Uncle from a poor family

Chapter 602: Killing multiple birds with one stone

Zhang Luan seemed to be full of anger and could get mad at any time, which made Qin Ji very confused.

Shouldn't you, Zhang Luan, be thinking about how to calm things down now?

Why are you still angry?
The scholars are so wronged!

I was unarmed and was beaten by your own people when I tried to reason with you!
You are clearly being unreasonable!
After all, Qin Ji is a good guy and he stands firmly on the side of those he believes to be "good people".

Despite his bias, Qin Ji still took Zhang Luan to the Qianqing Palace to meet Zhu Youtang, with Huai En standing beside him.

"father in law."

Before Zhang Luan could salute, Zhu Youtang quickly stood up and walked forward, grabbing Zhang Luan's hand and asking with concern, "I heard something happened at your home yesterday?"

Zhang Luan explained: "It's not my house, but the workshop outside... Fortunately, it's not a big deal, and the matter has been resolved."

Huai En asked curiously, "Has it been solved? I wonder how it was solved?"

Zhang Luan shook his head and said, "I don't know the details... It is said that there was some verbal dispute, and even a fight. Later, the government stepped in and arrested everyone in my family, but they were released before dark."

Zhu Youtang frowned and asked, "Why didn't you tell me what happened?"

"I……"

Zhang Luan was stunned for a moment, then quickly said, "I dare not bother Your Majesty with trivial matters at home."

"I mean, why didn't he mention it to me when Yanling entered the palace yesterday?" Zhu Youtang said, "It was only when Huai Daban mentioned it to me today that I realized it was a big deal. Huai Daban also found out that someone would submit an impeachment memorial early this morning, and many ministers would jointly impeach you, my father-in-law."

Zhang Luan said: "I failed to discipline my family members, which led to them hurting others. Please forgive me, Your Majesty. If you really want to calm down the anger of others, why don't I just... resign and return home."

Zhu Youtang was puzzled: "Father-in-law, what are you talking about? Why don't I understand?"

Huai En hurriedly said, "Zhang Guozhang, regarding the dispute outside the city yesterday, I have sent people to investigate in detail. I found out that some merchants and scholars from the capital went to your property to cause trouble. They wanted to smash your workshop in the name of bullying and monopolizing the market, but they found that the things produced in it were all novel things that were not available in the capital. There was no such thing as bullying and monopolizing the market."

Zhang Luan corrected him, "Eunuch Huai, what you said is wrong... It is precisely because the capital does not have it that we can be considered to be monopolizing the market. Perhaps I should announce my exclusive secret recipe to the world, so that everyone can make money together and no one will think that our family is bullying and monopolizing the market."

Huai En was a little surprised after hearing this.

Are you, Zhang Luan, such an open-minded person?
No, you old man are just putting on airs in front of me!

You guessed that I was condoning that group of people behind the scenes, so you came to fight back against me, right?
Qin Ji said quickly, "Mr. Zhang, what are you talking about? Soda ash and glass mirrors were originally made in your house. How can you just hand over the craftsmanship to others? Don't say such angry words!"

"I'm not speaking out of anger."

Zhang Luan said, "Actually... it's more because I'm in the court. If I do business, I'll be criticized by the world. Your Majesty, I've been teaching Yanling to stay out of business, but he won't stop, and I can't do anything about it."

Zhu Youtang said, "Is it so important to do business or not... Mingming Yanling has been doing quite well recently. With his help, the weaving workshop in the palace has grown to a certain scale, and the output is very gratifying. Even the Grand Empress Dowager and the Queen Mother are very happy. Such achievements have been made in a short period of time. Yanling has made a great contribution!"

Zhang Luan smiled and said, "This kid just likes to be busy."

Huai En smiled and said, "My little uncle is not busy for nothing. You haven't seen that the weaving workshop in the palace is so magnificent. It can produce a large amount of high-quality cloth every day... Our soldiers on the northwest front are blessed."

