The Soldier of the Red Mansion

Chapter 136 Arrangements for Wang Xin
The Hall of Mental Cultivation was built in the early Ming Dynasty. It was originally used as a place for rest or residence. After the abdication of the Emperor Retired of the Zhou Dynasty, it gradually became the place where the Emperor Retired governed the country.

Zhang Jifu walked slowly on the golden brick floor of the Hall of Mental Cultivation, weaving diamond-shaped patterns with each step, casting a silent shadow. When he reached the hall, he felt the majestic presence of the vermilion lacquer pillars with gilded ascending dragons, and he slowly walked forward and knelt.

"Your servant, Zhang Jifu, pays homage to the Supreme Emperor."

"Get up."

This was the first time Zhang Jifu had a formal meeting with the retired emperor in a formal place after entering Beijing, so Zhang Jifu performed a great ceremony.

After standing up, Zhang Jifu looked up and saw the retired emperor on the imperial steps, and his heart sank.

Compared with three years ago, the emperor looked a little older.

"Come forward."

The emperor smiled and waved.

Zhang Jifu hesitated for a moment, then walked over respectfully.

When Zhang Jifu got closer, the emperor spoke again. His voice was much softer, not as strong as before, as if he was out of breath. "Among the four armies, the Eastern Army is the one we are investigating. You have good ideas and good sense of proportion."

"I am terrified."

Zhang Jifu tried to speak as little as possible in this hall.

Some people don't understand, and they want to talk endlessly, showing off their filial piety to the emperor, and treating others as fools.

The Emperor knew Zhang Jifu's temperament and didn't want him to misjudge his thoughts, so he said bluntly, "Liu Ding on the left is a good man and can be used by the Ministry of War, but he must be under Zhu Wei."

"I obey your order." Zhang Jifu bowed and accepted the order.

"I heard that you submitted a memorial to the cabinet, saying that the Ministry of War had too little money and grain, and requested the cabinet to approve more?" After finishing the important things, the emperor talked about other things.

Zhang Jifu also told the truth about the Ministry of War's difficulties.

The Emperor showed an inexplicable smile, "Everyone thinks that they are a poor daughter-in-law, but in fact, I am also a poor daughter-in-law. My life is more difficult than anyone else's. It's just that you can complain, but I have no place to complain."

"The sage makes his own decisions."

Zhang Jifu's words were interrupted by the retired emperor.

The emperor didn't want to waste time listening to nonsense. After all, he was not Zhou Daofeng. He said, "Money and grain are difficult to come by. In this case, the more we need to use talents, the more we can do the most with the least money and grain. So I want to use you, and also Wang Xin."

Zhang Jifu suddenly realized where he had gone wrong.

It turned out that Wang Xin had long caught the eye of the retired emperor.

I couldn't help but smile bitterly.

What is the most valuable thing in the Zhou Dynasty?

Of course, talent is the most valuable.

Zhang Jifu always believed that he valued talents, but suddenly he thought that the emperor was no exception, as was his mentor Zhou Daofeng, and himself. Zhang Jifu was very confident and believed that they, the master and the apprentice, were the greatest talents.

There is also Zhu Wei from the Beijing Camp and Liu Ding on the left.

One after another.

These are people promoted by the retired emperor, including Luo Ming.

Others may not know this, but Zhang Jifu knows very well that Luo Ming is talented. His failure was not due to his incompetence in leading troops, but because Luo Ming was a general trained by the retired emperor from humble beginnings.

Without these talented people who were promoted one after another, how could the emperor have suppressed the nobles?

Zhang Jifu figured these things out and was no longer surprised, but just a little regretful.

He had long considered Wang Xin as his own possession, but he didn't expect that he was actually a chess piece that the emperor had left outside and was being patiently cultivated.

"And the right side."

"My emperor will never grow up, and his heart and eyes are full of nothing but the country and the people."

The next words of the retired emperor made Zhang Jifu a little dazed.

