Back to Daming to be a genius

Chapter 63 Volunteering
(PS: The second update was delivered, and [-] words have been reached today, please vote.)
In order not to let his status as a prisoner's family member affect the future of Young Master Zhang, Xiong Hu quietly left his family without saying goodbye, which completely broke the innocent and pure heart of Young Master Zhang. On impulse, he resolutely submitted his resignation letter to the cabinet, preparing to resign to pursue Xiong Hu and express his feelings to Xiong Hu.It's a pity that less than two hours after Young Master Zhang's resignation was submitted, Song Jin, who had been promoted to the head of the Rites Supervisor, came with Young Master Zhang's resignation, not only tore up the resignation to pieces in front of Young Master Zhang, but also Brought the original words of Wei Zhongxian.

"Little monkey, it's not so easy to pick someone for our family. Our family is very optimistic about you. If you live up to our family's expectations and insist on leaving, then leave the black hat and head together before leaving." Song Jin imitated Wei Zhongxian's tone ——In fact, it doesn’t matter if you learn or not, and said in a sharp voice: "Little monkey boy, our family knows why you resigned, so don't worry. Although Xiong Tingbi was sentenced to never serve, if you want It is not a matter of our family to re-enable him by the imperial court? But whether you can invite us to say this sentence depends on your performance."

"I would like to obey my godfather Jun's order." Young Master Zhang kowtowed helplessly, but cursed in his heart, "The old eunuch Wei who received a thousand knives is even more slippery than a fox. I am afraid that after Xiong Tingbi is released from prison, I will only listen to Xiong Tingbi." His, he deliberately sentenced Xiong Tingbi to never be used again, and let Xiong Tingbi hang out first, so that I can make Xiong Tingbi come back. You are also loyal to him! An illiterate old eunuch can play tricks to this extent, you are considered awesome."

Cursing is scolding, but people are in the Jianghu and cannot help themselves. In the end, Young Master Zhang had no choice but to withdraw his resignation. He honestly took Lu Wanling to study in the Imperial Academy every day, waiting for the opportunity for Xiong Tingbi to come back. At the same time, Young Master Zhang also comforted himself: : "Wait a minute, anyway, in two years at most, Gao Yingxiang and Li Zicheng's group of good people should rise up and make trouble. At that time, Sun Chengzong alone will definitely not be able to handle it, and the old eunuch Wei will definitely have to use Xiong Tingbi again. Besides Xiong Hu is also mine, so there is no need to worry about her marrying someone else, as if she is temporarily placed in my father-in-law's house for another two years."

After a few days of being unhappy, Zhang Laocai sent someone from Linqing to deliver a letter, saying that he must arrive in the capital before the end of May, and that he would move the whole family to the capital for a temporary stay. Time can't stay.After reading the cheap father's letter from home, Young Master Zhang couldn't help being very surprised, and asked the people from his hometown: "Didn't father say that he would come in April last time? Why did it change to the end of May? Why did the whole family come to the capital for a while?" Live, don’t you care about the fields in Linqing?”

"Master, you don't know something." The servant of the old family replied with a wry smile: "Shandong has not had a harvest for two consecutive years, and it hasn't rained a drop of rain since August last year. This year, there is definitely no harvest in the fields. The master was worried that there would be a famine and those unscrupulous people would take the opportunity to rob the big households, so during this period of time, he hurriedly sold most of the food stored in our house and all the goods in the store, exchanged them for cash, and brought them to the capital to temporarily hide from the disaster. As a result, the master The time to come to the capital has been delayed again and again." (Note)
"Severe drought in Shandong?" Young Master Zhang's heart sank, and he thought to himself, "It's too bad, it seems that the Little Ice Age is about to begin. If the imperial court doesn't make preparations in advance, the peasant uprising in the north may be inevitable." Thinking of this , Young Master Zhang hurriedly asked Zhang Shitou, who was also dejected during this period, to settle the people from his hometown, and he himself ran to Wei Zhongxian's house, reminding Wei Zhongxian to prepare for the coming Shandong famine-although our Young Master Zhang is very annoyed Wei Zhongxian played tricks and broke up his happy marriage with Xiong Hu, but when it comes to right and wrong concerning the national economy and the people's livelihood, Young Master Zhang is still very clear about it.

