Uncle from a poor family

Chapter 271 Problem (asking for votes)
After leaving the palace, Li Zisheng went to find Zhang Luan immediately.

As he was afraid that others would know that he had close contacts with Zhang Luan, Li Zisheng went to Zhang's house through the back door. His mysterious look seemed somewhat funny to Zhang Luan, who opened the door to greet him.

"Laizhan, come, come, let's find a place to sit. We don't have to go to the main hall. Don't tell too many people in your house... I'll say a few words to you and then leave."

Li Zisheng is very cautious now.

It may also be that he had just received some instructions from the emperor in person, which made him feel the chilling pain of living with the emperor, like living with a tiger.

Zhang Luan invited Li Zisheng to the back room.

"Laizhan, I won't waste my time nagging you. Today, His Majesty summoned me to the palace and told me about your impeachment of me. He also said that you had made great contributions this time and that he planned to demote me and let me continue to handle court affairs as the Left Vice Minister." Li Zisheng said.

Zhang Luan heard this and asked nervously, "Did I mess up?"

Li Zisheng laughed and said, "Do you think that demoting me means I messed up? You are wrong, wrong, wrong. I had to do this to shut others up. For me, it's a good thing."

Zhang Luan was confused.

Is demotion a good thing?

It sounds like it's full of conspiracy. It seems that only my son can help me analyze the tricks of this matter.

"Laizhan, after this, your reputation in the court will be prominent. Others will know that you are fair and just and are not afraid of power. You will become a model of civil officials."

Li Zisheng praised Zhang Luan highly.

Zhang Luan said with a bitter face: "But if it is like this, I can't bear it."

Li Zisheng smiled and said, "You don't have to worry about me... These were all planned in advance. How could I treat you unfairly? I'll make you famous. Now that it's done, I can't wait to be happy!"

Although Zhang Luan knew that Li Zisheng might be lying, he was sincere and had really helped him, and he felt a little grateful for a moment.

Seeing Zhang Luan's eyes turn red, Li Zisheng couldn't help but feel satisfied. He felt that he had helped the emperor get things done and won Zhang Luan's heart at the same time, which was really killing two birds with one stone.

What he didn't know was that Zhang Luan himself was a superb actor, and with his son advising him behind the scenes, he had already seen through everything. Even if he expressed gratitude at the moment, he would be able to figure out in an instant after calming down, and it would only take Zhang Yanling a word to become his enemy.

"There is an important matter at the moment, and you must do it...Alas, Your Majesty is asking about the fate of the country again."

Li Zisheng said, "Ever since you helped me calculate the secrets of the heavens, His Majesty has believed in my ability to predict the future. When I entered the palace, I heard that His Majesty had asked Gu Yan to go to the back garden of the palace to perform the spirit-reading technique, but he didn't come up with any results. When he met the emperor today, His Majesty took the opportunity to throw this difficult problem to me."

After saying this, he looked at Zhang Luan eagerly, his meaning was self-evident.

Only you can help me with this!
Zhang Luan nodded: "I'll try my best."

"it is good."

Li Zisheng looked pleased and said, "I don't need you to explain to me how you figured it out. I saw you figure out the secret last time and was amazed. With your accomplishments, you will definitely become a general or a prime minister in the future. With you helping the prince and me making plans behind the scenes, the two of us will work together and we will be successful in the future."

"Thank you, Minister Li, for your kindness."

Zhang Luan bowed.

"Look at what you said. I can help you to the point of not caring about the price. I don't ask for the same in return. We are all family. Let's not talk about your differences anymore. I'm leaving first. You have to figure it out as soon as possible and tell me the result so that I can report to the palace. Remember this."

After Li Zisheng finished speaking, he hurriedly left through the back door of Zhang's house like a thief.

……

……

Time flies.

Two days passed by unknowingly.

That morning, Zhu Jianshen went to Wenhua Hall in person and sat aside to listen to the lecturer from the East Palace giving lessons to the prince.

This shocked all the lecturers in the Eastern Palace. They had originally planned to talk about some random things, making the lesson entertaining and educational, and to break down many anecdotes from previous dynasties and tell them to the prince, which would help him digest and absorb them. But now that the emperor was in attendance, they could only read from the script and did not dare to go beyond the lesson plan at all. Everyone had to be careful in their response for fear of making a wrong move.

