The First Gongsheng of Ming Dynasty

Chapter 260

Zhang Zhou returned to his own yard, and as soon as he entered the backyard, he saw Wang Mingshan surrounded by several women from his family.

Wang Mingshan had just put on the clothes prepared for her by Deputy Qianhu of Jinyiwei, and it was the first time for her daughter to wear the flying fish suit with embroidered spring knife, which made Jiang Pingyu and Han Qing look very fresh.

Fei pulled her to let her show it well.

Wang Mingshan didn't have any scheming either. When others asked her to show it off, she was like a movable clothes hanger, turning wherever she was told.

Looking from a distance, Zhang Zhou also felt that there was something new on Wang Mingshan's face that had never appeared before, and there was a faint lightness floating between the brows.

It seems to be fun too.

Facing such a girl with a bit of innocence and innocence.

Zhang Zhou suddenly felt that some facts were too cruel.

So far, Wang Yue's death is still a secret to the court, but Zhang Zhou doesn't want this secret to be kept between him and Wang Mingshan.

What is there is what is, what is not is what is not.

Facing Wang Mingshan's eyes full of clear and innocent little girls, Zhang Zhou really couldn't figure out why it was necessary to complicate a simple problem.

To let her understand the gray things in the world is to let her get in touch with the sinister heart.

"master."

When Jiang Pingyu and the others saw Zhang Zhou, they greeted him together.

After Zhang Zhou nodded, let Jiang Pingyu and Han Qing enter the backyard first, leaving Wang Mingshan alone.

Wang Mingshan thought that Zhang Zhou also liked to use her as a hanger, and then turned around in front of Zhang Zhou, probably to let Zhang Zhou judge whether the clothes on her fit well.

"Do you like this dress?" Zhang Zhou asked.

Wang Mingshan was startled for a moment, then passed the knife in her hand forward.

The meaning is obvious.

She didn't feel anything about the clothes, but she liked this knife very much.

"Come here." Zhang Zhou greeted her and asked her to go to the stone bench.

Zhang Zhou was sitting, and she was standing next to Zhang Zhou as before, like a loyal guard, but she didn't have this style before and was not formal enough.

Zhang Zhou held out his hand.

Wang Mingshan put the knife in Zhang Zhou's hand, but Zhang Zhou put the Xiuchun knife on the stone table. When he stretched out his hand again, Wang Mingshan naturally put his hand over.

When holding hands together, Zhang Zhou could also feel the warmth of a girl with a cold heart.

This kind of temperature was probably brought to her by him and this family.

It was something she had never felt before.

Zhang Zhou looked at the hand in front of him. The skin on the back of the hand was quite delicate, but the palm was slightly callused. From this, Zhang Zhou knew how hard Wang Mingshan had been practicing martial arts since she was a child.

Unlike other women in Zhang Zhou's backyard, Wang Mingshan did not reject Zhang Zhou holding her hand, or she didn't think it was appropriate or inappropriate, nor was she shy or jealous. Obviously, she was not wary of the people in the yard, but when she went outside, she was always vigilant like a female leopard.

"Mingshan, I don't want to hide it from you. Your grandfather passed away two days ago. He passed away very peacefully. It is estimated that you will have to wait ten days before your family mourns."

When Zhang Zhou said this, Wang Mingshan's arms suddenly tightened, with a natural reaction.

After a brief absence, she looked at Zhang Zhou again and shook her head, feeling that this did not really happen.

Zhang Zhou sighed.

He knew that in Wang Mingshan's heart, Wang Yue's image was too great.

That is the banner of the Wang family. The situation of the Wang family in the past few decades has the most direct relationship with Wang Yue. It used to be glorious to the point of abjection, the whole family was exiled, and then came back to life again... Wang Yue resisted what the Wang family could experience in the past few decades. Everything, when Wang Yue collapsed suddenly, to the Wang family, it was no less than the sky falling.

In the heart of a simple-minded girl like Wang Mingshan, how could the sky fall?
The sky should always be above the head, and the wind, frost, rain and dew experienced by the Wang family should always be under the protection of the sky...

Zhang Zhou took her over.

I wanted to say a few words of comfort, but found that saying anything was futile.

It was different from the lament on Wang Shouren's face.

Wang Mingshan didn't believe it, or she was at a loss. She didn't know how to face this situation.

Probably she also knows that this is no less than the sky falling for the Wang family, but she also feels that she has married into the Zhang family and has nothing to do with the Wang family, so what does the sky of the Wang family mean to her?

