Uncle from a poor family

Chapter 791 To Go or to Stay

After seeing off his younger brother Shen Lu, Zhang Luan returned to the backyard and met his wife, Jin, and his concubine.

Before they had even sat down and exchanged a few words, a servant came to announce that their eldest son, Zhang Heling, had returned from outside.

"What should come doesn't come."

Zhang Luan rolled his eyes.

Jin was somewhat displeased and retorted, "The eldest son and Yanling are both your sons, so why are you treating them differently? At the very least, your things should be inherited by the eldest son in the future."

Zhang Luan said irritably, "I do hope that the eldest son is the truly capable one in the family, not the second son. Unfortunately, things don't go as planned. If our family falls on hard times in the future, it will definitely be because of the eldest son."

"The second son has too many tricks up his sleeve, one money-making idea after another; he could easily make his own. My only worry now is that after we're gone, he won't help his older brother. Knowing the eldest son's personality, I'm afraid the family will be ruined before long..."

"Sigh, they're all babies born from your belly, why is there such a big difference?"

"Humph!"

Jin was somewhat displeased: "You haven't entrusted Heling with any important matters, how do you know he's not capable? What if he has other special talents? Don't underestimate him from the start!"

Just then, Zhang Luan's youngest daughter, Zhang Yi, came out of her room. Zhang Luan's expression softened, and he said with a smile, "Having a daughter is not bad. At least she's always by your side and is very filial."

Jin pouted and said, "What use is a daughter? She'll marry into another family sooner or later."

Zhang Luan said sternly, "Our eldest daughter is currently pregnant... If she can successfully give birth to a son, he will be the Crown Prince of the Ming Dynasty, and I will be the Crown Prince's maternal grandfather!"

"What's wrong with my daughter? My Zhang family's current success is entirely due to our daughter. Who do you think you are?"

"you……"

Jin wanted to say, "I was just saying it casually, why are you making such a big deal out of it? You just got back, why are you so short-tempered? It's like you want to bite everyone you see!"
Just then, Zhang Heling strolled in. Before she even saw him, her voice could be heard: "Mother, give me some money. I'm out of money!"

Upon seeing his elderly father sitting there, his expression changed, and like a mouse seeing a cat, he immediately turned and tried to run away.

"stop!"

Zhang Luan shouted sternly.

Zhang Heling stopped in his tracks, forced a smile, nodded at Zhang Luan, and said, "Dad, why are you back? I... just came home to visit."

Zhang Luan glared at him and said, "You never come home unless you need money, is that it? Don't you have a government salary? Isn't that enough for your expenses?"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Heling became furious, his face flushed red, and he said, "Father, I haven't even said anything yet! Some damned bastard stripped me of my official rank... I used to be a commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, traveling with great prestige and being fawned over wherever I went, but now... I'm nothing..."

"You're no longer a commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard?"

Zhang Luan pondered for a moment, then asked in confusion, "That's not right. Didn't they just remove you from your substantive post, but you're still a nominally appointed commander of a thousand households?"

“But Ji Lu, the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, has no real power. Since there’s nothing for others to gain, they naturally won’t come to curry favor. All the bribes and gifts have stopped, and the higher-ups aren’t paying my salary either. When I ask, they just say they owe me… Now I have no source of income, so I have to come back and rely on my family for support. I’m not married yet, and my family owns land and such. They could give me a share of the profits in advance, but…”

He was talking animatedly, but when Zhang Heling noticed that his father's expression was getting increasingly grim, he immediately stopped talking.

Zhang Luan stroked his long beard and muttered, "How come even the officials with official salaries can't be paid? Has the imperial treasury become that tight?"

At this moment, Jin came out of the room with a small purse in her hand. She threw it from a distance. When Zhang Heling reached out to catch it, she began to scold her husband: "Don't even mention your son. Have you ever received a salary? If it weren't for the support of others in the family, the whole family would probably be eating chaff and wild vegetables by now."

"Thank you, mother."

Zhang Heling smiled brightly at first, but after weighing the purse in his hand, he realized something was wrong. He immediately opened it, counted the number of copper coins inside, and said with some dissatisfaction, "Is that all?"

Zhang Luan pouted and said, "It's good enough that you have money to spend. If you're still short of money, go ask your second brother."

“Mother won’t let me go looking for it… She said that if my second brother has any money, he can only send it home. She’ll keep it first and then distribute it all. Didn’t my second brother say he gave me three hundred taels of silver? But it’s all with Mother… Mother, at this rate, even in three years I won’t get three hundred taels back.”

Zhang Heling continued to protest his innocence.

Jin said discontentedly, "It's already generous of you to give me anything, why are you still arguing? Do you believe I won't give you a single penny from now on?"

"I'm leaving, I'm leaving... I'll come back for more when I'm done."

After finishing his sentence, Zhang Heling turned and left.

Jin turned to look at her husband, frowning, and said, "No matter what, you should bring some money home, right? You are both a civil official and a military officer, so your salary must be quite high. You're not going to use it all to pay off those vixens outside, are you?"

