Ming Dynasty: My Father Zhang Juzheng

Chapter 99: The Filial Son Crying at the Grave
Three days later in the morning, the drizzle stopped temporarily. The Xu family took the opportunity to lead the Zhang Yunxiu brothers and head straight to the place where the Xu family's ancestral tomb was located.

The Xu family's ancestral tomb is located in the northwest suburbs of Huating County. When Xu Jie was still alive, he specially sought out a Feng Shui master to check it out and determined that it was a lucky piece of land.

Xu Jie was overjoyed and sent people to buy all the land around the land and moved all his ancestors in.

After Xu Jie died, he was naturally buried there.

Before entering the cemetery gate, the steward in charge of guarding the ground came forward with a smile and flattered the three leaders of the Xu family in the front: "Master, Second Master, Third Master, all the tributes and the magicians are ready, and we are waiting for you to come."

Xu Fan nodded, waved his hand and asked the men in the family to change into mourning clothes, then strode in.

Although Zhang Yunxiu and Zhang Jingxiu were not the protagonists, because they represented the current prime minister, they still attracted the attention of people around them even if they were just walking in the middle.

In addition to the children of the Xu family, those present today also included officials from Songjiang Prefecture and even Yingtian Prefecture.

Among them, some people had received favors from the Xu family before, and coming here today could be considered as a way of repaying the favor. Of course, more of them came to test the strength of the Xu family.

Facing the gazes of officials on both sides, Zhang Yunxiu walked forward without looking around.

When we arrived at a cemetery with tall tombstones, Buddhist chants suddenly rang out.

A middle-aged man wearing a linen white robe with a yellow rope tied around his belt took a step forward, fell to his knees and cried on the ground.

"Oh my old master, if you leave like this, won't your descendants be heartbroken all day long?"

"Without you, our Ming Dynasty is like a palace without a stone pillar."

"Oh my old master, oh my old master."

His voice was mournful and melodious, and coupled with his crying appearance, it instantly infected a large group of people.

"What a filial son and grandson."

Zhang Yunxiu secretly admired in his heart.

The next moment, Xu Fan took a few steps forward, helped the middle-aged man up, and comforted him: "County Magistrate Wei, it is enough that you have this heart. We all know what you mean."

County Magistrate Wei was in tears, shook his head, and said in a hoarse voice: "The Grand Tutor is several dozen years older than me. I am not lucky enough to have such a father like Grand Servant Xu. But when Grand Tutor Xu was alive, he taught me a few things. As the ancients said, 'Once a teacher, always a father.' It is only natural for a son to mourn for his father and kowtow to him."

After saying this, he knelt down and cried again.

Xu Kun and Xu Ying hurried forward, held the Magistrate Wei, and said, "Zhirri, you must take care of yourself. You are the father and mother of Huating, you can't cry here and hurt yourself."

"The Grand Master has passed away. I am heartbroken and wish I could follow him."

The three brothers of the Xu family looked at each other, and together they supported County Magistrate Wei and moved to the side.

At this time, Xu Yuanchun, the eldest grandson, walked in front.

He turned around and winked at Zhang Jingxiu and the other man. Zhang Jingxiu grabbed his brother who was still in a daze, took a few steps forward and came to the front.

The three of them stood side by side, and servants had already handed them incense.

Xu Yuanchun straightened his back, his eyes reddened, and he said with a trembling voice: "Grandpa, the Prime Minister sent a young master to see you. The young master Zhang Yunxiu on the right has become Ruoxi's husband and is now a member of our Xu family. You are down there, please protect our family."

After saying that, he moved aside to make room.

Zhang Yunxiu stared at the cemetery in front of him, where a prime minister of the Ming Dynasty was buried.

He was once suppressed by Zhang Cong and endured under the authority of Yan Song for nearly twenty years before he overthrew Yan's party and ascended to the position of prime minister.

Looking back on the official career of this great prime minister, one word can be used to describe it: "tolerance".

Be patient, retreat, accumulate strength, and then strike the enemy with a thundering blow.

Bending down and bowing three times, Zhang Yunxiu inserted the incense into the bronze tripod in front of the tomb, then stepped aside with his brother and waited for the rest of the people participating in the memorial service to burn incense.

Several monks on the side of the cemetery kept chanting, and the pleasant Sanskrit sounds came into my ears.

It makes the whole body feel comfortable, as if bathed in the spring breeze, and as if floating in the fairyland.

For a moment, the whole world seemed to be quiet, and only the Buddhist chanting could be heard outside. Suddenly, Zhang Yunxiu felt a pat on his back, and he turned around and saw that it was the wailing County Magistrate Wei.

"Mr. Zhang." County Magistrate Wei had stopped crying and called out respectfully.

"Is there something wrong?" Zhang Yunxiu asked coldly.

"You have been in Huating for almost five or six days, and I have not met Zhang Sicheng yet. I wonder if Zhang Sicheng would be so honored to come to my house for a gathering today?" County Magistrate Wei said in a flattering manner, regardless of Zhang Yunxiu's cold attitude.

"The schedule is tight, and I'm afraid I don't have that much time." Zhang Yunxiu refused directly.

Seeing Zhang Yunxiu's cold attitude, County Magistrate Wei became anxious and spoke faster unconsciously: "Zhang Sicheng, I heard that you have the intention to go to sea. I accidentally got a map from a boatman's house. It is said that it is the sea map left by Eunuch Zheng when he went to sea."

"Really?" Zhang Yunxiu suddenly became interested.

"I cannot guarantee whether it is authentic or not. After all, it is old. But if Zhang Sicheng wants to see it, I can give it to him."