Emotional bond?

For the first ten years of her life, the Wang family has been in exile since she can remember. There is no mother and female elders around her, and no one takes care of her. She can only learn martial arts. No one has cared for her. She can't even read A few, someone told her about filial piety and etiquette, but those things were too far away or too unreal for her.

Even she and Zhang Zhou were given as "gifts" by the family, and her opinion was never consulted...

"If you feel a little unhappy, go to practice swords, get sweaty, and take a bath. Go and see the few weapons I made for you to see if you can take advantage of them. If you are still unhappy, go and talk to your two sisters. Let’s talk, let them help you advise on clothes and jewelry, the glazed beads you like, and I’ll bring you some more later..."

Zhang Zhou found out that it was actually quite simple to comfort Wang Mingshan.

No need to coax.

It looks dull, but in fact she is too obedient and sensible, as if she is out of this world.

There is no need to think about what thoughts are in her heart, maybe she really just emptied all the thoughts in her head and didn't think about anything.

"Ah."

Wang Mingshan nodded, and when Zhang Zhou put the Xiuchun knife in Wang Mingshan's hand again, Wang Mingshan walked towards the inner courtyard with the Xiuchun knife.

But when passing through the moon gate.

Wang Mingshan still turned her head to look at Zhang Zhou. This time, Zhang Zhou grasped a kind of attachment that was also vague from Xiao Nizi's eyes, which made Zhang Zhou feel that she was not heartless.

Zhang Zhou gave her an encouraging smile.

Wang Mingshan also nodded slightly, and now she was wearing that decent flying fish suit, and her skirts were fluttering, and she quickened her pace towards the inner courtyard.

Only at this moment, Zhang Zhou felt that Wang Mingshan's heart was warmer, thinking that the ice might melt one day.

……

……

After Zhang Zhou watched Wang Mingshan enter the inner courtyard, he didn't think about doing anything.

Wang Yue's death didn't make him feel sad or regretful, but he felt a sense of powerlessness that "God's will can't be violated".

Not long after, someone came to visit, but it was Jiang Dezhong who had the cheek to come, and what he mentioned was nothing more than bidding for the restoration of the partial wood and stone.

"...I didn't bid, and for some reason, so many bidders suddenly came out this time, and the price is not as good as others, so I can only watch the business fall." Jiang Dezhong sighed in front of his son-in-law.

Zhang Zhou narrowed his eyes and said, "You don't want me to help you get the business back, do you?"

"No." Jiang Dezhong said, "I would like to admit defeat, but I bought a batch earlier and it seems that the wood and stone materials in the capital are about to plummet again, so I should take them out to honor the imperial court."

Zhang Zhou was not in the mood to discuss this with Jiang Dezhong.

"My son-in-law, I'm just curious. With your current status and status, it's easy to win that business. If you don't make money, why bother?" Jiang Dezhong said, "It's just for nothing to take advantage of the merchants from the south, but This time, many families bid together, and I heard that there are still a lot of wood and stone materials accumulated, and they may suffer a lot at once."

Zhang Zhoudao: "You don't have to focus on the coal mine in Xishan, but you always want to start a side business, and you're causing trouble for me, aren't you?"

"Hehe." Jiang Dezhong was also quite embarrassed.

Obviously, he also knew that he had caused a lot of trouble to his son-in-law.

Jiang Dezhong said: "Son-in-law, actually I'm here, there is someone else I want to ask you. It's the Chen family who sell salt in the south of the Yangtze River. It has nothing to do with you, right? I heard that the Chen family recently used the banner of Cheng Guogong's mansion, I got very close to the merchants from Huizhou, and recently there was a Marquis of Anbian in Duke Cheng's house, and I heard that he belonged to you."

Zhang Zhou frowned and said, "She stole your business?"

"Hey, no." Jiang Dezhong said with a sneering smile on his face, "That's why I said that this woman will not have any good results if she comes out to be the head of the house. I heard that she usually loses her family and buys wood and stone outside, but the bid is still high. I have never competed with the Huizhou Chamber of Commerce. Those Huizhou chambers of commerce really spent a lot of money this time, and they didn’t even make a profit, as if they were just sending money to the imperial court.”

"I didn't steal your business, why did you ask her?" Zhang Zhou said coldly.

Jiang Dezhong said: "I thought that if we had done business before, it wouldn't be troublesome for each other, but if she has nothing to do with you, then the old man has nothing to hide."

