Ming Dynasty: My Father Zhang Juzheng

Chapter 104 Rebellion against Tiangang
The heavy snow continued until the evening, and the whole city of Beijing became a world of white.

As soon as it got dark, lights were turned on in the residence of Grand Secretary Zhang.

Zhang Juzheng was walking in front, wearing a black sable coat, followed by a fat man with a big belly.

That was Li Youzi, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue.

The two of them walked into the study, one after the other. The maid had already lit the palace lanterns and burned the floor heating, and even brought a pot of charcoal fire for warmth.

After sitting down with the etiquette of host and guest, Zhang Juzheng waved his hand and the maids and servants all left.

He glanced at Li Youzi, whose face was chubby, and said jokingly, "Yuan Shu, your belly is getting rounder and rounder. In my opinion, you may not be called 'San Hu' anymore, but 'San Pang' instead."

Li Youzi was fat and broad, and was famous for always having a wine pot, urinal and teapot in his hands, so he was nicknamed "Three Pots".

The two had been friends for many years, and Li Youzi was not afraid of Zhang Juzheng's power. When he was teased, he laughed and joked back, "Uncle, I am fat and useless, but you are still strong and healthy. I heard that the beautiful woman given by the empress dowager has been tasted by you?"

"Thunder, lightning, rain and dew are all grace from the emperor. I dare not accept them."

Zhang Juzheng stroked his graying beard and replied in a serious tone. Li Youzi burst out laughing and shook his finger, teasing, "Tsk tsk, in my opinion, you might as well stop calling yourself the 'Iron-faced Prime Minister'."

"What's that called?"

"A playboy prime minister."

"Hahaha" Zhang Juzheng laughed out loud. After these two little jokes, the atmosphere suddenly became lively.

Zhang Juzheng quickly got into the mood and got straight to business: "Yuan Shu, winter is coming soon. Winter clothes, food and military pay for the Ji-Liao border troops must be delivered as soon as possible."

"These soldiers live in poverty and hardship. Their only hope every year is to wear new clothes and eat good food during the Chinese New Year."

"We don't need to worry about that. We sent someone to deliver it five days ago. It will reach the border troops by the middle of next month at the latest." Li Youzi nodded with a smile.

"Jizhou built a bunker, and only the first batch of funds was given last year. This year is the time to prepare for the second year. Your Ministry of Revenue should make preparations early.

In addition, the Huai and Yellow Rivers will have a small campaign every three years and a big campaign every five years. Next year will be the five-year period, and your Ministry of Revenue must also set aside some silver to avoid being stretched when the time comes."

Zhang Juzheng told the story slowly and Li Youzi nodded frequently.

After listening to Zhang Juzheng's words, Li Youzi started to complain: "Uncle, the inner court wants the Ministry of Revenue to pay 300,000 taels of silver for the Aoshan Lantern Festival in the first month of next year. The inner court also wants 200,000 taels of silver for the emperor's dragon robe, and the inner court also wants money for the concubines. The Empress Dowager Li wants us to pay for the Buddha ceremony."

"Tell me, if you keep spending money this way, how can the Ministry of Revenue afford it? We are not gods who can conjure money out of thin air."

"Tell me honestly, how many taels of silver are left in the Ministry of Revenue?" Zhang Juzheng asked directly.

"Next year, the winter clothing for the border troops in Jizhou will be calculated at 200,000 taels, and the clothing for the Yellow River and Huai River will be calculated at 1 million taels. After deducting the 700,000 taels for building the fortress, there will only be more than 4 million taels in the Taicang warehouse."

Every time Li Youzi said a number, it was shocking.

Even though there are still more than 4 million taels, if some miscellaneous items are removed, it is only more than 3 million. This money is considered money in normal times, but when something big happens, it is not considered money at all.

After thinking for a while in silence, Zhang Juzheng said in a deep voice: "The dragon robe can be made for now. The emperor only made the dragon robe last year. The rewards for the inner court can be less. The Aoshan Lantern Festival should be held as big as possible. Empress Dowager Li will worship Buddha, so give 50,000 taels of silver."

"Okay." Li Youzi felt relieved when he saw that most of the silver had been cut off.

When the topic of worshiping Buddha was brought up, Li Youzi unconsciously drew the topic to this topic. He asked tentatively, "Uncle, do you know who the thug who recently injured people in Zhaoning Temple is?"

"Zhao Lin's son." Zhang Juzheng said expressionlessly, then stood up, walked to the wall with his hands clasped behind his back, and looked up at the portrait of Zhong Kui with a black head and face.

It was given to him by his good friend Wang Zhigao when he left Beijing.

Li Youzi also stood up, walked to his friend, and asked, "So what are you going to do?"

"What do you think should be done?" Zhang Juzheng did not answer directly. Instead, he turned sideways and asked Li Youzi in a cold voice.

"We have also heard some clues about this matter. It is said that the monk molested the female donor first, and then the young man attacked in anger. In our opinion, he should be beaten with a hundred sticks and exiled a thousand miles away." Li Youzi licked his lips and said tentatively.

"Isn't that a disgrace to Empress Dowager Li?" Zhang Juzheng said, and a dignified and elegant beautiful woman emerged in his mind.

"Uncle, do you want him to die?"

