties and serves as a member of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

Looking at the father and son who were arrogant at first but respectful later, Tang Hao couldn't help but feel deeply moved.

After all, he had received the favor of Zhu Hui in the past, especially the book of Zhang Yong's experience in using troops, which can be said to have truly helped Tang Hao grow into a qualified general of the three armed forces.

"Uncle, why do you have to do this?"

Tang Hao stepped forward and helped Zhu Hui and his son up.

"This is Brother Qi, right?"

"Do you want to join the Beijing Camp, or do you want to stay with me?"

Zhu Qi looked at his father, who did not answer.

There doesn't seem to be anything special about joining the Beijing Army and training with the soldiers. It would be better to follow Zhongshan Hou Tang Hao and become his confidant, at least he can become familiar to him.

So Zhu Qi chose the latter, and Tang Hao was not surprised.

Then the eldest sons of dukes and marquises also made their choices. Most of them chose to join the Beijing Army for training, while a few wanted to follow Tang Hao. Tang Hao agreed to all of their requests.

Then everyone started to talk about business, which was nothing more than the profit pie of Japan.

"You don't need to get involved in the gold and silver mines in Japan. This is a trap for the gentry."

When these words were spoken, all the military heroes were shocked.

Fortunately, they came today, otherwise they would have been blinded by greed and followed the trend, and fell into the trap set by Marquis Zhongshan and His Majesty the Emperor.

"So what you have to do is to send people to various iron mines in Japan, complete the reform of these iron mines according to the model of Laiwu Iron Works, and then continuously produce fine steel weapons, including firearms!"

Tang Hao looked at the group of military heroes with a serious expression and said, "The iron factory has made a lot of profit, you all know the figure."

"I have only one request, that is, the ironworks must pay the mining tax in full and produce the weapons and equipment in full, and that they must be completed on time and with quality. This is related to our future expedition to the Northern Tartars. You understand the importance of this matter!"

Send troops to the Northern Tartar!

Hearing this, everyone's expressions perked up and they nodded excitedly.

If we were to ask what was the most worrying issue in the Ming Dynasty, it would be the Northern Barbarians!

There was no way out. The Ming Dynasty was once beaten to the gates of the capital by the Northern Barbarians, and the capital was almost breached by the Northern Barbarians, so the Northern Barbarians naturally became a threat to the Ming Dynasty.

By the same token, because the imperial court is wary of and values ​​the Northern Barbarians, once troops are sent to the Northern Barbarians and military merit is achieved, the rewards given by the imperial court will far exceed anything else!
For example, the fact that the Marquis of Zhongshan has razed the country of Japan seems to be a great achievement, but in fact this achievement does not prove anything, because Japan is too weak, which is the general consensus of the government and the people. But if the Marquis of Zhongshan can lead his army to wipe out the northern barbarians, then no one can stop him from being promoted to Duke and becoming the most powerful minister in Zhengde!

This is the value of "Northern Tartar"!
"Besides, there is the East China Sea trade."

"The trade is about to start. Each of you should prepare the goods and send them to Shandong Qinghe Shipyard. The rules will be as we agreed before. Thirty percent profit is not a small amount."

When this matter was mentioned, all the dukes and princes showed joy on their faces.

Of course, they don't care about such a small profit. What they care about is doing business with Marquis Zhongshan and His Majesty the Emperor. This means that their family has an extra trump card, which is enough to ensure the family's prosperity.

Well, except for Baoguo Gong Zhu Hui, he is really short of money, so he may have to borrow some money to raise the goods.

"Finally, I have something to remind you." Tang Hao said seriously, "Don't annex the fields, don't annex the fields, don't annex the fields!"

"There are many ways to make money. After joining the East China Sea trade, your descendants will have enough food and drink to live a life of luxury. So I don't want to see you continue to annex land. Otherwise, don't blame me for turning my back on you!"

Hearing this, all the dukes and marquises trembled in their hearts.

Don't annex fields!

Marquis Zhongshan said this three times!

It is very obvious what his attitude towards this matter is, that is the reverse scale!

"I think you should also know that His Majesty the Emperor appointed Liu Jin, a eunuch, to take action against the princes of the royal family who annexed the land."

"I don't know how many members of the Qing clan were killed by Liu Jin. You have seen this, so you must remember it!"

Tang Hao sneered and said, "Because the Qing clan is not the end, but just the beginning."

"From now on, all these princes will be investigated by this madman Liu Jin!"

"Whoever annexes land on a large scale will die, without exception!"

As soon as these words were spoken, all the dukes and marquises took a deep breath!
That's it!

It’s so!
Liu Jin was not targeting the Qing clan alone, but all the princes of the royal family!
Whoever annexes land on a large scale will die!

So how much land is under your name now?

For a moment, all the dukes and marquises were a little panicked.

They don’t want to become Liu Jin’s next target!
After all, it is said that the damn eunuch likes to torture his targets the most, making them strip naked and play the pipa...

This "playing the pipa" is not an elegant thing, but one of the famous tortures of the Jinyiwei.

The specific operation is to press the prisoner to the ground, control his hands and feet, lift his shirt to expose his ribs, and then use a sharp knife to "pluck" the prisoner's ribs back and forth, which is called "playing the pipa".

