Uncle from a poor family

Chapter 425: Exposed (asking for monthly ticket)

Zhang Yanling then gave some instructions to the Crown Princess in person.

Zhang Yu listened very carefully and almost took out a pen to write down the key points, but she also knew that these things could only be remembered in her heart and no paper evidence could be left.

After talking for a while, Zhang Yanling suddenly stopped.

"what happened?"

Zhang Yu asked curiously, "Did you think of something important?"

"No, I'm wondering, if I do this, will I be destroying the relationship between you and your wife?" Zhang Yanling hesitated.

Zhang Yu frowned: "Why do you say that?"

Zhang Yanling sighed, "Look at me, I'm just an outsider, at most I'm your brother... The closest people in this world can only be husband and wife. I'm now teaching you how to scheme against your husband. Isn't this clearly destroying your relationship?"

Zhang Yu rolled his eyes at his brother: "What were you doing earlier? Why did you remember it now? Keep talking..."

"No, sister, we have something to say first."

Zhang Yanling said, "You see, you have a grudge against the royal family now. You try hard to blend in and become one of them, but when you become the queen in the future, and you have a deep affection for your brother-in-law, you will remember that I have made many plans for you today, and you will not come to settle the score with me later, right?"

Zhang Yu said angrily: "Who do you think I am? Tell me quickly, what should I do if your brother-in-law insists on taking a concubine? If you don't tell me, I will show you how I will deal with you! There is no need to wait until later! These good things...you can't take them away..."

"Tsk, who cares about this stuff?"

Zhang Yanling pouted and then said seriously, "Actually, sister, there are some things that my brother-in-law has to think about himself. Only when he understands them will he agree with them, instead of thinking that he was influenced by you. What you need to do is to subtly change my brother-in-law's mind."

"For example...?"

Zhang Yu is a smart man and can understand what his brother means.

If she, as the Crown Princess, stepped in to prevent her husband from taking a concubine, Zhu Youtang might not think it a big deal now because he was simple-minded. But if they had a quarrel in the future or their feelings grew cold, then as a husband he would most likely remember how jealous his wife was in the beginning.

Although the person who really wanted to prevent Zhu Youtang from taking a concubine was Zhang Yu, everything had to be planned well so that Zhu Youtang would feel that this was his own idea rather than the influence of outsiders.

Zhang Yanling said: "For example, you have to remind my brother-in-law that many of the conflicts in the palace during the Chenghua period of this dynasty were caused by the fact that there were too many concubines, and the concubines were competing for fame, wealth, and favor, which was very disgusting; and then the favored concubines did whatever they wanted, making the harem a mess, which then led to unrest in the court and the country, and finally even affected him, the new emperor, from working hard to govern the country..."

Zhang Yu nodded: "I understand. You want me to hint at something and make the Crown Prince think that Concubine Wan's killing of the prince and the chaos in the government were all caused by too many concubines in the harem... Is that what you mean?"

"Correct."

Zhang Yanling nodded, "But how to say it specifically, sister, you have to be smarter and don't make it too obvious."

"It's okay. Your brother-in-law is the kind of person who won't think too deeply about what people around him say... hehe..." Zhang Yu's face was full of confidence.

She seemed to be proud of her ability to easily control her husband.

Zhang Yanling said, "Sister, I'm afraid you'll say that... You have to know that men don't want to be influenced by others. Now you and your wife are in harmony and respect each other, but there will always be some kind of rift in the future, and someone will definitely sow discord in front of your brother-in-law in the future."

Zhang Yu said, "Hey, you are so bold, this is the Duanjing Palace, aren't you afraid that the walls have ears?"

Zhang Yanling smiled and said, "Fortunately, sister still knows what it means that the walls have ears. Now let me ask you, sister, do you think you can control everyone around the prince?"

"This one……"

Zhang Yu frowned.

Obviously, as for the people around Zhu Youtang, she could at most give a few instructions and ask them to do something, but she believed that she could not completely control their joys and sorrows.

"For example, if some things were said by Qin Ji or Jiang Cong, would the effect be better?"

Zhang Yanling said, "We need to give them some hints to let them know that helping you is the same as helping themselves."

"These people are unlikely to be of use to me."

Zhang Yu shook his head and said, "You don't know how loyal these people in the East Palace are."

Zhang Yanling smiled and said, "I didn't ask them to betray the prince, I just asked them to tell the truth. Does that count as disloyalty? Should I ask them to tell the prince about the chaos in the palace during the Chenghua period, when the evil concubine was causing chaos, the concubines and princes in the harem were in danger, and the court was full of treacherous officials who blocked the way for speech...Is it not okay to say these things?"

"So what should we do specifically?" Zhang Yu asked.

"This one……"

Zhang Yanling said, "You have to fully understand the personalities of the people around the prince. As far as I know, what Jiang Cong wants to do most is to go to a place far away from the emperor and be a carefree eunuch. If he were allowed to go to Nanjing, he would be even happier. As for Qin Ji... he has no ambitions, he just wants to live out his days in peace."

"Why are you telling me this?" Zhang Yu asked.

"If you want them to work for you, or even speak for you, you must at least know what they need and let them know what you can bring to them... Sister, you are about to become the queen, so you must not treat your subordinates with the same attitude as the crown princess in the past."

Zhang Yanling spoke eloquently, "Your power will suddenly increase. Most importantly, no one in the world can influence the prince's thoughts more effectively than you. Even the prince's employment, even the vital interests of Qin Ji and Jiang Cong, are all tied to you... This way you can handle them with ease."

