Uncle from a poor family

Chapter 249: All fatal questions

Zhu Jianshen was still angry, so he immediately drove Tan Chang and Wei Tai out.

"You are so good, Wei Tai, you dare to report such a big matter to His Majesty without even discussing it with us? Do you want to rebel?" After Qin Chang came out, he immediately got angry at Wei Tai.

Wei Tai looked aggrieved: "Eunuch, didn't we agree that we should lean towards the Crown Prince in everything? Isn't this secretly helping the Crown Prince?"

Tan Chang asked, "Do you think this is to help the prince?"

"Let's see the results."

Wei Tai said, "Didn't His Majesty ask the Crown Prince to hold court in Wenhua Palace?"

"Humph."

Qin Chang sneered and asked, "Are your ears not working well? When did His Majesty let the Crown Prince attend court? He only said that the Crown Prince was to attend to affairs in Wenhua Palace. The difference of one word is a world of difference. Or do you think that the power in our hands is too great and we should give part of it to the Crown Prince?"

"I……"

Wei Tai was speechless for a moment.

Tan Chang hurriedly walked towards the palace gate.

Wei Tai asked hurriedly: "Eunuch Tan, what should we do now?"

"Whoever caused the mess should clean it up! Don't you like to take credit in front of the Crown Prince? Go to the East Palace now and inform the Crown Prince of this matter!"

Qin Chang looked angry, and his footsteps did not stop, but his voice floated over, "I still have to go out of the palace to see that Lord Li, and His Majesty has ordered me to do it... Let's be well!"

……

……

Inner courtyard of Lizi provincial government residence.

On the stage, three or five actors from a troupe were singing an opera to the sound of drums and music, while there were only a few audience members below the stage.

In broad daylight, Li Zisheng was sitting on the armchair in the middle of the audience with a smug look on his face. He crossed his legs, held a teacup in his hand, and sipped his tea slowly. On the right, across the coffee table, sat his legal advisor Pang Qing.

Several maids surrounded them, bringing them water and tea from time to time.

"Master Dao, are you exhausted? Today is a good time to rest..."

Pang Qing had a mischievous look on his face.

Li Zisheng turned his head and cursed: "How dare you, Pang Bingkun, make fun of me, your Taoist master? We agreed to just listen to the opera today, how come you feel uncomfortable while listening? Hey, a bunch of actors, ruining my Taoist practice!"

Pang Qing rolled his eyes and said, "If I could keep my original intention, I would never ruin my Taoism... And you still want to blame others for this?"

"Here……"

Li Zisheng was somewhat speechless, and then he cursed, "Your stinky mouth will hurt you sooner or later! I don't know why I have to keep a thing like you by my side. Sooner or later I will be pissed off by you."

Pang Qing was chewing raisins from the Western Regions. Hearing this, he smiled and said, "Good medicine tastes bitter. If I were really a person who sticks to the rules and does things in a rigid manner, I'm afraid that the Taoist wouldn't even look at me."

"Hey."

Li Zisheng smiled and said, "You know your own strengths. It's rare, rare. Alas! I have heard too much flattery from outsiders. Sometimes I need your stinky mouth to talk a few words. It's like honest advice is hard to hear."

Just as the two were chatting, someone came from outside to report that Qin Chang had arrived.

"Who?"

Li Zisheng stood up, looking confused.

Pang Qing stood up and said, "Master Dao, it seems that this is a serious matter. The official Yin from the Imperial Household Department has come here with bad intentions."

Li Zisheng said, "Please step aside first and go to a cool place. I will go to meet him! Or maybe it's just to convey His Majesty's order. Why is there so much to it?"

……

……

The main hall of the Li Mansion.

After Qin Chang and Li Zisheng exchanged greetings, the host and the guest took their seats respectively.

Qin Chang said, "Master Li, this is His Majesty's order. He said that Zhang Luan, the Minister of the Honglu Temple, only has an official rank but no specific position. He specifically asked me to come and talk to you about what kind of assignment to assign to him. This will allow him to gain more experience in officialdom."

"Uh!?"

Li Zisheng was stunned immediately.

