Uncle from a poor family

Chapter 727 A sudden awakening
Zhu Youtang was the first to return to the palace.

All the ministers present had to go back with him. Many of them had not yet recovered from their previous shock and were still looking into the distance with their telescopes.

In addition, many people gathered in groups of three or five, discussing things.

Huai En was in no hurry to leave.

He decided to find out who invented these two types of artillery at all costs... Although he didn't have any evidence at the moment, he would never believe that the Zhang father and son had invented them personally.

After all, this was something that went against common sense and cognition, and he felt that he had to find out the truth.

Under this premise, all he could do was to gather the relevant people together and find out the person who actually designed and manufactured the two cannons.

"Eunuch Huai..."

When Ma Wensheng saw Huai'en walking towards Wang Shu, the official of the Ministry of Personnel, he couldn't help but come forward and say hello.

Huai En smiled and nodded to Ma Wensheng, then walked up to Wang Shu and called out softly, "Minister Wang."

Wang Shu was holding a telescope, staring at the collapsed wall in the distance. He turned his head and asked, "It's Eunuch Huai... Is there anything I can do for you?"

Huai En nodded and said, "The scene is indeed quite horrifying... I wonder what Minister Wang thinks of these two cannons in front of us?"

In this situation, and just after the artillery demonstration, the emperor's close eunuch ran over to ask for advice. Wang Shu thought that the emperor had asked him to come.

Given Wang Shu's cautious personality, he would not express his opinion easily.

He had previously participated in the joint petition to impeach Zhang Luan. Now that he saw that the situation was not right, he could not suddenly change direction and flatter Zhang Luan.

As for stepping directly...

It seems a bit shameless.

At least judging from the effect of the artillery demonstration, it is definitely a fruitful one.

Everyone believed that the power of this artillery was enough to change the battlefield situation between the Ming Dynasty and the grassland. As to whether it was a waste of money and manpower... or was nitpicking and looking for some problems, Wang Shu thought... it was inappropriate to find fault at this juncture.

Wang Shu smiled faintly: "It's hard to say."

Huai En nodded and said, "Then... Minister Wang, do you know who made this cannon?"

"If my guess is correct, he should be someone from the Ministry of Industry, right?"

Wang Shu understood as soon as he heard it.

Huai En didn't think that this was something that the Zhang family father and son could create.

Any normal person would have the association that Li Zisheng was by no means an ordinary figure in terms of personal connections in the court, and now he was entirely dependent on his in-laws, the Zhang family, for survival.

If you ask who made the cannon at this point, it must have been made by professionals.

Why did the credit go to the Zhang family father and son? I think it was because Li Zisheng mediated, or even obstructed.

……

……

After Huai En hinted to Wang Shu, he immediately went to meet people from the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Revenue.

Huai En also knew at this time that it would be very difficult to find out who was in charge of the construction of the cannon. Since Li Zisheng could give the credit to the Zhang father and son, he must have made full preparations and opened up all the links, and at the same time he must have found a way to shut up certain people.

What he has to do now is to break down these barriers and expose this shameless guy Zhang Luan.

After watching Huai En leave, Ma Wensheng came to Wang Shu and asked, "Minister Wang, are the civil officials going to continue impeaching Zhang Luan?"

Wang Shu glanced at the telescope in his hand and shook his head, saying, "I will not get involved in your affairs. I don't know the details of Zhang Luan's past actions, so it is difficult for me to be objective and fair. In this case, it is better to remain silent."

What you mean is that you want to impeach Zhang Luan, not just because of today's military parade, right?
Today is quite tiring. It is very against the rules to bring people here right after the morning meeting.

But at present, the effect seems to be extremely obvious. Just look at the horrified and fearful expressions of the Tatars to know how big a blow it is to them.

Now no one can find fault with it, saying that this artillery exercise was a sheer waste of time and money.

Since today's military exercise is not feasible, you can only impeach him for violating regulations in practicing medicine and killing the late emperor, as well as for forming a clique for personal gain, abusing power, and using the art of suppressing nightmares to curse the royal family and the fate of the Ming Dynasty...

Didn't you plan all this a long time ago?

As for whether Zhang Luan really enriched himself while serving as the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, or even committed corruption, bribery, and bullying the people, you must investigate it thoroughly and talk to the emperor about the results when you get them.

Besides, what do you want me, the Minister of Personnel, to do?
Ma Wensheng asked, "I wonder why Eunuch Huai came to see you?"

Obviously Ma Wensheng thought that Huai En came to discuss the next plan against Zhang Luan with Wang Shu.

Wang Shu said: "Eunuch Huai seems to want to know who made this cannon."