At present, even the top ministers in the court find it difficult to see the emperor, but they have seen him now. Although they cannot report to him, they feel unprecedented pressure.

The class is over.

The lecturers wanted to come over to greet Zhu Jianshen, but Zhu Jianshen instructed Qin Chang to bring people to block them.

Zhu Jianshen then called his son to his side.

"Prince, your answers in class today were quite insightful. It seems that you are indeed different from before. I had a deep misunderstanding of you before!"

Zhu Jianshen said as if admitting his mistake.

Zhu Youtang said hurriedly: "There are still many things that I have not done well. Please criticize and correct me, father."

"sit."

Zhu Jianshen gestured with his hand.

Then someone brought a chair to Zhu Youtang, and the father and son sat there across the desk and began to chat about family matters.

Zhu Jianshen asked, "Do you know about your father-in-law's impeachment of Li Zisheng?"

"understood."

Zhu Youtang nodded and said, "Lord Wan said that in addition to impeaching Li Zisheng, Liang Fang and Wei Juan were also impeached."

Zhu Jianshen nodded and asked, "What do you think about this matter?"

Zhu Youtang was surprised to hear this. Why did this sound so familiar? Wan An had asked him the same question before.

It seemed like everyone wanted to know what his relationship was with his father-in-law, and whether he, the crown prince, was involved in this matter.

"Without investigation, you have no right to speak. I don't know the whole story of this matter, so it is difficult for me to comment casually." Zhu Youtang tactfully refused to express his opinion.

"Without investigation, you have no right to speak? Your words are quite original and seem to make sense, but today I am testing you, so you don't have to use them to evade me. Just speak according to your heart!"

At this point, Zhu Jianshen looked at his son meaningfully and said, "I have already investigated and Li Zisheng admitted that he did accept money from some people before granting them official positions. Your father-in-law was right in impeaching him. Let me ask you, if you were me, how would you punish him?"

Being stared at by his father, Zhu Youtang instantly broke out in a cold sweat, feeling that this question was unusual.

How you want to punish your most trusted minister is your business, why do you have to ask me? How do you want me to answer this question?

"I think that this matter should be handled impartially." Zhu Youtang said with gritted teeth.

"It is right to handle the matter impartially, but how to do it impartially? Now I ask you, if you were me, how would you deal with him?" Zhu Jianshen said.

Zhu Youtang did not answer but asked: "I want to ask, did Li Zisheng do this alone?"

Zhu Jianshen was originally giving his son a difficult question. Hearing this, he could not help but frown slightly and asked, "What do you mean by that?"

At this moment, Zhu Youtang was no longer a weakling. With the support of the strongest military advisor Zhang Yanling, he naturally had a direction of advance and retreat when answering questions.

He said cautiously, "Father, I think that if the impeachment of Zhang Qing's family is correct, and Li Zisheng's selling of official positions is also true, there must be a reason behind it. If we deal with it rashly, it may implicate more people and more things. Instead, it is better to... investigate the reasons behind it. If it is proved that he is indeed corrupt and committing crimes, it will not be too late to punish him."

Zhu Youtang's answer sounded so plain and mediocre to Qin Chang who was standing by, and basically made no contribution at all.

But when Zhu Jianshen heard this, his face looked unhappy.

Zhu Jianshen had been listening to the class for a long time without noticing anything unusual, but now after just a few questions, he felt a little annoyed. He stood up with a dark face, waved his sleeves and said, "I'm tired, let's go back."

This means that the conversation between father and son has officially ended.

Zhu Youtang was a little confused at first. Why did his father turn hostile after just a few words?

I don't think I said anything?

But he didn't dare to ask, so he quickly stood up and saluted respectfully, standing where he was and watching his father the emperor take Tan Ji and others out of the Wenhua Hall.

On the way back to the East Palace after school in the afternoon, Zhu Youtang told Tan Jiyi about the content of the interview and asked with a puzzled look on his face: "My dear, I think the emperor seems angry. Is there something wrong with my answer?"

"The prince has his own opinion!"

Qin Ji did not think there was anything wrong with Zhu Youtang's answer, and consoled him, "The prince has his own ideas and is beginning to act more like a qualified crown prince, that's all."

