Uncle from a poor family

Chapter 367 Information Cocoon Room
Qin Ji had a lot of contact with Zhang Yanling, so he naturally knew that this young man in front of him could talk freely on his own without his father's guidance.

There were even many times when Zhang Luan was unable to make decisions and had to rely on his son for advice. This also made Qin Ji realize that Zhang Yanling was actually the real think tank of the Zhang family.

Qin Ji was worried that Zhu Youtang would not listen to his advice, but Zhu Youtang nodded seriously and said, "Yanling, your sister told me that if there is any problem, it will be better to come to you directly. Tell me, what is going on in Tongzhou Warehouse?"

Zhang Yanling asked, "Brother-in-law, did you meet anyone before coming here?"

"I have met the Minister of Revenue, Li Min."

Zhu Youtang replied.

"Then what did he say?"

Zhang Yanling raised the question first.

Qin Ji was very surprised: "Second Master, you don't want to explain the situation first, but you want to ask directly?"

He actually wanted to tell Zhang Yanling that we still need to be clear about the relationship between the primary and the secondary. Why did it become you who asked the prince? Isn't this reversing the heavenly power?
Zhu Youtang said, "It's okay, it's okay. Since Yanling asked, I should tell him and let him know what the Ministry of Revenue meant. Li Min said that after the Ministry of Revenue conducted a self-inspection of the Tongzhou warehouse, some problems were indeed found, but it was not to the point of causing a large deficit. In addition, this matter may require the approval of the two cabinet elders before further arrangements can be made."

Zhang Yanling smiled and said, "In fact, the instigators of the deficit case were the two ministers Wan An and Liu Ji."

"Oh."

Zhu Youtang was not surprised to hear this. After all, Zhang Luan had mentioned the matter of Tongzhou Warehouse in front of the couple when he entered the palace last time.

"Then Yanling, where should I start my investigation?"

Zhu Youtang asked in a tone full of expectation.

Zhang Yanling replied: "Naturally, we should start with Sun Ren, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue."

"But I heard that he was recuperating at home and had not been to the Ministry of Revenue for a month or two." Zhu Youtang said, "He submitted resignation petitions several times, but never received approval from the emperor."

Zhang Yanling smiled and said, "He is an insider, but not the organizer. If we really investigate, no one in the Ministry of Revenue can escape... But in every dynasty, there have been deficits in storage, which is enough to show that this kind of thing is inevitable... So it involves the question of how to strike a balance."

"Huh? What do you mean by that?"

Whenever Zhu Youtang encountered something he didn't understand, he would really get to the bottom of it, and he didn't mind whether it would be embarrassing to ask a young boy like his brother-in-law for help.

"Brother-in-law, as long as you investigate Sun Ren, Sun Ren will definitely be under unprecedented pressure, and the two cabinet ministers will naturally take action. Sun Ren will most likely... encounter some problems at that time. But I don't know what the details are, but roughly... some people will be asked to bear the blame, and more people will be allowed to escape from the case."

Zhang Yanling said, "From the perspective of the officialdom, this is sacrificing the pawn to save the king."

Zhu Youtang asked: "A high-ranking official like the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue only has a car? Then who is the commander?"

Qin Ji reminded him, "Sir, according to what Second Young Master Zhang meant, is he saying that the two elders are actually controlling everything behind the scenes?"

"is it?"

Zhu Youtang asked in surprise, "So this time, I am actually investigating the two elders, right? But my father asked me to investigate the matter, but he didn't tell me to what extent. I am still confused..."

Zhang Yanling smiled and asked, "Even if everything is investigated, what can my brother-in-law do?"

"what!?"

Zhu Youtang was confused for a moment.

Qin Ji couldn't help but frown at the mature Zhang Yanling, as if blaming Zhang Yanling for taking the topic too deep and hurting the prince's self-esteem.

Zhang Yanling asked, "Is my brother-in-law doing this just to relieve the emperor's worries?"

"Ah."

Zhu Youtang nodded and said, "That's what I think... I want to help my father solve the problem completely. I can't let those parasites stay in the court and continue to harm the country."

Zhang Yanling smiled and said, "Brother-in-law has lofty ambitions, which is a good thing. But if I say that most of the officials in the court are parasites, are you ready to eradicate them all at once?"

This time Zhu Youtang did not answer.

He could clearly distinguish right from wrong, black from white, but he only had a vague idea of ​​the boundary between the gray areas.

Most of the time, he understood the principle that if the water is too clear, there will be no fish. However, when he was asked to put it into practice in the real life before his eyes, he was completely kept in the dark and could not see the whole picture at all.

Zhang Yanling said: "Brother-in-law will definitely have a chance to pick out all those parasites in the future and restore the court to a clean and clear state, but it shouldn't be now."

"Why not now?"

Zhu Youtang asked.

Zhang Yanling shook his head and sighed, "Because my brother-in-law is not qualified to be the master of the Ming Dynasty, right?" Tan Ji couldn't bear to listen any longer and couldn't help but persuade him, "Second Master, you'd better be more obscure. This... is too unpleasant to hear. Saying these things... is hurtful!"

"Do not."

Zhang Yanling disagreed with Qin Ji's opinion and said, "On the contrary, I think that many things should be explained to my brother-in-law more thoroughly, so that he will know his position and the situation he faces when encountering things. If you keep hiding it, it will only harm your brother-in-law, because the enemy will not show mercy to you because of your kindness, but will think that you are weak and can be bullied and will become more aggressive."