First, the Chief Minister Wan'an strongly recommended Zhang Luan to me. Now even the Emperor knows about this and he has sent the Prime Minister to ask for an official position on Zhang Luan's behalf?
What evil wind is blowing in the court again?

Tan Chang sighed, "It's like this. A few days ago, the Eastern Palace attendant Tan Ji went to Zhang Honglu's residence to get some daily necessities for the Crown Princess. He also brought some storybooks into the palace. Among them was a storybook called "The Scholars", which talked about the right and wrong of the officialdom. The Crown Prince was filial and copied it down and presented it to Your Majesty for your inspection."

"Oh... Your Majesty likes to read storybooks?"

Li Zisheng finally understood what was going on.

"Ah."

Qin Chang smiled and said, "This story was written by Zhang Honglu. Your Majesty feels that he has no experience in officialdom, and he wrote the story so well just by hearsay. If he is allowed to receive more officialdom experience, he may be able to go a step further and write a more exciting officialdom story."

Li Zisheng was speechless after hearing this.

In order to allow Zhang Luan to write better vernacular stories, the emperor had the crazy idea of ​​letting Zhang Luan become an official directly?
After all, the emperor's move was not because he appreciated Zhang Luan's ability to be an official, but because he admired Zhang Luan's ability to write stories!

This Zhang Laizhan is quite capable. I have been using my connections for a long time but I still couldn't get you any official position. Yet, I am allowing you to "save the country in a roundabout way" by using the connections of your daughter and son-in-law to write a storybook, just to get yourself an official position?
Here……

Qin Chang asked: "Are there any difficulties?"

"No...no."

Li Zisheng said, "But he is already a fourth-rank official in the Ministry of Rites. It would be fine if he were assigned a job in the Imperial Academy, but he... is not a Jinshi after all. If he goes to the Five Military Commandery..."

Li Zisheng wanted to say, it's not that I don't want to help him get an official position, but he is only a student after all, not even a juren. He was able to get the empty position of Honglu Temple Minister only because he is the father-in-law of the prince. If I easily assign him a real position, even if it is a seventh-rank local magistrate, it is not legitimate, and others will criticize me, Li Zisheng, for nepotism.

I, Li, am very careful about my reputation, okay?
Qin Chang said, "Alas! Actually, I know that this position is not easy to arrange. I mentioned it to His Majesty at that time, and His Majesty said that with your ability, Lord Li, you will definitely be able to arrange things properly and will not cause criticism."

Li Zisheng thought to himself, do I have such great ability?

How come I don’t know this myself?

Qin Chang smiled and asked, "How about the position of Minister of the Honglu Temple?"

"Um!?"

Li Zisheng looked confused.

Qin Chang said, "Zhang Honglu has been appointed as the Minister of the Ministry of Rites, and no one in the court objects to this. Now it just so happens that there is no one to take over the position of Minister of the Ministry of Rites. Isn't it appropriate to let him fill the vacancy?"

Li Zisheng frowned after hearing Qin Chang's suggestion.

He even suspected that Zhang Luan had secretly contacted Qin Chang. Otherwise, why would the big promises he had made to Zhang Luan be revealed to his face by Qin Chang today?
The current post of Minister of Honglu Temple in the Ming Dynasty has been vacant since Shi Chun died in the intercalary fourth month of the 21st year of Chenghua. Now the affairs of the Honglu Temple are mainly handled by Qi Zhang, Junior Minister of Honglu Temple. It was originally until the third year of Hongzhi that Qi Zhang filled the vacancy of Minister of Honglu Temple and was then transferred to the position of Minister of Taichang Temple.

Qin Chang's suggestion can be said to be precisely targeted, as if he had already set his sights on the position of the Minister of the Ministry of Rites.

"A post like the Minister of the Ministry of Rites should be taken over by an official who is a Jinshi graduate. What do you think, Eunuch Tan?" Li Zisheng asked in a tentative tone.

He now needs to figure out what kind of connection Zhang Luan and Qin Chang have established.

Qin Chang smiled and said, "If Lord Li has a better position to arrange, your opinion will naturally take precedence. I just mentioned it casually, Lord Li, please don't take it to heart."

You told me not to take it to heart, but what you did clearly showed that you were trying to interfere with the appointment of officials in the court. You, Qin Chang, are really brave.