Ma Wensheng nodded and said, "I see. It seems that I am not the only one who has doubts. Today's military exercise seems to have made great contributions from the Zhang family, but in fact, someone helped behind the scenes. How can the relatives who have never appeared in the court after a year have the ability to build such a powerful artillery?"

Wang Shu smiled bitterly and said, "Logically speaking, the Zhang family is the beneficiary of the cannon construction, so your suspicion is reasonable. But have you ever thought about what happened to the telescope in our hands? And previously in the court, the censor impeached the Zhang family for pursuing profits with private merchants, involving the glass mirror and other matters. How do you explain it?"

Ma Wensheng said, "You mean... the person behind the construction of the cannons is not necessarily someone from the Ministry of Works or the imperial court, but is hired privately by the Zhang family, just like making soap and glass mirrors?"

"I didn't say that."

Wang Shu said, "Fu Tu, as the chief censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, you have the responsibility to supervise all officials. To investigate these matters, you must do it yourself.

"I was thinking, if the people who researched and built the new cannon were hired by Zhang Luan, or those Huizhou merchants, as you said, it doesn't mean that Zhang Luan's contribution in this matter can be denied. Maybe we should be more cautious when impeaching him."

"Oh."

Ma Wensheng understood as soon as he heard it.

If Zhang Luan used Li Zisheng, who had allocated special funds for research and development during the Chenghua period, and used Ming court craftsmen to build the new cannon, then Zhang Luan was a shameless bastard who stole the credit of others.

But if Zhang Luan had his own group of people, developed new cannons through them, and transferred the technology to the court free of charge, even if Zhang Luan was not in charge of this matter, he would still be credited with the greatest achievement. If you want to attack this point, the emperor will definitely not agree.

Obviously, neither of them associated the incident with Zhang Luan's son Zhang Yanling.

They all believed that if there really was such an amazing inventor in the world, he must be an old craftsman who had a deep understanding of casting technology.

Ma Wensheng said, "Except for the people in the court who would study firearms, who among the common people would dare to do this research? Do you think your life is too long? I think that the direction of the investigation by Eunuch Huai is correct, but since Minister Wang has raised this issue, there are some things that I will still investigate thoroughly and clarify the truth."

It is necessary to investigate whether someone in the court gave up the patent rights, allowing Zhang Luan to gain a great advantage invisibly.

We also need to explore whether there are such capable people hidden around Zhang Luan.

If there is, find the person and make some plans. It can be said that Zhang Luan took advantage of the craftsmen who escaped from the imperial service, or secretly studied firearms with ulterior motives, etc. There is still a lot of room for operation.

……

……

At noon that day, Qin Ji entered the Forbidden City.

He stayed at home claiming to be sick so as not to help Zhang Yanling plan the military parade and offend Huai'en.

But the more Qin Ji thought about it, the more he felt that he was a sinner. He had failed the emperor's trust in him for so many years... Just because he was timid and cowardly, he pretended to be sick for a trivial illness, which resulted in Zhang Yanling having no one to help him...

"What a sin! What a sin." Qin Ji walked quickly to the duty room of Silijian and found that Xiao Jing was the only one there sorting documents.

There was not even a memorial on the table, as if all of them had been moved somewhere else.

"Mr. Tan, you...?"

Xiao Jing was surprised to see Qin Ji come in with a worried look on his face.

Qin Ji looked around and asked, "Have all the others left the palace?"

Xiao Jing said, "Yes, after the court meeting, His Majesty went out of the city with other colleagues from the Imperial Household Department, saying that they were going to participate in the military parade. I also heard that the military parade was mainly a demonstration of firing cannons in public. Logically, there should be a banquet in the palace at noon, and the Guanglu Temple, Shangshenjian, Shangshi Bureau and other government offices have already started preparations."

Qin Ji frowned and asked, "I wonder how the military exercise outside the city is going? Is it going smoothly?"

This time Xiao Jing shook his head naturally, indicating that he didn't know.

Tan Ji seemed very anxious: "Then I have to go and take a look."

"Mr. Qin, Mr. Huai has said that you are ill and must rest. If you come anyway..."

Xiao Jing paused and added, "You can't help with what's happening outside the city now, so you might as well go home and rest early. If Eunuch Huai comes back to see you..."

Xiao Jing is a smart man.

He knew very well why Qin Ji was "sick".

He also understood what Huai En was planning, and was also aware of the current situation in the court.

You, Qin Ji, why did you come back when you knew you couldn’t help at this moment?
In order to let others know that you are just pretending to be sick and deliberately not making any effort?