"What's the word?"

Zhang Luan's expression changed drastically, and he rebuked, "I have truly never received a salary. Even if the court had issued one, it would have been delivered to my residence! You might not believe me, but although I am the Vice Minister of Revenue, in charge of the court's purse strings, I cannot even guarantee the salaries of officials. I am truly ashamed to hold this position!"
"But Ye Qi, he's been in charge of me for quite a while now, how come he still hasn't solved this little problem?"

Ms. Jin asked, puzzled, "Who is Ye Qi?"

Zhang Luan waved his hand and said, "It's the one who's temporarily taking over my official position! But it seems he's not very capable, otherwise he wouldn't have been inactive for so long! Hmm, his political achievements are far inferior to mine."

"just you?"

Mr. Jin was quite surprised.

Her husband doesn't look like an official at all, yet he has the nerve to say he's better than others? Then... how did he manage to get by in the first place?
Zhang Luan rolled his eyes at his wife and said, "The person in the family who looks down on me the most is you! I'm already being kind by not replacing you after I became the emperor's father-in-law, and you're still complaining?"

Jin said with a dark face, "The Empress is your daughter, not mine, right? She is my own daughter... Since you gained your power and status through your daughter, how dare you look down on me?"

"Women have long hair but little knowledge."

Zhang Luan was happy to bicker with Jin Shi, as this gave him the opportunity to turn his back on her and not have to stay at home obediently; he could just go out.

……

……

Zhang Luan went to find Zhang Yanling.

Upon meeting, Zhang Luan sat down with an air of authority, exuding the aura of a superior, and demanded, "Tell me, why did your brother-in-law suddenly not appoint a commander-in-chief for the three sides?"

Zhang Yanling smiled and replied, "Because my brother-in-law wants me to lead the troops."

"What? You're going to lead troops into battle?"

Zhang Luan was very surprised.

"correct."

Zhang Yanling shrugged and said, "This selection of the three border commanders is actually just a warm-up before the formal appointment of the border army commanders. Even if Wang Yue is ultimately chosen, my brother-in-law hopes that Wang Yue will cooperate with me. I am the one in charge. So... hehe..."

Zhang Luan asked curiously, "In what capacity will you lead the troops? We can't expect you to be the commander-in-chief of the three border regions, can we? Even I, your father, am not qualified for that position, let alone you?" Zhang Yanling glanced at Zhang Luan and said dismissively, "Logically speaking, that is true, but the problem is... we are relatives of the imperial family."

"What do you mean?"

Zhang Luan frowned and asked.

Zhang Yanling explained with a smile: "In the Ming Dynasty so far, although there has never been a precedent of the maternal relatives interfering in politics, it is not without loopholes... The court usually grants military honors to maternal relatives. As long as my brother-in-law grants me a title, wouldn't I be able to legitimately lead troops in the Northwest?"

"Huh? This works? Can you convince the public?"

Zhang Luan shook his head and said, "War is not child's play. Talking about war on paper will only harm yourself and others... What do you want to do to gain the trust of the army?"

"Therefore, I desperately need a capable minister to stabilize the morale of my troops, and Wang Yue is undoubtedly the best candidate!"

Zhang Yanling said, "Moreover, most of the people I will take to the Northwest in the future are those who have practiced artillery and training with me and are extremely familiar with firearms."

“Recently, my brother-in-law has issued an imperial decree summoning the sons of military officers from all over the country to the capital for specialized training to prepare them for future combat. Everyone will receive my guidance… Now that I’m their teacher, isn’t it only natural that I take them to war in the future?”

……

……

March has arrived in the blink of an eye.

Large sums of money and grain began to be transported from the capital to the areas surrounding Xuzhou via the Grand Canal, helping Lizi Province complete the massive Yellow River diversion project.

As the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, Ye Qi was in charge of supervising the execution of this matter. However, when he saw a large amount of money and grain being smoothly and easily transported out of the capital, he couldn't help but feel ashamed. After all, he knew very well that this batch of money and grain was not raised by him at all, but was entirely due to the Zhang family's efforts.

He didn't know whether Zhang Luan had raised the funds, but he at least understood that Ye Qi's performance as Vice Minister of Revenue was far inferior to Zhang Luan's.

So after returning, Ye Qi immediately submitted a memorial requesting resignation, saying that he wanted to return to his hometown to live out his remaining years. He did not explain much, but the gist of it was that he was exhausted and did not want to continue working, and asked His Majesty to let him go and allow him to return home to recuperate.

This is almost unacceptable to a proud and arrogant person.

He initially believed that an incompetent relative of the emperor had taken his position, and he felt deeply aggrieved.

That relative of the empress rose to power entirely through his relationship with the new emperor; nobody in the court respected him. I suffered a great humiliation and endured it for a long time before finally getting the chance to temporarily replace him. I had hoped to make a big splash, but then I was shocked to discover…

I did a worse job than him.

Where can you reason with this?
If I can't beat them, can't I at least avoid them?

