Uncle from a poor family

Chapter 338 Sad Tiger

Zhang Mansion.

Qin Ji came to visit Zhang Luan in person at sunset, but it was almost two o'clock in the morning when he saw Zhang Luan.

"Eunuch Tan, why are you waiting for me here?"

Zhang Luan looked drunk. He had gone out drinking with Cui Ru and other classmates from the Imperial College that day. He was highly praised during the banquet and indulged himself so much that he came back late.

Of course, Cui Ru would not invite him to visit a brothel, nor would he invite him to stay overnight at his home. He had to go home no matter how late it was.

Qin Ji asked respectfully: "Didn't you write a letter to the Crown Prince earlier? The Crown Prince thought about it and didn't understand the meaning, so... he sent me to ask..."

"Where should I go?"

Zhang Luan almost blurted it out.

Zhang Yanling, who was standing beside him, became anxious upon hearing this and quickly said, "Dad, how could you not know? It's just that the letter you wrote to the prince before said something that the prince might not understand... Have you forgotten?"

"Oh. Is that true?"

When Zhang Luan was half drunk and half awake, he would never pretend to be confused.

Qin Ji couldn't help but smile bitterly.

The letter of feelings is what you wrote as you please.

Just write something for the Crown Prince to show your extraordinary status as a lecturer in the Eastern Palace, right?
This is too childish!
"Oh, Yanling, I've drunk too much, and my mind isn't very clear right now. I think you still remember it clearly, so why don't you talk to Eunuch Tan about it?"

When Zhang Luan saw that the atmosphere was not right, he tried to use the opponent's force to his advantage.

You guys should handle the problem yourself.

Don't disturb my sleep.

Qin Ji looked at Zhang Yanling with a bitter face again.

Zhang Yanling was speechless about his father's shamelessness, so he could only smile at Qin Ji and said, "My father said before that the prince might face a big trouble recently, and the hidden danger is outside, not inside... As long as the prince knows what is written in the letter, it will come in handy sooner or later."

"My son, are you trying to play dumb? Look how anxious you are making Eunuch Tan."

Zhang Luan persuaded earnestly.

Zhang Yanling shrugged and said, "The prince will understand. The matter is imminent. If the opponent cannot be exhausted, the prince will be the one who will be in trouble. Eunuch Tan, please relax. No matter what happens, my father will definitely... support the prince to overcome the difficulties."

Qin Ji was still a little confused when he left.

But he did write down everything Zhang Yanling asked him to say to Zhu Youtang.

After the people left, Zhang Luan pulled his son aside and asked in a low voice: "My son, are you talking in a riddle? How come I don't understand?"

Zhang Yanling said, "Dad, didn't I tell you before? Right now, the person the prince should be most wary of is not in the palace, but in the court. This also means being outside but not inside... The first ones to bear the brunt are the first assistant Wan An and the second assistant Liu Ji. These two will be the ones who will set traps for the prince."

"Then...what is their connection with the Tongzhou incident?"

Zhang Luan asked curiously.

"When treacherous officials are in power, the people in the court are in collusion with each other, and grain storage is the easiest thing to go wrong. To put it bluntly, Wan'an and Liu Ji are not clean, and the Ministry of Revenue has always been under their strict control. It is too easy for them to take advantage of the Taicang and Tongzhou granaries in the capital. They are like rats, transporting the grain from the granaries and turning it into silver that falls into their pockets. The grain case in Xingji last year was caused by them."

Zhang Yanling explained the situation to his old father.

Zhang Luan was extremely shocked and asked, "You...you mean, these two are corrupt officials?"

Zhang Yanling smiled and asked, "Dad, do you think that among the many civil and military officials in the court, except for those without power, who would not be greedy if they have a little power? Is your purpose of becoming an official to be a clean official, clean-handed and dedicated to benefiting the people?"

"Look at what you said. Is it really that bad of a father? I have lofty ambitions as a father..."

Zhang Luan was about to brag, but suddenly he felt a little unsure and asked, "You mean, they took advantage of the granaries in the capital and Tongzhou and embezzled a lot, right?"

"no!"

Zhang Yanling shook his head and said, "Taicang is right under the emperor's nose, they dare not move rashly, but the situation is different in Tongzhou Warehouse. Although I don't know how much they embezzled from Tongzhou Warehouse, it is certain that there is a large deficit. In the next few years, the court will not have an easy time, because..."

The Ming Dynasty reformed its salt administration from collecting food grain to collecting silver grain, mainly because of the severe shortage of military rations in the northwest. But more fundamentally, the hole left by Emperor Chenghua for his son was too big.