Fortunately, Wei Zhongxian, a busy man, happened to be at home, and Master Zhang's request for an audience was quickly approved.However, after Young Master Zhang reported the drought situation in Shandong and his own suggestions to Wei Zhongxian, Wei Zhongxian frowned and did not speak for a long time, which made Young Master Zhang feel agitated, thinking: "Could it be that Wei Zhongxian is really like the legend, a man who doesn't care about the common people? An old idiot who made his own money? If this is the case, then I am afraid that these words are in vain."

"Little monkey, our family is very pleased that you can care about state affairs so much and take the initiative to offer suggestions." After a long time, Wei Zhongxian finally spoke, and said lightly: "Your idea is also good, to stockpile disaster relief food in various places in Shandong in advance. Once it appears, immediately open a porridge factory to help the victims, firstly, it can save the people from the fire, and secondly, it can also prevent the victims from rebelling when they are desperate—but our family cannot agree.”

"As expected." Young Master Zhang's heart sank, but his face did not dare to move.Wei Zhongxian seemed to see what Master Zhang was thinking, and added: "Little monkey boy, it's not that our family doesn't want to fulfill your compassionate heart, nor is it that our family doesn't know the sufferings of the people—our family has also been poor people for more than 30 years. , How miserable the people were during the famine years, not to mention the hypocrites and hypocrites of the Donglin traitor party, even you little monkey cub may not know better than our family."

"Godfather, why don't you agree to the disaster relief?" Young Master Zhang boldly asked.Wei Zhongxian let out a long sigh, and said with a wry smile: "Little monkey boy, your godfather is not a good family. There is neither money nor food in the treasury. What can our family provide for disaster relief?"

"The national treasury is so distressed?" Young Master Zhang was a little skeptical.Wei Zhongxian shook his head and replied: "There is no need for our family to lie to you. The national treasury is really out of money. Last month, we paid the Liaodong army half a year's military pay, which was the money our family took out from the emperor's internal treasury. There is still some money in the granary in the capital. The food is still reserved for the Liaodong army, and our family dare not touch a single grain, and we really can’t afford money and grain to help the disaster.”

"Godfather, my child is ignorant, so I dare to ask again." Young Master Zhang asked cautiously: "Our Ming Dynasty has such a vast territory, and its products are so rich, and there should be a lot of tax revenue. not come out?"

"Monkey boy, you have never stayed in the Ministry of Household Affairs, and you don't know the situation of the treasury these years. We don't blame you for your ignorance. Let us tell you the reason." Wei Zhongxian shook his head again, sighed and said: "From the Wanli Dynasty The Jiannu in Liaodong and the Miao rebellion in Guizhou have never stopped. They are like two bottomless pits, swallowing up all the taxes collected by the court. Originally, Emperor Shenzong left 800 million taels to the late emperor. If the money can be used well, it can last for a few more years, but in the first year of Taichang, the traitorous party in Donglin happened to take control of the government, abolished the industrial tax and commercial tax, and only collected land taxes from poor people who could not afford money. As a result, there was no money coming in, and the savings left by Emperor Shenzong were wasted in less than a year."

Wei Zhongxian closed his eyes and recalled, and said slowly: "In the early years of the apocalypse, our family took over the supervisor of ceremonies from Wang An, and there was only less than 30 taels of silver in the treasury. The court had to spend, and officials had to receive salaries. The army in Guizhou is also reaching out to ask for money and food, so how can there be enough money? We have no choice but to bear the infamy and imitate Zhang Juzheng's method to ask for money from industrial and commercial households, Donglin, which has the largest number of industrial and commercial households. The treacherous party's old nest in the south of the Yangtze River collected taxes, although it barely supported the Daming country, and did not let the Ming soldiers on the front line fight hungry, but our family has also formed a life-and-death relationship with the Donglin traitor party."

