Uncle from a poor family

Chapter 315 This Ship Is Not a Pirate Ship

Bright lights.

In Li Zisheng's villa outside the city, drums and music were resounding.

On that day, Li Zisheng specially invited Zhang Luan and his son Zhang Yanling, and also called Pang Qing to accompany them. He set up a large table, but did not ask any women to come and drink with him. He just held a party in the courtyard. Beautiful and talented female actors took turns to perform on the stage, and they were regarded from a distance as a way to liven up the banquet.

"This meal is a bit plain."

While Li Zisheng and Pang Qing were away discussing something, Zhang Luan muttered something to himself.

Zhang Yanling smiled and asked, "Dad, when you came here before, were you not vegetarian? Can you tell me about it?"

Zhang Luan shouted, "Go away, you little kid, you are not a good boy."

At this point, his old face turned red, and he seemed to realize that what he said was tantamount to confessing himself.

Not long after, Li Zisheng brought Pang Qing back to the banquet. When they sat down, they sighed, "I'm so annoyed... Recently, many people have come to visit me for the examination and appointment of officials from all over the country. I'm simply overwhelmed."

Zhang Luan asked curiously, "You are such an honorable person, why do you want to personally receive visitors?"

"Laizhan, I can ignore a lot of people, but some people... I have to pay attention to them."

Li Zisheng smiled and said, "You know, I'm originally from Jiangxi, and those wealthy families in Jiangxi who have some connections with me want to seek a position in the officialdom, especially a position in Jiangxi. How can I not pay more attention to it?"

Zhang Luan suddenly realized: "I understand now. The good things should be kept within the family. Official vacancies in other places can be passed over, but not in Jiangxi."

"You, you are quite direct in your words." Li Zisheng said, "But there is nothing wrong with what you said. Someone always needs to take care of the backyard of one's own home. If the officials in Jiangxi do not inform me, how can they seek great development in Jiangxi? Wouldn't that be a disgrace to me?"

Pang Qing smiled and said, "This year, quite a few Jiangxi officials have given bribes to the Taoist priest."

"Bingkun, who told you to say this?"

Li Zisheng rolled his eyes at Pang Qing and said, "If Lai Zhan hears this, won't he laugh at us?"

"no no."

Zhang Luan looked a little embarrassed.

You being an official and collecting money has nothing to do with me. I am so envious when I hear that.

Li Zisheng said, "Laizhan, you know I have received a lot of silver in the past few years, but most of it was sent to His Majesty. This is an absolute secret and I never tell anyone. Now that everyone at the table is my family, I will openly say that His Majesty is very short of silver now."

"So...how can I help?"

Zhang Luan seemed to understand what Li Zisheng was saying and quickly asked.

Under the table, his son pulled his clothes, meaning, "What are you trying to do now?"

Li Zisheng smiled and said, "It is our duty to share the worries of the king. You see, people outside have mixed opinions about me, and most of them scold me, but in fact they don't know the truth. We have to maintain your majesty's image as a sage and wise ruler, so we have to share your majesty's worries in many things, and we have to bear the criticism ourselves."

"Yes."

Zhang Luan was a little excited.

Am I so important now?

The fact that Li Zisheng could tell me such top-secret information was enough to prove that I was already on their boat.

Since it is the ship that the emperor is on, it should not be considered a pirate ship, right?
Li Zisheng said, "Let's talk about Liang Fang's downfall this time. What do you think happened?"

"I……"

Zhang Luan was speechless.

Your question is very abstract. How can people answer it?

"Yanling, what do you think?"

Li Zisheng smiled and looked at Zhang Yanling again, and asked, "How about analyzing it for us?"

Zhang Yanling said, "Since Uncle Li mentioned that Your Majesty wants to make money now, then he probably doesn't need to spend money anymore, right?"

Zhang Luan looked at his son and thought, if someone asks you a question, you really answer it?

Is there anyone so honest?
"Snapped!"

Li Zisheng slapped his thigh and said in surprise, "Look, the children cultivated by Laizhan are different. It really hit the nail on the head."

Pang Qing said with a smile: "It is said that the Second Young Master has extraordinary insight and will surely become an extraordinary person who can become a general or a prime minister in the future."

"Ugh!"