Zhu Youtang was still puzzled and asked, "Is this the reason why my father is unhappy?"

Qin Ji smiled and said, "Prince, don't think too much about it. His Majesty didn't say anything, did he? This is the first time that His Majesty has come to see the prince in person. Your father-son relationship will get better in the future."

"Ah."

Zhu Youtang seemed to care a lot about other people's opinions of him. After hearing Qin Ji's words, he no longer thought about it and seemed to be completely relieved about the matter.

……

……

the other side.

Zhu Jianshen took Tan Chang back to the Qianqing Palace. The first thing he did was to call Tan Chang over and say, "Go and convey the imperial edict to reprimand Zhang Luan for not doing his job and usurping his authority."

"Ah? This..."

Qin Chang got a headache after hearing this.

Didn’t you say before that we would deal with it after the situation is thoroughly investigated?

And you said that everything was Li Zisheng's fault. As the whistleblower, Zhang Luan should not be rewarded or punished. Why are you suddenly putting the blame on Zhang Luan? Even a chameleon cannot change as quickly as you, right?
Zhu Jianshen glared and asked, "I asked you to do something, and you still want to interfere?"

"Don't dare."

Tan Chang hurriedly said, "I will pass on the message right away."

"in addition……"

Zhu Jianshen added, "It seems that Zhang Luan is not suitable for the position of Minister of the Honglu Temple. We should temporarily transfer him to the position of Junior Minister of the Taichang Temple. Go and convey the order accordingly."

While scolding Zhang Luan for doing something wrong, he also transferred Zhang Luan from the fourth rank position of Honglu Temple Minister to the fourth rank position of Taichang Temple Junior Minister.

Even with Qin Chang's many years of political experience, he couldn't understand what the emperor was trying to do.

……

……

Qin Chang left the hall and quickly asked someone to draft an imperial edict.

Upon hearing the news, Wei Tai rushed over and asked, "Eunuch Tan, what happened?"

"Your Majesty went to the Wenhua Palace and watched the Crown Prince reading. Then he called the Crown Prince over and asked him a few questions. The Crown Prince seemed to be pleading for Zhang Luan, and then Your Majesty got angry..."

Qin Chang analyzed the whole process of this incident in this way.

Wei Tai was confused: "Isn't the fault of this matter Li Zisheng? Besides, where did the prince get the courage to openly plead for Zhang Luan?"

"Who knows? Even though I didn't understand the meaning, it doesn't mean that Your Majesty didn't understand it."

Qin Chang was also confused. His mind was a mess. He said in confusion, "It's just surprising that His Majesty seems to be very concerned about how the Crown Prince will deal with Li Zisheng. And the Crown Prince's answer was just standard. He said that he would investigate the matter in detail to see if there was any connection behind it... Could it be that someone was implicated?"

"Implicate..."

Wei Tai pondered it carefully and frowned. "Li Zisheng is selling official positions and titles. He has too many accomplices behind him. He has been in charge of the personnel power of the court for many years. Even if he has recommended a few virtuous people, most of them got to the top by currying favor with him and giving him gifts... Just tell me, how much money did Lord Wan and Lord Liu give him?"

Qin Chang seemed to understand, and murmured, "So... you mean, Your Majesty doesn't want to implicate Wan An and others in this matter? To avoid being ridiculed by the world and being said that the Ming Dynasty court is full of corruption?"

Wei Tai shook his head and smiled bitterly: "Father-in-law, you haven't figured out something yet, so you ask me, how can I know it?"

"Then go and pass on the order now."

Qin Chang frowned and said, "Zhang Luan was transferred to the position of Junior Minister of the Imperial Household. Although he is also a fourth-rank official, it will be a sinecure from now on. He has only been in office for a few days, and he has lost the actual position of Jingqing. It is really a waste of time."

"Then Your Majesty..."

Wei Tai wanted to ask something, but it was not convenient for him to speak directly.

Qin Chang probably knew that Wei Tai wanted to ask, does our Majesty still plan to let Zhang Luan treat him at the critical moment?

Qin Chang waved his hand: "We don't know the answer to this question either. We will do whatever His Majesty arranges. It is not our turn to intervene in this matter."

"Yes, yes, yes. I will have someone draft an imperial edict and deliver it to Zhang Luan personally later." Wei Tai said.

(End of this chapter)