Uncle from a poor family

Chapter 641 Backing off

Zhang Luan and his son were able to find their place in the palace. They not only made their own positions known, but also consolidated their good relations with all parties in the palace.

Then the father and son walked out of the palace together.

“No one came to see me off.”

Zhang Luan looked back and said in a depressed tone, "Your brother-in-law is not polite at all when he asked us father and son to leave the palace on our own."

Zhang Yanling raised his head, looked at the towering city gate tower in front of him, and said with a smile: "Didn't you say before that I don't need to send it? My brother-in-law is so honest. He thinks that what you said is true. If you say I don't need to send it, then I really won't send it. I'm not hypocritical at all."

Zhang Luan said arrogantly, "I said I didn't want to join the cabinet, but he still wanted to give it to me. My son, you let me wait until there is movement in the northwest before talking about whether I can join the cabinet or not. Do you think that people like Li Zisheng and Zhu Yong can really make a difference there? Let me win face in the court?"

Zhang Yanling tilted his head to look at his cheap father, and chuckled, "If they are incompetent, or even die in the northwest, wouldn't that be exactly what you wish for? You don't have to be a civil servant, right?"

"Hey! Don't say such angry words."

Zhang Luan sighed and asked, "And the salt tax reform, did you really tell your brother-in-law about it? Yanling, it's not that I don't trust you. It's just that I have been in the court for too short a time, and your brother-in-law has been the emperor for less than half a year. Aren't we doing too much?"

"What's going on..."

Zhang Yanling said disapprovingly: "I think we have done too little, and we should even hurry up and do things."

Zhang Luan glared at his son and said, "You still call me young? I think we are taking too big a step... I am already walking on thin ice as the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, and you want me to join the cabinet! You are so good here. Just after the glass and telescope incident, you invented a new spinning machine and loom. Now weaving is still in progress, and you want to reform the salt tax... Isn't it tiring to deal with all these things?"

"Dad, didn't you personally promote the salt tax reform? How did it become my business now?"

Zhang Yanling retorted.

"Hey, I don't know shit! Don't I still have to rely on you in the end?"

Zhang Luan was quite self-aware, his face darkened as he said, "Speaking of which, this matter shouldn't be a big problem when the Ministry of Revenue discusses it, because I heard that the Ministry of Revenue is already overwhelmed by money and grain issues. Of course, it would be good if it could be reformed, because in the future, all the silver will be stored in the court's treasury and distributed uniformly, which will solve the urgent needs of the Ministry of Revenue.

"But the problem is, the court will discuss this soon. Can this be passed?"

Zhang Yanling said: "It can make money for the court, make Huizhou merchants and Shanxi merchants rich, and let the people eat low-priced and high-quality snowflake salt, why not?"

"Huh!?"

Zhang Luan looked at his son in surprise and asked, "Who said before that whether a matter can be passed by the court depends on whether it meets the expectations of the court officials. If it is a good thing that can be accepted by those civil officials, why is your father being attacked to such an extent now?"

Zhang Yanling smiled and said, "Don't worry, the salt tax reform will definitely pass smoothly."

"why?"

Zhang Luan frowned and asked, "You said this will go smoothly? I don't believe it! I think Huai En, Qin Chang, Liu Ji, Xu Pu, and even Wang Shu and Ma Wensheng will definitely jump out and openly oppose me.

"Oh, by the way, the occupation of a nest you mentioned involves the rights and interests of the princes and nobles, and they will definitely strongly oppose it. I think it would be better for my father and I to bring more people with us when we go out in the future to protect us, so that we won't be stabbed by someone and we won't know who did it."

Zhang Yanling said: "Dad, you are on guard, which is good. But this matter has to be done, and it will not be easier to pass at any other time than now.

"As for why, I can't say for sure, but I think there are still some ministers in the court who serve the court with the principle of solving problems. Not everyone will act recklessly for the sake of their so-called position regardless of the actual situation."

"Who are you talking about?"