"Oh."

Zhang Luan looked indifferent.

No matter how much cloth is woven in the palace, none of the money goes into my family. Instead, my son has to run around and bear the blame!
Even if the emperor is my son-in-law, we should still be reasonable, right?

Zhu Youtang said, "Huai Daban, please continue."

"Yes."

Huai En said, "Yesterday, those people found out that the Zhang family's business did not involve bullying and monopolizing the market, and they became angry and openly accused Zhang Guozhang of abusing his power for personal gain, and even spoke rudely to the Queen.

"What's worse, they even smashed the items in Zhang's workshop. When they were stopped, they became angry and started fighting, which led to a conflict between the two sides.

"Afterwards, a group of people openly accused the Zhang family of beating people first."

Zhu Youtang was extremely angry. He slammed the table and shouted, "Do those people still have the law in their eyes? Do they still have justice? They are really... going too far!"

When Zhang Luan heard the emperor's evaluation of "simple and honest", he was still wondering, why is he like an angry calf? Why is there no momentum in his words?

You are the Emperor...

The emperor is the supreme ruler, and his words are golden!

Is it because you just became the emperor, so your momentum is not high? If it were me, I would definitely have called for war and punishment by now, and ordered people to severely punish those troublemakers!

Huai En said, "They are all merchants from the capital. After the price of cloth in the market dropped recently, they were unwilling to accept it, but they dared not argue with the palace, so they had to vent their anger on the Zhang family. Perhaps they thought that the Zhang family was a new noble in the court, and they were afraid of their reputation and dared not argue with them, so they took advantage of them."

"Eh?"

Zhang Luan looked at Huai En curiously.

I thought to myself, why is this different from what my son said?

Huai En is definitely a kind-hearted man. Look how much he speaks to us.

but……

I always feel that there is something wrong with what he said, but...what exactly is wrong?
Zhu Youtang asked, "Why didn't they arrest that group of people and interrogate them thoroughly to find out who was behind this?"

"Your Majesty, there are many scholars among them after all."

Huai En looked a little worried. "This dynasty favors scholars. As long as they are scholars, they enjoy privileges such as exemption from corvée and public grain, exemption from military service, labor service, and exemption from travel permits. Nearly 10,000 scholars in the Imperial College are at least scholars. Since you ascended the throne, I don't know why the scholars in the capital have always discussed state affairs in private, which violates the teachings of Taizu. And now they are openly entangled with each other and embarrassed the court officials. This is... an act of usurpation."

Zhu Youtang said angrily: "Do you mean... do they think I'm easy to bully?" Huai En said: "Your Majesty, please calm down. I think they think that your Majesty just ascended the throne and wanted to maintain a clean government and allowed court officials to discuss state affairs, so they followed suit.

"But now it seems that they are not officials in the court after all, and they do not need to be responsible for their respective offices. The things they discuss privately are far beyond their control, and they should be stopped in time."

"Ah."

Zhu Youtang said, "Then Huai Daban, tell me what we should do?"

Huai En glanced at Zhang Luan, as if he was glad that Zhang Luan didn't jump out to interrupt him at this time, and hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, I think we should use yesterday's case to arrest the leaders and give them a small punishment and a big warning to set things right."

"it is good."

Zhu Youtang said, "Father-in-law, how about letting you handle this matter?"

"No."

Huai En hurriedly stopped him, "Your Majesty, although Zhang Guozhang is very talented, he is still a person involved in the case. It is best to leave this matter to someone else. I will ask for your permission and I will supervise this matter."

"Huai Daban, you are seriously ill, I don't want to trouble you too much... How about this, my dear, you should be responsible. If there is anything you don't understand, go and ask your father-in-law."

Zhu Youtang ordered.

"Yes."

Tan Ji quickly accepted the order.

Zhang Luan asked, "Your Majesty, the court meeting is about to begin. Can I go back first?"