Li Zisheng said, "Your Majesty complained to me that someone in charge of the inner court in the past few years spent money lavishly and basically consumed all the silver he had accumulated over the years. In fact, most of the silver in the inner court was earned for Your Majesty by Eunuch Wang Zhi when he was in the court."

"Wang Zhi?"

Zhang Luan was surprised.

He had heard of this name before, but he only knew more about it recently when his son told him about it.

Li Zisheng nodded and said, "When Eunuch Wang was in the court, his power was so great that it was no exaggeration to say that he could cover the sky with one hand. Liang Fang was nothing in front of him.

"Eunuch Wang was fair and honest in his work, and he arrested corrupt officials everywhere, accumulating a lot of wealth for Your Majesty. Unfortunately, because he spent a long time in the border town managing military affairs, training strong troops, and even personally leading troops to expel the Tartars, he offended many people in the court and was attacked by the crowd. When three people make a tiger... Later... Alas!"

Zhang Luan said, "I also heard that the eunuch Wang is very good at what he does and never takes bribes or perverts the law."

"hehe."

Li Zisheng smiled and said, "In fact, what he did is not fundamentally different from what I did today. It's just that he is a little better than me and has earned a good reputation. However, times have changed, and people's opinions are so strong that when people mention him now, they only say that he is cruel and merciless, especially the civil officials in the court who hate him even more."

"Oh."

Zhang Luan was reluctant to comment upon hearing this.

"Isn't that right? The reason why Your Majesty sent Wang Zhi to Nanjing was because the inner treasury was full and Your Majesty didn't need people who could make money for the time being. This would also ease the high-pressure atmosphere in the court. Or Your Majesty felt that it was enough to have people like us making money for him. At that time, Wang Zhi had already extended his hands outside the inner court and controlled the military and political power of the border. Your Majesty was afraid that he would become too powerful to be eliminated."

Li Zisheng was drunk and talked freely, "As an emperor, what I fear most is ministers abusing their power, especially someone like Wang Zhi. He has a good reputation in the court and also has military power. How can we not be suspicious of him? Later, Liang Fang took advantage of the situation to curry favor with Concubine Wan and quickly replaced Wang Zhi's position?"

Zhang Luan said, "Well, what Minister Li said makes sense. At the beginning, the Imperial Stables were under the control of the Western Factory, which means they were controlled by Eunuch Wang."

"That's right." Li Zisheng said, "Liang Fang spent money lavishly for several years, and by this year the money in the inner court had all dried up. There was really not a drop of money left. And because of the things you did, Your Majesty knew that Liang Fang was not honest in his actions and was trying to put money into his own pocket. Wasn't this deliberately causing trouble for Your Majesty? Your Majesty was so angry that he replaced him."

Zhang Luan asked: "So now, Your Majesty wants to open up a new way to make money?"

"Let Zhan reveal the secret behind it."

Li Zisheng smiled and said, "Most of the things I do here are shady, but some things can actually be put in the open. His Majesty told me that there are many antiques and treasures in the inner palace that are priceless. His Majesty used to be very happy when he saw them, but now the more he looks at them, the more he feels that they are flashy and useless. So he discussed with me that he wanted to sell these things for cash. I... plan to let you come forward to make the plan."

Li Zisheng spoke the story while chatting and laughing, his tone was very natural, as if it was a very simple matter and it would come to fruition with just a little effort.

After listening to this, Zhang Luan opened his mouth so wide that he could almost swallow a salted duck egg.

That expression seemed to be saying, is this possible?

Pang Qing smiled and said, "It seems that Mr. Zhang is not very willing to accept this task."

"Come and see."

Li Zisheng continued, "There are many treasures in the palace. Take out one or two at random, and they are all rare treasures that are unparalleled in the world. If you come forward to sell these things, you can establish connections with the dignitaries in the capital, which will be of great benefit to your future career in the officialdom."

Zhang Luan quickly said, "I'm afraid I don't have that ability."

Li Zisheng said sternly, "I know what you are worried about... You may feel that this stuff leaked out of the palace, and no matter how much you sell, it will easily cause dissatisfaction to His Majesty. In addition, if someone investigates this matter in the future, it may affect your reputation."

Zhang Luan argued: "Minister Li is wrong. I simply feel that with my connections, I simply cannot afford to sell those valuable items. And it involves such a large account, which I cannot figure out."

"Ha ha……"

Li Zisheng laughed.

