Ming Dynasty: Ask Zhu Yuanzhang to abdicate at the beginning

Chapter 535 A Tragic Life! Friendship!

Zheng Hongjian's words were more direct and more "blunt," completely overshadowing Zhao Qingzhi's "filial piety."

However, Zheng Hongjian was so busy flattering Zhao Rui that he completely ignored Zhao Rui's actual age.

Upon hearing his words about "providing for one's parents in their old age and seeing them off in their final days," Zhao Rui immediately spat, his face darkening instantly. He said unhappily, "What kind of nonsense are you spouting?"

“Governor Zheng, my family is more than twenty years younger than you!”

"You keep saying you'll take care of us in our old age and see us off when we die, isn't that just a blatant curse wishing us to die sooner?!"

Upon hearing this, Zheng Hongjian was shocked and realized that he had made such a basic mistake in his haste. He immediately kowtowed repeatedly and protested, "I misspoke, I had no such intention!"

"Please, Eunuch Zhao, investigate thoroughly! Your son was just... just in a hurry, and spoke without thinking!"

"Alright!" Zhao Rui waved his hand impatiently, his tone softening slightly: "I know you didn't mean it, you just blurted it out in a moment of panic."

"What's this about having a godfather? Our family doesn't care about these empty titles."

His gaze deepened: "As long as you two remember the good things we did for you today, and behave more restrained and grateful in the future, then I will be satisfied."

Zhao Rui sighed and said, "The things you've done this time are so serious that it would be a huge responsibility for us to help you."

"If it weren't for your filial piety towards the Empress, I wouldn't care whether you live or die!"

He waved his hand again, signaling them to leave: "Don't waste any more time here, hurry up and get down to the things I just asked you to do!"

Zheng Hongjian and Zhao Qingzhi quickly kowtowed again to express their gratitude, and then bowed respectfully as they withdrew.

After the two figures disappeared from sight, Zhao Rui immediately and impatiently took out a thick stack of silver notes from his pocket and carefully counted them one by one.

Although he knew in his heart that Zheng Hongjian and Zhao Qingzhi would never dare to deceive him, he still had to personally verify the enormous wealth in order to put his mind at ease.

At this moment, a trusted eunuch who had served Zhao Rui for many years bowed and stepped forward, saying softly, "Godfather, why not just take all two million taels of silver into your own pocket, instead of setting aside half of it and using the one million taels to help the disaster victims?"

The young eunuch lamented, "This pure silver is being given to those poor people; isn't that a sin?"

"Pah!" Zhao Rui spat at him, his tone laced with disappointment, and scolded, "What do you know?"

"This silver wasn't given to the poor people at all; it was given to the Emperor!"

As he spoke, he carefully put the check away and said, "With that million taels of silver, even if Zheng Hongjian and Zhao Qingzhi get into trouble in the future, it will never affect our family."

"Only when we have this million taels of silver in our hands can we take it with a clear conscience and without any worries."

Zhao Rui glanced at the little eunuch and said, "You can figure out the reasons behind this slowly and learn more about it."

The young eunuch clearly hadn't fully grasped the mystery, but he knew Zhao Rui must have his reasons for doing so, so he could only bow obsequiously and reply, "Father's teachings are absolutely right, I will certainly learn them well."

Since the late Tang and Five Dynasties period, the custom of worshipping godfathers and adoptive fathers has become increasingly prevalent among the people.

This custom has continued uninterrupted to this day, even into the Ming Dynasty.

Even when Zhu Yuanzhang was conquering the country, he adopted many sons as important helpers in his expansion.

His generals followed suit, and quite a few of them adopted sons.

For example, the famous general Lan Yu had hundreds of loyal followers under his command.

This was a unique social custom of that era. It wasn't just Lan Yu who adopted sons; many officials and generals did, only the number varied.

Although Emperor Zhu was quite dissatisfied with this phenomenon and repeatedly emphasized that palace eunuchs were strictly prohibited from adopting godsons or having godfathers, the practice persisted despite the prohibitions.

After becoming the Grand Eunuch, Zhao Rui also took in several adopted sons, one of whom was the young eunuch serving him.

After counting the silver notes in his hand, Zhao Rui took out a check and handed it to the eunuch: "Everyone has come to Henan with His Majesty. It has been a long and arduous journey."