Speaking of this, Wei Zhongxian added from the bottom of his heart, "Little monkey boy, your godfather didn't charge them an extra penny, it's all the rules left by the emperor Taizu, fifty tax one, but just like this Fifty tax one, the traitors in Donglin don't want to pay it! They are still trying to resist tax evasion, want to bring down our family, and completely abolish labor tax and commercial tax!"

"Godfather, you're so difficult." Young Master Zhang flattered half, half sincerely.Wei Zhongxian smiled bitterly, patted Young Master Zhang on the head as a token of appreciation, and said, "In the past four years since our family has been in power, our family has withstood the scolding and the Donglin treacherous party's open and dark arrows, and did not let the front line The soldiers and soldiers starved for a day, did not collect a penny in taxes from the poor people, and gradually refilled the treasury. The floods in Zhejiang three years after the apocalypse, the severe drought in Henan, and the severe drought in Shaanxi in the past two years Drought, our family has the confidence to distribute relief, tax-free and money-free food to the common people. No matter how hard our family works, it is worth it."

After finally finishing his boastful speech, Wei Zhongxian sighed again, and said, "Monkey boy, in fact, our family has heard about the drought in Shandong, but this time our family really can't afford the disaster relief. Do you know that Nuer Hachi, the Jiannu, has been making troubles in the Linghe area recently. As a precaution, Sun Chengzong asked our family to send the military pay and food for the second half of the year to Liaodong for backup before the end of June. Our family has already I agreed to him first. In March, Liaodong was paid half a year's military pay, and in April, Guizhou's anti-insurgency army was paid half a year's military pay. The treasury is now completely empty, and I still owe more than 100 million taels of silver to the internal treasury. , the remaining money in the internal treasury is the life-saving money of the Ming court, and our family dare not touch it. Therefore, in this drought in Shandong, our family can only exempt tax and money and food at most. As for disaster relief, our family is powerless."

"Godfather, my son made it difficult for you." Seeing that Wei Zhongxian spoke with sincerity and his voice was choked up, Young Master Zhang also sighed, completely giving up the idea of ​​helping the elders in his hometown through this difficult time.However, Young Master Zhang thought about it again, and an idea quickly came up, and he hurriedly asked: "Godfather, can you think this can be done? Send an imperial envoy to Jiangnan to raise funds for disaster relief, and call on wealthy merchants in Jiangnan Happy to donate, and the money raised will buy food on the spot, and then send it to Shandong through the canal for disaster relief? If we can raise more, we can send the food to Shaanxi to alleviate the disaster there.”

"Ridiculous." Feng Quan, a rookie of the Wei Party who had been buried in his head pretending to be reviewing official documents just now, raised his head and said mockingly, "Tanhualang, you can really come up with bad ideas. Where is Jiangnan? The old den of the Donglin traitor party! Wealthy merchants were already very dissatisfied with Jiuqiantui's tax collection from them, and you asked Jiuqiantui to send people to smash the bones and suck the marrow. What is the so-called fundraising for disaster relief, they will still take out money? Other money was not raised, Those people caused a civil uprising first, which affected the court's Jiangnan taxation this year, and ruined the nine thousand year old event!"

"Master Feng is not right." Cui Chengxiu said tit for tat: "The Jiangnan area is prosperous and affluent, the people have ample food and clothing, there are so many rich merchants, and the salt merchants in Yangzhou are even richer than a country. It is only natural to raise funds from them. What’s more, Zhang Tanhua’s proposal is to let wealthy households and merchants feel happy to donate, and it’s not a forced collection. What reason do they have for a civil uprising?”

"Master Cui is quite reasonable, but who will be sent to be the imperial envoy?" Feng Quan said darkly, "Could it be that Master Cui wants to volunteer to do this errand of fundraising and relief?" Cui Chengxiu was speechless. In other words, let's not say that it is not easy to be an imperial envoy, and it is impossible to get a large amount of money to help the victims of the disaster. Even if you really get the money, you can't offend a lot of people?
"Monkey boy, your idea is good, but it's unrealistic." Of course Wei Zhongxian also understood this truth, and said to Young Master Zhang with a wry smile: "The rich merchants in the south of the Yangtze River are rich, but they are more stingy than the other. You tell them to lose Donation, don’t they kill them? Besides, none of our family members dare to take up this job.”

