Uncle from a poor family

Chapter 685: Better than a gang
The main hall of the inner courtyard of Zhang Mansion.

Huai En saw Zhang Luan's flaws. How could such agile movements indicate that he was seriously ill? He couldn't help but smile and said, "Mr. Zhang is right... In the northwest, General Li led his troops out of the border. After winning, he immediately led his troops back to the border. This might make the Tatars look down on us and invade our border.

"From a strategic point of view, we cannot retreat easily when we encounter an enemy."

Zhang Luan looked at his son, as if asking, did you expect him to say that, so you asked that on purpose?

Zhang Yanling looked innocent, his eyes widened, and he asked with pretended curiosity: "Then... Eunuch Huai, should the people in the court submit memorials to impeach Minister Li for retreating from the battlefield?"

"This……"

Huai En paused, smiled and said, "Little uncle, why should we bother with this kind of thing? Let's talk about it when that kind of situation really happens... Right now, it seems that Minister Li has won a battle, and others have praised him so much, how can they be so prejudiced against him?"

Zhang Yanling didn't say anything else and turned to look at Zhang Luan, meaning that it was your turn to perform next.

Zhang Luan was anxious and thought, my son, you didn't tell me what to say beforehand, why is it my turn to speak suddenly?
Since you didn't give me any hint, I'll just say whatever comes to mind.

Zhang Luan said: "As Eunuch Huai said, Li Zisheng has made great contributions. Even if he has made some minor mistakes, we should forgive him. If someone really impeaches him, I will never sit idly by.

"Of course, I'm not saying that I want to form a clique with Li Zisheng, but I think that if we rashly criticize him over trivial matters, it will really... hurt the hearts of officials who are doing practical work."

Qin Ji asked with concern: "Zhang Guozhang, do you mean that you want to support Minister Li now?"

Huai En glared at Qin Ji again.

It seems to be saying, you talk too much nonsense.

Ever since Zhang Laizhan came to the court, has there been any matter on which he did not stand on the same side as Li Zisheng?

Even though the two of them had pretended to be nice to each other in public and had attacked each other for a time, in terms of their political inclinations, they were more like partisans than partisans.

Zhang Luan said confidently: "I only stand on the side of justice and morality. In my opinion, although Minister Li has no experience in commanding an army, it may be precisely because of this that he dares to give it a try.

"I heard that when he was in Datong, he asked the local soldiers of Datong to escort him to Pianguan, but was rejected, which led to many twists and turns. Now that the Northwest Border has finally won a victory against foreign barbarians, it would be unacceptable if someone deliberately conspired to frame him."

Huai En smiled and said, "So Mr. Zhang likes to speak up for justice. Then you have to take good care of your health. If you are not in good health, you will not be able to attend the court meeting, and you will not be able to support others."

Zhang Luan was stunned for a moment, then he remembered that he was pretending to be sick. He said those words with full energy just now, as if all his previous disguises had gone to waste.

Zhang Luan put on a sickly look again, and said with emotion: "My body is not good, what else can I do? Even if I can't speak up for justice at the court, I have to find a chance to speak to His Majesty, even if it's just writing a memorial. Sometimes there are too many things at home and they are too complicated to take care of at once, so they are all handed over to me, the useless little son, to deal with."

Huai En nodded and said, "If you have anything to tell the gentleman, I will let the second son pass it on. But the second son... I heard that His Majesty has found a place for him to study in the palace, so that he can study with the children of the clan. Then..."

"no, I'm fine."

Zhang Luan quickly refused, "Leave the matter of educating your son to me, Your Majesty, don't worry about it. Please also tell Your Majesty that it's your own child to take care of. I will definitely educate him to be a useful person."

……

……

After sending Huai En and Qin Ji away, Zhang Luan straightened his back instantly and became full of energy again.

At this moment, he was so excited that he couldn't sit still and paced back and forth.

"Victory! Victory! We can even win this damn thing. Are those Tartar soldiers made of paper?"

Zhang Luan said, "My son, you are really far-sighted. If I were not stupid, I would really like to learn your way of seeing the secrets of heaven... Do I have to remain a virgin to learn it?"

