Uncle from a poor family

Chapter 231 Sacrifice the Self to Achieve the Greater Self

Inside the Wenhua Hall.

Zhu Youtang was having a disagreement with Qin Ji on whether to submit a petition to plead for Yang Shouchen.

"Prince, this is an extraordinary period. You sympathize with Mr. Yang and feel that he has been framed by a villain. I understand your anxiety, but if you submit a petition for this, wouldn't that be..."

Qin Ji was a little anxious.

The prince in front of him was still too benevolent. He knew that pleading for Yang Shouchen, Zheng Shi and others would anger the emperor, but he still wanted to do so without hesitation.

Zhu Youtang said solemnly: "My dear, I have made up my mind. If being the crown prince means that I cannot uphold justice, then I would rather not do it."

Seeing that he couldn't persuade Zhu Youtang to change his mind, Qin Ji suddenly asked, "How about we discuss this with the Crown Princess after the Crown Prince returns to the East Palace?"

"she……"

Zhu Youtang instantly wilted when he thought of Zhang Yu.

In the past, he could ignore his own safety, but now he has to consider one more person, that is, his darling wife who has made him lose motivation to study recently and only wants to live a comfortable life with her behind closed doors from morning to night.

If Zhang Yu knew about this, would she definitely support me?
She might also give advice out of concern, just like Qin Ji is doing now.

"Then...I'll decide after I get back."

Zhu Youtang finally swallowed his anger for the time being.

When he learned at Wenhua Hall that Mr. Yang was in trouble, he was ready to take action without hesitation, but now there are more constraints in his life and he has to think about his family.

……

……

At this time, outside the palace, in a teahouse in an alley in the north of the city.

The Zhang brothers are meeting with Qin Zhao, and this time Qin Zhao brings the latest progress in the transfer of the soap and glass business.

"... Zheng's people are so unreasonable that they detained the head of the Tian family's eldest branch who came to negotiate terms, and sent people to occupy all the workshops and warehouses you had planned, without even planning to use them as a bargaining chip. Now the Tian family's sister doesn't even have a place to live, so she can only stay with me for the time being."

When Qin Zhao mentioned this, he gritted his teeth and was extremely angry.

Originally, the soap and glass business could be deducted by 10,000 taels in exchange for the safety of the Tian family and to write off the previous debts, which was perfect.

But the other party had no principles and directly detained people and sealed off the workshop and warehouse, as if to say, "I want both the money and the manufacturing technology, and I will make your Tian family continue to bear the debt and work like a slave for me."

After hearing this, Zhang Heling's eyes widened with anger, and he slammed the table fiercely: "Damn it, there are still such shameless people in the world? I'm going to take people to clean them up!"

Perhaps because he became addicted to fighting some time ago, Zhang Heling now really wants to show off his power as the leader and the boss, and destroy anyone he meets.

He feels uncomfortable if he doesn't fight for a day.

Zhang Yanling seemed to have expected this to happen, and smiled to stop him: "Brother, please be patient... You beat up the son of the elder, which is a very meaningful thing and deserves praise. But now you turn around and beat up an unknown merchant, which will only bring you trouble. There is no benefit, and it will damage your hard-earned reputation!"

Zhang Heling blinked his eyes in confusion. Isn't it just a fight? How can there be such a big difference? Are you kidding me?
Qin Zhao was also surprised.

It seems that you, the Zhang family, never pick the soft ones when picking persimmons, but only the hard ones, right?

Qin Zhao asked doubtfully, "Did the Second Young Master foresee this?"

"That's what it is."

Zhang Yanling said as a matter of course, "The Zheng family relies on their strong background, so of course they don't want to follow the rules. They will inevitably choose to rob and plunder, and this...isn't that what they did before? If they really followed the rules, they wouldn't have forced the Tian family to this point."

Qin Zhao nodded: "Indeed."

Zhang Yanling smiled and asked, "Now I am concerned about one thing, have the people of the Tian family implicated you, the head of the Qin family?"

"Not yet."