No matter how powerful Huai En was in the past, he never openly told me who to put in what position. How can you still say it so lightly now?
"Okay, I'll decide for myself."

Li Zisheng said, "I will give your Majesty a satisfactory answer in the next few days."

"Very good, very good."

Qin Chang seemed to have finished talking about this and was about to leave, but unexpectedly, Qin Chang immediately started a new topic and said, "Someone impeached the crown prince today..."

"what?"

Li Zisheng pretended to be surprised and asked, "Who dares to impeach the crown prince?"

Qin Chang said, "The memorial was submitted by the Ministry of Public Administration. How could Lord Li not know about it? That's strange... But it was Zhang Shanji, the military official, who got the news from somewhere. He said that the prince was reading some story books in the palace and even neglected his studies. He also reminded Your Majesty to guide the prince to study hard."

Li Zisheng narrowed his eyes and asked, "What did your majesty say?"

"His Majesty……"

Qin Chang smiled and asked, "Does Lord Li need to ask?"

Li Zisheng said, "Your Majesty asked Eunuch Tan to grant Zhang Luan an official position. I think he thinks there is nothing wrong with the Crown Prince's action and should be rewarded. But I wonder if Your Majesty has any suggestions on how to deal with Zhang Shanji?"

"Oh, send him directly to prison and interrogate him thoroughly to see if there is someone fanning the flames behind the scenes." Tan Ji told the story as if he was chatting casually.

Li Zisheng sighed, "Zhang Shanji is very close to Deng Changen, Zhao Yuzhi and others. We should investigate them thoroughly."

Qin Chang smiled brilliantly, as if to say, why else would I tell you this?
Just a reminder. I'm helping you here. Didn't Zhang Shanji get tricked by our scheme? Deng Changen might be implicated next.

"Also, the Right Vice Minister of Rites Ni Yue has requested that the Crown Prince hold court in the Wenhua Hall," said Tan Chang.

"Your Majesty has agreed?"

Li Zisheng asked in astonishment.

Obviously, this matter is much more important than arranging an official position for Zhang Luan.

Tan Chang did not answer, but asked: "Does Lord Li hope that His Majesty will agree, or ignore it?"

Li Zisheng shook his head and said, "It's not good to speculate on the affairs of the royal family."

Obviously, not only the people in the Imperial Household Department were unwelcome to this, but even Li Zisheng was opposed to it.

The Crown Prince held court in the Wenhua Hall, which meant that the heir apparent had the authority to govern the country. This would weaken or even deprive the power of the Imperial Household Department and Li Zisheng.

Tan Chang said, "Your Majesty said that the Crown Prince should conduct affairs in the Wenhua Palace. He did not say that he should attend court."

"Oh."

After hearing this, Li Zisheng finally felt relieved.

To take charge of affairs means that if there is any important event in the court, the Crown Prince will be informed in Wenhua Palace. This is equivalent to informing you so that you can learn how to strike a balance between advance and retreat.

If they were to hold court, it would mean that the civil and military officials would have to select some people every day to report to the crown prince, and the crown prince would give his opinions, and everyone would discuss how to solve the problem together...

The difference behind this, as Qin Chang and Wei Tai said before, is really a world of difference.

Tan Chang sighed, "The Crown Prince is gradually maturing, and your Majesty's trust in him is also growing day by day."

"Yes."

Li Zisheng said with emotion, "If a few years pass, perhaps the crown prince will really be able to hold court in the Wenhua Palace. By then... I'm afraid we will have to ask the crown prince for more advice."

"hehe."

Qin Chang did not respond, but was thinking in his heart, in a few years, whether our family will be in the court is another matter, isn't it too early to talk about this now?

Qin Chang bowed and said, "It's getting late. We have to go home first."

"It's a rare visit from Eunuch Tan. I know you are busy, so I prepared a small gift. I hope you won't mind. Come on!"

Li Zisheng is still very capable in dealing with the issues concerning eunuchs.

Since you, Qin Chang, are coming to my house, I will naturally fulfill the basic courtesy and make sure you leave with great rewards. This way, you will think of me when something happens and give me priority when forming an alliance, unlike Deng Changen who was cheated and was still unaware of it.

(End of this chapter)