Ming Dynasty: My Father Zhang Juzheng

Chapter 140 You are quite nice
After some indirect hints, Emperor Wanli remained silent on the matter. Zhang Yunxiu did not ask any more questions and just left respectfully.

Back home, he sat alone in his study, weighing the pros and cons in his mind.

After all, this world belongs to his Zhu family. He is devoted to it and works himself to death. Maybe people will blame him for meddling in other people's affairs.

It would be better to just go along with him, turn a blind eye, and be a leisurely young man yourself.

Thinking of this, Zhang Yunxiu's hands and feet turned cold, and he felt a strong sense of powerlessness in his heart.

He is the emperor and he can fail countless times, but as a minister, if he fails once, there is no recovery.

"If the ruler is not discreet, he will lose his ministers. If the ministers are not discreet, they will lose themselves. If the ruler loses his ministers, there are still other ministers who can replace him. If the ministers lose themselves, who can replace them?"

Zhang Yunxiu shook his head, not knowing how to deal with the matter.

Suddenly, a woman came to his mind.

Concubine Zheng.

Only this woman can influence the emperor.

"We should give it a try anyway. If it doesn't work, we can think of other ways."

After figuring this out, Zhang Yunxiu lifted his robe and went straight to Zheng Guotai's home.

On the other side, Han San came to Yangwei Hutong in the east of the city in plain clothes. In an alley inside, there were four or five ruffians in green clothes standing.

These people are all Beijingers who have been around in the capital.

In the past, he had shown great respect to Han San.

Han San naturally took good care of them.

To put it in today's terms, these people are Han San's gloves.

When the two groups saw each other, the people on the opposite side hurriedly called out "Third Master", while Han San waved his hand and couldn't wait to ask the skinny guy in the middle: "Liu Jinfu, has anyone come to see you recently?"

"No." Liu Jinfu shook his head and asked carefully, "Third Master, what happened again? Is that family causing trouble again?"

"No, it's much more troublesome than this."

Han San sighed, took out two silver coins from his pocket, and said, "Recently, someone in the capital has been privately making silver coins, and the higher-ups have ordered us to investigate this matter. Tell me, can an ordinary family dare to do this kind of business?"

"We are sitting on hot coals now. It is not right to sit, and it is not right not to sit."

It's all Wang and that bastard's fault. If you had just turned a blind eye, it would have been fine.

Now that this matter has been exposed, you can get away easily, but you have also caused yourself trouble.

"Master San, we have some clues about the matter you mentioned." After Han Sanyi finished complaining, a scoundrel in a round-necked shirt replied.

"Hurry up and tell me." Han San urged anxiously.

"This month, one of my subordinates said he would like to introduce a big business to me."

"I got interested and asked him, 'What's the big deal?' The guy smiled and took out two silver dollars from his pocket and said, 'Boss, this is it. If you make one, you can make ten times the profit.'"

"I was already famous at that time, isn't this just pushing me into the fire pit? I have made a lot of money in West City following the Third Master this time. I don't want to do this head-losing job."

"We have been abiding by the law lately and have not dared to do anything unconventional."

After saying that, the ruffian blinked his eyes and looked at Han San cautiously.

After hearing this, Han San rubbed his chin with his hand for a while, and suddenly smiled sinisterly: "It's the bad luck of that kid. So, each of you can send three brothers, and hand over that kid to us together."

"Third Master." Everyone looked at each other and hesitated.

"Don't worry, we will only deal with the main culprit. As for the other accomplices, if they confess honestly, they will go to jail at most. You just need to give them some money." Han San grinned and guaranteed by patting his chest.

After getting the promise, the few people let it go and agreed.

Before leaving, Han San reminded him: "If you want to act, you have to do it sincerely. We have to prove his guilt and bring him to justice.

As long as we catch one, the rest will know to restrain themselves, and we can explain it to them and save face for the higher-ups."

"Understood." They all clasped their fists in agreement.

After leaving the alley, the man in the long shirt who had spoken earlier walked quickly towards his house.

As soon as he returned to the small hall and sat down, he waved his hand and asked the butler to call the boy who had spoken earlier.

