Uncle from a poor family

Chapter 597: Harmony
At sunset that day, at Liu Ji's mansion.

The Minister of War Du Ming brought Liu Ji the news that the Zhang family had beaten someone.

"Sticks and bricks were used. It is said that the scene was extremely tragic. Many scholars were beaten to a bloody pulp...Shuntian Prefecture sent people to lock up the perpetrators and take them to Daxing County Office for detention. The Jinyiwei also went to the scene in person, but refused to question the case."

Liu Ji showed a smug look on his face and sneered, "You don't dare to ask?"

Du Ming said: "No matter what, they are the Queen's family, and after all, someone came to cause trouble first. According to the previous rules, the government would most likely try to smooth things over and let both parties reconcile. Or they would just pick out one or two people at random, sentence them to exile, and not pursue the matter any further."

Liu Ji frowned and asked, "Do you also think this is the way to end it?"

"This……"

Du Ming obviously didn't want to get involved too much, and said cautiously, "Lord Liu, I have already sent people to complete the task you asked me to do, and it was even smoother than you planned. Now, you won't do anything else, or even assign the task to me, right?"

Liu Ji taunted, "What? You want to get away now?"

Du Ming said nothing.

Does this count as getting on a pirate ship?

You asked me to do something before, and now I have finished it for him, but you want me to continue working for you?

Liu Ji saw that Du Ming looked disgusted, and said coldly: "The Zhang family did beat someone up, and the nature of it is extremely bad, but His Majesty must be informed, and the whole court must know, so that Zhang Laizhan will not be able to gain a foothold in the court."

Du Ming said in embarrassment: "It was his family who beat him. The head of the Zhang family has never shown up, so they can completely push the responsibility to the people who are in charge. If Your Majesty is a little partial, even if the case is sent to the Ministry of Justice, it will not be held accountable to Zhang Guozhang."

"It ruined his reputation anyway."

Liu Ji said, "You have been an official for many years, don't you know how to use coercion and inducement? As long as the person is in the prison of the Ministry of Justice, there is no way to make the criminal confess. Was it instructed by the Zhang family father and son?"

"This……"

Du Ming couldn't help but frown when he heard this.

So you want me to continue to frame and slander the Zhang family?
Liu Ji sneered and said, "Without the boss's permission, how dare a group of thugs attack the students of the Imperial College? How dare they fight and injure people in the capital? If something happens, even if it was not the Zhang family's father and son's intention, it must be! Otherwise, what is the purpose of causing such a dispute?"

Du Ming said: "Lord Liu, please tell me what you have planned."

"Find someone to impeach the Zhang family father and son!"

Liu Ji said, "You don't have to impeach him in person, go find the censors. You know a lot of the censors in the six departments, right? If they heard that the scholars in the capital were beaten, would they be filled with righteous indignation? They are all scholars, and they will definitely try every means to protect him. But the relatives of the emperor... even if they are officials in the same palace, they are people on different paths."

Du Ming asked: "Is it just impeachment?"

"Not only impeachment, but also filing a complaint with the emperor!"

Liu Ji continued, "Bring the incident to the court, and let the censors indignantly state the facts to His Majesty and the civil and military officials at the court meeting, so that Zhang Luan and his son will be discredited and will never be able to hold their heads up among the officials again!"

Seeing Liu Ji's saliva flying and his agitation growing, Du Ming felt helpless and asked, "Do you really want to do this? Once it is brought up at the court meeting, the situation will escalate and it will be difficult to end."

Liu Ji asked, "Why, are you still worried about Zhang Laizhan, afraid that he will end up in trouble?"

"Even for us, I'm afraid it won't end well."

Du Ming said with a bitter face, "No matter what, they are still the Queen's family. Considering the deep love between His Majesty and the Queen, I'm afraid it's..."

"Since you are a maternal relative, you should be employed at the Five Military Commandery. Why are you here in the literary class? Maternal relatives in the Ming Dynasty have never had the right to interfere in state affairs. This is a rule set by Emperor Taizu long ago."

Liu Ji said angrily, "Well, he is a relative of the emperor, he only studied for a few days, and now he is a minister, and he wants to join the cabinet! He stretched his hand so far, he should know that one day he will be retaliated against!"

Du Ming asked: "Are you really showing no mercy?"

Liu Ji said angrily, "Why show him mercy? Wasn't that Lord Wan also good friends with Zhang Laizhan? When Lord Wan left, did he say a word for him? Or maybe he was still attacking him secretly behind his back!"
"Are you going to do this or not? If you don't, I'll find someone, but don't blame me for not helping you if something goes wrong. Don't lose sight of the priorities for a short-lived relative who's about to lose power."

Du Ming thought, I am the one who is in charge of this matter, how could I not know the situation?
It seems that Zhang Guozhang may never recover, but...

Indescribably strange.

Are you, Liu Ji, going to be famous soon?
But looking at your miserable appearance, it doesn't look like that at all!

What's wrong?

"I will do as you say."

Du Ming said helplessly, "But if this matter is repeated, the censor who reported this matter will definitely be in trouble, and even I may be held responsible."

"It's okay. I'll cover you. What are you afraid of?"

Liu Ji seemed to be very righteous, and said, "Just do it, I'll make the decision for you! The civil officials are all in this together! Even those newly promoted Hanlin officials will not tolerate Zhang Laizhan's misbehavior. This time we are all against the same enemy!"

……

……

The East Palace, Duanjing Hall. The place where Zhu Youtang and his wife once lived has now been transformed into a palace textile factory.