Zhang Luan asked.

"For example...among the civil officials now, those Confucian officials, aren't they worried day and night about the increasingly difficult financial problems of the Ming Dynasty?
"There is a solution right now, but they are not adopting it. That is to openly become an enemy of Your Majesty! After all, this matter was personally led and promoted by Your Majesty. They have to think carefully. Now that the new emperor has just been established, they haven't completely established their foothold yet. They openly go against the emperor's position. Do they still want to make a difference in the court in the future?"

Zhang Yanling seemed very confident.

The main reason was that he knew that in history, Ye Qi's reforms were successfully completed under great pressure with the strong support of civil officials such as Xu Pu.

However, the person in charge this time has changed to Zhang Luan. If Xu Pu and others are determined to stand firm and jump out to oppose, Zhang Yanling will have to think carefully about how to deal with himself in the future.

I originally thought that I could coexist peacefully with those civil officials. We just had some disagreements on certain issues, so we just sought common ground while reserving differences...

If the actual situation is that you strongly support what you proposed, but firmly oppose what we father and son proposed, and you insist on basing the right and wrong of things on factional stances, completely disregarding the life and death of the Ming Dynasty, then what reason do I have to give you face?
The only thing we can do is to defeat you all, and then we can become our own faction and dominate the world!
……

……

At the same time that Zhang Luan and his son were leaving the palace, various government offices in the court were also making a summary of the last day before the New Year.

According to convention, on the first day after the New Year, which is the Lunar New Year's Day, ministers would enter the palace to celebrate the New Year. Afterwards, the emperor would announce a holiday for the ministers. The holiday was usually ten to fifteen days, and the emperor would only hold a court meeting when something major happened.

Each government office will still leave people on duty, but basically all matters that can be handled before the New Year will be handled and will not be left until the next year.

Because Zhang Luan did not return to the Ministry of Revenue, he was not the one to convey the details of the salt policy reform. The Ministry of Revenue, like other government offices in the court, relied on rumors to guess the progress of the matter. Because the matter itself was not discussed publicly at the court meeting, the details were not distributed to the government offices in the court, so even the Ministry of Revenue itself was not very clear about the specific progress.

Cabinet value.

The four eunuchs, Huai'en, Qin Ji, Li Rong and Xiao Jing, were coordinating with the two-man cabinet. Huai'en had just received instructions from the emperor to single out the issue of salt tax reform before dark, as if he wanted to formally finalize it during the New Year.

This made Huai En very confused.

The emperor seemed to be making a decision first and then explaining the situation to his ministers... He must have known that court officials would have a holiday after the New Year. Even if someone wanted to raise objections, they would have to wait until the Lantern Festival was over. By then, the salt tax reform would have been implemented, and it would be too late to revoke the order.

So Huai En also thought that if he wanted to stop this, he had to do it before the New Year.

When Huai En brought up this matter, Liu Ji turned hostile and asked directly, "Eunuch Huai, the matter is so hasty. Does it mean that Your Majesty is sure that there will be resistance at the court meeting, so he wants to skip the court meeting and issue it directly?"

Huai En was secretly delighted and gave a false explanation: "Perhaps Your Majesty thinks that this law should be implemented immediately and has no other intentions?"

Liu Ji asked again: "What is your position? Are you in support or against?"

This question goes to the root of the problem.

Even Tan Ji who was standing by couldn't help but look at Huai'en, as if he really wanted to know whether this terminally ill prime minister of the Ming Dynasty could completely stand with the emperor in state affairs.

Huai En shook his head: "Now we are reforming the salt law, which involves the interests of all parties. It will definitely be discussed and improved repeatedly. I just want to listen to your opinions now. It is not necessary for you to make your positions clear. Even if you oppose or support it, it is not enough to show whether you agree with this approach or not."

Liu Ji smiled and said, "I understand. We are not qualified to object. We can only discuss how to improve it. It will be implemented after the new year anyway! Then I have to say something... I think that the laws of our ancestors cannot be changed. There is nothing to discuss. But if Your Majesty thinks that this law should be changed, then change it."