The butler led Nuo away, and soon came in with a short man, about thirty-seven or thirty-eight years old, who looked cunning.

Seeing the man in the shirt, his knees weakened, and he fell to the ground and shouted, "Brother Wang." Brother Wang smiled, stood up and helped him up, and asked with a smile, "Ma Laoliu, what is the profitable business you told us about last time? Ten times the profit, you must have made a fortune recently, right?"

Ma Laoliu's eyes flashed with panic, then he pretended to be calm and said: "Brother Wang, you are wrongly accusing me. Without your approval, I would never dare to do that thing."

"Really didn't do it?" Brother Wang asked with his neck tilted.

“I really didn’t.”

Brother Wang nodded, pulled Ma Laoliu to sit on the chair, and whispered into his ear, "After thinking about it, it's not impossible to do it, but it has to be done covertly.

Our superiors sent us a letter asking us to do it secretly."

"Oh, I knew that Brother Wang was very powerful. We used to just drink soup, but now we can finally have a bite of meat with Brother Wang." Ma Laoliu slapped his thigh, his face full of excitement.

Brother Wang motioned him to be quiet and asked, "Do you have the mold?"

"Yes or no."

"Is there any?"

"No."

Ma Laoliu scratched his head and chuckled, his small eyes twinkling with a bright light.

Brother Wang patted him on the shoulder, smiled and said, "Okay, I'll give you a mold and prepare a location for you, which is Wang's shop thirty miles outside the city.

Just go there with peace of mind, someone will naturally pick you up wherever you get to."

"Brother Wang is still quick and efficient."

"We are brothers, who is following whom?"

The two of them laughed for a while, and then Brother Wang waved his hand to let Ma Laoliu go down.

Only after seeing Ma Laoliu off did he let out a long sigh.

Today, when he heard Han San say that he would strictly investigate the private minting of silver dollars by the people, he was almost scared to death.

When Ma Laoliu came to instigate him before, he was already tempted, but he did not dare to trust this guy.

He knew very well that Ma Laoliu was a stubborn person, so he only brought seven or eight close followers with him to do some minor things in the suburbs.

Because the one-liang coin was too conspicuous, he used one-qian and five-qian silver coins.

Unexpectedly, the truth was revealed in less than a month.

He also knew that he was not the only one doing this.

Even Han San might be doing it secretly, but when the imperial court arrests people, they will definitely arrest small fry like them.

As soon as Han Sanyi mentioned this matter today, he found a scapegoat in his mind.

"Ma Laoliu, Ma Laoliu, don't blame me for being cruel and ruthless. You can only blame yourself for being too greedy." After muttering softly, Brother Wang shook his head and walked out of the living room.

The next evening, Ma Laoliu hurried to Wang's shop.

This place is located in Wangjia Village. Most of the villagers have the surname Wang and are related to Brother Wang.

Brother Wang’s real name is Wang Jie. His parents died when he was thirteen, so he packed his bags and went to Beijing to make a living.

Because he was ruthless and smart, as he grew older, he soon gathered a few dozen idle hooligans in Beijing.

Relying on them, I have been working hard for more than ten years, and now I can hear people calling me "Master" in Beijing.

Taking a peek inside, Ma Laoliu saw sparks flying inside and seven or eight strong men with bare upper bodies, sweating profusely, swinging hammers and hitting iron blocks.

"Who are you looking for?" A man asked warily when he saw Ma Laoliu's shifty eyes.

"I'm looking for Wang Dachui. We were sent by Brother Wang." Ma Laoliu replied.

"I'm Wang Dachui. Wang Jie told me, please come in with me." Wang Dachui patted his chest, waved to Ma Laoliu, and ran into the blacksmith shop.

Ma Laoliu hurriedly followed, and the two of them passed through two walls and came to a secluded courtyard.

Opening the gate, Wang Dachui pointed inside and said, "Go in. Don't walk around unless you have something to do. The help you need will be here in a few days. Just wait patiently."

"Hey, please thank Brother Wang for us." Ma Laoliu replied with a smile.

"I'll remember that."

(End of this chapter)