Qin Zhao said seriously, "Everything was done according to the Second Young Master's instructions. I told the people of Tian's family the location of the workshop and gave them some of the sketches you drew. That's how the following series of events happened."

Zhang Yanling stretched out a finger, as if calculating, and said after a while: "The time is almost up... Eunuch Liang must be very anxious now. Once Zheng's people take over the workshop, if we leak the news immediately, people will come to our door, and the end of Zheng's family will come."

Qin Zhao was still a little worried: "Second Master, your plan is detailed, but if the people of the Zheng family already have Eunuch Liang as their background, and they take the initiative to offer their respects..."

Zhang Yanling asked with a smile: "Before doing anything, don't you investigate anything? If I don't know the root cause, how can I design this plan?"

Qin Zhao was surprised and speechless for a moment.

She was thinking, I told you all this suddenly, and then you made arrangements in time. I didn't have time to prepare for you before that.

How do you know what Zheng’s background is?
How do we know whether there is any connection between Liang Fang and Zheng?

Seeing Qin Zhao's dumbfounded look, Zhang Yanling shook his head and explained: "Liang Fang relied on the power of the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Stables. When did he take mere merchants seriously? No matter how strong the Huizhou and Shanxi merchants are, they are not worth mentioning in Liang Fang's eyes. He is used to taking whatever he wants!

"As far as I know, the most powerful eunuch bribed by your Huizhou merchants should be Chen Xi from the Imperial Household Department, right? But he only has one chief, and his strength is relatively limited... Seriously speaking, your Huizhou merchants are not even as good as Shanxi merchants in this regard."

Qin Zhao lowered his head and said in a low voice: "It is a shame to say that although we Hui merchants have a history of hundreds of years, we have only really risen for a few decades. It is reasonable that our government background is not as strong as those old forces."

Zhang Yanling smiled and said, "Mr. Qin is being modest. Let's not talk about anything else. Just to say that your Qin family is very good at managing government affairs."

Qin Zhao remained silent.

She was very good at making friends with government officials, and giving money to officials was commonplace. This is how the Qin family has been able to remain standing today. Of course, this is also related to the Qin family's profound foundation.

As early as Qin Zhao's grandfather's generation, the Qin family had invested heavily in scholars. Among the people they sponsored now, there are four Jinshi, twenty-three Juren, and countless Xiucai. They have woven a huge network of relationships from south to north. The only pity is that there are no top-level resources.

If it were some newly emerging Huizhou merchant families, they probably wouldn’t even be able to send gifts to the temple.

"Then what happens next..."

Qin Zhao asked in a tone of asking for instructions.

Zhang Yanling smiled and said, "When the time is right, spread the word. Liang Fang, who is now looking for a telescope and is like a headless fly, will definitely think that Zheng is setting a trap for him." After all, in Liang Fang's opinion, the Huangshan mica and the telescope must have come from the hands of Huizhou merchants, but he has not found the real owner yet. However, no matter how airtight the wall is, it will be broken one day. We will help him poke it."

Qin Zhao's eyes showed worry: "Zheng is looking for Tian Xiaomei everywhere, hoping to get both her and her money. At this moment, it may not be convenient for Tian Xiaomei to stay with me."

She raised her head and said this to Zhang Yanling seriously, the implication was obvious.

Zhang Yanling smiled and said, "That's easy. Doesn't Mr. Chai's sister live in a house outside the city? If we send her there, she won't be discovered."

Qin Zhao's brows immediately relaxed and she nodded, "Then I'd like to thank Miss Tian first."

……

……

After meeting Zhang Yanling, Qin Zhao quickly rushed to a secret courtyard of his family in the southeast of the capital, and met the daughter of the Tian family who was anxiously waiting for news.

"elder sister."

When Tian's daughter saw Qin Zhao appear, she hurried forward and bowed.

"Little sister, there's no need to be polite. Let's go in and talk."

Qin Zhao then led everyone into the house, and after they each found a seat, he said, "You will pack up later. I will have someone send you out of the city in a carriage this afternoon. The second son of the Zhang family has arranged a new residence for you and will ensure your safety."

"This……"

The Tian girl looked confused.