The memorial was submitted, but the Hongzhi Emperor did not immediately respond.

It's not that Zhu Youcheng thought highly of Ye Qi, after all, Ye Qi in this timeline did not lead the salt administration reform and did not demonstrate much talent.

Zhu Youcheng felt that since his father-in-law was still claiming illness and not coming out of bed, he had to find someone to fill in and do the work properly. Ye Qi, after all, had been an official for many years and had a lot of experience in managing finances. He was also the candidate for Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue who had been decided on earlier.

Besides Ye Qi, is there anyone more suitable?

Even if you feel you can't do it, keep doing it until my father-in-law recovers and returns to the capital. Then you can go down to a less important job as a reward.

In the eyes of those in the court, the emperor's action was a sign of disappointment in Ye Qi...

If the emperor truly believed Ye Qi was capable of the position, he would have rejected his resignation petition long ago. The fact that the emperor kept it in the palace without issuing a reply indicates that he had lost patience with Ye Qi.

After the morning court session ended that day, Liu Jian, on behalf of the cabinet, offered words of comfort to Ye Qi.

The two walked out of the palace gate side by side, but did not go to the Ministry of Revenue immediately.

Liu Jian persisted in his persuasion: "At this critical juncture, the court is in dire need of capable personnel. If you leave, the Ministry of Revenue will have no one else to rely on. Furthermore, do you want Zhang Laizhan to return to court and continue doing things that are incomprehensible to the world, causing great chaos in the government?"

Ye Qi never expected that Liu Jian could make the phrase "forming cliques and attacking dissidents" sound so fresh and unconventional.

The reason I kept you in the court was to contain Zhang Luan...

But then again, what terrible things has Zhang Luan done that have angered both heaven and man?

He was, after all, a scholar; shouldn't we bring him under our wing and make him work for us?

Ye Qi smiled wryly and said, "I know my abilities are insufficient, so I have to take my leave with embarrassment."

Liu Jian frowned and asked, "Brother Benqing, what makes you say that?"

Ye Qi sighed and said, "At the beginning of my tenure, I encountered obstacles everywhere. I thought that some people were unwilling to cooperate, or that they were unwilling to lend a helping hand because of His Majesty's relationship with Zhang Guozhang."

"Later I realized that everything Zhang Guozhang did was actually based on solid evidence. If we had to use the raising of funds and grain and the resolution of the court's financial difficulties as the evaluation criteria, then what I did as Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue was far inferior to what Zhang Guozhang accomplished. I am truly ashamed."

What did he do?

Liu Jian's old face darkened.

As a cabinet minister who was in direct competition with Zhang Luan, he was unwilling to take a long-term view. No matter how much Zhang Luan did, in the eyes of a self-righteous person like him, it was all useless and the behavior of a clown.

Ye Qi was unconcerned about Liu Jian's change of heart and said to himself, "In terms of the allocation of funds and provisions in the court, I am inferior to Zhang Laizhan in this aspect alone, and that is enough reason for my resignation! If we add the collection of funds and provisions from the people to subsidize military supplies and to fund river management, I am even less capable. I simply do not want to stay in the court and be ridiculed by others... Leaving this position to Zhang Guozhang can be considered as fulfilling His Majesty's wishes."

Liu Jian glared at Ye Qi and questioned, "Did you become an official to please His Majesty or for the future of the Ming Dynasty? Do you really think that someone from a powerful family should occupy a high position and influence the course of the court?"

Ye Qi countered, "Grand Secretary Liu, does it really matter whether the Vice Minister of Revenue is a relative of the Empress Dowager or a Jinshi graduate? As long as he can serve the court, isn't that enough?"

Ye Qi was originally the one who hated Zhang Luan the most, after all, the position he had been eyeing for a long time had been taken by Zhang Luan. As the saying goes, rivals are enemies, and he had no reason to speak up for Zhang Luan.

But right now, he seems to be the one who understands Zhang Luan the most.

During his tenure as Vice Minister of Revenue, a position he held during the poorest period of the Ming Dynasty, he worked in complete silence. In truth, managing a household is difficult, but managing a court with an empty treasury is even more difficult.

Seeing Ye Qi's resolute attitude, Liu Jian finally said, "No matter what, you will remain in your post for now. Once the Ministry of Revenue has re-established the order, you can be directly promoted to Left Vice Minister. At that time, the burden on your shoulders will be much lighter."

It means I will never transfer you away.

It's rare that you have a grudge against Zhang Luan for losing his position, so I'll keep you in the Ministry of Revenue. This way, you can be promoted to Zhang Luan's superior in the future. When that happens, you can let him do the work while you sit back and enjoy the benefits, keeping him in check.

Ye Qi remained unmoved and shook his head, saying, "I have no face to stay!"

After saying that, Ye Qi waved his hand and left, completely ignoring Liu Jian's presence.

It conveyed a sense of resolute determination, as if to say, "You don't need to persuade me. I've already figured it out. This court is not for me. I will leave and never return."

(End of this chapter)