At this time, Zhu Youtang and his wife were accompanying Queen Dowager Zhou and Queen Dowager Wang to visit and show off the achievements of the textile factory.

"Grandmother and Mother, look, these are the cloths woven early this morning and are piled over there. Before dark, people will be sent to transport them out of the palace and store them in a special place." As the person in charge of the textile factory, Zhang Yu was the one who explained the matter to Queen Mother Zhou and Queen Mother Wang.

Queen Mother Zhou stepped forward and stroked the freshly spun cloth, and asked curiously, "So much has been woven in less than a day? The amount is quite astonishing!"

Zhang Yu smiled and said, "This is just the amount produced by one workshop. These are the people in front of us."

Zhu Youtang also explained: "Now we have three workshops, and more than 400 palace maids are weaving here. They only work during the day and do not weave after nightfall. When the next batch of cotton and linen is delivered, we will add more looms. Then we can work day and night, and we can weave a lot of cloth in a year."

"hehe."

Queen Mother Zhou smiled and said, "You two young couples are really hardworking...If you don't know, you would think we are among the common people."

Zhu Youtang said: "In fact, my grandson did not participate too much. It was all done by the Queen. My grandson only came to watch occasionally. But in my grandson's opinion, it is a great merit to save expenses for the court and even save some money to raise funds for the next diversion of the Yellow River."

The Queen Mother looked at the pile of cloth and asked curiously, "Why are they all white? Shouldn't there be some colors? Can this cloth be made into clothes?"

Zhang Yu said, "Mother, it is like this. After these cloths leave the palace, they will be printed and dyed. Specialized craftsmen will be found. After they are printed, dyed and dried, they can be sold directly on the market or shipped to the northwest to provide clothes for the soldiers to spend the winter... Stuffed with straw cotton, it will be a fine cotton coat."

"It's quite good."

The Queen Mother couldn't help but smile and nodded.

Zhang Yu quickly signaled to her husband, and it seemed that the couple had already discussed something before receiving the visit.

Zhu Youtang immediately understood and said, "Grandmother, mother, I have asked someone to prepare some cloth, all of which are already printed and dyed. They are woven and dyed at home. They will be sent to your palace later and you can use them at your convenience."

"How can that be? You weave for the country, how can you weave for personal gain?"

Queen Mother Zhou's smile originally had a hint of perfunctoriness in it, but when she heard this, the corners of her mouth slightly curled up, and she was obviously very happy, but she just didn't want to admit it.

Zhu Youtang said: "The woven cloth is originally for the use of the royal family. It is a good opportunity for the Royal Grandmother and the Queen Mother to try it first to see if it is strong and durable... Speaking of which, I am sorry to bother you two elders."

"Look at what you said."

Queen Mother Zhou looked back at her daughter-in-law and said, "You are such a filial child. The daughter of Lai Zhan is also filial. She has been well brought up. Look at the couple, they are so harmonious and their words are so pleasant to the ear."

The Queen Mother thought to herself, who are you mocking?
They are harmonious, which means I am not harmonious here? Everyone knows that your son favored Concubine Wan, and I, your wife, had to stand aside. Who can I blame?
"Yes, the Queen Mother."

The Queen Mother quickly agreed.

Zhu Youtang said, "Grandmother and Mother, if you need anything in the future, just tell me. Because of weaving, the government's silver reserves have increased a lot in a short period of time, and the palace is finally not as tight as before."

Queen Mother Zhou said with emotion: "It's better to live a hard life, not to be extravagant. We should set an example for the people of the world. You two have done a good job."

Zhang Yu seemed very well-behaved and bowed, saying, "Thank you, Grandmother, for your praise. This is what a junior should do."

"Okay, okay."

As Empress Dowager Zhou was about to leave, she suddenly remembered something and turned back to ask Zhu Youtang, "How much cloth are you sending me?"

"Four hundred."

Zhu Youtang said, "Grandmother, please take it with you when you return."

"So many? I won't be able to use them..."

Queen Mother Zhou didn't expect that her grandson would be so generous.

Although Empress Dowager Zhou had enough food and clothing on a normal day, what she had on hand depended on the allocation of the palace. She was actually a little uncomfortable with being given so much cloth at once.

Zhu Youtang said: "With this batch of cloth, the Empress Dowager will have more money. Whether it is used for rewards or as gifts, it will be very convenient to spend. And it sounds good. After all, it is woven by ourselves, it does not cost much, and it does not use the money from the imperial treasury."

Queen Mother Zhou said with emotion: "I have to say that you are better than your father. I have always thought that he is very filial, but compared to you... Alas!"

"Grandmother, please don't say that. Father is a very kind and filial person."

Zhu Youtang said hurriedly.

"Good good."

Queen Mother Zhou smiled and said, "You are filial, which is inherited from your father. You are a good child. If you have any trouble, tell me. I will do my best to help you."

"I dare not trouble the Empress Dowager too much. I can do it myself. There are many people around me who can help." Zhu Youtang said.

Queen Mother Zhou smiled so hard that her mouth could not close. She narrowed her eyes and glanced at her granddaughter-in-law who was explaining the working principle of the loom to Queen Mother Wang, and said with emotion:
"You are blessed in your previous life. The more I see you two, the more I envy you. I originally said that you should take more concubines and give birth to an heir as soon as possible, but now it seems... why are you in such a hurry? You two seem to be in a honeypot. I don't want to be the bad guy."

Zhu Youtang said hesitantly, "Grandmother, let's not mention this matter anymore!"

(End of this chapter)