Li Youzi was shocked. Zhang Juzheng shook his head and waved his hands, saying, "It's not that I want him to die, but he just ran into the gun. I won't hide it from you. Empress Dowager Li summoned me yesterday and asked me to punish him severely."

Gulu.

"So, he is bound to die?" Li Youzi asked again.

Zhang Juzheng nodded, turned around and looked up at the statue of Zhong Kui in front of him.

Suddenly, the door was kicked open with a bang. The two of them turned around hurriedly and saw Zhang Yunxiu standing at the door, drunk, with messy clothes and looking angry.

You Qi followed behind, panting, "Hey, Fifth Young Master, Fifth Young Master, I'm telling you, the master is talking about something. If you have anything to say, why don't you wait until the master is done talking?" Zhang Yunxiu staggered forward, facing Zhang Juzheng's gaze, without paying any attention to You Qi's shouts, then pointed at Zhang Juzheng and shouted, "Old Zhang, Zhao Yong is an innocent man. Submit a memorial immediately, inform the Queen Mother, and then release him."

"What did you say?" Zhang Juzheng heard his son order him like this for the first time and was a little bit unbelievable.

"Don't pretend. I know you know it in your heart." Zhang Yunxiu slammed the table and said angrily.

"I'm pretending?"

Zhang Juzheng was so angry that his beard stood on end.

"Are you going to do it or not?" Zhang Yunxiu was drunk and didn't care about anything else. He shouted, "If you don't do it, believe it or not, I will drive all your concubines away. Not to mention ten days, you won't be able to taste it once a year."

"You bastard, what concubine? She's your aunt!" Zhang Juzheng was angry.

"Look at you, you are so old and shameless, you still don't learn your lesson and still mess around.

Do you really not know how you died? After your death, your new policy will be destroyed. Do you think you will have a good ending? "

Zhang Juzheng's cheeks turned red, his eyes were bloodshot, and his anger was so intense that it could almost cook a cow.

Li Youzi, who was standing by, didn't expect Zhang Yunxiu to be so bold. He quickly hugged him and pushed him out the door: "My dear nephew, you are drunk, you are drunk, why are you talking nonsense?"

"I'm not drunk, I'm not drunk. Old Zhang, I'm talking to you. Do you hear me? Get the job done within three days." Zhang Yunxiu shouted loudly, pulling his neck.

"You rebellious son, I'm going to beat you to death today." Zhang Juzheng untied his belt, held it in his hand and chased out.

Fortunately, You Qi and Li Youzi pulled him aside, and Zhang Fu also rushed over, and the farce ended with Zhang Yunxiu falling into a coma.

"Huhu."

After exhaling two puffs of white air, Zhang Juzheng said angrily, "This rebellious son, I spoiled him too much in the past, I didn't expect that he would dare to talk to me like this now."

"Can drunken talk be called talk?" Li Youzi helped Zhang Juzheng sit down and advised with a smile.

"He speaks the truth when he's drunk. This is what he really thinks." Zhang Juzheng said while biting his cheek.

"Uncle, isn't that what young people are like?" Li Youzi smiled and told Zhang Juzheng about the past. "Have you forgotten that when you were young, you returned home on the pretext of illness because you couldn't stand Yan Song's rule. During those three years, we traveled together in Hengshan. At that time, you and I were only thirty years old. How happy was that to take revenge?"

"Yun Xiu is only twenty years old, full of vigor and vitality. It is only natural that he would stand up for the injustice he sees."

Zhang Juzheng's anger had mostly dissipated, but he still gritted his teeth and said, "What does he know? I have never been in this position before, so I don't know how difficult it is."

"If I were a minor censor, I could just resign. But I am the Prime Minister. If I don't have the support of the Empress Dowager Li in the palace, do you think I can implement this decree?"

"Every step we take here is like walking on thin ice, afraid of falling somewhere. But he is just full of enthusiasm, what can he achieve?"

"Uncle, didn't you say that sometimes passion can accomplish something?" Li Youzi couldn't help but sneered.

"Persistence must be meaningful. If persistence is meaningless, then wouldn't the person who persists be a fool?" Zhang Juzheng puffed his beard and glared, his voice like thunder. "No matter what else, if someone dares to block the implementation of the new policy, we will definitely not let him off easily."

"So, in order to please Queen Mother Li, you must kill Zhao Yong?"

"I'm not afraid to tell you that the monk died this morning." Zhang Juzheng was quite displeased when he heard the word "flatter" twice, and he said the shocking news with cold eyes.

"died?!"

Now it was Li Youzi's turn to be surprised.

If it was just an injury, it would be easy to deal with, but now that he's been killed, the situation is completely different. "Was it Zhao Yong who killed him?"

"It doesn't matter anymore." Zhang Juzheng shook his head.

People were born every day in the Ming Dynasty, and people even died of hunger and poverty every day.

As the Prime Minister, he naturally did not have the energy to care about these things. What he had to do was to look over the world and care about its peace.

Not to mention just one person, even if there were ten or a hundred people who dared to stand in front of him, he would crush them without hesitation.

"I understand, uncle, but can you delay it for a little longer?"

"Why?"

"County Magistrate Zhao died because of you, and now his son has also died because of you. You must at least leave him a descendant." Li Youzi said with some helplessness.

"Before next autumn, hurry up and let him plant some seeds."

(End of this chapter)