Zhang Yu was surprised and said, "It's so complicated."

Zhang Yanling smiled and said, "Dad often tells me this... Sister, you must not learn from Dad. He always complains about troubles. Sometimes I really feel that he is a hopeless case."

"Pah, who says that about their own father?"

Zhang Yu said angrily, "Dad is so unlucky. I raised you with great difficulty, but you have no good intentions and always want to push him into the pit of fire... Sigh, now you want to push me into the pit too?"

At this point, Zhang Yu actually covered her mouth and laughed.

Zhang Yanling said, "Yes, Dad always said he was in a fire pit, but I see you two are still complacent, and even unwilling to climb out of the pit? Is this a fire pit? It's a gold pit or a silver pit, and you have to let me bear the infamy next to you... Humph, who did I offend?"...

……

At noon, Zhang Yanling stayed in Duanjing Hall to eat.

Because there was a funeral going on in the palace, the food and drink were kept simple.

Zhang Yanling said, "Sister needs to take care of her body."

"What do you mean?" Zhang Yu asked.

Zhang Yanling said unhappily, "If sister gives birth to a prince sooner, wouldn't all the troubles be solved? By then, even the Queen Mother won't find fault with you."

"That's easy to say." Zhang Yu held the chopsticks and kept putting food into his brother's bowl, saying, "Eat your food. Why can't I stop you from eating?"

As he was speaking, Qin Ji came in carrying a wooden tray with a pot of wine and two wine glasses on it.

Zhang Yanling asked curiously, "Does anyone want to drink?"

Tan Ji seemed very embarrassed and asked, "Second Master, would you like to have a few drinks?"

"Eunuch Qin, you are such a joke. Why should I drink wine at my age?"

Zhang Yanling smiled and said, "Could it be that my sister wants to drink?"

"Bah, why should I drink? My dear wife Qin, you too, it is forbidden to drink during the national mourning period. How come you don't understand the rules?" Zhang Yu frowned.

Qin Ji quickly admitted his mistake: "I just thought that since there are guests coming, we should prepare some drinks... I will take them away now."

After the others left, Zhang Yu said, "Do you think he is very smart? The prince was like a fool before, and it was probably because of him."

Zhang Yanling said: "This guy is a master at pretending to be confused, sister, please don't look down on him for this. But..."

"But what?"

Zhang Yu asked curiously.

Zhang Yanling was embarrassed to say that neither Huai'en nor Qin Ji lived to a ripe old age. They both died of illness within the past one or two years.

There is no way to verify whether it was a natural death or a frame-up.

But there was one thing Zhang Yanling knew, that was that many people wanted them to die early.

One was the first meritorious official in history who was considered to have assisted the prince in ascending the throne, and the other was the most favored minister around the prince. If these two people had continued to live, many people would have been unable to ascend to the throne.

"Yanling, why do I feel that you always like to say half of what you say today?" Zhang Yu said.

Zhang Yanling said, "Because your status is different from before, and this place is not like home... When you are under someone's roof, you have to be cautious. Sister, didn't you say that you were afraid that the walls had ears?"

"Oh."

Zhang Yu said, "It's a pity that your brother-in-law won't be back today."

Zhang Yanling shook his head and said, "Whether he comes back or not actually has little impact. The key is to have him take the initiative to tell the Queen Mother about not taking a concubine. The Queen Mother may have only mentioned this to my father, and has not yet made it clear to the Crown Prince, but I think... she will tell him sooner or later, which is a matter of two days. Taking a concubine before ascending the throne and taking a concubine after ascending the throne are absolutely two different things during the period of mourning."

"Oh."

Zhang Yu said, "Yanling, when you leave the palace, I'll let Qin Ji take you there... You can try to test his attitude. Didn't you say that it's subtle influence? Convince him to help me."

"Ah."

Zhang Yanling nodded.

Although the brother and sister were still eating, they had already reached an offensive and defensive alliance.

The most important thing at the moment is to stop Zhu Youtang from taking a concubine.

……

……

Zhang Yanling was an experienced person and of course knew that Zhu Youtang did not take any concubines during the Hongzhi period.

But what happened in history does not mean that it will not happen in this era with his participation. It still depends on how the situation changes.

It's like in history the Zhang family didn't have much influence on the Ming Dynasty, which led to Empress Dowager Zhou not being so interested in letting the crown prince take a concubine, thus weakening the influence of the Zhang family.

Queen Mother Zhou was a smart person. On the one hand, she seemed to value Zhang Luan very much, but secretly she wanted to help the crown prince find a concubine... Perhaps in Queen Mother Zhou's own opinion, her conspiracy should not be known to others...

But who made Zhang Yanling so familiar with history?
Oh, according to the history books, you did not acknowledge Zhang Luan as your nephew, so you were not on guard against the Zhang family and did not plan to take a concubine for your grandson.

Your eldest nephew is very influential now, and he is worried that his in-laws may abuse their power, so he wants to help his daughter find some rivals in love?
That's unacceptable!
Old lady, you've been exposed, do you know that?
From Zhang Yu's perspective, preventing her husband from taking a concubine is a top priority for some time to come, so she will rely more on her younger brother. After all, she doesn't know what happened in history, nor does she know whether her husband can remain faithful to one woman and become a model for kings of all generations.

So Zhang Yu now has to respect his younger brother!

Unless she wanted to share favor with others, that was something she absolutely could not accept with her proud and arrogant personality.

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(End of this chapter)