What does this mean?

"I've always kept the right path." The retired emperor finally felt a little angry. "What a pity! After fifteen years, even if a stone is warmed up, it's still like this. A stone is still a stone. Now that Prince Zhongshun has returned to the clan house, I don't want to keep the right path anymore."

The Imperial Clan Court is the imperial clan's headquarters, and Prince Zhongshun is currently the leader of the imperial clan because he is the emperor's uncle.

It was undoubtedly to support the emperor.

According to my mentor, the retired emperor should not have the intention of deposing the emperor.

The retired emperor was old and did not have the energy to train another emperor.

Although the emperor did a lot of things, if it weren't for the tacit approval of the emperor, he wouldn't have had the chance to take the first step.

Things became complicated as the emperor intervened in military power.

Plus the stimulation of the Japanese invasion.

Finally, a complicated struggle broke out over the military power to control the Japanese invasion.

Just as my mentor said, no one could see through the mind of the retired emperor, and Zhang Jifu had no idea what the retired emperor was thinking.

However, Zhang Jifu has confirmed one thing.

The emperor wants to suppress the royal family.

This is where things get complicated.

When the retired emperor was in power, he suppressed the nobles and vigorously promoted civil officials and military generals. In recent years, the emperor won over civil officials and military generals, and the retired emperor became much more generous to the nobles. However, most of the nobles' children were incompetent.

There were some who looked somewhat promising, such as General Feng Tang, and the retired emperor selected a group of them, including Wang Ziteng.

This can be regarded as settling the old issue of the Jia family being above Prince Yi Zhong.

Two years ago, when the retired emperor was still in good health, he invited General Shenwu and other nobles to go hunting, and won the hearts of many people.

But not all nobles took the initiative to approach the emperor.

Many years ago, there were people like Lin and Ruhai, and there were also sons of nobles who gave up military service to pursue literature, like Jia Zheng. These people, either openly or secretly, approached the emperor, chose the long-term, and avoided the whirlpool nearby.

For example, Wang Ziteng.

During those two years, the emperor had the highest prestige and the emperor emeritus could no longer suppress him. Didn’t Wang Ziteng reach an agreement with the emperor?

Wang Ziteng abandoned the Beijing camp.

The emperor almost took over the Beijing camp.

The dispute over the reform of the Ministry of War and the Minister of Military Affairs was also one of the indirect reasons for the growing threat from the Japanese pirates.

Therefore, the old emperor was very dissatisfied with Wang Ziteng. It was also because of this that he did not think about it in this regard.

The retired emperor had actually been training Wang Xin for a long time.

Wang Xin was a descendant of the Wang family. It was for this reason that Zhang Jifu was confident he could secure Wang Xin.

Because of the emperor's political defeat.

The agreement between Wang Ziteng and the emperor was bound to fail.

The decline of the four major families is inevitable, and it depends on how each family can save itself.

At least the Wang family is difficult to save. It was considered a betrayal of the emperor and posed a huge threat.

After leaving the capital, Wang Ziteng and Prince Zhongshun hit it off in the border area and conspired to suppress Feng Pangzi, the governor of Yongxing.

Prince Zhongshun supported Wang Ziteng, and it was no secret to Zhang Jifu that Wang Ziteng wanted to replace Fatty Feng.

So the emperor’s statement was very clear.

We must eliminate Prince Zhongshun’s power in the Beijing camp, that is, Cheng Hong on the right.

"I guess Wang Ziteng will be back soon. He can't handle the situation alone. Without Prince Zhongshun, he's no match for Feng Mo. When you return, submit a memorial in the name of the Ministry of War praising Wang Ziteng."

The Emperor sneered, "The Emperor gave him the command of nine provinces, and I will give him a promotion and make him the Inspector General of the Nine Provinces."

Zhang Jifu was full of admiration.

Wang Ziteng's future was completely cut off.

The Commander of Nine Provinces still has a chance to be transferred to the post of Jiedushi, but the Inspector of Nine Provinces has no chance anymore.