"Godfather, my boy is willing to take on this job." Young Master Zhang's blood was surging, he knelt down on his knees, kowtowed and said, "My boy is willing to serve as the imperial envoy, and go to the south of the Yangtze River to try to raise funds for disaster relief, help the elders in my hometown to tide over the difficulties, and do my best for my godfather." Troubleshooting."

"You?" Wei Zhongxian was stunned first, and asked in surprise: "Little monkey, you should think about it, this is not a fat job, it is the first-class dirty work in the world, are you really willing to go?"

"As long as you can share the worries for your godfather, no matter how dirty or tired, the child will never turn back!" Eldest Young Master Zhang gritted his teeth and replied.Wei Zhongxian was very moved, and when he was about to help Young Master Zhang to discuss carefully, Feng Quan over there said darkly: "Tan Hua Lang, if you really want to go, how much money do you plan to raise? Don't just raise ten dollars." If two or eight taels of silver come back, it’s better not to go.”

"Feng Quan, shut your stinking mouth for our family and do your job!" Wei Zhongxian scolded Feng Quan dissatisfiedly, and then asked Young Master Zhang: "Monkey boy, how much money for disaster relief are you sure you can raise?" ?”

"Thirty..., no! 50 taels of silver!" Young Master Zhang replied guessing.Before the words were finished, Cui Chengxiu rushed to say with good intentions: "Tan Hualang, 50 taels of silver is not a small amount, and the annual tax income of the Daming Household Department is only about [-] million taels (note). Are you really sure to raise so much money?" Wei Zhongxian didn't rush to agree, but just smiled and said, "Monkey boy, think it over, if our family reports this figure, there is no way to change it."

"The income of the household department is so low? It seems that I was deceived by the TV series of the Qing Tartars again." Young Master Zhang was shocked, but Young Master Zhang thought about it again and again, and finally bit the bullet and said, "What are you doing?" Dad, if you promise me one thing, then I promise to raise 50 taels."

"What's the matter? Tell me." Wei Zhongxian asked decisively with a wave of his hand.Young Master Zhang kowtowed and replied: "Godfather, if you go to the south of the Yangtze River to raise funds for disaster relief, you need the full cooperation of local officials, and maybe you will use some extraordinary means. If you make any mistakes, please forgive me and be in the court." Dealing with the child—but please rest assured, the child will never take anything by force, extort money, and damage the reputation of the godfather."

"Okay, our family agrees!" Wei Zhongxian replied decisively: "As long as you don't go to extort money from the common people, take it by force, no matter how big a mistake you make, our family will protect you from the court! As for the places in the south of the Yangtze River Officials, our family will also order them to fully cooperate with you, and our family can also ask the emperor to give you the Shangfang sword, the right to cut first and then play!"

"Well, my boy promises to complete the fundraising errand of 50 taels of silver! One tael less, please godfather demote the boy from his job to the people, and he will never be used again!" Young Master Zhang kept his head first, and then boasted cheekily He said with a smile: "And there is one more thing, my child has a little research on economics, so I will definitely pay attention to it when I go to Jiangnan this time, maybe it can open up a new source of income for the godfather and the court, and bring unexpected surprises to the godfather. "

"Hahahaha." Wei Zhongxian laughed happily, and said, "Okay, monkey boy, our family is waiting for your good news, let's see how much surprise you can give our family. Go back and prepare, our family will give it to you." You ask the emperor for a decree, and after about three to five days, the decree of appointing you as the imperial envoy will come down." Speaking of this, Wei Zhongxian thought for a while, and then asked: "By the way, our family almost forgot, Are you going to take those people this time? It’s too hard to rely on you alone, you order a few people, and our family will arrange for you. "

"The old eunuch Wei intends to send someone to watch me." Young master Zhang knew it well but didn't point it out. He just replied with a smile: "Godfather takes care of the child like this, so the child will be rude. Song Jinsong, the supervisor of rituals, and Mr. Song Hai'er has the best relationship, and Hai'er wants to invite him to work hard; there is also Mr. Xiao Chuan Xiao from Dongchang. , the baby will only bring Brother Lu Wanling and Brother Lu Nian of the Imperial College and the housekeeper Zhang Shitou."