I came to you for help. It's fine if you don't want to help me. At most you can just chase me away. Why are you giving me away?
Qin Zhao looked at the girl of his old friend, whose eyes were full of confusion, his face darkened, and he asked, "Do you think...I will harm you?"

The Tian family girl hurriedly shook her head: "If my sister wanted to harm me, I would never help her. The glass and soap businesses sound promising, but they were given away so easily... I can only sigh that the Zheng family is so shameless that they took those two businesses for themselves."

"Not afraid."

Qin Zhao comforted him, "I originally wanted to give it to him through your family."

"Why?"

Although Tian's daughter is young and just a girl who has not grown up, she has always been smart and independent. This time she went to the capital with her father and grew a lot along the way. She saw too many hardships of merchant families and understood the ups and downs of the world.

Qin Zhao said: "Little sister, do you remember how we met?"

The Tian girl lowered her head, her face full of sadness, as if she didn't want to talk about it anymore.

Qin Zhao sighed, "If my little brother hadn't died of the disease, you would have had good things happen to you. Unfortunately, he didn't have that blessing."

The Tian girl remained silent.

There had been an engagement between the Tian family and the Qin family. As the elder sister, Qin Zhao took over as head of the family just to pave the way for her younger brother to inherit the family business in the future.

Unexpectedly, my younger brother died of illness at the age of nine.

This is also the reason why she has a close relationship with Wang Ji. In order to cure the illness of their only child, the Qin family had sought help from the Wang family many times. Although it was in vain in the end, the two families formed a deep friendship.

"If your Tian family still wants to have a future, perhaps everything will depend on you." Qin Zhao looked at the Tian girl with sharp eyes.

The Tian family girl shook her head: "I don't understand these... I am just a woman, I have a father, I have a brother, and there are many elders in the clan..."

"But ask where they are now?" Qin Zhao said.

Daughter Tian stopped talking for a moment.

When disaster strikes, no one who can cut ties with the main line of the Tian family will fail to do so decisively and discard it like a worn-out shoe.

As for the family members, some were thrown into jail due to Zheng's collusion with the government, while others were forced to hide and their whereabouts are unknown.

Qin Zhao continued: "Do you want to give your Tian family a bright future?"

"think."

Daughter Tian nodded heavily with a firm attitude.

"Then listen to me...Pack your things, take a carriage out of the city, and when you get to your temporary residence, calm down and cultivate your character. When you marry into the Zhang family in the future, whether you are given a status or not, you must fulfill your duties and use the future power of the Zhang family to help your Tian family prosper again among the Huizhou merchants."

Qin Zhao stated the reason why she did so.

"Sister, what are you doing..."

Daughter Tian seemed unable to understand Qin Zhao's good intentions.

Qin Zhao stood up and sighed, "Although the Zheng family has a strong background, they are not trustworthy. If you are captured by them, you will not benefit at all. In the future, you will only become a canary in a cage, and you will not be able to benefit the Tian family."

The daughter of the Tian family bit her lower lip with her pearly teeth. Although she didn't say anything, she knew very well in her heart that Qin Zhao was not trying to scare her. This was the truth.

"But if you follow the second son of the Zhang family, everything will be different."

Qin Zhao said, "First of all, the Zhang family needs merchants to manage their business. After all, as relatives of the emperor, it is not convenient for them to show up for many things. But if you want to rely on others like my Qin family, you must pay the corresponding cost... The question is, do you have it now?"

The Tian girl shook her head.

Now that the Tian family is at their wits' end, what else can they find attractive and attract others to join them?

Qin Zhao nodded: "That's it? You are the only one who can send it out. Any powerful person will not trust outsiders, especially merchants.

"But if the merchant is his slave and is driven by him, then everything will be different.

"Sister, I have to tell you a piece of unpleasant advice. If you are not able to win the favor of the second son of the Zhang family, no one can save the Tian family. On the contrary, you will be the future helmsman of the Tian family. The Tian family will be more famous than all the current Shanxi and Huizhou merchants. Do you understand?"

(End of this chapter)