Zhu Youtang said: "Father-in-law is really courageous. Many court officials are unaware of the situation and are waiting to impeach you. Huai Daban, go and tell them that I am not feeling well today and the court meeting will be postponed for one day.

"I hope you can arrest those troublemakers today and interrogate them thoroughly, so that we can explain to the court officials tomorrow, and they will no longer misunderstand my father-in-law, and the matter will be settled."

"Yes."

Tan Ji accepted the order.

……

……

Zhang Luan came out of the Qianqing Palace, still a little confused.

"What's wrong?"

Zhang Luan was puzzled.

"Zhang Guozhang? Are you going to leave the palace? Why don't you let me take you out?"

Wynn said with a smile.

Zhang Luan waved his hand and said, "Eunuch Huai, that's not necessary. You're not in good health and need more rest. I can go out on my own. Oh, thank you for speaking for our Zhang family just now, Eunuch Huai."

Huai En smiled and said, "It's just a small favor, not worth mentioning... Originally, your Zhang family was in the right about what happened yesterday, how can you let others say whatever they want?
"Since the father-in-law understands, I'm sorry I can't send you away!"

"it is good."

Zhang Luan looked up at the sky and asked curiously, "The clouds are almost overhead. Is it going to snow? The weather is a little too cold..."

Huai En also looked up and nodded, "Yes, it's already the beginning of the twelfth lunar month, and it's normal to snow. This year is about to pass, and I've experienced too many things this year, and I can't bear to look back. I'm not talking about you, Zhang Guozhang, but myself... I've experienced so many things that... I look much older."

Zhang Luan said: "I have gained a lot this year. Let's go, let's go!"

……

……

Zhang Luan knew that the court meeting was cancelled and went straight out of the palace.

When he arrived at the villa near the left gate of Chang'an, he found his son Zhang Yanling sitting in the main room, warming himself by the fire and waiting for him.

"My son, do you think this is strange?"

Zhang Luan immediately sat down around the brazier, told what he had seen and heard in the palace, and said with emotion, "I have never been able to figure out what Huai En wants to do along the way. What he did seemed to be helping me, but also seemed to be harming me... I couldn't explain it clearly for a while, and it always felt weird."

Zhang Yanling smiled and said, "Dad is wary of him, that's a good thing!"

Zhang Luan said angrily, "You still have the nerve to say that... If it weren't for you, I would have always thought he was a good person. Why would I have so many doubts in my heart? Isn't it good to treat him as a good person?"

Zhang Yanling asked, "So Dad's current state is just a rare confusion, right?"

"It's rare to be confused?"

Zhang Luan pondered for a moment and nodded, "What you said is quite interesting. It makes sense when I think about it... I wonder where it came from?"

Zhang Yanling said unhappily, "Dad, do you still care about this? Didn't you notice that Huai En took all the blame on the merchants and scholars in Beijing, and also picked out Liu Ji, Du Ming and others, and didn't even let those censors impeach you in public and make you look bad, or even let His Majesty teach you a lesson?"

"Is this what you call sacrificing the pawn to save the king? He sold out the people who worked for him, and now he's trying to save the court officials?" Zhang Luan suddenly realized, "No wonder I thought he was lying when he said that."

Zhang Yanling laughed and said, "What's worse is that he has shifted the blame to those scholars who discussed state affairs, and wants to use our case as an excuse to severely punish them! Isn't this successfully alienating us from those scholars?
"Although those scholars are powerless and like a bunch of small shrimps, they have the sympathy of the Confucian officials in the court. Putting you on the opposite side of them is equivalent to making you an enemy of all scholars in the world!

"Wai En's move can be said to kill two birds with one stone!"

Zhang Luan slapped his thigh fiercely and blurted out, "What an old eunuch, you are plotting against me in front of His Majesty! If I had known, I would have brought you into the palace!"
"No, no, I'm going to the palace to meet His Majesty right now and have a good talk with that Huai!"

(End of this chapter)