There were no major policy problems during the Chenghua period, and the court had almost won several wars against the northern grasslands, so there was not much pressure on the border defense. The financial crisis occurred because there were too many malpractices inside and outside the court during this period, which led to widespread corruption and holes everywhere that needed to be filled.

Just think about it, letting a Taoist priest openly take charge of the appointment and dismissal of Ming officials, and the court is filled with thousands of officials... it would be strange if that could be a good thing.

Zhang Luan said, "I think I understand. What you mean is that as long as Wan'an and Liu Ji are too busy dealing with the grain issue, they will no longer be able to take care of the plan to change the storage. Then the prince can ascend the throne smoothly, right? But the question is, how can this case be exposed? It's not like Wan'an and the others will report themselves, right?"

Zhang Yanling smiled and asked, "Dad, do you know what a dying patriarch cares about most?"

"Youngest son, eldest grandson?"

Zhang Luan asked.

"wrong."

Zhang Yanling shook his head and said, "What people care about most is their own family property. Some people will lament that they will die without spending all their money, while others will care about leaving more for their descendants. But no matter which one it is, no family owner would want the rats in their house to empty the warehouse, right?"

Zhang Luan opened his mouth wide and suddenly said, "Oh, I understand. When His Majesty heard the rumor, he would take the initiative to send someone to investigate, right?"

"Ah."

Zhang Yanling smiled and nodded, "Your Majesty no longer wants to change the crown prince, and all the property will be left to the crown prince. The reason why His Majesty asked you to sell the tribute is to make his imperial account look better.

“So, when your majesty wants to talk about the inheritance of the family property, he will definitely tell the prince about the family situation. At that time, as long as the prince mentions a few words to your majesty about the Tongzhou warehouse, your majesty will be smart and will definitely guess what is going on. He will definitely send someone to investigate thoroughly.

"As long as His Majesty sends someone to investigate, even if there is no result, Wan An and Liu Ji will focus on Tongzhou Warehouse. It won't take too long, maybe just one or two months. They haven't come to their senses yet, but here... the overall situation has been decided."

Zhang Luan chuckled and said, "In other words, there is no need for results, we just need to divide their spirits?"

"Ah."

Zhang Yanling nodded and said, "That's roughly what I mean... Actually, we don't necessarily do all this for the Crown Prince..."

"If you don't do anything, then what are you doing now?"

Zhang Luan frowned, "Don't say that what we do is useless."

Zhang Yanling smiled and said, "This is the benefit of being close to the crown prince. No matter what we do, we are doing it under his eyes. Even if we do little, the credit will be great." "It doesn't need to be really effective. As long as the crown prince feels that we are doing practical things and helping him ascend the throne smoothly, then the crown prince will naturally rely on you, father."

Zhang Luan smiled and praised, "Okay, son. Dad knows you are doing all this for Dad's own good. Dad will not forget you in the future. I will praise you more in front of your brother-in-law and try to get you to serve as an official in the court as soon as possible to help your brother-in-law.

At this point, Zhang Luan patted his head and said, "I've drunk too much, and my brain isn't very clear. Can I go get some sleep?"

"You go to bed early."

Zhang Yanling said.

"Aren't you going to sleep?"

Zhang Luan asked, "You are a young man, and you are still growing. You must eat well and sleep well."

Zhang Yanling grinned and said, "If you have time, please pay more attention to your eldest son. You don't need to worry about me. I know to eat when I'm hungry and sleep when I'm tired. Everything is fine."

Zhang Luan scolded, "You are still young and have no good manners. You are full of tricks... You will not grow tall if you think too much. All the food you eat goes to satisfy your brain."

"Thank you for your concern, father."

Zhang Yanling looked nonchalant, and in the blink of an eye, the voice came from the door of the wing room.

……

……

The next day, the cabinet was on duty.

Liu Ji told Wan'an in person the questions that the prince had raised to him yesterday.

"The prince mentioned Tongzhou Warehouse..."

Liu Ji asked with a confused look on his face, "Tell me, does the prince know something and is ready to report it to His Majesty, but he wants to give us a heads up first so that we can be mentally prepared?"

Wan An pondered for a moment and said, "If he really wanted to attack us, would he need to remind you? I think you are worrying too much."

Liu Ji was a little exasperated: "Mr. Wan, you may not know that the Tongzhou warehouse is now in serious deficit. Every year, the Ministry of Revenue needs to spend a lot of energy to do the accounting. Your Majesty has noticed this before, but because of the help of Lady Wan and Eunuch Liang, Your Majesty has never investigated the truth. But if it is exposed by the prince now, and Your Majesty insists on sending people to investigate, it will definitely cause a big mess."