This time Huai En didn't speak.

Qin Ji was a little surprised and asked, "Lord Liu, what do you mean by this? Have you read the details? Have you carefully considered it? Why do you agree to it so directly?"

Liu Ji had a look of despair: "Please forgive me for my lack of knowledge and knowledge about the salt tax. But this Lord Xu has been immersed in the study of the affairs of the court for many years... Shiyong, tell me what you think."

Now Qin Ji suddenly understood.

Liu Ji had no intention of reconciling with Zhang Luan at all. In other words, Liu Ji still wanted to continue to cause trouble regarding the salt tax reform.

As for Liu Ji's statement of full agreement... that was because he had calculated that the traditional civil service group, namely Xu Pu and the Hanlin system behind him, as well as conservative civil servants such as Wang Shu and Ma Wensheng, would definitely not agree to the salt tax reform.

So he simply lets others be the "bad guy" while he reaps the benefits.

Qin Ji thought to himself, you are really despised!

You, "Liu Mianhua", clearly do not want Zhang Guozhang to join the cabinet and oppose all his proposals. Yet you still don't want to take responsibility and just let others come out to sing a different tune. You don't have any backbone at all!
Xu Pu thought for a moment, as if he was very hesitant and entangled, and said: "Last year, the Northwest's grain production was far below expectations. A lot of salt was produced, but not much grain was produced. The salt fields have been unable to pay for official salt for a long time. Now... it seems that the salt law really needs to be reformed."

Liu Ji was very dissatisfied and asked, "You have thought about it, but don't you have any opinions of your own? How do you do things? When you were gaining experience in the Hanlin Academy, didn't you study the salt law carefully?"

Li Rong glared at Liu Ji and asked, "Lord Liu, don't you have any opinions yourself? Why do you only talk about others?"

Liu Ji said with a dark face: "The Salt Law has been implemented for many years and has always been good. I have been the deputy assistant for a long time and have been busy with affairs. I have never studied it. Now suddenly you say you want to reform it. I am not a god, how can I turn into a know-it-all?
"I just think that your Majesty is wise. Since your Majesty thinks it's good, you can try to implement it. But in the end, someone still needs to study it carefully and find out the shortcomings and fill in the gaps... You can't be perfunctory when it comes to use."

Xu Pu explained, "I have read the memorial submitted by Zhang Xueshi and carefully analyzed the details. It mentioned that the salt tax would be changed from grain to silver. At first glance, it might affect the grain storage of the nine borders and greatly reduce the border reserves, but it also specifically mentioned the reasons. I feel... it makes sense."

"Snapped!"

Liu Ji slammed the table, looking very angry. "Shi Yong, you have studied this for such a long time, and you only think that what Minister Zhang said is reasonable?"

Huai En's face was neither gloomy nor sunny: "Lao Liu, if you have any opinions, just speak up and don't affect our talks."

Liu Ji had a depressed look on his face, as if he had lost more than he gained. He turned his head to the side, as if he didn't want to argue with Huai En.

Huai En looked at Xu Pu and asked in a gentle voice, "So, the cabinet has no objection to this? In that case, we will convey your opinion to all government offices in the court."

Upon hearing this, Liu Ji immediately turned around and asked, "Eunuch Huai, what do you mean by this? Can you tell me? Are you really not going to discuss this at the court meeting? Oh, that's right, the court meeting will be suspended tomorrow! So... you really don't need to listen to other people's opinions?"

Qin Ji frowned and said, "Lord Liu, do you agree or disagree?"

Liu Ji said impatiently: "Agree, agree, do I have the right to object?"

After saying that, he glared at Xu Pu fiercely, as if to say, "You traitor, I misjudged you! It turns out you are also a coward! You dare not represent the forces behind you to fight against Zhang Laizhan?"

I bother!

(End of this chapter)