"Yes, our family will arrange it for you." Wei Zhongxian was very satisfied and agreed without hesitation.But before the words were finished, two people rushed in from outside the room, it was Wei Zhongxian's nephew Wei Liangqing and nephew Fu Yingxing, and they shouted together: "Brother Zhang, how can you forget us brothers for such a good thing as going to Jiangnan? It's so embarrassing." Yes! Father (uncle), we also want to go to the south of the Yangtze River with Brother Zhang to do this errand to raise funds for disaster relief."

"Hey, you two little monkey cubs, when did you get out?" Wei Zhongxian scolded with a smile.Eldest Young Master Zhang also smiled wryly and replied: "Brother Wei, Second Brother Fu, I am not going on a tour this time, but to offend others and grab money. If you go with me, I'm afraid you will be scolded, which is not a good thing. "

"Hey, Brother Zhang, what are you talking about? We three brothers share the blessings and share the hardships. If you go to do the hard work, if we don't follow, won't we have to share the joys and sorrows?" Fu Yingxing complained. .Wei Liangqing also nodded vigorously, with an angry look on his face, as if he was very annoyed that Young Master Zhang didn't treat them as brothers who shared weal and woe.Over there, Wei Zhongxian saw what his nephew was thinking, and snorted: "You two little monkeys, don't play with these fancy intestines in front of our house, you are too tender! ——You want to go to Yangzhou to buy a skinny horse, right? "

Wei Liangqing and Fu Yingxing's thoughts were seen through by Wei Zhongxian, and he smirked with guilt and dared not answer.Fortunately, Wei Zhongxian didn't care too much, and just said to Young Master Zhang: "Little monkey boy, or you can take your two godbrothers, firstly, let them learn a lot, and secondly, have them two monkeys. With the cub here, the local officials in Jiangnan don't dare to be disobedient." Young Master Zhang smiled wryly, and had no choice but to agree—and dared not refuse.

Ever since, the matter of appointing Young Master Zhang as the imperial envoy to go to Jiangnan to raise funds for disaster relief was basically finalized, and the rest was the passage of the court council, Xi Zong's approval, and the appointment of leader seals.Taking advantage of this period of time, Young Master Zhang also began to prepare his luggage, deliver errands to the Hanlin Academy, arrange servants to look after the house, and inform his parents about the itinerary. He was too busy.But at this moment, the invitation card from the British public Zhang Weixian arrived...

"British Duke's [-]th birthday, please invite me to the banquet?" Holding the invitation card, Young Master Zhang scratched his head in embarrassment. Although the time for the banquet is tomorrow and there is still time to attend, Young Master Zhang is very aware of Wei Zhongxian's suspicious personality. If he casually associates with the supreme duke of Ming Dynasty like Zhang Weixian, Wei Zhongxian might be alerted and suspect that Young Master Zhang intends to join another family.So Young Master Zhang thought twice, and went to Wei Zhongxian's house first to say hello, and asked Wei Zhongxian if he didn't know the departure time on the pretext of not knowing whether he was leaving tomorrow, and whether he could be in time to attend Zhang Weixian's birthday banquet?
"Monkey boy, you still have three days to go." Wei Zhongxian also understood Young Master Zhang's intentions, and was very satisfied with Young Master Zhang's carefulness in everything, so he ordered: "Go, the British Duke's birthday, not only invited you, but also invited you." But our family has something to stay in the palace tomorrow, so we asked Cui Chengxiu and Feng Quan to attend the banquet instead of our family."

Note: According to historical records, there was a severe drought in Shandong in [-], and a plague of locusts occurred in July. There was a famine in Shandong.

(End of this chapter)