Wan An frowned and asked, "Serious? How serious can it be?"

Liu Ji's expression was somewhat evasive, but he still said with a stiff upper lip: "It's much more serious than you think."

"I……"

Wan'an wanted to ask, do you know what I am thinking?
Do you dare to say it's more serious than I thought?
But then he understood what Liu Ji meant.

After all, it is so serious that an investigation will definitely reveal the truth, and no one can escape unscathed, that's why they say so. The specific amount of silver or grain deficit is no longer important.

The point is that the emperor, who is currently short of money, will never tolerate such behavior of taking money out of his pocket.

"Last year, in order to replenish the grain in the water warehouses on both sides of the canal, a lot of grain was transferred from the Tongzhou warehouse. We had planned to replenish some of it from the account after the autumn grain harvest this year, but now... it is still a long way from the autumn grain being stored."

Liu Ji said with a worried look on his face.

Wan An was somewhat surprised and asked, "Hasn't the summer grain been harvested? Why is there still a large deficit?"

"How much is that?"

Liu Ji was a little anxious and said, "The grain transported by the Ming Dynasty is mainly from the south, mainly rice. No matter how much we replenish the grain from the north, it can't fill such a big hole."

Wan An stroked his beard and thought for a while, then asked, "Tell me, what did Liang Fang do in this matter?"

"Eh? Mr. Wan isn't going to put the blame on Liang Fang, is he?"

As soon as Liu Ji heard this, he knew what Wan An was planning and quickly shook his head, "I'm afraid this won't work. No matter how much Liang Fang is greedy, after all, the Ministry of Revenue is not in his hands. It can be said that he has little responsibility in this matter. Perhaps his biggest fault is to help us cover it up."

"This damn..."

Wan An couldn't help but start cursing.

Liu Ji said, "Anyway, I have figured it out. The prince is very cunning. I used to think he was a soft persimmon that I could take advantage of at any time, but now he has finally shown his fangs. I still don't know why he told me all that. Just thinking about it makes me shudder."

Wan An tentatively analyzed: "Is there a possibility that he pointed you out just to make you behave yourself. In other words, he is telling us that if we dare to do anything bad to him, he will make a big fuss about it?"

"It's possible."

Liu Ji nodded and said, "I saw his expression at that time. Although he was confused, his expression was not much different from usual. But he used the same trick to bring Liang Fang down before... You know, he went to show his filial piety to the Queen Mother. Those dreams and whatnot were probably what he said to the Queen Mother. This guy is basically a smiling tiger, no... a sad tiger..."

"what?"

Wan An was somewhat suspicious and asked, "The prince would also fabricate stories like dreams to trip others up?"

Liu Ji shook his head and said, "Who knows? In the past, do you dare to believe that Liang Fang, who was used to being arrogant, could be brought down by the humble and docile prince?"

Wan An said with a dark face: "Have you been slacking off on the Crown Prince's court attendance at Wenhua Palace recently?"

"Mr. Wan, what do you think? You only went there twice, and then... you never went there again, right?" Liu Ji meant that it was you who started the evil trend, right?

You yourself don't take the prince seriously, and the people below follow suit. Now that the prince has launched a counterattack, you think we have neglected the prince?

Wan An said: "Yes, I will definitely go to the next hearing. Doesn't he want to know what happened in the court? Tell him more.

"Also, if he has any opinions, just follow his lead and appease him first... Also, regarding the matter of Tongzhou Warehouse, quickly find someone to fill the vacancy and don't let His Majesty find out."

"If the autumn crops don't come in, we won't be able to make up for it."

Liu Ji shook his head.

Wan An cursed: "So do you want to be wiped out in one fell swoop? Just tell those idiots in the Ministry of Revenue that if they can't make up for it, they can find a few scapegoats, or just transport all the grain in the water warehouses to the Tongzhou warehouses, and then burn those empty warehouses and say it was an accidental discharge, and then kill a few insignificant people, so what?"

Liu Ji suddenly understood, but then frowned and asked, "Why don't you just burn the Tongzhou warehouse?"

"Are you dizzy?"

Wan An said, "If something happens to Tongzhou Warehouse, you and I will lose our official positions, and even our heads!

"Besides, the Tongzhou warehouse is so well guarded, from the outside to the inside, layer upon layer. How long will it take you to burn it? If you burn the Tongzhou warehouse, His Majesty will immediately send people to investigate. It will be difficult to cover up the truth. I'm afraid you will destroy yourself, right?"

(End of this chapter)