Besides, the emperor has already handed over the task of assisting the young prince in the military review to Huai En, so it has nothing to do with you.

If you are asked to recuperate, just lie down at home!
As soon as Eunuch Huai leaves, you will immediately be the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department, and you will have the final say here from now on... Do you have to show off your strength at this time?
Qin Ji looked back at Xiao Jing and asked, "Ke Gong, do you really think I should just sit back and watch?"

Xiao Jing said helplessly: "Be patient for a while and the situation will be calm."

After hearing these words, even Xiao Jing couldn't help but want to sew his mouth shut.

Just like Qin Ji's timid and fearful character, isn't Xiao Jing also avoiding things?

If you, Qin Ji, endure for a while, you will soon become Yin Gong, and we will all listen to you.

and I?
How long will it take to endure this?

Tan Ji said: "I have to go to see the Queen and admit my mistake to her."

"Oh, you must not--"

Xiao Jing wanted to stop him.

But Qin Ji went out without looking back.

……

……

Inside Kunning Palace.

Zhang Yu sat there, looking very leisurely, holding the account book handed to her by her personal maid, studying how much profit the textile factory in the palace had generated since it started operating.

Of course, the value is not calculated by the amount of silver, but by the number of cloths woven and the cost... To put it bluntly, it is an account book for reducing costs and increasing efficiency.

After all, not all the cloth woven in the palace was sold.

Mainly used to maintain the operation of the imperial palace system...

It includes the owners of various palaces within the imperial palace, as well as many eunuchs and palace maids...and also, according to the material and color of the cloth, it is given to the group of people who manage the imperial farms and official fields.

In addition, they were transported to the northwest to be used as military uniforms.

Only less than one-third of the output will be sold on the market. The purpose of this part is to earn back the money and then exchange it for raw materials and continue weaving.

Only the money spent on purchasing materials will be converted into silver and put into the inner treasury.

"Is there at least 40,000 or 50,000 taels of silver just like this?" When Zhang Yu saw this part of the income, he realized that it was only a small part of the surplus, but it was as huge as 40,000 or 50,000 taels of silver.

Although this number is not large, it is definitely a huge sum for the early years of the Hongzhi period when finances were extremely tight.

And in Zhang Yu's view, this was her and her husband's private money.

The private gain was so legitimate.

We used the Zhang family's technology and employed servants from my husband's family. Most of the cloth produced was contributed to the court. Only this little bit was left, and we used it as private money. Is there anything wrong with that?

The female official who was in charge of teaching the weaving women said respectfully, "Your Majesty, this year the palace maids who were weaving received a lot of benefits, which was unprecedented... They are grateful for the kindness of Your Majesty and Your Majesty, and even many palace maids who have never participated in weaving want to ask you to weave."

Knowing that his queen is capable, shouldn't he try to curry favor with her?

I have to tell the hostess that the people below respect and support her very much.

We have been the ones who provide food and clothing for us before.

Now he is even more of a living ancestor.

After so many years of living in the palace in a daze, this was the first time I received so much bonus. Everyone could also get a lot of cloth as a reward, and the family members outside the palace could also enjoy the benefits...

Who wouldn’t be envious when this thing goes out?
Working in a textile factory is definitely one of the most awesome technical jobs these days, and it’s one that can make you proud.

After all, in the past in the palace, only eunuchs could make a name for themselves.

No matter how awesome those palace maids were, they were just doing odd jobs and were looked down upon everywhere... When it came time to share the profits, they couldn't even get a sip of soup.

Not to mention the harsh treatment women received in the palace.

After all, palace maids are also normal people with emotions and desires... and eunuchs have a lot less trouble.

Zhang Yu said, "Aren't all those who can go already gone? Do you want me to transfer all the maids serving in the palaces there? If it's just for that little bit of reward money, then it's not worth it. I will tell His Majesty that every time the reward money is distributed, the maids who are not in the weaving factory can also get a little bit... Maybe this is fairer."

This made the female official even more moved.

In the Ming Dynasty's imperial palace, no one from the six palaces of all dynasties would ever mention the word "fairness" to them.

At this moment, a palace maid came from outside to announce: "Madam, the eunuch Tan from the Imperial Household Department is here."

"What's your partner doing here?"

Zhang Yu asked in surprise, "Isn't he ill? His Majesty has even sent people from the Imperial Hospital to visit him. It's really thoughtful of you to come and see him at this time...Please let him in."

"Yes."

Soon, Tan Ji entered the inner hall of Kunning Palace.

As soon as Qin Ji arrived, he knelt down and started crying in front of Zhang Yu.

(End of this chapter)