Zhang Zhou frowned and said, "So you're going to add insult to injury?"

"Cut!" Jiang Dezhong said disdainfully, "I'm still using me to add insult to injury at a time like this? The price of wood and stone materials this year is really ups and downs. As for the Chen family...the ones who love to die, don't bother to take care of it."

"En." Zhang Zhou nodded.

Jiang Dezhong asked with a smile: "But it is said that the coal produced is quite good, can we also sell a batch indirectly?"

Zhang Zhoudao: "I am the owner of the coal mine. You just mine it for me. Everything must be allocated by me. Father-in-law, let me make it clear to you. If I find out that you used coal privately, I will not show any kindness. Your Majesty asked I am mining coal mines in Xishan, a huge profit, do you think I was asked to move the coal mines to my house? They are all used by the imperial court to make cannons, while we make money, we must take care of the interests of the imperial court."

"Okay, okay." Jiang Dezhong suddenly spoke easily again.

This also made Zhang Zhou feel that old man Jiang was a philistine merchant.

There is no need to give old man Jiang any good looks, the more superior he is, perhaps the more comfortable old man Jiang will feel in his heart, but he will turn his face to look uncomfortable.

……

……

After Wang Yue's death, there was no movement in the court today.

Liu Jian and Ma Wensheng obviously kept a secret from the outside world. Whether they told the people close to them or not, they didn't even bother to tell the ministers of the DPRK and China about the accident at the front end.

After that, Zhang Zhou participated in two court meetings, and he didn't mention anything about Biantouguan at the court. On one occasion, Zhu Youtang directly proposed to increase the cost of casting cannons.

It had been agreed that Zhang Zhou would cast cannons, and the household department would handle expenses and settlements, but it seemed that Zhu Youtang had changed his mind and felt that this was not stable enough... In fact, this also showed that Zhu Youtang was uneasy After all, after Piantouguan lost Wang Yue, the entire Northwest also lost its "spiritual leader". At this time, Qin Hong was only allowed to come back, and Wang Yue could not play a role at all.

When Zhu Youtang mentioned the matter of casting cannons in the court, he almost expressed his inner thoughts.

Fortunately, Liu Jian came out to propose further discussion.

Only then did Zhu Youtang stop talking.

After the court meeting that day, Zhu Youtang called Zhang Zhou to Qianqing Palace, mainly to ask about the current progress of casting cannons.

"...Bingkuan, Zhijie and the others have left Beijing for four or five days, and they haven't arrived yet. After much deliberation, I still think it's more appropriate for you to go to Pianguan to preside over the overall situation. But I'm in Beijing, and it's also indispensable. You... the past two days, my heart has been in a mess, and sometimes I suddenly get an inexplicable anger because of the northwest matter, and I can't contain it..."

Zhang Zhou thought to himself, are you angry?
Don't be unsatisfied in some aspects, and start to feel a little... Restless?And say you don't lack women to appease you?

If there is only one Empress Zhang, is it a woman who comes to appease you?
Or to find anger for you?
Zhang Zhoudao: "Your Majesty, there will always be occasional anger. This is because you are restless. In fact, you don't have to worry too much. The city walls of Piantouguan are already under construction, and the Tatars dare not invade the territory easily. Even if they come, Daming The defenders are also sufficient to defend against the incoming enemy."

"is it?"

Zhu Youtang breathed a sigh of relief.

Probably only what Zhang Zhou said could comfort his heart that was bumping like a deer.

Zhang Zhoudao: "I usually have some inexplicable hostility, but fortunately I have a way to resolve it, so that I won't keep everything in my heart."

"Bingkuan, what method did you use?"

Zhu Youtang seriously discussed with Zhang Zhou the way to adjust his mood.

Zhang Zhou smiled and shook his head, meaning he couldn't say anything.

Dai Yi said urgently: "Mr. Zhang, why are you still playing tricks?"

Zhu Youtang raised his hand to interrupt Dai Yi's words, and sighed: "Bingkuan, in fact, if you don't tell me, I probably know about it. I can only say that one family has one family."

In this kind of matter, Zhu Youtang's mind is still very flexible, and he is not that kind of stupid person after all.