"Let's take this money and distribute it among everyone."

He specifically instructed, "Remember that everyone should get a share; no one should be left out."

Then, Zhao Rui's voice became serious: "Also, you must warn them not to think that just because they have left the palace and come to this place, they can accept bribes from local officials without restraint!"

"Not a single penny of money that shouldn't be taken is allowed!"

"If we find out that anyone dares to outwardly comply but inwardly defy us, and commits such acts of favoritism and perversion of justice, we will certainly not let them off the hook!"

The moment the young eunuch saw the check for ten thousand taels of silver, his eyes lit up with greed. He immediately knelt down and kowtowed, his voice trembling with excitement: "Thank you for your generous gift, Godfather! I will remember your teachings and never dare to overstep my bounds!"

"Go!" Zhao Rui waved for him to leave.

After the eunuch left, Zhao Rui slowly stood up.

He carefully hid the check he had just received, muttering to himself, "Our family is really unfortunate. It's not easy to do this job perfectly!"

He sighed softly, as if confiding in the invisible air: "Which place, from top to bottom, inside and out, doesn't need to be taken care of?"

"If we don't earn some money for ourselves soon, we might really starve to death."

……

After leaving Zhao Rui, Zheng Hongjian's face immediately darkened. He complained indignantly to Zhao Qingzhi, "Two million taels of silver! How many years would it take to scrape together that meager salary from the imperial court!"

His tone was filled with heartache and resentment: "But he did it all, just shrugged and extorted such a huge sum of money from us with a few words!"

Zhao Qingzhi, on the other hand, seemed much more open-minded. Hearing this, he chuckled and comforted him, "This is money to buy your life. What, Brother Zheng, are you still reluctant to part with it?"

Seeing that Zheng Hongjian was still frowning, he continued to comfort him: "Besides, we will each bear half of these two million taels of silver, it's not like you are the only one paying out of your own pocket."

"As long as we remain firmly in our positions as Governor and Inspector of Henan, how can we not recoup a mere two million taels of silver?"

"Besides, what use is all the money if you lose your life?"

Upon hearing this, Zheng Hongjian sighed deeply, his tone helpless: "That's certainly the truth, but I just can't accept it!"

"We've worked so hard to accumulate this wealth over the years, and all of it has been given away in one go."

"A few years ago, giving away several thousand or tens of thousands of taels of silver was considered a big gesture. How come things have changed so much now?"

Zhao Qingzhi sneered and said sarcastically, "Since His Majesty implemented the new policies, the national treasury's revenue has increased significantly, and officials in various regions have handled much more money than before. Naturally, the profits from this have become even more substantial."

"Since you have more income, isn't it only natural to give more to your superiors?" "What's there to complain about?"

"So, Governor Zheng, you only think about desperately trying to get something into your own pocket, but never consider 'spitting' some out?"

Zheng Hongjian chuckled dryly, his tone carrying a hint of forced composure: "It's not that bad, but it's really painful to have to take out a whole million taels of silver in one go."

As he spoke, he glanced at Zhao Qingzhi without making a sound.

As the Imperial Inspector of Henan, Zhao Qingzhi had a good reputation in official circles. It was rumored that he was an honest official who never embezzled or accepted bribes, and was a well-known upright official in the court.

Although Zheng Hongjian did not completely believe these rumors, he was indeed unaware of how much money Zhao Qingzhi had amassed in private.

Although the two men had served as officials in Henan for many years, Zhao Qingzhi always maintained a haughty and aloof demeanor, seemingly disdainful of discussing money and worldly matters.

Unexpectedly, this guy was able to casually pull out a million taels of silver today without batting an eye.

Zheng Hongjian couldn't help but wonder to himself: How much profit has he made in private?
After a moment's thought, Zheng Hongjian spoke again: "Brother Zhao, is it really necessary to hand over the entire one million taels of silver for the disaster victims, without missing a single penny?"

"In my opinion, we should just take out two or three hundred thousand taels of silver to deal with it."

"As long as we supervise our subordinates to ensure things are done well, the effect of spending two or three hundred thousand taels of silver will be comparable to, or even better than, one million taels of silver."

Having spent many years navigating the treacherous waters of officialdom, Zheng Hongjian knew all too well that if even one-tenth of the money allocated for disaster relief to the people was actually spent effectively, that would be considered quite good.