Pang Qing chimed in, "Mr. Zhang, you don't have to worry about this. The Taoist will send someone to assist you. Besides, these treasures came out of the palace one by one. It's impossible for them all to be delivered to your house at once. There will be someone to record the accounts, so people will never misunderstand that you are embezzling them."

Li Zisheng nodded and said, "I'll give you one benefit for every one you sell."

"I……"

After hearing this, Zhang Luan couldn't help but look at his son for help.

Obviously, this matter was far beyond his understanding... Helping the emperor to sell things, how many brains would dare to do that?

"Yanling, what do you think? It seems like your father needs your encouragement."

Li Zisheng looked at Zhang Yanling with a smile.

Zhang Yanling frowned and asked, "For things that leak out of the palace, it's not about what to sell or the price, but who to sell it to.

"Uncle Li, do you have a suitable buyer ready to introduce to my father? Or... let my father find the buyer himself?"

"what!?"

Even though Li Zi knew that the second son of the Zhang family was resourceful, he did not expect that these words would hit the nail on the head.

He wanted Zhang Luan to sell these national treasures in order to allow Zhang Luan to get close to the nobles of the Five Military Governor's Office. Zhang Luan himself would serve in the Governor's Office in the future. After all, as the future father-in-law of the emperor, Zhang Luan would definitely be able to obtain a title, and would most likely be a successful figure in the Governor's Office.

Zhang Luan was asked to contact those nobles who commanded the troops to prevent people from saying that he, Li Zisheng, coveted military power.

Pang Qing said, "Master Dao, the Second Young Master is asking you, does the client want us to introduce him to him?"

"Need not."

Li Zisheng calmed down immediately and shook his head, saying, "You can sell the items on your own. As long as the price is right, it doesn't matter who you sell it to. If there are any that cannot be sold, I will help you introduce them to others."

Li Zisheng's wishful thinking is, I will give you a difficult problem first, and when you are unable to break the deadlock, I will introduce you to the Duke of Yingguo, the Duke of Baoguo and other people who control the military power of the Beijing camp, and let you sell it to them. Wouldn't everything be reasonable then?

Zhang Yanling asked: "Then every item should have an expected price, right? Who sets the price?"

Li Zisheng smiled and said, "This is very simple. Just sell it at the original purchase price."

"Purchase price?"

Zhang Yanling was very embarrassed. "Uncle Li, if I remember correctly, when Eunuch Liang purchased these tributes, he added a lot of extra value to them, and he also pocketed a lot of it himself. In this case, wouldn't the value be... exaggerated?"

"Isn't it... that I will have to make up the difference in the end?"

Li Zisheng seemed to have expected this and said with a smile, "If the purchase price is 10,000 taels, as long as you can sell it for more than 8,000 taels, it will be fine. Your Majesty doesn't have much expectation for this... but a 20% reduction is the limit. If it's less, I'm afraid I will have to make up for the shortfall."

Zhang Luan frowned and asked, "Then the selling price is not the original price, but 80% of the original price?"

"You can say that."

Li Zisheng said, "But the price announced to the public must still be the original price, or even a few percent higher, to facilitate bargaining later. If it sells well, there will be a bonus. Even if it doesn't sell well, I will give you certain benefits so that you don't do this in vain."

Zhang Luan said: "That sounds good."

But when he made eye contact with his son, he realized that what was in his son's eyes was not that simple.

Zhang Yanling pondered for a moment and asked, "Is there anyone in the inner court responsible for this matter?"

"some."

Li Zisheng smiled and said, "The eunuch Chen Guihui from the Imperial Household Department will be in charge of this matter. He will be in charge of the prices and sales of the items."

"Eunuch Chen? That's fine, that's fine."

When Zhang Luan heard that it was an old acquaintance, he almost laughed out loud.

If it was Chen Gui, who had been able to communicate properly before, then everything would have been much easier. I guess Chen Gui wouldn't give him any problems, right?

Zhang Yanling said nothing more.

Li Zisheng asked, "Then come and see you, do you want to accept this mission?"

Zhang Luan looked at his son and saw that he had no intention of refusing. However, he still said, "Please allow me to think about it. What do you think?"

"Okay, let's do it tonight."

Li Zisheng said, "Let's watch the show first, there's no rush. The banquet has just begun, and we won't leave until we're drunk tonight. If you can't walk, just stay here. Just give me an accurate answer before you leave tomorrow."

(End of this chapter)