Zhang Yanling rolled his eyes when he heard this and shook his head, "If you want to learn, I'll teach you... Actually, you can learn at any time, but you have to keep calm and avoid getting angry or irritated."

"Okay."

Zhang Luan responded quickly.

"The most important thing is to abstain from sex and keep a clear mind to glimpse the secrets of heaven!" Zhang Yanling added.

"Bah, you're deliberately making fun of your father, aren't you?"

Now it was Zhang Luan's turn to roll his eyes, but he didn't dwell on this issue for too long and quickly changed the subject: "Son, how much of Li Zisheng's military merit can I get? Should I pretend to have just recovered from a serious illness and claim the credit tomorrow?"

Zhang Yanling shook his head and said, "If you ask, you may not get it. If you don't ask, someone will take the initiative to bring the credit to you... Don't worry, even if your brother-in-law is under pressure from the court officials and doesn't want to give you the military merit, there will be people who will do their best to help you get it."

"Who?"

Zhang Luan asked curiously, "Who in the court is more powerful than your brother-in-law?"

"Your aunt, my god aunt."

Zhang Yanling replied.

"She? Will she?"

Zhang Luan frowned slightly.

Zhang Yanling said, "What's wrong with having a nephew who holds military power and has no ambition? Even for Your Majesty, the Empress Dowager hopes that you can participate more in military affairs... Hey, you know what, Li Zisheng is quite capable. Even I didn't expect that he could really lead the troops to victory."

Zhang Luan asked in surprise, "You didn't think of this? Aren't you good at fortune-telling and can even figure out the movements of the Tartars? You can figure out the minds of people thousands of miles away, but you can't figure out what Li Zisheng will do? You must be kidding, right?"

Zhang Yanling said unhappily, "Dad, this is not some ingenious calculation, but a conclusion I have just drawn based on a comprehensive analysis of the current situation. I can't explain it to you right now, but I think it's better for you to continue to rest at home. Your illness..."

"These past two days have been pretty good."

Zhang Luan was about to show off his strength, but he found that his waist and back ached, and his whole body was limp and he couldn't exert any strength. Finally, he could only sit down helplessly, holding his head, groaning in pain. After a long while, he looked up and asked, "Son, what happened to your father? Don't you really have a terminal illness? Don't you want to explain it to your father?"

Zhang Yanling didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and tried to persuade him, "You need to be pure-hearted, free from desires, and avoid anger and irritability in order to recover slowly. Do you think I'm joking with you?

"It's up to you whether you listen or not. If you keep messing around like this, I'm afraid you won't have many years of good life left."

Zhang Luan's eyes lit up and he asked, "How many more years? That's good, that's good!"

It seemed that living a few more years would be a blessing for him.

Then, when Zhang Luan returned to the inner courtyard, he deliberately muttered to his son: "Enjoy life to the fullest when you are happy. Don't wait until you are old and look back on the past with resentment in your heart!"

……

……

After leaving the Zhang Mansion, Huai En and Qin Ji got on the same carriage and headed towards the imperial palace.

"Hou Fang, you shouldn't talk too much in front of Zhang Luan. Sometimes, too much talk can lead to mistakes..."

On the way, Huai En did not shy away from pointing out Qin Ji's mistakes directly.

Tan Ji said helplessly, "I see that Zhang Guozhang has been working so hard for state affairs that he has fallen ill. I have some things to say that I just can't help but express... This time, the Northwest Front finally won a victory against the Tatars. Even Eunuch Tan Chang believed that it was Zhang Guozhang's foresight in advance. I have mixed feelings at the moment, and I don't think there is anything wrong with expressing my feelings."

Huai En smiled faintly and asked, "Don't you see that Zhang Laizhan is pretending to be sick?"

"what!?"

Qin Ji was shocked when he heard this and looked at Huai En in disbelief.

Huai En frowned and said in a deep voice: "I didn't see it at first, but then I saw his behavior and it was almost the same as that of ordinary people. The traces of makeup on his face were too heavy."

Qin Ji felt extremely bitter.

I thought to myself, I am such an honest person who would never bully others, so how could I have imagined that Zhang Laizhan, who looks upright and selfless, is actually such a talented actor?
(End of this chapter)