Because the Inspector General of Nine Provinces was in a high position of power and influence, it was impossible for him to lead troops.

And this is relative to civil servants.

Although Wang Ziteng has military merits, he has no foundation in speaking, which means his words carry no weight.

The Wang family was completely ruined.

Eliminate your opponent's moves in advance and kill several birds with one stone.

The closer you are to the retired emperor, the more you can feel his terrifying power.

Zhang Jifu finally understood his mentor.

It is truly hopeless for a minister to encounter such a monarch.

Even with my mentor's talent and wisdom, this is all I can do.

Liu Ru, ah Liu Ru, you don’t even know who you lost to.

At the same time, I feel a little disappointed.

This time when I entered the palace, I became a yes-man.

Ridiculously funny.

Despite this, Zhang Jifu did not dare to express it. No matter what Zhang Jifu thought, the emperor knew one thing very well: the more talented a person is, the more arrogant he is. Therefore, many superiors are afraid of their subordinates having talents.

He would rather choose someone he can trust than use someone who is talented.

I am different.

There is no talent in the world that is beyond my reach, and there is no one who cannot be used. I just want to curb the arrogance of the talented people and let them know that there are people better than them.

"What has Wang Xin been doing recently?"

After talking about Wang Ziteng, we talked about Wang Xin.

Zhang Jifu had no other thoughts and informed the Ministry of War of the application submitted by Wang Xin. He said, "He is a good leader of troops. I heard that he is practicing with firearms recently."

The emperor showed approval in his eyes.

"The early bird catches the worm. A little stupidity can help you be more diligent and do more to catch up with others. What I value most is Wang Xin's ability to be smart, yet he always works diligently. So a person like him must be good."

When Zhang Jifu heard the retired emperor's evaluation, he agreed in his heart and said respectfully: "The saint is wise."

"When he has trained the troops well, send him to lead them to Xinzhou."

The emperor made arrangements.

Zhang Jifu understood it in his heart.

Over the past few years, the Hu army has repeatedly broken through the Yanmen Pass and plundered the counties of Xin and Dai, resulting in the loss of hundreds of thousands of stones of grain and grass. The reason why the retired emperor agreed to let Wang Ziteng go to the Nine Borders was probably because he wanted him to keep an eye on these gaps.

It’s a pity that Wang Ziteng has been entangled with Fatty Feng over the years. The two of them were busy fighting internal battles, and neither of them could suppress the other. Not only did they accomplish nothing, but they also implicated the local authorities.

There is another layer.

The retired emperor was a shrewd and calculating person. Since he wanted to suppress Wang Ziteng to death, he also had to be on guard against Wang Xin, even though Wang Xin was someone he valued. Sending him to the border area not only stabilized the area but also prevented accidents.

Absolutely safe, with no omissions.

For a moment, Zhang Jifu began to understand the gap between himself and the retired emperor.

The retired emperor is so scheming and yet he can live to his current old age, he is truly an extraordinary person. There were many problems at the beginning of the Zhou Dynasty, but sixty to seventy percent of them were solved by the retired emperor. If the retired emperor had a son, or if he passed away.

In the eyes of many people, including in history books, he will be a wise ruler.

Thinking of this, Zhang Jifu regained his confidence.

I am young.

This is my advantage.

Left the palace.

Zhang Jifu went to the cabinet and met his mentor, Zhou Daofeng, who was also the prime minister.

Zhou Daofeng held the pen and didn't care about Zhang Jifu's expression at all.

Zhang Jifu couldn't help but laugh and said, "Master, you trust me too much."

Zhou Daofeng then put down his pen and asked curiously, "Why don't you believe it?"

Zhang Jifu said no more.

Being able to regain composure from facing the pressure of the retired emperor and to walk out of the shadows and regain confidence is not something to be proud of, but my mentor has stayed with the retired emperor for a full fifty years.

(End of this chapter)