County Magistrate Wei spoke very measuredly, in a gentle voice, and always used "your humble servant" instead of "this official", always keeping a low profile, which made Zhang Yunxiu feel very comfortable. After a while, Zhang Yunxiu's attitude softened. He smiled at County Magistrate Wei and said softly, "Since County Magistrate Wei invited you, we can't spoil his fun."

"Then I will welcome Minister Zhang to my humble home tonight." County Magistrate Wei said, his goatee twitching and his small eyes almost narrowed into a line as he smiled.

"You're too polite, County Magistrate Wei." Zhang Yunxiu nodded in response.

The mourning lasted until the end of the afternoon, when the blood-red sunset struggled to set not far away.

As soon as the ceremony was over, the officials who were participating in the condolences gathered around Zhang Jingxiu, blocked his way, asked about his well-being, and chatted about family matters.

"Master Zhang, do you still remember me? Two years ago, when I went to the capital to report on my work, I also went to visit the Prime Minister at his residence."

"Is Yuanfu in good health? Is the old mountain ginseng we sent useful?"

"I have heard that Yuanfu is a great calligrapher. I wonder if you could write a piece of calligraphy for me so that I can hang it in the hall to express my concern for Yuanfu at all times."

"."

Looking at the flushed cheeks and listening to the noisy sounds around him, Zhang Jingxiu felt like he was about to explode.

He couldn't stand it anymore and was about to turn back to look for his fifth brother, only to find that he had already slipped away.

"Hey, don't pull my clothes, don't push, don't push."

While he was turning around, a group of officials crowded up. Zhang Jingxiu exerted great effort and finally broke out of the encirclement with the help of Xu Yuanchun.

The moonlight moves up to the building, and darkness covers the earth.

In the residence of County Magistrate Wei in Shitou Alley, the lights had already been turned on, and palace lanterns were lit up.

County Magistrate Wei sat upright at the mahogany eight-immortal table, quietly waiting for Zhang Yunxiu's arrival.

County Magistrate Wei's original name was Wei Ming. He was not a Jinshi or a Jinshi, but only a Juren. At the age of 32, he failed again in the imperial examination.

So he simply gave up the idea of ​​taking the imperial examination and registered in the Ministry of Personnel. In the fifth year of Longqing, he finally got a vacancy and became a county magistrate in a county in Guangdong.

After that, it took another six years to work his way up from county magistrate to county magistrate.

He was transferred from his previous post to Huating County three years ago. Such a fertile and prosperous place is definitely a promotion.

Now that his three-year term has expired, if nothing unexpected happens, he should be promoted to Zhou Tong (the sixth rank).
But he had a feeling that his political career was coming to an end.

After all, not everyone is like Hai Rui, who can become a third-rank official with the status of a juren.

In order to climb up the ladder, he set traps and tried to please the Xu family, just to get on board with the Xu family and let them do things for him.

The appearance of Zhang Yunxiu later allowed him to find a new target.

The reason why the Xu family still has such a great reputation is probably because of the authority of the current Prime Minister.

Now Zhang Yunxiu is not only a newly-appointed Jinshi, but also the emperor's attendant. With such an identity, it can be expected that Zhang Yunxiu can have a say in the emperor.

Nowadays, if you are an official and don’t have someone behind your chair, you will have to wait to take the blame.

Since you are going to find one, then find the biggest backer.

Just as he was thinking, he heard footsteps outside. Wei Ming came back to his senses, stood up and walked out of the dining hall, saying with a smile: "Oh, it's a great honor for you, Mr. Zhang, to visit my humble home."

"Wei Zhixian, you still call this your humble abode." Zhang Yunxiu exclaimed in surprise, and looking around the dining hall, he could not help but sneer, "Just this chair here, I'm afraid it's enough to pay your salary for half a year."

"They were all given by friends, they were all given by friends, they are not worth much." Wei Ming waved his hands and asked Zhang Yunxiu to sit down.

Zhang Yunxiu lifted his robe and sat down, glancing at Wei Ming, then he began to talk to himself: "It is said that 'three years as a clean magistrate can earn you 100,000 silver coins'. I didn't quite believe it at first, but now it seems to be true."

Wei Ming's face trembled after being stabbed, but he still smiled and said, "Although my clan is not rich, we have some small businesses in Suzhou. When I was an official outside, the clan leader helped me a lot."

As he spoke, he picked up the wine jug and filled Zhang Yunxiu's glass, then sat back in his original seat and poured himself a glass as well.

"When I look at the decorations here, I can't help but think of someone." Zhang Yunxiu smiled and suddenly continued knocking.

"Who?" Wei Ming asked curiously.

"Wanping County Magistrate, Zhao Lin. Including his mother, the five of them are squeezed into three tiled houses. Every month, they only receive a small salary from the court to support their wife and children."

"Zhang Sicheng's words are wrong." Wei Ming directly put forward his own point of view, "When the people are well-off, the officials must also be well-off. Otherwise, who would be an official? As long as the people under his rule are peaceful and live a prosperous life, even if the parent official eats delicacies every day, he is still a good official."

"On the contrary, if the people are displaced and sell their children, then even if the official has to eat coarse food every day, he is still a stupid official and a corrupt official!"

"So, County Magistrate Wei must be a good official." Zhang Yunxiu softened his attitude slightly and asked jokingly.

"I don't dare to be a good official, but I have a clear conscience." Wei Ming replied with his neck raised.

"Hahaha, what a clear conscience! Come on, County Magistrate Wei, let me toast you."

(End of this chapter)