Zhu Youtang said, "I... I'm not really kind. Yanling, you don't have to say that. I understand. I can bear a lot now. My dear, let Yanling continue."

Even Zhu Youtang himself knew that he used to be a flower in a greenhouse.

It was not that his old father, the emperor, wanted to create a greenhouse for him, but the environment in the palace created all this. He could only live in a greenhouse. The people around him were afraid of hurting this simple and kind-hearted boy, so they weaved a beautiful-looking cocoon for him, thinking that he could deal with everything when he grew up in the "future".

But no one told him clearly when the "future" would be and what true growth would be. It was not until Zhu Youtang got married and talked more with Zhang Yu that he realized he was like an idiot.

Also, Zhang Yanling knew that his brother-in-law had a normal IQ and although he was introverted, he was not autistic. That was why everyone thought he was not good enough... He could only say that his brother-in-law had been locked in a cage since he was a child and had no chance to contact the world outside the cage.

Zhang Yanling said: "The reason why this matter was exposed was that Li Zisheng, the Minister of Rites who was in charge of the Silver Bureau, was behind it. His purpose was actually to attack Wan An and Liu Ji."

Zhu Youtang asked: "Is it a party dispute?"

"Yes and no."

Zhang Yanling said solemnly, "These two used to listen to Li Zisheng's words, but since the emperor fell ill, they want to control the government. Especially in the past few months, the Ministry of Personnel has been basically controlled by Li Zisheng. The two elders cannot intervene in the employment of people, which leads to resentment between the two sides. In addition, the two relied on Deng Changen to treat the emperor's illness, which led to a rapid deterioration in the relationship between the two sides."

"so complicated."

When Zhu Youtang heard this, his eyes were full of confusion, but his desire for knowledge became stronger.

He seemed to be very curious about the cause and effect behind things.

He doesn't want to be a fool who is always kept in the dark.

Zhang Yanling said, "After Li Zisheng found someone to impeach him, the emperor ignored it because it was related to the stability of the court and the issue of changing the crown prince. Brother-in-law, please forgive me, I will just tell you the truth."

"Okay, I get it now."

Zhu Youtang lowered his head and said, "Your sister also reminded me before."

"Let's not talk about it."

Qin Ji was anxious.

Qin Ji would feel that coming to a public place to discuss the issue of changing the crown prince, and in front of the crown prince, was just like the matter in the bedroom, which could not be brought to the table at all.

Need to be avoided!
But it was precisely because of his ostrich mentality, as the prince's closest person, that he avoided them everywhere, which indirectly helped Concubine Wan, Liang Fang and others, trapping the prince in a closed information cocoon and gradually turning him into an idiot.

Zhang Yanling knew clearly that even if Qin Ji had no intention of doing evil, he had indirectly done bad things, making it impossible for Zhu Youtang to access useful information before he ascended the throne. Even in the first few years after he came to power, some people continued to fabricate a larger information cocoon. It was not until five or six years later that Zhu Youtang gradually walked out of it.

And then……

Civil officials such as Liu Jian and Li Dongyang, using the court as the background, created a bigger lie for him, making him believe that he was a "wise and holy ruler" and a "benevolent and filial ruler", and continued to trap Zhu Youtang in it and unable to extricate himself.

Zhu Youtang said, "Yanling, please continue. Why did the emperor ignore me before and let me investigate the case this time?"

"Because Your Majesty wants to use this to prove whether you, my brother-in-law, have the ability to inherit the throne and govern the country in the future." Zhang Yanling said.

"Is this... a test from my father?"

Zhu Youtang seemed very surprised. "Didn't you ask me to investigate the case thoroughly? I think... as long as I can find out the truth, it will be the best reward for my father."

Zhang Yanling shook his head solemnly and said, "If my brother-in-law wants to pass this test smoothly, he doesn't have to investigate the case thoroughly... On the contrary, if everything is clear, it will make the king feel that my brother-in-law is not capable enough to be entrusted with such a big task."

Qin Ji said dissatisfiedly: "Second Master, please stop laughing. Being able to investigate the case thoroughly is a manifestation of ability, right? Why do you seem incompetent?"

Zhang Yanling said: "As the crown prince, what you need to do is to control the ministers, not to kill them all at once. If you really investigate everything, you will find that there is a huge hole that cannot be filled.

"Just like the government offices in various places, there will be deficits. The deficits of each term will be passed on to the next term, and then the next term will pass it on... By analogy, who should be blamed for the deficit of Tongzhou Warehouse? The previous term? Or the next term?"

Zhu Youtang looked confused and said, "Yanling, you make it so complicated. Shouldn't the accounts for storage be clear?"

Zhang Yanling smiled and said, "Brother-in-law, you think things are too simple. No government office can achieve a balance between income and expenditure. They always spend more than they earn. But because the government offices themselves have public power, that is to say, they have the power to spend money, even if they spend too much for a while, no one dares to do anything to them. In the long run, it will form a vicious cycle.

"Just like the Tongzhou Warehouse incident, there are too many things involved, even involving the inner court, and it's related to the monarch. Maybe what my brother-in-law ate yesterday was made from the money and grain withheld from the Taicang or Tongzhou Warehouse. Does the Crown Prince want to investigate all of this?"

(End of this chapter)