He could also guess that if Zhang Zhou had a method, he would definitely tell him. If he didn't say it, it meant that Zhang Zhou's method was not suitable for him... And what does Zhang Zhou have that the emperor doesn't have?They are both a son and a daughter, and there is no essential difference in lifestyle!
If you want to talk about the biggest difference, it's that Zhang Zhouhou's residence is very lively, while he has only one Queen Zhang.

"Bingkuan, I have another matter here. It involves the past few years. I have had people count the warehouses of the inner government and found that there are still a lot of spare silk cloth, tea and other tributes, most of which have been accumulated over the years. Yes, staying in the palace is useless."

"In the past two years, the imperial court has spent a lot of money, and the military salaries in the Northwest cannot be guaranteed. I heard that many officials in the capital are struggling to survive. you."

Zhang Zhou thought to himself, this is the favor of the emperor to help him win ministers.

The salary of the Ming Dynasty was divided into rice and banknotes. Especially after the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the "salary banknote folding method" was implemented.

The original color is salary rice, which can be received basically every month. The original color is divided into moon rice, folded silk rice, and folded silver rice.

The size of moon rice is one stone regardless of the size of the official.

Folding silk, one piece of silk is equivalent to six coins for silver.

Six cents and five cents of silver are equivalent to one stone per meter.

Folding colors are divided into natural color banknotes and silk banknotes. Each piece of silk is [-] stones per meter, and one piece of cloth is [-] stones per meter.

First-rank ministers in the DPRK take up [-]% of their true colors, which means that only [-]% of their salaries are actually paid each month, and the rest of them... may be delayed for several years, or even not paid when they return to their hometowns after returning from official positions.

But to live in the capital, it is not a big problem for officials to live in official residences, but not everyone has an official residence, and they still need to rent a courtyard, especially those who bring their families with them, and have to support them parental...

The cost of living in the capital is so high, and it would be nice to be able to barely support a family with a little rice every month. If you want to buy a new official uniform, or go out to socialize... it is really stretched.

The officials of Daming did not publicize bribes such as Bing Jing and Tan Jing, there were private bribes, but Li Guang's bribery could lead to such a big case, which also shows that Daming is strict with corruption and bribery. Many people in the yamen themselves don't have much real power in their hands, so naturally there are few people to bribe.

Zhang Zhoudao: "Your Majesty, what do you have to do with me when you pay for your officials? I dare not accept this kind of favor."

Zhu Youtang smiled and said: "It's better to give it to you. In fact, these are optional. Originally, I had to wait for the Ministry of Households to fold the money, but now that the inner government has more money, I will hand it over to you. Dongchang has sent Shen Yu Du did an inventory, and first used the backlog of salary bills in the past few years to make a discount, if there are any shortages... wait until later. Don't take it too seriously, just treat it as an errand for me."

"Yes."

……

……

Zhu Youtang wanted to sell Zhang Zhou's favor, and Zhang Zhou accepted it.

At the next day's court meeting, Zhu Youtang directly asked Dai Yi to announce the matter: "...the Jiazi and other warehouses in the inner government originally stored all kinds of miscellaneous things, and gave them to the civil and military officers in Beijing. money."

It roughly means that this time it is only the salary bills from before the first year, and the 12th year of Hongzhi is not counted.

The officials present were very happy when they heard this.

Serving as an official in the Ming Dynasty, I was given a bunch of bad checks that could not be cashed. Now that the bad checks are about to be cashed, I feel as happy as picking up money. of.

After the court meeting ended.

Xiao Jing, who was arranged to pick up the banknotes, was immediately surrounded by ministers.

"Eunuch Xiao, how much can I get?"

The ministers also know that it is good to be able to exchange now, don't expect to get [-]%, even if it is only [-]%, it is still a profit.

Some people are asking: "If the money was transferred out before, can you get it back?"

Xiao Jing first answered the question of the latter "dear brother": "If you want to fold the salary, you must have the salary in hand, otherwise you will not talk about it."

"How much is the exchange rate? How much is the exchange rate?"

A group of people are still asking questions.

Xiao Jingdao: "I've said it all, we have to wait until the inventory of the warehouse is finished. Who knows how many there are in total? Each family will also report the amount of banknotes to be exchanged, and all will be exchanged according to the ratio. At that time, except for rice and silver The salary bills, and the rest that cannot be exchanged, must also be brought. It does not mean that you will get more rewards if you report more."

Zhang Zhou watched from the side.

I thought to myself, fortunately, I am just a philanderer, and the specific connection depends on Xiao Jing.

If you let me do anything... it will kill me.

(End of this chapter)