Each time the torture was carried out, the prisoner suffered extreme pain, his cries shook the walls, his flesh and blood festered, he could neither live nor die, it was so horrible that his skin and flesh slowly opened and tore, he felt itchy and painful, even if he did not die he had lost half his life!
"Lord Tang, what about us...what about the lands we have already annexed?"

Zhu Hui spoke in a panic.

He was really scared by the little emperor.

Moreover, among these dukes and marquises, which family has annexed the most land, it is none other than the Duke of Baoguo.

"What should we do? Return it!" Tang Hao replied unhappily: "Either find a way to return it, or if we can't find the original owner, just give it to the government!"

"After dealing with the royal family and the vassal kings, His Majesty will start clearing out other forces. I don't want to clean up after you guys when the time comes. I have to find a way to resolve this matter before then!"

Whoever annexes the land will die!

The Qing vassal lineage is just the beginning, the royal family vassal kings are just the beginning!
Next come other forces, including military generals, nobles, royal relatives, and gentry!

So all the princes and dukes realized the seriousness of the problem, looked at each other, and then said goodbye and left, returning home to settle the accounts of the annexed lands under their names.

They don’t want to become the next target of the mad dog Liu Jin and be pinned to the ground and “played the pipa”!
After these dukes and marquises left, Tang Hao couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Liu Jin is really a mad dog!

He actually dared to use the torture of "playing the pipa" on the children of the royal family!
But the effect is still very good. At least now everyone is terrified when they hear the name "Liu Jin".

Tang Hao just happened to borrow Liu Dayang's notoriety to scare these dukes and nobles, so that they could solve their own dirty tricks and not ask him, the head of military honors, to clean up their messes.

Just as the dukes and marquises left, and before Tang Hao had time to drink a sip of tea, another "uninvited guest" came to visit.

This person was truly an uninvited guest, and Tang Hao even wanted to kick him out.

That’s right, the person who came was none other than the Minister of Imperial Household Affairs, Prince Ning Zhu Chenhao, who was stirring up trouble in the court!
When Tang Hao saw Zhu Chenhao's ugly face, he couldn't help but want to punch him.

You are a prince of the royal family after all, how dare you come to visit me, the Marquis of Zhongshan, so openly?
What, is this really floating?
Do you dare to openly violate Taizu's ban now?

"Lord Tang, how are you?"

Zhu Chenhao spoke with a smile, his face full of flattery.

Tang Hao looked at him with a frown, then reminded him in a low voice.

"Prince Ning, even the new system of the royal family and vassal states that royal family and vassal kings are not allowed to make friends with court officials. Those who violate the order will be treated as treason!"

"Not to mention, I, Tang Hao, am the commander-in-chief of the Beijing Army. You are putting me in a position of disloyalty and injustice!"

Zhu Chenhao's expression became serious upon hearing this, and he said sternly: "What are you talking about, Lord Tang? I just came here to visit my daughter..."

Tang Hao: "???"

what?
Ah? ? ?
Where the hell did your daughter come from?
And it’s still in my Zhongshan Marquis…

and many more!

Something is wrong!
Tang Hao seemed to have thought of something, and then stared at Zhu Chenhao with a gloomy face.

"Prince Ning doesn't mean that Guli is your daughter, right?"

Guli, a stunning Hu girl, was obviously from the Western Regions, probably from Xinjiang.

Zhu Chenhao replied with a smile: "That's right, Li'er is my adopted daughter since she was young!"

"She was given to me by a profiteer. I felt sorry for her and inquired about her life story. I thought this girl must have had a hard life, so I adopted her as my adopted daughter and have always treated her like my own..."

What the hell!
Tang Hao's face turned green for a moment.

If he didn't know what kind of person Zhu Chenhao was, he would have really believed his lies.

"Alright, alright."

"Prince Ning, just say what you want to say!"

Tang Hao waved his hands impatiently.

"These tricks are just plain disgusting."

If Guli's first blood had not been taken by Tang Hao, he really wanted to throw this woman to Zhu Chenhao and take your so-called "adopted daughter" out!

Well, this is what “lust is a sword hanging over your head” means!

Zhu Chenhao also tore off his disguise and whispered: "Lord Tang, I want to march into Japan, at least I want a share of the profits from the Iwami Silver Mine!"

As expected, Zhu Chenhao really came for the big cake of Japan.

After all, Prince Ning wants to rebel!
Maintaining soldiers, making friends with court officials, winning people's hearts...all of these cost money!

If you don't give money, who would be willing to follow you and do something as risky as rebellion?

"Besides, I also want an iron mine!"

Zhu Chenhao narrowed his eyes and made another unreasonable request.

Well, iron ore is also needed. After all, it is better to build the military equipment and supplies by ourselves to avoid the news leaking out.

You need weapons and armor to rebel!

Tang Hao looked at Zhu Chenhao with a smile. Does he trust him so much?

"King Ning, what do you want to do?"

"Lord Tang knows it well, why ask again?"

"Aren't you afraid that I will tell on you?"

"Mr. Tang won't."

"Oh? Why?"

"Because you are my virtuous son-in-law!"

"My son-in-law..."

(End of this chapter)