After all, there are so many government offices of all sizes and all sorts of officials and runners below them, who will inevitably try to exploit them and gain some benefits.

This is a tacit "rule" in officialdom.

Zhao Qingzhi sneered and mocked, "You're about to die, why are you still clinging to that little bit of money, Zheng Hongjian?"

"Didn't you understand what our godfather just said?"

"This money isn't for the disaster victims at all; it's for the Emperor!"

"How many heads do you have, Zheng Hongjian? You even dare to embezzle money meant for the Emperor?!"

Upon hearing this, Zheng Hongjian was first taken aback, then suddenly raised his hand and slapped his forehead, making a "smack" sound, and a look of regret instantly appeared on his face.

He suddenly realized and nodded repeatedly, saying, "Brother Zhao is right!"

"How come I didn't think of that?"

"I almost made a mistake and ruined everything!"

"With the Emperor personally inspecting the disaster area, our spending money on the disaster victims is equivalent to spending money directly on the Emperor!"

"Since it's money spent for the Emperor, then every single penny must be spent!"

A fierce glint flashed in his eyes, and his tone was firm and ruthless: "If anyone the hell dares to skimp on even a single point, I'll twist their head off and use it as a football!"

"It's good that you understand the stakes involved!" Zhao Qingzhi's tone became more serious. "Let's not say anything more now. Quickly do as our godfather instructed and immediately begin drafting a memorial of apology to His Majesty!"

Upon hearing this, Zheng Hongjian cautiously asked, "Then how exactly should this memorial be written?"

"Regarding the construction of the river embankment, say everything that can be said, and present it to His Majesty frankly without reservation," Zhao Qingzhi said in a deep voice. "And those things that must never be mentioned, not a single word should be revealed."

He paused, his tone grave: "As for the situation in the disaster area, we were indeed very wrong before."

"We were only concerned with whitewashing the situation and reporting only good news, but we never expected that this would touch His Majesty's sore spot."

"We must now quickly admit our mistakes. It is better to exaggerate the extent of the disaster appropriately than to downplay or conceal it."

"As for Li Jichuan's death," Zhao Qingzhi's voice became unusually calm, "that is absolutely unacceptable, but it cannot be settled simply by having a lowly jailer take the blame."

"It seems that Provincial Surveillance Commissioner Chen Suming is doomed, and the Provincial Surveillance Commission will have to send out another batch of officials to take responsibility."

He took a deep breath and said, "Otherwise, we won't be able to explain ourselves to His Majesty!"

Zheng Hongjian nodded slightly, his expression somewhat complicated.

Chen Suming, the Henan Provincial Surveillance Commissioner, had always had a close relationship with him and they were very intimate.

But in such a life-or-death situation, he was naturally well aware of the principle of sacrificing a pawn to save the king.

When it's time to give up something, you must do so decisively. This is an ironclad rule that I've upheld for many years as an official.

Of course, he will try his best to protect Chen Suming's wife, children, and elderly parents, as a way of fulfilling his friendship.

In particular, Chen Suming's two newly married concubines are said to be twins, looking exactly alike, both only sixteen years old, incredibly delicate and beautiful.

Holding it in your arms at night must be a unique experience.

I'll get them then, so I can use them to serve me in bed.

Zhao Qingzhi added, "Right now, the most important thing is to get the disaster relief work done well!"

He turned to Zheng Hongjian and said, "Lord Zheng, from now on, we two must do our utmost and can no longer be perfunctory or half-hearted. We can't just line our own pockets!"

"Always remember, saving disaster victims is saving ourselves!"

Zhao Qingzhi's tone was serious and solemn, and he deliberately changed his address from "Brother Zheng" to "Lord Zheng," which carried a strong hidden warning.

Zheng Hongjian immediately patted his chest and replied, "Brother Zhao, please rest assured!"

"I am, after all, the Governor of Henan, and I am entrusted with the Emperor's favor and in charge of this region."

"If we really get serious about things, we can definitely get them done."

"If we don't even have this much ability, we've failed to live up to the official positions we've held all these years!"

He spoke with great confidence: "I will strictly supervise all the officials below me to ensure that the disaster relief work is done well."

"Anyone who dares to shirk responsibility or fail to do their best at this time will not be let off lightly!"

……

(End of this chapter)